Hi there, 2008!

I actually wrote a response email to a friend today during Audrey's nap. I think this is the first time in a LONG time that I've attended to something personal instead of unpacking, cleaning, or organizing something while she sleeps during the day. It made me happy.

I have lists on my screen. Three yellow "stickies" with tasks to do, things to remember. It's a little odd: I have lots to do, but I don't have a lot of plans. In the past, at the turn of the year, I've felt excitement about "what's next?" for the new year. This year, it's not intense, the way it has felt in the past. I feel very much like I'm "fallow" creatively right now. Or, a better way to put it, is that my creativity is funneled into being a mom. And, I'm cool with that.

Audrey's crawling. Fast. She's quite enamored of crawling to the cat food bowls in the kitchen. I've seen it as an opportunity to work on her budding understanding of the word and concept of "no." :)

I've been pulling recipes from magazines. Tonight, I made dinner. I seem to spend at least 25% of every day at the kitchen sink, cleaning bottles and dishes. Omigod, I'm being all domestic!

In no particular order, here are some creative things I'm looking forward to in 2008:

• Planning and executing a garden in our backyard.
• Teaching classes at the MN IFP.
• Storytimes, music and dancing with Audrey.
• Date nights with Ken. Aha, just remembered something to add to my stickie list... Find nearby babysitter for occasional week days and/or evenings.
• Baking with Terri and our three kids, Marie, Noah, and Audrey.
• Traveling to Texas to visit friends, probably in early summer.
• Reveling in visits to MN by our MD, IL, and AZ family members.
• Celebrating Audrey's first birthday. Oh yeah, we're talkin' cake; there's gonna be cake. And, there's gonna be chocolate involved!
• Writing regularly.
• Taking a painting class...? Photography class...?
• Hostessing bi-monthly potlucks.
• Going to Parent/Child swim classes at the JCC.
• Going to garage sales in the Spring and trolling for used gardening tools.

Suddenly I'm feeling like this is one of lamest blog entries ever. I'm so boring!

Oh well.