Week in Review Sept 29, 2014 - October 5, 2014

I swear, these weeks keep getting weirder and weirder for me.  We are now a month and a half in to the school year, and honestly, I thought I would be in a better groove by  now.  For some strange reason, not known to me to me, I cannot seem to get my butt together.  I have been having a hard time getting up and at 'em in the morning and getting my time management skills in order.  This leaves me feeling extra stressed, irritable, and tired at the end of each day.  No melt downs for me this week, so I guess that means it was a pretty good one!

Madison had a pretty exciting week.  She was running for President of her Student Advisory class.  She had to give a speech on Monday and by Tuesday morning, she found out that she won!  She was so happy.  I think the position is only for a couple of months so that more of the kids have the opportunity to go through the election process.  I don't care how long it is for.  I am so proud of Madison for making goals and doing the necessary work to attain them.  She also got her first progress report this week.... All A's!!!!  Go her!



 The last exciting thing for her is that she is preparing for her audition to be a part of the musical at her school, Once Upon a Mattress.  Actual auditions are being held on October 15th  - she has been annoying me practicing in the car quite a bit!!  She also explained to me that while she is trying out for a lead role, she understands that she may not get it, but hopes to be in it in some kind of way regardless of the role.  Only time will tell.

Myles is well into his routine for school, but still having some difficulties with the fact that he doesn't see Damian as much as he used to.  Every day that we get to the house and Damian isn't home, Myles melts down and it takes him quite a while to calm down/relax.  Eventually this too shall pass -- he informed me last night that he can't live with just me :(  When I asked why, he said, " because you yell too much and I just like daddy more" :(  Broke my heart and I could feel my eyes start to water, but I quickly took a deep breath, regained my composure, and responded, "Well, it's a good thing that you live with both me and daddy then.  Sometimes Daddy's work makes him have to be out of the house at weird times, I know you miss him, just know that he misses you too and when he gets home, I will tell him to go cuddle with you if you are asleep."  Myles reminds me daily of my faults, and while I sometimes get angry with him because of it, maybe it is a good thing to get those little reminders.  Maybe I need to hear him say things that cut me just alittle so that I can see how my reactions affect the whole family. 
Myles also had a little trouble on the bus this past week with a girl and a little boy who he thinks is her brother.  It ended with me reminding Myles that sometimes, even when we aren't trying to, out words hurt people and their family members feel like they need to protect them.  I also reminded him that when he sees these specific children again that he needs to apologize and mean it.  Not sure yet if the apology has happened yet, but I haven't heard any more stories, so hopefully all is well on the bus again.

Mayci is, well she is Mayci.  No huge exciting things for her this week.  She has been having a lot of overnight accidents(peeing in the bed) but we are taking that just one day at a time.  I know it will get better.  She also really seems to be enjoying dance class every Monday.  It gives her the chane to wear "princess" clothes, so she gets very excited.  Her behavior isn't always the best, but we are working on that as well.

This weekend Damian was out of town.  Friday he was playing at a CD Release party in New York and on Saturday, if I understood correctly, he flew out to Pittsburgh for a gig Saturday night.  He didn't get home until about 830p Sunday night and Ted made sure to warn me about how exhausted and tired he would be, so I left him alone and let him do his thing.

Friday night, the little ones stayed with Ted and Abby Lisa picked Madison up from school, brought her to dance, and her spend the night at her house.  I attended a wedding for a friend/coworker, Janelle.  What a nice wedding and both Janelle and Chad looked amazing and so very happy.  It was nice to be able to keep my mind off of the things that have been bothering me.  I danced, laughed, and genuinely had a great time with friends and coworkers.  I got home to an empty house around 11:45p.

I mean who doesn't take at least 1 selfie at a wedding !!

The lovely couple's first dance



Saturday morning, I was running(ummm... honestly I mostly walked between the obstacles) in a Fitahlon with Jen, Katia, and Michele at Manchester Community College.  SO MUCH FUN!! I was still pretty tired from the night before, and didn't actually run as much as I should have, but managed to have a really good time.  I am actually still sore from it today as I write this.  This obstacle course sort of thing consisted of things like calisthenics, rope pulls, wall climbing, ruck sack carrying, tire flipping, over/unders; chain pulls, etc.  Needless to say- it was quite the workout.  Note my scarf in the pics... it is now designated as my workout scarf-- I wear it to every race!



Mama and PopUp ended up taking the little ones to New Haven for a going away party for one of Damian's cousins and then when they were bringing them home decided they wanted to keep Myles with them.  Madison was staying at Jen's house for the night and I hung out at Jen's for little while, cleaned, and ran some errands.  Mayci and I watched some movie that she picked out before calling it a night-- wu-wu-wubzy or something like that lol

Sunday, the little ones and I went to church, Madison had a Mindful Practice Dance Workshop, and then Abby took the little ones to a birthday party.  We all ended up meeting back up at the house just in time for the little ones to go to bed.

You may notice that I didn't have the little ones very often this weekend, and please don't judge me.  With Damian out of town, I think sometimes Ted and Abby feel they need to "help" me by taking the kids off my hands for a little while.  And while that is not entirely the case, sometimes I let it happen because I know the kids will have more fun with them and they don't really like hanging out with me much.... but don't worry-- I am trying to fix that. 

I hope you all had a fun filled weekend!!!  Here's to a great week!!

Celebrating Karina and her upcoming marriage! August 2-3, 2014

This weekend was a little busy.. and unfortunately I only have like 3 pictures to show from the entire thing, but it definitely deserves a blog post.  I didn't take many pictures, because I actually tried to keep my phone in my purse and away from me so that I could focus on celebrating what we were all there for.  And, like the flake I am, I left my actual camera at home :(

Luques, Damian's brother, (well my brother also!!) is getting married on August 30, 2014.  he is marrying one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met-- Karina. 

On Friday August 1, 2014- Karina celebrated her 30th birthday. What a great age!!  Also, what a great month for both her and Luques.  They each celebrate birthdays this month and now will be celebrating their wedding anniversary as well.  So exciting.

I was invited to Karina's bridal shower on Saturday August 2nd.  It was a surprise for Karina and was being held at a nice restaurant called, Café Archetypus in Edgewater, New Jersey.  I had also been invited to attend a bachelorette party for her on Sunday August 3rd in New York City.  I had decided early on that I would drive to new Jersey on Saturday, come home that night and then attempt to take the train on my own into Grand Central on Sunday and then travel by the Subway to get to the actual venue for the bachelorette.

Weeks before either of these events, I could feel my anxiety rising.  I am a very loud and outgoing individual--- in certain occasions.  Honestly, though, I suffer from SEVERE social anxiety. I knew this was an extremely important event and I love both Karina and Luques dearly, so I was determined to overcome these nerves and make sure that I was there in support of their exciting new adventure in life.

Lisa and Madison decided to take the ride to New Jersey with me, so we headed out a little extra early on Saturday to ensure that I got to where I needed to go in time.  In addition to social anxiety, I also get VERY nervous about arriving somewhere late.  Especially today since I knew it was a surprise so I needed to be there before the guest of honor.  It was a nice 2 hour or so ride.  Lisa and I caught up, laughed, listened to music. Madison got a lot of reading done for her summer assignments for school.  The plan was for them to go to the movies while I was at the shower.

OH MY WORD!!  The area where the shower was being held was beautiful.  Karina's mother, Julie, and Justine did such an amazing job making sure everything was perfect and where it needed to be.  They had their personal touches on everything and it was gorgeous.  I loved the book that they had set out for each guest to write words of wisdom for the bride in and then they also had little hearts for the guests to write their favorite thing about Karina on.  (So easy for me to do-- I have always admired Karina's genuine "niceness" <---- not to sure if that is even a real word or not, haha. Luques and Karina have been together for about 7 years I  believe, and I will admit that I have not spent as much time with Karina as I would have liked,  No ones fault, but my own...but every time I see her, she is so full of grace and kindness, it amazes me.  And it is just so real.  I love that.. envy it actually!)  When Karina arrived at the shower, she was definitely surprised, and completely overcome with emotion.  So sweet.  This shower was so nice.  It was such a privilege being able to attend and see her mother again and be a part of something that was so special to her.  You could tell by the environment and people that were there that Karina is surrounded by love, compassion, and strength!  A very special lady indeed.   I actually ended up leaving a little early because I knew that I had to drive back home and had to get an early start the next day as well.  Madison and Lisa were in the front waiting for me and Karina had asked that I bring Madison in to say hi to her before we left, so I made sure to do that-- Madison was so excited and happy to be able to see Karina.  She was also excited to tell Karina that while they were waiting for me, she actually found the dress that she was going to wear to the wedding and had bought it with her own money. Oh how she melts my heart.

Myself & the guest of honor, Karina.  Isn't she just beautiful??

Madison and Karina - so nice of Karina to ask if Madison could run in to say hello

Nadia wearing her toilet paper wedding dress--  Nope-- our group definitely didn't go for traditional

Saturday night, my anxiety kicked into EXTRA OVERDRIVE! I couldn't sleep and had a really rough night.  But as planned I woke up early headed to New Haven to catch the train and wound up at Grand Central Station about an hour and a half early.  That was perfect.  My original goal was then to take the subway from Grand Central to a little closer to Fairway Studios, but I started panicking so I decided to walk the 15 minutes that it took to get there.  because I was early I hung out at a Starbucks that was around the corner.  Won't go into specific details about the bachelorette party, but once again, Karina was especially surprised and her, 12 of her closest friends and family, myself were there to celebrate.  There was a lot of laughter and it seemed like a good time was had by all.  I would have loved to stay a little longer, but Damian was in Boston for a gig and I didn't want to intrude on Karina and her family/friends, so at the end of the party, I headed back to the station..and started my journey home.  Got home safe and sound-- Damian actually beat me to picking up the kids by like 5 minutes, so I arrived at the house before him surprisingly.

I talked to Damian a little about my anxiety and he his so darn respectful of it.  I am really trying hard to overcome these little quirks about myself and I think if I keep pushing myself to do things that are out of my comfort zone, it will just get easier and easier.  I know I can tackle this and WIN!

All in all-- this past weekend, celebrating Karina and her upcoming marriage, was a GREAT time!!  I was honored to be a part of this weekend and look forward to spending more time with Karina AND Luques in the future!! I am so excited for the both of them and cannot wait until the end of the month to share in the moment when they exchange their vows to one another!!