Whew! That pretty much sums up life these days. Here's a glimpse into the adventures these days...
Today, as with most days (especially since a recent Come to Jesus discussion regarding washing the dishes), Jonathan was absolutely wonderful. I rolled out of bed at 9 AM. Yes, you read that right. NINE o'clock. I don't think I've slept past 6 in.... at least a year? Longer? I don't know, but it's been a long time. So seeing 9 on the clock just put a big smile on my groggy face. I shuffled out to the living room and the kids were all over me, and Jonathan had a spread of delicious quiche, cinnamon rolls, and juice ready for a morning feast. While we were eating breakfast, there was a knock on the door and Jonathan got this little grin on his face, answered it, and returned bearing a gorgeous vase of Stargazer Lilies. And chocolates! Does it get any better?!
After breakfast, the kids and I did some power-cleaning. I spent yesterday at Carowinds (an amusement park on the NC/SC border) with some co-workers, so Jonathan and the kids were home all day and the toddler tornado damage had to be remedied in order for me to relax. Luckily both kids can be helpful when they're so inclined, so I wasn't all on my own to pick up puzzle pieces and legos.
Once the house was tidied up, it was time to leave the house. This is the only option if the house is to stay clean, and it has the added bonus of making me automatically less stressed. If I'm not in the house, I'm not constantly seeing things I should be doing. So we decided to go visit the chickens at the Duke Gardens. On our way there, both of the wee ones passed out, so we switched to plan B: just keep driving so they nap as long as possible. We drove around Woodcroft, a neighborhood we really like, and window-shopped for houses.
Eventually, the kids woke up. With Gideon, waking up is a critical time. He needs food IMMEDIATELY or a great deal of screaming and panic ensues. Luckily, we happened to have one remaining squeezy fruit packet in the car, so he downed that and we quickly found a place for lunch.
Oh, dining out with two small children. I can't think of anytime that's gone smoothly recently. Today's lunch was chock-full of moments. First, there was the fact that the only two high chairs in the place were in use by another party. Then, there was the milkshake spilled on my purse (but not IN it - win!), the children deciding that what they ordered was not what they wanted to eat, the loud noises, the trips to the bathroom, the parents scarfing food as quickly as possible, the scrubbing of the floor and table to return it to non-biohazardous conditions... yeah. Dining out...
It was clearly time to expend some energy, so we decided to go to what Evelyn was by now calling "Chicken Park". But... womp womp... I totally forgot that Duke's graduation stuff happened this weekend just like it does every Mother's Day, and the gardens were absolutely packed. We drove on by and hit up Trinity Park, a nearby little neighborhood park, were we had a great time swinging and climbing and exploring. Right up until I looked over to see Evelyn standing at the edge of the play area, holding up her dress, and peeing. Not like fully intentionally or anything - I mean she wasn't happy about it and was trying to keep her dress dry - but yeah... I sprayed the area with the remaining contents of my water bottle and we scooped up the kids and left before they realized what had happened, so the screaming and gnashing of teeth over the leaving of the playground was confined to the car.
Of course the 30 minute car nap from earlier in the day was going to be the only nap today, so when we got home I took some kid duty time while Jonathan cleaned the kitchen. I got them in their swimsuits, handed over the new Ikea beach toys, and turned on the sprinkler. Instant fun! I accepted the challenge of cleaning out the car while occasionally scooping up Gideon and putting him back on the stoop (he likes to take every opportunity to run out into the cul-de-sac and laugh as I chase him and scold him). I got all the trash out, marveled at how Cheerios multiply and end up in every crevice, and took in the loads of sippy cups and blankets and books that accumulate throughout the week. Then I decided to go all-in and take out the car seats, ready to vacuum and spot-clean the floors and seats. But when I lifted up Gideon's car seat... SNAP.
Broken. I swear I'm not that strong, but one little plastic nubbin that holds the seat to its base just snapped off. The other side looked pretty weak too, and it popped out. So because of that little nubbin snapping right off, the seat was shot. Uggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh.
All at the same time, the kids lost interest in sprinkler-playing, and Jonathan and I realized that we'd be getting new car seats (Evelyn's seat is suddenly emitting a very strong foul odor contained in the styrafoam of the seat and not the cover - plus since her seat is the same as Gideon's we were now worried about the poorly-engineered nubbins). There were tears all around. And suddenly, we had to do whatever research and decision-making we could do while very much under the gun because the seats had to be bought immediately. Before tomorrow morning's commute. We decided to divide and conquer. As I cut up grapes and stirred the pasta for dinner, I was on the laptop reading reviews and safety ratings. Jonathan was in the office doing the same. And at about 6:25 we had independently settled on the same seat. Hooray! Jonathan hopped in the car and zoomed over the Babies R Us for the seats. I got the kids fed, did the bedtime mumbo jumbo, and emerged victorious to the living room at about the same time that Jonathan got home bearing the giant car seat boxes.
And that, my friends, is that.
P.S. In just a minute I'll update that previous post about home improvements with some pictures I remembered to snap today! Scroll on down for the fun :)
Today, as with most days (especially since a recent Come to Jesus discussion regarding washing the dishes), Jonathan was absolutely wonderful. I rolled out of bed at 9 AM. Yes, you read that right. NINE o'clock. I don't think I've slept past 6 in.... at least a year? Longer? I don't know, but it's been a long time. So seeing 9 on the clock just put a big smile on my groggy face. I shuffled out to the living room and the kids were all over me, and Jonathan had a spread of delicious quiche, cinnamon rolls, and juice ready for a morning feast. While we were eating breakfast, there was a knock on the door and Jonathan got this little grin on his face, answered it, and returned bearing a gorgeous vase of Stargazer Lilies. And chocolates! Does it get any better?!
After breakfast, the kids and I did some power-cleaning. I spent yesterday at Carowinds (an amusement park on the NC/SC border) with some co-workers, so Jonathan and the kids were home all day and the toddler tornado damage had to be remedied in order for me to relax. Luckily both kids can be helpful when they're so inclined, so I wasn't all on my own to pick up puzzle pieces and legos.
Once the house was tidied up, it was time to leave the house. This is the only option if the house is to stay clean, and it has the added bonus of making me automatically less stressed. If I'm not in the house, I'm not constantly seeing things I should be doing. So we decided to go visit the chickens at the Duke Gardens. On our way there, both of the wee ones passed out, so we switched to plan B: just keep driving so they nap as long as possible. We drove around Woodcroft, a neighborhood we really like, and window-shopped for houses.
Eventually, the kids woke up. With Gideon, waking up is a critical time. He needs food IMMEDIATELY or a great deal of screaming and panic ensues. Luckily, we happened to have one remaining squeezy fruit packet in the car, so he downed that and we quickly found a place for lunch.
Oh, dining out with two small children. I can't think of anytime that's gone smoothly recently. Today's lunch was chock-full of moments. First, there was the fact that the only two high chairs in the place were in use by another party. Then, there was the milkshake spilled on my purse (but not IN it - win!), the children deciding that what they ordered was not what they wanted to eat, the loud noises, the trips to the bathroom, the parents scarfing food as quickly as possible, the scrubbing of the floor and table to return it to non-biohazardous conditions... yeah. Dining out...
It was clearly time to expend some energy, so we decided to go to what Evelyn was by now calling "Chicken Park". But... womp womp... I totally forgot that Duke's graduation stuff happened this weekend just like it does every Mother's Day, and the gardens were absolutely packed. We drove on by and hit up Trinity Park, a nearby little neighborhood park, were we had a great time swinging and climbing and exploring. Right up until I looked over to see Evelyn standing at the edge of the play area, holding up her dress, and peeing. Not like fully intentionally or anything - I mean she wasn't happy about it and was trying to keep her dress dry - but yeah... I sprayed the area with the remaining contents of my water bottle and we scooped up the kids and left before they realized what had happened, so the screaming and gnashing of teeth over the leaving of the playground was confined to the car.
Of course the 30 minute car nap from earlier in the day was going to be the only nap today, so when we got home I took some kid duty time while Jonathan cleaned the kitchen. I got them in their swimsuits, handed over the new Ikea beach toys, and turned on the sprinkler. Instant fun! I accepted the challenge of cleaning out the car while occasionally scooping up Gideon and putting him back on the stoop (he likes to take every opportunity to run out into the cul-de-sac and laugh as I chase him and scold him). I got all the trash out, marveled at how Cheerios multiply and end up in every crevice, and took in the loads of sippy cups and blankets and books that accumulate throughout the week. Then I decided to go all-in and take out the car seats, ready to vacuum and spot-clean the floors and seats. But when I lifted up Gideon's car seat... SNAP.
Broken. I swear I'm not that strong, but one little plastic nubbin that holds the seat to its base just snapped off. The other side looked pretty weak too, and it popped out. So because of that little nubbin snapping right off, the seat was shot. Uggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh.
All at the same time, the kids lost interest in sprinkler-playing, and Jonathan and I realized that we'd be getting new car seats (Evelyn's seat is suddenly emitting a very strong foul odor contained in the styrafoam of the seat and not the cover - plus since her seat is the same as Gideon's we were now worried about the poorly-engineered nubbins). There were tears all around. And suddenly, we had to do whatever research and decision-making we could do while very much under the gun because the seats had to be bought immediately. Before tomorrow morning's commute. We decided to divide and conquer. As I cut up grapes and stirred the pasta for dinner, I was on the laptop reading reviews and safety ratings. Jonathan was in the office doing the same. And at about 6:25 we had independently settled on the same seat. Hooray! Jonathan hopped in the car and zoomed over the Babies R Us for the seats. I got the kids fed, did the bedtime mumbo jumbo, and emerged victorious to the living room at about the same time that Jonathan got home bearing the giant car seat boxes.
And that, my friends, is that.
P.S. In just a minute I'll update that previous post about home improvements with some pictures I remembered to snap today! Scroll on down for the fun :)
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