It’s My Birthday 2021 style!
On my 41st birthday last year I could never have imagined what 2020 was going to bring us. This year has been intense to say the least. There have been some really beautiful moments and there have been some very ugly moments.
The Good
I’m going to start with the good. One of the highlights of my year was to slow down. In some ways life felt like a scheduled rat race. The calendar was filled. Between school and sports, there wasn’t much free time. My husband usually travels a lot for work and most of the kid responsibilities were on me. That’s just how it was. We loved keeping our kids active and, honestly, a lot of that became our social time. But to have that all slow down, or stop, has been nice. Our family has spent so much time together and we are more present with our time. I truly think that has been a blessing.
We eat dinner together every single night. Technology gets turned off. We have an old-fashioned dinner. I know this is going to be something my kids will remember and will appreciate. A highlight in my childhood was sitting down as a family and eating together.
The kids are absolutely loving having dad home more. What’s better than having daddy home? Bedtime is so much easier too. Three kids and two parents is a lot easier than three kids and one parent. (Now if only I could get my 2 youngest to actually sleep through the night and not come in my room). I know when my husband goes back to traveling, the kids are really going to miss him.
Field trips
Have you talked about going places or doing things with your kids but never actually do them? I certainly have. Now we have time to actually doing the things we’ve always talked about. The kids and I have gone on “field trips”. We traveled around different areas of Minnesota. Our two highlights were Wabasha to find eagles. The other favorite place was Minneopa State park. I love driving, and my kids are awesome in the car. I listen to Audible and we explore. We are finding these trips to be bonding and disconnected from the monotony regular life can be. Field trips will definitely continue. We love them!
Every year I have talked about sledding, ice skating, and ice fishing and this year we are actually doing them. The kids are obsessed with ice skating. We are lucky to have a pond in the neighborhood that a couple of dads flood and maintain rinks on. My kids would skate everyday if they could, especially Bubba. I know I’m a better mom when I leave the house and go experience things with my kids.
The Tough
Now there has been some super challenging things too. Super challenging. The loss of any time alone has been difficult. I am an extrovert so I feel I can handle a lot of time with people but every single moment together is a bit much. My husband has always had a traveling job, even when we dated. So navigating everyday all day together has sometimes been a challenge.
Distance learning has been one of the hardest challenges for me. I taught elementary school for 10 years. I have a master’s degree in education. I’m a stay at home mom…and I struggled big time. Sissy just was not into working with me. She threw fits all day long. I was not my best self. Feeling like a failure sucks. I cried a lot. Frustrations have been high a lot. Then there is Bubba who has been doing awesome with distance learning. Thankfully, because I don’t think I could handle two kids who hated it as much as Sissy. I’ve also felt a little cheated not getting to have my youngest all to myself. I love have one on one time and I just don’t get that with distance learning.
Will our house ever be clean again?
My husband and I appreciate a clean home. Yeah, guess what? A clean house can not exist with three kids home ALL THE TIME. It’s an endless job trying to clean and the house. Can anyone relate? I’m not even going to talk about all the meals I had to prepare and clean up. The work is endless, the frustrations many, and the monotony, boring.
With all this being said, this will definitely be a year to remember. My family stayed healthy. We did our best to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and others in our community. We thought about the health care workers and didn’t want to add to the problem.
Highlight
One MAJOR HIGHLIGHT I reflect on for 2020 is this blog. BB and Binks has been such a highlight to me. It has challenged this not so tech savy mama in ways I could never have predicted. It’s so much harder than I thought. But I have loved it. It has been the thing I get to do for myself. I have wanted to do a blog for many years. My friend, Samara, had a blog that I admired so much. I wanted to do that too. It never seemed like the right time to do it.
On a whim and a random conversation, Binks jumped on board with my crazy idea. I just did it. Starting a website knowing absolutely nothing has been interesting! I am still learning every day and have so far to go. The amount of time I could put into this is endless, which I don’t have but I love love love feeling like I’m reaching and helping people. I love when our followers engage. I just love all of it. It’s truly been a blessing this year.
Goals
So as my birthday comes and goes, I want to make some goals for myself. I thought maybe if I share them here, it will hold me more accountable.
- Continue to challenge myself to improve BB and Binks. Learn, challenge, listen.
- I began a new health journey in October and I’m down 20+ lbs!!! I want to continue and become a new healthier version of myself.
- Gratitude Journaling. I want to stop looking at negative things and spend more time focusing on what I’m grateful for.
I think these 3 goals are going to change my life and spill onto other facets of my life. What are your goals for 2021?
