A New Year (With Videos!)

There have been so many times I've wanted to write you and tell you how good I'm feeling, how low the lows are, and how frustrated I am with work/coming up with meals for the week/keeping to all together and I just wrote you a few days ago!  It doesn't matter, though.  It's Friday, I got out of work early, and things are good.  Heck, I might even have a beer.  That's how relaxed I'm feeling, or at least how relaxed I'd like to feel before I call it a night.

On New Year's Eve day we took Connor sledding for the first time.  I tried to ride down with him but only managed to steer us sharply off track, so we decided that sending him downhill on his own was a better way to go for him to get the full effect of sledding - the speed, the cold air, and the view.  He loved it!  He was smiling and laughing at the end of each run, and he was sufficiently rosy cheeked by the time we loaded back up in the car and headed home.

Check back for video of 'Rad's rides!

Rad's first tromp in the snow

The "long run"

The "side rider" run

I love that his first sledding experience was down the first hills that my sisters and I rode on when we were little.  Same hill, but new and different tracks in the snow every year.  Sand is great for zen gardens and all, but snow can do the same trick in the right climate.

My sister, her husband, her oldest daughter, my parents, Z and I rang in the New Year wide awake (gasp!) at my parents' house, scratching our heads over the entertainers on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve show (Brandy, was that really a comeback?).  We poured a little bubbly, jingled the coins in our pockets, and clinked glasses to what we all home will be a great year.  We made no official "resolutions" but made the usual "promises" to ourselves to eat better and save more.

With you as my witnesses, I am also renewing my promise to not let motherhood define who I am, as it and every detail of 'Rado's life seem to be ruling my identity these days.  If I'm at work before Connor gets up, I text Z at lunch to find out how his mood was in the morning.  Working the late shift?  The first words out of my mouth when I call Z on my way home are "How was Connor when you picked him up?"  That is usually followed by a "How was his mood?" and "How did he eat?"  These things aren't of the utmost importance and I'm sure Z would appreciate a "How are you?" or a "How was your day?" before I ask for a full rundown of the hours he spent with Connor between picking him up from his mom's house and when he put him to sleep.  Somehow that's all an afterthought, though.  Z shouldn't be an afterthought, and neither should I.  None of us should be.  Now, how to put that into practice...