Thursday, May 31, 2012

Friends

A glimpse of the fun we had in Nashville last month!


I didn't even shed a tear

while packing up Jon's baby toys!  Is it wrong that I am proud of myself? 



Jon has started sleeping in a toddler bed (i.e. his crib with a side removed),


of which he is immensely proud, and we have also started a more intensive phase of potty training (involving a sticker chart, and spending half my day perched on the tub while I coax Jon into peeing in the potty....it is not working in case you were wondering).  With all of this big boy stuff, a limited amount of space in our apartment, and an itch to organize, the baby toys have been cleaned and packed away in a storage bin.

Also of importance is that the original due date for baby #2 would have been this Saturday.  I am holding up amazingly well, compared to how I thought I would be feeling at this time.  Although I am still sad, and sometimes still pause painfully when I see a pregnant woman, I have come to grips with reality.  Packing away baby stuff is helping me with that, since I had 'planned' to have kids so close together that there would be no need to pack up baby stuff for a while, or convert Jon's crib to a toddler bed.  Making these small, and ostensibly insignificant steps feels to me much more of embracing the future as it comes, being content with my current circumstances.


A Comparison

What a difference 20 months makes...


Western Swing & Texas Natural Festival

We enjoyed a festival a few weeks ago, held on the lawn of our town square.  We live about a quarter mile from our square, and I pass it nearly every day when I walk to run various errands.  Jon and I were walking home from the Activity Center (spin class), and stopped to listen to the music.  Then we saw all the fun, free kids activities and called Jonathan to walk over and join us.  We ended up eating lunch at the pizza place on the square and made a day of it!  A wonderful, unplanned family day : )

A stagecoach that the kids were actually allowed to play in! (Under the watchful eye of a historical society docent)

Painting a cowboy hat

Listening to the Western Swing music.  Willie Nelson was not there...

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Never thought I would miss...

running and washing dishes.  But today I enjoyed both of them! 

Some of you know that I (maybe) tore my right ACL in December.  Walking over a baby gate while holding Jon.  NEVER walk over a baby gate. Ever.  Just my advice : )  After 6 months of rehab at home, doing strength exercises, water aerobics, Zumba, and Spinning classes, I think my knee may be as good as it's gonna get.  I ran about a mile a month ago with another library mom, and most of that run I was huffing and puffing to keep up with her.  This morning I ran about two miles with my husband, and it felt great!  I ran the whole time, never felt like I had to stop, and didn't feel even a slight twinge in my knee.  Yay!  I never thought I would miss running so much, but being forced to stop definitely made me appreciate it.

Our kitchen plumbing also backed up on Friday (we are on the ground floor of a three-story apartment building, so everything that our upstairs neighbors put down their drains ends up in our kitchen plumbing).  It being a long weekend, we went four long days without a kitchen sink or dishwasher.  I prepped as much food as I could at home, but we also ate out about once a day.  I got pretty bent out of shape by having to pile up dishes on the counter.  Some of you may find this hard to believe, as you have been over to my apartment PLENTY of times when dishes were stacked up on the counter ; )  But I honestly have been doing much better at housekeeping this past year, and one of those things is washing dishes promptly.  So to have that taken away from me for four days was no fun.  A wonderful plumber came out today, used a zany machine, and our plumbing problem was gone.  I actually enjoyed washing that huge pile of dishes!!