New Years Resolutions

First, Happy New Years Eve! I hope you all end this year with or around your people celebrating a fresh start.


I thought I would share my resolutions on this little space of mine in hopes of actually following through with them since they're public.

1. Organize. We are notorious for having too much stuff. I just want to go through our house with no storage space and get rid of things. We did that recently and I just felt so much weight out of my life and that was good. I also want to manage my time better. No more coming home and taking a cat nap while Ryan's giving Dom a bath or whatever it is.


2. Parenting. I often feel mom guilt for many things...can you other moms relate? I just want to be more present, patient and say yes more than no. Our expectations of Dominick are set pretty high and even though he looks and most of the time acts older than 3 at the end of the day he's still THREE. I also just want to be more present. Put my phone down, my camera down and just be all in with him. Embrace who he is right now because he's a pretty awesome little person.
3. Marriage. One goal I have this year is to go on more dates, be more mindful as a wife and put my husband first more. I'm pulled in so many directions that giving Ryan 100% ALL the time is just not an option, but giving him 100% MORE is totally an option and working on our marriage is something that will definitely not hurt us.


4. Read. I LOVE to read. I don't do it often enough. I find myself watching tv or scrolling through my facebook and instagram feed. This year I want to make a point of reading more books. I think I might have read 4 books total last year and that's just not okay. So this year I'm hoping to read at least 1, but I'd like to make it 2 books a month.


5. Be Active & Get Healthy. This year for me was one of the hardest I've ever had. There was a lot of things going on in my life personally and it dragged me down. Two years ago I was the healthiest and most fit that I had been in many moons. This past year really was full of changes and hardship and while it wasn't ALL bad and I grew a lot as a person I let my health, workouts and good eating kind of get away. In a lot of ways I'm starting all over to where I was two years ago. I'm hoping to get back to that point where I not only feel better in my own skin, but I'm happy with my results.


6. Financial Freedom. Ryan and I aren't DROWNING in debt, but we do have some. I'd like to pay off a lot of that and just feel more financially free. We are totally capable of doing so and while we will have to make some changes to our lifestyle it won't be the end of the world. We have already discussed our budget and what we plan on doing so we are already starting before the new year.


I am feeling much better about going into 2016 than I was a year ago. Earlier I started 2015 was a tough year and I can't even say I'm sad to see it go. I'm glad for the growth and perseverance, the ability to work hard and to come out better than I went in. I'm hopeful for 2016 and am ready to close one chapter and start the next.

What's Up, What's Happenin

+We celebrated Thanksgiving in Michigan with my family. It was the first Thanksgiving we've all spent together in quite a few years so that was kind of a treat. While we were there my entire family had family pictures taken. It was SO cold, but everyone was troopers and they turned out pretty great.

+The first week of December I took Dominick to go see "THE" big guy in the red suit with a cherry nose. I left work a little early on a Wednesday in hopes of no line. We got there and there was NO line and he got a 15 minute visit. He has only said he wants "5 presents" and won't tell us what he wants inside. He told Santa he wanted a tow truck and trains...done!

+I took Dom to the movies to see The Good Dinosaur and he thought it was just okay. It was kind of a long movie and he kept asking if it was over, but he sat really well through it and said he did like it. While we were at the movies Ryan hung Christmas lights. When we got home Dominick was THRILLED to see them up.

+We baked Christmas cookies and Dominick decorated them. He did a great job and was VERY proud of his work. We sent a bunch of these ones to Ryan's work.

+One day at work we were able to go see a helo up close and personal and that was pretty cool. :)

+On the 14th I took Dominick in for a cold that was lingering and wasn't going away. They told me he had a sinus infection. When I dropped him off at school I saw a sign saying that Hand Foot and Mouth was going around...by the time Ryan picked Dom up that day he had two small spots around his face and was complaining of mouth pain. That night we watched him and when Ryan bathed him he didn't see any spots, but he kept complaining of pain. Tuesday we took him to school because we still didn't see any more spots, but by Tuesday afternoon I got a call saying he had spots all over his hands and mouth. I thankfully got him an appointment and they were able to confirm he had HFMD. I stayed home with him Wednesday and Thursday and Ryan stayed with him Friday. He's finally over that. When they confirmed HFMD they said to stop the sinus infection prescription, but as of yesterday he still had all the same symptoms from that so they put in a new prescription for the same medication for 14 days. FOURTEEN! This is his fourth sinus infection since September. We are going to keep watching him, but if it doesn't get better they're going to send him to an ENT.

+On Monday my office hosted a small Children's Holiday Party so of course I brought Dominick. He made this cute little thumbprint ornament and looked so adorable in his bow tie. I set his clothes out and Ryan brought him so he got him dressed. I asked if he brushed his hair and he said he tried to...child has the CRAZIEST hair.

+On Christmas Eve Papa and Gigi came to town and we were all pretty excited about that. Since Dominick was sick we weren’t able to partake in celebrating Christmas in Michigan so it was really nice having some visitors.

+Christmas Eve we set out milk, cookies and carrots for the reindeer on a plate. Dominick looked at the plate and then looked around and was a little confused. I told him they were for Santa and his reindeer and he said, "but where's my plate?" He wanted cookies too!



+It's been SO nice in Ohio this winter so on once my parents got here and got settled Ryan and I had to run to the store really quickly and my parents took Dominick for a walk to the playground. We met up with them afterwards. It's crazy that on the 24th of December we were running around outside and we weren't bundled up completely.

+Christmas day was so much fun. We finished Dominick's jeep and he was just so tickled to see it. He was DYING to get to ride it. He was so spoiled and was just loving life. We had our traditional breakfast and then our friends came over for dinner (Ham, brisket, funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, pear salad, glazed carrots and corn bread). The boys played outside on their power wheels and it was just a good day. Once they left we watched a movie and just hung out.

holy red eyes!!! HAHAHA!!!!

+The rest of the weekend was full of an amazing breakfast at a cute little cafe, left overs, Chinese food and grocery shopping (food, food and more food).

+We hope you and your families had the best Christmas and were able to spend it with ones you love.

An Update of Sorts

+I haven't updated much so here's another listed post. 

+Ryan, Dom and I spent Halloween in Michigan and then that Sunday Ryan and I returned to Michigan and Dom got to spend a week with his grandparents and family. They had a great time and spent a LOT of time outdoors. It turned out to be the perfect week to have him gone. I came down with an AWFUL cold (went to the dr and ER) for it and stayed home 2 days. I also could have totally stayed home for another, but needed to get back to work. I pretty much either stayed in bed or went to bed right when I got home. I was miserable. The week that Ryan and I were supposed to get to have dates and just do our own thing together turned out to be a really big R&R week. I think we were in bed by 8 almost every night. By Friday I was starting to feel a little better so we did go to Spaghetti Warehouse and then on Saturday we went to a winery and a Brazilian Steakhouse in downtown Cincy. We picked Dominick up on Sunday and needless to say we were all excited to be back together again. 

+On Veterans Day our friends had a birthday party for their daughter at a bowling alley. Dominick loved bowling and had a great time at the birthday party too. A couple weeks later a girl in his class had a party at the same bowling alley so we were there again. I hope it's something we can continue taking him to do because he just has the best time (and loves the pizza and cake/cupcakes).

+A couple of weekends ago Ryan signed Dominick up for a Lowes Build and Grow event. They built a race car. When Dominick came home I asked if I could see his race car and he told me no it was very, very special and I couldn't touch it. HAHAHA!

+One day at school another boy hit Dominick in the face and gave him a nice little cut and black eye. He told us ALL about it that night. Boys are tough...and rough. Dominick included.

+He loves taking selfies with snapchat. Do you snap? My name is alboutwell - add me and tell me what yours is too!

+The 20th we had a carry-in for my office for Thanksgiving. I forgot all about it so I was up early making my macaroni and cheese and Dominick came down. As soon as I finished I was going to work out, but he asked to play doctor. During the week we are so busy and rushed that I rarely get much time to play with him so instead of working out I played doctor. He's a cute little doctor, huh? He always tells me my temperature is "80 dollar 10" and says, "whoa, pretty bad!"

+I LOVE the holidays and am obsessed with decorating for Christmas. Since our house is SO small here (we hate this house) I've been putting it off for as long as I can and will be waiting until after Thanksgiving. Dominick found his Christmas tree that we put in his room so I decided to let him decorate it. He was PLEASED as punch and just kept telling me how beautiful it was and that he LOVED it so much. He kept it on during his nap and turned it on again before bed. I go in and turn it off when I close his door.

+Go Green! Go White! Go State! If you're a spartan fan, a buckeye fan, a college football fan or a big ten follower then you know what I'm talking about. :) We were screaming, dancing and jumping around after that win. Dominick was dancing around our living room singing, "we did it, we did it!"

+I doubt I'll be back in this little space before Thanksgiving so if I'm not then I'll go ahead and just wish y'all a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope all of your bellies and hearts are so full.

xo!

Fall Activities!

This year we let Dominick pick out his costume. We showed him a lot of different ones and he picked the "red inja turle" costume so we were on the hunt for a Raphael costume that fit. We ended up going to a Halloween store to buy it and he was SO excited to take it home to show his dad. He immediately pulled it out of the bag and put it on.

We ended up going to two trunk or treat events and then trick or treating on Halloween. The first one we got there late so people were literally dumping their left over candy into his basket and then the second one people kept saying how sweet and adorable he was and were giving him HAND FULLS of candy. So anytime anyone gave him one or two pieces he would stand there looking like a sad puppy dog like, "are you going to give me any more?"

The weekend of the 12th I took Dominick to a small farm that I heard sold apples, cider, pumpkins and had some little activities for D. It was pretty far and it was very small, but Dominick had the best time there! It was a fun fall weekend.

On the 16th we went to the Circleville Pumpkin Festival. There were pumpkin EVERYTHING. We ended up getting pumpkin donuts (MUST have) and pumpkin fro-yo which also was a big hit for the littlest.

We ended up spending Halloween in Michigan and went to an apple farm to have some fun. There was a zipline, bounce houses and lots of other fun things.Dominick had the BEST time!

I really feel like we were able to make the most of this Fall season and got to have a lot of fun.

Family Photos

This year I was super late to the game with planning our photos. The past couple years I book them super early with our photographer in San Diego. Mostly because it takes a lot of planning to find a weekend that we could travel, that our photographer was open and that would work for hotels. This year I just didn't have much ambition and waited for the last minute. I also forgot that it gets cold in the midwest WAY earlier than it ever did in California. Anyways, I was able to find a photographer who was just getting her name out there, but is also moving. It kind of worked out perfect because she had a lot of spots still available.

Our session was planned for the last week of October and it ended up POURING down rain. Dominick was heading to his grandparents this week so we really wanted to cram it in before all the leaves fell. We met on a Thursday night after work and I'm quite certain it was THE coldest day of the month. Dominick was NOT happy and barely gave us any smiles which is not like him at all. I'm surprised she got any good photos...here are a couple of my favorites.

The Fire Station

When we selected Dominick's preschool we didn't think he'd get to go on field trips (one school we looked at had one every couple of months) so we were very surprised when we were asked to sign a permission slip for him to get to go to the fire station. They needed 9 parent volunteers because they were walking (it's a few blocks away) and if they didn't get that many they would have to cancel. I didn't tell Dominick because up until the last minute they were still unsure. Thankfully they were able to go and he had the best time.The field trip was on October 14th. Ryan unfortunately was out of town for a training, but I was really thankful my work is super awesome and I was able to go, 

Dom didn't know what to think of the firefighter all dressed up in his get up with his mask and everything on. In fact it made him incredibly nervous, but he did great and had the best time. I didn't bring my big camera which I was disappointed about, but I did get a couple pictures of him. I should also say that he was super distracted and was not really interested in taking any pictures. 

this was his "cheese" face. LOLOLOLOL

Columbus Zoo

Back in June when Ryan was TDY Dom and I went to the Cincinnati Zoo and we loved it. We often hear the debates between which zoo is better the Cincy zoo or the Columbus zoo so we decided to go one of the last weekends in September. I loved the Cincy zoo as there was a lot of animals and a lot of babies, but I have to say that we loved the Columbus zoo even more. I'm pretty sure we are going to go ahead and get yearly passes because there's just a ton of things to do and see and even though it's an hour away I have no doubt we will get our money's worth. I didn't take too many pictures as I just enjoyed the day with my guy, but here is what I do have.

I promise he liked it

he waited all day to ride the train and kept asking for the map to see how far away we were. 

the elephant came up super close and there were a couple farther back. he announced to everyone that there was lots of elephant poop out there. people started laughing and he got super embarrassed

we went to Tom+Chee afterwards and he was SO tired. He wouldn't put his hands down because he was just SO exhausted. he wasn't trying to not get a picture, he just didn't want to do life in this moment. HA!

Uncle John's Cider Mill

October 2-4 we spent the weekend in Michigan. When Ryan and I met we were living in Lansing and a little bit north of the city there was a cider mill that we LOVED to go to even as adults. I just remembered there being SO much stuff and they had amazing donuts and cider which was just an added bonus, not to mention they had a winery there too. Now that we're living in Ohio we knew we had to take Dominick since it was one of our favorite places to go in the fall as a couple. We picked a weekend that worked for us and my parents to make sure they were in town and went. Unfortunately for us the weather pooped on us with temperatures barely reaching 50 and it was raining and windy. We decided to bundle up and still go and it ended up being a great day. Dominick was a huge fan of the donuts and cider, he said, "mmmm I love this juice" with a mouth full of donut. Most of the outdoor activities weren't running (the train, hay ride, etc.), but he played on the wood play sets and had the best time. The one thing he was MOST excited for was picking out his pumpkin in the pumpkin patch. He searched and searched before finding the "perfect" one. It was 37 lbs which is only 1 less lb that what he weighs and was pleased as punch with his selection. We stopped by the winery and picked up some wine and hard cider to complete our day before heading home. I think this was a huge success despite the weather for Dom, Ryan and I.