A Week in My Life 2014 -- Tuesday

Joining Kathryn at Team Whitaker as we document the week.

Previously:
Monday

Wake-ups:

Pager - 1
Baby Peter - 2
Clare - 0

Morning

This morning really starts at 2 am, when Peter woke up, nursed and then took an hour of going into his room over and over for patting and shushing and finally falling asleep. I heard him stirring at 5:30, as Charles was getting out the door (sans jacket -- a mistake he won't make on a cold morning again), so I got him up to say good-bye. I don't think he was ready to be up for the day, and it got things started all wrong. He was happy for awhile, but it got his schedule off, and he didn't nap well the rest of the day.

While he played, I blogged about Monday, and hit the coffee. Clare was up about 6:45, and was still thrilled to be wearing her "kitty cat fleece jammies." She's been longing to wear them since I picked them up in, like, September, but it just hadn't been cold enough at night yet to wear them. It's definitely cold enough now.

We went through our morning -- playing, showering, eating breakfast, getting ready, and headed to Target for a few things. I think plenty of people can relate to the the love/hate thing I have with Target. Love, because it's amazing. Hate, because, it's amazing (and the bank account isn't aligned with the amazing-ness of it all). Anyway, Clare was not prepared for the cold (she is an Arizona girl, I'm telling you), but was thrilled to wear her fox hat. She was also thrilled that Peter's panda hat matched her panda shirt. "We're all pandas, Mama."

On the way out, I grabbed my first red cup of gingerbread delight latte of the season. While I was waiting for the barista, I chatted with a kind soul about my kids, their age difference, how Peter had a "boy" look about him (since he's frequently mistaken for a girl, that's music to this mama's ears), and how hers were only 11 months apart. God bless her. Then, she helped another (stranger) patron carry a tray of drinks back to her car. There really are angels among us, folks!

:-)

Of course, Mr. No Morning Nap fell asleep on the way home, and stayed asleep until almost 1 . . . when he normally goes down for his afternoon nap. The scenario has trouble written allllllll over it.

Afternoon

Getting home, I put our stuff away, got chicken going in the crock pot -- I cooked a ton to shred and freeze for easy sandwiches, soups, pasta, etc. -- and made Clare's lunch. As we were getting ready for her nap, Peter woke up. Naps didn't go smoothly or last long for either of them, so I ended up with two tired, cranky kids by late afternoon.

We went downstairs to the basement/playroom that has recently received a bunch of our outdoor play stuff to help pass time during the winter. Peter scooted around. Clare read and colored. I decided to start tackling some projects.

Let's be honest, because I think lots of people can relate to this. You move in. You get mostly settled, but there are things that, for one reason or another, just never get finished. Time passes, and you get so used to things the way they are. We haven't hung art in most rooms, because we are sloooooowly repainting. And the playroom is a mess. We aren't used to "basement" living, so we haven't really used the basement for much, but we're really working to fix that. In the next couple of weeks, we're getting art hung, even if it has to be rehung in a couple of months. It's just time to feel more settled.

As I went through frames and shuffled things around and whatnot, the kids played and whined into their witching hour of pre-dinner crankiness. I was feeling like the day would never end.

Evening

Suddenly, as I was making carrot salad for dinner (one of Charles' favorites!), things turned around. Clare dragged a chair over to help, but I wasn't ready for her. While she was waiting, she used a dish towel to turn Peter into a turtle, and kept encouraging him to crawl to me. They were laughing and having fun, and I felt the joy of having them play (not cry or whine) at my feet. I knew just how precious these moments are. And the second I started mixing the carrots -- the chair was back, and Clare was up and ready to help. Yes, she tried to use a spoon that had touched raw chicken, but I got a new one, and so far, we're all salmonella free, so . . . win?

I say superhero, but Clare  says turtle.

I helping!

Things went smoothly from there. I was able to get the kids fed, and they finished up just as Charles headed home from the clinic, getting in around 6:30. We talked for a bit -- mostly about the cold -- and divided and conquered baths (one kid per parent and bathroom). Clare was thrilled to get to wear her "cupcake fleece jammies." Our last drama of the day was cleaning up those blasted princess dolls, but we decided to do it after lights out. We did our usual routine of milk, book, prayers and lights out, but Daddy stayed and snuggled Clare for a few minutes to prevent hassle (and get some Clare time in). Meanwhile, I nursed Baby Peter, and he was out like a light.

Grown-up dinner over HGTV, getting ready for bed, and lights out!

Coming up: more cold! Library! Maybe an actual picture of me!

A Week in my Life 2014 -- Monday

I'm joining Kathryn at Team Whitaker throughout the week.

I'm excited, especially, to capture two times in our life. First, Clare is 2 and Peter is 7 months -- watching them grow up and capturing that is priceless. Second, Charles is on his second of three medicine rotations, during intern year for his family medicine residency. Read: really hard on everyone (except, hopefully, the kids). So, with that in mind, welcome to a week in my life.

Wake-ups

Pager* - 0
Baby Peter - 2
Clare - 0

*Charles wasn't on call, so getting paged would have actually been surprising. Just wait. ;-)

Morning

4:30 -- Charles' alarm starts going off. He's up and in the shower. I roll over and doze while he gets ready.
5:30 -- He comes to my side of the bed to give me a kiss good-bye.
6:15 -- Finally drag myself up for some morning quiet time. I have mentioned on the blog several times how much I love getting up before the kids when I can and spending some quiet time alone. I drink coffee, blog, catch up on the internet, hopefully go through the daily readings.
6:45 -- I hear Baby Peter stirring, get him up, and nurse him. Take pictures of the trees.

7:15 -- I hear Clare stirring. She patters out and tests the waters until I give her the sign to come out. She runs around the corner, gives me a hug, and asks for a diaper change. Yes, there is potty training in my future. No, it's not this week (you're welcome, reader).

Today, I'm fighting a cold, I'm feeling better than I had on Sunday, but decide to forgo our play group's trip to the zoo, since I don't want to push my luck. Most Mondays, we join a group of fellow resident wives and their kiddos to play. In nice weather, we usually do something outdoors, but once the cold hits, we'll take turns hosting at our houses. This group has been such a blessing to me this year! Within the group, there are five or six little girls who are now 2, and all of them has an infant sibling. You couldn't ask for a group that has much more in common than that.

Because we're not going to the zoo, and because of my lingering cold symptoms (today: coughing junk up, fun!), I decide we're going to have a "lay low" morning. Which is a fancy way of saying the kids play while I do stuff. We had breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, put shredded beef (birria, family) in the crock pot for dinner,  did a bunch of laundry, and got the kids' closets winterized.

Clare and her princess life

Peter in his "fort" (under the coffee table)

Throughout the day, there was a definite lingering "knowledge" in the back of my mind. The weather was turning. Overnight. I was preparing to say good-bye to lovely fall and hello to winter. The big unknown for our family.

Yep. 72 one day. 37 the next.

Afternoon

Our early afternoons are pretty routine, so I'll write about it in greater detail later in the week. But, as usual, we had lunch, and got the kids down for naps (without too much struggle on Peter's end, and only one return to bed on Clare's).  While they were down, I had lunch, and winterized my closet with my not-quite-a-capsule wardrobe. I'm not jumping on the bandwagon. I counted my everyday pieces and ended up with 35, but I know some were in the wash, so . . . take it as you will. Since I have no real experience with winter, I don't have a good sense of what to expect to need, so I didn't want to get rid of too much. I did, however, hang several "question mark" pieces with the hanger facing backwards in my closet. If they haven't been used when I start moving spring pieces back in the closet, they'll head to Goodwill. 

Once Clare crawled out from her nap (literally -- she was being a baby spider), we decided to do some quick mother-daughter pedicures -- our first -- before Peter woke up.

We also got a surprise box in the mail from my sister. You guys! I am so unbelievably blessed by this girl. She lives in San Diego, and we talk every day. Sometimes several times a day. Yesterday, we FaceTimed twice. Whit had grabbed a scarf I left at my dad's when we were in Arizona several weeks ago, and mailed it back -- along with a care package for the kids and me! Such a fun surprise!! *all the emojis*

Once Peter woke up, the wind had picked up, so I decided against a trip to the park, and took the kids out to play in the leaves in our yard instead. Peter was not particularly interested. Clare thought it was fun for about 7 minutes before our thin Arizona blood dragged us inside. But I got some great shots out of it. :-)

Evening

At 5:30, I started making rice for dinner, fed Peter, and got Clare eating. On his medicine rotation, but especially on days like today, our rule is that if I haven't heard from Charles by 6pm, I go ahead and feed Clare. If I haven't heard from him by 7, I get both of them in the bath. If I haven't heard from him by 8, I put them to bed (but that, thank God, has only happened once).

Tonight, I get the call at 6:15. Daddy is headed home! The kids are already eating, but I decide, like I usually do, to wait and eat with Charles once the kids are in bed. It's just nice having that time together, and it's nice to eat a communal meal instead of a drill-sergeant one.

He had a long day, so we end up talking through baths, and finally put the kids in jammies and get them to bed on time, another routine I'll flesh out later. Clare fought it, but gave in with only a small bout of hysterics (I'm not ready for this phase. I'm not!) cured by some Daddy snuggles. Charles and I had dinner, finished up chores, and headed to bed.

Coming up: lots of weather talk! Errands! Wild and crazy gets wilder and crazier!

Peter - 7 months

Mr. Man is 7 months old!!

He is on the move! He's still working really, really hard at regular crawling -- up on his knees and rocking and rocking and rocking and . . . pancake! In the mean time, he's army-crawling/scooting/inching his way to wherever he's trying to go. And getting pretty darn fast!

He's talking more and more. Mamamamama and dadadadadadad and babababa and such.

He's eating a good variety of pureed fruits and veggies, as well as yogurt, Cheerios, and puffs.

Still long and lean, pretty solidly in 9 month clothes, with a few 6 month and a couple of 12 month pieces for good measure. Clothing sizes, inconsistent from Day 1.

He continues to be light and joy in our lives. We are so blessed by this smile:

Election Day 2014

^^ Note the sticker. :-)

Peter cast his first ballot today.

Okay, he helped me cast mine. And Clare helped too.

Of course, I have lots of thoughts about the elections, but they are pretty much the same as I wrote two years ago, so here they are again:

Election Day - Part I
Election Day - Part II

And now to stay up too late watching returns.

Happy Election Day!

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 73

This week, I actually kept a running list of ideas and pictures that don't warrant their own posts, but that I would like to share anyway! Joining Jen with my 7 actually quick takes.

1. On Saturday, Clare and I (well, Peter too) drove through Starbucks on the way home from running errands. They poured her milk into a hot drink cup instead of a cold drink cup, so she was excited to have her first coffee "like Mama." I might have been more excited! ;-)

2. If this face doesn't make you smile, I don't know what's wrong with you. I love this little man so much -- he is so quick to grin or laugh, he brightens my day over and over again. It's just hard to stay down when you're surrounded by that kind of joie de vivre.

3. I was talking to my sister the other day about how, even a couple of years into parenting, and a couple of months into parenting a boy, I can already see the differences between raising boys and raising girls. I thought this little collage pretty much summed it up.
 

Boy + Ball; Girl + Fairy Wings

4. I saw these college football rankings for the week on Monday and immediately thought that if this kind of stuff keeps up, the Territorial Cup (Arizona v. Arizona State) football game might be meaningful this year. Since we're a house divided, we're getting excited. I mean we already know who's tops in basketball (preseason #1, holla!), so a competitive football game is always fun!

5. Yesterday, we finally got a chance to carve a Jack-o-lantern. I'm a skilled and creative carving-artist (or, you know, not), and did the very original "smiley face." Clare didn't really understand what was happening while we were carving, but she loved seeing it lit up -- and played carve a pumpkin the rest of the evening, so win.

6. Clare is fighting a terrible case of the sniffles and has reached the age where I can't get her to smile for the camera. As a result, we have a lot of artistic "looking lovingly at the pumpkin/brother/wall" shots . . . and a lot of shots with her with her tongue out to "moisturize" her chapped upper lip. I am trying to keep lip balm/Aquaphor/whatever on it, but you know how it is when your nose is runny. Poor kiddo.

7. A preview of tonight: my little ballerina and Superman. We'll see how things this evening. We're expecting a good, Midwestern Halloween (read: cold), but it should be dry, so we're going to try to take the kids out for a bit when Charles gets home. 

Have a lovely weekend! Happy (and safe and warm) Halloween today and Happy All Saints tomorrow!