Things, Pictured

I spent all of last week exhausted. I think it started as holdover from the holiday weekend when Claire decided firework sounds = thunder (she decided a few months ago that the sound of thunder at night is the single most terrifying thing in the WORLD and she literally dissolves into hysterical tears and sobbing when she hears it in her room, because, as she's tried to tearfully explain to JP and I many times, the thunder is IN HER ROOM and, though she doesn't get to this last part in words, I think her subconscious is telling her that she will die if she stays in there, never mind that the thunder sounds even louder in our glass-covered room and her brother sleeps safely and peacefully through every storm in her room, certain death awaits if she is not attached to one of us for the rest of the thundery night), and woke up sobbing every 30 minutes all night, but after a few days of post-firework recovery I ran out of excuses for my exhaustion and just got annoyed at how often I was saying "I'm so tired" to myself and everyone around me. But I was. I was SO tired. I was so tired ALL THE TIME. I hate being tired, I really hate talking about being tired, and that is mostly why I went a whole week without blogging.

This week I am still more tired than normal, but not so tired that it's notably abnormal, and thus, I have things to share! Largely unconnected, but almost entirely illustrated, things!

(1) We spent the most glorious rainy Sunday lazing about the house. JP and I woke up at 8:52 to pouring rain and an eerily quiet house. JP ventured out to check on the kids and found them reading books in their room, so he turned on the TV to PBS and came back to bed. We officially got up around 10, fed the children closer to 11 (oops, but I swear they never said they were hungry, I think Wild Kratts overrides their normal biological needs), and at 1 p.m. we were all still in pj's playing in the family room.

 

Everyone but me took a nap at 2 and at 4 we realized we couldn't live on leftover birthday cake forever, so we got dressed and went to the grocery store. Around 6 I finally pulled myself back off the couch to make my mom's spaghetti sauce and we ended up eating an inexcusably late dinner at 7:30. But oh it was great- we played games, watched a movie, cuddled, read books, and just generally enjoyed being in the same room all day.

(2) When we put the kids to bed that night, Claire was very concerned about the storms already brewing, so I casually mentioned that she could just sleep in her Yandon's bed instead of waking up mommy and daddy (whose bed she will never be allowed to sleep in at night, so one of us goes with her to the guest room until the storm stops and the poor thing still whimpers at every thunder, even when asleep and plastered to your side). On Monday morning I woke up to the pleasant realization that she hadn't woken us up once! And then JP went to get the kids up and found Claire happily hogging Landon's bed with her pillow, two blankies, two babies, kitty, and teddy.

 

They did the same thing last night, and while I haven't checked, there's an excellent chance they're in the same bed tonight too (it's still raining- 3 days and counting, something everyone in Fort Worth is thrilled about except JP, but running a swim school out of an outdoor pool will do that). I love many things about this: (1) how much they genuinely love each other; (2) the fact that the idea of crawling into the other sibling's bed had never occurred to them and how delighted they were at the idea; and (3) the fact that no one in our house has to dread thunderstorms anymore! JP and I get to sleep, and Landon and Claire get to have a sleepover. Everyone wins.

(3) I spent all day last Friday cleaning and organizing the baby's room and closet- a job that required me to empty out most of our other closets and storage furniture to find room for things previously stored in the guest room. It was the typical "organization project creates giant mess then bigger mess which culminates in great order and beauty many hours later" type of thing. And in addition to an empty closet with a few adorable sleepers hanging inside, our baby now owns many things:

Ex. A: this tiny pumpkin hat. An extra 20% off the $4.46 with free shipping basically meant I had to order it. She'll be about 2 weeks old at her first Thanksgiving and I think such an occasion requires a hat.

 

Ex. B: this bird bank. Also an extra 20% off with free shipping, it came to a whopping $11 and again, had to be ordered. It will sit on a shelf in the now cleared out bookcase in her room and its whimsy will make me happy, even though it'll be many months before baby girl will have any idea it's there.

 

Ex. C: this crib. Baby girl now has a place to sleep! Or she will when we take the crib out of the box and assemble it, something Claire has asked us about Every Day since it was delivered. She's very concerned about the baby having a place to nap. We had to get a new crib because the one L&C slept in was literally the cheapest one you could buy in July of 2007 and it was pretty beat up after 6 years, 3 moves, and 2 kids. I was settled on a cheap $99 one from Ikea, but then I saw this pretty one on wayfair for $160 and I talked myself into and then out of it, resolved to be practical, and then noted a little superscript 1 next to the price. I clicked on it and found a secret clearance "returns" section of the website and this exact crib had been shipped back to the company, unopened, in the exact color I wanted and was now being sold for $76. I applied $12 of credit I apparently accumulated after ordering the living room rugs from there and suddenly I had this lovely crib for $64 with free shipping and no tax!

 

And so with the $100 I saved (because even though I wasn't actually going to buy the expensive crib, I still just saved $100) baby girl is getting a rug for her floor. A rug that is likely to cost more than $100 but, by my math, will still be free. After all, I did save a LOT on that bird bank and pumpkin hat.

(4) Landon's actual birthday was Monday.

 

It was a simple affair that started with mini donettes, a bagel, strawberries, and the tiny dinosaur candle, and ended with the chosen cheese pizza, watermelon, and ice cream sundaes (and another lighting of the dinosaur candle), but it was sweet and happy and I got a little choked up when we tucked our 6-year-old in Monday night and JP told him how special he is and lucky and proud we are to be his parents. Because he is and we are and we need to say that out loud more often.

 

(5) I'm 22 weeks pregnant today and apparently incapable of keeping my hand off my belly any time my hand isn't otherwise occupied. I really tried to pull it away for this pic, and was a little surprised to see it there when I uploaded the picture later. 

 

I also wish I could take pictures somewhere away from my laundry, robe, clothing, and racks of shoes. Basically, somewhere not inside my closet. But I feel good and I'm equally impatient and pleasantly resigned to waiting to meet baby girl 2.0 in 17 weeks. I'm sure impatience will be the dominate emotion soon though. 

(6) I won this gym bag in a raffle at our SEC Family Fun Day last week. I have never won anything in a raffle in my whole life, and I'm inordinately proud of the random selection of my name from a glass bowl. Never mind that I haven't been to a gym in seven years and that we don't even belong to one in the DFW area- when I do go to the gym, I will look very intimidating with my blue bag and pretty yellow seal with an eagle in the middle. Because eagles mean Business. Even if I, in the gym, do not.

 

And this is why I shouldn't go too long without stream of conscious blogging. All the inanities really add up. Now it's time for bed, so I will leave you with this terrible fuzzy picture of my first baby girl all snuggled on my pillow Sunday morning when she realized I might never get out of my bed and she broke free of the Wild Kratts mind meld to join me in it.

 

Oh it's going to be fun to snuggle with her AND baby girl number two in a few months!

Six!

This ever-bigger little man celebrated his sixth birthday yesterday (official bday is tomorrow).

 

The morning involved many an excitement-induced tantrum, so in order to avoid a situation where mommy threatened and then had to follow through on canceling the party, the birthday boy was banished to his room until the festivities were set to begin.

 

Luckily he emerged from exile a new man (or, really, his normal self), well-behaved and, like his snacks, ready to party:

 

Once they were allowed out of jail their room, L&C immediately tested out the sticker and temporary tattoo station that had been set up during their banishment.

 

And soon, many children arrived, all ready to party.

 

JP's slide was a big hit.

 

This age is so great for a pool party. Pretty much everyone can swim, parents don't have to get in the pool (which is good, since I had no intention of actually baring the bikini I was wearing under my dress), the slide kept them entertained for a solid hour, and the impromptu prize-less "biggest splash contest" at the end was received with great cheers and excitement.

 

Side note: when did this

 

become this?

 

I mean seriously.

 

(Sorry, I'm just indulging myself now, but who can resist a baby Santa?)

 

Okay, on to cake!

 

No one loves having friends over more than Landon. He is such a sociable creature and invites pretty much everyone he meets to come play with him and then wants to send them home with toys when they leave. We have never been to a park without his finding a new best friend or two within minutes, meeting their family, learning the names of all their siblings, organizing a game, and otherwise acting like he's known them all his life, while the new kid's parents look amused and JP and I are still getting Claire out of her stroller. It is a phenomenon that happens over and over again and is perhaps the thing that I find most special about him right now. I always had lots of friends, and JP always had plenty of playmates for his favorite class at school (recess), but neither of us were anything like Landon. He simultaneously draws in and seeks out the kids around him and often I think the new friends running around with him are secretly as bemused as we are.

 

6 candles!

 

All in all it was a great party. We had about a dozen kids of varying ages play in the pool for more than 2.5 hours (they were having so much fun, the party ran way over), and no one cried or got upset for any reason! It was easy on our end too- I bought some beach balls for the kids to play with and take home, put out some snacks (gold fish, pretzels, teddy grahams, watermelon, etc.), filled a cooler with waters, juice, and a few sodas, and bought a cake. Oh, and tied up some balloons and a Happy Birthday sign. The big piece of prep was really just taking off the pool cover.

 

We finished the day with a trip to our favorite pizza place with friends of ours who'd driven over from Dallas for the party, and woke up this morning to thunderstorms and pouring rain, making me very glad we went with the Saturday party date. So far this morning we've cobbled together breakfast, helped Landon assemble toys involving cars, balls that turn into cars, and legos, and watched at least four showings of his beloved Wild Kratts. At some point we'll have to leave the house for food (the birthday boy has requested pizza for his dinner tomorrow, and a donut and blueberry bagel for breakfast) and we'll probably pile on the couch and watch a movie while I go through pictures and video and marvel at how far this little guy has come- and how far he has yet to go!

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)