lately

Here I am again, auto-posting a barrage of updates between month-long absences on the blog.  There just doesn't seem to be any other way for me to keep up with it all.  I am only able to sit down and write this evening because of an early dismissal from work (hurricane/flood watch) that gave me some QT with my girl earlier in the day, and thereby pushing my mommy guilt aside that I am down here typing away while she watches Harry Potter and hollers to me from the other room.  Lately, her favorite game is "I'm the mommy!" which means she pretends to leave me at school while she goes to work, and says things like "I'm so sorry I have to leave, but you have to go to school!"  and "I'm the mommy, so I pick you up and read stories and sing songs, but not until after I go to work."  Pretty much, she breaks my heart at every opportunity.

Overall, this transition for our family continues to go well.  I love my job.  The school district is, um, the best. The administration are fantastic.  My staff are supportive and capable and friendly.  The kids work hard and have all the basic skills I would ask of 7th graders.  I get to talk about Ke$ha and Gangnam Style and the Kardashians at work because, helloooo, they are 12 and we have lots in common.

It really is great.  But it continues to be a tough balancing act.  I know I sound like a broken record, and I know this isn't anything new to you parents who have been working outside of the home full-time all along, so I don't mean to sound all "Woe is me," but I do want to share the tough stuff, too.  

The tough moments occur on those mornings when Natalie wants to sleep in and cuddle and I have to, literally, pull her out of bed to make it to daycare on time.  It's tough not taking a random nap with her every now and then, just for the fun of it.  It's tough pinning all kinds of fun activities to do with her, and never taking the time to actually plan out an afternoon to accomplish some of that stuff. 

Our weekends are all about recovery--we hunker down, snuggle up, and sleep as much as possible.  I haven't felt like the creative & fun mommy that I liked being when I was home the majority of the week.  Our house is constantly covered in a layer of mud and peanut butter and leaf remnants, and I don't want to waste any precious time cleaning it up when it means I'm giving up playtime with Nat.  Or, let's be honest, a nap for me.

I'm not alone in this, right?  I know I keep asking, but here I go again... What are you doing to balance home and work?

big girl bed!

Okay, let the pointing and laughing commence over us keeping Natalie in a crib until she was over two and a half years old.  Seriously, the kid never once tried to climb out & we have a very steep flight of stairs outside of her room to contend with--we were quite happy to keep her in the confines of her crib for as long as possible.  The little budgie has been more interested in sharing our bed than spending the full night in her own lately, though, which we thought was in part because a real bed is way more comfortable.  We decided to cash in the Big Girl Bed Coupon that Nat's Bampa and Mimi gifted her for her second birthday and start the transformation from nursery to big girl bedroom.

Last Saturday, the bed arrived!  Natalie was over the moon when the delivery men arrived.  "Where the mans go?" she asked when they would go back out to their truck to get tools or her mattress.  She insisted on staying in her room and watching the (very patient, very sweet, very kid-friendly) delivery-men put her bed together.  As soon as they were gone, she jumped on the bed non-stop for ten minutes or so, and then cuddled right in when I put on her new bedding.  Girlfriend was THRILLED.

Part of the transformation of her room included taking out her changing table at last, rearranging some other items in the room, and adding a little tent for a reading nook.  I followed this pattern (and consulted this one and this one, too), which was remarkably easy.  Very little measuring, and only required two flat twin sheets and a couple of yards of ribbon.

Nat's first night in her bed was a great success--she conked out with no difficulty, after a sneaky little solo tea party.  We found her like this, on top of the covers with all of her books piled on her pillow and every piece of play food in her room next to her.

a blurry happy mess

Dishes piled up this weekend.  Floors went unswept.  Toys remained strewn about every room.  Laundry that was washed on Saturday remains in the dryer this morning.  

We let the house-upkeep stuff go in favor of a fall fun weekend.  Saturday was cool and clear, so we set up a tent in the backyard, jumped in leaf piles, drank apple cider, and toasted marshmallows over a fire.  

Sunday was rainy--probably a perfect day for catching up on housework.  We figured we'd let it slide in favor of movies & pajamas & leftover Chinese takeout.

The chores can wait, amirite?

we're beautiful, like diamonds in the sky

oh, ya know, just livin' like we gonna die young.

making mornings work

Mornings are tough around here these days.  It's always a challenge to get all 3 of us dressed and fed and out the door on time, and Natalie has added some new fun to the mix by occasionally deciding to sleep in for the first time in her life.  Several people have asked me what things we're doing to make the weekday mornings work for us, and the truth is that I really don't have any innovative solutions.  Pretty much, we scramble like mad from 5:30 until 6:15 when Mike is out the door, and then I continue scrambling until 6:45 when I pack Natals up for daycare and speed on down the road.  So far, we've made it work every day of this school-year, which is no small feat.  I'm just waiting for the inevitable sick days and snowy roads that will get in the way of our pretty flawless track record, but in the meantime we are plugging away.

A few things that have helped us out along the way are:

- Packing lunches for all 3 of us the night before.  We take turns packing Natalie's food so it doesn't feel like such a chore for one person, and we make ourselves get our lunch boxes ready, too.

- Set out clothes the night before.  Sensing a theme?  Anything we can do before the pre-dawn alarm clock helps us make it out on time.  Clothes for all 3 of us are out and ready to go by Nat's bedtime.

- We get to bed early.  It has been a rather depressing transition from summer bedtime to school bedtime, but it is keeping us sane.  We do a little racing around between the end of the day and Nat's bath, and then settle in for a bit of quality couple-time before conking for the night by 9:30.

- Giving ourselves a little cushion of time.  We have a window to work with when it comes to daycare departure time, which means that if Natalie is ready to go we have the reward of some quality time in the front seat with me while we wait for daycare to open, and if she's running late then I just have to do a drop and dash.  She much prefers the former, which is a great coercion tool in the AM hours--"Don't you want special time in the car with Mommy?"  

-  We meal-plan.  This one has been another toughie after a summer of free-livin', but it is so much easier to turn on the crockpot in the morning and come home to a meal than start cooking after being on my feet all day.  We cook more on the weekends and enjoy leftovers during the week, and rely on the crockpot a TON.

- We use the weekend for cleaning, and have learned to accept a messier way of living.  In truth, we have become pretty good about doing little things each day to keep the household running smoothly (garbage/compost/vacuum/laundry/toy box/etc.) and then just force ourselves to devote a weekend morning to a mad dash of scrubbing.  And that's it.  We start the week with what we've got, and have chosen that dirty floors are preferable to a night without toddler-snuggles.  

What things are you doing to make workday mornings run more smoothly??  I'm looking for any tips you have!

steppin' out saturday: fall fun at home

I know, I'm actually writing a blog post AND linking up.  Things must be wild around here, right?

This past weekend was just right for recuperating after my 7th grade field trip (3 days & 2 nights in a cabin with no heat & no electricity & tons of giggly boy talk); the rain forced us to stay in and rest up together, with just a quickie outing on Saturday afternoon to go grocery shopping and get the goods for an evening of brownie sundaes & carving pumpkins.

On Mama:  Shirt dress:  Old Navy // Boots:  JCP // Scarf:  Mace's (local) // Sunnies:  Betsey Johnson @ TJ Maxx

On the budgie:  Leggings & dress & jacket all thrifted & gifted by the Nana-sitter

The best part of the weekend was definitely getting some quality time doing fall stuff with my honeys.  We devoured brownies while watching "Hook," scooped seeds from the pumpkins grown in Nana and Poppy's garden, and played chase all over the house.  Second best part?  NAPS FOR ALL.

feeling fallish

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Our days have been pretty packed of late, between work & play & more work & cold season.  We've been  too busy for me to sit down and bang out a few words on the blog, which is both awesome (yay for lots of fun stuff to do!) and depressing (boooo to such extreme exhaustion at the end of each day!).  

This rainy Sunday has so far provided me with the exact circumstances I need to actually follow through on blogging a bit:  breakfast out on the town as a family, looooong nap, solo time while Mike and Natals are at the Children's Museum.  I'm here in the shadowy dark of our dining room, looking around at a house that is still in complete disarray from our week, but I have decided that quiet time in front of the computer is way more fun than digging in to the cleaning supplies at the end of my weekend.  Brownies & coffee & Pinterest ftw!

I wanted to share a couple of pictures that at least give a little glimpse at our last week or so, just to prove that we have not completely gone off the grid.  

Above, our first day of apple picking, on a gorgeous mid-week afternoon.  Having a little something fun to do as a family after work absolutely makes my week.  

Last weekend we got a quick little visit in with Nat's Gma and Gpa, who drove all the way from NY just to spend a night with their girl.  It was another dreary one, which meant we mostly hunkered down at home together and let the kiddo entertain us.

This past week I was away from home for two nights, which hasn't happened in, oh, a year.  I chaperoned the 7th grade ecology field trip with the rest of my team at work, which meant sleeping in a cold cabin with ten 12-year olds and making sure their boy talk didn't verge on the inappropriate.  It was a great trip, all told, but I missed home something fierce.  It has been drizzly and chilly all weekend, which has been perfect for getting into the fall spirit of things with pumpkin carving and hot chocolate and witch window-clings.  

Don't be alarmed, but I am planning on getting a couple of posts up DURING THE WORKWEEK.  I know.  It's shocking.  Crossing my fingers that I follow through.  If not, see you back here next Sunday!