The Trenerowski's: February 2014

Friday, February 28, 2014

Three Decades

So, tomorrow I turn 30 years old.

This is supposed to be a life-changing event, and to commemorate the occasion I wanted to make a list. I missed the boat with the whole "30 things to do before you're 30" list. But as I was reading other's blogs and looking up ideas - it occurred to me that I've already accomplished a lot before I turned 30...

I have...

- Been to 29 Countries

- Fallen in Love and Gotten Married

- Had a Baby

- Lived in a Different Country

- Lost a lot of weight, gained it back, and lost it again

- Read almost 300 books since graduating from College

- Gotten myself completely out of debt

- and many more... but these I named appear to be some of the most popular items list makers out there have on their 30-Year-Old-Bucket-List.

So instead, I was thinking. Why not create a list of 30 things to do WHILE I am 30! It doesn't have to be creative, or elaborate. I never really make "New Years Resolutions" because I feel that if you want something bad enough - you will work on it, toward it, for it. Why wait until the new year to accomplish something with your life? So I decided that I want my "30 List" to be something to get me going, motivate me, and inspire me to become a better person this year.

Without Further Ado...

I present to you...

My List...

1. Declutter. The only goal I made for 2014 was to get rid of 2014 things.

2. Buy a house, create a home.

3. Lose 10 pounds.

4. Defy Gravity.

5. Celebrate something, somewhere else.

6. Visit my 30th Country.

7. Read 30 books.

8. Win Something.

9. Run a Race.

10. Read 3 Classics.

11. Let People call me crazy when they hear my goals and be totally okay with it. (They're just jealous anyways, right?)

12. Do Yoga everyday for 30 days.

13. Buy Magnets. (More to come on this later).

14. Start the tradition of sending Lily a postcard from every place we visit.

15. Write twice a month in my journal.

16. Explore my own city.

17. Earnestly try to completely read the whole Bible.

18. Make a 40 things to do before 40 list.

19. Make Shutterfly & Blurb Books, and compile Movies of Lily of her first year.

20. Pretend to be someone entirely different for one night only.

21. Take a trip ALONE with Michal.

22. Memorize something.

23. Take a step towards my dream.

24. Do a free trial at every gym in my city.

25. Visit Pennsylvania.

26. Invest in Something.

27. Watch 30 of AFI's top 100 movies.

28. Find and Join a Bookclub.

29. Buy a second car.

30. Finish Lily's Quiet Book.

Some of these will seriously take some hard work and dedication to finish. Others require a little bit of luck. Some may come very naturally. But I've thought long and hard over the last week, and this time next year I'd like to look back and say, "Yes. I did it!" And be happy and feel accomplished. This is my olympic story.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Birthday Celebrations

So, we didn't have the "ideal" backdrop for taking pictures, so I thought I'd edit the pictures to create my own backdrop. (Note: I do not know how to edit pictures in Photoshop.) Ninety minutes later, this was the best that I could come up with, so needless to say - I'll put my sad effort at an edited picture up, so that you photographers (and editers) out there feel better about your amazing talents compared to mine.

But, with this being the very first time we introduced sweets to Lily, I had to make sure I took a million photos of the occasion, and here are my favorites from below.

At first, she didn't know if she liked the chocolate, and the frosting was so hard she was so confused at whether she should eat this strange thing, but once she got into "softer" frosting, she made sure to show us that she loved it by getting it all over her face.

Eventually she got bored of the cupcake, so we took her out of her high-chair and took some classic birthday family photos.

And this is my favorite, favorite photo of us together.

Thanks to all those who came to celebrate with us!

And Happy Birthday Lily!

Sunday, February 23, 2014

One Year Old

2/13/2014

Congratulations little girl! And Happy Birthday!

You are now a year old.

I almost can't believe it.

Thank you for loving me more than I love you and showing me every day with your kisses and snuggles.

Thank you for being so pretty and so smart and so strong.

I love you.

12 Month Stats:

Weight: 19 pounds (36%)

Height: 29 inches (41%)

Head Circumference: 45.7 cm (71%)

Looking back...

Birth

One Month & Two Months

Three & Four Months

Five Months

Six Months

Seven Months

Eight & Nine Months

Ten & Eleven Months

And Twelve Months

Friday, February 21, 2014

Driving - Part 2

Have I mentioned that Lily likes to drive?

From the moment she was old enough to sit up by herself in the cart-seat, she has felt like she is "in control" of where we go in the store. This may be because Michal pushes the cart from the end and lets her think she is steering which way to go.

And then we discovered, at Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods - they have an actual steering wheel on the shopping cart. It is a pain to sanitize before putting her in, but Lily loves the grocery shopping experience. My favorite part is how she tries so darn hard to get everyone's attention as we pass by. And then the instant they look at her and give her any ounce of attention, she acts shy or uninterested! This girl is a heart-breaker.

And then we discovered Costco's "cart." Michal found this push-toy in Costco. I went off to buy vegetables and Michal disappeared with Lily. Later I found him pushing her around the store and I couldn't help but laugh. I told him he might get into trouble, and he politely told me that it was good advertising to help Costco sell this push toy. When we went to Utah over Christmas, the toy was strapped in by zip-ties to prevent parents doing from what Michal is a pro at - pushing the rules to the limit.

Lily gets so much attention at any store that we go to. It doesn't matter which one, but we ALWAYS, ALWAYS have other customers ask what aisle we found Lily on. They always want to get her to smile. Some have tried giving her treats. We always get "extra" samples at Costco - for Lily (or Michal). People let us move to the front of lines. But most importantly, we are able to make others' days by having Lily smile at them and making them feel special.