bring it on 2008!

well, it is almost 2008 everybody! are you ready? resolutions? i don't usually do resolutions...but i figured this year should be different. after all i am going to be 30 this year.

1. i want to be more patient with my kids. i am tired of yelling all the time. i am tired of this being the only way to get their attention.

2. i am going to get healthy. i am going to exercise. i am going to be a more fit, and healthy role model for my children.

3. i am going to try to keep the house clean more. i am going to try to do better about getting rid of stuff we don't need, and keeping the house picked up.

that's it. that's my list. i know it's only 3 things, but they are major items in my life. basically i am going to become a total and completely new person.

well, maybe i won't go that far...just better the person i am.

as 2007 comes to a close, it makes me think of how my kids are all getting older. this coming year, my 2 girls are going to be 6 and 9...and that's just this coming month! my boys are going to be 12, 4, and 3. CRAZY!!!

jeff and i were talking about puberty today. you see, my almost 9 year old girl is getting oily hair. jeff didn't realize this is a sign of puberty in girls. he freaked when i told him. he thought that was something we didn't have to worry about for a few more years (like atleast 3 or 4). i told him about a friend of mine who started her period in 5th grade. we were 10. he almost passed out. to think his baby girl could be on the road to womanhood...ahhhh! so now i have to think of ways to have "the talk" with her. jeff had it with our oldest. i get the girls. how do i say "you are becoming a woman, but not really a woman yet"? i mean, puberty is the start womanhood, but you really aren't an adult. you aren't even mature physically as a woman until late teens, right? i just want to make sure she knows more than i did when i was a kid. i had no idea what a menstrual cycle was until we learned about it in school. NO IDEA! my mom never told me anything about any of the changes happening in my body. i was totally freaked out by it. i want to make sure my girls feel like they can come to me about this stuff. my mom tried, i guess, but anything i asked about...the way she responded was more accusation than answer.
example: me "mom, i think i have a urinary tract infection".
mom "oh yeah? whatever" and she stomped out of the room.

why? well, later she told me she thought i wanted to tell the doctor to put me on the pill.
(by the way, she never did take me to the doctor for that. i got it treated a year later...when i was pregnant.)

but you know what? i have to thank her for that. this was a major example of the relationship i don't want to have with my kids.
thanks