Journal Entry
I was looking through some of my old Journals today (which I do every once in a while when I’m working on my book, to get a “refresher” on memories) and came across this entry and it made me smile. (and obviously it has nothing to do with my book 😛 )
9/23/2003
Today is Taisha’s 12th birthday. I can’t believe how fast time is going! Sometimes I really miss living with them and seeing the kids every day. Oh and Kaitlyn started walking this week! It’s so cute and she is surprisingly good (haha). I slept over there on Thursday night and watched her all day Friday. It was nice to be with her again. She’s growing so fast. Speaking of growing fast, I got a letter from Magui and Geary last week. They sent me two pictures. One on Dustin’s “1 1/2 birthday” and one of his first day in Nursery at church. He is SO big. He’s got 13 teeth and they said sometimes he uses them to get back at Shelton (couldn’t help but laugh a little!) His favorite thing is his cars. He says “vroom vroom” It made me so happy to hear from them. I wasn’t expecting it.
So… wow. Today is Taisha’s 20th birthday and I’ll repeat the same words: I can’t believe how fast time is going. Even though she has grown so much and has a child of her own, sometimes it’s hard for me to not still see her as a little girl. I have this problem with all of the kids. LOL But I feel blessed that I have such awesome nieces and nephews and that I get to be part of their lives.
I would so love to see a picture of Dustin and know more about what he’s like, but I’ll take what I can get. My high from getting the small update a couple weeks ago is still going pretty strong, even though I haven’t received a response to my reply email yet. I have faith that they will though, so I won’t pick at what I “wish” to be and I’ll focus on what IS.
I have felt pretty good the past week. I started going to Zumba on the 15th and although I haven’t actually made it to the class every day (because of interviews this week, mostly) I have worked out every day, whether it was Zumba or Turbo Jam. So, I’m very proud of myself for working out every day. By every day, I mean Monday thru Friday. I really wanted to try to work out EVERY day, but weekends are just too busy and I decided that since that’s when Bart isn’t working and we can spend time with each other and go places and stuff, Saturday and Sunday, my priority is family. Anyway, I weighed myself on Monday and from working out the previous week, I lost 5 lbs. I’m not going to let myself step on the scale more than once a week, because I’ve found that if I weigh myself every day, my weight fluctuates SO much that it tends to bring me down if I weigh myself and I’m UP a pound from the previous day, etc. So… I admit I’m kind of eager to weigh myself on Monday and see how I did, considering I worked out as hard as I could this week. On Monday, I actually went to Zumba, did Turbo Jam in the afternoon AND went on a 2-3 mile walk with Harmony (and got an awesome sunburn to show for it!) She also gave me a “Camelbak” water bottle (mine’s pink ) just like the one she has (and I’m pretty sure Lena and my mom and possibly even Heather all have the same kind) and oddly enough, it’s REALLY helped me increase my water intake. I’ve already proved to myself in the past that it’s easier to drink water out of a straw than it is to unscrew a water bottle and drink that way. I know that sounds ridiculous, but for whatever reason; it’s true. I drink at least double the amount of water that I normally would with a straw than I do any other method. And I can basically continue working out and drink water at the same time with this bottle, rather than STOP to get a quick drink with a normal bottle. And no, CamelBak isn’t paying me to advertise for them, but seriously, this bottle rocks! HAHAHAHA
I went and visited Hallie and Liam the other day. He’s growing really fast (of course… damn babies that refuse to stay babies! lol) and it was sooo nice to hold him. It’s strange to me to not see a nephew very often. I think my relationship with my nephews and nieces is probably a little strange to some people (I’ve had people comment on it before) but keep a few things in mind:
1. I was 8 years old when I became an Aunt, so at the time, that little baby boy was the most interesting thing in the world to me. That mindset has pretty much stayed the same even now, almost 18 years later.
2. I lived with and/or next door to Lena’s kids for like 8+ years, so not only did we see each other every single day, but they pretty much lived at our house during waking hours… often during the night ones too.
3. I don’t have children. More specifically, I do not have my child living with me, so of course I have a piece of my heart that finds happiness in seeing my nephews and nieces grow and develop and succeed and learn and be able to hug and kiss them and tell them I love them when I don’t have the opportunity to see my own child do those things or give him hugs and kisses and tell him that I love him.
So anyway, my point… Liam was born on August 31st and other than this week, I had only seen and held him once. I feel the same way about Nevaeh (Taisha’s daughter) because I don’t get to see her (OR Taisha) very often. I guess that’s part of growing up though. You can’t keep your family 5-10 miles away from you forever.