2011 Already?

Wow! Where has the time gone?

I have been a terrible mommy blogger and that is because I allowed craziness to get the better of me. How? Well, somehow in the second half of the year, I lost control. Control of my organization for the most part. Every little or big thing that came up seemed to get the better of me or I just took on WAY TOO MUCH and got in over my head and normalcy got left behind.

Things started picking up a bit for Doll Baby Bowtique, which is fantastic. I love creating ... I started getting into some new creations and it hasn't stopped since. I am always so proud of what i create because it feels like I'm completing a puzzle. And it is something that is all mine. I do it for others and my kids, but it is something I use as a creative outlet when I'm not sure what else to do with myself.

As part of this, I had 4 boutiques within a 7 week period. That was a lot and most of it was very last minute which left no time ... for anything. For MOST of them, I was offered a spot with only 2 or so weeks to prepare and that just isn't enough time for anything. To top that off, Kinwa seemed to have to work very late most nights for what seemed like weeks.

What does all that mean? My poor children got ignored - A LOT! I do not like that one bit, and it makes me feel like a horrible mother. I know in trying to move my business forward, I have to give it time and attention. I don't have the luxury of having one or both in preschool/daycare. They are 3 and 1.5 years old and they are both home with me 24/7. So it is all of it all the time and no quiet time to focus on "work." I'm trying to do more, better, bigger things for work so that I can pay off my start-up costs and make it profitable. I haven't figured out how to do it all at the same time. If I leave it for night, I'm pooped and just want to flop in bed, what something mindless and drift off.

I'm still trying to figure out what is best for that, but I know I can't give that part of "Me" up.

In October both Aitana and Kinwa had a birthday. Aitana's 3rd and Kinwa's 40th. I had to have a big party for them. It was a big shin-dig and I invited everyone, and they had fun. But I was just so busy and beyond myself, that I had a hard time having fun. I probably didn't need to do something so big, but I thought it would be fun. Come to find out, simpler would be better and that's how it will be from now on.

But go from that, to who knows, to prepping for a boutique to Halloween, to another boutique, to prepping for another boutique to Thanksgiving, to my birthday (which ended up being fun, but went by like it was just any other day of the year), to a 3 day boutique, to another boutique to TONS of orders to Christmas. And again, Christmas passed like it was just another day. I hate that feeling. We DID make cookies and see Santa and that picture was hysterical, but no Christmas lights or anything else we had planned.

Once Christmas was finished, things finally settled down. We had a get together with the Higgins Family and the Ericson Family, which was really relaxing and enjoyable. Then we had a snow day with my sister and brother-in-law (here-in known as Mimi and Tio Ry-Ry), and then we had the Calef Family as overnight guests for 2 days and that was crazy with 4 kids all under age 3! But we got to enjoy the zoo and from there had a wonderfully fun time for New Year's Eve. It finally felt like a Holiday. Ama and Pa, Mimi and Tio Ry-Ry, Tia Madeline and Tio John all came over and we played the Wii and Karaoke and ate lots and lots ... and LOTS of food. And Aitana and Gabriel had a great time.

And that was the rest of 2010. Crazy times. I'm glad 2011 is here because things WILL be BETTER!