New family members

Two weekends ago CP went out with some guy friends and I stayed home to watch tv on the couch and browse the internet while the kids slept. I didn't PLAN on making my way to petfinder.com, but it just so happened to pop up on my browser and I figured that it couldn't hurt to look at nearby pets. Before heading to bed that night I sent CP a text message that said "Side door is unlocked. Spent the night on petfinder looking for a dog so that may need to happen soon..."

The next day while the kids were napping I brought up my search again, but CP said that he wasn't ready to bring a dog home. I mostly agree with him on the reasons that he thinks that we should wait at least a year (expenses, time involved, etc), but I really miss having a pet in our home. I am a dog person first and foremost and have never loved cats...but when faced with the decision of having no pet in our house vs. having a cat, I would rather have a cat. CP has had cats in the past so he was on board with that, but thought that we should get two of them so that they could keep themselves busy together while we were at work.

So the Saturday before the Superbowl we finished watching "The Princess and the Frog" with the kids (to see Tiana's story after Izzy met her at Disneyland) and were trying to figure out how to get them out of the house. I checked the shelter and they happened to be open for another hour and only a few minutes away from our house. As we walked out the door, CP said "okay, we are just going to look" which was fine with me.

As we walked in the shelter, they had eight 8-week old puppies right near the front door. They were SO ADORABLE, but not what we were here for (and not really the right breed as they likely would have been very high-energy). The shelter had about 30 cats in two different rooms which was a bit overwhelming. Wes loved seeing all of the cats, but kept trying to pet the ones that were not great with kids. :-/ Izzy was excited to pet the different cats, but after a while wanted to see the dogs that were up for adoption, so CP took her back there commenting "well, I guess she is a dog person." I decided not to see the dogs because I didn't think that I could handle it. 

I was drawn to a gray and white cat who was super sweet. She was part of a bonded pair with her son, a black cat who was also super sweet. They were living in a home where the husband fell ill and the cats were moved out to the garage. Someone realized that a garage was not the right place for them so they were brought to the shelter and had been there since July. As we were getting the kids ready to leave, CP asked if I wanted to put adoption papers in for the cats since there were people coming to see the mom and son the next day. I was shocked because CP was the one that explicitly said that we were just looking! (He explained later that if we found two great cats then why wait two weeks?) We put in our adoption application and the next day stopped by the pet store to buy a whole lot of cat supplies, figuring that our application would get approved.

Thursday afternoon I got the good news that we were approved and I was able to get over to the shelter after work before a big snowstorm hit Chicago. We didn’t tell the kids that we were picking up the cats a day earlier than expected so when I got home the kids were finishing dinner and they both got excited when they saw the cats. We tried to keep the kids calm and sitting down so that the cats could roam a bit around the house and get comfortable. The timing worked out well because CP's work and the kids' daycare were both closed so the cats had three full days with us in the house before we came to work today. 

Marshmallow is the mom and is about 3 years old. She hid behind the couch for the first day, only really coming out when the kids were upstairs sleeping...but since then has been more interested in hanging out with everyone. So far she really likes having her ears rubbed. When Cocoa starts to meow, she goes on high alert to make sure that he is okay. At 13 pounds, she needs to lose some weight. 

Marshmallow

Cocoa is her son and is about 2 years old. He was scared to come out of his crate when I first brought the cats home, but soon came out of his shell and is REALLY curious. He is super gentle with the kids and will lay down on the floor to have his belly rubbed- even with the kids! He also really likes to play so Izzy is having fun using the laser pointer with both cats.

Cocoa

So far the kids have been very nice and gentle with the cats and very excited to pet them/play with them/see them/etc. The cats are still wary of coming upstairs but will follow us when we go up there....but so far haven't tried to sleep with us. I'm actually okay with that because I don't need a cat walking all over my head while I am trying to sleep. Cocoa has been walking on the counters so we have a water spray bottle that we are using- hopefully he figures out that is not allowed soon.

Izzy's drawing of the cat on the picture frame given to us by the shelter

Welcome to the family Marshmallow and Cocoa! 

Superbowl CHAMPIONS!

YOU GUYS. I can't believe that the EAGLES pulled off winning the SUPER BOWL! Once our amazing QB, Carson Wentz went down on December 10th, I figured that our season was over. Shame on me for doubting you Nick Foles (our backup QB) because you were AMAZING!

As you may remember, CP is a Patriots fan so we made a bet before the game- the loser has to put both kids to bed for a week. YES!!!! This next week is going to be so relaxing! :-)

My parents came over to help watch the kids so that we could focus on the game which was really nice of them. Izzy watched a little bit of the game and was cheering for the Eagles while Wes didn't pay much attention (other than admire my Eagles necklace a few times). During the last 2:21 of the game I couldn't sit down and was pacing around while watching the game, worried that I was going to throw up from the stressful situation. I didn't gloat and I don't think that I celebrated too much in front of CP....however, you can't feel too bad for the guy since the Pats have won quite a lot recently.

But WOW. After lots of terrible seasons for both the Cubs and the Eagles, I finally got to witness the Cubs winning the World Series after 108 years and the Eagles winning their first Superbowl! I ended up staying up until midnight watching ESPN's coverage of the game, the interviews with players, etc. which made me quite tired for work yesterday. Oh and I also ordered my Superbowl Eagles merch. :-)

BTW, I can't wait to send this to CP at some point. I think that I will wait at least a week but I find this meme HILARIOUS.

CA trip

We had a fantastic trip out to Southern CA. We had nice weather (at least 70 every day with no rain), fun things to do every day, and spent a lot of time outdoors and with my family. We also ran Izzy ragged so she was exhausted every night as we put her to bed (which made bedtime REALLY easy). :-)

FRIDAY

Friday afternoon's flight out to CA wasn't terrible. It was Wes' first flight and he would randomly get loud and annoyed that he was stuck in a car seat, but it wasn't the worst four hours of our lives- or for the other passengers around us. 

Pro tip when flying with an 18 month old- stickers are a big hit! I brought a bunch of stickers and some paper and Wes would tell me which ones he wanted and then would place them on the paper (usually on top of each other in a small section of the paper but who cares!). This kept him busy for 30 minutes!

Sticker fun on the plane

Of course he didn't sleep the entire flight until we landed in CA at 8pm IL time (no nap!) and as a family we didn't eat dinner until 11:30pm IL time (9:30 CA time) after getting into our hotel but we had enough snacks for the kids on the plane to keep them happy.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning we were all still on IL time so we woke up early, had breakfast in the hotel and headed over to Disneyland right when it opened at 8am. We had a slight hiccup with our free tickets which got worked out quickly and we rented a stroller for Wes. We had absolutely NO plan and no FastPass because I had no idea what I was doing, so we just winged the day. In hindsight, we could have planned out the day a little better, but oh well.

First ride for the kids was the carousel. 

Then Izzy and I headed over to meet some princesses since that was the number one thing to do on her list. Before we left she had told us that "the princesses aren't real. They are just people in costume." Damn girl you are only 4! We weren't sure how to respond, so we agreed with her. She still seemed in awe/a little shy with meeting the different characters though.

Showing Snow White the different colors of her dress 

Meeting Tiana (not being a Disney person I had no idea who this was)

Izzy was most excited to meet Ariel

With the princesses checked off the list we did a bunch of rides around the park, some that Wes could go on, some that just CP and Izzy did together. We decided meeting Mickey was a must, so we waited for about 30 minutes to see him. 

Mickey gave Izzy a twirl before this picture- what a pro! After this picture the rest of us got into a family picture with Mickey and predictably, Wes started crying and grabbed onto me so we have another Santa-like picture. LOL

As Wes took a short afternoon nap, Izzy and CP went on a real rollercoaster and Izzy LOVED it. I think that she is hooked!

Showing off her new ears and her fun popcorn holder

Tired Wes with his new ears

My one complaint about Disney is that we would see a character, get in line to get a picture/have Izzy say hi and they would take one picture and then say they needed to get somewhere or their handler would whisk them off.

SUNDAY

We packed up and headed out to Palm Springs. The afternoon was mostly spent watching CP's Patriots beat the Jaguars and then my EAGLES beat the Vikings for a Superbowl spot. That's right, this Sunday my team and CP's team are going to vie to be the winner of the Superbowl!! We did have a few minutes during CP's halftime to have some fun in the pool.

MONDAY

We met up with my parents to go to The Living Desert Zoo. 

Izzy liked wearing her Mickey ears everywhere

The zoo has trained three female cheetahs to run from one side of their enclosure to another. That was pretty cool to watch a cheetah run- even though it was more like a jog to them.

The three cheetahs check out the mountains after their run

After some quiet time for the kids we went to the pool late afternoon. It was a little cold, but the kids didn't care.

TUESDAY

My sister and her husband arrived the night before and we decided to head our first hike- Tahquitz Canyon. The hike does cost money, but the money goes towards conservation of the area so we were willing to pay. 

The 1.8 mile loop hike gains 350 feet in elevation and ends in a 60 ft waterfall. CP and I went in the water pooling below the waterfall and it's freezing! Izzy did the whole hike by herself which was quite impressive, but towards the end was starting to melt down because she needed lunch. My BIL thought he had found a lunch place but took us to the wrong one....which ended up at a bar with this sign in the ladies restroom. 

CLASSY

We ended up eating outside and it worked out, but wow. Super happy that Izzy can't read yet. :-/

More swimming in the afternoon as CP and I took turns taking Izzy down the water slide (which she loved!).

WEDNESDAY

We headed to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. The tram cars are the largest rotating cars in the world and bring you up to 8500 feet above sea level. 

View from the tram car on the way up to the top

After getting to the top we decided to do a hike in the San Jacinto State Park. We were a little short on time before the kids got crazy hungry and my parents decided not to join us so we walked out to the first notch and then walked back. Next time maybe we will do lunch first and then hike.

Cool downed trees on the way to the notch

HUGE trees along the path

Izzy hanging out on a fallen tree

View from the first notch down to Palm Springs

Queen Izzy at 8500 feet

Afterwards we sat down to a nice lunch at the top and then a fun afternoon of swimming.

That night my mom watched the kids while CP and I got to go out for a nice, kid-free Mediterranean dinner at Catalan.

THURSDAY

My family was busy with other things so we headed to the Coachella Valley Nature Preserve. It is a really cool area with tons of animals and hiking trails. We were steered towards a hike out to a really cool oasis.

Sometimes it is hard to get a picture of these two

The loop trail led us to an oasis in the middle of the desert. The oasis formed due to water coming up to the surface from the San Andreas Fault. This picture was taken looking up at really ridiculously large palm trees. 

That afternoon CP hung out with the kids while they took naps and I had a wonderfully relaxing facial and pedicure with my mom.

FRIDAY

On our last day in CA the whole family decided to go to Joshua Tree National Park. We came into the park from the southern side since only CP and I had been there before and the landscape is quite different. In the southern section it is all cholla cacti, not joshua trees.

CP decided to buy Frozen band-aids the day before so Izzy suddenly had lots of "owies"

Cholla cacti

Wes among the cholla cacti

Izzy in the cholla garden

We ended up getting out of the car a bunch to do some short hikes.

Skull rock

For our long(er) hike, we did the Barker Dam hike towards the northern section of the park.

Roots of a joshua tree

After the hike we headed out of the park to make a quick stop at the visitor's center to buy some tshirts and two stuffed animals for the kids (gotta support the parks!) before finally getting to lunch by 2pm. Amazingly the kids were doing awesome because we had lots of different snacks throughout the day. Poor Wes was pretty exhausted and looked like he was going to fall asleep during lunch with his new stuffed animal, Owl (a word he can now say!).

SATURDAY
Due to a breakfast that took too long for no apparent reason, we had to rush to the airport to make it on our flight in time. I sat next to Wes and he was easier this time around- I even got a one hour break when he napped! He even got compliments from passengers in our area! We made it home without an issue and tried to lay low on Sunday to get ready for the workweek.

It was an awesome trip full of beautiful landscapes, not too many meltdowns, and good times with my family. It truly is nice going on vacation with grandparents because we didn't have to parent as much. :-) I'm looking forward to our next vacation....whenever that is.

2018 Goals

2018 Goals

1. Continue our part vegetarian lifestyle through the year. It's better for the planet and better 

for our bodies.

2. Continue to send paper cards to friends for their birthdays. 

3. The usual lose weight goal. I turn 40 at the end of 2018 and I would like to be back below 

200. At the beginning of the year I decided to join Weight Watchers since it helped me lose 

weight before my wedding, so fingers crossed it helps again! I have signed up for 6 months 

and so far it has been eye-opening.

4. Along with the weight goal, I would like to be more consistent with working out. In 2017 I 

did great for half the year, but didn't really start really working out until I finished breastfeeding 

and then got out of my routine as soon as I went to TX. I need to heal my heel before I can 

get back to running/high impact stuff, but there is plenty of stuff that I can do in the meantime.

17 days into the new year and I have yet to work out so this needs to change asap.

5. Continue monthly dates with CP to make sure that our marriage stays strong.

6. Pay down our credit card debt from rehabbing the house within the first six months of the 

year. Unfortunately due to a few unplanned things that happened with our rehab the project 

cost more than was budgeted. We are unsure how we are going to fare during tax season 

this year and CP's bonus will be a lot smaller this year at the new job, so we are going to 

have to stick to tight budgets.

7. Continue to be politically active and contact my elected officials when necessary.

8. Create a better and more consistent bedtime routine. I do think that with getting up early to 

work out, I need to make sure that I am in bed earlier as well. Some days it is great and I'm in 

bed and asleep by 10pm, some days I am up until 10:30pm and then the next day I am tired. 

It needs to be all about consistency.

9. Run in at least two races this year.

18 months

18 months

Wes modeling one of Izzy's hair clips

Height- He was 2' 8.5" (88%) in late October, but hasn't been checked since then

Weight- 30 pounds (99%)- with clothes on at a doctor visit on December 9th

Diapers- Size 5 diapers during the day, Size 6 nighttime diapers

Playing in water at the children's museum

Milestones- Wes climbs up the stairs (holding our hands) instead of crawling and likes to go down the stairs on his butt, forward-facing. He is able to ride his tricycle a bit and getting better at climbing onto chairs and couches. He watches Izzy jump around the house and gets a tiny bit of air when he tries to jump, most of the time landing on his feet and staying upright. He pushes around step stools to get at things we put on the counters (mostly to keep away from him). He enjoys making big circles on paper with crayons.

Wes loves to hand people their things when he finds them on the floor. It is mostly Mommy's slippers and Daddy's shoes, but he will also hand Izzy her shoes, hats, etc. Pretty cute but sometimes we don't need them because we aren't going outside at that time.

Language- Words so far- uh oh, choo choo, duck, mo mo (milk), mo (more), nana (banana), down, and ball...along with tons of animal noises. The biggest word so far is MAMA because he is not saying DADA yet. I win! He also started saying no towards the end of this month. This past weekend he was constantly talking to us in gibberish.

As far as sign language goes, Wes uses the following signs: all done, eat, help, and thank you. We are currently working on please.

Hiding under the table with his new fox

Favorite Toy- A train that lights up, moves around, and makes sounds. Wes is scared to touch it, but finds it fun to watch. He will quickly move trucks and cars back and forth making sounds, something that Izzy didn't really do when she was this age.

He also likes to play "dump" which entails turning over a bag of blocks and dumping the contents out on the rug. It is very satisfying for him.

His other favorite thing is to pick up a remote, a monitor, or an actual phone and hold it up to his ear. The other night he started laughing at the monitor, so I guess he thought he was having an actual conversation?

Wes' favorite game- hiding behind the shower curtain

Wes playing his favorite game at the hospital

Favorite Book- Pout, Pout Fish. Wes likes to make the "blub" sound.

"Reading" a book by himself

Sleep- Wes is a great sleeper from about 7:30pm to 7 or 8am. He is down to one nap a day, generally starting around 12:30 and lasting for about two hours.

Bedtime routine consists of brushing teeth, getting Wes into his pajamas with a nighttime diaper, reading a few books, having Wes turn the light off and on a few times, turning on his white noise machine, then singing him two songs and putting him in his crib. He seems to like the small nightlight that we have in his room so we leave that on now and sometimes he will "read" a book in his crib or talk to himself before going to sleep.

Clothes- Solidly in 2T clothing. Size 7 shoes.

Playing nicely together

Potty training- Daycare has started to put Wes on the toilet when changing his diaper. Good for them but we are nowhere near potty training him!

Eating- Wes is getting better about using utensils and actually getting food on the fork/spoon and then into his mouth. When he is done with his food he loves to then throw everything- utensils, milk cup, food, etc. We are hoping that this is a short phase.

He also is not a fan of his bib these days and rips it off generally before he is done with eating. Also annoying.

Wes loving playing with Izzy's Moana doll because it sings 

Teeth- No new teeth this past month.

Illness- New Years Day Wes and I headed to the ER and spent a terrible night at the hospital. I'm pretty sure he gave me the RSV because I had a terrible head cold for an entire week.

Wearing Mommy's gloves to keep his hands warm

Misc- Wes had a great time during his first visit to the Field Museum seeing dinosaurs and lots of stuffed animals. He was a little scared of the stuffed bears, but walked most of the museum until he passed out in the stroller. This month he also enjoyed sledding down a small hill.

Wes is unsure of Sue at at the Field Museum

Since we spend less time outdoors these days, the kids have been running around the house most nights. Wes follows Izzy in running around and thinks that she can do no wrong. He mimics everything that she does.

Wes is ALL about Mommy these days. If I am in the room he wants to be playing with me, sitting in my lap with me reading to him, or in my arms. Often times he refuses to give a hug to CP which makes me sad. I know that he will someday soon prefer CP for a while, but it sometimes heartbreaking when I leave the room for two minutes and I hear him saying "mama" and crying because I left the room.