Keeping that in mind, let me introduce you to the harmonica. Gavin’s grandparents gave him a harmonica for Christmas. Since then, every once in a while, Sweets or I will show Gavin how to play it. Only, when we hand it over to him, he puts it up to his mouth and doesn’t do anything. Of course this results in silence and isn’t fun for anyone.

We tried this unsuccessfully for over a month, until earlier this week. Gavin picked up the harmonica and started breathing in and out through his mouth. Small little sounds started floating out of the harmonica. He’d stop. Look at us. Grin big. And do it again, this time bouncing up and down while he played (his version of dancing).

After we were sure he was actually playing (and it wasn’t a fluke), I recorded this little diddy. You can ignore my annoying voice that is way too loud compared to the sound of the harmonica.

Other new habits this week? Correctly blowing his nose (he used to blow out through his mouth when we’d ask him to blow his nose into a tissue). Getting better at brushing his teeth (apparently, the toddlers at daycare brush their teeth after lunch everyday – Gavin earned a sticker for doing it correctly earlier this week). And, arched back, collapse-to-the-floor tantrums over nothing in particular (welcome to toddlerhood). I’m pretty sure my reaction has been “seriously?!” or “get real, kid” … lots of sympathy over here, can you tell? ha.

Hope y’all have a fabulous weekend. See ya on the flip side!

What do I believe? I believe certain Republicans in Congress are instigating investigations into Planned Parenthood, not because they believe there’s been a misappropriation of funds, but because it serves their personal agendas of appeasing their highly conservative constituencies. I believe Komen caved to pressure from pro-choice groups. I believe, at the direction of one of their executives with a very personal agenda, they carved out new corporate policies that allow it to yank funding from Planned Parenthood without debate. I believe they mistreated and were completely disrespectful to Planned Parenthood—not by yanking funding (that one we can debate), but by making an announcement to Planned Parenthood, instead of meeting face to face with Planned Parenthood leadership. Is this any way to treat an organization they’ve partnered with for seven years? Cowardly, I think so.

My reaction? I was deeply saddened by this news. Because, I actually have history with the Komen Foundation. My college sorority picked the Susan G Komen Foundation as it’s national charity (and I can only hope they will seriously reconsider a different breast cancer organization to support going forward). We organized the Franklin 5K (before 5ks were popular) as an annual fundraiser for the organization. Over the years, we raised thousands upon thousands of dollars for that organization. After I graduated and moved to Chicago, I continued to support that organization by raising money for and running in the Race for the Cure. And so, it’s sort of a stake in my heart that an organization I supported for so many years could so egregiously mistreat another organization I happen to support. And, more important than my personal disappointment, it’s incredibly unfortunate that women’s health has to be politicized. Ridiculous and appalling, actually.

Furthermore, this story adds more reasons why I am utterly confused by the political right. The whole conservative Republican movement screams at liberal Democrats that we need less government. Fewer taxes. Less spending. Stay out of our business. That’s their message and trust me, we hear it loud and clear. Oh, but wait a minute. What’s that? If the conservative Republicans don’t agree with my business, then they’re more than happy to stick their noses in it? So, what this basically means is that when it comes to my body, conservative Republicans have their hands all over it. Hypocrisy much? Eff that.

Ooooh boy, I can feel the comments brewing. Or even better, the lack of comments brewing, because many of you don’t like to pick fights. And that’s fine. Bring it on. Or don’t. In the meantime, I’m gonna turn my words into action. Instead of continuing to whine about this sad state of affairs any more, I’m heading over to the Planned Parenthood website to make a donation. And from what I hear, a lot of others have, too (they raised $400,000 in the 24 hours after the Komen announcement went public). Action speaks louder than words.

1. I have never subscribed to New Year’s Resolutions
2. 2012 will be the year for my own resolutions.

Conflicting much? I like to keep you on your toes. Well, I haven’t forgotten those goals. I actually wrote each of them down in my planner and have been tracking my progress throughout January. And to keep me accountable (and thus, more likely to stick to these goals), I’m going to do monthly updates. Since today is February 1st, I bring you an update on how I did in January.

Simplify Online

I took a long, hard look at the blogs I had subscribed to. I unsubscribed from a number of blogs I no longer read. A few personal blogs, but I had already purged that part of my reader last year. Mostly random parenting blogs that I read sometimes, but never commented on them and didn’t really feel a part of that community. That said, I also sought out some new blogs of interest (Chicago-based and parenting). I consider myself a lurker of many of those blogs right now, until I decide whether I’ll keep them around long-term or not.

Get Involved

Gavin’s daycare offers a number of parent programs; many of them are geared towards the whole family, fundraising or parenting. Sweets and I participated in one this month – it was all about child discipline. It was a nice chance to briefly chat with some of the parents and provided some interesting and useful information.

But, what that evening didn’t provide was a really good chance to get to know the parents of the kids that Gavin plays with everyday. I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I want an event just for us parents! So, I emailed the director of Gavin’s daycare suggesting a Parents’ Night Out (PNO). She was enthusiastic about my suggestion to also weave in some light fundraising, too, and we have a meeting planned with the fundraising committee this week!

Read

Towards the end of 2011, I asked Nora and Lisa to put their heads together to provide me a list of twelve books they’d recommend I read in my quest to finish 12 books in 2012. I was very excited to get started, so I began reading One Day in late December. It was a great first book – not too heavy and easy to read. I laughed. I cried. Seriously. And, I finished that book in mid-January! I immediately began my second book, Very Valentine, because I thought the title was fitting for my February read! Also? The book takes place in NYC and we have a trip planned there this month! It’s meant to be my February read. Now, if only I could carve out some time to sit down and read the way I did last month … it’s been a slow start!

Exercise & Eating

This was a very meh month on the eating and exercise front. Mostly because I was pretty darn sick the first half of the month and again towards the end of the month. And then there was that trip to Las Vegas. And, well, next thing you know, it’s February and I’m a slacker. I have been keeping track of calorie intake and think I have a pretty good grip on what I should be eating when I am exercising regularly. In other words, I pretty much maintained my weight in January. That has to change in February and I may or may not have joined a wee little neighborhood gym to get me back in the swing of things (I admit, I’ve missed the gym).

Stay in Touch

Whew boy. I live a busy life AND I have very busy friends! I did initiate calls to friends in Madison, Charlotte and Savannah. There was some amount of phone tag. But, I only actually spoke with one friend in Charlotte. That said, it felt good to reach out to long-distance friends, to hear their voices on my voicemail and to connect with a college girlfriend.

Locally, we got together with Gavin’s preemie twin for a fantastic playdate (definitely more of those to come) and went to a local children’s museum with Gavin’s cousins (also a huge hit, definitely to be repeated). There was also a visit from my parents and a number of Sundays with Sweets’ parents. Due to my stupid sinus infection, Gavin’s brush with pneumonia and Sweets’ cold, we had to cancel plans with some local blogging friends (and their adorable families), bail on getting together with Lisa when she was in town and skip the birthday party of a friend. Here’s hoping a healthier February means more fun social interactions!

Photograph

I was actually pretty good about picking up my camera this month. I shared some of those photos with you in my posts about New Year’s Eve, being sick, having fun with Sweets’ new cycling gear, our trip to the children’s museum and our trip to Vegas. I also organized all my digital photo files. Previously, I named each file with the event and date, such as “Children’s Museum January 2012.” But, those files were becoming cumbersome. So, I spent quite a bit of time organizing those files into years (2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, etc.). And, starting in 2012, I am adding monthly folders. So, those children’s museum photos … the 2012 folder has a January folder, which has a children’s museum folder and all the photos from our excursion lie there. This is not a fool-proof method. Remember those photos I took of my hair, before and after? Those are within the January folder, but are not organized into a specific sub-folder. But, my head doesn’t explode each time I go into my Photographs folder, because it is now neat and organized!

Focus on My Family

I thought about this goal a lot this month. There were a lot of days where it was just the three of us, because one (or all) of us was sick and we had to bail on other plans. I don’t count that as productive time with my family. We had plans to go to Polar Adventure Days, but had a sick house and bailed. But, there was a small success tucked in that day. Y’all don’t know how much will power it took not to plan an excursion that day with friends. We have so many friends with kids around the same age as Gavin whom we would’ve loved to have joined us. Yet, I was able to refrain from asking anyone. Even though we bailed on the day, I think it was a still a great exercise in self restraint.

That said, we did successfully do some things – just the three of us. We went out for Sweets’ birthday dinner to a local neighborhood favorite. And, we took a trip to Vegas. I had to go for work, but I thought we’d be able to sneak some family-only moments, away from all our friends and family. And you know what? We did!

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Overall, I am happy with the goals I’ve set up for myself this year. I think if I work on them a little at a time each month, I will wrap up this year a happy camper. Now that we’re one twelfth into 2012, how would you say your year is measuring up (in general or based on your resolutions for the year)?

So, Sweets and I had to decide what to do. We both agreed we were not ready to leave Gavin in someone else’s care for three days and two nights. But, the question on the table was whether Sweets would stay home while I traveled or whether I’d drag them with me. I decided I wasn’t yet ready to be away from my boys for so many days/nights, so they were coming with me! Overall, the trip was both great and incredibly challenging. There definitely were some lessons learned about traveling with a toddler.

We tried to arrange our flights to align with Gavin’s nap time, which was especially important given the flight was 4 hours on the way to Vegas and over 3 hours on the way home. Gavin slept for 30 minutes on the way out and didn’t sleep at all on the way home. Even though we purchased an extra seat for him (best move we could’ve made!), it was still a huge challenge to contain him to our row of seats. He doesn’t yet “get” the baby apps we downloaded to Sweets’ iPad. Books go only so far. Lesson learned, next time we assume he won’t sleep at all (and bring appropriate activities to accommodate).

Another challenge? Staying in a hotel and planning meals for a toddler. When it’s just two adults in a hotel, the conversation goes something like this: We’re hungry. Great, let’s pick a restaurant and get something to eat. It’s then easily an hour between choosing where to eat, getting there, getting seated, ordering your food and getting served. With a toddler, it’s not as easy. Because, when the toddler is hungry, it’s go time immediately. There is no hour to give. So, we had to be ahead of the game, which can be challenging when you’re staying in a hotel, let alone a freaking casino in Las Vegas!

That said, the rest of the trip was pretty amazing. From a work perspective, I had worked really hard to organize this trip for my company. I only had six weeks to get hotel rooms, restaurants and meeting space for our company. In any other city, that short time frame probably wouldn’t be a big deal. But, in Vegas, where they host conventions in the tens of thousands, no one really cares about a 20-person meeting. I spent a week being seriously ignored by a number of different casinos. But, I eventually figured out a way to be heard … and everything fell into place.

We had amazing suites in the Palazzo (Venetian) hotel that included marble bathrooms with double sinks, separate bath/showers, vanity tables and private toilet rooms; sunken living rooms with sectional sofas, coffee table, desk and a table where we could eat; three flat screen TVs – one in the living room, one in the bedroom area and one in the bathroom; and view to die for! Our room overlooked a $600 per round golf course and a beautiful mountain range. Feedback about the trip has been amazing so far and my bosses both told me they were very pleased with how everything turned out. Phew!

From a personal perspective, it was hard balancing my work obligations with my personal commitments. But, we managed to make it work. Sweets was very accommodating – taking the bulk of the parenting over the three-day trip. And, Gavin was a CHAMP given his nap schedule was non-existent and his routine had vanished. He turned on the CHARM with all my work colleagues – seriously made some of my co-workers and the significant others of my co-workers fall in LOVE with him. It was sort of ridiculous how good he was. Especially since he didn’t go to sleep until 9pm on Thursday night (11pm Chicago time) and 10pm on Friday night (midnight Chicago time). Let’s not mention that our morning flight back to Chicago on Saturday was delayed, which turned into an all-day affair at the Vegas airport. Gavin didn’t melt down once during our trip. He’s my personal hero!

Here are a few photos from our trip. One thing is for sure: even though Chicago is having a mild winter so far, it was darn nice getting away to a place where a coat has no name!

The view from our 39th floor room. Not bad, especially when the sun was rising over the mountains!

In celebration of the Chinese New Year, the Palazzo has a Red Dragon display.
Every night, there is a display with lights and fire coming out of the dragon’s mouth.

After my work meeting, my company took a trip to tour the Hoover Dam!

Of course, we got back late Saturday night and both Sweets and I got really sick. I can’t believe I’m sick AGAIN! So, I apologize for my otherwise lack of presence in blogland. But, between the trip and my lack of good health, I haven’t been checking in with the internets. I hope y’all had a great weekend, too!

And so, I began to keep track. How many good hair days did I have? How many times was I throwing my hair up, even when I was having a good hair day? How many bad hair days did I have? As the ugly summer months (think: hot, sticky, muggy = frizzy hair!) months wore on into my best hair days (the “best” hair days for me are when the air is dry = winter!), I noticed I was still throwing my hair up all the time. I knew I needed a change.

I put the idea in my hair stylist’s ear last month. Last week, I pulled a couple inspiration photos. And, over the weekend, I did it!

In my head, I think I was eyeing the first photo as my favorite while my hair stylist was eyeing the second photo as his favorite. So, my hair wound up a bit shorter than I envisioned. But, I’m not emotionally tied to my hair the way some people are, so I didn’t worry too much when I saw the hair fall. I know it’ll grow back.

After seven inches were chopped in the back and four to five from the front, I can honestly say I have reworked my old look into something new and fresh. It’s light and airy and maybe a bit too “mom” for me (Sweets’ first comment after “I love it!” was “Doesn’t every mom cut her hair short?!”). But … it’s fun and funky and if you can believe it, I feel more alive!

By the way, it’s been almost five years since I seriously chopped my hair. And weirdly, I was a blogger back then and documented that cut! Clearly, I don’t make big changes very often. I’m a natural brunette who dyes her hair a prettier (and less gray) shade of brown. And, only about twice a decade do I make dramatic changes to the length or style of my hair. But, I will admit I think about big changes all the time. Pink highlights! Super short and shaved in the back! Sometimes I wish I had a little more gusto in my belly to make big changes without fearing the results! For now, I’ll sit pretty and enjoy my new look!

Have you ever made a major change to your hair – gone from long to short, brown to blonde, etc.? Do you consider yourself experimental or safe with the choices you make about your hair?