Happy New DECADE!
I saw this on another blog and thought it would be fun! My last decade was completely and utterly dominated by babies, kids, and family. It makes me wonder what I want the next 10 years to look like.... :)
10 years ago: I was planning our wedding. We will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary this coming May 20th. Time flies when you are having fun (and having babies).
9 years ago: I was expecting Princess, my parents' very first grandchild. We had been married for 8 months. We moved 1000 miles from home for DadOf4's new job and I was telecommuting, working 60+ hours a week with some really communication-challenged people. Very stressful. We had Princess this year and I was so excited, happy, and scared to be a mom. I didn't want to mess her up!
8 years ago: I had a 6 month old and we had just moved into this house. I quit my job after 9/11 to stay home full time - that was a huge identity crisis for me. We had been living in an apartment for a year after moving 1000 miles away from home, family, and friends. It took many years to find close friends again. This was hard. This year was also hard because I was either really needed or really had nothing to do but clean the house. I was struggling a bit to reinvent myself in this non-working mother role. :)
7 years ago: I had a 1 1/2 year old and I was expecting the Prince. We were deep into remodeling our house. We re-did the entire kitchen, painted every room in the house but the bathrooms and the two formal rooms. Progress!
6 years ago: I had a 6 month old and a 2 1/2 year old. We had a big enough snowfall on Valentine's Day of that year to make a life-sized snowman! I joined MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) this year and started making some new friends (lifesavers). We went to Disney World this year because DadOf4 was sent to a conference in Orlando and we thought "What the heck?" I would like to go back this year too! We also re-carpeted the house this year.
5 years ago: I was expecting the Knight, had a 1 1/2 year old and a 3 1/2 year old. This time was very structured. Both Princess and Prince napped on a tight schedule and things were running pretty smoothly at home. We were pretty much tied to nap schedules and keeping the kids happy.
4 years ago: I had an almost 1 year old, a 2 1/2 year old and a 4 1/2 year old. This was one of the most difficult years of my life. I love having kids so close in age, but this year almost did me in. I was spread very, very thin and had little if no time for myself. I gained weigh and felt horrible about that.
3 years ago: Three years ago I had an almost 2 year old, a 3 1/2 year old, and a 5 1/2 year old. Princess was in Kindergarten and that was really hard for me to bear. We lost my grandfather on February 25th.
2 years ago: Two years ago, I had an almost 3 year old, a 4 1/2 year old and a 6 1/2 year old. I had just started training for my first 5K race. I was also 30 pounds heavier than I am today. I've gotta pick up running again after all of the New Year Resolutioin crowd have stopped going to my gym! I would like to work up to a 10K this year. A month after my first 5K we found out about the Duke. We were happy and a little nervous to go back to having an itty bitty in the house.
1 year ago: One year ago, I had a newborn baby boy who had just come home after spending a week and a day in the NICU. I also had an almost 4 year old boy, a 5 1/2 year old boy and a 7 1/2 year old girl. Prince and Princess were both playing basketball and we were running ourselves pretty ragged getting everyone where they needed to be when we needed to be there. I was having many sleepless nights and feeling very lonely and longing for family to come out and visit our newest addition. A year ago we were also looking forward to being a part of the wedding party for DadOf4's brother and his now wife. It was a great motivator for losing weight! I lost 35 pounds total.
Today: Today I am feeling happier. I have a really good friend who likes to go to the gym - two birds with one stone! I am better at watching what I eat and understanding how that affects my mood. I am as busy as I have ever been. The downtime I have, I feel like I have to borrow from the kids. They do homework, nap, watch a movie, and I facebook, blog or read. I need those stolen mements though - even if they make me feel guilty. I have 4 beautiful, precious children who are counting on me to be their cheerleader, motivator, and, well, mother. If I have learned one thing, it is this: to be the best mom I can be, I have to have some time to fill myself up. If I am running on empty, they get nothing. If I can take a few minutes every day and do something for myself, be it running, writing, or facebooking to reconnect to an old friend I am a better mother for them.
Maybe I will look into my crystal ball and try to predict what the next 10 years will bring. I will save the Looking Ahead for another day.
