Last Days in Minnesota

My, oh, my, was it busy the last 2 weeks in Minnesota! First off, Paul's lip's healed splendidly.

Next up, since last post, we went on a "date" with the Momtime group (a chance for us to meet everyone's husbands and talk as couples, not just moms), we made huge strides with packing (and have obviously finished, as we're now down South), visited a couple of playgrounds for the ever-more-able-to-climb Paul, found a groove for Adeline to enjoy being "worn", namely facing outward in the Björn, dealt with a few more tantrums (but P's done extremely well with packing!), Ada's had more and more nights with 6 or 7 hr sleep stretches, Dylan's interviewed for work in NOLA, Paul had his last Mommy & Me class, he fell again at Heidi's and then the majority of the rest of this post: our last trip up to the Cities for Dylan's graduation from the Catholic Studies Master's program, our last hoorah with friends, and packing.

We drove up to St. Paul on Friday the 23rd, and Ada cried, no, screamed, but she was fed & dry. Just doesn't like car rides ... greeeeat. We stayed with Pete & Denise and thoroughly enjoyed visiting with them - about their little one due in September & their recent trip to Rome. We also attended the baccalaureate Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul. Saturday morning got going early for D's graduation ceremony. It was wonderful to celebrate his accomplishment together. It was also kind of funny: a big milestone, yes, but he'd finished 6 months earlier, and it was just us. 

I had Pauly in the stroller, and Ada sacked out in the Björn.

After the ceremony in Minneapolis, we drove to St. Paul for a reception at the Catholic Studies building. It was a lovely day out, and Dylan had a nice chance to wrap up and say goodbye to his professors. And, there, Paul sacked out.

Next up was nap time at the Bivers. We just walked into their quiet house - as they were all napping, too - put our kids down, and I laid on the sofa to nap while Dylan made a few last-time errands around St. Paul. We loved visiting with Mike & Colleen - and seeing their 7 golden puppies! - before heading to Minnehaha Falls for a little farewell BBQ.

Pete & Denise came as well as a few others, and we had a great time. As it got later, and folks started having to go home, it saddened us to say goodbye to our dear friends. Got a little teary. On the way out of the park, Dylan said, "Welp, that's the hardest part of leaving Minnesota behind us now. Onward." Indeed.

The next day was our last Mass at St. Augustine's, and we'll hold that place dear, too. We connected with Fr. Jim Steffes, and we'd never felt as much a part of a parish since being married. I hope we'll find something as good in NOLA.

3 days left. Memorial Day was pretty chilled with a bonfire and burgers and an hour or so at the playground. Paul's getting so agile and strong! Tuesday was Dylan's last day of work, and I met him and all of his co-workers for lunch. They all had such lovely things to say about him to me, and I'm proud of him for making such positive connections during his short stint in Austin. Wednesday was packing day! And this is what Ada has to say about it:

We woke early to drive to get the Penske truck, and mid-morning, our truck-packing team showed up. With a notebook. Saying to write any questions or directions down for them. Because they're deaf. The whole team! It was really awesome. And it was so quiet. No arguing (that we could understand, anyway), and, for us, so stress-free. Until the end, that is, when their time was up, our packed things were in the truck ... and there was a lot of stuff not in the truck. What. Ok, I'll wake up at 3am and go ahead anyway because the kids are ready to go, and Dylan'll stay behind to tie the loose ends. He'll catch up at the hotel. No, we'll all stay and just leave later in the day. No, we'll shift everything a day. Yes, that's it. So, Dylan rented an add-on U-haul trailer on Thursday morning, we packed it up by naptime, had a last impromptu playdate with Heidi, Molly, and Baby Drew even though we'd said our goodbyes the night before at their house (They were kind enough to make us dinner on our "last night" as everything was packed up)! And then we took Paul to a last playground in Austin before early to bed.

2:30am would come around awfully quickly.

May 28, 2014: Madeline Therese Biver was born at 5:08am weighing 7lbs 9oz. I hugged and kissed all the Bivers in spirit and am looking forward to meeting sweet little Bit-o-Honey the next time we get together.

Cute things

I'm going to tell you about all of the cute things both Paul & Adeline did this week...

...whilst rolling my eyes because Paul won't stay in bed at naptime and is shouting "open the doooor", hence waking Ada. Sheesh.

Paul tried to tell Ada "Guten Morgen" but doesn't say g, yet, so it came out "oot Mornin, Baby!" Evidently, English is just toddler German.

Ada smiled big, big at funny noises and then switched to pursed lips and an eyebrow raised at the same funny noise that was slightly louder. 

While I was away for a minute from Paul, he dragged his little, white rocking chair over to the sliding glass door, and I came back to find him watching the birds & squirrels, rocking.

Ada laughed! Big, silly grin laugh that meant true amusement - and we caught it on camera!

Paul started kissing whatever he hurts on me, Papa, or Baby but instead of a kiss noise, he says out loud "Muaaah".

Ada rolled! So, less cute, but still very exciting =) And right on the same schedule as Paul - neat!

While speaking of "on schedule", it was this week last year that Paul fell and knocked his tooth out. This year? He falls down Heidi's front stoop and busts his lip. The swelling's gone down a ton since then, but it still looks uncomfortable. This is smiling:

Oh, and he spelled! Sort of. He recognized which letter's we were saying, anyway, pointed to them and told us their colors. Neat! Also caught on camera.

Ada found her fingers and, instead of choosing one, tries to stuff the whole fist in her mouth.

Shy little Paul said "Buh-bye" to my whole catechism class of 7th graders, ha. They got a kick outta that. 

Ada woke early from nap (man!), and when I went in to her, one arm was free from the swaddle just flinging around, and she smiled at me. Stinker.

And I think that might be it for this week. In other news, we are exactly 2 weeks from sleeping in our new (to us) house in New Orleans. We have exactly 7% of the house packed up, and instead of packing more last weekend, we had friends over for a big pancake breakfast and went out to dinner with other friends on Saturday and then just relaxed on Mother's Day with Minnesota's Biggest Donut like we've got all the time in the world. Should probably do a little more this weekend... Oh, and since we have so much time on our hands, Ginny's been ever so kind as to online dress shop for me (a combo of two things I'm terrible at: online shopping and dress shopping) for Heather's wedding. I get a package in the mail next week, woo!

Also, can you handle all of this cute? (I know it's an Ada-heavy post, but others have more Paul, so it's ok.)

Here comes the sun!

And it certainly has been a long, cold, lonely winter, so bring it on!

We've eaten outside for lunch and/or dinner 4 different days this week, Adeline's shown that she does indeed approve of babywearing (only in the Björn, though), and we've taken walks both into town and to a friend's house. This week gets a thumbs-up!

Let's just not think too long or hard about the 2yo tantrums for giving him the pineapple that he requested, having to leave the construction site after an already 15min visit, or any number of other (to me) little things that don't quite fit into his idea of the-way-things-should-be. But he does like a good snack and spying on the neighbors:

Just to get a little glimpse into our routine ... Lately, our day's begun with Paul around 7am and Ada somewhere between 8:30-9:30. She takes 2 little 20-min catnaps before naptime at 1pm. (Yes, it's regularly been at the same time for both of them, yuussssss!) Paul gets up at 2:30, and she'll stay down til 4. Then there's dinner at 6 and bed at 8. Ada's been in bed within a few minutes of Paul, but he gets out of bed at least 3 times before calling it quits somewhere between 8:30-9pm. Mama & Papa are just having too much fun without him - doing dishes, folding clothes, internetting, or otherwise catching up on stuff. He did catch us having a glass of wine and ice cream one night, though, and that was pretty fun.

Dylan: It's duck-face and a selfie. Perfect.

Not too much on the moving front. Not too much on any front, really. Things are just winding down - Paul's Mama&Me class has just another day or two as well as my Wednesday 7th grade catechism class, and I already mentioned that Momtime is almost done, too. Seems a pretty appropriate time to have a shift, then, really. Except that summer in MN is beautiful ... this year made us wonder if it fully makes up for the 6-month winter, though; we concluded no, no it does not. The next wonder-ment, then, is if we're ready for the heat & humidity!

*Dear Lord, help me to not complain about the heat & humidity. At least this year.*

Oh! And again with the beans. Apparently I didn't read the last post, and we had red beans & rice for dinner on Thursday. Thursday night, you ask? Yeah, not good.

And now for the postpartum new 'do:

May already!

The weather. C'mon! The last days of April brought us a light dusting of snow as well as a couple of rough nights with Adeline, poor little gassy dear. (Note: no more beans for lunch.) The second of the rough nights was followed by a doozy of a day for me. Dylan and I were both so tired, he scooted out the door for work before we could have coffee ... and therefore I had no coffee. And learned that I may have a slight addiction. Headache. Foul mood. Paul suddenly became annoying, and Ada wouldn't eat (she must really dislike beans!). I had a pep-talk from good friend, Heidi, about all of us having "those days" every now and again and welcomed the freely-given "You're a great mom - you just need some sleep" spiel from Dylan when he got home.

Next day? Great! Same stinkin' ol' weather, but we got out of the house even earlier than on time (what what!), and both kiddos were in good spirits. Apparently Ada prefers tacos to beans on toast. I do, too, Ada. Atta girl.

Yes, I had a cuppa coffee that day.

Anyway, I was reminiscing about the days of "just 1", as I do when I feel overwhelmed by 2, and I noticed that I very closely watched Paul grow to 2 yrs. Everyone says, gosh it goes so fast. Or, where did the time go? Or, and then - bam - they're in high school. But I feel like I could give you a thousand specifics about any given thing regarding Paul's first 2 years. They were relatively slow-paced with, clearly, tons of 1-on-1 time. These last three months Gosh, it's gone so fast! Where did the time go? Bam - he's already in high school! Well, practically! All of a sudden, he's a little boy. With little boy mannerisms, preferences, opinions, and thoughts, however concisely voiced. It saddens me a little but is also exciting. What a strange thing.

Things are getting pretty real with the move, too. Dylan's been collecting boxes from the liquor store, and I think we have 2, maybe?, boxes of books packed. Woo! At this rate, we'll be in NOLA around Thanksgiving. I'm expecting that one of these days will put enough fire under me to just. get. going. and, like my Momma says, take things off the walls. Then it'll look like we're moving, and it'll be a constant in my mind ... rather than an "oh yeah, we're moving."

I've only got 3 Friday Momtimes left. I've enjoyed that and will miss it.

Cute, huh?

He is risen! He is risen, indeed, alleluia! Happy 3rd week of Easter! To celebrate, instead of going out, we're cooking a fancier than usual meal at home with ingredients we usually can't afford. We'll even break out the fine china again =). We may also have some especially delicious cookies. Paul and I decorated some more eggs this week, too. I realized that dyeing boiled eggs is great, but then you eat 'em. This time, I blew out raw eggs, and we dyed the empty shells to last the rest of the season.

Relief & Celebration

Dylan passed the Louisiana bar exam! They posted results today. Dylan was anxiously checking the webpage's "passed" section because he desperately wanted to buy I-passed-the-bar-donuts for his office. I called his work number, and he didn't answer; I called his cell and asked, "Are you out buying donuts?" "Yeeeeess!" "Woohoo!!" =) And now we're in the clear to really make preparations for our move to New Orleans. Lease is signed for a shotgun house on Algiers Point! Whoa. Things are gettin' real.

It's a beautiful ANZAC Day today, and Adeline's 3month birthday, and cousin Ahlwan's 1-year birthday. When it's lovely, warm, and sunny out, it's pretty easy to think how precious and sweet the kiddos are. I mean, I know that they are precious; but Wednesday and Thursday of this week were grey and rainy, and it's a lot harder to see through the bleak to the sweet. Today, though, man -- they're angels ;). Yesterday, in actuality, was quite nice. All 3 of us were lying on the floor, Ada in the middle, and I read Edward the Emu, oh, 6 times in a row to us. Paul kept requesting "eemooo, eemooo", so I kept on going. And Ada looked at the big, simple illustrations, too! It was a really sweet half-hour or so. Then, in the evening, Paul was helping Papa in the kitchen as I was nursing Ada on the living room floor, and he would run in to us, kiss Ada's head, pat my hair, then run back to Papa. Gah. Cute attack.

We've kept Easter on our minds this week via extra treats after dinner, and Paul likes to read The Tale of the Three Trees with me - he has his abridged, board book kids' copy while I have the big-person copy. We want to do something special for the Sunday dinners during Eastertide, but now all of a sudden there's so much to celebrate: dinner out tonight for the Bar, and this Sunday JPII and Pope John XXIII will be canonized! Wow! We'll have kielbasa & gelato to celebrate - yum.

And now for some outdoor kid love:

Happy Easter!

The Lord is risen - let the 50 days of Easter celebration commence!

Things have only gone smoother - or shall I say, been less of a roller-coaster - since the last post. Mike, Colleen, (goddaughter) Kate, and "Lil Bit-o-Honey" (due in May!) came to visit on a Saturday, Paul, Ada, & I had a pretty normalized week, and then there was Easter. And now here we are!

Last week seems Ada's hit her stride. In fact, the day after The Bivers were over, she even had her first laugh! Dylan would cough kind of at her / in her face, and she thought it was a riot; Dylan got a sore throat. She started smiling at random things and at us whenever we looked at her, she spent much more awake&happy time during the day, and she plummeted in crying time. She's also trying to work out a pretty even nap/sleep schedule; she sleeps from 9pm-ish for about 12 hours (with nurse breaks, of course), dozes for about 15-30min somewhere in the morning & again at lunch, then goes down for a good 2-3hours around 2ish. Not bad, I say! Even the thought of sorta finding a routine comforts and relaxes me. I knew I like a good pattern, but I didn't realize how much the chaos of an infant throws me off =).

Then on to Easter. First, on Good Friday, all 4 of us participated in the walking Stations of the Cross from St. Augustine's to St. Edward's here in town - a mile+ apart. Saturday we laid low, or tried to anyway! That evening got going with a few Easter preparations once the kiddos were asleep - decorating, setting the table, etc. Sunday morning was packed full! We started with egg-dying and hot-cross-bun-baking, then moved on to Mass preparations (it was so full we had to sit in separate pews), then a quick lunch before both Paul & Ada napped at the same time. Dylan and I had cuppas & snacks on the deck in the warm sunshine - aah! Then we had a roast lamb dinner. All in all, I'd say it was a beautiful day together.

Up from the Downs

Two weeks have never* been more different.

*ok, an exaggeration, but still.

Last week was the pits. This week's been not only just manageable ... but (mostly) nice! I didn't even want to post anything last week for lack of things worth mentioning except perhaps my dabbling in postpartum depression checklists to see what actually counts. I'd been thinking, OK, I'm 10 weeks postpartum ... when does the "blues" period technically end and something more serious start? What I found is that it's not that simple or clear-cut. And what I decided I really needed was a day spent with Colleen - and a naptime where all 3 kids slept simultaneously to gift us with a good ol' talk. She didn't necessarily say anything that others hadn't before - a lot of women feel like you do, it's just a phase, etc - but it's Colleen! And she does have a certain way of saying things that helps me get out of my head. Plus, since I know she's, shall we say, Irish-spirited?, I know she's not making light of what I relate to her.

So, that was Tuesday of this week after being mostly irritable, hard to please, and short-tempered with Paul & Dylan last week. Then, ta-da, Wednesday's 2-year-old tantrum comes, and I laugh, talk softly, and handle Paul differently ... getting better results; imagine that.

I won't deny that warmer weather has played its part. Snow has melted, and breezes are warmer, so little Ada doesn't "oo oo oo" every time it blows, and then scream. I was afraid she didn't like outside ... and that just wouldn't fly with her big brother who *must* be outside. Once last week, I was, pardon, damned if I do, damned if I don't. Paul screamed to get out or Ada screamed once we were out ... question of whose cry is worse to endure, ugh.

In the last two weeks since posting, we've gotten a bit more of a rhythm down around the Knoll house. Lil Bit has calmed her evenings (yes!), Paul is easy to bed at 8, and then Ada has gone down (more or less) around 9, woken once to nurse, and then slept til 9 or 9:30. I like this schedule! Being too close to the forest to see the trees, I needed to have the goodness of our schedule pointed out to me. But I get it now, so we're good.

Last week's blah-state:

Watching Thomas...

Naptime at the Bivers:

This week's outdoors play/nap: