4th at the Lake

Our baby girl remains nameless (though by now our name post has covered every single name I've ever had on any girl name list and added a few more; excellent work my friends, excellent work), but she does have bedding, curtains, bird cages, a rug, and her first Christmas present! Priorities.

 

On the non-gestating family front, the kids and I took a car ride down to Lake Livingston to spend some time with the PapaGigi and their new digs! As I mentioned in the last post in regard to our pretty new table and my mom's rooster placement, my parents sold their old lake house with its beautiful 1 acre lot and too-small house and bought a 4-bedroom, 4-bath house with a still-beautiful but much smaller lot a little ways over on the same lake. The new house is going to be SO much better for visiting, especially around the holidays when we all converge with our dogs and children and partners, and has the added benefit of being in a gated community with a golf course, pool, park, tennis courts, and more. All the amenities are old and pretty bare bones, but full of trees and so reminiscent of my grandparents little golf course community in Florida that we used to visit growing up that I was filled with nostalgia as we went for a walk around the new 'hood.

 

My favorite part, besides the fact that the kids and I have officially separate rooms, is all the windows.

 

Specifically the window on the right that spans the kitchen counter. This picture really doesn't do it justice. My parents only moved in 2 weeks ago, I think it's looking great, though I can't believe I failed to get a picture of the right amount of roosters on top of the kitchen cabinets.

 

Another plus of the move is this little lake beach two lots down from my parents'. So great for the kids, though Claire was, of course, initially skeptical.

 

Landon dove right in (he's off on the left side of the picture) while my dad, mom, and brother spent a while coaxing Claire into the sandy shores.

 

Later we moved over to the dock, where Landon continued his general fishy-ness (seriously, it is so much fun to watch him be able to really USE the lake now that he's a little older) and Claire continued her skepticism.

 

She decided to be chief lifeguard.

 

The dogs were lifeguards too. Landon was very protected.

 

Later, she abandoned her post in lieu of cuddling with her PapaGigi (she refers to them collectively with one word).

 

Landon, being Landon, immediately found 2 best friends his age at a nearby lot and invited them over to play. The kid is never alone and has never met a stranger. He swam and jumped and swam until I could barely believe he still had the strength to climb out of the water. We ate a delicious meal, as always, and took the kids out on the boat to find fireworks (fireworks are banned in my parents' new community, which is probably for the best given JP's pyromania that made me nervous (and poorer) every year).

 

This picture is blurry, but it's my only evidence of all the lovies Claire needed to prepare for a boat ride, after dark, surrounded by loud booming noises and fire in the sky: 2 blankies, 1 baby, and 1 Gigi. She actually did great, and got pretty into the "sparkles in the sky" by the end.

 

The rest of the weekend passed with more swimming and rope swinging and eating and playing. The kids got very little sleep, but they had a fantastic time and I loved hanging out with my fam and watching them.

(the amount of awe with which Landon is watching his Uncle Eric will probably not be good for us later)

My cousin Cara was also there. We don't get to see her or sister that often, since they're the only branch of my mom's family tree that isn't in Houston. She goes to UGA but is in Houston this summer for an internship. She is maybe the only person in our family (and maybe the world) who loves fishing as much as my brother, so they had a great time together, and Claire always enjoys a new family member to love.

Cousins!

All in all it was a most excellent weekend.

Me and my girl (and my 21-week girl in progress!)

We drove back last night because JP missed us so much (he had to stay behind and coach/pool direct) and both of my parents' neighbors were throwing big parties guaranteed to make my already overtired children even more overtired. We all slept in to nearly 9 a.m. this morning (unheard of in this house) and are enjoying a day of resting, napping, and watching Independence Day on TV. Happy Belated 4th of July everyone!

Just the Right Amount of Rooster

First of all, I am LOVING our name post (that didn't intentionally set out to be a name post). Funny enough, you've managed to list all but one of the names on my top five list and then give me five more to add to it (that's really quite amazing; I didn't think there were 10 girls name in the whole universe that I liked and you got 9 of them in one blog post). As JP just said, when I told him I was going to read my list and he was going to give me verbal or facial reactions to each one, "Can't we just name her Claire again?" That's part of the problem- I love Claire's name. I love it. And I want to love the next one too. But then I remember that when we first picked Claire's named we liked it, then after a few weeks of using it in utero we loved it, and now after three years of living with a real live Clairebear we REALLY love it, so hopefully love will grow again. I'd really like her to have a name in the next few weeks- I like deciding it early, like calling her that as she squirms around in my tummy, and like having her name in my mind while I buy her tiny sleepers and plan her cozy nursery.

And speaking of buying tiny sleepers and planning a nursery, after knowing our baby girl was a baby girl for all of 24 hours, she managed to amass a pretty decent wardrobe and many a bookmarked webpage for her nursery decor. First, I accidentally ran into Carter's on my way to Target. Clearance tags are my budget busting kryptonite and before I knew it, both of my girls (my girl-S!) had patriotic swim wear for next year's 4th of July trip to the lake.

 

And then all of this happened.

 

The trio of big/little sibling shirts were clearly necessary for hospital room pictures, the pile of cozy sleepers were all less than $6 each and were so sweet and so fuzzy and my unnamed baby NEEDED them (her coming home from the hospital sleeper is in there too; it involves a tiny embroidered owl and was the only thing I paid full price for, but it could not be helped- there was a tiny owl), and then I think the knit sweater booties speak for themselves. When I got home, Claire took one look at them, squealed, and IMMEDIATELY concurred that they baby needed them. The girl likes shoes as much as I do- I think I need to pray she never fits into mine.

On Saturday night, during our now regular Game of Thrones catch-up viewing, I started bookmarking pages for her nursery decor.  First I fell in love with this trio of art prints on Etsy.

 

It set the stage for the rest of the bookmarking.

Next came this cozy blanket that just makes me want to wrap a baby and hold it for hours while we watch the Food Network.

 

Then I found these bird cages on clearance at Pottery Barn Kids, a store I usually avoid because it's way too expensive, and I now think we need a duo of them hanging over the dresser/changing table.

 

Speaking of the dresser, we purchased this one during our Mother's Day trip to Ikea. It's not assembled yet, but it will be before November. The white with dark brown knobs are going to go well with my new theme.

 

The walls are going to remain the white painted bead board that they currently are, and I think my theme will go well with much of my already existing guest room stuff (hard to believe I put together that guest room only 14 months ago, back when I was sure we were done having kids and it would be my beautiful grown-up guest room for years to come).

 

Baby will have her on ensuite full bath, something totally unnecessary that may sometimes be handy (sink and shower right nearby for midnight spit up and diaper attacks). There is a small, but now functioning closet, and a beautiful bank of windows for natural light (and wood shutters to block it out). The curtains are grey with a pale blue stripe, I think they will still work, and the already existing bird picture and fun blue/white lamp will keep the pop of blue going from my inspiration art, while I add more pink and brown in the crib bedding (I might be able to borrow a friend's! checking it out tomorrow). The little dresser currently in the room is going out to the entry way or living room and the bookcases will be relocated to the back wall. There will also be a rug, but that will come later- I'm on a rug buying hiatus for the moment.

 

The queen bed is going to stay. I paid too much for the frame far too recently to part with it, plus I love it and it is so handy to have. I'll push it against the wall in the corner if needed, but it's not like babies need a lot of floor space (that's what my snazzy new play room is for!). I even think the little vase of yellow flowers can stay as another pop of color. I have more bookmarking- and of course plenty of actual shopping- to do, but I'm getting excited about where it's all going in my head.

 

And speaking of shopping. These were the first three items in my cart on Claire and my big food run on Sunday. I'm so very pregnant.

 

Then we made cinnamon rolls from scratch on Sunday because, again, pregnant.

 

Also on Sunday, JP and Landon rented a U-Haul trailer and embarked on a 10-hour journey to the lake house and back on Sunday to pick up the beautiful (huge!) table and chairs my parents purchased from the owners of their new lake house to give to us.

(very quick pic snapped to show my parents my men and my table had made it home safely;
the hutch in the back is going to be moved somewhere else)

I will miss our beautiful dark square table, but as a future family of five who likes to entertain, we really did need a bigger one. And isn't this one pretty? Thanks mom and dad! And speaking of my mom (because it's important to maintain a clean flow of topics in your blog posts), as I was talking with her earlier that day, she gave me an update on how the unpacking and decorating was going in the new house. She was quite delighted with her kitchen and as we were discussing about cabinet space and decor themes she remarked with great satisfaction, "I really think I've managed to get just the right amount of rooster."

She was talking very seriously about the decor items she was artfully, and no doubt classily, displaying on top of shelves and cabinets, but it was so funny and so delightfully my mother that I've decided that phrase is the pinnacle of decorating success (or any success- use it in a sentence today! It's surprisingly flexible). So as I mine the depths of interwebs looking for the perfect items for my sweet baby girl's birdie nursery, I'm really hoping for an end result with just the right amount of rooster.*

(* and no actual roosters)

A Sister AND a Baby

So guess who finally decided to cooperate and show us her important bits on an ultrasound?

This little girl!

(profile shot; hand finally off her face)

Yep, it's definitely a girl! It's a good thing she's my third and I already have one of each and was feeling rather mellow about the whole thing because she made the gender reveal very difficult to actually reveal. First there was the 16-week ultrasound where she refused to uncross her legs, but was very excited to show us how well she could move her arms. Then, when we arrived at the much anticipated 20-week ultrasound, neither the ultrasound suite or my physician's office had any record of my appointment, even though I know I had the date/time right and it had been exactly 4 weeks since my last one. They ended up squeezing me in 2.5 hours later, so JP and I left without any additional information on baby bean III and went to a nice lunch and ran a few errands before returning. Then, when we finally got back in the little room, the first thing the ultrasound tech was, "Oh, the baby really isn't in a good position for imagining" - OF COURSE NOT. She was upside down and backwards and kept her hands smooshed over her face and again had her legs crossed only to finally open them up wide at the very end like she just KNEW that was what we'd been waiting for and she was greatly enjoying building the suspense. For a mere 20-week fetus, she was holding a lot of power and she wasn't afraid to wield it. Clearly, Claire's already gotten to her.

 

Speaking of Claire, she is thrilled- THRILLED, to be getting "a baby AND a sister" as she always phrases it. I've tried to make clear to her that the baby and sister will be coming in one single tiny package, but she's good at selectively processing information and I'm fully prepared for some disappointment when she visits me in the hospital and finds only the newborn baby and not also the matching 3-year-old sister she's been imagining. I got her the "I'm a Big Sister" book by Joanna Cole (we read the "Brother" version to Landon before Claire was born) and she LOVES it. She sleeps with it every night and when she can't get one of us to read it, she "reads" it to herself with pretty high accuracy. She still talks about the baby constantly and tells me all the time, usually with a little sigh, that "Mommy I just love babies."

Landon is... his usual mellow self. He's in no way unhappy, or unexcited, but he doesn't talk about it like Claire. He's already been the proud papa and now that he's borne the weight and responsibility of raising a child, he seems okay with handing the torch off to Claire on this one. I do think he'll be a great helper and admirer once she arrives; he loves babies and is always asking when our neighbor's 16-month-old can come over to play. He has also asked me, now that he knows "you can just have more babies," to please have another and make it a brother next time. I agreed that would make things fair and even, but it was also highly unlikely.

I am doing well. I always forget how perfectly pleasant the middle of pregnancy is for me. I haven't felt sick since about 10 weeks, I don't feel all that tired anymore, and I'm not big and uncomfortable yet- it's the golden phase that I never seem to remember once it's all over. I've gained about 7 lbs. and I don't think I have a single other pregnancy symptom besides "suddenly pronounced belly" and "crabby at Mexican restaurants because I can't drink margaritas." I'm getting the 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate shots (or "17p" shots) to prevent pre-term labor again. It worked well last time and I didn't have any negative side effects, so my doctor recommended I do them again. A nurse comes to the house once a week to shoot me up, and while I had forgotten how much that stuff can sting (though my nurse does an excellent job doing injecting me as sloooooowly as humanly possible which helps), I do love seeing her because she always calls me "such a tiny little thing!" in a glorious southern accent. I know I'm pregnant, and believe me, I'm happily gaining my weight right on track, but it just makes me smile inside. I'm 5'9" and a former swimmer- I don't think I've ever been a "tiny little thing," so why not when I'm 4.5 months pregnant with my third child?

 

So, a little girl... I can't wait to meet her and watch our family fall in love with a new indispensable member. Now she just needs a name (oh, a name, always the biggest struggle- why do I hate so many and love so few? why do the few I love this time around keep breaking my naming rules? why won't JP do more than suggest we watch more Game of Thrones episodes for inspiration?), a nursery, and pretty much all the baby gear we used to own before we moved. But I did book her newborn portraits and find her this adorable little headband and am thinking of ways to decorate the room she'll share with Claire in 3 years, so I think I'm pretty much ready for her to arrive.

A party of five- a Landon and two little girls, this is going to be so fun!

We're Good

I was planning to write an update on how things are going with the swim school and work/summer schedules, but I just checked the date of the post I was updating and realized it's barely 3 weeks old! It feels like 8 at least. Which now seems contrary to what I was going to write in my update which is that things are actually going really well. It appears that maybe time is moving much slower than I thought, but things are so much better than I feared they would be. Which is good, because I feared they would be very bad. Oh it would be worth it I told myself- to support my husband as I know he would support me (and has supported me), to watch JP grow back into himself, and to sacrifice a bit of my sanity for 3 months for a whole year (and future years) of swim school success. But still, June-August was probably going to suck and my goal was survival- of my marriage, motherhood, and job, and then we could get back to regular life in the Fall.

Luckily, the situation has surpassed my rather dire expectations. For one, JP doesn't need to be at the pool quite as many hours as we feared to satisfy his pool director position. He has a great group of high school and college-age lifeguards who appear to be quite responsible and trustworthy, and all reports from JP's surprise visits and from friends of ours who belong to the pool have been excellent. This allows him to be home on Saturday evenings and pretty much all day Sunday and oh my GOODNESS is that huge. Huge. We love having him home, I am so happy when he's home- a Sunday afternoon of house chores mixed with playtime feels like a big treat.

Two, the back-to-back-to-back-to-BACK lessons are pretty much exactly as exhausting as he feared, but not worse. That's good too. It's hot out there, he has multiple hours in a row without a break under the sun teaching sobbing screaming children how to float, but he seems to be okay. Tired at the end of the day, but still his regular self- we talk and joke at dinner, he gives the kids their shower and brushes their teeth, we all pile on Landon's bed for stories, and then he and I sit together on the couch and chat off and on while he answers emails and does Quickbooks magic and I read a book or do whatever it is I do online. I was worried he'd be so drained at the end of the day he wouldn't have much left of himself to give to us- which would be understandable, but sad and hard in the day to day.

And three (are we on three? I'm not even sure what I'm counting anymore), it helps that he simply is who he is. I remember coming home from work on Thursday of that first week- we'd been up so late three nights in a row getting all his admin stuff done for the school, and Landon's new camp was so far away and I was white-knuckle driving to get to Claire's daycare in time to pick her up before it closed, and I was tired and pregnant, and I knew he was tired and so busy, and yet, when I got home with the kids that evening, I saw that the dishwasher was emptied and the laundry had been switched. Two tasks I definitely hadn't mentioned or asked him to do and that he must have done between phone calls and emails and running out the door to lessons just because he saw they needed to be done and didn't want me to come home to have to do it. And I hadn't asked him to because I didn't want to add one more thing to his already overwhelming first week. He'd been near comatose when I'd left for work early that morning- I'd forced him to stand up and shuffle in to the shower just so I could trust he wouldn't fall back asleep when he needed to be taking the kids to school. And so on that Thursday evening, when I found he'd done the things neither of us wanted the other to have to do, I smiled and made dinner with a heart that was happier and less in danger of feeling overly put-upon, which I must admit, I was dangerously close to feeling as I chopped and cooked and Landon ran in to report for the one millionth time that Claire was breaking some rule I didn't care enough to enforce. It's little things like that that I think make a partnership so strong. I know I greeted him with a bigger kiss than usual that night. I know I was more sympathetic to how hot and tired he was- not that I'm not sympathetic generally, but by the time the he gets home, I often simply lack the capacity. But I can find it when I'm reminded of what he gives back to me. (Because, perhaps to my discredit, at 6:45 p.m., pregnant and having worked a full day that began with me at my desk at 7:15 a.m., while making dinner over the heads of two oddly energetic children who should be exhausted after full days of summer camp but are instead emotionally fragile and physically hyper, I need very in-my-face reminders of why this isn't all about me.)

So, things are good. In fact, I was typing an email to a close friend yesterday and found myself writing, "We're really good." And I was struck by how simple that sounded, those three words, but they represented so much truth and depth and strength it nearly overwhelmed me- we're really good. Right now I'm sitting and typing in the wicker chair my parents gave us, about 3 feet from JP while he does something at his desk involving Excel charts, and even though I'm know I'm not always giving my finest mother performances in some of these recent evenings, and JP is going to be too hot, exhausted, and/or dehydrated to give us much of himself on at least a few nights this summer, and I'd rather be together sleeping in bed than together typing while he does swim school things, we're really good.

Happenings

I'm trying to relieve some of my stress level while watching my new hero and spirit animal Texas Senator Wendy Davis (D- FORT WORTH!) 11-hour (so far!) filibuster SB5, Texas's latest and greatest unconstitutional attempt to do away with abortion rights in the state, which the Republic-controlled House passed in the wee hours of the morning after using underhanded methods to stop the citizens' filibuster that was underway at the time. (The Republican Party: all about limited government and constitutional rights, unless those people are women and the constitutional right we're talking about are reproductive ones.). It has been a thrill and a joy to watch a Texas legislator do something I'm proud of (because ZOMG do I hate, loathe, and despise Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and pretty much every single thing they say in their representation of my state) and watched the live feed all day at work, listened to it on my drive home, watched it on my laptop throughout dinner (the first time my laptop has ever joined us at the dining table), and have had it streaming on my laptop throughout the rest of my evening (including while I did my prenatal exercise video, Sen. Davis inspired my final 10 push-ups). I am so freaking stressed that the Republicans are going to figure out a way to shut her up for a baseless reason and subjugate the political process once again.

So, while I wait for this latest point of order to be resolved (so nervous!), let's review other happenings in the Lag Liv family:

(1) We continue to enjoy the pool. On Saturday mornings while JP coaches, I sit with my feet up in the shade and the kids do this:

 

Landon showed off his floating like it's nbd, and Claire called out (and this is true) a coaching tip to "put your chin back Yandon!" Mini-Coach Daddy right there.

 

Claire did her floats when JP got home and followed up his 5 hours of back-to-back lessons by jumping in another pool to do lessons with his own kids. This isn't the best picture of the lesson, but I do love JP's shoulders, and back, and arms, and... well, everything. Also he looks excellent the sunglasses I picked out for him for Father's Day, does he not?

 

(2) I've made a cake every weekend for the last month. This is becoming a bad habit, but this tres leches cake was fabulous. And I'm sure my nightly 30 minute workout videos are canceling all the cakes out.

 

(3) We took the kids to see Monster's University on Sunday. It was Claire's first theatre experience and she was PUMPED.

 

She loved the movie (we all did) and was very well behaved. Since we aren't doing any vacations this summer we're trying to do one special family outing a month- next up is Despicable Me 2 in July!

 

(4) I'm 19 weeks pregnant. Big ultrasound on Friday! It would be great to confirm we're having a girl because girls are awesome and I've picked out an adorable trio of pictures on Etsy to hang in her future nursery wall. It would also be great to find out we're having a boy because boys are awesome and then our baby would have a name.

 And back to the live feed which is now causing fire to shoot out of my (nose? where does that metaphor go?) because Dewhurst decided a discussion of ultrasounds aren't "germane" to a bill on reproductive rights (after already deciding that a fellow Senator's assistance with adjusting Sen. Davis's back brace was also a violation of Senate rules, which was absurd and caused all sorts of commotion- the woman hasn't sat, leaned, eaten, drank, or peed in 11 hours, she's operating fully within the combines of Texas Senate filibuster rules), which means her filibuster is over and the senators can move to vote and pass the bill. Except Democratic senators are asking for an appeal and parliamentary inquiries while Republic senators are moving for a vote and the gallery is erupting and we now have a replacement Senate President and I would find all of this enormously exciting and entertaining if it wasn't so intensely personal and gut-wrenching because it's my own damn state.

It's going to be a long night.

~ ~ ~

Updated on Wednesday with links to the dramatic conclusion of last night's events: in words, in pictures, in funnier pictures (though they left out my two favorite tweets of the night, "After this is over can the Democratic Senators carry Wendy Davis out on their shoulders like she's the goddamn Khaleesi?" and "At midnight I want to hear Wendy Davis yell 'You Shall Not Pass.'" Also the last pic and caption in that article made me teary), and in an excellent morning after commentary questioning the Texas Senate as the "greatest deliberative body in the world" with many good points, including "Everybody watching in the building and around the world knew that Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, was the referee who threw the game." and "It’s worse precedent for the majority party to cheat in order to win. Thousands of people swarmed into their Capitol building last night to see how their government works, but once they got there they found out that, these days, it doesn’t work at all. Republicans shouldn’t have been surprised at their reaction, which was essentially to rise up with one voice and declare “up with this shit we will not put!"

Crazy night, excellent morning.

Bear, Barely 3

As I contemplate starting the kids' annual photo books, I realized I need to capture each of them as they are right this second (including the 19 week fetus, who is bouncing around quite happily in my tummy as I type (I assume happily; s/he got a cookie and a long walk today, it would seem that life is good)) because it's probably going to be a while before I move from contemplating to actually creating those beloved behemoths. We'll start with our newly minted 3-year-old.

 

Claire, at barely 3, is quite the big little girl these days, no matter how I look at her, there's really no baby left anywhere except my imagination. She is in the 85th percentile for weight and 95th for height, which means she has finally caught up to her perma-95th percentile head. Bear remains, as ever, happy, fierce, independent, and extremely affectionate. She is a lover, a fighter, an instigator, a thinker, and a hugger. She gets overwhelmingly excited about new things- the house reorganization and decoration, the baby (omg THE BABY, we talk about it CONSTANTLY; "When is your baby coming out mommy? I want to hold the baby mommy. Can I kiss the baby in your tummy? I will sing songs to our baby. I will love our baby SO MUCH. Sometimes babies cry mommy, but that's otay. Our baby is coming after Hawoween. Is that your baby in your tummy mommy? Can I pat your baby? I want to hold our baby. When is our baby going to come out?" over and over and over), and all other new things. She calls everything "so tool" (so cool) in this excited high pitched voice that is hilarious.

greeting the day with sunglasses and a signature ballet move for her "so tool" ballet pig pj's

She checks on the plan for every day- what will the weather be? what are we having for dinner? who is picking her up from school? Like me, she likes to know what to expect. She's a precocious little thing- her teacher at school cleared her throat near the end of our last conference and said in a very serious voice with a very serious face, "Claire is... very smart. She is very. smart." and then stared at me. I had no idea what to do with that, so I just smiled and said well, great! and thank you? She loves the people in her life FIERCELY and will tell you about 15 times a day that "I just love you the mostest!". The other day she asked when we'd go to my sister's house in "Colowado" again, and when I told her I wasn't sure, but we would be seeing Tia at the lake house in September she gave a deep sigh and said, "oh good, because I just love my Tia." before moving on to talking about something else entirely. She still loves accessories and shoes but refuses dress-up clothes, all dresses, and most skirts.

 

She has a long attention span, loves books, and remains very physical with her attack-hugs, impromptu solo dance parties, preference for running over walking, and general fearlessness. We put her on a probably-too-big brand new bike this weekend and she just took off. Baby, Kitty, Teddy, and sunglasses in tow, of course

 

She's finally discovered the tantrum, but rather than yell or beat the floor as Landon did on the rare occasion he decided to protest something, when she doesn't get her way (or, far more often, if she feels offended or wounded by some correction you have made to her behavior), she just cries. Crumples to the floor in a tiny ball before stretching out full length and crying. Big fat crocodile tears, complete with the occasional wail. It's pathetic, long-lasting, and, so far, utterly undeterred by its ineffectiveness.

She and Landon remain best buds, though they occasionally, very purposefully make each other crazy. Claire is instigator 95% of the time. She frequently directs their creative play, coming up with elaborate "baby/mommy" story plans and telling Landon what to do and say to be the baby most effectively. Even with their newfound ability to annoy each other (which seems to annoy me far more than them, despite their protestations to the contrary), they are almost always together and on the rare occasion when they are separated, like when Landon goes to the pool with JP, Claire will wander the house looking for him every few minutes before remembering he isn't there. I get asked "But Mommy, where is my Yandon?" a lot on those afternoons.

The other day when I was making dinner (actually, sneaking bites of leftover Father's Day cake while dinner cooked in the oven; I can't drink wine while I chef, so cake it is), I overheard this little convo:

Claire, not even looking up while coloring: Landon, am I your best friend?
Landon: [silence]
Claire, decisively, and still not looking up: Yes, yes I am.

While Claire is far more baby focused and exuberantly affectionate, Landon is decidedly the more gentle soul. About 10 days ago I heard this being yelled from the front yard while I was making dinner in the kitchen:

"No Claire! Stop stepping on the rollie polies. They have FAMILIES! They want to LIVE!"

You know she went right on squishing.

She is an imp and a delight and as strong-willed as she is truly sweet. She's our bear and she is barely three.

A Regular Wonderful Father's Day

We had the most wonderful Father's Day. JP was with us for the ENTIRE day- something we would have taken for granted only a few short weeks ago, but on Sunday felt like the most special, indulgent thing ever. The day began with Claire bursting in our room yelling, "Mommy, mommy, yook! You have to see this awesome thing!! It's so tool! Mommy you have to see!". She was talking about the reorganized rooms and even though I would have preferred to stay snuggled in JP's arms for a little while longer, I have to admit I was pretty excited to get another look at what the room fairy left behind for us.

(the reading nook and lamp in particular are huge hits)

We went to brunch at a nearby pancake house, stopped at Lowe's to buy toilet paper and trash bags for JP's pool, dropped by the pool so he could test the chemicals and drop off the tp, and continued home for yard work, house cleaning, and our own pool time. There was raking and sweeping, vacuuming and dusting, and LOTS of splashing and swimming. Even I got in the pool, just to prove to a skeptical Landon that yes, mommy can put her face all the way under water. After a few hours of pool time, both waterlogged kiddos took naps, so JP and I took ourselves to bed too. We ate a tasty dinner of grilled pork tenderloin (a JP fave), fresh veggies, crash hot potatoes, bread, and cake, and capped the whole day off with a family walk and Claire's first ride on her brand new big girl bike.

It was an absolutely regular day, but it was wonderful. Just having JP around for all of it- it makes everything better. He is my favorite person in the whole world and with him around I laugh more, relax more, and am just generally a better me (and mom). Even when all we're doing is buying economy packs of cheap toilet paper for his neighborhood pool and trying (unsuccessfully) to trim a small backyard tree into a perfectly even ball of leaves, it's better. The shared looks over the kids' heads when they're doing something particularly adorable or exasperating, the understanding that I will never empty a trashcan if he's on the premises, the readily available assistance with everything, the ability to just say things as they pop into my head because he's right nearby, and the way he never fails to reach out and brush or pat some part of me every time he walks by- I love having him home. And last night as we cuddled on the couch watching Mad Men, with his trusty QuickBook and Excel-sheet-laden computer temporarily sitting half-closed on the nearby love seat, I had the chance and the perspective to grab his hand and tell him so.

 

Today it was back to the grind- summer camp, school, work, swim lessons, dinner, dishes, bedtimes, bookkeeping and phone calls, but somehow knowing that this new schedule is starting to feel routine, even if it's an adjusted one (dinner is an hour later than it used to be, but we're all still eating together!), and JP's schedule is going to let us have a few days like Sunday, it doesn't feel as overwhelming as it did last week.

 

It was just a really lovely day.

Redo To Do's

Today has been a very productive day. Possibly too productive if my aching feet are any judge, but oh it hurts so good.

This morning I did a 50-minute Prenatal Pilates DVD. My original plan was to eat healthy all weekend, but when I realized I could buy JP a big cookie cake for Father's Day (and eat half), I ditched that plan and decided to exercise instead. It felt great and I really hope I can do something like that every few days for this pregnancy. I've said things like that in previous pregnancies and never end up working out, but I've never had a semi-private room with a wood floor and my own yoga mat before, so maybe this time I can make it happen. While I'm unconcerned about the weight gain factor, I would like to keep some of the toning in my arms and legs that I at one time worked hard to achieve. After the kids and I finished my DVD (JP was at the pool), we headed to the park, grocery store, and then our own pool. JP got home from lessons about 1 (yay!) and we all headed to the U-Haul store so we could get a hitch installed on JP's car and run a few errands while we waited. The main errand was to Academy so we could buy Bear's first big girl bike with her birthday money from my grandparents. She was SO excited.

So excited that she fell asleep on the 2 minute drive between U-Haul and Academy. They were literally 2 parking lots apart.

 

Luckily she woke up easily, picked out a bike most decisively, and then INSISTED on pushing it to the front of the store.

 

One of the best things about shopping with Claire is that everyone smiles at you as she walks by. I think it's mostly the constant sunglasses, with a little hint of essence of Bear.

When we got home I got the crazy idea that we should reorganize the whole house in the 45 minutes between right then and when we needed to start dinner. As always happens in these things, I got 33% the way through and deeply regretted my initiative.

 

But I persevered. As I've mentioned a few times in previous posts, I've been planning a big switch in the set-up of our main rooms. I planned to turn the playroom into the dining room it's supposed to be; make the living room more of a functional living room (adding rug, maybe additional seating, end tables, etc.); create a new playroom space in the sun room; move JP's desk area over to previous the eating area in the sun room; and move the old eating area to the dining room where it's supposed to be. I've been perusing rugs and toy storage and dining room furniture on the web for MONTHS and finally made a few purchases in the last few weeks. My rugs and other boxes have been sitting in the entryway for days and clearly, this afternoon at 5:00 after a day of errands and exercise was the time to DO ALL THE THINGS.

JP, who knows me so well and loves me anyway, just sighed and looked to me for directions. Directions which paused only for dinner and the bedtime routine of the children, and then continued long into the night even though I knew he had work to do (or, maybe even actual relaxing for the first time since lessons started). But we're done and I am so happy! I LOVE this new playroom space. Just looking at it makes me smile.

 

I love love love the rug I lusted over on the Land of Nod website for the last 15 months. I'm so thankful for JP's swim lessons and the 10% off + free shipping code that finally made me order it. It is thick and soft and vibrant and everything I wanted to define the space and give the kids (all three of them!) a comfortable place to sit on the floor and play.

 

Everything from the previous play space has been reused and I added some new bins (also from LON) for big toys that were always piling up in corners. The kids are going to freak out when the see it all in the morning.

 

As part of the move, JP is now in the area where the casual eating table used to be. Here he is responding to client emails, oh so thankful there's nothing left for me to possibly ask him to do. He's sitting on a new chair I bought him for Father's Day. Despite his dislike of money spent on himself, he did admit that this cushy new chair was less likely to cause him permanent back problems than my terrible old broken one. 

 

The living room has its first rug- a sturdy, inexpensive indoor/outdoor rug that we can hose off, and that I think adds a perfect amount of color and fun the space. I ordered it online which made me very nervous, but I'm quite happy with the finished product.

 

My parents brought me the wicker chair from the lake house (they didn't need it anymore), so I added a new cushion and now I have seating for four in a room we now might actually use! I hope to add end tables and a few throw pillows one of these days, but those are on the longer-term wish list.

 

And now moving to the new dining space. Another inexpensive indoor/outdoor rug that I'm sure we'll have to hose off now that we'll have a baby eating over it. We moved around the hutch that was previously in the living room and relocated the casual table that used to be in the sun room. My parents are gifting us with a big, beautiful dining table and chairs they purchased with their new lake house, but we don't have them yet (which is why we were getting the hitch installed on the Highlander, so we can rent a trailer and go get them). I love the dark wood table we bought from the previous owners of this house, but I can't wait to seat more than four people at once for dinner.

 

The only things left to do in this room is knock down that long blue wall and create and open kitchen (2018? who knows) and buy this beautiful long dark wood sideboard I picked out at Crate and Barrel over a year ago for the wall under my tree painting. Maybe I can do that one in 2016.

 

And finally, we were able to relocate the second bookcase from the former playroom to house all of JP's extra swim school shirts so they can get off my couch! Yay! Everyone wins in room switch renovations!

 

And now I'm going to take a nice hot bath and think about all the time I'm going to spend sitting in and admiring my "new" rooms while I let JP relax tomorrow. I really can't wait for the kids to see the play area, it's going to be just like Christmas! Except without any new toys. And no cookies for breakfast. But storage bins! And a reading nook! And a very excited mommy who is probably going to start planning her (maybe/hopefully/pretty unlikely) 5-years-away-kitchen remodel right now on houzz.