High Five for Friday

ONE. There was still snow on the ground at the beginning of the week, but Lorelai is all ready for the pool. We bought her a new bathing suit (thanks Target Cartwheel coupon), and she hung out in it on Sunday and Monday. Speaking of Monday, I got to hang out with Lorelai all day since daycare was closed for a teacher workday. I took a few hours off work for us to take a girls trip to Target.


LOVE this suit!


TWO. We had a family outing on Sunday to go see the Lego Movie. 10 thumbs up--whenever we weren't shoveling popcorn in our faces--from all of us!




THREE. My Polar FT7 came in the mail on Tuesday! A day late to try it out at Zumba (bummer!) but I put it to the test with a Wii Just Dance session. Turns out, it's a pretty good way to spend an hour. I just thank goodness none of my neighbors can see me through the window, because I'm fairly certain I look beyond ridiculous. But you don't burn 457 calories half-assing those dance moves. :)



FOUR. I made this super yummy cauliflower pizza casserole I found on Pinterest. Roasting the fresh cauliflower made the whole house smell like farts, but it was totally worth it. Everyone asked for seconds! This will definitely be in our regular rotation. I may try steaming frozen cauli next time because that doesn't casuse such a smell...




FIVE. I ordered some kettlebells (a 15lb for me and a 25lb for Adam) and they came in the mail yesterday. Did my first workout and it was great! My muscles felt like jello afterwards, but in the best possible "that was a good exercise" kind of way. Hopefully I can keep up with it and it can be a workout Adam and I can easily do at home, together.



And a bonus, because how can I not mention the fact that it's gotten up to 70* the past two days. We still had a pile of snow on the ground from where we shoveled, so the boys were outside in t-shirts playing baseball with snowballs. So weird! But VERY glad for this spring-like weather. Hope it sticks around for good.



TGIF, y'all!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from this snuggle pile of cuties to you!




Unfortunately, the snow we just got here in NC kind of put a cramp in our V-Day style because we were snowed in yesterday, and (sort of) today. That is, if we had any plans to begin with, which we didn't. Didn't get the kids a single thing. Didn't get Adam a single thing. #fail.

But I did make pink pancakes this morning, heart-shaped brownies for dessert, and served pink sprite in champagne flute...along with our frozen pizza. Nothing pinterest-worthy by any stretch of the imagination, but the kids got a kick out of it. It's the little things, right?

To me, it doesn't matter what we get or what we do, as much as who we're with. This goes for pretty much any day--not just Valentine's. And I got to spend all day with the kids on a bonus "vacation" day. Would've been the perfect day if Adam didn't have to go into work. And if I didn't have to work.



He's home tonight though, so we're having a date night in. Curled up on the couch, sipping festive pink wine, watching House of Cards. Happy Valentine's Day to us. ;)

My subconscious and the ache in my heart

My subconscious is nuts. For the past few weeks, I've been having dreams several times a week that I'm pregnant. For the record, I'm not (although that would be a good explanation for my recent weight gain...ha!). But maybe subconsciously I want to be?

I think I'm just really struggling with my baby growing up. The dreams started when we bought Lorelai a new bed and ditched the crib and glider. I was no longer rocking her before bed, like I had done just about every night since she was a baby.

Reality smacked me in the face—I'll almost certainly never have another baby to rock to sleep. To tuck into a crib. To nurse. To diaper (but not sad about this one). There's been an ache in my heart that I now realize has been growing every time Lorelai hit another milestone that furthers her (and me!) from babyhood.


Squishy baby Lorelai, 2010

It's half crazy/half understandable (thanks to this well-timed article I read the other day that so eloquently reiterates my feelings—it's like she read my mind and my half-written blog draft) because I know in my mind that 3 is the right number of kids for our family. I'm good with that, and I happily tell people that I do not plan to any more babies. But it's so hard to officially say goodbye to something that has been such a part of my life for the better part of 10 years, including the time I was pregnant. Yes, I even miss being pregnant.


Squishy baby Aidan, 2004

When Aidan and Logan hit certain milestones, I think it felt different because I knew in my heart it wasn't final—or I didn't want it to be. For example, when Aidan moved out of the crib, Logan was 6 short weeks away. When Logan moved out of the crib (well, converted toddler bed), we had literally just days earlier found out Lorelai was on her way, so it didn't have the impact this milestone is clearly having on me.

I don't know yet how to balance my joy that my kids are growing up (that's sort of the whole point to this parenting thing—raising kids) with the pain that they're not sweet cuddly babies anymore, wholly dependent on me for everything. Maybe it's selfish that I want them to stay little and stay with me forever. But it's easier to protect them that way.


Squishy baby Logan, 2007

Maybe the part of the ache is fear of the unknown and moving out of my comfort zone. I was good with babies. But tweens/teens? Yikes. I know I'll learn as I go, just as I did with babyhood, but I'm still so nostalgic for that time in my life. The time when I first became who I now realize I was always meant to be—a mom.

I know I'll be a mom forever, but I have to get used to being a mom without a baby. And like Sarah Bessey says, I've got to learn to live with the ache.


Aidan, Logan, Lorelai. Each chunkier than the next. :)

Big girl in an even bigger bed

Look at that--it's a big girl in an even bigger bed. :)



Lorelai has been in a toddler bed since last June when we took the railing off her crib. I was in no hurry to upgrade to a full size bed because she was still regularly wetting through her diaper/pull-up. It's way easier to change a small crib mattress in the middle of the night! But as of Christmas, she's officially nighttime potty trained and in underwear all night with no accidents, so it was time for a new bed.



We went with a full size bed since the crib converts to a full size headboard, so she's got plenty of room. And some to spare for when she wants me to snuggle when I tuck her in at night. :) Which is nice, since we sold the glider/ottoman on Craislist to make room for the ginormous bed, so I can't rock her anymore after story time. Sniff. My baby is growing up.

She's been in it for a month now, and although there was a brief period where she said she hated her room (not her bed, just her room) and would rather sleep in the guest bedroom instead (SO frustrating!), she loves it. We got a new chair for her "reading corner" from Target on clearance for $15, regularly $50. We also hung a pink butterfly from the ceiling that was a bribe gift from her teacher for staying in her own bed for five nights in a row.



I really wasn't ready to part with her nursery decor, so I picked out some clearance sheets at Walmart that coordinate, and got a plain white down alternative comforter (and later added this white duvet I got on sale) to keep things simple. In the near future, I really want to repaint her headboard white, and her furniture as well. But "near future" really means "when I find time to get off my lazy butt on the weekend and tackle a DIY project" so...not soon? Don't hold your breath.


I also need to make and hang some art (or something) and her letter L on the blank wall to the right of the mirror. I bought the canvas, so maybe that'll happen soon.

And maybe in a few years, we'll completely re-do her decor and have her help decide what she wants. Probably something purple. But it was hard enough for me to completely dismantle the crib and ditch the glider that we've had in that room for almost 10 years, so baby steps. I don't like change, ok? :)

But I do like her new and improved room.

Go 'Canes!

Thanks to a co-worker, we lucked into 5 free(!) tickets to see the Carolina Hurricanes hockey game last Monday. And they were great seats, too. Score!



We've taken the boys before so I knew they'd love the opportunity, but I wasn't sure about Lorelai. Especially since the game was at 7, and her bedtime is usually 7:45/8pm. I debated seeing if my mom could watch her, or just getting three tickets so Adam could take Aidan and Logan, but Adam insisted we take her, without hesitation. I'm so glad we did, because the whole thing kind of blew her mind. :)



All the people, the cheering, the ice on the middle of the floor inside...she loved it. She kept saying "whoa, they're skiing so fast! That's too tricky for me though." I told her they were skating, but she kept saying skiing, which was too cute. She also kept asking where the pig was, aka, Stormy the ice hog mascot. (BTW, I had to google Stormy because pig, really? What does that have to do with hockey? But yeah, ice hog. I get it now.)



Honestly, I don't know much about hockey at all. I know they skate (not ski!), I know that a puck is supposed to go in a net, and I know who to cheer for. But that's about it. Adam tried to explain icing to me at one point, but I couldn't repeat a word he said. Doesn't matter one bit though, because we all cheered on those 'Canes like we knew exactly what was going on, and had a blast doing it.

We left at the end of the second period because it was getting late for Lorelai and we wanted to beat the crowd. Unfortunately, they were losing 0-2 to the Bluejackets after 2 early goals within 17 seconds of each other, so it was kind of a bummer of a game at that point. In hind sight though, I so wish we had stayed. Apparently, the 'Canes had a major comeback and ended up scoring 3 goals in 3 minutes and won the game. How fun that would have been to see!

I think we've got some official "Caniacs" on our hands here.


Maybe we should invest in some Hurricanes gear so we fit in better next time though :)

Snow Day!

We totally got the snow day I had hoped for. It was only about 1.5" and the snow started to fall later than they predicted so the 3-hour early dismissal yesterday was for nothing (I was totally right to be skeptical of the larger predictions), but it was enough to cancel school today and plenty for the kids to enjoy. Safe to say Lorelai is a fan of her first real experience with snow, since the last time we got any real snowfall was when she was an infant.



Since we don't get snow very often, we don't have much snow gear, including a sled. Or a hill...so really the sled wouldn't have mattered much anyway. :)


Note that Lorelai is in a snow bib two sizes too small and one of the boys' old rain coats (because waterproof), and Aidan is wearing my Timberlands and my pants over his jeans. Make do with what you have, right?

While I was stuck inside on 3 hours worth of conference calls for work (although I popped outside a few times in between calls to crunch in the snow and snap some pics), they rummaged through the garage to find things to play with in the snow. Pool noodles, it is. It wasn't really good snowman snow and I was inside when they did snow angels (sad face), but they also cleaned off Adam's car and "shoveled" the driveway with those pool noodles. Needless to say, it's still covered in snow, which is even more packed down as a result of their work.


Not pictured: Adam, who was also inside working, and then traveling against my wishes over an hour away for work. :(

Eh, whatever. Because they had fun, just as I had hoped. It was magical to them, and they willingly came in as soon as their noses and fingers were numb (took over an hour though!) and they warmed up under blankets, sipping on hot chocolate, just like I had hoped.



It was a good day. Minus the whole numb fingers/can't get warm and having to work all day, of course. :)

Snow please?

I complain about cold weather a lot. Like a LOT. Because I hate to be cold. Because bundling kids up just to get out the door in the morning is a PITA. Because cold, dry weather makes my hands (and Logan's--holy whoa, his were bleeding the other day!) unbearably dry and cracked. Because of static hair everywhere.

But as much as I hate all of that, I really REALLY want to have a legit snow day. I'm not talking about a lame dusting like we had last week, I want multiple inches on the ground so we're snowed in. Forced to stay home under blankets on the couch sipping hot chocolate. Only going outside to throw snowballs and make snow angels until our noses and fingers get numb (but not a minute longer!).

Currently, we're in the 2-4" range but I wouldn't be mad at closer to 5". Although I'm even doubtful we'll get 2" given our track record...

Cold sucks, but snow is magical and beautiful. Especially if you live in a place where it's fairly rare. :) And especially when you have kids who haven't seen much of it. Experiencing snow through the eyes of my children makes me remember how giddy I always got at the prospect of a snow day when I was a kid.

Of course, snow days as an adult are completely different (the downside of being able to telecommute is that you don't really get a day off) but I can live vicariously.


January 2009. I think we got 4 or 5 inches?

But let's not be crazy--I'll be happy with one or two moderate snow storms a year. You northerners can keep your multiple feet of snow because we'd literally be snowed in for weeks if we got what you're getting. And then I'd be cold AND stir-crazy. No thanks! :)