Updates!

I feel like life has been a bit of a whirlwind ever since we went on vacation.  Even though we were up there to relax, impending house stuff was definitely looming over our heads.  Luckily, we scrambled together everything we needed and finally closed on our very first home this past Friday!  This.  This has been over two years in the making.  Two.  Flipping.  Years.  We started house hunting when we found out we were pregnant with Olive.  It's been an exceptionally crazy journey all the way to the very end.  We have easily looked at nearly 100 homes and have worked with three different realtors, and despite thinking some could have been the one, nothing quite worked out.

When we started looking exclusively in Strafford, we spent a year almost not looking at any other houses, but instead waiting for a local woman who claimed she wanted to do a private sale to get her life in order to do so.  When that didn't work out, we decided to go out on a limb and look at a house out of our price range, but that had been on the market for several months.  We have lovingly been referring to it as "Danielle's house" because our friend Danielle and her lovely family were the last people to live there.  Since we'd been looking at homes built before 1950, we were surprised shocked at how much we actually liked the house (a gambriel built in 1982).  It reminded us of our crappy apartment in Portsmouth (which overall wasn't very crappy, but rather, very 80's and owned by some slumlords in Florida).  After touring the house, we decided to make an offer, but soon after we'd put it in, we learned that Danielle's father, the owner of the house, had unexpectedly passed away.  We put life on hold again, and sent our love to their family.

Months later, when the paperwork dust had settled, we were able to come to an agreement with the families (their father had three kids who took over the deed), and were able to close on the house.  All in all, we sacrificed one thing off of our "wants/needs" list (which is kind of awesome in the grand scheme of things!) and have finally found a place that we can calls ours.

So that was Friday.  Oh, and Lou turned two months old.

On Saturday, our friends, Justin and Kelsey, got married at the Sheraton in Portsmouth.  We got ready at our friends' place and all showed up together.  We were definitely those people, as there were only two other kids close to Olive's age at the wedding.  Nothing like being the lady with the baby... Or the family with the girl with a cute dress and sparkly tennis shoes that wouldn't stop being utterly ridiculous.

Those are our classy looking friends, Brian and Meara.  And that my friends, is Olive in the background... doing Olive things.  

Whatever.

I drank champagne and pretended it wasn't stressful.  Actually, it was pretty fun all things considered.  I totally forgot to sign their guest book (which bums me out), and am proud to say that I only cried a little when Kelsey walked up the aisle.

On Sunday we drove down to Westford, Mass, to celebrate my great aunt's 98th birthday.  She looked fabulous, and did my cousin Pam's house.  She always hosts the family for Christmas and Alma's birthdays, and this year she definitely went big.  There were 2nd, 3rd, 4th and maybe even 5th cousins there.  I'm not really up on how my family is related, I just refer to most of them as my cousins and call it good.

On our ride home Sunday evening after stopping to pick up Knox from camp, Paul and I had a Clark Griswald moment in the car where we both looked at each other and said "we did it."

daily goals

According to science, Tuesday is the most productive day of the workweek.  

My "workweek" has changed ever so slightly since I've been home from work, and I've tried to have at least one daily goal.  Don't worry, I'm not setting the bar high with some crazy pinterest project, it's usually something simple, like do two loads of laundry, or go on an outting/adventure, or shower.  Simple things like that.  While packing for vacation last week, I threw in some workout gear and a book that I started (last summer).  My goals?  Finish said book, paint my nails (something I haven't done since before Lou was born) and go on a run.  I'd say that was a nice low bar that I set myself....

While on vacation last week, my (future) sister in-law told me that her goal was to run every day.  Damn you you motivated healthy person you.  As she told me that, I handed off my frosty beverage and decided to do something remotely healthy.  It was eight-bajillion degrees that day, and I couldn't leave Lou, so I opted for a round of burpees and lunges.... mostly because I didn't feel like putting on an extra sports bra.  

That motivation lasted all of two days... and I never finished that book.  I did paint my nails though, so... #winning ?

I do think daily goals are important though, and I've been upping mine recently.  Ideally, I'd like to:

get everyone up and ready for the day

get some form of housework done

get outside

get both kiddos to nap

do something healthy

make a decent dinner

Okay, even writing that out made my list sound lofty.  However, today was one of those days.  The stars aligned and I was feeling good.  Olive and I both managed to put on real (and clean) pants.  I unloaded/loaded the dishwasher.  Both kiddos napped.  We went outside to play and to stroll.  AND I made a bomb dinner of venison roast, zucchini rice, and corn on the cob (that Olive made).  

Sorry, no pictures to prove that this actual meal existed - Lou started to lose it by the time dinner was actually ready to eat so I ended up doing damage control.  When I finally got to eat it was definitely awesome and I'd highly recommend making it!  And sure... I didn't do anything healthy today.  Quite the opposite actually - I watched netflix and ate ice cream, but I'm writing that off as something mentally healthy that I did for myself.  In any event, today was a good day and I'm feeling good about my low bar of daily goals.  Hopefully I can keep up this momentum when we get our own place :)

staycation, all I ever wanted

New Hampshire is a funny place to live.  I've lived here all my life, and it happens to be the place that we'd like to settle down and call our forever home.  One of our friends, who was raised here but now resides in North Carolina, often jokes about how people from New Hampshire love their state so much that they often vacation there too (which is kind of ironic, because usually you go away for vacation).  With that being said, we're currently on vacation for the week with Paul's parents, as well as his sister and her family... and guess where we're vacationing staycationing???  You guessed it :)  We're up at Paul's grandparents house, which is lovingly referred to as "the farm".  His grandparents haven't been around for a while now, but the house has, and it's kind of become the vacation spot for the family.  There is definitely something magical about this place.

We've been talking up the farm all week with Olive, so yesterday, as we were packing the car, we weren't surprised that she climbed right into her carseat, buckled up, and announced that she was "ready to go" almost 20 minutes before we were ready.

((Fun fact: with about 15 minutes left in our drive to the farm, she announced that she was "ready" to get out of the car too))

Our first day at the farm was a blur of unloading our stuff and attempting to settle in.  Olive requested that we pop on Frozen, the adults unanimously agreed that the BBQ chicken dinner from the local fire department was a great idea necessary, and we all enjoyed some fabulous wedding wine compliments of the Copeland's recent anniversary.

It rained the whole way up to the farm, which was great - it's been super dry and unbearably hot lately.  There was also the added bonus of walking into the house and being greeted by a crackling fire in the living room (thanks Copeland's!).

This morning the kiddos woke up and were just as happy as we are to be here.  There was a mishmosh breakfast of cheerios, grapes, and oatmeal soup for breakfast, alongside some fun arts and crafts compliments of the previous vacationers :)

With one half day down, the farthest this mama has made it is the porch... and that's ok.

nap time :: the struggle

This Monday, I woke up, looked at my closet full of clothes that I wasn't going to wear, threw my dirty hair in a bun, grabbed Lou, and snuck out of the room (that Olive essentially shares with us right now).  My Mondays aren't what they used to be.  Maternity leave has changed my days of structure to days of... less structure.  As far as work is concerned, I can honestly say that I miss showering daily almost daily, putting some effort into my wardrobe, and knowing exactly when I was going to get a break (aka lunch time).  

My days home are wonderful though.  I try to get in all the snuggles with Lou, because he's just so sweet.  Olive marches to her own beat, testing the waters of every move she makes, all while demanding that she do everything herself.  She's fiercely independent like that, and we all try to give her as much time and space as she needs so that she can accomplish these tasks completely on her own.  Some moments are better than others, but she's two, so it's not like she knows that she's being challenging for us.  I'm sure she thinks we're being complete assholes for not letting her do all the things on her own when she knows she can (or at least is getting close enough to thinking she can).  Oh the struggle, it's beautiful, and real.

There is one thing that I can typically count on daily though... 

Naptime.

It's a glorious thing.  Depending on how it goes, it ranges from 1-2+ hours.  That's 1-2+ hours of watching whatever I want on Netflix while simultaneously eating all of the ice cream/candy/sugar in the house.  

Naptime has always been challenging with O, and throwing Lou into the mix just added to the struggle.  Nevertheless, I've been doing it.  Most days it works too.  I start prepping for it almost 30 minutes in advance, reminding O that it's almost time for a stroll (she's a movement girl, so we do stroller rides to get her to pass out), getting her into a new pull-up, gathering snacks for the stroll, and getting Lou into a new diaper and into the Moby.  Once O is finally in the stroller with all of her accrutruments, I pop on shuffle (a carefully curated mix of Jack Johnson radio combined with Elizabeth Mitchell radio) on my pandora, pull the sun shade over her, and off we go.  Lately, we stick to one shady spot in the yard, doing endless laps.  I've found that if I start her at 12:30pm, I am usually guaranteed to get her to fall asleep by 1pm.  I don't really engage with her, we just walk around and listen to music.  If I'm lucky, pandora will throw me a bone and give me a free hour of uninterrupted listening (damn you commercials). 

And if not... there's always Barney...

oh august...

I've been having a bit of a hard time keeping my days in check lately, which is not ok, considering that August is going to be a bit of a shit show whirlwind of crazy.  First up, Grammie officially goes back to work as the #1 babysitter/caretaker/nanny/sorceror over at the Copeland residence, which means that I won't have any roommates to help divert O's limited attention span.  That's what TV is for, right?  

I've also got my 6 week postpartum checkup this week.  Look out for my life goals of exercising every day!

hahahahahahahahahaa.

But seriously, if I'm going to binge on Netflix and ice cream at nap time, I should probably try and fit a workout into my day too.  Besides, there's only a little more than a year until I finally tie the knot - gotta get that wedding body ready!

There's also this glorious little event called 'Stuff-a-Bag' at The Children's Orchard this Saturday.  They have them every couple of months and I'm slightly obsessed.  It's where I've snagged majority of Olive's clothes, and I plan on outfitting Louis from there as well.  The deal is, show up bright and early at 9:30am, latte in hand, with or without a child strapped to your body, and when the horn blows, fill up as many shopping bags as humanly possible with cute second hand clothes.  It's pretty boss.

After that I planned on moseying our family over the boarder to Maine to celebrate my friend Jody's birthday.  She's planning a kid friendly day time BBQ, which means that I'll be able to let Olive run free, hold baby Lou, and drink a long overdue beer with friends.

There's also the annual balloon festival up the road from us this weekend.  Paul and I randomly went once the first year we were dating and I thought it was super cool.  Entry is a $5 suggested donation, and it's basically a free for all of walking around hot air balloons while eating fair food and checking out local craft vendors.  It's a three day event, but Saturday is obviously the best day to go... on Saturday night they light up all those pretty balloons and have and epic fireworks display.  

I want to do it all!  Who needs showers or routine or anything... Saturdays are for adventures ... Sundays are for binging Netflix on the couch rest.

And after that we'll be off for a week of actual rest and relaxation up at the farm (thank goodness!)

Oh.. and theres more exciting news to follow... 

:)

barney, baking, babies & books

If there was a letter of the day/week/month/year in our house, it would be the letter B.  Why, you ask?  Well... after countless viewings of the wide variety age appropriate kids programming that Netflix has to offer, it has been discovered that Olive has a new favorite.

Barney.

Yup.  Back in my childless days, when I would make all these grand proclamations about how I planned on raising my future kids, I had a list of shows that my children, under any circumstances, would not watch.  Keep in mind, this list was entirely based on my personal experiences with these shows.  Years of working with kiddos at The 'Tree had made me callous and full of hate towards shows like Elmo, Thomas, and of course, Barney.

So, wouldn't you know it, Olive took to it like a moth to a flame.  Out of the 10+ options available on Netflix, in this house, we watch the same two shows on repeat... the farm episode and the doctor episode.

.... I suppose it's not so bad.  I've tried to sprinkle in some other activities into our day (aside from binging Netflix), which have included, but are not limited to, visiting a real farm (where we bought eggs, pork products, and were given a large basket of squash), baking anything worth baking, and obtaining our very own library card so that we can check out all of the library books that our little hearts desire.  

Olive has been super helpful baking.  She's exceptionally tactile lately, so everything that we cook is a very hands on process.  In the past week, we've made cookies, banana bread, chocolate zucchini bread, and pizza.  We made two loafs of the zucchini bread, with plans to bring it back to the farm to give to Brian, the owner.  It's also a great excuse to visit with all the farm animals, and of course, sing a modified version of "down on grampa's farm" while we drive there.

And Lou?  He's been quite the trooper - just along for whatever ride is in store for him that day.  He's really great like that.

Here's a glimpse of our baking adventures.

beat the heat & blueberry treats

Summer and I are not exactly BFF's this year.

Maybe it's the fact that our AC is broken... maybe it's the fact that none of my summer clothes fit quite right yet... maybe it's the fact that infants don't seem to like the heat very much and toddlers don't want to stay in one place for more than 7 minutes at a time.  

In any event, it's hot and this mama is over it.

I've been spending my mostly unshowered, sticky, sweaty days trying to keep both kiddos happy while not simultaneously melting (both physically and emotionally).  There's been an exceptional amount of water play, both inside and out.  We've made our way down to the lake several times in the evening for dinner and a dip - which has been super fun!  Other days we play in the sink or lounge by the kiddie pool.

Despite the heat, we've somehow miraculously stopped eating the insane amount of ice cream we were previously consuming in this house.  There's still a fair share of Stoneyfield yogurt squeezers stocked in our freezer, but it's yogurt, it's organic, and it's local.  AND Olive thinks she's getting a treat when I give her the 'ok' to have one.  If that's not a mom-win, I don't know what is.

On the flip side of mom-wins and getting my kiddo to eat healthy, she's not the greatest at finishing the foods that she requests lately.  She's fabulous at taking a single bite out of something and then promptly requesting more.  She's also wonderful at requesting a large amount of something and then failing to finish it.  As much as I love consuming half eaten toddler food, today was not one of those days.  Ollie was enjoying a bowl of yogurt topped with some freshly picked blueberries.  But... after about two bites she felt a bit remorseful for dumping in the entire bowl, and quickly decided (after mixing all the blueberries into her yogurt) that she no longer wanted to eat it.

Wonderful.

I could fix this though.  I had to.  I can't waste food.  I decided to lay out some parchment paper and make my own frozen yogurt treat.  Since Olive currently requests to eat all things cold/frozen, this seemed like the perfect solution.

So far they've been a hit - enjoy :)