Microblog Mondays: Back in our house

I would like to skip to the end of the month of August where hopefully our house remodel is complete and there is one less thing on our plate. This weekend I was so excited to move back into our house, despite the fact that the work is not complete. Our general contractor and subs were able to get the house in good enough shape in two days for us to move in (on Wednesday I joked on Facebook that we were going to need a Property Brothers-esque miracle.) There is only one part of the project that is fully complete though- our only full bathroom (obviously a very important part).

The most exciting part of the weekend was that our new treadmill was delivered! We need to get a mat to put underneath the machine so that it doesn't scratch up the new basement floor but I am so, so excited!

But, in the midst of that excitement we can't find ANYTHING. Izzy's treasured Pooh Bear pillow that she sleeps on every night was missing for two nights (found this morning looking for something else), CP's razor was missing until this morning, and I still can't find my computer cord for my work laptop. We can't really start to unpack stuff in most of the rooms because they are still working on them (argh). 

Adding to the chaos, yesterday Wes had a concerning red rash show up on his stomach. Because CP is still new at his job, I of course had to be the one to take him into walk-in hours this morning. Thank goodness it was a viral rash which is contagious....but as soon as you start to see the red bumps it is no longer contagious which means I could drop him off at daycare- SCORE! Poor guy was irritable so I did feel bad dropping him off but I would literally have no place for him to go in our house and no food since we have no appliances in our kitchen. 

Mama needs some wine tonight.

Want to read more Microblog Mondays? Go here.

Right now- July edition

Stealing this from Risa!

Right Now- July edition

Reading:  Do people have time to read anymore? I guess I read the Washington Post every day (especially the Daily 202). Other than that, I have started a book on my Kindle but now it has been so long since I started I have no idea what I am reading and will likely have to start over.

Watching: Game of Thrones of course. I'm so sad that this is a shortened season, but heard that the show runners are thinking about making every episode 90 minutes long next season which would be pretty awesome.

Listening: When I am on the train, it is usually a podcast- Pod Save America or Lovett or Leave It. I also enjoy the New York Times short podcast The Daily. When I am in the car with the kids, Izzy is also requesting the Hamilton soundtrack which is so much more enjoyable than the Frozen soundtrack! She says that her favorite song now is "You'll Be Back" (King George's first song) because she likes to sing the "da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da." Parenting WIN!

Drinking: Before camping I found that Starbucks makes an Caffe Mocha VIA product where you just pour the packet into hot water. I tried it out and it's really not bad, plus I get the caffeine kick that I need in the morning. It's a little over a dollar a packet so much less expensive than if I went to Starbucks to order coffee. When we got back from camping I bought four boxes and I currently drink one packet a day. I'm not sure why so many Facebook friends tried to turn me off from drinking coffee when I asked for suggestions a few months ago- the higher amount of caffeine in coffee is SO MUCH BETTER than the Refreshers/Spark/Chai Latte/Soda/etc. caffeine drinks. I'm not sure I will ever get to drinking black coffee, but for now this works.

Eating: I just had a snack of sugar snap peas, but I am starving. I'm trying to hold out for another 30 minutes until I have a lunch of a chicken salad sandwich and pretzels.

Wearing: A pair of capri pants that I bought at Kohl's and deemed fancy enough to wear to work, a shirt from Ann Taylor Loft and a black cardigan. Nothing exciting but it will be 80 degrees today and I didn't feel like wearing long pants.

Loving: Not having to bring bottles and formula into daycare every morning! It was so great to drop Wes off the past two days with NOTHING in my hands!!

Anticipating: The move back into our house on Saturday. CP and I are trying to move a bunch of stuff ahead of time to shorten the day as much as possible. Our general contractor said that the upstairs will be cleaned before we move back in, but how dusty is the rest of the house going to be? This should be interesting with a crawling toddler...

Hoping: That Buster's MRI shows something we can easily fix to get him better. Also hoping that the pet insurance that we just got for him will pay for whatever we will have to do!

Following: The state of Wes' mouth closely. His bottom left gum is extremely swollen which means another molar is going to erupt soon. The quicker it pushes through the better!

Wondering: How someone like Jared Kushner still has his top secret security clearance?!? He has amended his form three times because he "forgot" over 100 contacts with various foreign individuals. For literally anyone else in the government their security clearance would have been 

Trying: To determine how to go about eating better. Should I join Weight Watchers which I had success with before my wedding? Should I try to convince CP to do Whole 30 to try to deal with my sugar cravings? I'm consistently running three times a week and averaging about 10,000 steps/day yet it's not making a difference on the scale (I'm not necessarily running to lose weight but was hoping that it would be a by-product). I know that diet is 80% of losing weight so I think that I need to do something.

Worrying: That the Republicans are going to get their healthcare bill passed this week. No one even know what they are voting on (which is ridiculous in itself). How come John McCain doesn't see the irony of voting on a healthcare bill when he has just been diagnosed with brain cancer? Sure he has good healthcare and enough money, but if this bill passes, what about low-income people in his state that are diagnosed with the same cancer? Would they even have coverage? Would they have to file for bankruptcy just to stay alive? It boggles my mind.

Planning: I am thinking ahead to next year when I turn 40 and hoping to do a fun friend vacation (without kids) with some law school friends. One of the friends found a place in Iceland where you can stay in a hotel bubble so that you can watch the Northern Lights!  Fingers crossed we can get a grandparent to watch the kids so that we can go somewhere. I definitely want to celebrate 40 in style.

Contemplating: How nice it will be to have a treadmill at our house! CP already bought it and it is scheduled to be delivered with our kitchen appliances. I can't wait to use it on days where it is raining or too cold to go for a run outside. I think that I want to continue running in the morning as much as possible, but it is really going to be great for when CP is traveling, when the kids are down for naps, etc. YAY!!!!

Monday morning bullets

*On Friday I took Buster for his dog neurologist appointment. The dr agreed that he thought that it was not just his partially torn ACLs that were the problem. He may have one of four things going on:

1. Stenosis- a narrowing of the spinal column that puts pressure on the spinal cord. 

2. Degenerative disc disease- sort of like a ruptured disc but in a dog.

3. A hereditary condition that Berners often get.

4. A tumor somewhere on Buster's spine.

Next step is to get Buster an MRI to see what is going on in his body (scheduled for August 11th). The dr doesn't think that Buster is in much pain (if any) because he wants to run and take walks. If a dog is in pain then they will sit themselves out of activities. That was good to hear. Meanwhile, Buster has a new fancy harness that we can use to help him jump into the car, help him up the stairs, etc.

*Over the weekend not only did Wesley learn how to drink out of a sippy cup but we officially made the final switch over to 100% milk!! I am ready to give away all of the bottles, we threw out/donated the rest of the formula we had in the house, and simply bought a few more sippy cups! YAY!!! That was so much easier than the tough time I had getting Izzy to switch over to sippy cups when she was 13 months old. 

Drinking out of the cup upside down, but whatever works for you buddy

*I also was able to put Wesley to bed without milk or water so after brushing his teeth (a new addition to the routine), we went into his room to read some books, I sang him a few songs, and then he went into his bed. No peep from him on needing anything to drink which is fantastic! Go Wesley!

*Continuing on with another Wesley story. I had to call the on-call doctor Sunday because Sunday morning I noticed that Wes had a red bump on his forehead and his ear was red with a blister or some sort of fluid-filled raised bump. It started weeping a bit in the afternoon but we gave him some Benadryl and he seemed fine, other than it being a bit itchy. The nurse on call wasn't too worried since he didn't seem to have any other symptoms, but seriously this kid needs to stop with the issues for at least a few weeks. It did look much better this morning, so that's a start.

The weeping ear :-(

*As I was putting Izzy to bed this weekend she asked me how long it was until midnight. I told her four hours and that she would be asleep at midnight, as would mommy and daddy. I asked why she wanted to know about midnight and she let me know that she was scared of midnight. I told CP about the conversation and he seems to think that it might have something to do with Cinderella because he read it to her the night before. 

*FIVE MORE DAYS UNTIL WE MOVE BACK INTO OUR HOUSE. I am so excited! The house won't be completely done and we will likely have to eat out for about a week until the appliances are installed but we will at least be back in our house! CP and I did a bunch of packing and moved some stuff back in the house this weekend. We will continue that this week then have the moving truck and two movers helping us on Saturday to empty the rental house.

1 years old

1 YEAR OLD

How does he already look older just one day after his birthday???!?!?

Height- 2'7" (88%)

Weight- 26 lb, 4 oz (97%)

Diapers- Size 4 diapers during the day, Size 4 nighttime diaper. Changing diapers got a little easier this month, but he still wants to pull himself up to stand instead of laying down to get changed.

Milestones- Wesley is cruising around furniture and on his walker as much as possible. I think that we may have a climber on our hands because sometimes he is holding onto a piece of furniture and he will bring his knee up like he wants to climb up, but there is nothing for him to put his knee on. Despite not having stairs at the rental place, Wesley learned how to climb stairs and now loves to do it at the park. This past month though was all about pointing. Pointing at things that he wants (food, drink, etc), pointing at birds/Buster/other animals, etc. Wes is now an expert pointer.

Expert pointer

Language- Wesley responds to the milk, more, eat, and all done signs. No words (that we can tell) just yet.

Sleep- Wes is a great sleeper from about 7:30pm to 7 or 8am. We put him down in his crib and if he cries it is only for a few seconds before laying himself down, grabbing his stuffed monkey to snuggle, and then trying to put himself to sleep. He naps very well at home, but doesn't do as well at daycare (they joke that he has FOMO and doesn't want to miss out on anything by sleeping). When Wes gets overtired he starts to scratch/get very squirmy in our laps.

Happy Wes

Clothes- 18 month clothing and on some of the shirts, his belly hangs out a little.

Eating- Wes drinks two 4oz bottles (in the morning and night) and then 3 6oz bottles during the day. When we got close to his birthday we started adding milk to his formula and are currently at half milk, half formula. Otherwise, he eats a lot of what we eat. His favorites seem to be any kind of fruit, eggs, cucumbers, and meat.

Birthday cake coma

Teeth- This month was a tooth explosion. Wes went from 6 teeth to 8 teeth and a molar! He is currently working on two more on the bottom.

Illness- Wes' ringworm cleared up after a month of over the counter medicine. His ear tube surgery went great and so far, no infections. But he did have hand, mouth & foot disease right before his birthday. Thankfully it was a mild case.

Look at this huge fish!

Loves- When we read to him, books that have sensory aspects to them, balls, knocking down block towers, going on the swings, climbing up stairs, crawling over to me and holding up his arms to be picked up, shaking things that make noise

Look at my ball mom!

Misc- At his 1 year appointment with his doctor, I mentioned that he was not waving or clapping yet, just pointing. His doctor didn't seem too concerned, but said that we should practice with him and if he is still not doing it in three months then we may get a referral to early intervention. She is not worried that he is not walking...but if that doesn't happen by 17 months there could be an issue.

Wes has gotten much better about being "gentle" in his petting of Buster.

Shake shake shake!

Day in the Life- Summer 2017 edition

Once again it's time for the quarterly Day in the Life post! You still have a few days to get your post up- find the details here.

Day in the Life- Summer 2017

Wednesday, July 19th

CP is 41 years old

NSC is 38.5 years old

Izzy is 3.5 years old

Wes is 1 years old

Buster is 6.5 years old

This ended up not being a typical day, but oh well. Wes had thrown up at daycare the day before (twice) so I had to pick him up early and he couldn't go in on Wednesday. CP just started his new job on Monday so he obviously couldn't stay home with Wes...leaving me. We have less than two weeks in our rental house in a different suburb before we move back into our house (it's been four months of renovations).

5:48- I wake up two minutes before alarm is scheduled to go off due to Buster panting in his cone of shame. (Buster had X-rays done last week on his partially torn ACLs and they shaved part of his front right leg. He had been chewing at the leg, hence the cone of shame). This is considered "sleeping in" these days. 

6:05- I let Buster out of the cone and outside, then feed him. 

Not happy about the cone of shame

I eat half a banana and drink some water. I let myself out the front door and run 2.65 miles while listening to This American Life podcast from a few weeks ago. The podcast got me mad so I think that I can attribute my faster pace to that today. 

Ready to run!

CP is eating breakfast when I get back and I ask him to wait until I'm out of the shower to leave for work. I quickly shower and when I get out I hear Izzy's voice. CP is helping her get dressed while I towel off and put my face stuff on.

Right after I am dressed for the day I hear Wes crying so I head into his bedroom. 

Pick me up!

Change his diaper, get him dressed, then bring him into the kitchen to put in the high chair while Izzy says her 10th goodbye to CP. 

"Daddy I have to tell you something."

Kiss CP goodbye and grab some Cheerios for Wes and a bottle of half milk/half formula. 

Izzy cries because she wants applesauce from a pouch (we have homemade stuff in the fridge but she only wants it from a pouch) and I say no because those are for when we are out and about. I end up getting her a mini Lara bar and some milk but she has a fit because the milk is not in the right container. I stand firm because sometimes toddlers are too ridiculous.

Pouty face

7:35 I get the kids in the car and we leave for daycare. Izzy is crying about wanting applesauce and Cheerios in the car because she is hungry. I let her know that breakfast will be served as soon as she gets to school. 

8:07- Wes and I exit daycare but then I catch a whiff of a poopy diaper so I change him in the back of the car before driving home. During my drive I listen to NPR talking about Trump saying that he will let Obamacare fail and it makes my blood boil. I look back at some point and see Wes eating Izzy's unicorn board book so I take it away at a stoplight.

Once home, I sit Wes back in his high chair and make him scrambled eggs. He eats and I make myself an egg and cheese sandwich to eat as well. 

He also points and grunts to let me know that he wants some of my water.

After breakfast Wes has another poopy diaper so I change him before I decide to take him on a walk to get outside before it gets too hot. We walk to the nearby park for some swing time. Then Wes quickly goes up the stairs and has fun bouncing on the unstable bridge before I take him down the slide on my lap. I want to make sure to get him home before he gets too tired so we walk home. I get into the house and I'm a bit sweaty because it is so humid out!

I am an expert pointer

Cutie pie (despite his hand foot & mouth red bumps and two mosquito bites on his face)

10- My ankle hurts- most likely from my running every other day, but fat chance I am going to stop. The three times a week that I get to run is my "me" time and although it is early when I do get to run, I am really enjoying it (so far 20.6 miles this month). I contemplate getting ice for my ankle, but realize that I won't just get to sit around on the couch with Wes. He is currently pushing Izzy's stool around the room, highly enjoying the loud noise that it makes. 

Suddenly, Wes crawls at me in alarm because Buster and the neighbor dogs are barking at each other through the fence. I call Buster inside to stop the barking. Wes and I play a while before I give him a bottle and put him down for a nap around 10:45.

Buster moves in for some lovin'

I turn on my work computer and call in to an 11am conference call.

12:15- The dog neurologist office calls to confirm Buster's Friday appointment. I continue working.

12:30- Wes wakes up from his nap so I change him and make him lunch (half a pb&j and a cut up kiwi). I scrounge in the fridge to find leftover cooked hamburgers from Wes' bday party and have a cheeseburger for lunch. CP texts about getting pet insurance. We decide to get it thinking that we have a long and expensive road ahead with Buster. The policy goes into effect in 14 days.

1- Bathtime for wes! 

Everything is going fine and Wes is doing some good splashing until he poops when I am about to take him out. Yuck. Thanks buddy. I am trying to clean up his tub while my friend from law school who just arrived in Chicago is texting me about our plans tonight. She is in town for a conference and will be taking the train to our town to have dinner with us. I get Wes dressed and give him a bottle. He wants to hold it halfway through (something he never does)- yes buddy please do!

I change pants and get in the car with Wes. I pull out and make a last minute decision to stop by our house since Wes is awake. 

2:30- We check out progress on the house and I talk to the cabinet installer who is putting in our kitchen cabinets; text pics of the work to CP. On the way back to our rental house Wes and I stop by to pick up our CSA box for the week.

3:30- We arrive home and I give Wes the rest of his bottle and put him in his crib to hopefully nap. 

NICE!

I put away the CSA veggies and then go back in Wes' room to rock him because he is crying and threw his few stuffed animals out of the crib in anger. It takes him a while to fall asleep; in the meantime I hope back on my computer and work until 4:30. I put the two camp chairs in the back of the car and put some extra diapers and an outfit for Wes in the diaper backpack. Buster gets an early dinner because we won't be home until later and then gets the cone of shame. I then wake up Wes and change him, then leave to pick up Izzy at daycare.

5:20- Surprisingly it is a fast exit from daycare once I tell Izzy that we are picking up my friend at the train station. We pick up my law school friend and head to a nearby restaurant; CP joins us a few minutes later. We all eat dinner (I had a steak salad) and then head over to our house to check it out. There is a weekly concert two blocks from our house so we all walk over with a blanket. Unfortunately, the band plays country music so my friend and I talk while trying to keep Wes somewhat close to us while Izzy plays on the swings with CP. We were supposed to meet a daycare friend at the park but I find out via text that he puked all over the place once they got there...so probably best that we didn't meet up. 

7:50- Wes poops AGAIN so CP takes him back to the car to change him and take him home since it is way past his bedtime. 

8:15- Izzy and I wait for friend's train back into city, say our goodbyes, and walk back to our house. On the way home she tries to catch a firefly.

Trying to catch a firefly

On the ride back to the rental house, Izzy tells me that she is hungry. Once home I grab Izzy a banana and a cup of water and then let Buster out. Meanwhile, CP is in Wes' room trying to put him to bed. I get Izzy dressed in her pajamas and she brushes her teeth- she is finally in bed by 9pm (an hour later than usual). I head to my bathroom to take out  my contacts, brush my teeth, and put on my pjs. I head into the living room and watch the second episode of "Friends from College" on Netflix with CP.

9:45- I kiss CP and head to bed, reading my Feedly feed until 10:10. I finally stop myself as I need to get to sleep!

THE END.