I realize that I don’t come here much to wax philosophical about things going well. In the past, on my other blog, that led people to believe I was a negative nelly who dwelt only on the bad. But that is not the case. There is so much in my life that I celebrate each day. Here are just a few things that I’ve been appreciating lately.
– My son is at a very sweet age. He hasn’t started tantruming on the reg yet but he’s understanding more and more and can even say some words and a phrase or two. His first complete sentence was, “I want that,” which he’s found to be very versatile and has morphed it into, “I want bar,” (curse you KidZ bars you have taken my daughter hostage and now my son is following suit!) “I want ball,” and just yesterday, “I want to go park.” When I ask him to give me “a smooch” he comes up a presses his lips against my cheek oh so gently. I swoon with delight every time. And while he doesn’t want me to sing to him before bed anymore, there are times when he hugs me and it’s like his whole body is wrapping around mine. When he’s having trouble sleeping he loves to lie on my stomach while I rub his back and he brushes his fingers up and down my arm. He’s a big boy (35 inches and 25 pounds!) and already it’s hard to treat him like the 18 month old he is, so I’m savoring these last months before he transforms into a two year old. He is such a sweet boy. I absolutely adore him.
– Things with my husband are better. They aren’t great by any means, but they are okay-to-good more than they are not-okay-to-bad. I am working through two marriage books and trying to focus on the destructive habits I have fallen into instead of dwelling on the negativity I feel he brings to our relationship. It’s empowering to take responsibility for what I can change and I already see some improvements. I’m also trying not to project into the future; I stop myself whenever I wonder how we’ll affect real change without his deliberate involvement. Maybe the changes I make will be so effective that he changes without my prodding? If not, we’ll figure it out when we get there.
– My daughter and I are going to St. Louis (where all my extended family lives) for a wedding this weekend. I’m excited to see my cousins and to get away for a few days. I’m already dreading being away from my sweet boy for so long; it think it will be really hard on him for both me and his sister to be away.
– We also have a weekend at a cabin with friends planned for Memorial Day weekend. Staying at a cabin with another family has been on my “once I have kids bucket list” and I’m stoked to finally make it happen with my good friends’ family. His kids are very close in age to ours and they are similarly laid back, with reasonable (read: low) expectations, so I think it should be a fun weekend.
– We got an AMAZING tax refund and I’m looking forward to putting some real money in our kids’ college accounts and having a small emergency fund in the bank, just in case. (More on this, and my evolving budget, soon.)
-Things continue to go well on the friend front. I feel comfortable with the amount I’m seeing people and my family seems better able to manage my now less-frequent absences. I hope to keep working toward meaningful friendships with these women, even though it requires an insane amount of time and work to do so.
-My good friend is expecting her first child in the next couple weeks and I’m so excited for her. This will be my first good college girl friend to have a baby. I hope her daughter arrives safe and sound. I can’t wait to meet her.
-I am reading All the Light We Cannot See for book club and it’s incredible. Truly a breathtakingly beautiful book. I had forgotten that writing can be art–this book has reminded me.
-After realizing that one of the reasons I wanted to leave my job was boredom, I started implementing some new ideas and assigning some new projects in my classes. It has definitely made work more interesting and I’m look forward to focusing on entirely revamping my ELD class next year. I’m very exciting to be trying something new and am proud of myself for taking the initiative to change things up.
– That said, only seven more weeks until summer, but who’s counting, right? 😉
What positive things have you been appreciating lately?
Sounds like lots is good… enjoy!
I will… thanks!
So many good things! I feel like I always get fewer comments when I post happy updates than when i’m upset. So I just wanted to say it is really nice to read these. It gives us a fuller picture of what your life is like, too.
I usually get a lot less comments on “happy” posts too. I was pleasantly surprised by the turn out on this one. But your comment was one of the first and I really appreciated it.
I’m glad this gives a fuller picture of what things are like these days. They are actually pretty good, all things considering, which is probably another reason why I don’t write as much. I’m just not as compelled to sit down when things are pretty good.
Yea for you! I never thought on the prior blog that you were a Negative Nelly. Life is sometimes very hard and our images of what it is ‘sposed to be’ are formed by unreal stories/books/movie/social media etc. Telling out loud that sometimes it is messy is really important for our peers and those who follow after us.
SO glad you are finding new ways to interact within your marriage and that you are finding them helpful. Very interested to hear how the budget/money/minimalism things are going for you. AND, SUPER PROUD of you for reinventing your work situation to make it more engaging and interesting for you…. this will also help your students as it is contagious.
You are doing great and wonderfully! HAPPY for you. Have a lovely trip this weekend.
Well, I am VERY good at talking about how messy life sometimes gets. I have that down, if nothing else. 😉
I love reading about all these happy things going on for you! And that you’ve made me think of my own.
I just finished my last of this year’s lesson plans. Still a lot of grading coming up, but the planning is fini!
Also, I just did a little bitty brave thing. Feeling a little proud of myself for that.
I hope you have a wonderful trip to St Louis!
Yay for finishing your last lesson plans of the year! That is amazing. I want to talk shop with you at some point. Reading your teacher appreciate post piqued my interested about the school you’re at. I’d love to hear more about it.
Awesome news! This post was a breath of fresh air – I needed to read some positivity today after so much awfulness in the news and a little race-related tiff I had with someone on Facebook (I know better, yet I still do it!) I had a really great night yesterday with Miss E who was going out of her way to be really helpful and accommodating after previously struggling to return to a normal schedule after surgery. (All Dora all the time is mighty intoxicating!) I splurged and bought a Kindle Paperwhite so that I could read e-books from the library again before bed without having blue-light insomnia (so far it seems to be working). I’m really excited about getting out and doing things in our city this summer.
Ohhh, I bet getting back to a normal schedule after surgery was rough. I know that is really hard for my daughter when she’s been home in front of the TV for a few days with a bad cold or flu. The days afterward are sometimes worse than when she’s sick–at least then she just vegges out on the couch for hours at a time!
I’m glad the paper white is working out for you. My sister made that switch for the same reason and it has made a big difference. I hope it continues to do so for you too.
Loving this post hon!
Good things in my life;
– like you with work I had a lay it all on the table discussion with my boss. Clearing the air has made me less stressed but also shown me i do have some opportunities
– i also got an ok tax return which helped pay off the IVF debt and made me slightly less pissed about it all
– on the money front because we have a lot of bush fires in our state the government introduced a planning requirement for certain councils / areas to write these bush fire management statements – my hubby is a builder so I learnt how to write them and it is easy money 🙂 so now I can get my new rug!
– Molly is being …. difficult…. but beautiful at the same time so being her mum is a lot of fun
– not much else heading into winter which BLOWS
very happy to you happy xx
Hello lovely!
– so proud of you for talking with your boss. I’m glad it was productive.
– Yay for tax refunds! I’m sorry yours had to go to IVF debt but I’m glad it helped resolve some feelings you’re having about it.
– and yay for finding another way to make money! that is awesome! I’ve currently been doing contracting work to help a student’s dad create a Spanish language app for kids. It has been stressful at times but I’m really excited to get the check in the mail.
– Isa is also being… difficult… but beautiful at the same time. I am so humbled to be her mother but man she is a trying creature.
– I’m sorry you’re heading into winter. I cannot WAIT until summer comes, not so much for the weather (it doesn’t change much where I live) but DEFINITELY for the break from teaching. I need that something fierce.
Hooray for good things- and it sounds like you have a good balance of good things happening now as well as things to look forward to. So happy for you.
Thanks Elizabeth. Things are pretty good right now. I’m very lucky.
I just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading this – I always like the positive updates – I relate to them as much as I relate to negative ones! I am really struggling with my job and my husband and i are looking at making a substantial change in our lives – to that end we are taking things day by day and it has brought it’s own luxuries…we are absoluletely refusing to think about the next day, the weekend, next year right now while we decide how to implement this change and I am appreciating this different way of approaching life.
I am so intrigued by this approach to life you are embracing. I will definitely be checking out your blog… I hope you’re writing about it there!
I use my blog to hash through all kind of negatives too. Thanks for the reminder that once in a while a positive post is good for the soul.
We go to a cabin with friends every few months and it is so fun! Hope you have a great time.
Wow, you go to a cabin with friends EVERY FEW MONTHS?! How amazing! I hope we can make this an annual trip, I doubt we’ll ever do it every few months. But once a year would be great.
What a great post to read tonight! I’m excited about your trip to SL – you will find that the little man is just fine without you, and you’ll get a bit of a break. I was so worried when I left the boys to go to KC and it was, in a word, AWESOME… For everyone!
“trying to focus on the destructive habits I have fallen into instead of dwelling on the negativity I feel he brings to our relationship.” YES! People ask how Brian and I turned things around and it was this. We BOTH stopped focusing on the negatives of each other and turned focus on our own responsibilities for the negativity we brought to our union. THAT made all the difference! You are doing a wonderful thing by working on your own challenges. But don’t take all the responsibility, my friend. Your husband owns 50% here.
Enjoy your trip!!!!
I am not sure my husband is ready yet to work on our marriage. He thinks things are just shitty right now and that this time is finite and when it’s over we can start back up again where we left off. I worry it might be too late by then, that we might have drifted too far apart. My hope is that if he sees that the changes I’m making are actually helping our marriage, that he’ll admit that we can make things better now and he’ll agree to work on things with me.
Well, there is some truth to his approach. Things are shitty right now and that just comes with having young kids. Survival mode is what you’re in. Brian says this all the time, that having young kids is hard and mostly shitty and you just have to power through together, because it will end. We always wonder how many couples could have survived if they’d just realized that they had to power through until the phase ended. Because it is finite. Parenting is never easy, but we believe (and my therapist agreed) that this is the hardest, shittiest time. Ha!
Just wanted to say that “smooch” is a favorite word in our house right now too. I love the 18-month-old stage. 🙂
I really loved this when I read it days ago, but forgot to comment. Wanted you to know though how good it is to read something like this from you!
Thanks! I got such positive feedback from this post. I’ll definitely be writing more like it.