I left the children

... for a weekend in Omaha with Momma & Ginny!

It was Ginny's bridal shower, thrown by all the ladies on Ryan's side of the family. And, may I just say, they're lovely & fun, and I'm glad that they'll be in my very-extended family.

Here's how most of the weekend went down, Midwest-style, and NOLA-style.

First, the kids were in very good hands on Friday while Dylan was still at work, and I was en route and en tears. I missed them already! The village-effect of Algiers Point took over, and dear friends cared for Paul and Ada
a) at the garden for kids' weeding + snacks

b) during their Flubber Friday art class

c) for swimming (during which I was sent several precious videos I watched & re-watched)

d) for lunch

and then when Dylan picked them up, this happened:

Huge thank-you to Stacy & Rena for the heartfelt watching, swaying, swimming, feeding, and loving.

Off I flew to Omaha, where I'd been once before in a U-haul for a mere 12 hours with Dylan and Ryan while moving to MN. Needless to say, I was looking forward to seeing a little more of it and in the daylight. I met Mom and Gin at the hotel lobby for an amazing HH before heading out to dinner. Then sleeeep. Except being away in my own bed without children to wake me made absolutely zero difference to my sleep, and I woke anyway, had coffee with breakfast, and kept on keepin' on. Saturday was the shower! It was for noon. And it was the first thing, besides breakfast, that we did that day. Now, that's different than being at home, for sure. Ginny's shower was at a restaurant in the cute, cobbled Old Market quarter of Omaha, and there was a yummy spread with mimosas, a cute cake, and lots of chatting with Ryan's aunts and cousins. A lovely midday! We left the shower and walked the shops and barhopped, more than I had in, well, I dunno, all the way through dinner and we were back at the hotel around 11pm. Late! The next morning, we had Mass at the beautiful Cathedral of St. Cecilia just a little outside of the downtown. It was precisely because it was a little ways out of town that I felt a connection to the Midwest much like I had never felt before ... it all looked just like St. Paul! The sloping front yards, the architecture, the type of grass and trees. And it was so comfortable outside. Like, 72º, sunny, and breezy. Without mosquitos. No mosquitos, y'all. Of course, Mom made sure to remind me about "yeah, 6 months from now, though" ... but Dylan and I never really found it all that bad. We had a great weekend together, & I loved it ... and I didn't want to leave! 

Except for these kids and their Papa!

Papa takes the kids to the zoo and gives them ice cream for lunch. "Dad is great, he gives us chocolate cake!"

They were back in NOLA waiting for me, and once I did say goodbye to Gin and Mom, I just wanted to blink myself back - to the hot, the 90º, and, yes, the mosquitos. This is where we are, together, it's home, and I love our family.

And here's a little of their shenanigans this week, being back together.

naked driving

big shoes to fill

playing a game together, a real game

fresh outta the dryer

wearing Nana's Omaha souvenir(s)

And I finally finished a cross-stitch gift for a friend's new baby ... well, new back in September. 

Joo-ly

I guess in these hot, slow (yeah right) summer months, we're down to just one post a month. Hey, better than nothing! Means there are more heaps-upon-heaps of photos!

Real Housewives of Algiers Point tee *AT* Costco. Oh, irony of ironies.

Paul: "Ada, why are you crying?" Ah, you might think this is cruel, but we were, in fact, having a great, laughy time, and then Ada was done. Outta nowhere, so it was a genuine question. She was promptly removed ... after taking a photo. If you need proof of their sibling-love, here's them reading together, too.

 All that and a side-lean with sunnies on.

 Me: "Ada, smile for Papa!" And this is what she gives - priceless. A bit wiggly, but priceless.

 Mmm, when Nana & Pappy give dessert, they don't mess around!

Somebody got a snazzy haircut while we visited the ever-improving (how's it possible?) HEB while at Nana & Pappy's. I love HEB.

The neighbors put in a driveway instead of the rutted mosquito-trap they had, and we had to watch. Of course, the cement mixer rolled up riiiight at 1pm in time for nap. So we stayed out and watched it all until 3, when both kids promptly crashed.

We've been doing a bit of digging around in our neighborhood's community garden. Mostly weeding, which is feasible with the kiddos around, but, hey, somebody's gotta do it. (We're really just helping out marginally. I'd love to be more involved but don't know how that can happen at the moment.)

We celebrated the 4th! First, the fam came in from Houston beforehand, and we all had a lovely courtyard dinner in the Quarter followed by beignets, naturally. This is what the end of the night looked liked:

Actually *on* the 4th, we visited Aunt Mollie whose birthday it was...

 ... and then we swam, and ate, and had watermelon, and watched fireworks! It was a great weekend to celebrate together.

We've been getting these kids in the water as much as possible, too. We'd done swimming lessons with Paul back in Austin, MN when he was 18mos, but last year missed out because of the move, and now here we are again in summer, and Paul hadn't been swimming in 2 years, for all intents and purposes of learning. He was a bit tense every time we'd get in, so we've just started doing it more and more and more. Anyway, we've joined a local gym on our side of the tracks (read: river), and with its membership, comes weekend access to their flagship campus, which has an aaaamazing pool setup. We tried it out last week for the first time after Paul's soccer on Saturday mornings, and everyone loved it. So! That's our Saturday from here on out: soccer + swimming. Ada even gets to start soccer next month. Til then, though, she'll just get by with the swimming. 

I've also started and finished a 5-week class with just Ada on Wednesday mornings. Let's just say that it was geared very much toward first-time moms with a bit younger than Ada and not as structured as I'd hoped, but it was still nice to do something with just her. During that time, though, my good friend and import to NOLA like me, Stacy, watched Paul! She has a 2+ year old very sweet boy, and she taught Montessori (so I knew he was in good hands ;) ). They had a great time together, and Stacy was very good about sending me little updates. Here's a snapshot of their fun: 

Lastly, here's a peek at our Mini Art Center, which does Flubber Fridays for 5 and under. It's a 45min class with free art, a guided project, and then an "artsy" story. Everyone loves the MAC and are so glad it's here in the 'hood!

Just for kicks, I'll throw this one in of our impromptu, very fancy, very detectible, very expensive (but-not-for-us) top chefs' award dinner:

So, technically we celebrated the 4th, then went to Houston for a week, and then came back for some of this other stuff. But I didn't feel like shifting photos around again, and it doesn't really matter, does it. It's all been in July, and that's apparently how I'm running this blog now anyway, monthly. Ah, well.

Where does the time go?

Where, where?
It goes into resting up for the next batch of crazy 2 toddlers are about to throw at me. That's where. I started this post on June 5th, and now it's the 21st ... a full month after last post. I'll keep what I started with and then just try to run through some things.

Generally, there are 2 times of day where I can "do stuff", stuff that can't/won't get done with kiddos around, like blogging, reading, cross-stitching, facebooking, intricate cooking, sleeping. Ah, yes, sleeping. Those things, naturally, are the first to go if somebody's not sleeping at night. Somebody's woken up every, single night of her 16-month-long life, and somebody really wears us out should she be up for playing or just complaining between the hours of midnight & 5am. I'm not naming any names, but she's certainly trying to see how well Dylan and I actually can function on the least sleep possible. That being said, I've spent the last month-ish napping at naptime and going to bed, well, basically when the kids do.

She weaned! At 16months on the nose, and we thought that'd be the ticket to sleep. Welp. That wasn't exactly so, so Dylan started a new nighttime thingy to encourage her to self-soothe back to sleep, and that, my friends has been good. She's spent the last 3-ish weeks going from needing us for full recovery sometimes twice a night to crying out briefly just once or twice before sleeping again maybe 2-3 times a night to last night - am I gonna say it - where she slept from 8pm to 6am. Normal sleep. Aaaah! Do I see sanity? I think I miiiight.

You may think that was a long rant about a baby's sleep, but do you realize how important sleep is? "Momma always says" you can handle a lot when you're rested, and I'm just really hoping that nighttime will be refreshing again soon. Like, for a longer period of time. (Secretly meaning forever...)

SO! Sleep aside, oh wait no! The nights Little Missy was doing ok, he would wake up, uh, crying? What? Sigh, anyway, we can count on his funny nights to be random and seldom (I think...)

Now sleep aside, we've been busy, as one generally keeps oneself.

• There's been Mother's Day, when my family came into town for a lovely brunch at Katie's, 
• kids' yoga on Mondays, 
• Paul checked out the original Thomas the Tank Engine stories & read the whole thing in 2 weeks, 
• Ada added a bunch of animals to her noise list as well as about 6 songs she can hum in tune, 
• Paul finished his first 8 wks of soccer and we've started the next already with a much better coach (he loves it/her!), 
• found out the zoo's amazing an hour before closing (it's a stroll all to ourselves), 
• Ada hiccuped into Paul's trumpet and everyone got a kick out of it, 
• spent Memorial Day weekend in Houston and roadtripped to Waco just Mama&Papa alone (first time leaving Ada and first time back at Baylor in years and visiting dear friends, Travis & Amy Cheatham), 
• I had an allergy-induced cough that put me on the coach a few nights & exhausted me, 
• kids are sleeping from 8ish to 6:30ish whooooa, 
• D & I finished teaching our first on-our-own NFP course, 
• there've been 2 awesome birthday parties for 2 awesome neighbor kids - one a crawfish boil in the rain and the other backyard sprinkler fun, 
• Paul did his first Vacation Bible School 5 days in a row from 9-12 -- lots of growth that week for both of us, consequently first just-Ada time, 
• huge neighborhood family potluck, 
• D & I watched a movie - a what? - Theory of Everything & I'm reminded how much I love astronomy and universe-y sciences, 
• D danced with me one night here at home & he brought home the first red roses he's ever gifted (why red? They were on special; I love efficiency, frugality, and symbols of love combined!), 
• Ada had her 15mos checkup and weighed in at 18.5lbs, 30" long, and has a head 18.5" - go girl, go, 
• Paul learned to get himself Cheerios and milk in the morning and is the cutest ever, 
• we joined the nearby family gym, 
• started toddler art class on Flubber Friday, 
• gung-ho in the neighborhood social group "Real Housewives of Algiers Point" -- complete with tees, coozies, and onesies - ha, 
• Ada's starting to participate in cooking, too, 
• Ada called everything and everyone "Papa" for about 2 weeks and has now switched to everything and everyone being "Mama" - she'll get there
• Paul's maturing and being very helpful with getting out of the house, including dressing himself -- even Tshirt and socks (now I know why kids are out in public with tees inside out or mis-matching socks; kid prolly did it himself and it's too cute to change!), 
• and Paul sings out "Na na na na-na-na-naaa, hey Jude" - yessss.

Oh, and we put in an offer to buy a house, had said offer accepted, and we don't have to move ... can you guess what's happening?

Happy Father's Day to my darling husband and my own wonderful father -- I love you both!

Photo dump:

Watching the TV he built...

Kitchen table Conversations...

Mostly the conversations are with Paul, as Ada just interjects an occasional "AAAH", ie "more food/drink now". And check out the book Paul chose from the library! We're halfway through already.

And so the following conversation about children and potential new babies happened a couple of days ago. (We're not expecting, but 3 of our friends have just had newborns this past month, and Paul's not blind to the fact that "the baby's out now", as he says.)

<looking at Paul's 1st bday pic on fridge>
Paul: I'm sitting in Ada's baby chair there.
         And Ada was big and sitting in Paul's big-boy wooden chair <points to current chair>
Me: No, Ada wasn't big, yet. She wasn't here, yet.
P: Ada was in Mama's belly.
Me: No, not yet. You were still a little baby.
P: Ada wasn't there, yet.
Me: No, God hadn't given Ada to us, yet. You were Mama & Papa's only baby for a while.
P: Ada wasn't there, yet...
    Ada was still with God.
Me: Do you want another baby?
P: Yeah.
Me: Yeah? Another baby sister or maybe a brother? Nice.
P: Yeah, a brother.
Me: Well, we'll have to see what God gives us.
P: Yeah, we have to see what God has.
    Maybeee a brother? Maybeee a big excavator?


Then this today when Paul wanted to have his diaper put on for naptime on the changing table, something he hasn't done for aaaages but had just seen done for Ada.

Paul: Paul wants to lay here for the diaper.
Me: What, you're so big now! I remember when you were much smaller laying here.
P: I laid here when I was a baby, when Ada was still with God.

Oh, for cute.

It's MAY already!

And the weather's just getting better and better. 

April showers bring May flowers is spot-on down here in NOLA. It was a thunderous April, complete with tornado watches and downpours. Now, I realize we're only 4 days into May, but it's been a glorious month to honor Mother Mary so far!

All of last week was spent either playing and reading indoors, dodging the rain, or outside in the sun. We enjoyed a bit of NOLA Navy Week (or, to the Navy, "Fleet Week") by visiting one of the 5 ships they had docked on the Mississippi. When we went to visit a second later in the day, though, the lines were so long, we skipped out. We got to hear a little of the Navy Band's concert in St. Louis Cathedral, though, and 4 sailors talked to Paul (and the rest of us) on a streetcar; they started the conversation by asking him whether he wanted to join the Navy or Marine Corps ... gulp.

And then the weekend of parties ensued. Because the weather's been so wet, everything that had been cancelled in the previous weeks was rescheduled for this weekend. Wow. So, we started Saturday with our very own Easter party here at the house. We had a lovely turnout with friends - and family, thanks, Aunt Cyndi! - for a mid-morning to afternoon brunch/lunch playdate, complete with Confetti eggs and an Easter egg hunt. Then, quick! Nap! During which time I made a Costco run for another party. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

In all their chocolate glory

Saturday evening was Movies on the Point, and there was a NOLA-themed double feature of The Princess and the Frog followed by Streetcar Named Desire. The new little local art center's teachers were there with the parents' group to help kids design boxes into cars for a kids' drive-in, which was adorable! We had our po-boys while the sun was setting and enjoyed the movie once it was dark; Ada made it a little over halfway before falling asleep, and we were trying Paul out with sleeping on our blanket, too, so we could watch Streetcar, maybe? No? Ok, 20min into that one, we called it quits. Such a fun, full day.

Sunday was beautiful again, and we had our church's Eastertide hot-dog grill after Mass, hence the day before's Costco run. We had a great turnout in such nice weather, despite JazzFest going on now, too, and our mystery skywriter made a Sunday appearance, too. He's been writing positive-message-type things like love, hope, pray, think, draw, etc. And, as you see, today's was quite fitting. Sunday afternoon & evening was house-back-in-order time, and it felt so good to lounge around just us, enjoy a beer in the backyard, before Dylan made us pancakes for dinner; the kids loved it. 

And then, and then, Ada went to sleep without nursing ... and didn't wake up til (wait for it) 6am! That was 8 straight hrs of sleep for me! What the whoa - are we turning a new leaf? pleasesayyes.

Paul wore those crocs at 6mos; Ada's 15.