This is us: March 2017

This is us: March 2017

Since I’ve been too busy to post much for approximately the last year or, say, 15 months, I thought I’d do a cliff notes about what’s going on around here.  And then maybe I’ll go back and finally write Marlowe’s 1 year post (since she’s nearly 15 months) and Jenson’s 3 year post (since he’s 3.5).  It almost seems silly at this point, but I just need to do it.  Luckily I write key things down on the calendar, so I can just go back and get info from there because I’d never remember.  And I take a million pics.

Us

  • We successfully took our first family vacation together and Marlowe rode in an airplane for the first time.  We visited my sister’s family in Las Vegas and had a wonderful time.  The plane ride wasn’t bad – especially considering that Marlowe is a wild card.  She screams at the drop of a hat, so I was pretty nervous about keeping her happy on the flight and hoping she’d sleep some.  She only had a couple of screaming bouts…just a couple of minutes at a time.  But it was a nerve-wracking flight, nevertheless, as I was always trying to anticipate what she may want next.  She slept for about 45 minutes each way, so I got a little break, and Lo sat with the kids part of the flight home so I could relax a little bit across the aisle.  A visit is never long enough, but we went to a huge indoor playground, enjoyed Max’s 3rd birthday party (and bounce house!), and went to a cool aquarium.
  • Everyone has been sick, all of the time (read about our Germ Factory here).  We don’t leave the house much.

 

Jenson (3 1/2)

  • Jenson watched Minions a few months ago and is obsessed with it. I find their “language” so annoying, but at least it has a good soundtrack.  He watches a movie about once a week and I’m always trying to convince him to pick a new one.  He watched Secret Life of Pets today…hoping that or something else sticks.  He’s also obsessed with this local band that plays kids’ music – The Shazzbots.  We’ve seen them a few times at events, and they produced a show that’s one Amazon – and he watches it all of the time.  He also loves to watch the videos they upload on YouTube…music videos, videos of them taste-testing Christmas cookies or Halloween candy.  It doesn’t matter what it is…he dances along if it’s music or hangs on their every word when it’s not.
  • When he’s upset/whining/mad/in trouble lately, he cries “I’m not feeling very good”.  Since he’s been sick so much this year, its kind of his catch phrase lately.  We just tell him that its because he’s not being nice and that makes him feel bad.
  • He has hit the 3’s.  He was a dream in his 2’s.  The 3’s…not so much.  There’s a lot of arguing, fighting naps/bed, and taking ALL OF THE THINGS that Marlowe is playing with.
  • He’s still loving school and gymnastics.  He talks about school a lot more than he used to, so I’m guessing he already got kicked out of fight club and it doesn’t matter anymore.  (Neither Jenson or his friend M would talk about school EVER for the first few months – they would literally fall silent when asked – so we always joked that it’s like fight club).  He got to go bowling with his class and had so much fun, and he loves showing me the crafts they make each week.
  • He’s big into pretend play…with stuffed animals, little figurines, whatever.  He has whole conversations between his animals…asking and answering questions, etc.  I love it.
  • When he wakes from his naps, he cracks me up.  He’s quiet and sleepy, and we go to the kitchen to get a snack (something “special” for keeping his pants dry), and he says the funniest things.  It’s things that you can tell he was thinking about while he was trying to fall asleep.  He just rambles about super random things and I love it.
  • Current preferred songs before nap/bed: Spongebob Squarepants theme (he’s never seen the show, but loves to dance to the song), Reading Rainbow theme song (admit it – you remember it too “Butterfly in the sky…I can go twice as high…”) and the Brady Bunch theme song.  He kept asking us for new songs, so we’d just sing a different theme song or commercial jingle, but he got stuck on these for the last few weeks.

Marlowe (14.5 months)

  • After being able to take steps for 2 months, she finally got the whole walking thing down about two weeks ago and tries walking more than she crawls now.  She still struggles with balance and changing surfaces, but she’s doing great.  She will not, however, take steps in the grass yet.
  • She’s getting much more wordy and can repeat most words back to us when we ask her to, like colors, names, etc.  She’ll even repeat “I love you”, but it sounds more like “I wow wow”.  She definitely tries to say sentences to us and expects us to know what she’s saying, but a lot of her words are still pretty garbled.  Other words that she says are really breathy, like “hiiii Boooof”.
  • She’s going through a major teething spurt right now…in addition to 2 bottom and 4 top (all front), she just got her top molars and her bottom molars are coming in…those molars are causing us misery at night…waking every 30-60 minutes some nights…wanting to nurse.  I would love to be done nursing anytime now.  Her, not so much.
  • About that sleep….she slept through the night 2 weeks ago.  Through the night!  I didn’t brag about it, because I knew better.  The next night she woke every hour.  (that was set of molars #1)  On a standard non-teething, non-fever night, she wakes about 2 times to nurse still.  I don’t know what to do about her.  She screams.  SCREAMS.
  • But she’s soooo sweet!  Gives me kisses all of the time…kisses any stuffed animal or figurine that she picks up (and often brings them to me to kiss).  And she loves babies…real babies, photos of babies, babies on diaper boxes, her reflection.  Loves them all and says “baba” for “baby”.
  • She doesn’t like to wear hats for real, but loves wearing silly hats.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get her to wear a sunhat this year, especially with her pale hair and skin!

Val

  • I finally feel like I can manage making recipes/dinner again.  Marlowe is becoming more independent and will play a little bit after nap and she’s not velcroed to me at every waking moment.  For months we were just eating whatever we could throw together and was easy.  Now I’m actually thinking about dinner, buying ingredients, and making recipes regularly.  Sometimes it’s not ready in a timely manner, but we usually have a snack when Lo gets home anyway.
  • I’m trying to pay a little more attention to what I eat instead of sugar-binging constantly.  I’ve been at a weight/size that’s “fine”, so I had little motivation, but it’s still not good.  But I’m just gonna go ahead and point out that Easter week will be sugar bingy…Easter candy is my FAVORITE.
  • Aside from nursing bras, I haven’t bought a new bra in years.  Also, because of nursing, I no longer have the same boobs.  I’ve read a lot of good reviews about ThirdLove bras, so I decided to do the “try before you buy” option.  I filled out a questionairre about my bras/boobs (um, relaxed….) and it gave me a suggestion (classic t-shirt bra).  I only had to pay the $3 shipping and I can wear and wash the bra for 30 days.  If I decide to keep, they charge me for the bra.  If not, I just send back.  The bras are double what I’d prefer to pay – they are about $70.  But I got it and so far I think I’m going to love it (I’ve only tried it on so far).  I didn’t want to love it because it’s expensive…but it’s a bra that I’ll wear a ton – I think I’m worth it.  Some of my bras are close to 10 years old…that’s not good.  I wouldn’t think much about paying $70 for a pair of jeans I love (though I rarely pay more than $50), so why not a bra?  It’s so nice having my boobs be where they are supposed to be when I wear a real bra instead of a nursing bra. Here’s a referral link if you’re interested in trying one too – I believe you’ll get 15% off.
  • I love my babies…even on the hard days.  On the days where I don’t think I can handle one more tantrum…when I’m catching their throw up in a towel…when I’m wondering if things are going to ever get easier…when I miss traveling like we used to…even then, I still don’t want them to ever grow up, and I can’t believe how happy they make me.

Lo

  • Since October, Lo has lost a bunch of weight. He started doing intermittent fasting and better workouts, and it paid off!  I didn’t even think it’s a weight he could get to based on his frame, but he looks great!  It’s the lowest he’s been since high school, I believe.
  • Ever the model husband/father, he still gets the kids up on the weekends so I can get a little extra sleep…gives them baths…stays engaged with them when he’s around, etc.  I’ve even been able to meet up with friends occasionally and go shopping a little on the weekends.  Even though Jenson told me I’m his best friend today (out of nowhere), when Lo is home, I’m chopped liver.  If he asks a question, only daddy is supposed to answer.  If he wants help with something, it has to be daddy.  It’s adorable.  I don’t blame him…I’m sure he gets tired of me.

Boof

  • She’s become a major stalker when the kids have food.  She’s always been like that a little, but usually just stayed to the side waiting for cleanup duty.  Now she’ll sit right in front of them and even take food from them occasionally.  It makes us so mad! She mostly does it with Marlowe -because its effective.  Marlowe will shake her snack cup so it spills for Boof – thus Marlowe rarely gets to use a snack cup.
  • Jenson gets mad at Boof a lot lately.  If he drops food, she eats it (of course) and he gets so mad!  He gets mad if she’s sitting in a spot that he’s decided is his.  He gets mad if she’s standing in his way when he wants to dance.  We’re trying to make him understand that she’s a part of the family and he can’t be mean to her and yell at her, but he’s 3 and doesn’t really care.
  • She hurt her paw somehow and was limping every now and then.  One day she would barely put it down, so we took her to the vet…luckily it was just a sprain or something.

House

  • We have a fully functional garage!  It was built December, electric was put in in February (they were booked up), and the garage openers were installed a couple of weeks ago.  I have a really hard time remembering to shut the door when I pull out since it’s been 2 years since I’ve used a garage, but we can close the doors via our phones, so I just try to remember to check on there.  It’s so nice to have that storage space for mower, equipment, etc., though we need to get shelving and such still.
  • I think the next project is having our driveway repaved.  The cement trucks (for the garage) completely destroyed our driveway and it’s a mess at the top.  It’s just going to keep washing away if we don’t fix it this year.
  • We have to have some trees along the road cut down because they are dying, or in the way of the lines, or are invasive (Tree of Heaven).  We aren’t happy to lose the privacy from the road, but it’s not optional (per the electric company) and they pay for it.  But it still sucks.  We need to get more trees planted asap!
  • There are so many other projects that are still on our radar…redoing the one front porch (possibly converting it to a mudroom), tearing up carpeting (which probably requires refinishing hardwood underneath), refinishing part of the basement (prob not anytime soon), updating kitchen and bath, etc, etc.  But all of these are a bit $$, so one thing at a time.

All in all…other than our kids constantly getting sick (and I mean constantly) we’re managing.  The winter has been a little rough on me to be dealing with sick kids all of the time with no relief (other than if Lo takes over), but he comes home from work early sometimes if he thinks I could use some help when someone is sick.  We had a few nice days where we got to play outside, but we need more fresh air.  I know every winter will feel like this though.

 



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