Category Archives: family

Summer Ick

Amazing how a stupid little virus can completely wipe you out and leave you feeling drained for days on end. Last Tuesday night I started feeling headachy and under the weather, and by Wednesday morning I had full on body aches, fever, fatigue, headache, and chills. I finally got rid of the fever Friday morning during a good nap (after not sleeping for 2 nights because of the fever), but still do not feel like myself. I’ve been slowly able to eat more and more, but the brain fog is tricky and I’m exhausted. Plus, I’m on my own as of yesterday afternoon because Josh is traveling for work. The kids had to deal with a very tired, sick, and cranky mommy yesterday. I think they’ll survive.

I’m just hoping for an easy pick up and counting on Enzo’s love of cereal to make for an easy dinner so I can try and crash as early as possible. I’m sure he’s more than capable of changing a diaper by now, right? Ugh. I’m never getting sick again, it’s just not doable. I just have to somehow find the energy to get through the next few hours and hope that tomorrow I’ll wake up feeling better. Granted, that didn’t happen today, but one never knows. However, the kids both have a nasty cough, so I could be up tonight either way. Ah, parenting. Being sick is definitely one of those times when I miss being single and responible only for myself.

Despite pushing my buttons more than usual (out of boredom), Enzo has been a pretty good little helper when it comes to his sister. They’re both watching more TV than usual (not my favorite), but one does what one must during desparate times. I’m just glad that the worst of this flu didn’t hit this week while Josh is away – now that would have been bad. So, it could always be worse. And on that note… that is my reason for being away. Hopefully life will get back on track soon.

Definitely not crunchy, but chewy.

I’m not talking about peanut butter, but parenting. We don’t really classify ourselves as anything when it comes to parenting, but if we were, I think we’d fall into the “chewy” category since we’re kind of all over the place and really just do what is best for our family. We had to use formula, we use disposable diapers, sometimes I make baby food, but often we buy organic baby food when we aren’t doing some form of BLW (baby led weaning). We have a couple of strollers, but also baby carriers because I like to wear Phoebe – it’s often easier and she usually enjoys it. We vaccinate our kids who are in day care full-time, and while they have their own beds, they slept almost exclusively in ours for the first 6 months. So, I thought today we’d talk about bed-sharing and why we like it so much.

A lot of parents do a form of co-sleeping with their babies for the first few month, most often in the form of a crib or bassinet in the same room, which is also what we started with in the beginning. We actually bought a king-size bed when Enzo was small just so that it would be big enough for all 3 of us, which might sound strange to some people, but it has worked really well for us. I think we started putting Enzo in our bed just because it was so much easier than the bassinet and he slept better. Neither Josh or I move around a lot when we sleep so we never worried about squashing him by accident. When he was 6 months old, we decided to move him to his own bed simply because he started moving around a lot and we weren’t sleeping well. To this day, though, he sometimes ends up in our bed – whether it be due to not feeling well or having a bad dream… or whatever it may be. The same with Phoebe as well. For the most part she primarily sleeps in her crib, but on bad nights we just bring her into our room because it’s far less disruptive than having to get up and go check on her multiple times.

The thing I love about bed-sharing (even though the kids aren’t there as often anymore) was/is that it’s great bonding time for us. Josh and I work full-time, so it was especially nice to have the kids close when they were babies. We’re also the kind of family that likes to just pile up in bed where it’s nice and comfy and all cuddle and watch a movie. Even during the week, I’d often much rather just get comfy in bed to watch TV then to go downstairs and sit on the couch. I know some people consider their bedroom (and bed especially) to be their sacred private space, and I totally understand that… for me, that’s just kind of changed, though. I get ready for work in my bathroom, so it’s not uncommon for one or both of the kids to be in our room hanging out while I do that, and I really hope that never changes. I always want our kids to feel welcome to come and talk to us about anything and everything, and while I’m not against closed doors, I want ours to be as open as possible. We’ll teach the kids to respect our space and each others’ space, but I hope we have a great many more snuggle fests in our big “family” bed for years to come.

Now, in terms of safety – I really don’t bed-sharing is unsafe. As with anything, it can be done safely or unsafely, it’s just a matter of knowing how to do it the right way. There are so many resources out there, and I encourage families to do what is right for them.

Anniversary Recap

At first we considered going out to eat for our anniversary. We don’t get to eat out anywhere nice very often, so it seemed like a good idea and I even made reservations. It wasn’t until a week before we were set to go out that Josh and I changed our minds and decided to not only have dinner, but instead of spending a huge amount of money on dinner alone, we’d add some fun into the mix. I only have a couple of pics from the night (both of which are kind of blurry), but we ended up at Dave & Busters. It actually turned out to a be a good thing we changed our minds anyway, because downtown was a nightmare (from what I heard) due to the All Star game and block party happening. No thank you!

It was a fun night overall, despite the fact that so many games were not working and there was apparently only one guy to fix them. We were also reminded once again just how much things have changed since having kids. We bought way too many tokens this time around, and suddenly it was 9:00pm and we knew we had to quickly burn through the ones we had left so we could make the 45 minute drive home and not get to bed too late. Babies and toddlers rarely sleep in when you want them to. There was also a lot less drinking then there would have been a few years ago – just sayin.’

Still, we had fun, made a decent haul, and the kids spent some time with their grandparents. Enzo has one of those rare moments of “Enzo go too,” but thankfully we were able to sneak out and by the next morning the first words out of his mouth were, “I go play with Grandpa.” Maybe next time we’ll actually go somewhere to sit down, talk, and eat. 😉

4 Years

Today marks 4 years of marriage for Josh and I. We’ve been together a total of 7 years, and it’s amazing to think just how quickly that time has passed and how much has changed. I also realized that I never actually posted many pictures from our wedding either… mostly just on Facebook for family and friends to see, but not much beyond that. So, I’m going to post a bunch now simply because I loved our wedding. 🙂

We had our wedding reception in a barn, which I had always wanted. Plus, the price was right and it was ours the entire day with lots of room outside for the ceremony and to just enjoy the day afterwards.

We made pretty much everything ourselves. It didn’t always save us money, but it definitely made everything more personal (the tables were each named after a random place we’d gone to). We had so much help from family and friends the day of when it came time to set up and then take down – we couldn’t have done it alone, and I’m so grateful for all the help we received that day.

Yep, we had a candy bar… cliche, but so perfect and it was gone fast!

We had a mix of elements going on what with paper cranes and a variety of sari fabrics I’d collected for use in the middle. I also love marigolds, so there were pots of those at each table. We had chopsticks at each plate because we went with Chinese Buffet for the meal. Needless to say, it was a big hit.

Getting ready time! Not the most glamorous place to get ready, but having someone else do my makeup and hair wasn’t in the budget. Plus… I didn’t want to risk looking too different than what I look like normally.

And I didn’t even end up having to do my own hair, anyway. 😉

First look kiss.

More color! Kind of an ongoing theme.

My brother got ordained online and married us, and was definitely the perfect way to go. Josh and I didn’t want a long ceremony (short and sweet is more our style), and we were able to make it our own. Daniel started things off Princess Bride style (“Mawage is wot bwings us togedder tooday”) and about 10 minutes later we were married. Yeah, we didn’t realize it was going to be quite that short, but never actually did a practiced read-through. Whoops!

Husband and wife!

Oh yeah, Chinese food.

Yes, that is our cake. So much fun!

Also, very tasty. It was funfetti because we are 12.

While there was some dancing, neither of us really enjoy it, so we decided that we’d rent a projector and have Rock Band available to play. Lots of fun, especially since Rock Band was much more popular 4 years ago. Does anyone play Rock Band anymore??

Further evidence as to how organized we were… we almost forgot to sign the marriage certificate entirely. Thankfully Lyle (the fabulous man behind the camera) reminded us that we should probably do that.

And then the night was soon over, but not until we lit our lantern. Full of many wishes and hopes for the future… many of which have most certainly come true.

Happy Anniversary, Babe.

Weekend Away at the Company Cabin

One of the very nice perks about Josh’s new job is that the company has cabins that are available for employees to use. Because of Josh only being recently hired we didn’t think it was something we’d get to take advantage of this year, but lo and behold a free weekend came up, he put his name into the lottery and his name was chosen!

“Cabin” we discovered was an understatement, so we invited Josh’ sister and brother-in-law and their kiddos to join us. There was plenty of room for all of us to spread out and it had plenty of amenities. We knew a lot of things were already provided, but still brought more than we needed to ensure our bases were covered (and now we know for next time what we don’t need). I wasn’t sure whether or not to bring Phoebe’s jumper at first, but in the end I’m glad we brought it because Lady likes to jump.

While lots of space is nice, I could never live in a place that big long-term. You know how sometimes at night when you want a glass of water, but it feels like such a long walk and you don’t want to (even though the walk really isn’t that far)? Well, in this house, the walk really was that far. Plus, you have to yell to be heard and I could hardly see Phoebe from the kitchen if she was in the living room and I didn’t have my contacts in. Yeah, yeah, first world problems.

It really was a nice place, located in a quiet community on a lake with a nearby restaurant and playground for the boys. One of the really nice things were all the dragon flies during the day keeping the mosquitoes away. I don’t know if they’re always there, or if we just came at the perfect time, but it was so nice not having to worry about being eaten alive.

We did get some rain on and off, so it was a little hard to plan any day trips. The cabin was located near Brainerd, so it was tempting to go visit Paul Bunyan Land, especially since we stopped there on our mini-moon after we got married, but instead we stuck around and played outside and in. There were plenty of cars and trains and books and movies for the boys to keep them busy when we weren’t outside.

Overall both kiddos did well in our home away from home, and I think we’re going to see about switching Enzo’s toddler bed out for a full-size bed one of these days considering how well he did in a regular bed. It was also nice being able to lay down in bed with him when it was time to read books. He didn’t typically want to go bed while on vacation, and for the most part we let him stay up later than his normal bedtime, but even he started to realize that he did actually want to sleep – he just didn’t want to be left out of any fun. Considering both of our kids wake up at 6:00-6:30 during the week so we can leave the house by 7:00-7:15, they don’t typically sleep in on the weekend, so the lack of sleep and lax routine started to take their toll a bit by the time Monday morning rolled around.

It was nice to have a lazy weekend, though, and even Josh and I got a nap in each. It was a very nice luxury, even if Enzo doesn’t always realize right away how lovely they are. I’m kind of glad we can count on naps for at least another year. 😉 Toots is also starting to fall into a more regular nap schedule, which day care will probably help with as she gets even older. She naturally seems to nap around 9:00-9:30 and then again in the afternoon, sometimes even three naps if they’re short.

Anyhoo, it was a nice family getaway. Enzo got to play with his cousin every day (which made him very, very happy), Josh got to go fishing with his brother-in-law at least one time, and I even stayed up late (way past my bedtime) one or two nights having some nice chats with my sister-in-law. I’m hoping that one day I’ll have more to chat about than kids and parenting, but probably not. Ha ha. Nah, one day I’ll have more time and energy, but watching a baby grow into a person is just fascinating. You learn so much about yourself and your entire perspective changes at times. That, however, is discussion for another day since this post is probably much longer than it should be.

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures