I think I'm FALLing for you

It's the coziest time of year again!  You know, the time for sitting around the fireplace, drinking hot beverages, wearing sweaters, eating pumpkin everything.  Or, if you are Liam, eating everything, pumpkin or not.

I love this time of year.  And this year has been especially nice for two reasons: 1) Liam has joined the family, and I must say, he is a great addition; and 2) Erik has been on day shift.  (Soon to be back to night shift in a couple weeks. Waaaah, waaaaah. Someone was on maternity leave and Erik was able to move to day shift for the entire summer and most of the fall.  I hate him working the night shift.  But enough dwelling on the unpleasant.  It's fall!)

Now for an update on the kiddos:

Elliot started Pre-K in September and is LOVING it.  She comes home with all kinds of facts about what she has learned.  Her favorite was learning all about bats.  "Mom, did you know bats see things with their ears?"  They celebrated her "un-birthday" today, which is what they do for kids whose birthdays are in the summer.  She was quite excited about it.  Last night I asked her what she wanted to wear for her un-birthday and, as if she had already been thinking hard about it, immediately responded "probably my Zootopia shirt and my Halloween skirt."  She loves art and takes her work very seriously.  I love peeking into her bedroom and seeing her hunched over her little desk, working hard on a project.

 

Liam is getting big.  Like tall.  And chunky.  He has the baby fat that Elliot never quite achieved.  At his 10 month appointment he clocked in at 99.7th% for height and like 87th% for weight.  He is our strapping young lad.  He is not quite walking yet, but that could change any hour.  He has a little cart thing that he uses, walker style, to zoom around the house.  He is currently working on popping out his two front teeth to join the bottom two, so he is unusually grumpy right now.  Hoping he hurries up and gets those on out so he can go back to being chill.  This kiddo loves eating, playing with big sis, and terrorizing the dogs, whom he likes to call "go go go".  He is also quite fond of me. #motherboy

 



 

 

So far this fall has been quite enjoyable.  We went to Bill's Berry Farm to play and get a pumpkin from the patch.

It has been unusually rainy this year.  Much to girlfriend's delight.

 

 

And Halloween!  I can't believe how much I love Halloween with kids.  I was never super into it before, but with kids it is just so much fun.  Elliot decided early on she was going to dress up as a bat this year.  Liam didn't get a vote because he is a baby.  But also, he loves everything I do, so I am sure he very much enjoyed being Jack Jack from the Incredibles.  #motherboy

I mean, honestly.  How cute are these?? #imadethem #humblebrag

 

Happy Fall, y'all!

Happy Belated Birthday Blog!

Elliot turned 4!  Two and a half months ago!  (I have accepted that this is just how it is going to be now.  Better late than never??)

I finally got around to editing the pictures from her birthday.  The theme was extremely original.  Frozen.  Yep, no one is doing that right now.  (You guys can read the sarcasm right?  I know, it is hard to tell in written form.  But trust me, if we were talking you would have totally known that was sarcasm because little girls.  And Frozen.)  Enjoy!

Sorry to confuse you.  This picture was NOT from the Frozen party.  This was from her actual birthday, which was the day before her party.  Auntie Danielle made her this awesome sprinkle cake.

We had a "Make Your Own Rock Troll" Station where the kidlets could create a cute little troll.  Thank you Pinterest for existing!

Again, thanks Pinterest!  Olaf string cheeses.

The obligatory bouncy castle.  We got one for her second birthday and ever since then she thinks it is just part of birthdays.  In fact, she is confused when she attends a birthday party in which a bouncy castle is not featured.  We have tried to talk her into other kinds of parties, but, so far, no dice.

Oh the pinata.  That old chestnut of cultural appropriation!  Never again!  No less than three children, including the birthday girl, were injured in this activity.  It rapidly became clear that the adults had lost complete control of the situation, the stick was flying, tears were falling.  And THEN it didn't even work.  No one could break it open.  I guess that is why they build in a trap door with a ribbon apparatus on the bottom (lower picture).

Spoiled.

She insisted on an ice cream cake.  Because, you know, it's frozen.

Olaf himself made an appearance!

And Auntie Krista.

It is still hard to believe our firstborn is already four years old.  We marvel at her development from a tiny helpless babe to this self-sufficient, smart little girl frequently.  Time is going too quickly.  I often say to her "Never grow up!" to which she always responds "But I am growing up, Mom!  And I am going to be as big as the ceiling!"  I love her.

Tune in next time (which will likely be in 2-3 months at the rate we are going) and I will tell you about the REST of our summer.

Whirlwind

To answer your questions: No, this blog is not defunct.  Yes, we are still alive.  NO, two kids is not double the work, it is ten times the work.  YESSSS, I will take anyone up on an offer to pay for a live-in nanny.

Phew.  Ok, so I just looked back and realized I had not posted on here since mid-February, right after we got the house.  A LOT has happened since then, I have been so busy just trying to hang on for the ride, the idea of writing about it did not even cross my mind.  I feel so bad for Liam, having only a small handful of posts after his birth, and, even then, they are mostly not about the whole family, not him specifically.  At this point in Elliot's life she easily had 20 posts dedicated to her every milestone.  (#SecondChildProblems)  So, I will try to bring you up to speed.

1. We moved in to our house!
However, the joy of this momentous occasion was stolen a bit by someone breaking in literally the day before we were scheduled to move in.  They completely destroyed our front door, damaged one of the doors in the basement, and stole some of Erik's tools, our Jambox, and some mail we had here.  Fortunately, no one was hurt and very few of our belongings were actually in the house at the time.  We were able to move in as scheduled.

For the most part, we are settled in now.  There are several boxes that remain unpacked and a few rooms that definitely need some organizing, but all the essentials are in place.  We are loving the additional space and the new 'hood.

2. I went back to work.
Apparently, all maternity leaves must come to an end, and mine was no exception.  I was mostly just surprised at how fast it happened!  But, if we are being honest, I was getting a little stir-crazy the last few weeks, so I wasn't completely devastated when the time came.  It was sad to be sure.  I cried handing my sweet beeb over to my Mom the first day, and then most of the way to work.  But once I got there it felt good to be stretching the muscles I hadn't used in a while.

3. And then I went back to work some more.
Since Elliot was born I had been working 30 hours per week instead of 40.  Which is an awesome gig if you can get it.  Well, about a month after I went back to work this time, my boss engaged me in discussions about coming back full-time.  It felt right to me, so I agreed.  It was difficult to get all my work done in just 4 days, and this way I would be paid more.  So far it is working out, but getting used to these two-day weekends is rough.  They are so short!

4. The flood came.
One Saturday morning, early, while we were all still in bed, there came a knock on the front door.  It was the neighbor who lives below us (we live on a hill) and he said our water was running mud into his pool.  Perplexed because we hadn't even turned on the water yet for the season, Erik went to investigate.  We have a fire hydrant on our property, and the neighbor who is building on the lot across the street, and up higher on the hill from us, had attached a hose to the fire hydrant and was using it to keep the dust down.  He had been running it all night.  Sometime during the night, it appears someone came by and clipped the hose, causing tons of water to gush down our property for who knows how many hours.  It completely took out a section of our retaining wall, covered our front yard with mud, filled our crawl space with water and mud, leaked a little into our basement, and completely washed out our garden in the backyard.  Fortunately, I had not planted anything in the garden yet.  It is a huge mess.  We took care of the emergency issues, and are waiting for estimates on the rest.  We thought the neighbor was going to be cool about it and take responsibility, but it sounds like that may not be the case now.  So, since this may lead to a lawsuit, I will not say more about it at this time.

Now, for a quick update on the kidlets:

Liam will be 5 months in a couple days!  Whaaaa?!!  It is unbelievable, but true.  He proves to remain an easy-going chap.  He has started belly laughing, which is utterly delightful.  My favorite sounds in the whole world are my children laughing.  Bonus points if they are laughing together.  At his four month well-child appointment he was 98th percentile for height and 60th for weight, so basically a giant baby.  His favorite food, besides mama's milk, is bananas, and he really loves his morning cereal.  Kid can eat.  I don't think he would ever refuse food.  He rolled over once at the beginning of April, and apparently decided that was enough.  I have not seen him do it since, although he really likes rolling on his side and perching there for long periods of time while playing with a toy.  He has started arching up when he is on the changing pad, like he is starting to think about sitting up, but I think we have a little while until that will happen.  He is not as ambitious as Elliot was as a baby.  She was constantly trying to move to the next big thing.  He is content to take his sweet time, which is more than fine with me, because we haven't quite figured out a way to babyproof our stairs in a way that will still allow the dogs access to the backyard...hmm.  He is a morning person and so pleasant during our early morning feedings.  He just looks at me with big, clear eyes and coos.  In contrast, at night he is a huge grumpasaurus.  He will rage eat, pulling off frequently and, almost, violently and scream, then reattach and keep going, for about 20 straight minutes.  This whole process always works him into what I call the "anger sweats" because his little head gets all red and sweaty.  By the time I burp him and calm him down he is usually ready to drift off, so I just lay him in his crib wearing his Merlin suit (pure magic) and he quickly falls asleep.

Elliot is going to be 4 in a month, which means for now she continues to be VERY good at being a threenager.  She delights us with her wit, but good lord, that girl has all the words and they must come out all the time.  I have to say things like "Ok.  Elliot.  You need to take a break from talking for just a little while," and "Shhhhhhh, Mommy can't," or even sometimes "Please put something in your mouth."  She loves going to preschool and doing her projects.  And she love, love, loves her teachers.  She plays a game at home called "Mrs. Rose and Mrs. Karen"in which she is alternately one of the two.  She is fiercely proud of Liam and loves to cuddle him and give him kisses.  I love to listen to her talk to him.  "Leeeeee-um.  WHAT are you doing?  You, you, you, you."  He thinks the sun shines just for her, too, so it really does something to my heart watching them.

Well, it is getting late, and tomorrow is, sadly, a work day.  I hope life will slow down a little for us and I can write more frequently and less scatter-brained.  Until then, wishing you all the best!

Home Sweet Home

As promised, here is the big reveal: we bought a house!!

Ok, this may not be super exciting for you (sorry for the build-up), but for us this is a dream come true.  It is something that is several years in the making and was the light at the end of our debt tunnel.  ("Just $40,000 more debt to pay off and then we can buy a house!" "No, let's not buy that couch.  Only $15,000 more and then we can buy a house!" etc. etc.)  If you follow this blog regularly, you may recall we became debt free this July.  Since then we have been saving up for a down payment for our house and finally, FINALLY, today was the day we got the keys to our house.  We did not realize how long it actually takes from making an offer to taking possession, so we have been sitting on this for quite some time.  It is hard to believe it is actually ours now!  Woo hoo!

Here are some pics I snapped this afternoon.  I have not edited them, and the lighting wasn't the best, but it should give you an idea.  It is an older house and needs a little updating, which we plan on doing over time.  But we love it and can't wait to move in.

Front porch :)

This is the basement, or, if you ask Elliot, the playroom.  There is a pellet stove on the left.

The back yard.  We need to put up a fence to keep the doggies in.

The living room.  Hard wood floors and gas fireplace.

The kitchen.  The seller completely updated the kitchen so it has really nice, brand new stainless steel appliances and new cabinets.

The deck off the living room.  There is another deck off the master bedroom, but I didn't get a picture of it today.

View from the street.  This is the front of the house.  We fell in love with the view.  You can kind of see it behind the house.  You can see pretty much all of the Tri-Cities.

The view from the windows in the living room.  Pictures do not do it justice.

My loves on the deck.  Elliot was beside herself with excitement.  She was going up and down the stairs, and in and out of her bedroom.  Although, when she walked into her room she was dismayed to discover there was no bed in there.  I tried to explain that we will be bringing all of our belongings over to the new house, but I am still not sure she has wrapped her mind around the concept completely.

Alright, well it feels good to share this awesome news with all of you.  Before I go, I just want to recommend to anyone who is buying or selling in the TC area to use the Kenmore Team.  We had a fantastic experience with them.  They held our hands through the whole process, explained anything we didn't understand with patience, and were always available to us.  I can't say enough good things about them, and I promise, we are not getting a kick-back or discount for this plug.  Seriously, today when we went to pick up our keys, our agent was mopping our floors, just because he "wanted them to be cleaner for us."

Anyway, that is all I have for now.  We are planning on moving in within the next few weeks, we just need to get a few things done, like putting in the fence and painting the interior.  I am hoping to post "before and after" pictures every so often as we make home improvements.  Wish us a smooth transition and thanks for reading about our exciting news!

The Return of the Camera

Full disclosure:  This is not the big reveal to which I referred at the end of my last blog post.

As sure as gobs of hair are falling out of my head, postpartum hormones have brought with them the return of my urge to be creative which was basically non-existent while I was pregnant. I have recently started snapping mini, spontaneous photo shoots of, you guessed it, my adorable children.  I have also become aware of at least two relatives who informed me specifically that they enjoy following my blog but are not on Facebook (I am looking at you Aunt Joan and Cousin Sarah!).  With that in mind, I am going to use this forum to display my latest creations.  In other words, a little less talk and a lot more action.  Enjoy!

Elliot Twirls:
All the stars aligned for this impromptu shoot: gorgeous light, an interesting element (her skirt), and, perhaps most important of all, the threenager was in an agreeable mood for picture-taking.

Father Daughter Ball:

Erik took Elliot to her first ball, so of course the camera came out.  There are some really precious ones here.

You guys, I actually gasped when I saw this one as I was going through and editing these.  Love, love, LOVE it.

The Many Faces of Liam:

Ok, to be honest, it is not as much fun shooting a baby, especially one this small, because they don't really do anything.  You put them in one spot and they just kind of stay there.  But I did manage to get a few shots of him learning how to make different expressions.  Plus, he is cute as a chubby button, so there you have it.  

Sometimes I wonder if I actually gave birth to this child, because he looks nothing like me.  He definitely looks more like his handsome daddy, which is fine with me.

Well, that about sums it up.  As I promised before, the big reveal is coming soon.  (Watch, now I am building it up so much you guys are going to be totally underwhelmed.)

Thanks for taking a look at my works of art! Have a lovely day :).