Life Lately

So summer kicked in and I've been trying to make each day count. When you are a teacher, summers are such a blessing but they also fly by! Do you remember how long summer felt as a kid? 

Our baby girl turned 1 on June 19th, there are pics below. I also have pictures of getting ice cream, a local festival where Noah rode rides by himself for the first time, and some other random summer shots...

Bye Bye 20's

I wore black to mourn the passing of a decade. I'm laying in bed at the close of June 1st, my 30th birthday has officially taken place. I'm 30. I'm really 30. I don't feel any different but knowing that I'm leaving the 20's is sad to me. It went fast, but yet so much occurred. I turned 21, graduated college, got married, had TWO babies, bought a house, and finally have a permanent teaching position for next year. When I list it out, all the above are amazing accomplishments, but I still feel like I could have done more in my 20's. It has been an amazing 10 years and I'm going to have to suck it up and embrace it. I'm "old" to high school students, rarely get carded, and have cellulite, back fat, and stretch marks... I guess I am 30.

I originally always said I wanted to go to Vegas for my 30th, but our kids are so young and we just bought a house so that was out of the question. I told my husband that all I wanted was a party so I can look back and positively remember my 30th. I also enlisted my best friend for the craft and  feminine touch. It turned out lovely. 

I'll Take It

If you have young children, you will understand that trying to give yourself a mani-pedi is not an easy task. I actually can paint them, it's the drying part that creates problems. After the kids went to bed, I decided to go crazy and paint both my toes and my hands. I purposefully stayed up later than normal to ensure they would be dry before going to sleep. In the morning, I wake up and my nails have been imprinted by the sheets- lovely. That, my friends, is one reason why trying to paint your own nails with young children is extremely difficult. Oh well...

Parenting packing tips

Packing our house has been going pretty well. I'm so happy to leave our condo that I don't mind the chaos. However, trying to get anything done with young children, although not impossible, is very challenging. Like today, for instance, I was packing a box, the baby was with me, and Noah decided to poop on his little potty chair. This is actually really great because we are still working on potty training. The bad part was when he decided to dump the pot in the toilet by himself and spilled his pee and poop on the bathroom floor. I think I packed two boxes over a two hour period. Thankfully, my sister took the kids and watched them so we could get more done. The picture below is another great use for plastic wrap.....

The Sitter is Down for the Count

There are many different forms of child care. We chose a baby sitter because she was very affordable and we have grown to love and trust her. She has been watching my children for almost 3 years. Last week she came down with pneumonia and we (I) realized how important she is to my sanity. She was unable to watch them for a whole week and I work full time as a kindergarten teacher. My husband travels just about every other week and, of course, the week he is gone, the sitter is also M.I.A. Normally my mother is my back up but she has a new job and has been working. So what do you do when your sitter is out and your back ups to your back ups are all not available? Well, I had to call off work and plan for a substitute and take a sick day! That is very hard for me to do, because unless my children or myself have the plague, I never miss work, ever. Well, I had to miss today. It was nice to be home with them and I leave thorough plans so I know my room is going to be fine when I get back, but just being left without any options and having no choice but to call off work really bothered me. 

It is very difficult to be a working mom with a traveling husband. Especially when you can't afford a nanny or Au pair or cleaning lady and you do it all yourself. Sigh...and I only have two children. How people do this with more is really beyond me. 

Life Lately

All I have time for is a picture update. We are just waiting for the appraisal to go through on our place and then it's officially sold. That has been taking up some time and stress. I am 5 papers away from finishing my class and it is dragging on. I can only work on it sans children which rarely happens so that's why I still haven't finished. Pictures are all I can muster at this time.

Fave Time of the Year

I heart the Christmas season. I have dozens of happy, fond memories from my childhood and now that I have children it's so much fun to relive and create new memories for my kids. The day after Thanksgiving we set up our tree and put up decorations. It's so wild that this time last year we were announcing we were pregnant with Stella and now here we are!! 

BTW: bungee cords are great child restraints ( hehe)

Life Lately

You are probably a parent if the following makes sense.... A lot has been going on but nothing's really happening.

We celebrated Orthodox Easter today ( Kalo Pascha-Happy Easter). Because it is so late this year, the weather was awesome.

I am 33 weeks pregnant and feel good except for my foreknowledge of the impending doom that will be weight loss after baby.

No bites, leads, inquiries, ect. On our condo for a few weeks now... Disappointing and irritating.

I'm probably going to be working almost the rest of the year for a teacher who is out for knee surgery ( this includes a field trip to the zoo) - not fun :(

So as you can read, a whole lot of nothing has been keeping us busy.

The following are a bunch of pictures of what Noah has been up to including park dates, play time, a new bike, seeing his Godfather ( ya that's him in the giant box) and more playtime. I've been way behind in posting pictures.