Cy You Are Almost 3!

Cy you are almost 3 and what time has gone by since you have come home to us. You have changed, grown and come into your own. I do have to say you crack me up everyday. I started this blog with you in mind and I figured I would chronicle you miles stones for you to look back online.

Favorite Color -> Orange
Favorite Movies -> Dumbo, Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, How to Train Your Dragon, Polar Express
Favorite TV Shows -> Dinosaur Train, Diego, Thomas, Curious George
Favorite Apps -> Lunchbox Monkey, PBS Kids, Trucks, Monster at the end of the Book, Itsy Bitsy
Favorite Food -> Pizza, Soup, Risotto, Manchego, Pasta, Blueberries, Mangoes, Pears and Apples
Favorite Vegetables -> CARROTS, cucumbers, onions, bell peppers -- You love to juice veggies with Mommy and really enjoy drinking our mixtures!

You still don't sleep through the night and mommy and daddy only can count the days until you do. Milk or in Korean "uyu" is still your #1...you LOVE the stuff. If you are not drinking milk it is lemonade or fojiotos. You have a curious mind and love to figure stuff out. Recently you are into riding your Strider bike with your helmet. You love playing with your Brio train track too. You love all Thomas. Mommy and Daddy's friend Erin's son Nick gave you a Thomas flashlight that you really enjoy! That was super nice of Nick to share his toy!

I would say that you have an amazing ear for rhythm, pitch and tone.  Natural ability to keep a beat and follow the music amazes me every time. You LOVE the drums! Friends of ours gave you a drum and you play with it often. Fort Collins Discovery Center has this great music sound room where you play the drums every time we go, needless to say you impress all the workers/volunteers that you can actually play and don't just bang away.  Your musical taste range is abstract as us. Daddy will play anything from White Zombie, Henry Rollins, Irish Music or the Grateful Dead. Mommy has John Butler Trio, Katy Perry, Kanye, Rihanna, Bluegrass, etc. However, your absolute favorite song right now (aside from Christmas music) is Some Nights by Fun. You request it often and I think you are catching on to the lyrics and chime in perfectly! I promise you no matter how much or how little money we have we will always encourage music in your life.

You enjoy reading and being read to. Don't get to excited as you can't read...but you do memorize books surprisingly well and are able to recite.

Favorite Books:

• But No Elephants - Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Nelson
• Circus Ship
• Thomas the Train Picture Book
• The Fire Engine Book

We feel so lucky everyday that you are our son! I believe that everything is meant to be...and you are meant for us. One thing that is still constant is your love of Bear. Bear came with you from Korea and you don't leave home without him.

Peace and Love! Always remember that Mommy and Daddy always love you so much!

PS. Daddy wants me to remember that he loves how you randomly and most importantly at the right time will say, "Thanks Daddy" or "Thanks Mommy"

Working 9 to 5...A way to Make a Living...

I have been working since I was 14 years old, through high school and college. When I was younger I just wanted to be out of the house as much as possible. Growing up you wouldn't necessarily call my family The Brady Bunch, more like a bad after school special.  Between sports and working I made sure that I was rarely home. Jeremy makes fun of me because I bring up this longevity of working from time to time and it drives him a little nuts. I enjoy working and enjoy the success that comes from it.  However, with our son coming home soon I wonder how will I be once he is home.  There are a few Sarahisms that I contemplate with transitioning to motherhood.

The working mother. Millions of women work full time jobs, raise their kids, volunteer, are in the PTA and even maybe are going back to school to further their education. My mother was a working mom.  I remember when we were little going into work with her on Saturdays. We are the children of the 60's feminist movement where women worked really hard to enter the workforce.  They fought for the luxuries that we have today, for without them we wouldn't be able to be a CEO.  Women stopped wanting to be Holly Housewife. They wanted to make a contribution, to be somebody to stand up and say...I do not just bake Apple Pie!  I always admired my mother and her career. When I was younger I never wanted the house with the white picket fence, married and 2.5 kids.  I wanted to be a CEO, I learned golf hoping someday that I would be hanging with the boys, learned to drink scotch...you get my point. I have been a working professional for close to 10 years now and as we get closer to our son coming home I think about what I want for me and our family.

By no means am I judgmental to how people choose to live their life, but for me I could never see myself as a stay at home mother.  As the time comes closer with our son coming home I ponder what I will do in terms of my career. Currently I work a minimum of 50 hours a week, sometimes exceeding those hours. When I look back at how I admired my mother I also felt that I missed out on having her go to my meets, games, competitions, etc... She worked really hard to provide a good life for my sister and I...but looking back I wish she was there to watch and to be a part of my life.  My mother in law told me once (because she left a wonderful job with Pan Am to raise her kids) that she felt that she lost her identity when she stopped working.  I can totally understand that feeling. You identify yourself as a certain person who does this or that and for some people...being a mom is a lot but isn't just about you. You are a mom to everyone. You cook, clean, care for the kids and your significant other and you don't get a raise, there is no review to give you kudos and sometimes what you do is looked in a way as "not work."

Being a Domestic Engineer is extremely hard work that challenges one's multitasking skills, time management, patience, problem solving...I could go on an on.  However, you do all this and sometimes to no recognition. Let's face it ladies and gentleman...we like recognition and if you say you don't, I call bullshit!  So as time comes closer to our son arriving I wonder what will become of Sarah DeBuse Nelson.  I have always seen myself as a working mother.  I believe in this day and age their are so many more options to be a provider than in the 60's, 80's and 90's. I am not worried about finding that job, I am worried how will I be able to "balance" wife, mother and work.

I think it takes a lot of balance  to make work and home life successful. I believe to each his own. You do what makes it work for you and your family.  I do though think it is important to gather information and adapt it to your own situation.  I personally am not into reading books about how to "balance" your life because everyone's life is different, every person is different and to me "balance" is a tricky and loaded word. We always look at others and think: how does she/he do it? Listen, I don't think anyone does it! They are just better at faking it then the rest of us. If you want "balance" my suggestion is take an acting class.



I know that I am not the only soon-to-be parent or parent out there that has had these thoughts or fears. I would love to hear what nerves other working mothers might of had while waiting for their child, thoughts once they had to go back to work, how you make it work.  I thrive on hearing information from others! Until next time...

Peace and Love