My lands how I've missed this space.
I think about you all a lot, but every time I try to write I end up like...crying or something. I don't know. These last few months - or let's just call it 2015 - has been TOUGH. But I'm learning about myself as a wife and a mother and as a woman and all that, so I guess it's also been good. But I'm a little tired of learning hard lessons.
Where have we been and what have we done??
I think I left off in April right before we went to watch my dad run Boston. How cool is he?? (And at mile 26!)
My little sister graduated from my old alma mater.
The nephew and niece played their parts admirably.
Jacob's work finally started to slow down a bit in May, he's home most days before five and even gets a couple days off every week. This is a far cry better than working till 7 every night 6.5 days a week. We both agree that he's been working too much. He's a contractor, so the more he works the more he makes, and it's hard to say no to work. His work is seasonal, but the busy season (right along with my nausea) hung on about eight weeks longer than expected. So after that experience we were both pretty zonked and ready to life overhaul.
Or at least I was ready to life overhaul. Jacob is more of a "just live" person and I'm more of a "plan to live" person. So I've been reading Charles Duhigg and Gretchen Rubin and imagining all the ways we can paint a deliberate life for ourselves, and he's been shaking his head.
Houston flooded at the end of May. My brother and brother-in-law were stranded in central Houston all night long, homes north of our neighborhood got over a foot of water, and we...slept...woke up to the thunder a few times...and read about it online in the morning.
It looks like we lost our beehive, probably because of the rain. They're queenless, and if they can't manage to hatch a new one soon, we'll lose them. It probably means it's time for us to move. We always lose hives before a move. My brothers, who live with and own this house with us, are under contract on another place, so we're talking about transitioning this house into a rental property.
The kids are growing right along.
Jake turned four last week. We had an Octonauts party, and he loved it. His little friends came over and Jacob played carnie outside letting little people in and out of the treehouse.
I think he requested a Blue Octopod Reef Cake which I translated to a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting decorated with pipe cleaners and toys.
The cake inspired thievery which I took as a compliment.
The cute little girl in the green gingham got the "R" before we could say "make a wish." I have no idea who stole the Octonaut Penguin.
Throwing a four year old's birthday party was much more fun than I expected. He was SO. EXCITED. about everything.
We bought Jake some big kid legos for his birthday, and now he plays legos all the time. I'm already mourning the day when moving Han Solo's head to an astronaut body no longer holds the magical quiet time charm that it has the past week.Lucy June is 19 months of talking all the time. She snuggles and hugs and goes right down for naps, and - aside from the full body fits when I take away her beloved chapstick and the 6:05am wake up punctuated with her squeaky morning voice from the crib: "All DONE night night! All DONE sheeping!! Get OUTTA HERE!" - she's still as sweet as ever.
Like so sweet. Like she literally will walk up, wrap her arms around my legs, and say "Hug you wuv you, mama." Since Jake was about three before I got any spontaneous affection, I'm lapping it up. And praying that she doesn't turn on us in adolescence.
And that's mostly our story these days. I really hope summer inspires my blogging game. We shall see. We shall see.
Yay for an update! Don't move again. That makes me cringe! Especially after all the awesome work y'all have done on this new place! Eep! And your family is beautiful as are you and little bebe! Hugs and so glad your nausea is past! How terrible!!
ReplyDeleteLove getting caught up!!
ReplyDeleteYah for blog post and birthdays,,, Nay to prolonged morning sickness... I had it the longest and hardest with #4... Not cool... Thamks for the update!!
ReplyDeleteGood to see you back! I'm glad you're feeling better!
ReplyDeleteyay! I missed your posts!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Best decision I made last pregnancy was not looking at the scale at my appointments... so freeing when I didn't know exact numbers and just tried to stay healthy without beating myself up/feeling guilty.
Ugh, that's how my last pregnancy was weight gain wise. When we moved, I just didn't put up our full length mirror until several weeks postpartum. Best decision ever. There's no point in looking if you can't do anything to fix it,you know?
ReplyDeleteAlso, so glad you're feeling better! And you've had the chance to get us caught up :)
I was sooooooooooooooo excited to see this update! So glad the nausea is gone, and that Jacob's work schedule is lighter. And that cake - you did good, girl.
ReplyDeleteSo, so happy to see this post!! Glad you're feeling better and that Jacob is home more. I can't believe you're thinking about moving again - you're either my hero, or crazy. Or both! Hope the feeling good continues through the rest of the baby-growing season!!
ReplyDeleteSo happy to see your update! And toys-as-cake-decoration is my favorite trick too! Easier for me (a total non-crafty mom) and the kids think it's brilliant. Glad you were ok during the floods. I was thinking about your family.
ReplyDeleteHi! If you decide to move I hope you at least share some good pics of your house; what I've seen of it here looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteI still think we should meet one day since I'm just down the road in Katy and our kids are about the same age. My daughter's birthday is in July (turning 4, I can't wait) and when I asked her what she wanted she said, "a dinosaur, a vacuum, carpet, grass, and a big ole truck." I'm thinking Legos might be a better idea. :)
AMAZING picture of your dad -- so glad you are feeling better, too.
ReplyDeleteI've been on the habit-obsession train, too... Except for the part of actually keeping a habit. That part isn't working out so well. At all...
Glad you survived all of that rain in Texas!
ReplyDeleteI will certainly connect it back to your web site though.Great Many thanks.
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Great to have you back! Big things are happening on your end, for sure. :)
ReplyDeleteMissed you missed you missed you!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I am just reading this-- I blame all the summer camps, totally cramping my blog-reading game.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to catch up with you, your little ones are THE cutest ! Now for some belly pics!!!