Cienna Turns Double Digits!

It's so hard to believe that it has been 10 years since our Cienna Elise was born. Oh how I wish at times I could go back to snuggling her as a baby or listening to her say everything with an unintentional french accent when she was 2. As with everything, there is always good and bad. While I sometimes yearn to hold my plump little baby again, I have no desire to change another diaper. And while it was totally adorable hearing her say "paypeh" instead of "paper" and "strolleh" instead of "stroller", I can still remember the epic toddler meltdowns where I thought her head was going to spin off of her shoulders. And even now, I so enjoy watching her grow into a beautiful, capable, strong minded young lady, but I can't stand when she rolls her eyes at me or interrupts me mid sentence because she already knows everything there is to know! In times of great despair, I would call my mother who would wisely tell me, "this too shall pass. On to something else of course...which is usually worse...but this too shall pass!" Oh how right she is. Now that Cienna has hit double digits, I am staring down the barrel of the teenage years. While toddler tantrums were terrible, I still had the ability to lock her in her room knowing that she wouldn't be able to crawl out the window or get hurt. Now if I lock her in her room I have to worry about her plotting how she is going to repay me for ruining her life!

I am grateful for her everyday.

At 10 years old you love:

-Any baking / cooking / fashion design shows
-To DIY perfumes, lip balms, and makeup
-To compete in level 3 gymnastics
-To train in grappling and boxing
-American Girl magazine and Girls World magazine
-Carbs (bread mostly), candy, ice cream, and that is about it. If you could just eat bread and candy all day you would
-Your new, big bedroom with new, big bed
-Shopping
-Jewelry
-Beados, Shopkins, American Girl dolls, Tsum Tsums
-Taking bubble baths with a facial mask, smelly body gels and lotions and music playing
-Spending my money
-Your Hoverboard
-Sleeping in on the weekends
-Pinterest


At 10 years old you do not love:

-Your parents telling you anything
-Flossing your teeth
-Brushing your hair
-Doing your homework
-The drama at school
-Fruits, vegetables, or anything that is even remotely healthy for you to ingest
-Saving your money
-Having chores (especially when NONE of your friends have chores...just you! Life is so unfair!)

And to that I will say what my mother also, wisely said to me...."life isn't fair. Get used to it. You don't always get what you want but you get what you need. When you are the parent you can make the rules!" And so it is....

New Year, New House!

2017 has begun with a bang in the Mazotti house. A new house. After 9 years, the time was right to make a move to a different area of ABQ, which if you have ever been to ABQ can be like moving to an entirely new city! While the move has been bittersweet for all of us, we know that it is the right one. We will miss our neighborhood and friends, close proximity to school, work and activities for sure. But we will not miss the crime, craziness and chaos that came with living across from a park in downtown.

The new house is like a little compound. It's private, but close to grocery stores, restaurants and amazing public schools. It needs updating, and the thought of unpacking makes me want to pull the covers up under my eyes and go back to bed. Eventually we will be settled. But for now, we are finding our new normal and (hopefully) our underwear!

Besides the awesome schools nearby (which Cienna or AJ will not be attending until 6th grade), what really sold me on this property was all of the on-site storage. Having been in the junk removal business for 13 years now, we have accumulated our share of "stuff." Ironically, what sold me on our last house was the neighborhood and how cozy it was for our little family of 3. After 9 years in our cozy house we were bursting at the seams! It was crazy to load items onto the moving truck that were still wrapped up in storage blankets from our move from Texas in 2007. I mean absolute craziness!

It's going to be an adventure for sure. One that I know will bring us many happy memories in the years to come, just as our last home did. No matter where we go or what we do, as long as we are together that will always be where we belong!