A tribute to me and them:)

On Wednesday I celebrated my 29th birthday, a very reflective birthday it was I must say.

First of all it was the first year that I did not care so much it was my birthday.
Typically ( for all those who know me can attest to this:) my birthday began a day before the actual day and lasted for one week after, referred to as my "birthday week"
This year I did not anticipate my birthday or really expect anything. Getting older I would say is the reason for this and that is a good thing:)

On my actual birthday I just kept thinking back to just a few years back, living the single life in a cool apartment, in the trendy part of Chicago. (wriglyville)
Specifically my 24th birthday stood out in my mind. That year I had a broken leg and was in a cast and so my "oh so cool neighbor/friend at the time" borrowed a wheelchair from somewhere, decorated it and wheeled me around to all the bars in wriglyville - we received a lot of attention as you can imagine, anyways strangers kept wishing me happy birthday and my response to them (after a couple drinks keep in mind) was
" 6 more years until I am 30 not real exciting but thanks"

On my 24th birthday I was feeling like life was going nowhere and that before I knew it I would be 30 and still living in my "oh so cool apartment in wriglyville and probably still in college.

Wow, how life changed....... And so on my 29th birthday it was so comforting to look at my adorable 15 month old son Noah, my prego belly and my wonderful husband Eric who I love with every fiber of my being. I couldn't help but be proud of myself and so happy at my life and how far I have come!

Ask any of my college friends and they would tell you that they thought I would still be "good ole hippie Juliana bumming around Chicago from job to job or class to class or show to show.

I have myself to thank but there are four people in my life that I have to thank for who I am today.

First is my Father..........He always encouraged me and he never gave up on me. He gave a sermon one Sunday talking about how you can not sit on the couch crying about your life if you are not going out into the world to improve it or to make it what you want! He spoke to me that Sunday in his sermon....Because I felt like my life was going nowhere but I was not really doing anything to make it go somewhere.
So that Sunday I left church headed back to the city and made it appoint to get off my ass and do something with my life. My three goals in mind were to focus on graduating, getting rid of my roommate and meeting that "cute guy from the church in the city" So thank you Dad, love you!

The second person I have to thank for helping me become the person I am today is that "cute guy from the church in the city" Well that cute guy would be Eric , my awesome,beloved Husband. He is am amazing person who saw all my potentials and encouraged me to be a better person! He has put up with a lot of my crap as my parents have and he never gave up on me and continued to challenge me to be the person I am today. I can not thank him enough and and I am so honored and lucky to have him as my Husband. He is not just my Husband but my best friend and I do not know where I would be without him by my side! Thank you Eric. I love you sooooooooo much!

The third is someone I do not talk to often but think about often and that is a college professor and counselor of my mine at Columbia; Patti Mackenzie. I met Patti at a time when I really needed here. She was my speech teacher but also a counselor for those with special needs/learning disabilities. Well anyways she was there for me throughout my time at Columbia and helped me map out my learning difference and ways to overcome them. I can honestly say that if it was not for her I may have never graduated. She taught me so much about myself and gave me the confidence I needed to succeeded in school and life! Thank you Patti - I am forever grateful to you!

And last but not least my lovely Mother. She is the sweetest, most genuine women you will ever meet and she has stood by my side through everything - She is not just my mom but friend. She has taught me a lot but most of all how to be the best mom ever. Thanks Mom , Love ya!

Do not get me wrong I am not perfect and I still have a lot of work to do but I have come along way in just 5 years and it is rather unbelievable to me. I needed to write this post to make it more of a reality to me.

Watch out, I'm on a move:)

Noah is finally walking!
This milestone has made my life so much easier, especially now that i am as big as a house and can not bend over so easy anymore to pick him up!
It is so nice to be able to put him down and have him walk.
He is everywhere, but that is ok with us - we love it! He is still getting used to walking and so sometime we like to say he looks like a "drunken sailor" :) He is so very proud of himself and so are we!
Noah is developing so fast and eveyday is something new. We are even starting to see the stubborn side to him - wonder who he gets that from:)
His favorite thing to do now is throw his food and say "UH OH" and look at us with a big smile.
Gotta love that Noah:)

Welcome Home!

My Big Brother and his fabulous wife Nina were married in June 2002 and lived in Poland for one year and then moved to New York where my bro was studying at St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary.
In March of 2005 they gave birth to Alexander. Less than two months later I had Noah, we were all so excited we both had boys.

This past Christmas they came to visit and the boys were so cute together. When they left I was so sad that they did not live closer and that the boys were not able to grow, play and develop together. My bro only had one semester left at Seminary and even though he had a tentative job lined up in New York, selfishly I prayed that somehow it would fall through or he would be offered something better here in Chicago. This was completely selfish of me and I felt a bit guilty but I just wanted my family to be all together again.
Much to my surprise, my Brother decided to take a position with The Diocese of the Midwest, which meant Joe, Nina and Alexander would be moving back to Chicago in June.
I WAS THRILLED!

Now that they are settled in we have been spending a lot of time together, especially Nina and I since we are both stay-at-home moms. They love playing with each other and have become great pals. It is so fun to have Nina to chat with about motherhood, marriage and just girl stuff:) and so fun to have my brother back to antagonize me and give me all his words of wisdom:)

We have also been spending a lot of time with my parents to and I can not tell you how beautiful it is to watch my parents glow with love and happiness as they play with their grandchildren - they love them so much. It takes everything for me to hold back the tears, especially now with all the pregancy hormones:)

Noah and I spent yesterday and today with them and It was just glorious. As I was driving Nina and Alexander home today, I glanced back at the boys only to find them holding hands - and I am not kidding - at that moment I wished I had a camera phone - it was the sweetest picture ever!
It has been absolutely wonderful to have them back.
I look forward to watching Noah and Alexander grow and develop a friendship together and watching my parents just adore their grandchildren.

So with all that said................

WELCOME HOME JOE, NINA AND ALEXANDER!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!

What have I done

Eric and I both lived in the city for years before we got married and for a year and a half after we were married. The perk of renting a flat in the city is you usually can get free cable. So for years we had cable simply b/c it was free!
When we bought our house we decided to not get cable since it is so expensive and clogs our brains with garbage.
Well, when we had Noah I really wanted it - no more fussing with the antenna to get a clear picture and something to watch during the long 2am feeding would be nice sometimes:) We opted against it. Needless to say we have lived without cable and have been completely fine with it!
A couple of weeks ago I was going through my phone bill and realized they had been charging me for the wrong package for several months. I called to inquire, they were in fact charging me to much. Instead of just saying to me we will credit your next bill the rep at AT&T said
" here is what we can offer you for our mistake, dish network for 1 year at $10.50 a month and free installation"
Me " really, interesting, I will have to think about it, if I choose not to go with the cable you will just credit my bill"?
Rep " of course, but this is a 75% saving, you can't beat that"
Me" ok, thank you, I will get back to you"
I called Eric and ran it past him and he did not seem to into getting cable, Being the frugal man he is, he was liking the bill credit much more.
I decided I would call and just ask for the credit. Life got busy and I never got around to it and so for the past several weeks Eric kept asking "when are we getting cable".
I decided to take the offer.
It was installed yesterday!
WHAT HAVE I DONE!
While it is nice to have TLC, lifetime, etc, I am not sure I like having so many useless channels.
There was something freeing about only having 2,5,7,and 9.
When there was nothing on I would pick up a book or work on Noah's scrapbook or better yet talk a nice walk. Will I continue to do that is my question or will I ALWAYS be able to find something to watch? I do have one rule that I had without cable as well and that is that when Noah and I are playing the TV is not on, so at least I know I will keep to that rule! Time to give up your naps Noah - just kidding:)
So this whole dish network thing is on a 60 day trial!

Tagged

I have been tagged by my dear friend and fellow blogger Lassie
As usual I am not following the directions b/c I simply do not think I can come up with 7 items for all the questions, but I will do my best:)

7 things I'd like to do before I die:
1.Travel to Ireland and Africa
2. Take a trip with Eric, my children, my parents and my bro and his family to Russia and Poland.
3. Meet my Grandchildren
4. Drive to Alaska with Eric
5. Finish and publish my book Positive Chaos
6. Own my own preschool
7. Open a home for eastern European orphans


7 things I can't do:
1. Whistle
2. Grow long hair - it is too curly and thick, although I am trying
3. Not get choked up when I see someone eating out alone
4. Watch scary movies
5. Grow long nails
6. Not get choked up when I see an elderly person walking with groceries

7 things that attracted me to my husband:
1. His faith - a big one!
2. His Kindness
3. His good looks:)
4. His work ethic
5. His adventurous nature
6. His sense of humor and artistic nature
7. His love for children

7 books (or series of books) that I love:
1. Confessions of a Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella and all other books by her
2. A million little pieces by James frey
3. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
4. The Paradox of choice: why more is less by Barry Schwartz

7 Movies I'd watch over and over:
1. Hideous Kinky
2. Man in the moon
3. Pretty in pink
4. Sixteen Candles

7 people I'd like to tag:

I am new to the blogging world and so I know only two fellow bloggers. They have both already been tagged so I can not tag anyone yet!
Lassie at http://eggsbenedictarnold.blogspot.com
Carol at http://www.kidding-around.net

Will never complain again:)

Well it has been a rough couple of weeks with this pregnancy. The heat makes it really hard and with Noah not walking yet it makes things that much harder at times!
While I love being pregnant and am so grateful I was given this gift twice, sometimes it is hard and I just want it to be over. When I have those moments I think about all the people I know that want to be pregnant but can not get pregnant - it breaks my heart and I then feel so guilty for complaining!

Yesterday was one of those difficult days, as I was feeling a lot of pressure and just felt like exploding! So we left church early and I came home and rested all afternoon. Later in the evening we went over to our good friends from church. My friend and I were talking about Pregnancy and the difficult parts. She began to tell me just the story I needed to hear.

She went to Africa on her honeymoon and had the opportunity to visit a women's hospital. She was explaining the poor conditions of the hospital and then began to tell me that most of the women lived 10-20 miles away from the hospital and would start their walk when they went into labor. I thought to myself "their walk". They would walk 10-20 miles in labor to the hospital and most of the time would not make it to the hospital, so they would give birth on the side of the dirt road, clean their baby off with a towel, cut the cord and deliver the placenta themselves and continue their walk to the hospital. Wow, I can not even imagine!

While I have traveled abroad a lot and have been exposed to my different cultures and ways of life, I sometimes get caught up with the comforts and luxuries we have in America that I forget what happens in other parts of the world.
When she was finished I looked at her and said
" I will never complain again"
she replied with
" that is not why I told you"
I assured her I knew that, but it was still the kick in the ass I needed!