And onto a whole new year.

I just celebrated my 29th birthday... meaning that I am officially starting my 30th year of life. Whoa. That seems so old to me. I know I have just under a year until I hit the big 3-0, but man, I might need to gear up for that big day. I've already started thinking about how I want to celebrate - I'd like to go "all out" with a vaca with hubby, or with a vino party with my closest friends and family. I guess we'll see what life brings at that time... lots can change between then and now. A year can make a HUGE difference in your life. I think about the last year of mine, and how insanely different it's been since last year at this exact time. Several people in my life have come and gone...some good, some not so good. But I did have a GREAT year, despite some of the obstacles I was faced with. I had a great time celebrating my 29th birthday this year... we spent the night in Wisconsin Dells at a waterpark - which, by the way, TOTALLY brings out the kid in me when I go down those big water slides. We ordered pizza in our room, and all went to bed early :-) We then celebrated with my sister and her family (along with my good friend, Brittny) the Saturday following with a great dinner, and of course, some good vino. In an upcoming weekend, my mom is taking me shopping to buy me some new clothes, and my daddy is going to cook for me - couldn't ask for anything better! By the way, hubby and the kiddos bought me an imersion blender for my birthday (something I asked for) and I frickin' love the thing. (which is another reason I feel old - I get excited about kitchen utensils as presents.) And don't get me started on the cookie sheets I got from my sister (they made the best.cookies.ever.). There are pictures from the festivities, but they are currently on my camera which is at my sisters house until I see her on Thursday... so I'll have a "birthday picture post" then and you can all see how I celebrated my 29th birthday with my favorite people :-) I can only hope that this next year will be just as great as my last...now, onto 30!

I'm done with snow.

It snowed. Again. This morning.
Seriously? It's mid-March... isn't Mother Nature tired yet? I want spring!
Last year at this time, I clearly remember several 60-70 degree days, me and my mini-baby bump walking around the neighborhood with Matthew on his bike. This year... not a chance! There's still about 6-8 inches of old yucky snow underneath the fresh layer we got this morning.

Although, in about a week... on my 29th birthday, actually, we'll be spending 2 days (one overnight) at Mt. Olympus Resort in Wisconsin Dells. The indoor waterpark will feel warm, and Drew and I get to play and splash in the pool with Will and go down waterslides with Matthew. I'm super excited! And one of the best parts, is that we're surprising Matthew. I'll be packing his stuff up the night before and we're not going to tell him where we're going until we get there. Drew and I want it to be a little magical for him. He will already feel like the day is special with Mommy's birthday cake, but with a water park and spending a night in a cool hotel on top of that, he'll be in heaven.

Hopefully this is one of the last snowfalls of the season. I'm so done with snow, and I'm so done with winter. Bring on the warm weather!

Introducing... my future sister-in-law - Lauren!

Between not blogging regularly, and having so much other stuff to do and on my mind, I totally forgot to make a special post about the new and exciting event happening in mid-October. Our family will be welcoming my brother's fiancee, Lauren, into our family when they get married in Minneapolis on October 15. I'm so very happy for my brother for finding the person that can truly make him happy, and build the life he's always wanted and deserved. There is no better person for him to create a happy life and family with than her. Ironically, Lauren spent most of her childhood living in Green Bay, and we actually went to middle school and (briefly) high school together, although she was a grade younger than I, and we were only aquaintances. My brother and her met through a mutual friend of theirs while they both were living in Minneapolis. (it's a small world!)

They recently asked Drew, Matthew and I to stand up in their wedding as a groomsmen/bridesmaid/ringbearer so we are all really looking forward to that. It's going to be a very special (and fun!) day for all of us! Did I mention they are having their reception at the brand spankin' new TCF stadium (where the MN Gophers play)? The pictures of the reception hall there are amazing. It's going to be a beautiful wedding... and my brother is marrying a beautiful woman. I'm so very excited to be gaining such a great person as my sister-in-law!

So without further ado... here she is - my future "little" sister! (With my niece Julia on NYE)

Let go... Let God

I recently saw one of my childhood friends post this as her Facebook status. No doubt, she has gone through some rough times, but amazingly she has pulled herself through. LET GO... LET GOD. Hmph...There's so much wisdom to that phrase. There is only so much that we ourselves can control. We can't control what others do, say or think about us... that whole concept has been hard for me ever since I can remember. We can't control when or how others hurt us... or disappoint us. Honestly, Drew has a much easier time "letting go" of hurtful, painful things than I do. He gets mad, and then he literally can just say "I'm not wasting my time thinking about things that are out of my control." At one point in my life, I felt like I had no control of anything that was happening to me, and that was painful. It felt like I was just bombarded with bad seeds. Eventually, that all turned around.... I moved, I got married, I had another baby.... my life is good. It really is. But like I said in my previous post, people disappoint me. Some people that I once loved and trusted continue to have a hurtful effect on me. I NEED TO LEARN TO LET GO and LET GOD. My mom once had a quote taped up to her kitchen cupboard that said "Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option." - (Really, I think she had taped it there for my benefit at the time since I was dating my ex-hubby, R. Zellner, and little did I know at the time that he didn't consider me a priority, at all.) Again, so much wisdom that prase as well....

So enough of this over analyzing everything. My new goal every week is to spend less time worrying about what others think about me... to spend less time thinking about how others have wronged me in the past or how others hurt and disappoint me.... there's so many more beneficial things to focus my energy on.... like these two little guys.....

My two sons are precious.... and I love my hubby more than anything.... my life isn't perfect. But it's good.

Remember.... "LET GO, LET GOD."

Because I am!

A good excuse

I talk a lot about how I don't blog enough because I have such little "free" time to do so. This is true, but I think... actually, I know, that the other reason, which is probably just as significant is that I could have too much to say, and to write about. A lot goes on in the life of the Zimmerman's. Many disappointing things just as there are good things. I guess I have a hard time disifering if I should write about the variety of disappointing, or hard things that we/I have had to deal with. What is appropriate for a blog? When going through hardships, it's hard for me to write about them.... and to write about them in a way that makes sense to others. I usually use my husband, my sister or my mom as my sounding board for when I vent about things. Perhaps I feel like this blog should be all ponies and rainbows - because I AM so greatful - even though I go through hard times. I get angry at people. People disappoint me. But I'm not so sure how far to go in terms of using this blog to sort through the negativity that I often times deal with. There are several "drafts" of blogs that I haven't published because I'm not sure if it would be well received by my select readers. Either way... bare with me for now. Perhaps one day soon, I will be brave enough to write more about the hardships I deal with. We'll see...

A New Year...

It'll be tough to beat last year. It was so wonderful, and it ended just as well - Hubby graduated with his MBA from Marquette University Business School - with a fabulous GPA, I might add. After 2.5 years of having him gone 2-3 nights per week, he's DONE - and he's got the degree to prove it! I'm so proud of him! It's awesome to have him around more and the kids love it too...

I have been horrible at blogging - my brother reminded me of this over Christmas when he pointed out to me that my last post was October 21.... yikes. I have been busy. It is still an adjustment having 2 kids. However, it's something that is so rewarding. I LOVE being home with my two boys more than anything - even though it's super hectic.. And those of you that know me, I like things orderly... I like things clean (on most days) so I've had to let go of some of this these last few months otherwise I'll go insane :-) I'm rarely on the computer though. I check my email and my Facebook account on my iPod while I nurse Will - and the iPod isn't so conducive to blogging, I must say. I turn on the computer when I need to buy something online or upload some pictures - that's about it. So bare with me... I will *try* to blog more this new year... but most of the time, I have something more pressing to attend to. Perhaps I'll try to make it part of my New Years resolution this year...

Adding to how wonderful our 2010 year ended - Matthew turned the BIG 5. Yes, my baby is 5! I can't believe it. We celebrated with 10 of his friends from school at the bowling alley - which was much better than entertaining ten 4/5 year old boys at our house. It was chaotic, but it was fun watching them wrestle and tackle each other in between bowling their frames.... the life of having BOYS! Other highlights of 2010 - a healthy and uneventful pregnancy, Drew's ACG Cup victory, Matthew being with us ALL OF THE TIME, the birth of our beautiful William, William's baptism.... and all the little moments in between with our family and friends that make us thankful for the lives we have.

I'm hoping that 2011 will be just as good as 2010. Unfortunately my brother just had to say goodbye to his "baby" Sedona... his 10+ year old golden lab that had cancer. He put her down yesterday with his girlfriend, Lauren by his side. It must have been so hard for him to say goodbye to the one thing that has remained constant in his life throughout his painful 18 months. That dog was a lifesaver for him. I know he takes comfort in knowing that she is running around and playing fetch with sticks up in dog heaven with her cousin, Max. I took a cute picture of William and Sedona over Christmas time, while we were up in Green Bay- here it is. Sedona liked to be near the baby, of course. :-)

My resolution for 2011 is to excercise 4 times per week... after one week, I've attained that goal thus far. Right now, it's doing some quick kickboxing and ab crunches in the living room until the weather gets nicer and I can use the jogging stroller to start running again.

....And the baby calls.... toodles for now!

What blog?

Adjusting to two kids has been a bit challenging. Rewarding.... but challenging. So, sorry... not much time to blog. Things are going really well though... Will is starting to get on a bit of a schedule in terms of his sleeping (although, sleeping during the day usually requires me to hold him.) I really cannot complain about his night-time sleeping though. Being a breastfed baby, he is wonderful. He'll fall asleep between 8pm-9pm and he'll sleep for about 4 hours. Then he's up every 2-3 hours after that until about 8am. And he's such a snuggler too - I love it!
Matthew is a GREAT big brother... He adores Will, and it's so neat to see the two of them together. He's a great help to me too - when I ask him to get me a burp rag, or his Nuk - he does it without even being asked twice. The hardest part is dividing my time - THAT is the adjustment! For everyone! I'm trying to learn to not feel so guilty every time Matthew asks me to play with him, but I need to attend to his crying (or in most cases, his eating) brother. I make it a point to give each one of my boys (Drew included!) my undivided attention each day. That's the best I can do... however, I think I'm going to need to start carving out some "me" time very soon. For now, I have coffee "dates" with my girlfriends once per week (love you, Shan and Brit!) while all the "big" kids are at school - and I LOVE that time with them. We get a chance to talk to each other without having to constantly intervene with our 3 and 4 year olds. And starting next week, my friend Sarah and I are mall walking with our babies since she has a little girl a month older than Will... it'll be a good start to shedding that baby weight.... I have about 15 pounds to go and I haven't even started any regular exercise routine yet - I CAN DO IT! So hopefully I can start getting back on a regular blogging schedule. Bare with me as I continue to figure out this Mommy-of-more-than-one-kid thing. :-)