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! 

Five on Friday

::: Glossier Cloud Paint :::

I went with puff and beam 

I have always loved a liquid blush - and this one is my new favorite. I like both colors that I got - I ended up going with the sample pack (for $30) in order to determine my favorite color, but I couldn't tell you which one I like better! They go on so smooth and easy, they stay on, and a little bit goes a long way.

::: 2 :::

I don't know if I've shared this - but I made a twist on Liz Adam's mushroom turkey burgers - I added thawed frozen spinach, and they were SO good.

So easy, really filling, healthy and quick to make! I would highly recommend! 

::: 3 ::: 

My book club last week had a really cool opportunity to facetime with the author, Steve Pemberton, of A Chance in this World. The book is incredible .... I actually listened to it on Audible which I loved because it's Steve who is reading it. The book is incredibly inspiring, motivating, and heart wrenching. 

::: 4 ::: 

The weather has FINALLY turned here in Chicago and I am ALLLLLLLLLL about it! It's been SO nice to get outside, take some wagon rides, play on the swing set, go for walks.....life is GOOD when it's not 15 degrees outside! 

::: 5 ::: 

The kids have spring break this week, and so a few family friends and us are renting a house in Galena while the kids are off school. We are SO excited for a fun trip with friends! We plan to hike, hit up a few cute breweries, maybe do some bowling, swimming, and anything else we can do while enjoying mimosas with our dear friends! 

Drew - Month 15

I literally feel like I just wrote her 14 month update - HOW DOES TIME KEEP MOVING FASTER?

 1 month ::: 2 months ::: 3 months ::: 4 months::: 5 months::: 6 months ::: 7 months ::: 8 months ::: 9 months ::: 10 months ::: 11 months ::: 12 months ::: 13 months ::: 14 months ::: 

Weight: 22lbs (58%), I think it was like 33 inches? You were in the 78% for height!

Clothes: You are pretty much in 18mth clothes now, size 4 shoe and size 4 or 5 diapers

Nicknames: Drewbie, Drewbs, and Drewbo, DD, "princessa" 

Sleep: We are trying again to drop your morning nap - you've been doing great this week and been going down around 12:45 and sleeping until about 3 which is perfect! 

Schedule: 

7:15am - We wake you up most mornings with an 7oz bottle

8am - breakfast

10:30am - playtime 

11:15am - up, playtime, bath, snack, etc.

11:30am - lunch 

12:45pm - 3:00pm - Nap

3:15 - snack and some milk in a sippy cup

3:30-5pm - play

5:30/6pm- Dinner

6:30pm-Bottle, normally 6-7oz

7pm - Bed

Health:  You've had a little runny nose this week but overall - you've had perfect health and we are always thankful for that. 

 Crying: You are our happy little thing - but you will cry if you want something and you aren't getting it. Yesterday, you started crying in front of Leo because he was having a snack and you weren't, and I sat back laughing, because he would give you a pretzel, and then you would be happy, and two minutes later, come back to him, start crying, and then he would eventually give in and give you a pretzel. 

You have us all wrapped around your little finger my girl. 

Feeding: You love food and you're still a great eater. The one thing that is different from Leo to you is that you LOVE pouches. I can get any food pouch into you - which is awesome and super handy! 

Likes: This month you've really started to love books. You light up when I read stories to you, and you love to turn the pages and bring different books to anyone who is willing to read to you. 

You love being outside, you love your brother, you love balls, you love music and dancing, and you love being around people.

Dislikes: I honestly can't think of anything. You're delightful. 

Milestones:  New words this month: papa, grandpa, ball, ro-ro (for roscoe), and I think we heard you say "bubbles" when we were at the gym, which is what we say when you sanitize your hands. 

Places You’ve Gone: We were home for most of this month, but we leave tomorrow for a little weekend getaway with friends to Galena! 

Leo: BFF's

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!!!!!!!