So many tidbits

So many things, so many little things, so many important little things going on, I just have to write, lest I forget!

Ada: She's an eager little Catholic. Let's backtrack a month or two to when she'd scream and point as I received the Eucharist. She's matured to walking in the Communion line, crossing her arms, looking content with herself, and genuflecting when leaving the pew. It's pretty much the cutest 10 minutes of Mass. She also makes the Sign of the Cross for Grace. With food in her hand while chewing, but she bows her head. It might rest on the edge of the table, but she bows her head and puts her little, sticky hands together. She's also a humming fanatic, up to almost more songs than I can keep track of: around 15 or so now. She can copy just about anything, and I've even caught her humming a Copland piece that Paul's taken to. She's starting to show some caution where caution's due, like moving well back from the oven when I go to open it or rushing to something stable to hold on to when she hears loud rumbles outside (usually just a truck or motorbike). She's not scared but unsure. She's also much more into reading and books than when she was smaller, which is wonderful! I'd wondered all sorts of things: am I not reading to her enough as an infant (like I could with Paul) because she's #2, is it just personality, what if she doesn't like to read, etc. She'll whack us with a special book of her choosing first thing in the morning, and there's nothing better in the world to do than take the (like, 2mins) time to read her a little board book. All that goes out the window when it's nap time, and we're reading a book that Paul picked. Then she's just a whiney wiggle-worm who wants down. She loves food. All food, but most especially blueberries, oatmeal, and cottage cheese all right now first thing in the morning. Must. have. blueberriesoatmeal&cheese.

Paul: He's a good little Catholic, too. He sings the Our Father with us every night, and he even stops mid-bite to put food down before saying Grace at mealtime. He builds crosses with his building blocks, saying "Look, I made this for Jesus!" Makes me laugh a little, like, welllll, very nice sentiment, and, yes, you're right in handing Jesus his cross, but I wonder if He'd accept the gift with a loving smile (of course) or a little begrudgingly... Anyway. He's matured into pronouncing "I've dot peace -ike a river" while singing instead of "Abba peeeace wike a wivver", so that's happening. Paul also is fully adept in dressing and undressing himself; shirts over the head were that last puzzle piece. And he is an absolute fish in the pool. He loves swimming, specifically jumping and swimming to us. He's under for a good few seconds, and he kicks and scoops and comes up smiling. Wears us both out! Then there are his questions: Why do Papas go to work for much of the time? Why do my teeth break my carrots? Why does my (thermochromatic) straw turn all purple but stay blue at the top (where his lips are)? There are so many awesome ones, I wish I could remember them all.

Next. We bought a house! We've been in it for just over a year already, so it may have been anticlimactic to come home and pop the champagne in an orderly living room, but moving is so stressful; I'll take anticlimactic over stressful any day. Yes, it's really exciting. Yes, it's a big opportunity. Yes, we wanted to do it. But somehow the "congrats" seem really funny. Congrats, now you owe a ton of money! Congrats, now you have an endless to-do list! Congrats, now you have to fix the power yourselves when it goes out! Congrats, you now own a mortgage! That last one was a for-real thing in the mail. It's just funny. Am I alone in seeing the humor there? I guess there's no other sentiment to share with someone. Mom and Dad sent us a card that had a doormat saying Welcome Home; that's appropriate! We celebrated with dinner at Galatoire's in the Quarter and going over to Ship Island, MS the next day -- the kids love the beach.

And then this + that photo up there of Paul, which was also post-beach:

Finally, a friend is shifting from full-time stay-at-home-momming to part-time work outside the home. She's been perfectly content, happy even, being at home, and she openly shares that she feels it's been the right thing for her & children. She's well-educated & qualified & & &, and then someone sought her out, interviewed her, and offered her the job all within a week or so. She's accepted, and she's excited about this new shift, happy that it's part-time, and hopeful about the balance it will bring her own sense of well-being. All of that is wonderful, and I've encouraged her to pray about it and follow her heart from the time she first told me. It's 2 comments on her facebook thread that got me thinking about what I want (... and how I have it!) How what we want really is different, with no single right way to go about balancing parenting & working. Two working moms chimed in to congratulate this friend on her job offer, naming one small thing they like about being working-moms. 1. No one talks to me while drinking my morning coffee. 2. No one wants to go to the bathroom with me at work. Encouraging, I get it, and true, too; but not what I want. Those words, twice, no one, really hit me. I want someone to talk to me over my coffee that gets cold. Yes, of course there are times when I would love to drink it up hot but not enough to exchange the squeaky voices and spills. A little privacy in the bathroom is also nice; not what I want. I want someone to miss me so badly for the 1 minute it's taken him (or her, at the moment!) to notice I went missing that s/he comes in grinning, showing me a toy. In fact, I've just started announcing when I'm going so as to avoid the "Mama! Where are you!" shouts, and we all just go together. Perhaps I'm naïvely thinking Little Miss will get even more interested than she already is in what's going on. (Sidenote: she sits on the toilet. Just to sit. "Do you want to tinkle?" "Mmhm." <2 seconds> "Done?" "Mmhm.") Parents have different reasons for choosing to work or choosing to stay with the kids, and maybe it's that what my work would be isn't invaluable like some professions; but there would have to be a pretty unique set of circumstances for me to accept a position at NinetoFive again. - - - Then I shared some of these thoughts with Dylan. He's nodding, and mhmming, and when I got to the bit about "I wouldn't trade hot coffee for their voices", he says, "Tell me about it." <mic drop> I wasn't thinking about him at. all. with any of this. I was thinking solely about women choosing to go to work, despite the fact that their husbands are earning sufficiently, yadda, yadda, yadda ... I'd completely forgotten about him in this thought-rant, and about how what he's doing is, of course, choice, but combined with necessity, and I got teary and hugged him and thanked him for what he does for us.

And anyway, if I went back to work, I wouldn't have time to make a bœuf bourguignon on a random Thursday. It's one of the most delicious "beef dishes concocted by man" says Julia Child. Better listen to Mrs. Child, y'all.

Lastly, Ada started soccer for the first time, as Paul started his 3rd 8-wk session. They both love it!

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...