Winter fun

Holiday pictures

Decorating our Christmas tree. We intentionally did not buy a huge tree this year.

Making gingerbread houses at a friend's house.

Going to see the model trains at our library. Wes was in heaven.

Light show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

Light show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. We brought glasses that make lights into gingerbread cookies, candy canes, reindeer, etc. It was great.

Check out this humongous inflatable in our neighborhood! The kids are so tiny compared to it!

Fall fun

We have been very busy on the weekends with fall activities.

Every year we head to my parent's house in MI and go to a local farm to pick out pumpkins and go apple picking.

To make sure that the kids are getting lots of exercise, we got them out to a local woody trail so that they could run around under the beautiful changing leaves.

CP had a work trip and it was nice enough for pumpkin carving to do it outside, so Wes mainly drew on his pumpkin with markers, while I mostly cut Izzy's pumpkin for her since I couldn't find the kid-friendly pumpkin carving knives.

The day of Halloween the snow started early and didn't stop until about 6pm so we ended up with cold and snowy Halloween! Izzy went with her current obsession, a unicorn, and Wes had a scary glow in the dark skeleton costume....but refused to wear the mask and opted for a hat.

Catching up

I swear that I am not going to start every blog post with something similar to "I've been meaning to blog but..." Then again, it has been a month since I last posted so it's definitely time for a quick catch-up post!

1. Nine days ago on December 10th I turned 40. Basically the entire year leading up to the big 4-0 I was anxious and upset about it. Thankfully a few weeks before my birthday I simply said "F**k it" as it was coming either way! The first week in November CP and I had a great time to Key Largo, FL with some friends and NO KIDS to celebrate my upcoming birthday. 

Our beach view

Yes, that is a dolphin getting some serious air

I also rented a room in a nearby bar for a party on Saturday, December 8th so that I could celebrate with local friends. CP made a delicious dinner beforehand and my parents took the kids to Michigan for the night so that we could sleep off our hangover. :-) Now that I'm 40 I (of course) don't feel any different than when I was 39.

2. A few weeks ago on November 29th Izzy turned 5! She had a fun birthday party with her best friend (who also has a November birthday) at a local pottery painting place. It was a bit of a stressful party to make sure that 23 kids (including Wes) didn't break their pottery, but it all went well. We also had a family party for Izzy the weekend after Thanksgiving in Michigan.

Birthday balloons in MI

3. Thanksgiving went well this year. We had a small group as it was just my parents that joined us, so it was fairly low key. CP sous vide'd the turkey which turned out great.

4. We finally got the call that Wes had a spot to move over to Izzy's daycare so he started December 10th. It is SO NICE to finally do one drop off again and so far, he is doing great. I love that the kids see each other during the day and I think that it is super helpful for Wes that I drop both kids off in the same room in the morning. On his third day the school had a winter concert and he was one of the only kids that sang some words and he didn't freak out despite only knowing the teachers for 3 days!

5. The kids saw Santa last weekend and thankfully Wes didn't cry but he did give an amazing side eye and grab the side of the couch like he was ready to jump away at a moment's notice- lol. Progress!

6. Halloween went well this year. Izzy went as Wonder Woman, Wes went as Lightning McQueen.

7. Per usual, CP and I bought a tree that is too big. This year it is too wide and super duper heavy. It should be fun to try to get out the door in January....

Alright, that's enough for now. Here's hoping I can get another post in before January!

Staying busy since Christmas

We have certainly stayed busy since Christmas.

Working on the house

I did have to go into work the day after Christmas, but the rest of that week I took off so that CP and I could do some work around the house while the kids were at daycare. The first day was spent organizing the unfinished part of our basement- figuring out what could be taken to Goodwill, what needed a new home somewhere else in the house, what could be organized on the shelves, and what just needed to go into the garbage.

The mess that was the unfinished section of the basement

The pile of stuff to donate or throw out

Organized!

Organized stuff!

The second day we were a bit lazier as we took the kids out to breakfast and spent some time at Home Depot, but we still got a few things done. On the final day we painted parts of the basement (mostly concrete) that were untouched during our house rehab, hung out some wires for the kids to put their artwork on, and hung up two picture compilations of the kids from birth to 11 months old.

The new hallway after the house remodel....the new wall on the left got painted but other parts did not

The part that didn't get redone

New paint! Can't wait to get rid of the stairs, but that's a project to be done after we do a patio outside

Kids artwork on the wall!

Racks to organize Izzy's art supplies in the basement

Buster

One of the places I dropped off some stuff was some of Koda and Buster's stuff to the local animal shelter. CP and I decided that we aren't quite ready for another animal just yet and even then, we would like to start over with new stuff. So the shelter got dog beds, leashes, bowls, a soft cone, etc. As I was dropping the stuff off at the shelter I SO wanted to go into the back to see what kind of dogs and cats were back there to take one home, but thankfully the office was closed off from the adoptable pets so I didn't have a chance to check any out. CP and I agree that we should wait until we at least come back from our trip to CA later this month....afterwards, we'll see. We still have pictures up in a few places in the house of Buster and Koda and every so often, I just start to cry (last time was yesterday when walking upstairs to put Wes to bed....he pointed at a picture of Buster when he was just a puppy and said "arf arf.") :-(

Izzy's speech

Before Christmas and probably only one week after I wrote up Izzy's 4 year old update, she started to say the letter "s" before consonants! Her teachers in Pre-K have been working on it with her but it literally was like a light switch went off in her head one day and she came home and would slow down to say the word or correct herself. Chris and I were pretty excited because it is much easier to understand her, but we were also a little sad because it means that she is growing up so fast!

Mama!

Speaking of words, guess who is now walking around saying "mama" all the time? That's right- Wes! This is doubly exciting because he is NOT saying "dada" so I win! I kid of course but I did have three months of Izzy saying "dada" before she started to say "mama" so this is payback CP! Lol.

New Years Eve

New Years Eve was spent with friends who have an 8 year old daughter. Izzy totally looks up to her and surprisingly, they have a lot of fun together so it was a fun night. CP made Cajun food- duck gumbo, shrimp & grits, corn/tomato side dish, and a collard greens side dish. It was delicious! Our friends left around 10:30 to get their kid to bed; Izzy then went to bed (which means she was cranky the next day). I went to bed before midnight but CP came up at 11:59 to go to bed so technically we were up at midnight? :-)

Stitch Fix

I got my latest Stitch Fix this weekend and decided to cancel the service because the only thing that I kept was a necklace (mostly because it was only going to cost me $5). The clothes just don't fit right and one pair of pants the stylist sent because it is "on trend" right now. I am not an "on trend" kind of girl and could care less about that. I would rather go to Loft and buy clothes there since I seem to really like the patterns/styles and they fit me well. 

Ice skating lessons for Izzy

Izzy took beginning ice skating lessons right after Christmas and by the second night started to get the hang out getting up onto her skates after falling and gliding a little bit. She enjoyed herself so hopefully we can find some time to take her again this winter to practice her new skills.

Izzy is in the black coat

Wes in the ER

Finally, Wes decided on New Years Day, after I didn't get quite enough sleep the night before, to get sick enough to necessitate a trip to the ER. I could tell that he was having trouble breathing and he was constantly coughing so we broke out the nebulizer....which made him better for about an hour, hour and a half before he would start to take a turn for the worse again. His ped was concerned that the treatments weren't helping him for the whole four hours inbetween so off to the ER we went at 8pm where he promptly spiked a 102.3 fever and started wheezing. He tested positive for RSV and they finally got his fever down, but we ended up getting admitted for the night. Wes refused to sleep in the baby cage like last time, so around 1:45am he finally fell asleep on the twin bed with me. I didn't sleep well because throughout the night I would have to give him a breathing treatment, or the nurse would come in and need to check his breathing, etc. Thankfully he were released the next day and he only needed the nebulizer for another day before he started to get better. I most likely caught RSV from Wes and have been battling a terrible cold since then. 

Waiting in the ER with a fever

Feeling better the next day and trying to hide from me

Okay, that's probably enough for now. How has 2018 treated you so far?

Post Christmas hangover

Whoa am I tired! The weekend leading up to Christmas was a busy one as CP was cooking most of Saturday and Sunday and I was wrangling two kids that were bouncing off the walls because it was almost Christmas and cold outside. Saturday I took the kids to a children's museum for about two hours of exploring. We stayed a bit too long because Wes had a tremendous meltdown as I tried to get him into the car to get home (it was my fault- he was really hungry).

Taking car of his dog at the vet station

Izzy listening to her bird's heart.

Drum banging

Face painting

"Mommy I need to put more paint on my face so that I can look prettier."

Sunday I took the kids to an inflatable bounce house open jump session where we met one of Izzy's friends from school. I would have thought that she would have been more tired from running/bouncing for 1.5 hours, but she didn't end up napping. Wes continued to stay my cautious child and for the most part, refused to bounce. Sunday night my parents came over for a Christmas Eve dinner of Swedish meatballs, broccoli, and salad which everyone (even the kids) devoured. Oddly enough, Izzy ended up eating two bowls of salad that night.

Ready for Santa!

We had Izzy put out a cookie and some milk for Santa and after the kids went to bed, played Cards Against Humanity. My mom, who I got an Urban Dictionary for a few years ago for Christmas because she is not up on slang, finished the game by playing a card about bukkake. We all refused to tell her what it was. LOL.

That night my parents got to sleep in Izzy's double bed with clean horse sheets and a Paw Patrol comforter. HA HA HA.

LOL

Izzy slept in our bed and between CP's snoring and Izzy sweating/hanging all over me, I went downstairs around 1am to sleep on the couch. That morning everyone was up by 8am and we opened a few gifts from Santa and from NH relatives with the magic of Facetime. We had a cinnamon roll to tie us over, opened more presents when my sister and her husband arrived from WI after seeing his family over the weekend, and then had a brunch of homemade crepes, CP's homemade bacon, and fruit salad. Everyone hung out in the afternoon, checking out their new things, taking my sister's dogs for a (cold) walk, napping, and then eating CP's dinner of ham, cheesy broccoli, au gratin potatoes, and green beans before leaving as many of us had work today.

The kids lounging on their new bean bag chairs

Wes loves his new tricycle!

Regal Izzy (I mean Queen Elsa) finally got her princess dress from Santa and wanted to wear it all day long (and tried to wear it to school today!)

Wes decided that he didn't want Christmas to end so as I was trying to sleep after the Eagles game last night (another win! 13-2!), he woke up and started crying. CP took the first shift and we honestly don't know what was wrong. He wasn't hungry or thirsty. Maybe he had some gas pains? Maybe he is cutting a new tooth? Either way he didn't want to go to bed for over an hour and when I got tagged into trying to get him to sleep I ended up reading him a few books and then laying down next to his crib in hopes of getting him to do the same thing. It worked, although I of course woke him up as I was trying to sneak out of his room...thankfully he quickly went back to sleep after just a few minutes of crying.

So, yeah. I'm at work today and I'm pretty exhausted from Wes' late night shenanigans. CP is home and hopefully purchasing supplies for the projects we are going to try to tackle the next three days while the kids are in school.

How was your Christmas?

Holiday pictures

Although it is now after Christmas, I forgot to share our Santa pictures....

As expected, Izzy was not overjoyed to see Santa, but took it in stride.

Serious but okay with hanging out with Santa

When Wes realized that we were next in line, he started gripping me like it was life or death. I know that experts say that if your kid is crying, you shouldn't force them to take a Santa picture, but I really do think that these are the funniest and if this is the only stressful thing about his life, then I think that he will be just fine. We tried to take the kids together, but Wes wasn't having it so we took separate pictures. I'm gonna be honest that I can't wait to show this picture to Wes in a few years because it is hilarious. 

Santa is thinking, "I don't get paid enough for this"

Izzy wrote a letter to Santa that contained just one thing (she also told him what she wanted)- a princess dress. We hadn't planned on getting Izzy one but it truly was the only thing that she asked for from Santa.

I'm so proud of her handwriting!

 Then on Thursday the kids had pajama day at school. My sister got everyone in the family PJs so I put the kids into them and thought I could take a nice picture. Turns out Wes does NOT like taking Christmas photos. LOL.

Izzy has a nice smile on....Wes not so much....

And then Wes bumped Izzy's head so both were crying. Maybe next year.

Pre-Christmas Bullets

Let's post about something other than a birthday, shall we? But because Christmas is only in a few days, I only have time for bullets.

• While TX was a fantastic experience and I'm really glad that I went, it totally screwed up my workout routine. I had been running 3 times a week and the weekend before I left ran 9.3 miles. I only had the opportunity to run twice while in TX and when I got back, I felt out of shape. I have run a couple of times, but have started up T25, a Beachbody workout that I forgot I bought the DVDs secondhand about a year ago. So far so good as the workouts are only 25 minutes long so I can do it in the morning, but with the dark mornings it sure is hard to get up. Plus....I have been having heel pain in my left foot for the past couple of months. I pushed through it but I definitely hobble when I get up in the morning, so I finally went to see a doctor about it. No break, but I likely have a deep tissue contusion, probably from the pounding from running (which has not been helped by the jumping/ high impact workouts from T25), so I have been ordered by the doctor to do low impact stuff for the next few weeks and wear heel cups to lessen the impact of walking. Fingers crossed my heel gets better soon!

• In the meantime, CP got some scary results of some bloodwork (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.) so he has been running three times a week on the treadmill at night after the kids are asleep. I am PSYCHED about this because he is doing great. He watches Narcos on tv and works out for 45 minutes. Hopefully this will help get his body in better shape.

• We also have changed our diet to eat more vegetarian meals. Here is what we put together:

1. Goals
   1. Eat healthy
   2. Lower food bills
   3. Faster prep during week
   4. Lose weight
2. Weekly Dinner Structure
   1. 3 day x vegetarian
   2. 1 day x egg or fish as protein
   3. 1 day x pasta
   4. 1 day x  eat out
   5. 1 day x no-rules day
3. Rules of the House
   1. Dinner should include:
      1.        Main
      2.        Veggie Side
      3.         Grain/ carb
      4.      Fruit dessert during the week
   2. No sugary sweets to be purchased
   3. No ice-cream purchased at grocery store
   4. Reduce cheese to < 8 oz/ week for house
   5. Use whole grains where practical
   6. Use  lean meats where practical

• So far I think that it is going well. I don't miss meat and usually end up having it on the day that we eat out and on Saturday, which is usually our "no rules" day. During the week for breakfast I have something with eggs and for lunch, I have been bringing veggies with usually some kind of soup from our freezer. CP has lost some weight between running and our new diet, I haven't seen a change so far...which leads me to the next bullet....

• I'm contemplating getting rid of my IUD. Sure it's nice to not have a period as often, but I have little to no interest in being with CP throughout most of the month and I have gained weight. Plus I keep seeing reports on birth control causing cancer. Why is it always on the woman to prevent pregnancy? After the New Year I am seriously considering sitting down CP and having a talk that he needs to get a vasectomy done. We know we don't want anymore kids and I want to feel normal again. I am not going through any more surgery, so it's time for him to step up. I don't think that the talk is going to go well, so wish me luck!

• Finally, with Christmas upon us I think that I am a little bit depressed to be in a dog-less home. We have ornaments on the tree with pictures of both Buster and Koda, a magnet of both dogs up in the house, and a picture we bring out every Christmas of the two dogs and my sister's first dog (still alive, but it is an amazing picture of all three dogs in front of the Christmas tree). I see dogs in our neighborhood, on tv, etc. and they just make me sad. Buster's death, most likely because he was so young, feels so....unfinished. :-(

• I think that I have said this before, but I do think that it is important to have a pet around when kids are young because they learn valuable skills like taking care of something other than themselves and for infants, learning "gentle" is key. CP and I have discussed possibly getting a cat because although I am not a huge fan of them (maybe I could be?), they are easier and less expensive to take care of (meaning they don't eat $100 worth of food a month and need to go to doggie daycare while we are at work). We'll see. I think that I am more ready to have another pet in our lives than CP right now because our house feels so empty. Maybe sometime this spring we can visit a shelter to see if there is a cat to bring into our family.

• Next week CP and I took off the week to work on some projects around the house while the kids are at daycare. Hopefully we are able to get a lot done!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate it). This can often be a hard time of year for people, but hopefully it is full of fun, laughter, and great memories with people that you love. 

Halloween

I worked a 13 hour day today and don't foresee work slowing down while I am down here in TX so any posts from me will likely be picture-heavy.

First up? Carving our pumpkins. We have to wait until close to actual Halloween because otherwise the squirrels destroy them.

This year Izzy was willing to scoop out the seeds 

She has also been obsessed with putting temporary tattoos all over her arms

She requested a smiley spider, so this is what I came up with

The night of my 15K, we went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens to check out their 1000 carved pumpkins. Here are some of the amazing ones that we saw:

Dragon breathing fire

The solar system

Go Cubbies!

On Tuesday the kids wore their costumes to school. Izzy and Wes saw each other and one of Izzy's teachers was able to catch this adorable picture:

Tuesday night I rushed home from work so that we could start trick or treating at 5pm. CP had worked from home because he was nursing strep throat and pinkeye.

Wes the garden gnome

Izzy Spiderman (she refused to wear her mask)

The kids had a great time trick or treating. We walked around with two of Izzy's friends from school and she was super excited that they could join us. I pulled Wesley around in a wagon and let him get a few pieces of candy.