February in review/March goals

 Well. I mean. The world seems pretty bleak. It’s hard to reconcile that with the lovely time we’re having in our own little house.

Partially this is because of Minnie. She is a solid 25 pounds of stompy delight. And have I mentioned that she’s interextual? WELL SHE IS. She loves the book Grumpy Monkey, about a monkey who is in a bad mood for no reason. She makes a Grumpy Monkey faces and when she’s feeling grumpy herself, she pounds her chest like the monkey in the story. WELL! The other day, we checked out Regina Is NOT a Little Dinosaur at the library, and she pointed to a picture of the dinosaur looking mad and pounded her chest like Grumpy Monkey. So smart! So cute!

Just in time for hockey season to be over, we have finally settled into a comfortable routine and can manage all of our commitments.

We have made our peace this month with postponing our house search for 6-12 months and have committed to small home improvement projects in the meantime.

School is going pretty well (with some hiccups) for everyone, and we were surprised and delighted by the district’s conservative approach to abandoning masks.

Ben and I have yet to go out together since Minnie was born (and I have yet to sleep through an entire night), but we are finding time to spend with each other and are generally having so much fun with our kids at these particular ages and stages.

We are throwing an at-home birthday party for Dorothy, and I am SO EXCITED about it. 

Work is SO BUSY but also just lovely and so much fun. I am actually excited about the end of masks on my campus because my students are just so darn happy about it.

This is the first moment since the pandemic began that I feel like things are really getting back to normal… just as the world falls apart.

March Goals:

Increase my workout intensity. I did this by accident the other day by ramping my elliptical machine up a level, and… it is something I need to do on the regular.

Track my food intake on My Fitness Pal. 

Wear lipstick.

Spend 1:1 time with Cooper, Jack, and Dorothy, you know, the MIDDLE KIDS.

Gets plenty of 1:1 attention:

And just like that... screen time (sigh)

 I showed the kids Center Stage, and they did not love it, and now I don't even know what to think about them. IT IS THE BEST DANCE MOVIE OF ALL TIME.

Minnie is addicted to Frozen, and it is astounding how fast we went from people who never let our toddler have a screen to people who let our toddler watch Frozen. Both Frozens, actually, because she specifies with her fingers whether she wants to want 1 or 2.

I blame Disney+, really. We always had the TV on in the basement when other kids were home because they were generally watching TV, and Minnie never even glanced at it. Ben and I also watch the news every morning in bed with Minnie, and she reads books or flips through Chatbooks picture albums without any interest in the glowing talking box.

But then. One day. Dorothy, in a fit of nostalgia, turned on Frozen. At first, Minnie was only into the music and stopped playing during the songs to dance. We thought this was really cute, so we started playing the songs for her on Alexa. She also got a Fisher Price Elsa castle and some really awesome wooden Frozen blocks for Christmas, along with a ride-on toy and a blue tooth mic-- not because she was a fan but because SO MANY toddler toys are just plastered with Anna and Elsa. We also unpacked Dorothy's 2T clothes and found, um, a lot of Anna and Elsa prints.

Well, as you might imagine, listening to the songs became watching the songs became watching the movie became watching the second movie, and now she is the biggest Frozen fan in the universe.

Here I am actively encouraging her to watch Encanto so at least I can listen to something else, ie BEING A TERRIBLE PARENT.

Screen-free life was good (and so delightfully smug) while it lasted.

Notes from a snow day!

 We watched basically every other school district within 100 miles of us cancel school Monday night, but our kids' district was silent. The boys were pretty angry about it when they went to bed, and I will admit, I was annoyed as well. I mean, lots of Madison teachers have little kids and live in other (cancelled) districts AND our district is short on teachers and subs thanks to the pandemic. So it didn't seem possible that we'd have school Tuesday just based on projected staff absences alone--not to mention the ICE STORM that was raging outside.

When I woke up at 1 am Tuesday morning to feed Minnie (SHE HAS STARTED EAKING UPO EVERY 2 HOURS AND IT'S MURDER-- but very warm and snuggly murder) and get a jump start on the day's Wordle, there was a text from the district cancelling school. BECAUSE DUH.

My annoyance completely faded by 7 because the kids found out by watching the crawl on the bottom of the morning news, and that is a SUPER RETRO way to find out. They were thrilled, and we had such a fun day.

Jack made his wonderful cookies (he makes THE BEST chocolate chip cookies). Harry and Cooper turned the hockey rink into a curling... area? Not sure what you call curling ice. Minnie and Dorothy played with kinetic sand. We all lazed around during nap time. Harry got to slide down the street and celebrate his friend's 16th birthday (a snow day is a great bday gift). I made spaghetti sauce from scratch, and the kids played trivia for our elementary school (and got some questions wrong and turned on each other in a way that was HILARIOUS).

Basically, I adored our day, and I think they did, too.

Weekend

Future Olympian

The future Olympian is having a hard time with the absence of her morning nap

Isn't she the sweetest sleeper?

Such a cute little mess-maker

Dorothy got a hair cut!

The girls and I ran to the store for a pre-dinner lemon, and it felt so normalish.

Minnie likes ice cream. (And she learned how to unzip herself)

It was 50 degrees today!!!!

Glorious

Dorothy graciously let Minnie play with this castle on the floor instead of on the bench. It was a game changer.

SUCH A HELPER.

 

Welcome to the World, Minnie

 SO. My campus is dropping masks. My county is dropping masks. They haven’t announced yet, but I am 99% sure my kids’ school district is dropping masks. And in a stunning reversal, I SIGNED MIINIE UP FOR THE LITTLE GYM starting next week.

This week, we started taking her out for small adventures—the library, the grocery store, the shoe store, another cheese-focused grocery store (I freaking love Wisconsin). And she LOVES these little trips so much. Last year, it was no big deal to keep her home. I mean, where else should babies even go? But now that she is more toddler than baby, I think she really needs to see the world as safely as we can show it to her. We already decided no 2 year-old preschool since baby vaccines are still not a thing, so in the meantime, we are going to be back on the Big! Red! Mat!

Cross your fingers that no one gets the vid. 

SUCH a helper, you guys

She wore her mask the whole time (and she even says mask)

She walked into Stride Rite in her size 3 Uggs and walked out in size 6 wide gym shoes. OOPS.

Grumpy

 I AM THE GRUMPY MONKEY today. GAH. Like, it has been a perfectly fine day— nice, even— and yet I am SO FREAKING GRUMPY. You can always tell that I am in a snit when I don’t post any IG stories in a 24-hour period.

Part of my problem is straight up hormones (ovulation? PMS? WHO THE HELL KNOWS), but part of it is this radiant little cherub, who is sleeping like crap. Last night, she woke up at 12:15 which was like a giant middle finger because I didn’t go to bed until 11. And then she woke up again at 4 and didn’t want to go back to sleep. Finally at 5, I woke Ben up, and he slept on the floor of her room while I went back to sleep. But then I was late because I slept through my alarm and could only work out for 20 minutes which is fine because I walk a lot on campus but… Well. You get it.

E

Ben sent this (and then one above). Best commute face ever?

I have been trying to implement a specific gratitude practice to combat the grumps. When I think of something crappy, I immediately think of at least 2 things I am grateful for. This has really helped me not give voice to a bad mood. **shrugs**

Much to be grateful for, you know?

I am also trying to assume that everyone around me acts out of good intentions— this is new because I usually assume everyone is an asshole.

On a more practical level— acupuncture, massage, and a hair cut are on the calendar. Phew!

Monday musings, masks, Vday, etc.

 Actual footage of me working at my desk today.

J/K but not really.

My county just announced that masks are no longer required indoors on March 1, and I am kind of freaking out. I mean, sure, we never go inside places anyway, so who cares, but also YIKES. Especially with baby vaccines a long time coming. It makes me feel like a lot of our options are curtailed, even with Minnie wearing a KN95. Bah humbug.

We had a lovely Valentine date night in on Saturday. I even drank a glass of champagne! Crazy, right? We went shopping by ourselves for fancy snacks and ate them alone without the boys, who usually hang out with us until bedtime. It was… fun.

I even bought new PJs for the occasion

We had the most amazing gluttonous Super Bowl spread and then Harry went to a party and now we have SO MUCH left over. Bonus meal tonight for the kids for sure! I am already eating too much and feeling crappy about it, so not for me because DAMN I AM OLD.

Speaking of old! Minnie loved the half time show:

So much so that she danced right into the wall:

I definitely forgot to make heart-shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and the little kids were kind of pissed about it, to be honest. Old me would have gotten all pissy because I actually did a lot for Vday morning (got cupcakes ready for their class parties, packed up their Valentines and other party supplies, write out cards for everyone, wrapped up gifts, bought everyone a Russel Stover heart-shaped box of chocolates and laid it out at their breakfast seat), but instead I just apologized and braided Dorothy’s hair into a heart. **shrug**

More complaints

 I really want to be asleep right now because the world’s crabbiest toddler is asleep, and her naps are inversely proportional to her moods (did I say that right? I meant the crabbier she is the shorter she sleeps), but I wrote in my goddamn planner that I would blog three times this week, and if my planner says it, then I do it.

So some various things:

I thought that I would just stop taking birth control and get instantly skinny **pause for laughter**

I am so over everyone who is over the pandemic. Like, you guys! I also want my kids to be able to be mask-free, but I want them to BE ABLE to be. I don’t just want the loudest voices to demand it and officials to acquiesce because politics. Yes, the virus WILL BE endemic, but right now, too many people are dying for us to think that way. ESPECIALLY since baby vaccines have been delayed until at least April. GAH.

Jack did not have school today, and he made the best cookies in the world (and let’s just circle back to item #1). I would link the recipe, but I did not ask him for it on purpose because so not at my idea weight for these pants/any pants/ who needs pants anyway.

Do you love how busy the is? I love how busy she is.

Ready to teach! These 3M masks are the best

Eating other, lesser cookies from earlier in the week

Little hockey player

Library for Minnie! Like Before Times! (Almost)

 Minnie wore a mask! Inside the library! For like 15 minutes. Then she ripped it off and stuck her fingers in her mouth but baby steps! And no, she is under 2 and exempt from mask orders, but I figured if she would wear one, why not? After she took it off, she explored the empty teen area and just sort of ran around the adult room aimlessly. It was fun and so normal(ish).

Then she came home and took a FORTY FIVE MINUTE NAP ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I had to work, so she watched some Frozen and TOOK OFF HER DIAPER AND PEED ON THE FLOOR for some reason.

But there was warm banana bread for snack, so that was awesome.

She loves when the big kids finally get home.