C-R-A-Z-Y Weather

Wow has this end of winter/beginning of Spring brought us some crazy, crazy warm weather. We're talking low to mid 80's quite a few days already!! We've beat so many weather records, I don't think the meteorologists can keep up (haha).

I read an article our local newspaper that mentioned the local parks departments only made $3800 in revenue during the winter of 2011/2012. That's 83% below last year. They did, however, re-coop some of that short fall with all the people that played disc golf in February. Yep, February! I'm telling you...it's just nuts.

I have to be honest though, I'm afraid we're still in for some colder temps before the warm weather is here to stay. I'm not really thinking white stuff (snow), but colder "normal" temps for this time of year. Honestly, I love this warm/hot weather, but I'd like to do my Spring yard clean-up not sweating my "you know what" off.

How about you? What are the Spring temps where you are? Crazy like ours in Northern Indiana?

Regardless, Happy Spring to all of you fellow bloggers!

It's Party Time

Today we are celebrating Olivia's 13th birthday with family. We're still working on a date to have something with a small group of friends.

As she has gotten older, her gift choices have become more expensive! That makes shopping a lot harder. We're sure she'll love what we got her; it's all she's been asking for. Of course it will be the last thing she opens to keep her suspense level up. I will try to get a good picture and post it after the party.

I just love it when there is a reason to celebrate!

Olivia is a teenager

Today I am the mother of a teenager. Happy 13th to my daughter, Olivia Paige.

Thirteen years ago at 11:31pm on March 14, 1999 my world changed forever. When I first found out I was pregnant (July 1, 1998), it had been after 2-1/2 years of infertility. To say I was overjoyed is an understatement. It took a blood test at my doctor's office to confirm my suspicions since 3 at-home tests all indicated negative.

My original due date was February 28, then moved to March 6th. Guess what? She was late...and has maintained that part of her personality since day one (haha). I ended up being induced the morning of Sunday, March 14th. I arrived at the hospital about 7:30 and they broke my water around 9ish. I got an epidural to help with the pain and waited patiently throughout the day for progress. Around 9:00pm, the doctor came in and explained to me that he would give my body one more hour to work on it's own, otherwise, he would recommend a c-section. The tears. They came. At 11:00pm I was wheeled into the OR to delivery my baby (sex unknown at the time).

Thirty one minutes later I was a mom. T~O~T~A~L~L~Y shocked to find out I had delivered a girl. My gut told me all along (based on boys being dominating in the family) that I would probably have a boy. To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement. To say I was overjoyed is an even bigger understatement. I know deep, deep down I was hoping for a girl. But, after 2-1/2 years of trying, I would have been happy with either.

13 years later, I am still one happy, proud mom.

Happy, Happy Birthday to my daughter who means the world to me!

Tomorrow's post

I've changed up my background and picture to get ready for tomorrow's post.

Yes, you guess it....it will be birthday related.

Yelling

This is a pure venting post. Pure venting...

Am I the only mom of an almost teenager that feels all she does is yell at her daughter? I mean, really. I feel that's all I do these days.

I've tried talking, talking with emphasis, and talking with a raised voice but she just doesn't get it sometimes. This morning it was pure yelling. Loud!

The biggest problem is timing. She always runs late. It doesn't matter if I try having her get ready earlier than "normal" or if I try to give us a few extra "secret" minutes. Nothing works. When she is running late, it makes me late. When I know I'm going to be late for whatever it might be, it gets me angry and I yell.

Yes, I realize that yelling obviously isn't solving the problem. But sometimes it's the way I vent. I need to stop, but sometimes my frustration just isn't as controlled as I would like it to be.

I've been promised that she's going to try working on getting better, and I will work on being more calm during situations like this. It's tough, though...really tough.

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Ok, I'm done now. Hope you all have a good Wednesday.

It's March

Can you believe it's already the month of March? I always knew time would fly faster as I got older, but holy cow! Crazy!

This month marks a milestone birthday for my sweet (most of the time) Olivia. Milestone as in the age of 13. Yep, I'll have a teenager in the house. Not sure how that happened. Wasn't I just pregnant? Wasn't she just learning how to crawl? Walk? Run? Skip? Jump?

She and I are trying to "work together" on figuring out what she's going to do for her party with friends. I'm trying to keep it pretty low key and she's trying to persuade me otherwise. Gosh, I wonder who will win! I mean, she only turns 13 once, right?!?! Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Normally I tend to plan way ahead of time, but it just seems like her birthday is sneaking up on us. By this weekend we HAVE to have plans made so I can have peace of mind.

Before we know it the day will be here and she'll be blowing out the candles on her cake.