29

Can you believe it?  I'm 29 years old.  I didn't think much of it until my mom said it was a bit hard for her...me being the baby of the family, and all.  That made me start thinking about how much time 29 years actually is.  Long enough for me to go through school, find the other half of myself, establish myself in my chosen profession, become a home-owner, give three lovelies a home, and realize that I'm one year away from 30.  It's not that being 30 scares me, it's the realization that I'm entering another decade of life.  That's a bit surreal.

I've started dreaming about what my thirties will bring...I think I like it :) 

Thank you, friends, for all the well-wishes on my birthday.  I spent my actual birthday pampering myself, something I realized I don't do enough, and I have vowed to do more this year. The next day, my family gathered for a fun dinner celebration.  Being surrounded by family made me take a step back and count my blessings.  I've been so blessed in life, and I remind myself of that every chance I get.  

Back to work

Our winter vacation was great this year.  We were able to take a few mini-trips as well as stay home and enjoy our time together.  We kicked off our time with a couples massage, followed by a trip to Santa Cruz, where we enjoyed the rainy coastal weather.  We came back for Christmas with my family, then headed up the hill for Christmas with Travis' family.  The second week of vacation, I spent sleeping!  Whoo-hoo!  I slept at least 10 hours a night, but woke up with a congested head right after New Years.  I'm still trying to kick the stuffy nose, but Travis seems to be fine.  He was able to go snowboarding twice, and can't wait for the next opportunity.

I think the worst part of vacation is the last night.  Just knowing you have to go back to work seems to dampen the spirits a bit.  We both love our jobs, but it's still sad to leave vacation time behind.  

Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays!

2009

Happy New Year! 

Christmas Day 2008

We had Christmas morning breakfast with my dad's siblings in Hilmar, it was a bit smaller than last year, only 40 people or so.  One brother and his whole family weren't able to join us this year (and they were missed!).  After breakfast we drove up to the Walsh cabin for fondue dinner.  Yum!

  Linda and Ed had the place completely decorated, and the whole area was covered in at least 2 feet of snow which always makes it feel more like Christmas.  

Tanner and Belle came with us, and as usual, Belle loved playing in the snow and Tanner loved sleeping by the fire.  

We weren't able to stay as long as last year, but we're looking forward to the next trip up :)

Christmas Eve 2008

Christmas snuck up on us this year.  We were both so engrossed in our jobs that we were a little surprised when December rolled around.  We spent Christmas Eve with my family at my sister's house.  Her kids are growing up so quickly!  They're beautiful and fun~ the little guy is crawling now and he's so proud of himself (as he should be!)

Big sister received a great doctor's kit, and she wasted no time inspecting it.  

My grandparents joined us and we all had a nice visit.

Dotti

As you know, we have a darling cat, Dotti (who's convinced she's a dog).  She's great.  She lives harmoniously with the dogs, playing with them, sleeping with them, and even walking with them.  Yes walking.  She recently developed a habit of following us on our walks around the neighborhood.  It didn't bother me so much when we were just taking short walks to get the dogs out of the yard, and she really never crossed a major street to follow us- until Saturday.  I took off for a long walk with the dogs, as I tend to do on the weekends, and it took about three block for me to realize Dotti was following us.  For those of you familiar with Turlock, she crossed Colorado and followed us along the perimeter of the high school, crossed Canal (in the crosswalk, I might add, while cars waited for her), and walked all the way to Berkeley Avenue.  At that point, another walker passed us, and she darted away.  I completed the walk and returned home about an hour later; I was disappointed that Dotti wasn't there, but she wasn't flat in the street either, so I didn't think about it much.  I did think about it hours later when I brought the dogs in for the night and she was nowhere to be found.  I was in tears, having convinced myself that someone stopped to "save" this cat from the busy street, and Dotti, being the friendliest cat ever, went along willingly.  I cried even harder as Belle walked around the house, looking in all of Dotti's hiding spots, over and over again until we had to make her sit in another room.  She missed Dotti too!!!  Oh, how I cried.  I was a bad cat mommy- this was the third cat in a year to leave our home... As Travis will tell you, I was still incredibly upset the next morning when she was still not around.  We packed up for Santa Cruz and left, as planned, and I left out more than enough food and water, but was sure she was gone from us forever.

But no!  As we pulled into the driveway this afternoon, three days from the last time we saw her, Dotti was waiting for us!!!!  I picked her up and carried her around for at least half an hour. When I put her down, she ran after the dogs and has not left their side since.  Our little family is back together again!  

Insomnia

Growing up, I slept heavily.  I would sleep hard and wake up ready to go. According to my mom, I didn't wake up super early or super late, I just woke up when I was ready.

When I reached high school, I still slept heavily, and would sleep in on the weekends, until 8am or 9am, but compared to a couple of my close friends, I was an early riser.  If I stayed the night at a friend's house and we went to sleep around 1am, I would wake up around 8am and wait for my friend to wake up.  I would eventually get tired of waiting, and I would go home and do my own thing.

When I reached college, I stayed up late studying, like everyone else, and worked late some nights, so my average bedtime was around 1am, sometimes 2am if I went out with friends.  I would still sleep hard and wake up early, 9 at the latest.  

When we moved to Hawaii, I don't remember a remarkable change.  The whole island shut down around 11pm, so we all went to bed fairly early (although I do remember Kenji always calling us the old couple because we would leave parties around 11).  Still woke up early.

Then, grad school.  I stopped sleeping well- truthfully, I stopped sleeping.  Even if I went to bed early, I wouldn't fall asleep.  I would stay awake for HOURS- I'm talking 4 or 5 hours, trying to relax and fall asleep.  I would eventually move to the couch or the spare room and fall asleep around 3am, waking at 6 or 7 to go to work, then school.  Naturally, I attributed that sleep pattern the the stress of being in school.  I figured I would return to my old sleep pattern once school was over.

Didn't happen.

After defending my thesis, I slept hard for about three months.  I was soooo tired. I'm talking about the kind of tired where you drag yourself to bed at 8pm because sitting up to watch tv takes too much energy.  Even if I went to bed at 8, I'd wake up at 9 or even 10 on the weekends.  I figured I was just catching up on all the sleep I'd missed the three previous years.

Over the last year, my sleep pattern slowly changed again.  I went back to being a normal person, going to bed around 10pm and waking around 6, rested.  Sleeping in until 8am on the weekends, just because I could.  

But now...now, I think the pendulum has swung too far the other way.  

I'm not sleeping again. 

The only difference is when I'm sleeping.  I fall asleep easily enough, but now I can't STAY asleep.  

For the last two weeks, I've been waking up somewhere between 3:45am and 4:30am.  I just lay there.  I'm still tired and I still want to sleep, but I can't fall back asleep.  What gives?  When I do fall asleep, it's usually minutes before Travis' alarm goes off at 5:35am.  Sometimes I can drift back into dreamland for another 45 minutes or so until my alarm goes off, sometimes I can't.  

I am NOT ready to admit that I'm an insomniac, so I beg of you....do you have any advice on how I can fall back asleep?

Currently, I practice my deep breathing techniques from yoga and sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't.  What else can I do?  Any and all suggestions would be helpful.  If I don't change this soon, the bags under my eyes are going to take over my cheeks!!!