April Updates

::: How these months keep just flying by, I seriously don't even know. I feel like I just flipped my calendar to read April, and now, it's gone.  

Overall - we had a great April. Chicago gave us two legit snow storms and more days in the 70's than normal, so it's been a little all over the place, but we've tried to keep busy and make the best of it. 

 

::: One of the best things the Easter bunny brought us is this driveway gate. We love it. Our driveway has a slight slope, so it stops balls and cozy coupes from rolling straight into the street, and it gives the kids a nice visual of where to stop - plus, no one pulls in while we're out playing. Tons of people have pulled over to ask where we got it - and the answer is obvious....amazon. 

::: Speaking of Easter - we had the best day. The weather was PERFECT - almost eighty degrees, and it just felt like the ideal Easter ever. We started the day with opening Easter baskets and heading t church, before we spent the rest of the day drinking champagne and hanging at my parents with tons of family and friends. 

 

 

 

 

::: The day before Easter, Joel ran in an ultra-marathon. He had been training and feeling great - but during his warm uprun for the race, he stepped funny and hurt his knee. He was able to run the marathon of the race, but stopped after that. We were still seriously impressed and glad that he didn't push past phyiscal pain for the mental aspect of "finishing". Still a winner in our book! 

 

::: Our basement is done!! We had the ceilings spray painted black and the dry wall painted and it looks a TON better! It's MUCH cleaner, feels much more intentional, and I am really happy with the progress. I'll try and get a post up on the basement separate to this too. 

 

::: I've been able to sneak out with my girlfriends quite a bit - from book club to beer and yoga to picnics at the park, we've had a super fun time this month. I feel like I have really started to make a great mom/friend group which has made life - and parenting - so much better.

 

 

 

:::I haven't been taking too many pictures of dinners (going to try and get somewhat better!) but here's what I was able to pull from my phone over the last month. 

cauliflower gnocchi with chicken sausage and pesto (c/o Hello Adams Family) 

 

::: Happy pictures from April 

 

March Updates

::: Spring in Chicago is so funky. We've seen great weather and some really shitty weather. Yesterday, the kids and I were having our lunch outside, had been to two parks, and I got sunburn - and today, it's snowing and I'm sitting at a wine bar with a sweater and boots on. 

 

 

::: Life's been great from all accounts. I'm finding less and less motivation to log on to this blog though. I feel like I don't have much to say or share that I'm not already sharing on Instagram. I feel the blog slowly slipping away, and that makes me pretty sad. 

::: We had the stomach flu hit our house last week and it was literal hell. We had been at a party and literally like contagion - SO many people got knocked down after 36 hours of being there - it was insane. It was the sickest Leo has ever been - and I just literally kept catching his puke in my hands. It wasn't fun but I was SO grateful that it was relatively quick moving and that everyone is back to normal. 

::: We didn't do too much for St. Patrick's day. We took the opportunity for a cute photo op on our holiday shirts, and shared corned beef dinner with both of our parents at dinner. It was perfect. 

::: Are you watching Summer House? I think it's a few years old but I just got into it, and I'm obsessed. Given the choice, I would totally rather watch Summer House over Real Housewives. I'm pretty much over NY and BH.

::: I've been hitting is SO hard at the gym lately. My girlfriends and I are on a text chain and since the gym has become such a social spot (and a day care option) I feel like I've been at the gym 5 days a week for the last 6-8 weeks. I can feel some of the strength that I've been working on, but not really seeing it - so I'm hoping that shift happens a little sooner than later here ;) 

::: Over Spring Break, we took a weekend getaway with friends to Galena - and we had the best time. For my own record keeping purposes, I'm going to back post and share some of our secrets to a successful weekend trip with friends.

::: I finally made dinner with the Trader Joe's cauliflower gnocchi - and holy cow it was so good. What a solid dupe! I will say - it's a little tricky to work with - but overall, especially considering what a light dinner option it is - we loved it. I used Liz Adams recipe from her "Cooking with Liz" instalive she does - and I can't wait to make it again.  (she doesn't have the recipe on her blog, that I can find! Check her instastories!) 

::: I bought these darling easter baskets from a neighbor and I couldn't be more obsessed! 

::: I think I've shared a bit that we are fixing up our basement a bit. Drywall finished this week, and next week the ceiling is getting spray painted black! I can't wait to see the space totally transform. When the ceiling is done, we are going to paint the drywall (revere peweter), do a deep clean, and rearrange bit here and there. I'm hoping to add a ping pong table down there, and eventually a TV, and try to make it as "industrial cool" as I can. 

::: That's it for now. I'm sitting at the cutest little coffee and wine bar that just opened in our hood, but the internet is painfully slow and I have about 15 other things I've got to knock out before I let the babysitter go home! Ha! 

Weekend Recap

We had kind of shitty week last week.

On Monday, I woke up, and instantly knew that I was barely going to be able to make it from my bed to the sink to brush my teeth. I felt like total shit. I begged Joel to stay home that morning, just to give me a few hours to see if I could power through it after dayquil and some extra sleep, but at 10am, I was still feeling like crud, so he took the whole day off to tend to the kids.

Thank God.

Tuesday morning, Joel woke up feeling like total shit. I wasn't out of the woods, by any means, but I at least felt like I could rally to be with the kids. Joel stayed home from work, stayed in bed most of the day, and I did my best to keep the babes happy until our babysitter showed up.

Joel and I both felt better on Wednesday, and then on Thursday, after parent teacher conferences, decided to go out for a date. It was lovely - at one of our all time favorite spots....but something I ate bothered me, and at 3am I woke up and was violently ill. Not fun - but thankfully, after I got it out of my system, I was ok.

Friday, all was seemingly normal, and we went to my parents for happy hour/dinner. When we got over there, Leo started chattering - looked really white - and then over an hour just totally nose dived. I took him home before dinner - stuck him in bed with gatorade and a movie - checked his temp (103.9), and basically decided that this week was just shit. 

Thankfully, Saturday morning, he had slept through the night, woke up with a much lower fever and actually felt great, and we were able to salvage most of the weekend. I went to the gym Saturday morning, hit up the grocery store, and then went to my moms house for happy hour with my sister.

That night, my girlfriend Jenna and her husband Zach came to spend the night with us. We made tacos and once the kids were in bed played darts for hours. 

We had such a blast and basically fell into bed.

Sunday morning - Jenna and I snuck away for a dance class at my gym - my MOST favorite class of the entire week - and then came home to hang for a cup of coffee before they headed out.

Joel and I did a few things around the house....we hung oars in Leo's room, and brought a new couch base down to the basement. I had stopped at a garage sale at a local preschool on Saturday and had bought that red bookshelf for FIVE dollars along with a puzzle organizer for THREE dollars, and literally felt like I had won the lottery. 

 

 (*pretty cool note about these oar's: my mom found that at an antique shop in Lake Geneva, Wi. and we used them at my wedding and my baby shower for Leo. Now they hang in my 3year old son's room.....insane).  

We spent the rest of the day with my sisters, we walked, had drinks, talked, and just hung out before we ordered pizza and they went back on their way.

I will say, as much as it sucks to get used to the new time change - I am SO happy to have the sun shining at 6pm. It gave me SUCH a pep in my step tonight, I cannot even tell you! I am ready for you Spring!!!!!!! 

Day in the Life - [ as a SAHM of 2 ]

I can't believe my last update was a year and a half ago! Dang, how fast time flies! To catch anyone new up to speed - I'm a stay at home mom of two - Leo is 3 and Drew is 1. Leo goes to school MWF for a few hours in the morning, and we try to keep a busy schedule. 

I had the a few people suggest that my two younger sisters (Hannah (28) and Nellie (25)), capture the same day just to see how different they are - so that's what we all did. Last Wednesday, January 23rd. I'll do my best to get their days up here this week too.

As I mentioned yesterday, this was the day that we lost Joel's cousin.Joel and called me that morning to tell me the news - and while the pictures don't show our true heartbreak, you can rest assured that it was there. 

So - without further adieu - here's a random day in my life. 

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6:30am - Joel wakes up super early and normally wakes me when he is getting into the shower. This morning it was right about 6:30am - which is pretty perfect for me 

a lot of my friends have asked how I listen to so many podcasts, and that's honestly because I have them playing all the time - from the second I get up normally. It helps wake me up as I make the bed and get dressed, and today I listened to these cute girls on "It Sounded Like a Good Idea". 

6:50am - Joel and I have a pretty balanced morning routine for getting everyone up and at them. When I wake up, he normally makes breakfast for himself and Leo which is a huge help. 

I sit down to have a cup of coffee and check in a few blogs while Joel gets Leo dressed and ready to roll. 

7:00am - They have their oatmeal, and at 7am - I go up and get Drew changed and dressed and then come down and give her a bottle as Joel kisses us goodbye and heads out the door. 

It's super snowy today - like - they probably should've called school off, but thankfully they didn't! 

7:15am - I let Leo watch a show in the "choo choo room" with a snack (even though he ate breakfast 12 seconds ago). 

7:43am - We load up everyone in the car and head to Leo's school. Drop off is at 7:50 and we live about 4 minutes away. 

7:49am - Every morning when I unclip Leo's carseat, he always asks me for some lipstick before school - and today he wanted to take a picture "looking at him" - which, teachable moment - he learned is a selfie. 

8:02am - Because it was super snowy, my girlfriend and her son came over to my house for a cup of coffee. She lives further from the school, and used my house as a little crash pad before running errands and then picking up her daughter. 

8:15am - We stayed in the kitchen for a half hour, chatted over a cup of coffee, and Drew and I ate our breakfast. We both had a piece of toast with peanut butter and a banana. 

8:45am - Drew and I left our friends at our house and drove over to the gym. They have a great Kidszone so I dropped Drew in there and then went to go set up for Strong - the class I took with a few other girlfriends. 

10:25: The class ended and after catching up with my girlfriends, I grabbed Drew and we headed to go pick up Leo at school. 

11:00am - Pretty much on all school and gym days, we get home and we get right into the bath. It's a nice way to get out of their germy clothes, and if we aren't leaving the house again, we normally go straight into jammies. 

11:25am - Strangely enough, Drew doesn't love the bath. Leo could hang out for an hour in there, but she is done after about ten minutes, so I get them both dressed in their pajamas and we head downstairs for lunch. 

I have been making a big batch of chicken salad on Monday's so I'm having that over arugula with a few wheat thins. 

Drew is having some fruit, some Bomba's from Trader Joe's and leftover meatballs, and Leo is subbing in a bagel for meatballs because he's a full blown vegetarian currently.

11:40am  - This next hour of my day is a little stressful - I try to get a lot done so that I have some free time when the kids are napping, so we sort of work like wildfire and seriously try to cram quite a bit in....

11:50am - After I shovel in my salad for lunch, the kids are still eating and I throw together dinner. We are doing CrockPot Cashew Chicken which is served over brown rice. It's a 5 minute prep which is amazing, and I end up precooking the brown rice too so that everything is really easy when dinner time hits. 

 

12: 10pm: The kids at this point are sometimes playing in the playroom, sometimes chasing each other, I'm putting out mini fires, and trying to get the kitchen cleaned up after lunch and dinner prep. 

12:25pm: I drag everyone upstairs so that I can get a load of laundry folded. I keep a weekly laundry schedule - and Wednesday's happen to be Joel's laundry day, which is my easiest day of the week because I don't put his clothes away, so after 10 minutes of folding, we're done. 

12:35pm - We go back downstairs to play in the playroom for twenty more minutes before Drew's nap. Drew is 50/50 with taking two naps a day, sometimes she'll do 1, sometimes 2, it truly just depends on the day. She does better with two naps, but it just didn't work out that way today. 

12:55pm: I put Drew up in her crib for a nap and decide to have Leo help me shovel the driveway. I load him up in all the gear and get out to shovel. 

 

Joel had shoveled in the morning, so I only have an inch or two of work to do which wasn't horrible - but I was already sore after my workout this morning so it was kind of tough. Leo basically just played in the snow but it was good for him to get a little fresh air. 

1:35pm - Leo and I got dried and went upstairs for his nap. We read one book, went through his bed time routine, and he fell asleep within 10 minutes which was a huge win.

1:45pm - I took advantage of my hour and took a really hot epsom salt bath, dried my hair, and got into another workout outfit because I have a Beer and Yoga class tonight with my girlfriends. And if you're counting - that makes my third workout for the day! That never happens! 

 

2:15pm: Both of the kids are still out, so I made a cup of tea, stole some of Leo's teddy grams, and cracked open Drew's baby book that arrived in the mail today. I used Shutterfly to make it and was really, really happy with the way it turned out - and really happy to cross that off my list too. 

 

2:55pm: Drewbie's up. I go upstairs and give her a half of a bottle while we listen to some music. My favorite winter pandora station is Steve Tyrrel - so we play in her room for a while before it's time to get Leo up. 

 

3:45pm - Both babes are up and ready for a snack. They both have pretzel sticks and hummus 

4:10pm: We decide to spend the hardest hour of the day in the basement to run off some energy. The kids love having so much space to run and play with outside toys, and I have a beer and listen to music while we play. 

5:15pm: It was a hard day for Joel's family, so I offered early in the day to have Joel's parents come and enjoy dinner with us. Everyone needed a little baby time - so we hung out together until Joel got home.

6:00pm - Overall, Leo is an ok eater, but he doesn't typically eat what we eat for dinner which I find to be annoying. He also doesn't eat ANY meat - but does get plenty of protein - so for dinner tonight he is having avocado toast, a hard boiled egg with Everything seasoning from TJ's, cheese and 2 bites worth of brown rice. Drewbie will eat what we eat which is cashew chicken and brown rice along with some of Leo's avocado. 

6:05pm: We all sit for dinner. And normally, no one has phones out, but unfortunately, Joel and his mom needed to be coordinating flights for family members.

6:35pm: My girlfriend Lauren picked me up from home to meet a few more girlfriends for Beer and Yoga at Crystal Lake Brewery. I actually think it worked out really well to give Joel some time alone with his parents, and I was really excited for a night out with my favorite girls.

7:00pm - 8:15pm: The yoga class is so fun. It's held in the brewing area of the brewery, and it's a really lovely class led my a certified yoga teacher. A lot of the moved incorporate the actual beer can so there's lots of laughing involved too. It was just what the doctor ordered. 

8:30pm- 9:45pm: We stayed for 2 more beers (if you're counting, that's 4 beers, and I had a legit hangover on Thursday morning!). We had the best night - I love these girls so much, they make my life so much fuller, and finally, just before the bar closed, my girlfriend Lauren drove us home.

10:10pm: I crawled into bed, took a big bottle of water upstairs, put on my eye mask and ear plugs and called it a day. 

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