7QT -- Updates and Ramblings (05.29.15)

Look, I'm not making any promises about being around more. But I'm linking up with Kelly for some quick ramblings before the kids decide that milk is not enough of a breakfast and want real food. 

1. I never thought I would be tired of the rain. At least not this tired of rain. I feel like Noah. I'm waiting for the dove. Maybe I'm being melodramatic, but kids in the house when they should be playing outside will do that to you. And we're well north of Texas. Our 15 inches of rain and soaked everything is nothing compared to what's going on down there. Praying for dry, hot sun.

Playing in the mud thanks to the rain.

2. I think/hope/pray that Peter's long, long nap strike is over/on the road to over.A girl can dream, right?!? He's finally sleeping pretty well at night, so I can't complaint too too much. But...a cranky baby makes for a looooong afternoon/evening. Anyway, I decided this week to (wo)man up and get him on a more consistent afternoon nap schedule, and, go figure, he's sleeping 2ish hours a day, and is still a pleasant happy baby by dinner.

Although falling asleep in his highchair is funny!

3. Peter is getting closer and closer to walking. He can walk assisted like a pro. He's taken 3-4 steps at a time. He's letting go of the furniture. He's so close. But best of all, he tries to "jump" when we're walking. 

Me: 1, 2, 3, jump! 
Peter: DUH!!! 

He bends his knees and bounces up -- of course, without his feet actually leaving the ground. He's pretty proud of himself. I think it's terribly cute and he just laughs and laughs and laughs when he does it. Over and over and over again. Love it!

4. We have had lots of fun hosting first Charles' mom, then my dad and Rhonda for long weekends in the last few weeks. It's good to be around family when family is otherwise so far away. And MY SISTER IS COMING this coming weekend!!!!!!!!!!! 

5. I don't think there is a font to express how unbelievably excited I am about that. We've barely seen one another since our baby showers last March. Since then, we've both had babies. (Is that a duh since we had baby showers?) I've moved. We've lived a lot of life. We talk probably 5 days a week. We FaceTime. We saw each other for less than 24 hours at our dad's wedding last fall. But now, we get 4 full and 2 partial days. Glorious, lovely days. Cannot wait!

6. She is, of course, brining her 1 year old daughter with her for the fun. I'm excited to see how the three cousins interact. Who will pair up? The siblings? The babies? The girls? Who will fight? Who will freak out because someone stole their toys? Bonus: the weather forecast is actually calling for sun, so we'll be able to enjoy outdoor activities.

7. For as long as I can remember, my dad has listened (not watched!) the pre-race festivities of the Indy 500 on Memorial Day weekend. Usually while working on his garden. But since he was in Kansas last weekend, he had to do some 21st century improvisation. We got the race streaming on his iPad and he sat on our back deck listening. It felt pretty special to me. 

Peter, of course, just wanted to play!

Have a lovely weekend! 

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 47

Linking up for Friday Fun with Jen.

1. 2 weeks 'til Match. With the hullabaloo to look forward to this weekend (see #5 below) and plenty to keep me busy the last few days, this week has flown! Hopefully, next week's promise of nesting opportunities will make that one go by quickly, too! We'll see how I'm feeling a week from now. :)

2. We welcomed a new member into our family a couple of weeks ago. My sedan had hit that point of whether to sink money into repairs or do a trade-in while we could still get some value out of the ol' gal. With our growing family, we opted for the early upgrade (and official membership in Soccer Moms in Training):

This picture totally reminds me of the carport at my Nanny's growing up.

3. I'm sure most of Jen's readers heard the big news, but I was absolutely tickled when I saw Bonnie's big news (and Archbishop Sheen's as well) on FB without any reference to Bonnie at all: a big step forward in the process of having her son's now almost-for-sure-miracle approved for FJS's cause for beatification/canonization.

4. I know there has been a little chatter online about when/what to share/not share about pregnancy. I totally get that there are any number of people who might be sensitive to such talk. I have a family history, if not a personal history, of fertility struggles, and cannot imagine how many people suffer in silence with their own struggles. I totally get it. Heck, that's one reason I rarely post about my pregnancy on FB and the like. That said, I generally post about my life around these parts, and pregnancy is a big part of my life. I try not to go overboard, but it permeates all aspects of life these days. That's a very, very long way of saying that if you don't want to read about my pregnant self, best skip the rest of this post. :)

5. I am so, so, so (x 1,000,000) excited for this weekend. It is going to be a lovely weekend celebrating new life! My sister is going to be in town with her beautiful bump, which would be celebration enough, but on Saturday, my aunt and cousin are having a "sprinkle" luncheon with a couple of dear friends and some family to celebrate Mr. Man. Then, we get to travel up to Prescott on Sunday to shower my sister and her Lil Miss with love, love, and more love (and probably some baby stuff as well). Since she has the biggest heart, it is going to be the loveliest of parties.

6. Clare is so in love with her baby brother in his current bump form, it's going to be interesting to see how/if she responds to her little cousin, since last time we saw Auntie her bump was still in the early first-time-mom phase. I'd vaguely like to fast forward a few years, just to see Clare bossing Mr. Man and Lil Miss around. Given her personality and being the oldest, it will happen. Mark my words.

7. And . . . 36 weeks it is! Someone should probably preemptively get the paper bag out for next week's shock wave/fainting spell/whatever. In the meantime, we're trucking on through. I'm in cookie eating mode major, and Mr. Man is in kick-everything mode major. Two-for-one pictures this week. When I say I'm going to update later, that apparently means, "will post two pictures next week!"

This sweater used to be much longer.

I swear I grew yesterday, though this shirt really shows off the belly anyway.

 Have a lovely weekend.

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 28

Saturday edition of Friday's Quick Takes Extravaganza with Jen and the rest.

We're house-and-dog sitting for my dad for the next week. We're miles away from the fire. The air is cool. Life is good. I'm loving our little getaway already.

We were given very specific instructions:

1. Feed and play with "the puppy."

 2. {Study for Step 2 -- blegh!}

3. Water the garden. Eat as much lettuce as we can.

4. {So Clare and I hit the Farmer's Market this morning to add to our fresh veggie riches.}

5. Have coffee on the porch.

6. And cocktails on the Adorondak chairs.

7. And dinner on the deck.

It's a tough life, but if someone's gotta live it, I'll accept the challenge!

Have a lovely weekend, and be sure to visit Conversion Diary for more!

5 Favorites, Volume 10 -- Home Town Edition!

This week, Clare and I traveled 2 hours north to my home town for what ended up being a little R&R. It might be a little early to need a break from the heat, but the cool weather has been a treat anyway! So, linking with Hallie today to share my 5 Favorites in Prescott!

1. My dad's deck (and front porch and . . .) -- Dad has a gorgeous piece of forested property. One great think about being here with a napping baby is the excuse for enjoying some outdoor sitting during naptime! Did I mention the cool weather? Love.

Reading the Burpee catalog

2. Rockin' at El Charro -- We had to get Clare indoctrinated on our favorite local Mexican place. Last night they had live music, and Clare, who was eating there for the first time ex utero, loved every minute of it.

3. Downtown -- The courthouse square is iconic and great for a walk (and a browse through the cute boutiques and galleries, if you are so inclined) and a feel of old timey Americana. Of course, I had to make Clare take a picture with the Buckey O'Neil statute, because I wrote a paper on him in college and it turned into a thing. She was clearly aware of how (not) cool her mom is in this picture.

4. Kendall's -- No trip downtown is complete without reminiscing over a burger or ice cream at the local buger-joint-in-the-back, ice-cream-parlor-in-the-front throwback. Yum!

Pouting because she didn't get a cone for dessert? Or because she got applesauce instead of a burger?

5. Dad's garden -- My dad had been growing a garden since waaaaaaaaaaay before it was cool. And we were canning and freezing produce since just as many years pre-coolness. Everything I know about gardening I learned from my dad, along with an appreciation of love for fresh produce. We planted tomatoes this afternoon and let Clare eat the dirt help.

Helping Grandad

Making me soooo wish we had room for a real garden.

Tonight, some family friends are coming over for an oogle-Baby-Clare get together BBQ, and I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Not favorite -- Charles is stuck in Phoenix not relaxing doctoring, and we sure wish he were here. :( Some time soon, for sure (I hope).

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 21

It's Friday, and so I'm linking up with Jen.

1. I'm going to the zoo today with Clare and my cousin and her kids. I'll agree not to write an entire post about going to the zoo, but I can't make any promises about zoo pics. Sometimes, you need a random picture to liven up a post, ya know? Also, I may now be curious about how many times I can write the word "zoo" in a single take.

Since none of my old zoo pics would upload, you get Clare who is like a zoo animal.

2.  The weekend is only looking better and better from there! Date night plus iPhone day plus general weekend goodness sounds like a recipe for success.

3.  Meanwhile, Charles and I are going through yet another round of residency options (and applications) obsession. It might be his career, but it will directly impact the life of our family in so many ways that we are really treating it as a joint decision-making process. Even so, my main concern is that he is happy in whatever program he lands in. There are just so many things to process along the way, it's daunting.

4. It also means planning our summer around rotations and board exams and that fun stuff. I'm excited to actually make some plans and have some adventures, though. Last summer, I worked right up until Charles' board exam. Then he started 3rd year rotations. Then there was that little snag of birthing a baby, followed by months of rotating and child-rearing and sleep-deprivation. Good times. For real, it was awesome. But the adventures were more "first-time parent" than "explore and conquer."

5. In Wednesday's 5 Faves post, I included a comment about eating cottage cheese that I feel needs to be modified slightly. I am enjoying cottage cheese so long as I don't think about the stories my dad tells about watching the stuff get made. It is probably fascinating in a Mr. Rogers kind of way, but it always grosses me out. Stories of blood and guts and whatever from Charles? Rarely an issue. Stories of how cottage cheese is made...can't do it.

6. There was also this picture of the current Shamrock Farms (a local dairy and food distribution company) logo. My grandpa worked with and for Shamrock for most of his adult life. He loved the company and the company loved him. As a result, there was a lot of brand loyalty when I was growing up. Milk will always be from Shamrock to me, even when it's not.

7. Since someone is now cruising, at least somewhat, I figure she deserves to have her picture on here one more time.

Standin' tall and gettin' organized!

Have a lovely weekend, and be sure to check out Jen for more!

Throwback Thursday

I'm takin' it to the blog, people. Why? Because I am in possession of two large plastic totes of old family photos, so I can. Plus, they totally make me smile/laugh/turn beet red in embarrassment of my 9-? year old self.

Fall 1987

Look at my dad's gorgeous marigold bed. Look at my sister's adorable lace tights. Look at my dad's hair and glasses and mustache. Look at my collar and side pony and staring into the sun squint. Look at the adept use of the rule of 1/3s (or maybe just the smaller number of "takes" when film was all the rage).