Two Fridays ago, we celebrated my birthday.  You can read about it here, if you haven't already.
This past Friday, was Cliff's birthday, so we had another day of celebration. 
And it was SO different from mine.
I got up with Finley at 6:30am so that Cliff could sleep in.  He had joined us by 7:00 though, and truly considered that "sleeping in."  He wanted to go out for breakfast (and I'm all for that!) and stop by a nursery to buy our garden plants.  So we loaded up and headed out.  As we were driving down the highway and I was straining to keep my eyelids open, I noticed the sun wasn't even really all the way up yet.  I laughed at how different we are in the sleep and early-bird-getting-the-worm areas of life.  After we ate, we walked around the greenhouse and picked out our plants.  This was Finley's favorite part of the day because he got to push the cart with big wheels.

I completed another trip around the sun on Friday, and although physically and mentally I still feel young, I think I am officially old.  Here's how I know:

1.  I forgot how to celebrate.
I couldn't think of a single thing I wanted to do for my birthday.  Starting the day before by celebrating St. Patty's was out, beer and shots were out, a bar and live band were out, really anything past 7pm or involving alcohol, smoke, or loud noises was out without a babysitter planned.  Seriously, nothing would come to mind.  Mainly, we are so overly busy this time of year, that I couldn't imagine having time to do something just for me.  We considered driving to KC for a visit to IKEA, but when it came down to it, I just didn't want to hold Finley hostage in the car for six hours to just hold him hostage longer through the maze of IKEA.  In the end, I decided I just wanted to sleep in and have doughnuts for breakfast. 

2. I completely forgot it was my birthday.
When I did wake up the morning of my birthday (after sleeping in, yay!) I picked up my phone and had several texts and facebook notifications.  My immediate thought was, "Oh no, something terrible has happened!  Why are all of these people trying to get ahold of me?"  I felt a heavy dread until I realized they were all happy birthday messages.

3. We can't get ready to go anywhere fast.
We didn't go for doughnuts because by the time I got up and ready, we managed our daily household tasks, and we got a 1 1 /2 year old ready and packed, it was lunchtime.  So, we went to Columbia  instead.  Of course, since nice restaurants are out when you have a toddler in tow, we had lunch at Five Guys.

4. Activities from my childhood seem "retro."
We stopped by the mall for some shopping and ended up spending the day at the arcade.  And it seemed like a retro celebration.  We had SO. MUCH. FUN. 

5.  I no longer look athletic doing athletic activites. (For the record, maybe I never did.)
First, Cliff and I played Pop-A-Shot--one of my all time favorite games.  Finley laughed SO HARD the entire time.  He thought it was funny from all angles.  He laughed non-stop.  And then we both laughed when I beat Cliff.

6.  Our toddler beat us at an arcade game.
We played ski ball, racing games, and eighteen holes of mini golf.  We still had some coins to use so we spent them on a game that required bouncing ping pong balls into goldfish bowls.  Finley beat us both.

7.  I was in bed so much earlier than I was for birthday celebrations of the past.
We dropped Finley off at my parents' house and picked up my brother (who I share a birthday with!) and went bowling.  We bowled four games between 7:00pm and 10:00pm, which would have been a precursor to events in previous years.  Instead, we were all three ready to go home and hit the hay.  Embarrassing.

8. I drank so little.
When the day was over, I had only consumed one beer.  Just one.  And that was okay with me.

9. I forgot to take pictures.
It used to be that pictures from birthday celebrations probably weren't appropriate for public sharing.  This year, I just completely forgot to take any.

Saturday and Sunday consisted of being pretty lazy and celebrations with our parents and siblings.  It turned out to be a very fun birthday weekend, even though I'm now old.
Oh, and Sunday morning I woke up and Cliff and Finley had gone out and gotten those doughnuts.

 
After browsing for quite some time, we had Jacob's choices narrowed down to these two boots. 

I loved the gray pair on the right, but wasn't sure he would wear them.  After much discussion, we talked him into just buying both pairs.  (At this point, it had become a game for me to see how much I could get him to buy.)  Turns out, he secretly wants to be Tuco Salamanca from Breaking Bad and wears the gray pair a lot! 
After the boot decision, I finally was released from my stylist duties and got to pick out my own pair of boots.  I ended up with a pair of Minnetonka fringe wedge booties.  That's it.  One pair of shoes. 
We approached the checkout counter and when everything was totaled for Jacob, we all literally held our breath as the cashier ran his debit card.  We were positive that the total was over the limit the bank would allow to be debited for one day.  We laughed after the debit card went through, imagining him having to use a credit card and the Kleinschmidt employees thinking he had a real spending problem.
We almost had to hire help to get the purchases to the car.  Instead, we carried the baby and used the stroller for the bags. 

If you had presented the week two challenge to me anytime between mid-July 2014 (my ninth month of pregnancy) and the end of January 2016, I would have just thrown in the towel.  The second challenge in this series is sleep.  Get seven to eight hours of restful sleep every night. 

I have always been a self-proclaimed night owl, so much so that I named my own business "Night Owl."  I come by it naturally.  My grandmother, even at age 90, stayed up until around 3:00am every night and slept in until about noon.  Both my parents are night owls.  And although I love the feeling of waking up early and getting a good start on the day, I always choose sleeping in if I can.  And even though studies and textbooks and doctors will tell you that the average adult needs seven to eight hours of sleep each night, I actually need nine to ten.  More than that is even better.  My brother may be the only other person that understands that need, as he can easily sleep fifteen hours on a Sunday.  So, when we had our baby in August 2014, the through-the-night breastfeedings were rough on me.  And as time went on, we quickly realized that our little guy was not a good sleeper.  So re-read that first sentence--for the last 18 months--yes, EIGHTEEN MONTHS, I haven't had a solid night of sleep.  And then, just like the flip of a switch, our miniature night owl started sleeping through the night at the beginning of February.  That means I've had four weeks of really good sleep, and man, can I tell a difference.  (I'm sure everyone else that sees me regularly can verify the difference, too.)

I really could see and feel the side effects of my lack of sleep over the past year and a half.  I was more irritable and moody, obviously fatigued, I had more headaches and migraines than usual, my memory and thinking wasn't as sharp, and after losing my baby weight, I started gaining it back. 

The night owl in me posed a major problem when the baby wasn't sleeping.  We would get him down for the night about 6:30pm and even though I knew he would be awake again by 10:00 or 11:00, I would stay up.  Then I would get anxious when he did wake up at 10:00 or 11:00 knowing I would spend 30 minutes getting him back to sleep and should be sleeping myself.  After getting him back to sleep, I would want to stay up again and take advantage of the non-baby time, and it would be 1:00am before I was in bed.  Of course by that time, the baby was awake again and I was no longer "in bed."  Then I'd be up again at 3:00am and then up for the day at 6:00am.  So I was basically getting about five hours of very interrupted sleep.  The funny thing is, once he started sleeping through the night, I totally lost my night owl desires.  I have been in bed by 9:00 or 10:00 most nights over the past month.  And now that the baby is sleeping until 7:00am, I'm getting about 9 hours of sleep every night. 

The really fun thing about this challenge is that my Garmin Vivofit tracks my sleep every night, so I have an official chart of my sleep patterns.  Over the past week, I have averaged 9 hours and 38 minutes of sleep per night.  That's an AVERAGE.  To break it down more, I've averaged 7 hours and 3 minutes of deep sleep, 2 hours and 23 minutes of light sleep, and 17  minutes of awake time (which is most likely a few minutes falling asleep and a few minutes after waking up.)  The week before that I averaged 8 hours and 49 minutes per night.  So I feel like I've mastered this challenge at 125%.  And just for the record, for me personally, this is a BIG change, not a small change.  Fingers crossed that everyone keeps sleeping like this.

Oh, and my water intake has increased a little, but I'm still not at the book's target goal.  How is it going for you?

Every month I pick up this free little publication at the library called Book Page.  It has interviews with authors and reviews and summaries of lots of books for the month.  I always find a handful to add to my reading list.  In January, the magazine had a special section on books related to New Year's resolutions.  I don't typically make a resolution.  I tend to make resolutions throughout the year rather than on January first.  Like the time in college that I resolved to no longer hit snooze on my alarm clock.  Yes, at age twenty-one.  Yes, when my average bedtime was like 2:00am.  And I DID it for like a whole semester! 

The six books recommended in the "building a better you" section were:
-Younger Next Year: The Exercise Program (if you resolved to be more active)
-Thinner in 30: Small Changes That Add Up to Big Weight Loss in Just 30 Days (if you resolved to lose weight)
-The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated (if you resolved to manage your money)
-Simple Giving: Easy Ways to Give Every Day (if you resolved to be more giving)
-52 Small Changes for the Mind (if you resolved to live more mindfully), and
-The Big Bucket List Book: 133 Experiences of a Lifetime (if you resolved to live your dreams).

All six sounded fun to me.  But when I tried to find them in the library system, well, I couldn't.  I came across two variations.  52 Small Changes: One Year to a Happier, Healthier You  and Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You're 80 and Beyond.  So, considering I don't even want to live like I'm 50 for quite a few more years, I decided to try out the variation of 52 Small Changes by Brett Blumenthal.

photo credit: Jen Buentello / Facebook

Tim Lambert and I have been friends for a really long time.  Like, from the time you're able to start meeting people outside of your tiny-everyone looks the same-enrollment of 200--high school and pick your own friends.  Tim says we "ran in the same circles in high school" and this translates to, we were always both out for a good time.  We were always "uptown" on the weekends and always at the same parties. And we were always laughing.  But, the longer I've known Tim, I realize we didn't need to be in high school, or at parties, or even drinking to be laughing.  Tim is one of the happiest people I know.  He's always smiling.  And you can't talk to him without smiling, too.  (This has not yet been tested on political conversations.  We differ greatly when it comes to politics, but we still respect each other.  And smile and laugh.)
Although Tim was born in St. Charles, he's a local guy--he grew up in Huntsville, Salisbury and Keytesville.  And he has stayed around here, which I think is cool now that I'm back in the area and have an old friend that I get to run into every once in awhile.
Tim is very artistic.  You can tell this immediately upon meeting him solely based on his fashion.  It's completely unique to Tim, and I always love it.  He is really into hats and shoes.  In fact, that's one thing I remember about the first time we met.  He was wearing a navy blue hat with "Cal" in yellow cursive.  No one around here wore anything but Mizzou, so I knew right off that Tim was one of a kind.
At one time Tim actually wanted to be an artist.  He's good at drawing, has played in several bands, skateboards...but, he's also mechanical and has a knack with custom cars, which has landed him as an entrepreneur.  He runs his own business restoring classic cars and 4x4 trucks and then selling them.  This is how he earned the nicknames Toolman Tim and Lambertghini.  (He's actually named after an uncle on his dad's side.) He's a real diy guy.  He bought and fixed up his house, too. 
The Toolman typically has about seven vehicles on hand. He loves getting to drive around different cars and trucks all the time.  He also loves the artistic side of customizing each one.  Not only is he a diy guy, he's also self-taught.  He started working on cars at the age of fifteen and just "jumped in the water head first with no lifeguard."  He laughs about that making for "an expensive learning curve" but says it definitely taught him what not to do. 
His dream car is a 1950 Buick Special, but when he turned sixteen he had to settle for a 1981 Dodge Challenger.  The first car he ever fixed up was a 1960 Bel Air, but the favorite car he's owned is his 1963 Impala.  When I accompany my brother to car shows with his racecar, I always see Tim winning trophies for his completely customized "dead sled."  And I can see that the trophies are totally well-deserved.

photo cred: Chariton County Journal / Facebook
(That's Trevor on the four-wheeler, leading the way for Tim.  Keep reading.)

photo cred: Chariton County Journal / Facebook

So Tim is a fashion icon, a diy tool guy, an entrepreneur, an artist, a self-taught mechanic, and he owns a cherry black Impala with hydraulics--and you don't even know the BEST thing about him yet.  He's a single dad to a teenage son who has been diagnosed with autism.  And he's better at it than I could ever imagine being.  His son Trevor is one of the coolest kids you will ever meet.  Tim loves being a dad and that's proven by the way it just oozes out of him.  As cheesy at is may sound, he just loves getting to spend every day with Trevor and watching him grow and turn into a man. 
Like Tim, Trevor already has his own keen fashion sense and is a great artist.  He is also really skilled at repairing electronics and has an excellent memory.  Trevor is talented in so many ways and never ceases to amaze Tim, or anyone he meets. 
Both Tim and Trevor love Halloween.  This past October, Trevor saved a ton of money to buy gobs and gobs of Halloween props and decorations.  He completely converted their house into a walk-through haunted house, then opened it up to the public for tours.  He and Tim both dressed up.  When I walked through the yard, I was totally impressed.  I've been to haunted houses in Kansas City with professionals and they weren't as cool as what Trevor had put together. 
For Christmas, he filled their yard with inflatable decorations, and even being in my mid-thirties, I had to drive by it every time I was in town. 
Being a parent to a kiddo on the autism spectrum isn't all fun and games though.  It's hard work, but Tim will tell you that all the hard work is worth the reward.  The biggest concern isn't Trevor, it's other people.  Tim says he has a constant worry about Trevor being judged or bullied when he isn't around.  This makes my heart hurt for any kid and parent, but especially for Trevor and Tim.  Because I'm not sure you'll ever meet two guys with bigger hearts.  Tim wants the best life possible for Trevor, and saying he's already accomplished that would be premature I suppose, albeit true.  So, I'll just say, he couldn't be off to a better start.

So, if you're looking to buy a custom car or truck, or have something for sale, remember Tim.  You can reach him at exclusivegoods@hotmail.com or through his facebook account.

photo credit: Jen Buentello / Facebook

It hasn’t taken me long to learn that babies have it pretty easy.  And if you’re our baby–er, toddler–you’re apparently really living the life.
Our house was completely trashed when we bought it.  Like unlivable trashed.  We gutted and remodeled the entire place.  Like every wall, every floor, every ceiling, the yard, the garage…it has been a HUGE undertaking.  During this remodeling, we decided to turn one of the bedrooms into a bathroom, and make the original bathroom a closet.  This allowed us a really large bathroom and extra closet space.  We immediately installed the sink, toilet, and shower, with plans to eventually put in a tub.  Preferably an antique cast iron tub.  Lucky for us, my mom ran across an awesome antique claw foot tub while antiquing and we were quickly the proud new owners.  Cliff cleaned it, I painted the outside belly of the tub, my father-in-law sandblasted and primed the claw feet so I could paint them, my dad ordered the correct plumbing, and my brother installed it.  (Yeah, we have ALOT of people to be grateful for in our lives!)
I originally wanted the tub because, ladies, there’s nothing better than a nice long soak with some candles and a good book, am I right? In. My. Dreams.  We ended up installing it so our little chili bean would have a place to bathe once he arrived.  I’ve taken one bath in the two years that we’ve had it.  ONE.  The little munchkin has taken approximately five hundred.  Seriously.  Even my husband has used it more than I have.
The babe’s bedtime routine includes a bath after dinner.  He LOVES bath time.  Tonight, he was more tired than usual and so while he was in the water, I continuously filled a pitcher with warm water and poured it over his neck and back.  Sounds of satisfaction were literally spilling out of his mouth.  I could see him relaxing before my eyes.  My husband came in to help and I started combing the baby’s hair while still pouring the warm water.  My husband had brought in a cup of milk and was giving him that while he was having his hair and warm water service.  I really didn’t think it could get much better than that for him.  A full tummy, milk, warm water soak, and a hair treatment.  Apparently, the little peanut realized that he was getting the platinum package and thought it could get even better because he actually stretched out, put his cushiony bath book behind him and laid back with his eyes clothes.  I fully expected him to demand a sea weed wrap and eye mask before we pulled the drain plug.
We may have trouble on our hands.