Week of August 30th

We've had a crazy couple of weeks around here.

Jack started school on a Friday.  Two days later on Sunday Molly woke up sick, Jack seemed to be okay until Tuesday night, the evening before his second day of school/first day with everyone there and promptly had to miss school.  Such poor timing considering the kids are rarely sick!  Luckily he was sick for about 24 hours and was able to return to school on Thursday.

First school project.  #likeaboss

Last week was Jack's first full week of school and I had lactation counselor training scheduled for the whole week.  With a lot of help from family, and friends, and of course Mark, the kids and house were tended to so that I could attend my training.

What a week it turned out to be as I ended up with not only a week long training, but TWO semi-unanticipated births!  Babies come when babies come, but poor timing for me!  One of the births was the latest (gestationally) I've attended yet as a doula, the other was the earliest I've had.  They also happened at the same time.  And at the same time as the training I wasn't allowed to miss.  What are the chances?!?!

So I ended up missing a day of my training, and one of the births (because I'm only one person, thank goodness for having a great backup doula in these sorts of crazy situations!), and plenty of sleep, but we got it done.  Because I missed a day of training I wasn't able to sit for my exam even though I totally could have passed it even having missed some class ::shakes fist::  On the bright side I will have an opportunity to make up the class and exam in October without having to travel too far so I'm looking forward to that.

Ugh, what a week!

So this week I'm playing catch up and trying to get into the groove of our new routines with Jack being in school and saying goodbye to a good friend of mine (and doula backup) who will be moving out of state and oh, it's suddenly September!  WHERE DID THE SUMMER GO?!  Basically my head is spinning.

I feel like things will calm down a little and I'll get a handle on our new routine soon.  Hopefully. Maybe.  Perhaps that will come after we install this wood flooring that's slated to happen this weekend.  It's always something!



To be consumed this week:


Sunday:  Ribs w/ Corn Pudding and Bacon Ranch Potato Salad

Monday:  Going away party for my friend, I brought Feta Dip to share; Pizza for the fam

Tuesday:  Fish Tacos

Wednesday:  BLATs with Fruit

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday & Saturday:  Out

Week of August 16th

Last week was quite a momentous week for us.

Earlier in the week we were able to fit in some play time with friends.  We have been trying to make that happen as much as possible as everyone will be in school very soon and on various schedules.  It will be much more challenging to get the kids together to play.

At COSI's Farm Days

Friday brought the big day, Jack's first day of Kindergarten!  Jack was beyond excited!

Tuesday afternoon we went in for an open house at Jack's new school and we were able to tour his new classroom, drop off school supplies, and meet his teacher.  Later, Mark asked him how the open house went and Jack said it was, "trucktastic!", which is pretty much the highest honor bestowed by Jack.

The night before his first day of school Jack was so excited he could hardly sleep, I was in tears thinking about putting my baby on a bus and sending him off to school for the day!  I'm happy for him and his new adventures and proud of his enthusiasm, but it is such a shift in dynamic for me!  It's quite different sending your child off to school for 2 1/2 hours at a time 2 or 3 days a week, the way we have for the last 2 years of preschool, and sending your child on a bus with a packed lunch for a full day of school!

After spending the last 5 1/2 years together it's strange not having him around for the majority of the day. It's strange thinking about other people having such a big impact on Jack's day-to-day life. It's weird not having both kids with me all day, them being able to play together, going places all together, eating together. It was pretty quiet around here on Friday. It's nice that Molly and I will get this time together, one-on-one.  She's never had that the way Jack had for his first (nearly) 3 years of life before Molly came along.

AND, as evidenced by the school bus picture above, Jack talked me into his riding the bus to school. I had planned to drive him back and forth to school, but he insisted upon riding the bus.  Insisted!  He was sad about not being able to ride and it was the thing he was most looking forward to about school so I relinquished a little control (not easy for me!) and encouraged his independence by allowing him to ride the bus as he preferred :(

Jack had a great first day of school and is looking forward to his return on Wednesday of this week when he will begin his regular, every day school schedule.  Because they do a staggered start for kindergartners he only attends one day during the first five days of school.

Shortly after Jack arrived home from his first day of school we headed out to the closing of the sale of our home. That's right, we sold our house!

I haven't talked about the fact that we were under contract/sold our house because in my mind, it's not a done deal until the final paperwork is signed.  Because of that, it has been a stressful 6 weeks! (On top of a stressful 5 months, which is really when this journey began.)

We listed our house for sale by owner (stresssssful!) on a Monday leading up to the July 4th holiday weekend.  We didn't get a whole lot of inquiries on it, but we did have one showing on Thursday of that week.  The lack of inquiries/traffic was scary and disheartening, but we did suspect it being a holiday week had something to do with it.

Fast-forward to the following week and we had tons of inquiries on the property!  We did 2 more showings and received two offers!  We negotiated and signed the paperwork to accept one of the offers and officially went under contract 2 weeks after we had listed!  Then we had weeks of dealing with the inspection (and more negotiating), appraisal, waiting to hear the final word on a closing date, moving the last few items that were still hanging around including our playset which takes some organization, etc. SO STRESSFUL!

On Friday afternoon, we took one final walk through, snipped a few cuttings from our hydrangea bush that I love (I'm hoping to grow some at our new house from the cuttings!  I don't exactly have a green thumb so we'll see how that works out :/ ) and then went to sign the paperwork, collect our pitiful check (but hey, we actually got SOME money out of the sale, we were prepared to have to bring money to the table), and hand over our keys.

It's bittersweet.  On one hand I am SO SOOOOOOO happy to be done with that chapter of our lives. The weight of this whole house buying/selling/owning more than one property was a lot to bear.  Not to mention we have been preparing for this move in one way or another for yeeeeaaaaaars now.  Years.  There was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that went into the sale of that house and it hasn't been our home for several months now, even before our actual move, really, considering the packing and preparing that went on.

At the same time, I'm a little sad to close the book on that chapter of our lives.  That was our home for nearly 9 years.  When we bought that house we weren't even engaged yet.  That house saw us get engaged, married, and bring home two babies.  It was home.

It's also exciting to move on to a new chapter.  Being on the other side of this mess makes me feel even more grateful that we made the move and put in all that work.  It was worth it in the end.  It still doesn't quite feel like home here, but I know that it will eventually.  We have lots of work ahead of us until it will feel as much like home as our old house, but we have time (and space!  So much more space!)

Closing out our eventful week (or two days, really...), Saturday we went and bought me a new car!

Say hello to mom car 2.0

The purchase was planned-ish.  I've been putting off buying a new car for a while now.  My old car is very clearly reaching the end of it's life and I've just been pretending that it's not because that's what I do when I don't want to deal with things until I have to.  Obviously we have been trying to avoid major purchases considering the house situation.  Well, some expensive repairs came up and we weren't about to sink more money into the car so it was time.  We've been shopping for a few weeks (and I've been borrowing my mom's car!) and Saturday we brought this pretty Dodge Charger home to stay.  Yay!

So yeah, we've had just a few things going on.  I'm hoping that's the end of excitement around here for a while.  I (and our poor savings account) need some time to recover and settle in with the changes we have had.


Here's what we're eating this week:


Sunday:  Grilled Hot Dogs with Sweet Corn and Watermelon

Monday:  BBQ Chicken Quinoa Salad

Tuesday:  Grilled Chicken Fajitas

Wednesday:  Caprese Panzanella Salad

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday & Saturday: Out


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted by OrgJunkie.com

Week of March 29th

What a week!

First, I can't believe it's Friday already or that it's APRIL!  Clearly I have completely lost concept of time.

Last weekend was pretty packed with doula work and because I was gone most of the weekend very little progress got done on the bathroom.  Whomp, whomp.  I'm hopeful for this weekend, but we'll see.

We have to get things finished because we're under contract on a house (!!!) {those aren't really 'excited' exclamation points, they're more 'what are we thinking' exclamation points.}  I haven't even mentioned it up to this point because I was very cautiously optimistic about things working out.  I'm still very cautiously optimistic, but it's becoming a little more real so... yeah.  Probably time to accept that its happening!  I'm not exactly excited yet.  There's a mountain of crap that needs to be completed before I can get from where I am now to excited.  It's going to be a crazy few months, but, theoretically, it will be worth it.

There's just SO much to do and worry about and so little time or energy to complete anything.  People do this all the time right?  I remember buying our first/current house as such a grand adventure.  The stress of selling a house, moving, and taking care of kids really cramps the fun the second time around.

One project that DID get accomplished this week was removing the tape from around our sliding glass door.  2 1/2 redonkulous hours of scraping and scrubbing and picking off tiny bits of tape at a time all while inhaling Goo Gone fumes and generally hating my life THE TAPE IS GONE!

I'm well aware you can see nothing in this picture, it's not very impressive in real life, but with the amount of work and frustration that went into this project it seemed like it was only fair to commemorate its completion with a picture.

The most insulting part is it's not like it was a rewarding project with a satisfying outcome, there's just an absence of tape now that's no longer there to annoy me.  Anyway, I'm glad that's done.  On to the next fun project.



Other recent highlights:


Herself at an impromptu dinner out.

We don't take the kids to restaurants all that often, but when we do we are always so happy with how well they behave and how enjoyable it actually is.  They behave so well because they love to eat so they're happy with food placed in front of them.  We were there eating for close to an hour and a half as both kids finished every scrap of food on their plates.



Jack's school pictures.

Adorbs!



I've been zoodling.

Love it!  Of course I'm the only one in the house who does... more zoodles for me!



And in other pretty food for the week:

Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Tacos

Love the colors.


Annnd this just made my day: DJ And Kimmy Are All Grown Up In The New ‘Full House’ Spinoff


Menu for the week:


Sunday:  Out

Monday:  Breakfast for dinner

Tuesday:  Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Tacos with Fiesta Lime Rice

Wednesday:  Grilled Brats with Cheesy Potatoes

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday & Saturday: Out

Jack's First Day of Preschool!

I'm kind of in denial that my baby is in preschool.  Obviously I'm going to have to stop denying it as I'm going to be dropping him off at school two times a week, every week over the coming months.

Huge, I tell ya.

He LOVES his "packpack".  It has tractors, trucks, airplanes, trains, and firetrucks on it.  All of his favorites!

This whole thing kind of snuck up on me.  We toured the school he's attending as a family moooonths ago (because these sorts of things fill up quickly.  I'm a procrastinator by nature and that's probably one of the biggest things I need to work on as a mother.  Procrastination doesn't work.  You have to plan 6+ months in advance to book birthday parties, sign up for school, apparently you have to start buying Christmas gifts in July and making Halloween costumes in August.  Anyhoo...), filled out the required paperwork, paid the registration fee, then I promptly pushed the whole thing to the back of my mind.

When we first arrived the kids got some free play and Jack settled right in.

Over the coming months I was caring for two kids, one in the midst of 3-year-old insanity, and the majority of my worries regarding Jack attending school centered on the potty training issue.  The school really wants the students to be potty trained to attend and with Jack not only not being potty trained but actively hating and resisting the idea of it, I just really wasn't sure how things were going to shake out.

He gravitated toward the vehicles, of course.  While we were waiting to enter the classroom he was already talking about what kind of trucks they would have to play with.

A few weeks before the start of his program we tackled potty training head on.  After a very rough couple of weeks Jack is now doing really well with the potty!  More on this later.  He's still not 100% trained, but we've come a very long way.

They even have Mack and Lightening McQueen!

Mark and I attended Jack's orientation 5 days before his first day of school (and only a day after he started actually using the potty, oy.) and while I was sitting there listening to information about the program and what he would be doing while at school, it suddenly hit me.  Oh. my. goodness. this is actually happening.  Jack is going to start school and two days a week he will be in someone else's care for 2 1/2 hours.  Learning new things, meeting new people, and expected to follow instructions and conform to structure.  He is never going to be home with me all day, every day again as he's on the precipice of his entire school career.  Big stuff!

A little circle time.  At first he was a little hesitant to sit with the other kids while I stayed in the back of the room, but he got over it quickly.  He was so excited about everything he had trouble holding still and announced to everyone mid-story time that he was wearing Finn McMissle underwear today and that he was SO happy that his mama came to school with him today!  Hahaha!  He was quite the chatterbox all day.

The great thing at his preschool program is they have a parent stay with the kids for the first day.  This gave him a chance to experience preschool with me nearby and it gave me a chance to see what his days will be like and how he'll interact while he's there.

Lined up and waiting patiently for a potty break.  He even used the potty at school, which was huge!  I didn't know how he would react to using the potty there.  He's not used to going anywhere but at home, but he did it!

Jack did so great on his first day!  He was so excited to go to school and he really did well following instructions and interacting with the other kids.  He was excited about school before, but now that he sees what it's really about I think he's even more excited!

Doing some fun activities!  Coloring Cat in the Hat.

And painting an apple green.

When we would talk about school before he would say he wanted to go, but that he wanted me to go with him.  I would explain that I would be there for the first day, but that he would be going on his own after that.  He would just keep saying he wanted me to be there too.  When we were leaving yesterday we had the conversation again, but this time when I reminded him that the next day he went it would be by himself he just said, "okay".  My baby is growing up.

And hi, I was there too :)  This was during music time.  Jack really liked that too.

I know this is going to be a really great experience and I'm so excited for him.  Who knows, maybe it will be good for me too.

Weekend Projects

Happy Friday!  This week went by really fast, but wanted to update with a few projects that we accomplished over the 3-day weekend last weekend.

First, we did MORE rearranging and I think we've finally come up with a working solution for toy storage!  At least for the time being.  Big thanks to Mark for brainstorming with me!

We moved the majority of the toys that used to be in Molly's room (before it was her room) to Jack's room.  Here's what his room looks like right now:

This is where a lot of his toys and some books are now stored.  It seems to be working out well.

Oh, hai Kitteh.

We added these vehicle decals recently and Jack really loves them.  I'm planning to take down the animals the are currently on his wall, but I haven't yet done this because I think Mark's going to have to touch up the paint when I do.  I'm also planning to paint his name letters white and probably get some sort of artwork or something to go above his shelving unit.

Also this weekend, I made Jack a superhero cape.  He has recently taken an interest in superheros and really wanted a red cape.  This was a quick, fun project.  I followed this tutorial, except I turned and top-stitched my cape and then added the lightening and "J" embellishments with felt.

Another quick sewing project accomplished this weekend was a new changing table pad cover for Molly's room.

I'm just starting to turn my focus to decorating her room and it's going to be a lot of fun!

Here's what it looks like now:

Pretty boring at the moment, but we're just starting to get things situated.  She's only been in her room for a few weeks now.  We recently put up her new curtain (ruffles!  Girls are fun :) ) and I have a new hamper and trash can, but we don't really have room for them yet.  I think we're going to end up rearranging the furniture in this room, just have to figure out how it's going to work best.  Right now it's functional, but I don't like the set up very much.  The room is small, not tiny, but the placement of the door, closet, and window kind of make things challenging with the bulky nursery furniture and keeping in mind that things need to be out of her reach once she's (very soon!) able to get around in her crib.

A Day in the Life

I did a 'day in the life' post back when Jack was 8 months old.  I thought we were much overdue for an update considering not only has quite a bit of time passed, but another person has joined the family!  Here's a typical day in our life right now while Jack is 3 1/2 and Molly is 5 months old.


5am-ish:  Molly wakes up to eat.  Mark gives her a diaper change, feeds her, and then she goes back to sleep.  For about the last week she's been waking earlier than usual.

7.20am:  Molly is up for the day.  I'm still tiiiiiired so I give her her monkey to play with in hopes that she can entertain herself for a short time and I can doze a little longer.

7.40am:  Molly decides she's over the monkey so we both get up for the day.  I change her diaper then settle her on her playmat while I grab some coffee.  I check out things on the interwebz for a bit while I drink my coffee.

8am:  Molly and I play for a bit and then I offer her a bottle.  Even though she seems hungry she can't decide if she wants it or not.

8.30am:  I hear Jack waking up.  He likes to talk/sing to himself for a little bit in the morning.  I keep trying to get Molly to eat, but she's not cooperating too much.  Guess she's not that hungry.

8.50am:  We head back to get Jack up.  After bouncing around in bed for a bit he gets a diaper change then we head to the kitchen for breakfast.

Today he had yogurt and a banana oatmeal muffin for breakfast

9am:  I set Jack up with his breakfast and then take Molly for another diaper change (dirty diaper this time!).  I realize she's tired so I lay her down for her first nap of the day.

9.10am:  Jack's done with breakfast.  He gets some playtime and watches some PBS shows while I get the bag ready.  We're heading to play with friends later this morning once Molly wakes up.

9.30am:  Jack's turn for a dirty diaper change and then I get him dressed.  I put diaper laundry in the wash and then I start getting ready to leave while Jack plays.

10.20am:  Molly is awake.  I get her ready to go, start the diapers through their wash, put on my wrap, grab everything, collect both kids, and we're out the door just after 10.30, nearly and hour later than usual.

Ready to go!

10.55am:  We finally make it to the park and meet up with friends!  There's playing, lunch and bottle are consumed, more playing, and socializing for me and Molly too.  She's a ham.

Too busy to stop for lunch!  Jack ate a cheese stick and 1/4 of his PB&J while standing up.  Then he was off again for more playing!

1.15pm:  Oh no!  It's starting to rain on us.  Time to head home!  We make a quick exit.  Molly ends up falling asleep in the car, but only for a very short time.

1.40pm:  We arrive home.  I clean up a spill that the dog created by knocking over a cup while we were gone.  I get Molly a fresh diaper, then change Jack's diaper (dirty diaper #3 for the day), then when I return to Molly I realize she has a dirty diaper too.  She tends to like to go in a clean diaper :/  So, another diaper change for her (dirty diaper change #4 for the day!).

2pm:  Everything and everyone is cleaned up.  I start the diapers through their final rinse then I settle down to give Molly a bottle while Jack plays.

2.15pm:  I lay Molly down for her 2nd nap.

2.20pm:  I get Jack settled for quiet time, which includes putting together his train tracks.

Lunch today is dinner leftovers, hamburger with sauteed mushrooms and onions and some honeydew.

2.30pm:  Lunch time for me!  Finally!  I sit down to eat and watch some TV that no one else likes.  Today it's My Teen is Pregnant and So Am I.  Horrific, yet fascinating.

2.50pm:  Molly's up.  I guess we're going to do two short cat naps between the car and this one rather than one real nap.  Oh well, at least it's something!  I settle her on her playmat to play and then switch the diaper laundry over to the dryer.  I sit down to finish up my show.

3.05pm:  Molly is tired of entertaining herself so we have some play time and practice a little with back carrying in our new woven wrap.  There's a pretty big learning curve to use it, especially with back carries, which I can't seem to properly accomplish.  Well she's... up there?  I took her right out because it was a poor wrap job.  Try, try again!

3.30pm:  Time to rescue Jack from quiet time, he did a great job!  Jack wants a snack and to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally, his newest television interest.

3.40pm:  Once I get Jack settled with a show and a snack, Molly decides she's hungry too.  Time for another bottle.

Today's snack is some banana and graham crackers

Time for a burp

4pm:  Molly has another dirty diaper, time for another change (#5 for the day if anyone is keeping track, I sure am ;) ).  While I'm back in the bedroom I go ahead and make the bed and put away some laundry that I folded last night.

Molly supervises my chores while playing with her little bunny.

4.30pm:  Another dirty diaper for Jack (This makes 6 for the day).  A fresh diaper then we all play for a while.  Molly seems tired, I think this is going to be a 3 nap kind of day.

4.50pm:  I lay Molly down for a nap and head in to clean the kitchen, wash bottles (boo), and pop some sweet potatoes in the oven for dinner while Jack plays.

5.20pm:  I'm finished cleaning, dinner prep can wait a few minutes, and I asked Jack if he wanted to play in the backyard, but surprisingly he's happy inside.  So I sit down for some interwebz time while everyone else is occupied.

5.23pm:  That didn't last long.  Molly's awake.  I get her settled in the Jumperoo for some play time!

5.40pm:  Okay, time to start in on dinner.  I get Molly settled in her seat so she can watch me.

My other helper meanders over eventually.

5.45pm:  Daddy's home!  Yay!  His turn to get Molly a dry diaper :)

Jack is always so excited for Dada to get home!

6.15pm:  We sit down to dinner.  Molly hangs out with us in her bouncy seat.

Dinner tonight:  Pulled Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Garlic Green Beans

7pm:  Dinner is finished.  I sit and talk with Mark while he's cleaning up dinner while Jack plays and Molly hangs out in her seat for a bit longer.

7.20pm:  Molly is getting tired.  I take her back and get her a fresh diaper and PJs then it's time for a bottle, some snuggles, and bedtime.  This happens while Jack gets some playtime with Dada and we all watch Wheel of Fortune.  It's tradition.

Don't let that sweet face fool you.  She was exhausted.  Nighty-night!

7.50pm:  Time for teeth brushing for Jack courtesy of Dada.

8pm:  Jack's bedtime.  Dada takes him back for a fresh diaper, PJs, and a few books before lights out.  I clean up the family room then collect diapers from the dryer so I can stuff them along with folding a small load of clothes leftover from yesterday's washing while watching TV with Mark.  On tonight's TV schedule: Real Housewives of the OC and Under the Dome(!  So excited for this, loooved the book).  I'm only into highbrow programming, obviously ;)

11.15pm:  We head to bed.  I try to read my book for a few minutes, but can barely keep my eyes open so it's time to sleep!