The New Year's quiz
1. what did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
2005: Plan wedding
2006: Married and Honeymoon!
2007: bought house-got preggers
2008: Gave birth
2009: Open a home daycare business

2. did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
2005:I kept most of them at one time or another. I didn't go to Europe with Kent, however.
2006:I accomplished a few more (I keep a list on the fridge and a few more are checked off).
2007: went backwards here
2008: Can't remember what they were- I didn't keep any weight loss if there were any but I feel I was a good mom. Yes I will make more and here they are: Be a better friend, Lose weight / be healthier, start daycare.
2009: I was up and down weight, I think I was a better friend, and yes: I started the home daycare!

3. did anyone close to you give birth?
2005:My Cousin Chu had his second baby this year.
2006: My friends Genevieve and Rich had Joshua and Chris and Trish had Madeline
2007: Angie had Aaron
2008: Myself
2009: Genevieve!

4. did anyone close to you die?
2005:My grandpa Charles Anthony Wuennemann died around St. Patty's day
2006: No, thank goodness
2007: no
2008: no
2009: no, three for three now!

5. what countries did you visit?
2005: Mexico and America
2006: Mexico and America
2007: USA
2008: USA
2009: USA

6. what would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
2005: more money and a single job that makes me happy.
2006: More time with Kent (travel)
2007: better places of employment for Kent and I- time w/baby
2008: In home Daycare
2009: profit lol!

7. what date from 20** will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
2005: Hurricane Katrina and the poor doggies left in the storm.
2006: September 2nd: My wedding!
2007: April when I woke up and took pregnancy test- telling Kent... yikes.
2008: The day Obama was elected. I cried with joy.
2009: Michael Jackson's death

8. what was your biggest achievement of the year?
2005: Being a good girlfriend to Kent and trying to be a good friend.
2006: Getting "one job to rule them all!"
2007: gestating human
2008: Being a Mom
2009: starting the daycare

9. what was your biggest failure?
2005: Not going to Europe.
2006: Getting into Guitar Lessons and having to bow out after a month because I didn't have time to practice.
2007: RFYP - I will say no more.
2008: Not getting a better job.
2009: not taking care of my body well enough, I suppose. I have also had a few low mothering moments this year.

10. did you suffer illness or injury?
2005: It was decided that I suffer of depression
2006: A sprained ankle, sprained wrist, and a bout with a digestive virus
2007: felt ill most of this year
2008: Was healthy towards the end but had trouble with knee problems and a few fevers/exhaustion.
2009: minor ailments

11. what was the best thing you bought?
2005: I bought a bike off my friend, Melissa's, Dad.
2006: I got a lot of gifts this year so I didn't buy anything too major. Maybe my Honeymoon...
2007: house
2008: a baby
2009: I'm pretty fond of the vintage felted mittens I bought myself. Oh, and all the daycare crap.

12. whose behavior merited celebration?
2005: My girlfriend Genevieve and her husband Dr. Rich got knocked up!
2006: Everyone who went to my wedding! Thanks for coming- everyone was a joy to be with!
2007: Kent - for putting up w/ me
2008: My Popo retired
2009: My state for legalizing gay marriage!

13. whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
2005: I plea the right to stay silent!
2006: Oh my, this really is an incriminating question. You know who you are...
2007: I hereby eliminate this question- too risky...

14. where did most of your money go?
2005: Bills.
2006: Wedding stuff or bills.
2007: house
2008: House/bills/baby
2009: food/daycare/house/bills/everything

15. what did you get really, really, really excited about?
2005: Planning my wedding, the prospect of moving and going to school, seeing my parents.
2006: Getting Married and going on my honeymoon. Quitting the school job and working at Reach.
2007: my baby
2008: Friendtoberfest in Chicago '08
2009: " " " '09

16. what song(s) will always remind you of 2008?
2005: ?
2006: "Fly me to the Moon" - Frank Sinatra
2007: "Santa baby" METROMIX!
2008: "Applebottom jeans with the fur, with the fur..."
2009: "The More we get together...."

17. compared to this time last year, are you
i. happier or sadder?:
2005: Happy- hooray for medication!
2006: Happier (not due to meds :)
2007: bigger highs and lows
2008: Happier
2009: Tough call... probably sadder :(

ii. thinner or fatter?:
2005: maybe a little fatter
2006: a little thinner
2007: fattest ever
2008: Is it possible- Fatter.
2009: the same?

iii. richer or poorer?:
2005: Approximately the same.
2006: richer (a little)
2007: way poorer
2008: I repeat, was it possible: Poor
2009: Poor

18. what do you wish you’d done more of?
2005: Traveling
2006: Camping
2007: standing up for myself
2008: Spending time with family
2009: spent more time with Kent

19. what do you wish you’d done less of?
2005: sleeping. I slept most of 2005 away.
2006: watching TV
2007: crying and throwing up
2008: eating
2009: saying no to Lucia...

20. how did you spend Christmas?
2005: With my honey, Kent, warm and cozy.
2006: with Mom and Dad (lots of food and fun!)
2007: Kent, Mom and Dad- CF
2008: Iowa City with Kent, Lucia, and Grand-In-laws
2009: see 2008 and subtract Kent

22. did you fall in love in 2005?
2005:I am always falling in love again with Kent.
2006: ditto
2007: ditto
2008: I fell hopelessly in love with Lucia
2009: not really. I love my daycare kiddos.

23. what was your favorite TV program?
2005: Project Runway
2006: Lost
2007:Intervention
2008: Six feet under (borrowed and rented on DVD)
2009: True Blood

24. do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
2005: No
2006: Sort of...in retrospect
2007: oh, yeah...
2008: No.
2009: No

25. what was the best book you read?
2005: Harry Potter #6 was pretty good.
2006: another Douglas Adams book. They are pretty funny
2007: Paolo Cohelo- Zahir
2008: I'm going to pick: "Time Traveler's wife" and "The confessions of Max Tivoli" because they got me reading again.
2009: Twilight series

your greatest musical discovery?
2005: That I hate R. Kelly's multi par song "In the closet"
2006: Shakira SHAKIRA!!!
2007: METROMIX CHOIR
2008: Dr. Jean
2009: Lady Ga Ga

(I don’t know what happened to 27 and 28)

29. what did you want and get?
2005: I wanted a nice place to have a wedding and I got it... wedding still on the way!
2006: a happy and joyous family filled wedding!
2007: I didn't know I Wanted it but I guess pregnant...
2008: I wanted a healthy beautiful baby and I got it.
2009: Daycare- yes

30. what did you want and not get?
2005: I generally want too much so I won't bore you with the list.
2006: (shhhhh.... a wedding band)
2007: job stability
2008: A better job.
2009: Tons of stuff. I'm poor.

31. what was your favorite film of this year?
2005: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
2006: maybe "Running with Scissors"
2007: maybe "Once"
2008:I sorta went bananas over "Mamma Mia" b/c of Colin Firth (my idol).
2009: Twilight movies

32. what did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
2005: I turned 28. I can't remember. Must not have been too exciting. Unless it was the one where I got the New England travel guide from Andy and JR- In which case I had a nice breakfast at my friends' Melissa and Sarah's house.
2006: Low key again. I think it was a nice European lunch with my friends and dinner with Kent.
2007: parents came up- I turned thirty and played poker
2008: Made treats for work. I probably had dinner with my folks and played poker with my friends.
2009: Tween Birthday party complete with life size cut out of RPattz and actual tweens (Lauren, Lindsey, Hannah and Damond). Thanks friends!

33. what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
2005: Traveling to Europe with Kent.
2006: Ditto
2007: if RFYP didn't flop
2008: To get Lucia in a room with all her Obert cousins (but she met them independently, briefly).
2009: Ummmmm... more romantic time with Kent.

34. how would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
2005: Kinda sloppy. Sometimes i dressed up but mostly I just wore what I've been wearing for the last four-ten years. I don't buy new clothes very often.
2006: Improved... more accessories and a little more razzle dazzle.
2007: Boo! fat pregnant clothes.
2008: VERY relaxed: a lot of knits
2009: Utilitarian

35. what kept you sane?
2005: Looking forward to moving, going to grad school, my friends, and Kent.
2006: Knitting
2007: Mom
2008: Poker nights with my friends
2009: Friends again win this one... Mom from time to time...

36. which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
2005: Definitely Colin Firth.
2006: Maybe Johnny Depp
2007: maybe Obama
2008: Definitely Obama
2009: Robert Pattinson BABY!

37. what political issue stirred you the most?
2005: Hurricane Katrina and the poor doggies that were left in the storm.
2006: Gay Marriage... want my friends to be able to get legally married in name.
2007: 2008 election
2008: Election of Obama
2009: Health care Reform

38. who did you miss?
2005: My parents in Mexico and Kara in Australia.
2006: My brothers and their kids... after getting a taste of my family I want more of that too!
2007: Same as above
2008: Maddie, Patrick and Aaron
2009: My parents are in AZ... Maddie Patrick and Aaron... family in general.

39. who was the best new person you met?
2005: i think my best new people are the new associates that worked in the same classroom with me, Jessica Gordon and Brian Rath.
2006: Friends from work at Reach.
2007: does Brian Hagmeier fit here?
2008: Cindy Evans
2009: Moana Mescher

40. tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 20**:
2005: There is no such thing as constructive criticism. To construct is to build up and to criticize is to break down and pick apart.
2006: Stay cool- don't lost yourself to stress.
2007: Don't move up too fast then get knocked up- your co-workers will be assholes.
2008: Love what you got.
2009: SCOPE BACK! See the big picture!


41. quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
2005: The lyrics to "I'm telling you now" by Keb Mo'
2006: Lyrics to "my hips don't lie" - FUN FUN FUN (Chicago's bachelorette party, the wedding, and out with my friends! Also a lot of workouts to my ipod)
2007: "multiply life by the power of two"- Indigo girls
2008: "Patty cake Patty cake Baker's man"
2009: "there's more than one way home" Keb'Mo'

I predict I will swoon at the sight of Alex Meraz when I go see New Moon. Is he old enough for me to swoon at?

Luci at bathtime... Josh and Luci in the ball pit and More Tween Pary fun...

Playing catch-up

It feels like when Lucia hit one year old life went into hyper drive or warp speed. She learned to walk at 9 months but by one year I have to run to keep Lucia out of anything and everything. Remember those first 3 months when I was asking, "Where is the challenge?" and "When does it get hard?"
It got challenging. It got hard. I don't mean to complain- I will have to work hard to find myself depressed with Lucia to do something goofy everyday to cheer me up. However, Lucia is a climber. She scales couches, chairs, tables, shelving, beds, cabinets, stairs, dressers... She will open any cupboard she can get to and promptly pulls out the contents before I lope the 5 or 6 steps between us to stop her.
I also remember writing about how Lucia would bang her head on my chest when she was hungry. Well, I'll be darned if our girl hasn't carried that behavior into toddler hood. We have endured many a bump on our noggin for either not getting her out the door fast enough so she can play outside or for those crabby times when she just can't communicate what she's feeling or wanting... Her poor little forehead has taken the brunt of many of her frustrations. As she grows and develops tools and language to communicate we are seeing less of it. We also were unable to continue putting her in her crib in efforts to establish a "bedtime". She started head banging and sobbing instead of sleeping. We commenced a routine of bath time, then reading, then rocking and ultimately sleeping in our bed (its mine 4 nights out of the week-"ours" for only two due to Daddy's work schedule) in order to curb more head banging. Now, I'm dangerously content sleeping with her. Luckily, we have largely been able to transfer her after she falls asleep into her crib.
When Lucia is bored with meal times she has come up with a few creative ways to express she's finished. For awhile she fed the dog her food. This caused the dog to bark to go outside to crap a gazillion times a day. So then we only put small amounts on her tray at a time. That works but when she's done she will start stuffing the food down her shirt and smear it in her hair. So that's been amusing...
Its been increasingly entertaining finding myself in a variety of "Lucia conversations."
Lucia: "Buh bye!"
Me: "Oh! See you later! Auf Weidersehen"
Lucia: "af-veee-say say! Bye! (Lucia hides b/w two large dressers while she maniacally grins at me for a minute and I pretend not to notice her then reveals herself again....... ) "Hi YA!"
Me: "Welcome Back"
...Repeat 20 times...
... or ...
Lucia (nodding): "Uh-huh! Okay?"
Me: "Okay."
Lucia (lifting shirt, looking at belly button): "Bee Ba?"
Me: "Yes, that's your belly button"
Lucia (laughing hysterically and racking at my shirt to uncover my belly button): "Grrrrrr!"

Lucia has visited her grandparents and my brother's family in AZ since her first birthday. I celebrated my 32nd birthday (right? I lose count all the time now). For my birthday I invited my tween nieces, the Coghill-Behrends tweens, as well as my Twilight obsessed friend Genevieve and the Barrons over for a Tween pajama party. We ate mushroom ravioli, looked at tweenie twilight magazines and watched the movie.
My friend Genevieve and I also went to the "Tulip Time Festival". It was my first time there. We took our toddlers and watched the parade, ate "dutch fair food" and took pretty pictures in the Tulips. I went to college for one trimester in Pella. It was really neat to see out the town has changes and ogle all the clean cut Norman Rockwell Central students with their little dutch hats and whatnot. Genevieve and Josh caused quite a ruckus at the port-a-potty. But I'll let her tell that one.
Lastly, and most importantly, I've been gearing up to open my house up as a daycare! I'm in the process of getting registered with the Department of Human Services. That means I've been going to trainings, filling out paperwork, and meeting with people who know about these things. I have two little guys lined up and I'm still looking for a couple more to make ends meet. I'm very excited about it. I've most recently enjoyed printing out schedule pieces on Boardmaker and laminating them at work (he he). I can't wait to have my own mini-early childhood classroom and to be able to have Lucia involved in all the things I have planned! I have fun ideas about having a cooking class (adapted, of course), craft ideas, monthly or weekly themes, centers, singing to all that great music I copied from teachers along the way... Sometimes, a decision in life is made easier when everything sort of just points to it. Committing to doing daycare became easy once I gave into the logic of doing in home daycare. Something stubborn inside me resists things when they make so much sense it seems too easy as if its somehow cheating. I don't know where I got that but I've struggled with it for as long as I can remember. I ALWAYS over complicate things for myself. Therefore, I'm glad my brain gave up and gave in on this one because it should make like that much more enjoyable for my family.

SHE'S #1!

Lucia's first Birthday was a blast. It was also a wrecking ball to our energy. We were really wiped out by the end of the day! Thanks to Scott and Emily for the wine (what a great 1st birthday gift!). We had crazy town downstairs where all the kiddos went BANANAS. In the words of Quincy, "The real party's downstairs guys!". We catered pizza, sugar free cupcakes, veggies, fruit, soda and chocolate cake. All our friends and neighbors were there. As were the grandparents. I had ambitions that included games but the kids were just having too much fun being wild. We let them free. I have a letter to write including Lucia's development but the more active she becomes the less time I have for those kinds of indulgences. Not to mention I've been using ever spare moment reading that damn Twilight series. All in all, our little one is grown and doing wonderfully. I have our family doctor fooled that I'm the best mother she's ever met. I give Lucia all the credit for that one. It's easy to be a good mommy when the baby is such a pleasure and dream to raise. I told Kent we shouldn't have any more kids because it couldn't get much easier than Lucia!

Why I Love IOWA

When it's Winter time in IOWA
and the gentle breezes blow,
about sixty miles an hour
and it's twenty-five below.
You can tell you're in IOWA
'Cause the snow's up to your butt,
and you take a breath of Winter air
and your nostrils both freeze shut.
The weather here is wonderful,
So I guess I'll hang around,
I could NEVER leave IOWA
Me feet are frozen to the ground!


*****The temps are supposed to hit 50 below zero tonight and tomorrow.

Um.... Go Hawks?