Life List: 101 Things I Want to Accomplish In My Life

I've written before about life goals, but I've been inspired by others to expand my list. I'm going to begin with the things on my original list and add to it.

1. Become a foster parent. I've wanted to do this for years. When my kids are a little older, I'd love to provide a safe and loving temporary home for little kids. 
2. Participate in the Breast Cancer 3-Day. I think this would be such a great experience, but I need to enlist a friend or two to do it with me and help me raise funds because I really hate asking for money.
3. Run a 5K. Sounds pathetic, I know, but this would be a challenge for me and I really want to do it.  
4. Get LASIK eye surgery. Originally I also had "get contact lenses" on my list, but I did that in 2010. And I hardly wear them because I'm lazy. I'm still glad to have them for those times when I don't want to be wearing glasses. But it would be lovely to lay in bed at night and watch t.v. and not worry if I'm going to wake up laying on a pair of crushed glasses.
5. Live somewhere outside of Michigan. I don't know if I'd ever want to permanently re-locate, but I would like to live someplace outside of the mitten for awhile, preferably someplace where months of endless winter don't suck the life out of me.
6. Scuba dive. This one scares the crap out of me. I don't know if I could overcome my fear of spontaneously combusting from oxygen to the brain or something. (boy, am I my mother's child or what?) But I think it would be totally surreal to get an up-close view of life under the sea. I will at least snorkel. I can totally handle that. I think.
7. Take my kids on a major, life changing trip. My real dream is to take a family round the world trip, like my idols at sixintheworld.com did. They inspire me, as does this family . 
8. Volunteer in a third world country. I'd love if we could do this as a family someday, when the kids are a little older. It'd be great if my youngest was past the eating anything and everything she happens to see on the floor no matter where she is phase.
9. Master sewing. I'd like to be able to follow a pattern and make clothes. I don't quite aspire to be like my friend Hilary who can sew the most amazing things, like turning her husband's dress shirts into the most adorable dresses for her girls, but it would be nice cause I'm totally jealous. 
10. Learn to crochet or knit. I want to do this one this year. I need something to do with my hands while I'm watching t.v. or riding in the car. I just need someone to teach me because I don't think I'm one of those people who can pick it up from watching You Tube tutorials.
11. Go on a zip line. This one scares me too, but I think I could do it. Maybe a little Valium beforehand would do the trick. Kidding. (probably). There's one at the Grand Rapids Zoo, which I know isn't as exciting as zipping through the rain forest, but it might be more my speed.
12. Master French. French was my favorite class in high school, and I started out as a French major in college, but transferring colleges a couple times got my classes screwed up and I switched to Psychology (smart move. not.). I want to speak fluent French and understand it when I go to France someday.
13. Ride a bike again. I haven't ridden a bike since I was about 11 years old. But my aunt is giving me her bike and I'm totally going to ride it this year. I better get a helmet though cause I'm not exactly known for my grace and athleticism. I see family bike rides in my future.
14. Be in decent enough shape that I'm not mortified to be seen in public in a bathing suit. Don't worry, not a bikini (scared you there for a minute, didn't I?), that will never happen without the aid of cosmetic surgery. It's sad that the most comfortable I've been in a bathing suit in the last 10 years was when I was pregnant. Cause then it's cute to have a huge belly.
15. Go on a trip with friends. No kids. That's for Chris whose reading this and thinking, go ahead. You and the kids go ahead and take a trip with friends, what are you waiting for?
16. Go back to Jamaica where we went on our honeymoon. That was the plan for our 10th anniversary, before Chris lost his job and then almost died of a ruptured ulcer. Fun times, 2008.
17. Go to Prince Edward Island and see all the sights from Anne of Green Gables, one of my favorite series of books as a child.
18. Take a family road trip across the entire U.S. As a kid I traveled from Michigan to Arizona and California and back again a few times, but I don't remember much of it. I'm probably nuts but I just think it would be so much fun.
19. Buy a camper. Then we could take it on our cross-country trek. And lots of other places.
20. See the pyramids in Egypt. Maybe I helped build them in a former life because I have wanted to do this for as long as I can remember.
21. Get in the habit of meditating daily. I need this to calm my busy mind.
22. Take a mother/daughter, mother/son trip alone with each of my kids. Even if only for a night or two.
23. Get in the habit of washing my face every night. Again, I'm lazy. I don't wear much make-up though, so it's not totally disgusting. Just a little disgusting.
24. Get braces. The sooner the better.
25. Publish a book.
26. Potty train Mathilda. oh wait, how'd that get on here?
27. Do something fun on New Year's Eve. We need to break our tradition of boring nights in on NYE.
28. See a play on Broadway. 
29. Go back to Arizona and California and see where I lived as a kid.
30. Go cross-country skiing. 
31. Try out being a being a vegetarian for awhile. Not a vegan though. I need my cheese and ice cream, thank you very much.
32. Ban the children from watching television for a set period of time, like a month or three. Notice I didn't mention anything about the parents.
33. Learn to draw. This is another thing my mom can do but somehow never taught me. Maybe it was the poisonous lead...
34. Teach my girls to sew. Well Connor too if he's interested. Which he's not because girls do that. And girls are like so gross. But I'm totally equal opportunity and all. Once I figure out what I'm doing, I'd like to pass it on.

I'm going to continue this next time. I better quit before I fall asleep on my laptop. Which is not as uncommon as you might imagine. In the meantime I'll be thinking of more goals to add to my list.

Has Anyone Ever Actually Sold Their Kids To The Gypsies?

I love having my kids home with me. Snow days are fantastic, school breaks are lovely. Sick days, on the other hand...not so much. My big kids have strep throat and the antibiotics have started to kick in, so they're still sick enough to miss school tomorrow but well enough to follow me around the house all day and drive me batty. Oh my gosh they never stop eating. The very second they finish one thing, they are pestering me about what's up next on the menu. Lucy and Mathilda love to do everything their big brother and big sister do, so they have joined in on the fun too. Four kids taking turns begging me for food all day long, and well I pretty much got nothing done all day that didn't involve toasting bread, pouring Vernors, making Jello, cutting up apples, and washing dishes. Cause all that eating uses up lots of dishes.

Luckily, they love t.v., so at least I don't have to entertain them all day while I'm preparing and delivering food, and perpetually cleaning up the kitchen. Well Mathilda does love t.v., but she also loves mischief  plus she seems to have me confused with the cruise director, so I spend a lot of time sort of pretending to play half-ass games with her while I'm simultaneously doing ten million other things. Sorry Mathilda if you're scarred for life. Someday maybe you'll be a mother with kids home sick from school and you'll understand I didn't mean you any harm. 

So I'm wondering, does anyone actually have a number for the gypsies, or should I just put a golden lantern on the porch or something so they know I have wares to offer them? Anyone???

Life Doesn't Always Have to Be Scary

I was raised, with the best of intentions, in fear. The purpose was to keep me safe, but at times the over-protectiveness was a bit stifling.

Cooking, for example, is a mystery to me that I just sort of stumble through because, well, we George's like to eat. But my mom never taught me to cook since she was absolutely certain I would burn the house down if I got near the stove. Luckily I can read and more or less follow a recipe, but there are times I think to myself, "shouldn't I have learned how to do this like 20 years ago?"

And I suppose my mom never taught me to sew because then I would have, you know, pricked my finger and fallen into the inevitable sleep of 100 years. Because that is what always happens when you mess with dangerous sewing needles. My aunt gave me a sewing machine a few years ago, by the way, and I've pretty much taught myself how to use it (and lived to tell!). However, the truth is I don't exactly know what I'm doing. Which is kind of sad since my mom and her sisters can sew like nobody's business. 

I don't mean to pick on my mom. I was an only child. So I naturally lived in a parallel universe where danger lurked around every corner. Particularly perilous were the unassuming, "safe" seeming things; you know, like puppy dogs and parked cars. Anyone who knows my mom will be nodding in acknowledgment right about now, because I am not exaggerating. At all.

Now that I'm a parent myself, I know how absolutely terrifying it sometimes feels to let go and give my children opportunities to explore and learn, and how unnerving it can be to stand back even though they might get hurt. Last summer when Bethany wanted to ride her bike around the block, I hyperventilated a little but I let her do it. Okay, it took some convincing, but I let her do it. And I didn't follow her. (I did make her take her brother). When she asks to cook scrambled eggs or grilled cheese sandwiches, I panic slightly on the inside, but I agree - with only a minimal number of reminders to be careful. I may have been known to say something like "don't catch your hair on fire" once or twice, but geeze, that could happen.

But the thing is, I don't want my kids to live in a world of "what if?". I want them to take chances and push themselves out of their comfort zones and do things they never thought they were capable of. 

I don't want them to be afraid to LIVE. 

I don't want them to wait until they're living in a dorm with no clean underwear to learn how to use a washing machine. Although where's the danger there? Maybe that one had more to do with fear of material damage. Or else the drowning thing. Because you know a 2x4 could randomly fall from the ceiling, hit you in the head and knock you out cold, thereby causing you to fall head first into the washing machine, left to drown with no one around to help you. It could happen.  

A little bit of fear is a good thing. If fear keeps my kids from doing drugs or drinking and driving or going to bed without brushing their teeth, well I'm totally okay with that. Yes! Be afraid! But I guess I want them to save the fear for the big stuff. And I'll try to do the same.

(even though it's really, really hard).

 
 

Snip, Snip; Sniff, Sniff

Our baby making days are officially over. Chris bravely faced his own 

personal V-Day yesterday. He is sore but relieved, oh so very relieved. 

Not that he doesn't love being a father of four, but being a father of  

five is decidedly not on his agenda. 

As a friend pointed out to me, perhaps the anticipation of this event has 

spurred my recent melancholia concerning the rapidly passing youth of my 

little chickies. Maybe so, and I do miss the younger baby days. But I think

I'm ready to move forward, to a life that will never again include maternity 

clothes and epidurals, and that will soon no longer involve nursing and 

diapers.I will enjoy my ever expanding freedom as my kids grow more and 

more independent. Even while periodically wishing I could go back in time 

and smell that new baby scent once again, and hold their tiny little fingers, 

and kiss their delicious itty bitty ears.

In the not-too-distant horizon, I can almost see a life where all of my kids are in school, every day. Where no one needs me to wipe their bottoms or pour them some juice (as soon as I sit down to eat my already cold meal). Where I can maybe think about going back to school, or having a career, or going grocery shopping alone anytime I want to. I have to admit, it sounds kind of nice. I am looking forward to this new life, but I will also savor the moments and milestones along the way to it. I will hold their 9,7,4, and 1 year old hands, and kiss their 10,8,5, and 2 year old ears. And maybe sometimes I will still think, "what if?", but I will know in my heart that I would have lost my mind with one more baby, so it's best that we stopped with four.

I'm About To Enter Another Dimension

I think I must be living in the twilight zone. How else to explain that this little girl...

is going to Kindergarten this very year? I filled out the registration paperwork, gathered up the required documents, and I'll be dropping everything off at the school office tomorrow. But since time and space have no meaning, that means I can just go back to those sweet baby days  ^ any time I want to, right? Right??? 

Maybe her next birthday would be a more appropriate time to reminisce my sweet Lucy's babyhood, but...but...she's going to Kindergarten! This fall! Holy cow!

When I discovered I was expecting Lucy, my Grandma was fading from this world quickly. Although the pregnancy wasn't planned, I felt so happy and at peace with it. Of course I was happy and excited when I was pregnant with Bethany and Connor too, but my third felt different somehow. Maybe just because I was in my 30's as opposed to my 20's, or more experienced as a mother, or because I really wanted another baby but didn't quite believe it would ever happen. All I know is that when I look back at that point in my life, it was one of my most joyful times. Which is really kind of weird because my Grandma was so very sick, and I couldn't imagine my life without her in it. When she passed away, I hadn't yet learned that Lucy was going to be a girl. I wish I had known so I could have told my Grandma that her fourth great-grandchild was going to be named after her. 

I used to think, when she was in-utero, that Lucy could understand me when I talked to her.  Later in my pregnancy, when I would find myself worrying because she wasn't moving around much (hello? not much room in there), I would ask her to please move so I wouldn't worry. And she did.

When Lucy was born, the peaceful feeling continued. I decided to try nursing again, after a disastrous attempt with Bethany. I kept at it, talking myself through the horrible pain and...well I won't go into details, let's just say it was uncomfortable. But I made it through the ugly part and before too long it wasn't so hard, and I was really proud of myself for making it work this time. She was a horrible sleeper, which was a blow after having my first two champion sleeper-through-the-nighters. I seem to remember the pediatrician telling me it was about time I "got a real baby." But oddly, I didn't really mind. She slept with us and prevented me from getting a good night sleep for about 18 months. Yet somehow I was patient and enjoyed the time with her. Even before she could talk, we always kind of had a way of understanding each other. Sometimes I wonder if my Grandma came back to me in the form of a lively little sass-pot named Lucy Margaret George.

My Lucy continues to be a source of endless joy in my life, although she can sometimes be, ahem, challenging.  She skipped right past the terrible 2's, and didn't really start with the tyrannical 3's until she was thoroughly convinced Mathilda was a permanent fixture in our family. Nonetheless, Lucy is a good big sister (most of the time) and a good(ish) little sister (most of the time). She is sweet and loving and generous and cuddly and has cheeks I just want to gobble up. And I really don't know how it is possible that she is going off to Kindergarten this fall.