This morning was a tough one. We woke up to two needy babies and had to change our Mass plans last minute because we were running late.

Thank you, Jacob, for getting both kids ready so I could take a real shower.

Mass was trying. Lucy June is moving into a squealing phase, and we got fenced into the middle of a pew, so I lost my easy exit. I was tired after a late and much interrupted night. My lower back was hurting, and I was getting no reprieve as I walked my baby in the back of the church. I didn't really get to hear the homily and I hardly could focus on the readings, but I want to say thank you to some people who I will remember.

Thank you to the couple in our pew who I had to scoot past eight different times with a screeching five month old. You welcomed me every time I came back in hopes that maybe this time the baby would be quiet, only to be stepping on your toes on my way back out just minutes later. You didn't make me feel bad at all because you were awesome.

Thank you to the grandmotherly woman who caught my eye as I walked the babe in the back of church. Thank you for looking at me. So many people look at my kids - and I love that and all - but you looked at me, and your knowing smile spoke such encouragement.

We've made a Sunday morning ritual of going to Boomtown Coffee after Mass. Up until recently we'd been frequenting the coffee bar at Whole Foods because it was close and the latte was surprisingly good. It also has a great pastry selection and a fish tank that Jake can look at while sitting in the cart with a steering wheel in it, so: kid friendly. But it isn't the coffee shop experience (which I still haven't been able to let go of even though I'm a frumpy mom.)

Enter Boomtown. It's not in our neck of the woods, but the espresso is delicious. It's in a part of Houston that has a Portland vibe. Urban adorable. I kind of hate that I love it.

You did right by us today, Boomtown.

Thank you, barista, for making me such a perfect latte. It's Lent and all, so I'm down to once a week for this deliciousness, and, buddy, you came through.

Thank you to the man who was such a champ when Jake ran into your elbow and caused you to spill your coffee in your lap. He was just a little too excited about his straw, and you got that. I pegged you as such a trendy Joe enjoying your usual four shot latte at this chic coffee shop, but you surprised me and became a hero. You wouldn't let me get you another coffee. You even made jokes and laughed good-naturedly when I offered to buy you a cookie because I thought you were six years old or something.

Thank you, Lucy June for staying marginally happy in your car seat so I could snuggle back into the couch and hold my latte with two hands for a few minutes. You're awesome sauce.



And thank you, Jakeboy, for asking while waiting for my caffeine hit in the looong line:

"Do Boomtowns have potties?" 

You really bailed me out, kid.

7QT: Weather, Coffee, Child-Rearing, Broken Records

- 1 -

The older child has been running me hard this week. The terrible twos have overall been pretty great, but I hope the business of this week isn't a harbinger of what the threes have in store. The worst moment was when I had to pop his balloon as a consequence for running away from me in the library parking lot. (He was running on the walkway next to the parking lot and not in the parking lot itself, but still...) I popped a little boy's balloon, and it was the saddest thing. We both cried. 

- 2 -

Weather here in Houston has been amazing. It's almost like...we're living in Los Angeles again.

But unlike Los Angeles, this weather won't last, and while Houston only has an excuse for a winter, it certainly has a grueling summer that will probably start sometime next week. So we will carpe our mild sunshine and picturesque evenings for the next five days or so.

- 3 -

I keep running into posts about laundry recently. Laundry is pretty close to my heart and, unlike cleaning the toilet or mopping, is actually something I enjoy. I grew up folding a lot of our family's laundry. I spent many an hour with Anne of Green Gables beside a mountain of towels, gym shorts, and T-shirts. My mother used to tell me how good I was at folding. I was pretty proud. Now of course she had major ulterior motives for that encouragement, but she was right. I am a badass folder. And it's a competency that will probably be more consistently valuable to me than my master's degree.

- 4 -

Speaking of master's degrees, I love staying home with my kids.

I'm nervous to say that out loud. I'm nervous that the joy I'm experiencing will magically pop as soon as I admit to the world that - at least for now - I'm more than happy to be home with my kids.

With a big fat caveat: WHEN THEY NAP.

The mornings are so full of hope, you know?? And then that afternoon nap strike makes the whole rest of the day a big poopstorm. (SO sorry about that word. It's just that I'd already used my colorful word for this post, and that was all I could think to swap it with. I'm a first time potty trainer, you'll remember...and it's amazing how much literal and metaphorical excrement I have to filter while blogging about our life. Shocking really.)

- 5 -

Someone's being too quiet, so I'm going to run see if today was a naptime win.

Oh, most definitely a win.

- 6 -

Lucy June is still the awesomest baby. I'm experiencing her babyhood so differently than Jake's. Every time I try to write a post about the difference I start crying.

But it boils down to this:

Jake's infancy = emotionally tough
Lucy June's infancy = sugar and spice.

Except that she's recently become uber attached to me. When she's cranky - so in the evenings when there are finally other arms that can hold her - she wants me and only me. I find it endearing, and I love it, and I want her to outgrow it immediately.

- 7 -

Next weekend Jacob goes from working half days on Sunday to not working on Sundays at all. An (almost) real weekend!! I'm so excited for him. And for me. And for our kids. And for me.

Off to Jen's for more Quick Takes.

7 Late Quick Takes

- 1 -

One of the hardest things about leaving LA will be saying goodbye to my favorite coffee shop. Oh Balconi you have been so good to us!! They do siphon coffee and have arguably the best latte on the westside.

So any of you readers that hail from Houston need to send me your coffee shop recommendations.

- 2 -

Before we even got out of bed on Tuesday, Jacob and I got in a spat over changing the first and ripest diaper of the day. Long story short: let's just say I lost the rock paper scissors game and lit into him as I carried our smellybutt offspring to the changing table. Jacob then made breakfast, converted Jake's crib to a toddler bed, and went to the DMV. Afterwards he brought me home a cup of Balconi. 

I said: "You realize this makes me the worst wife in the world." 

He said: "Why do you think I did it?"

- 3 -

My banjo broke recently. A tiny piece of plastic that holds a string in place popped off. Handyman Huz was SURE he could fix it. I wasn't so keen on him (i. e. almost forbid him from) taking a drill to the old girl but he was adamant about not paying someone else to do it. And a few youtube videos and one call to the manufacturer later and we've got this:



That's my banjo neck with a flat head screw in it. It's very cool. I know. And it seems to be holding tune.

Not pictured: gloating husband.

- 4 -

UPDATE: Big boy bed - Good News

 

So far nighttime has gone pretty swimmingly (knock on wood). I was worried about early wake ups and him crawling into our bed, but yesterday morning he got up at 5:30, walked over to our bed, and watched us sleep for 30 seconds before crawling back to his bed and sleeping till almost 7. I was lying in bed completely still, feeling like I'd just witnessed a small miracle.

- 4b -

UPDATE: Big boy bed - Bad News

NAPS. 

How do/did you teach your toddler to put himself down for naps in a bed?  Right now the process is taking an average of 2 hours. I'm not a nazi about it, but I do like me a little bit of a sleep schedule...And this new transition has turned our beautiful summer afternoons into nightmarish nap debacles.

Yesterday, I tried the don't engage and keep putting him back in bed method which quickly became the best game ever. He just started laughing and running back to the bed by himself whenever I came into the room. So I stopped that game after half an hour.

Then I tried the fine just play in the room until you fall asleep wherever you end up falling asleep method. But he just played for an hour. Once I checked on him after a suspiciously quiet five minutes and found him having somehow retrieved my sewing box from a super high shelf and set himself up on the floor poking his fingers with needles.

So yeah. Desperate McDesperate over here.

- 5 -

After the hell of naptime though we have teatime which is kind of the greatest. I'm not big into letting Jake snack. Mostly because we don't keep snack foods around and so snacks always require some effort on my part, but also because I like Jake to be good and hungry at mealtimes. But recently we've been having a snack with tea in the afternoon. The kid needs a little something to get him from lunch to dinner and I need a little something to get me from naps to night night so tea time it is. 

We sit and I ask him questions and he tells me stories about falling down in the ocean. 

- 6 -

Pregnancy. Want to know something fun about my pregnancies? It's not gross at all. (Actually that's a lie.) 

I get these lovely little things called cherry angiomas, and I always have. They're genetic or something and plenty of people get them. Just little collections of capillaries under your skin like red dots and sometimes they get a little raised. Well, you know how the pregger's blood volume like doubles or whatever? When I was pregnant with Jake, I was blessed with about FIFTY new angiomas. It wasn't cool at all, but the WORST part was that two of them morphed into pyogenic granulomas: a pea-sized collection of blood vessels that balloons up out of your skin, grows and grows, and bleeds whenever you touch it (here's a pic for the strong-stomached). Fun, I know. 

When I went to have it removed at the dermatologist's office, he walked in, took one look at my head, and lit up like I'd handed him a Christmas present. He told me he'd only ever seen one on another pregnant woman in his 25 years of practice. I felt special. And by that I mean I felt like a freak.

- 7 -

Also. This is the smile-face Jake dons whenever he notices that someone is taking his picture.



You can offer condolences in the combox.

Happy Saturday!