Writing

Well, today is the last day of September and my previous blog was posted in the beginning of January, so as you can tell, I'm really on top of things...

Yeah...

I really enjoy writing. Specifically, I enjoy writing stories. Even more specifically, I like to make up those stories. Giving regular updates on what my family is up to (at least in blog form) is pretty boring for me. With Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it also feels redundant. Social media allows me to post those silly conversations, proud moments and daily craziness right away; then I feel like there's no need to expand on those things here. So I don't.

But I am writing, I promise you that. I get a little giddy just thinking about the story I have to tell, too. It is not a children's book. It is not a short story. It is not a book to encourage moms of young children. (I'm actually quite bored and tired by the mommy blogs anymore unless it's a blog of someone I know personally.)

I'm writing a novel. Or maybe a series, I'm not quite sure yet. I don't know if I can get the whole story out in one book. Or if it will be just one book and then do a spin-off book with a certain character or storyline from the book. I've been inspired!

Inspiration is a wonderful feeling. I've basically been wanting to write a great story since my freshman year in college. I must have started at least ten times, but then I'd determine that those stories were either lame or have been done before. Then sometime this past January/February, an idea just came to me.

Now, I'm not going to reveal what the story is, but it is definitely in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre. And if you don't like that genre, you will probably hate it. And even if you do like that genre, you still might think it's a lame story. But I'm excited about it and my mom will at least tell me it's great. I concluded some time ago that I have an overactive imagination and it can actually be productive by making up characters, environment, imaginary physics and such for others to read and enjoy. I hope to publish some day, but I probably won't seriously start looking into that for some time yet. It is a goal, though.

So, that's the update on me. I'm writing. For real. And I guess I can post some kid pictures since you're used to seeing kid pictures on here.

Simon turned 6 in April and had a Skylanders party

Charzie turned 3 in May and had a Mickey Mouse party

Jonas turned 5 in August and had a shark party (at the end of Shark Week)

 Chase turned 33 in September and had an R2D2 cake because I found a sweet R2D2 cake pan at a thrift store. He's not a kid, but he does have a sweet cake.

There's no picture of me with my birthday cake because no one made one for me and I won't make one for myself. I do cakes and birthday parties for my family, but I don't do it trying to be better than other moms or make other moms feel bad for not doing it. I just enjoy coming up with cake & game ideas, executing those ideas and eating cake. Mmmmmmmmm caaaaaaaaaake. (Another reason I'm done with the mommy blogging world is when the birthday party issue comes up the blogs are often either showing elaborate/expensive birthday parties with styled pictures I find mostly ridiculous or the blogs bash those parties saying those moms are ruining it for all the other moms. I feel I fall more in the middle but could be seen as making other moms feel bad. I'm terrible at keeping up with cleaning & laundry, but at least my kids have fun birthdays!)

So if you want to see an inordinate amount of pictures of my kids, follow me on Instagram @weesher. If you want to read dumb stuff I say, follow me on Twitter @weesherweesh. If I know you in real life, we can be Facebook friends (but only if I know you in real life) if you search for me. I may occasionally post something or other amusing on here or maybe give a book update, but this blog will probably be neglected.

I will leave you with things I've been into lately...

Books: George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. I am currently finishing the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons. I think I'll get into the Halloween spirit by reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein once I've finished.

TV: Doctor Who (I don't get BBC America, so I have to wait until the current season comes to Netflix or Amazon Instant Video), Classic Doctor Who (I started from the beginning of what they have on Netflix/Amazon and am currently on the episodes with the fourth Doctor, the one with the long scarf), Game of Thrones (HBO), True Blood (HBO- started this one over the summer when the GOT season ended and now only have a few episodes left of the series!), The Walking Dead (AMC- don't get AMC so we bought the series on Amazon, but we don't get to watch it until the day after it airs), Drunk History (Comedy Central), Impractical Jokers (TrueTV- we don't get this channel but watch it online sometimes).

Movies: I go to maybe two movies a year. The last movie I saw in the theater was The Lego Movie with my kids. I am pretty set on seeing the next Hunger Games movie in the theater when it comes out, and I'm totally cool with seeing it alone. I'm sure we'll watch lots of horror movies on Netflix/Amazon this October, too, after the kids go to bed. 

Sports: HAHAHHAHHAHAHHA (this is a joke because I don't watch sports, except my kids doing gymnastics class, and that is quite amusing- the boys do cartwheels like Oompa Loompas.)

Food: Entenmann's snack size (chocolate) frosted donuts, Eggo pumpkin spice waffles, Count Chocula, burgers with BBQ sauce, crab cakes, crescent roll sandwiches, cake, Breyer's lactose free ice cream

Kids' Activities: sending them outside to play, sending them to the basement to play, telling them to color rocks they find outside, gluing stuff they find outside to paper, Legos, reading books with them

Music: The Flaming Lips, Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Beck, Lucius. I mostly like 90's alt rock with a bit of newer music. Alice FM is my favorite radio station.

I don't really know how to end this. Hopefully next time it won't be quite so long between posts. And hopefully next time I'll have made real progress on my book!

The Hardest Part

A friend recently asked me what the hardest part of having my boys is. I hadn't really thought about it before, but it was an easy answer: friends.

You see, most of our friends around here don't yet have kids and when they plan any sort of get-together it starts at 7:00 or 8:00 in the evening. The boys go to bed at 7:30. No problem, just get a babysitter, right? Well, our babysitters are all also invited to the get-togthers, so they're either already going or have something else going on. Plus, if someone sees me without a baby, the first thing they ask is, "Where are the kids?" and then they seem disappointed if the boys aren't around. People are always much more excited to see the boys, and I can't blame them, I have awesome kids! It would just be nice for someone to want to hang out with me every once in a while.

So how about just hanging out during the day? Well, most of my friends have jobs and/or classes. Then when it's their lunchtime, it's our naptime, so meeting friends for lunch isn't really doable at this point.

If hanging out with those friends doesn't work out, how about hanging out with friends who have kids? Well, I do, but it's very difficult to finish a conversation because there's always a little one who wants a drink, snack, fresh diaper, attention, to leave, or to just be all up in whatever we're doing. I can get together with another mommy friend and have no idea what's been going on in her life because of all the interruptions. Often those hang-out times are limited to about an hour if we're lucky because not only do we need to accommodate meals and naps, the boys tend to coordinate their poops right before I try to go anywhere with them, so it always takes longer to leave than I anticipate.

I know loading the kids up to go out will be easier when the weather's nice and I don't have to bundle them up and when we just get quicker with practice. I also know that it'll get easier to hang out and actually finish conversations with friends when the boys get older and can better entertain each other and really play with other kids rather than just alongside other kids. It already is starting to get a little easier, and it's so much fun to watch my boys play and learn and grow. And Simon is starting to play with other kids a little and Jonas enjoys watching. But my friend had asked what the hardest part is, and the hardest part is feeling forgotten by friends.

They Fit!

Most women have their skinny jeans, regular jeans, bigger jeans and maybe fat jeans. Today, for the first time since Simon was born, I tried on my regular jeans... and they fit! Not a well, I can get them buttoned but I'm spilling out kind of fit, nay, they fit like jeans are supposed to fit. And there was much rejoicing...

I've been down to my pre-pregnancy weight for over a month now, but my body has just been a little different. It's a wonderful different, though, because it means that my body did one of the amazing things it was designed to do: house my baby as he was being formed in my womb. Sure, there are some stretch marks here and there and my belly isn't as tight as it once was (although it's starting to get there), but that's a minuscule price to pay for the joy of being a mommy.

Staying home with Simon is also a perfect fit. I can't imagine feeling satisfied working outside our home because I love just being a stay-at-home wife and mother so much! I don't feel the need to prove that I can do it all by having a career, a fancy home and a family; I don't feel like I'm wasting my degree; and I don't feel like I wasted time and money getting my degree (I'm one of those rare cases who actually got a job in their studied field right out of college! Plus, that's how I met my husband!).

I understand that some women don't feel satisfied staying home and would prefer adult interaction at a job. And there are women who need to work outside the home in order to provide for their families. I'm just very appreciative that I don't fall into either of those camps. It's possible that I will have to go to work in the future, but right now, I'm just enjoying mommyhood.