I've been slacking on the blog front recently, but for good reasons...I'm a full-time working mom of 2, remember? I've also been intentionally stepping away from the laptop in the evenings, when I'm not doing work (which I do have to do a bit each night) or editing photos, with the goals of a) trying to earn a little bit of extra money by doing some grantwriting (and other projects - I'm pimping myself out people, so send stuff my way, rates negotiable!) and b) trying to read more. I'm in a book club now, so I gotta get my reading on, know what I'm saying? Right now I'm reading Cutting for Stone, and it's excellent. It's also about 800 pages long and I have to finish it before our meeting in 4 days. I also have been getting terrible headaches by day's end, since I stare at a computer screen all day. And if I'm going to stare at a screen when I get home, it better be something funny like THE OFFICE or mindnumbing like JERSEY SHORE. So this is just a quick update to let you know that all is still well.
Mike and I finally settled on a weeknight schedule and rhythm for getting done what needs to be done (big shout out to the ECC hot lunches that started this week, meaning 2 fewer nights that we have to make Ivy a lunch!), and it even includes going to the gym. My nights are Tuesdays (spinning) and Wednesdays (pilates). This has been critical to ensuring that I'm doing exercise at all, though with my favorite day of the year coming up this weekend (duh, Daylight Savings!) I will be able to do some evening running as well. It's high time I start working on that new year's resolution...
I had a successful get away with my sister-in-law Erica on the infamous Cruise to Nowhere. I missed being with the littles, but it was nice to be free for a night. I drank fruity cocktails, sat in the jacuzzi, and got dressed up for dinner...a far cry from what I wear to dinner most nights. Erica and I had lots and lots of laughs...you would not believe some of the rubes that were on this ship, and we weren't even going anywhere! That and the awful rock and roll tribute show...though to call it a tribute it really quite generous. I brought my pump, and had the ship staff a bit confused as to why I needed to periodically get into my fridge bag over the course of the evening. I slept 8 hours, uninterrupted, and overall felt quite refreshed. Then it seemed that the moment I walked in the door at home, my back started hurting again and it was chaos trying to wrangle the kids. So much for feeling refreshed!
Don't try this at home...
Speaking of my back, I've been complaining about it long enough, so back to the doctor I went. She quickly deduced that a lot of the upper back tension and pain I'm feeling is likely from stress...big shock there. So I've been working on managing my stress, and lo and behold I'm feeling a lot better. That and my weekly pilates. I never had ballerina posture to begin with, but improving that is also helping. Slow and steady...
A couple weekends ago, we had a "blind" play date with a friend from my mommy message board. She was someone that I knew lived in LA, and we've "known" each other for a couple years now. She has 2 sweet little girls, one of whom is exactly Ivy's age and the other who just turned 1. We finally decided it was time to meet in person, so I bit the bullet and gave out my address to a complete stranger on the internet. My instincts were good on this one, and we had a very nice afternoon with our new friends. Ivy and Lu jumped around laughing and made muffins. It was super cute and really nice to meet some new people.
Then this past weekend, Ivy came down with a 24-hour bug of some sort. She woke up and was a little off, but we figured she was just a little tired. She got to gym class and as we sat down for circle time, I realized she was burning up. I whisked her off the floor and into the car, where I settled her on the couch with a sippy cup of apple juice and a Dora marathon (Who's brilliant idea was it to DVR episodes? Yup, mine!) while we waited for the Tylenol to work its magic reducing her 102 fever. Poor thing. She got to stay home from school on Monday, even though she was mostly fine by then and we had a fun, relaxing day together. I'm so glad that so far Sidney has managed to stay healthy...but believe me, Ivy was NOT happy about not being allowed to touch or kiss him while she was sick. She cried...a lot. "I WANNA HUG MY SINNY-BOY!" Love.
Purim is coming up, and once again Mike and I find ourselves at a loss for costume ideas. We really set the bar way too high 3 years ago. My only idea is to dress up as pregnant. (What, too soon?!) But while we try to figure it out, Ivy announced that she would not be going as a cupcake (at least she wore it once on Halloween so it wasn't a complete waste) and wanted to be a flamingo. I thought this was hilarious:
but I'm not about to drop that much money so off to the craft store we go! I see lots of pink feather boas in my future. I never knew I would attempt to be so crafty!
That's about it for now. Mike goes out of town next week for work, so it's Nana to the rescue! We may attempt some light sleep training, but this little boy has got me wrapped around his finger so I'm pretty sure it won't happen and he'll be in my bed every night as usual. How can you say no to this face?
Hey ladies!
