Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Patience is a virtue. Is that how the saying goes?

Good things come to those who wait.

Good things happen to good people.

These are all things I tell myself often. I give myself pep talks in my head.

After the past 12 months I honestly believe I do deserve the good things happening to my family.

In August of last year we moved back to our home town of Bristol after being away for eight years. We did it for many reasons. We wanted to be close to our families, closer to Brian’s office, save money and eventually buy a house locally.

A few months after we moved Brian was offered a promotion. In the blink of an eye everything changed. In accepting this offer he was required to be in his office, in Boston.

So he went from working from home or his office 20 min away to spending three plus nights a week in Boston.

It has been a long hard road for the four us. The saving grace has been that we are in Bristol, close to family. We live in an amazing house with amazing people. I don’t think I would have stayed sane without them!

It wasn’t a hard decision to make when we decided we would move to Boston. Family is so important. Its the most important thing of all. We need to be together. The boys miss their dad and every week gets harder and harder to be without him. I miss my husband, my best friend. I am surrounded by my kids and friends and my family yet always feel alone. Easy decision, we move to Boston.

And we are. Only this move is different. Very different.

Its permanent! Why you ask? Well, its permanent because, drum roll please… dum, dum, drum…WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!

That is right baby!!! We bought a house. Well not officially but we came to an agreement on an offer, scheduled the inspection and are due to close in July!!!

I have waited for this my entire life. To walk into a home and it be MINE!!!! Finally its happening.

We have been patient, waited for the right time and never rushed into something. We do things the unconventional way but that’s OK. Its our way. We definitely march to the beat of our own drum. While others may wonder why we do things the way we do. Its just us. That’s all I can say.

This home symbolizes so many things for us. Happiness, family, peace, health, and most of all LOVE.

This has been a hard year of sacrifice but I would do it all again if it meant we would end up where we are right now.

We are ending a very long chapter in our lives and starting a new. I cant wait to see what happens for us in the next chapter.

Good things come to those who wait and we have waited a long time for this. We have put in a lot of hard work. I think we deserve to lay our heads down and night and know, this is ours. We own this home, we worked hard for it. WE DESERVE IT!!!!

Making Sense

As I get older and gain more life experience I begin to realize what is important to me, how to prioritize or as my sister and I say #priorities. I have learned how to be at peace with where I am in life.

There was a time where I didn’t live my life for me. I guess I lived my life according to what I thought others thought I should do. I am not sure how or when it happened but it did. I settled into my life and accepted that I am who I am and live my life the way I see fit. Its OK to not be doing what everyone else is doing. Its OK to be an individual. Everything sort of just falls into place and nothing is perfect.

I got married young and had Owen young and was not prepared for what life handed me. I spent a lot of time wishing for things didn’t have, wanting to go places I could not go and wanting to be things I couldn’t be. It took me time to settle into my role add wife and mother. To learn to be happy with what I had. There was a point I guess I realized that when I long for what I don’t have I am not appreciating what I do have. And I have a lot and am extremely grateful.

Do I like to have nice things, yes. Do I long for my own home, yes. Do I want to take vacations a few times a year, yes. I honestly believe that in time all of these things will come.

Those things are not what is important though. Things are not important to me. People are important to me. It’s my relationships that I cherish, not my possessions.

So it has taken 31 years but I can honestly say I am at peace with my life and myself. Ask me about aging and that’s a different story. I can’t say I am at peace with that.

I am a work in progress and will continue improve and work hard to maintain happiness. Life throws curve balls and challenges which will make things hard at times but history has shown me that those hard times pass. We are good people who deserve good. We will continue to be good people and good things will happen for us.

Need to…

Brian and I are famous for making decisions on impulse and emotion and once the mood passes we loose our mojo and don’t follow through. And by decisions I mean “hey, let’s have a date night tonight.” After two straight hours of fighting kids we decide forget date night let’s zone out and watch a movie. I will get a burst of energy in the afternoon and think to myself, I think I will work out tonight. Then the day gets to me and I zone out at night and say forget it. I will practice commitment in my life.

Snow Day

Another snow day. 

No school because of Blizzard Nemo.

That is the fourth day off in a row. February break is next week and is still on. So if there is school tomorrow and Friday which I highly doubt the kids will have been home for 14 days home in a row. If there is no school Thursday or Friday that will make it 16. Aren’t you proud, I can add. 

While I love having my boy home I think we are all feeling the effects of cabin fever. Luckily it hasn’t been so bitterly cold that Owen has to stay inside. So a lot of his time has been spent outside in the snow. He comes in exhausted. A win win!

I can honestly say I have never seen so much snow in my life. 24″ of snow. 

I cant imagine how exciting it was for the kids. Well actually I can. I have hardly seen my boy in three days. He should be an eskimo.

 

Digging out was not easy.

 

It took our guys two full days to clear the snow. 

 

 

It was so beautiful every where you looked. Snow covered trees, clean snow, no cars. Just peaceful.

 

 

 

 

Lets just hope we dont get anymore snow for a few days or even weeks. There is no where to put it. 

Moody

Its hard to hear that you are going to be a single mother for the next few months and accept it. I am not a single mother but for a while I will be. My husband is so busy with work that he will be gone a lot of the time. So to hear that you will be a single mother but really are not is a hard thing.

Will I man up and deal, yes.

Will I try my damnedest to lean on those I trust, yes.

Right now I am being a “Debby Downer” and sulking because it knocked me out of left field.

I guess I have to get used to doing what I want at nap time or bedtime. Having very little time for my needs. Its what being a mom is all about.

Normally I would rely on my spouse for those five minutes to regain my sanity. Now I will just take many deep breaths, accept this is where we are right now and be the best mother I can be. Maybe drink a little more wine at night. 

I must give a huge shout out to all the single mothers out there and the military moms. Its not easy and I raise my hat to you. In all honesty I have been doing it for so long over the past eight years I kind of dont even blink when I hear I will be alone for the week. I have a strong marriage and an incredibly strong bond with my children. We will work together to make this happen flawlessly.

Now if it would just stop snowing long enough to send the kids back to school. We are going on day six of being home and next week is feb vacation. That will be two weeks straight of bored kids home with not much to do. Snowed in because of the blizzard and then the following clean up. 

I can do this!!!!

Deep Breaths!!!!

A Day in the life of Me!!!

I would like to wish my wonderful husband a happy 35th birthday.

I am just sorry it was not as happy as I had hoped. Birthdays are very special to me. Its your one day a year to have everyone focus on you.

Well unfortunately for Brian that didn’t happen.

Waking up I did a little morning mantra in my head. “Today will be a good day, I will be happy, the kids will be happy”. I give myself the pep talk each morning. It really does help me start each day new and fresh and let go of the previous days frustrations.

So enough of the pep talk talk. Ha

Literally at 7 am Owen was having a melt down because he could not down load a new app on his tablet. I spent a good 30 min trying to defuse the situation because its Brian’s birthday and it wont be ruined by a fit.

I was semi successful. So the morning wasn’t perfect. I figured I had the rest of the day to turn it around.

And our day was average. Shane and I ran errands, Brian worked from home, typical day.

Then the afternoon came. I started to make Brian’s cake. I should know better than to commit to anything that will take more than 20 min. I had to stop a million times to tend to Shane and stop him from getting into everything under the sun.

I finally got the cakes into the oven. Realizing I had just enough time bake it and then get Owen.

Then I thought, wait a minute! Brian is home!!! I don’t have to rush. He can just grab Owen. I am not used that.

Even better my friend needed help with her little one who had an upset tummy so while she picked up her kids I stayed home with Shane, finished my cake and hung out with my friends kids. (Lisa, I was so happy to take them! So do not worry for a second.)

So while I am stopping Shaney from having a melt down because he wanted something that Jules had I am vaguely hearing what sounds like running water. Nope, not running water. Its Amelia. Poor babe got sick. She was so amazing to get off the couch and rug and just stand on the wood floor.

I froze. Little Jules, one year old, Shaney, two years old, both a few steps away from getting into it. I had socks on. What do I do first, get shoes, keep kids away, cover it up??? Then there was poor Amelia standing there covered in puke, shivering.

Well I grabbed a towel close by and covered it. Tried to explain to the one and two year old why they need to stay away. The one year old got it, the two year old, not so much.

So this whole thing really is no big deal. Sick children don’t bother me. Not in the least. Its is just the start of my comical evening. Comical now, not earlier.

Owen was on his way home and all Shane wanted to do was cuddle. I am thinking man, I just need to clean this up so I can get Owen settled to do homework, set Shaney up to give me 10 minutes to clean everything. I still have dinner and cake frosting on my mind and there is a bottle of wine calling my name but its only 3:30 so that is inappropriate.
Owen gets home and realizes he has to do homework and melts down again. I am very confused because he comes home everyday and does homework. Today was no different. He insisted there was no school tomorrow due to an impending Blizzard. And he is right but at that time he had no idea and got homework. So being the mean mom I am, I made him get it done. It took way longer than the 20 min its supposed to take.

Here I am still trying to clean up, tending to Shaney and trying to avoid a massive battle with Owen. Then later didn’t happen. It was a battle. I actually had to leave the house because I was going to have a meltdown myself. When I came back he was still at it. Shane still wanted to cuddle and couldn’t understand what was going on around him. I sent Owen to his room and tended to Shane for a few minutes. Got him resettled and went to clean the tub. That is where I rinsed everything from earlier. As I am spraying the tub Shane falls off the couch. I stop again to tend to him. Get him resettled again. Owen is still flipping out in his room because he can’t go outside and that wine is still calling my name!!!

I went back to the bathroom to finish the tub and hear screaming again. Shane spilled a bag of Cheez it and got salt in his eye. Yup that’s right. Salt in his freaking eye. Brian grabbed him and washed it out because i just wanted to get the tub done.

Yes. The story gets better.

I finally got to the point where the tub was clean, I was ready to frost the cake and start dinner. Shane was still into everything. To the point where he was on his tippy toes trying to touch a very heavy mirror on the wall. I had a spatula full of frosting and dropped it to run over to stop him. Got it everywhere. All over my newly mopped floor. Yup, wine still calling my name.

I finally got Owen to finish homework and calm down. He is usually an emotional time bomb for a little while after the melt downs. So I tried to avoid confrontation but not walk on egg shells. I just want this night to turn around.

At this point I would have been so smart to order dinner and sit down with my family. Nope, not me. I HAD to make this birthday night a success.

Finally the cake is frosted, wine is poured, kids are calm, Brian is fine to so I start dinner. It went rather smoothly. We actually had a great dinner. No fights to eat, no major messes and I actually sat down so I would say its a success.

Cake time!!! We attempted to sing. As we did Shaney just sang poop to the tune of Happy Birthday. We tried again. Shane hummed and Owen sang about a zoo and monkey. FAIL!

Bath time. I have been putting Shane on the potty every night before he takes a bath because the toilet freaks him out. I just want him to get used to it. He said he had to poop. Nothing happened on the toilet. Well not then anyway. Let me bring you back to earlier when I tried a bunch of times to clean the tub and couldn’t get to it because someone needed something. Well it finally got done. Definitely didn’t stay clean long as with anything in this house. That’s right, you guessed it, he pooped in the clean tub. I mean at this point all I could do was laugh. How can this really be happening. I had to take him out and drain it so I can clean it. That didn’t go over well with him. He was not happy. How can I explain this to him so he gets it. I just let him cry and got the job done. I did not have the words. I just wanted the night to be done. Its not fun anymore!

Finally the end is in sight. Kids are settled, Brian is relaxing and I am actually putting my feet up. Not for too long because I have two loads of laundry to fold next to me on the couch. I am not capable of sitting right next to a load of unfolded laundry and leaving it. I mean if it was in a basket unfolded behind me where i can’t see it that would be OK.

So yeah, that was my night.

I told the kids we need to give dad a birthday redo.

Brian and I are both feeling like crap. Our sinuses are a mess. Maybe next week we will redo it.

At least my storm obsessed husband is getting a redo of the day he was born. Maybe that is why he is so obsessed with storms. He was born in the blizzard of 78. 35 years ago he came into this world and has been storm obsessed ever since. He can use his new birthday boots to go out in the snow.

This night was madness but I wouldn’t have it any other way. There were many points in this night I was not calm at all but looking back it wasn’t all that bad. Then again both kids are asleep, I have my steaming hot cup of tea and my feet up.

My bed is calling NY name like the wine was earlier.

Tomorrow is Blizzard day. Bring it on Memo.

Christmas 2012

 

 

My Christmas was amazing. I have a huge family and love every second of our holiday celebrations.

Christmas Eve at my Brother-in-laws house. There is never a dull moment with the Boissonneaults.

 

Shaney loves to help his Uncle Joe

 

 

 

 

Hands down the best pic of the night! Owen loves his cousins.

 

 

 

 

There were many, many moments like this. I guess I am the mean mom that thinks its cute and takes pics instead of comforting. The comforting came after the cute pic.

 

This kid is had is 9th Christmas. I cant believe it.

 

Vicky and Joey

Auntie Angie is so calm and tolerant of this boy and his curiosity a.k.a. pulling every ornament off the tree. 

 

He may not like me very much for this some day but for now this is an amazing picture. 

Mason is such a love bug!!!

 

Three of the five

 

Here is the fourth. The fifth is down south with his family.

 

Thanks to Greg for including me in a picture. Its a rare occasion.

 

Christmas Morning at our house was amazing. I didn’t take many photos. I kind of wanted to take it all in and enjoy my boys. Watch them open their presents and beg to open each one not realizing there are more to go.

We went to my moms for Christmas brunch.

 

Baby Julia’s First Christmas

 

Then this happened. Out of nowhere Jim was toasting how great the family is and he appreciates us so much then BOOM!!!! Out comes the ring and down he goes.

Lyndee and Jim got engaged!!!! It was a beautiful moment. I was so happy to have been there to see it.

The kids are all getting so much older. This is what they did the entire morning. 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I have had a bit of bloggers block over the past few months. I actually have photographers block as well. I have just not been inspired.

I am not usually a huge resolution person. I wake up every day and try to be a better person. 2012 has not been a great blogging/photography year for me. I need to step it up. The more pictures I take the more I will want to write and share. Or the more I write I may want to take more pictures. Who knows how it happens. I just know that I have to take the step to get out of the blogging funk. 

I know 2013 will be a great year for the Boissonneaults. We have had so much change this year. While we love change and new adventures we hope to settle down, buy a house, get a dog and who knows, maybe have another baby. I don’t know what the cards hold but I do know that good things are happening.