The latest happenings

Basically my kids have been sick in some form or fashion since the middle of October...so that's been....awesome.

stomach flu
runny nose
cold
flu
rsv

hoorah!

I've been sick twice (I started the stomach bug in early October and had a cold or the flu over Thanksgiving), and my husband once. The kids just can't seem to get out from under it. We've had brief periods of health, and I use that term lightly, but 85% of this winter has been confined to our home with snot rags, sick juice, and TV. Ugh.

I know that it's "good" for the immune system to be boosted, and we are "due" because last winter there was one round of colds after the birthday party / baptism weekend, but that was all since we were homebound. I tried to be relatively homebound this year, but I guess you either are or you aren't because going to target doesn't count as being homebound and clorox wipe or not, there's millions of germs floating around that store and anywhere else we went....even if it wasn't some indoor play center. Heck, maybe those woulda been cleaner.

My life looks like this;
 
Run. Cook. Wipe noses and butts. Breastfeed. Watch TV. Work (I worked 50+ hours this month! money FTW!!!!). Attempt to visit friends, but generally lose on that due to illness. Attempt to go on a date but that hasn't happened due to illness. Go grocery shopping. Go to church when we aren't sick. Attend a few meetings. Go to the doctor. Oh, and I went to the dentist once. Woooooo!

Since I last updated you we celebrated my husband's birthday. That was nice, though it was supposed to be nicer with the date night attempt I mentioned above that still hasn't happened. Such is the life of a parent. He also kind of got hurt running and trying to be a general badass by beating my on our 9 mile training run. It's been almost 2 weeks since he last ran and I'm starting to worry he won't be prepared for the marathon. I really don't want to run alone...

G has gone through periods of awesome behavior and then crappy behavior. I'd like to think I'm doing a rockstar job of rolling with the punches, and have only really yelled once in MONTHS, so that's cool. I credit Daniel Tiger, The Orange Rhino Blog post I read, internal motivation that I don't want to model bad behavior and GOD above through prayer and intervention. Sometimes you just have to kill 'em with kindness and that's what I've been trying to do. We do discipline, but try to do all things with love. We are Christians, ya' know.
I also read St. Gianna's book (seen here Saint Gianna Molla: Wife, Mother, Doctor). Even if you aren't Catholic, it has a great message of being a better wife, mother, human....My husband has been reading it too, very motivating.
So back to G. Well, she's working on handwriting, because I feel like once she can write, at least a little bit, official homeschooling will begin. I'm beginning to feel more and more out of place with 'preschool' conversations because she's not going anywhere and won't be. I wish people wouldn't judge me for that. She'll be socialized just fine, thanks. I'm not crazy. I asked her today if she wanted me to be or teacher or someone else and she said me, so there's that :-)
She does want to go to a "school" / "somewhere else" for school, so I guess I'll have to work on that one.

She didn't used to get confused with "b" and "d" but out of no where she has started to. And also "6" and "9"

celebrating her besties birthday

She totally used to know those apart....maybe she's got dyslexia, or has too much swimming around her brain nowadays. I don't want to diagnose her since I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure she has sensory issues and may even be on the ASD, but not nearly enough for treatment. Especially since it is such a broad spectrum (I think nearly any kid could fall on it KWIM?). She's definitely not a truly typical kid though, but we've known that since she was a baby. Even my mom pointed out how quirky she is when G was only like 8 months old or something. Basically I am her mom, and I see her all the time. I also see a lot of other kids her age, and I know she's not like them in weird ways. Not that I think that's bad, and I'm certainly not seeking out treatment, because I think she has to develop her own personality and learn to manage her quirks. If there was something debilitative, sure, but in my opinion, there's not. What quirks you might ask.... well she's just extreme on so many things. OCD like, emotional overload like, extremely amazing memory....IDK I can't explain it, she's generally a sweet preschooler just weird, in an okay way. I love her to the end of the universe and back though. She is beautiful and makes me feel so happy.
Wow...got on a tangent there.

sick faces:-(

So J... he's doing really well despite his sicknesses. He's walking a lot at home these days, but not 100% of the time, and not when we are out and about for me to go get him some stride right shoes. That is on my to do list though. I can't wait for spring to get here so we can all go play in the yard together. Last spring was kind of a wash, because he had to be held when we were outside, and that's not as fun!
He has some "words." He'll say (in his own baby speak way) "bite"(which my husband unfortunately started him on as meaning "more food") "all done" "bath" "bed" "momma" "dadda" "ahh" (maybe G's name??) "bye" and "yeah"
He's getting a bit of an attention span FINALLY. He will read books for a little bit, and even has a few favorites (Sesame Street Nighty Night and a Colors slide-the-door book). He's not too interested in G's shows yet aside from the songs, and easily gets bored with toys (and moves between them quickly). He loves musical things and kid songs. He tries to write/color, but still tries to put them in his mouth, so it's a supervised activity only. He likes turning light switches, pushing buttons (like on the food processor), and being as "helpful" as I'll let him. He is OBSESSED with the dishwasher. He has sat on the potty a few times, but never gone (it was just because it's sitting right there next to the tub). He LOVES his blankey but doesn't have a lovey other than that. He's much more of a climber than G ever was, and he's much more curious (Whereas she was more likely to size things up from afar, he must try it to find out). He's still sitting rear facing, still nursing over night, and still my baby boy. I wouldn't change that for the world. XOXO.

Hilarious quote from G, Christmas style

G asks to hear stories, all.of.the.time.

It started out sweet, and sometimes it still is...but it also gets a bit annoying trying to come up with a story on a moments notice.

So at nap time today I decided to tell her Jesus' birthday story and that's why we celebrate Christmas. Yes, I know it's early but it's already in stores and we've been looking thru the Christmas stuff any time we are at Target. And she's been saying she wants a doll house for Christmas for like 2 months.

So anyways, I think it went just like this;

"You know how we celebrate Christmas? Well that's Jesus' birthday. That's what Christmas is. Cool, huh?"

"Yeah! Then when it's my birthday, it's MY Christmas, right?"

I said "yeah, kind of...but not really...errrr"

Lol

She's too much.

Also today, we had been butting heads a lot. Mostly I blame it on my stress, but regardless, it's been tense around here. Well, when I went to nurse J before nap she asked to come in and watch me. Which is kind of weird, but also kind of sweet? She just wanted to sit next to us...not like stare at me all creepily. I told her she could as long as she was VERY quiet. 

Turns out she can be quiet for a very long time. I was really impressed & it was very sweet to have my two babies in the dim and quiet peacefulness of J's room. 

Then she about ruined the mood by throwing a fit when we went to her room to get her ready. Ugh! Luckily it's date night (first in a long time!)

A busy October and a lot of photos

Last October was super busy for us, moving cross country, buying our first house, and everything that goes with that....

I don't know how, but this October is even busier!

First of all, if you didn't know, I have a work from home part-time job with a super awesome organic food company. So that's about 12 hours a week plus events (of which I have two BIG events this month). I do grassroots marketing and it's pretty much the perfect job for me. I get to interact with moms like me, manage myself (yes, I do have a real manager, but day-to-day I'm fairly independent), use social media, find events and groups to have a vendor table at, and best of all...still be a SAHM.

Secondly, our half marathon is FINALLY here. It's next weekend. We've been training for 20 weeks (21 by race day) for this. That's half a pregnancy. A tad shy of half a year....you catch my drift. A long time to train for something. There's only been one injury scare and I'm hoping we both stay healthy through the race. The kids have gone along for many rids in the Chariot, though not longer than 6 miles because they get antsy. Training plus eating (mostly) clean has helped us both lose some weight. I was hoping to be about 5 pounds lighter by the race, but I'm close enough for me to be happy.

Third, family has been visiting us...which is my favorite. I love having them come see us. I love having a home to host in. I love having kids to share.

This season of life is pretty awesome right now....much more than last year at this time when I was stressed out, worried beyond words, and relying heavily on my faith. Currently, I thank God daily for my blessings and don't have too much to ask for....well, nothing really. I feel like I have it all....and that's scary because when will we go speeding down toward another life "valley" if you will... Life is like a roller coaster, I'm sure you're aware.

Randoms-
We are moving toward a substantially less-gluten diet...mostly at my husband's pushing. We'll never be GF though.
I am perfecting my time management skills. I think it's safe to say I am a full fledged momager now that this job is picking up. Cleaning / Cooking / Kid Activities / Mom Activities / Work ..... never ending cycle, and it's a good thing I don't need a lot of sleep (though I'd like it)
We've been to two pumpkin patches. I love fall. I've had 4 Pumpkin Spice Lattes-not clean I know. I've made clean pumpkin scones. Halloween is decorated for, and costumes are arranged (J was easy, since he's going as the same MU Tiger G did at his age).
We are going to a BYOB paint date next month & I'm sooooo looking forward to it.
My sister and I are going to Justin Timberlake's concert next month.... again, stoked.
I'm the co-president of my mom's group next year....love this bunch of ladies!
J and G are just getting along so well...and he's getting so big and she's getting so "old"
-I could write so many blogs about all the funny things that happen around here but there's not enough time in the day and I forget.... just trust me, life is never dull around here.

photo bombs below--

Family fun days

I've taken to labeling certain days "family fun days." Basically that is any day we don't have work & I want to focus on fun rather than chores. Saturday was one such day. We slept in until about 8:30, ate chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes, ran 11 miles, and then I went grocery shopping during nap time while my husband did a few things around the house to help me out.

After nap time we went to jcp for some family portraits and J's 9 month photos. Then onto a local custard place with an attempt at sustainable / mostly eat-clean practices. They also offer $1 local beer. Two of those to our order please. After we made it home, G got to play outside with daddy to burn off some sugar-high. After the kiddies went to bed my husband and I had eat-clean style nachos and watched some tv. A fantastic day. 

One of my favorite parts was on the way to the picture studio, the radio was playing Katy Perry's new song (roar or something?)... Apparently J loved it so he started clapping along, then G did, and it was such fun :)

I also love watching G's face light up when she eats ice cream with SPRINKLES. What is it with kids and sprinkles? They're a waste of a topping if you ask me, but they're pretty & that's what she likes so whatever :) 

Sunday we went to church, and behavior was B for J and A- for G. I heard nearly all the homily. Victory. It was a long winded missionary one too. Whew.

Then a quick lunch, zucchini brownie making (love.), nap time, and onto the moms group picnic. G got to romp around on the play ground with my husband and I socialized with some other moms.

The house is mostly clean, fridge and freezer are full, and we had a play date this morning (after my early morning run). There's a cold breeze blowing through my open window and I'm making stuffed bell peppers for dinner.

More days like I've been having lately, please and thank you Lord.

Quotes of the day and fall fun

"It's kinda like pizza!" Regarding the eggplant Parmesan she was eating

"It's park, mom" regarding how I said we were going the parkski.

Other fun things from today, th weather was beautiful so we went to a little park and had it all to ourselves. J was in the beco and I sat on the swing with him strapped on to me and we had a grand ol' time swinging like that...literally he giggled at the wind in his hair.

Days like today are what life is about.

We also went to the library :)

Fun in the sun!

Yesterday was a special day for G, and a beautiful day weather wise.

We spent the morning at a local park & had a picnic. (Went to mass at 5 pm)

Here's a photo description of what we did :)