Tidbits Illustrated

Because I seem to only blog in bullets now, and I need to watch the new Mad Men before I go to bed (which needs to be very soon because we went on another road trip this weekend and anything that is not sitting on my couch for at least 8 hours/weekend day makes me exhausted), I present, the last few days:

1. I watched Claire out of the corner of my eye and realized she is very much a little kid/girl now. She's feisty and extremely sweet, but no matter what JP still calls her, she really isn't the Biscuit any more.

2.5 years later, Claire wants to know what is the hold-up on our grocery shopping;
oh nothing honey, just being pregnant and reminiscing on the driveway

2. We got a pool cover for our pool, brought to you by our tax refund (which I was initially excited about until I realized we got it because we made so much less money in 2012 than we did in 2011) and Claire's newfound ability to open our exterior doors all by herself.

$2,000 of custom-made couture pool netting;
will hold up to 400 lbs. above the water and goes beautifully with your zebra print swim suit

3. Studious Bear went with me to Starbucks on Friday when my office was closed (we're moving floors) and she woke up with a perfectly timed low grade fever (her first in five months; she's so cooperative). She worked much harder on her Leap Pad than I did on my 10-K reading. She also kept stealing sips of my "Foffee" (aka tall non-fat no-foam chai tea latte, the only chai tea latte I've ever liked and the only thing I've ever ordered at Starbucks; so delicious).

 

4. Landon helped me bake brownies on Friday afternoon while Claire when sleeping off her low grade fever and I needed more chocolate in my life.

 

5. Claire woke up fever-free, so we decided to celebrate JP's highly successful first week of the swim school (and my overwhelming pizza craving, and the beautiful weather outside) with a trip to our favorite pizza place in the whole world. We hadn't been since before he lost his job and it was SO MISSED. JP was on a call with a client during the ordering, so somehow we ended up with a full order of giant pretzels and an extra large pizza. Pregnant ladies are expensive and full of carbs.

 

6. We took a road trip to Austin/San Antonio this weekend to stay with some friends on the way to see my four grandparents in San Antonio. My mom's dad (of the Silver Lake lake house) is not doing very well with his back and hip and is having a very big surgery next Monday, so we wanted to make sure we saw him before the big day, and we were overdue on a visit generally. Since it's hard to stay overnight at the retirement center with the kiddos, it works out quite well to do the 3 hour jaunt to Austin on Saturday afternoon, stay with our friends (whose daughter is bffs with Landon), head out Sunday morning for the extra hour to 'Tonio (as Claire calls it), visit with the great-grands, and then leave for the 4 hour drive back in the early afternoon. Last night was a night of fajitas, watching four kids giggle and play in the hot tub and all over the backyard, and then listening to the kids not-sleep for much of the evening and very early in the morning.

Here they are bright eyed and bushy tailed, about to leave for 'Tonio to meet the grandparents from brunch. Claire started crying like 5 seconds later because, you know, tired.

 

7. We enjoyed a delicious brunch with all four great-grandparents, which was just wonderful. When we were thinking of moving back to Austin, one of the biggest items in its favor was being only an hour away from the great-grandparents again.

Claire does nothing half-heartedly, especially hugs

The kids were admired by many a retired-military person and spouse and took a ride in my grandpa's orthopedic space chair before we piled back in the car and headed home.

 

Speaking of home, we drove by our old house on the way out of town. It looks great and the HOA built a nice park behind it, which kills me because that would have been SO NICE to have a short walk away and I can't believe they added it months after we left. We really like Fort Worth, and love this house and our gorgeous, old neighborhood, but I couldn't help but think how much our old house was designed for our family of five and our new one is not. Then again, if we'd stayed in that house we'd both be in our old jobs with full-time daycare and a part-time nanny and we'd have all the baby things stored in our giant attic and walk-in closets and we'd probably never have decided to have baby #3 at all. So clearly, the only way to make baby bean III happen was to move to a smaller house with no closets and no attics, make way less money, and give all the baby stuff away.

I like how it's worked out for us so far.

Now, on to Mad Men, week 10 of pregnancy, and my second round of Angel food cake topped with strawberries and an indecent amount of whipped cream. For the baby.