Friday, January 23, 2015

Coming Up for Air

Phew.

In the last two weeks, we have been busy. Like bees.

Both sets of grandparents visited. I party planned and prepped and went grocery shopping for 6 adults + 2 kids and a house full of people to have lunch. We cleaned (a little), did preschool dropoffs, worked, made three round trips to the airport, packed, did no fewer than a dozen loads of laundry, baptized our last baby, celebrated her first birthday, had two long flights to & from Canada (first country for Claire!), drove a long time in a rental car, played with friends, drank a lot of beer, ate a lot of food, skied for the first time in 6 years... and... and...

Now we're back. We planted our feet back home on Tuesday night and Wednesday carried on like any normal weekday. Dad works and Mom takes kids to storytime and preschool and runs errands so we can eat things that don't come from cardboard boxes.

I've been sorting mail and writing thank-you cards and finally stuffing clean clothes back into our drawers.

We've invited friends over for dinner tomorrow night, so I hurriedly picked out a recipe for that occasion. I'm contemplating another 30-day Shred or quitting sugar... or something. I'm just so hungry still, and there's really no excuse anymore since I'm not pregnant and breastfeeding has slowed to about 5x each day. I don't really need the extra calories, but I'm finding myself rummaging through the pantry and fridge while the kids are napping or before I hit snooze for the night.

Claire's 1-year appointment was today and she is just perfect, except for the fact that she ripped off three bandages from her hemoglobin finger prick and proceeded to bleed all over about 100 things. Aside from being terrified of her brother (which I hate writing in the single form), she's thriving and loving and has a few words down. Benjamin is still using the toilet and usually wakes with that Buzz Lightyear Pull-up (only ones he'll use. GRUMBLE) dry. Except, he did (intentionally?) pee on the floor next to two potties while on vacation and went in the laundry room and did the other business on Wednesday. Not during travel or on airplanes or long car rides when there is no toilet around. Instead, when a toilet is literally feet away and there is no imminent rush. Sounds about right.

Benjamin continues to be two, almost three. His tantrums are frustrating and totally get the best of me. I hate that. And also, GODSPEED to four, please. Not that I want to speed up his childhood, but if he could be more human and less satan, I would totally appreciate it. He is really awesome when he's not attempting to destroy everything in his (socio)path. But when the switch has been flipped, it's like someone switched kids with me.

We put lots of dates on the calendar to use up some recent Groupon restaurant purchases to get us through the rest of winter, in addition to a trip to Arizona and California closer to spring. Our children's museum had a pipe burst, resulting in massive water damage and will be closed the rest of the winter for renovations. Looks like #museummondays will return to #storytimemondays once again.

I sported my life is good hat over vacation and while I know life could be greater, life is still pretty good.

7 comments:

Brie said... [Reply to comment]

Yay! You're back! I've missed your posts....and I'm with you on the fast forwarding to four..our first two weeks of being three has been the pits! What happened to my sweet loving boy? Someone replaced him with a defiant little punk!

Danielle said... [Reply to comment]

Welcome back! We've been sick for 10 days so see you in late Jan/early Feb! :/ miss yous!!!

Ben and Katie said... [Reply to comment]

My friend and I are contemplating no sugar for the month of feb...cuz it is the shortest month of the year...duh! :)

Nicole said... [Reply to comment]

I feel like I need a nap just from reading this post and all your goings on.

And I feel you on the crazy toddler tantrums. Abigail gives us a run for our money, and regularly get a the best of me. I actually was pushed to tears during a particularly catastrophic outing with her. Two older ladies even told ME that THEY were sorry! Yikes!

Kari said... [Reply to comment]

"a little more fun and less Satan" made me laugh.
And I am a laugh snob.
I went through the "satan" period with my now seven year old.
It gets better.
And at worst, remember he will be in school all day at some point.
;)

Dianna said... [Reply to comment]

My 3 year old also gets the best of me and I HATE it. I really need to work on breathing through and not yelling at him. I too am praying for 4!

Veronica said... [Reply to comment]

You guys are seriously one of the busiest families I know. Online or otherwise. I'm looking forward to an I detail whistler post (if there should be one!). I know I saw a ton of cute pix on IG...but I always love your travel recaps!