4th of July Break

Not kidding when I say that there are over 30 friends and family rolling through our house from out of town starting tomorrow going through next Tuesday. Four different families will be sleeping here, and another four at my parents house, along with another two at my in laws. 

I'm excited, really excited, but it's going to be NON STOP so I'm trying to take it day by dad and really enjoy the time we have because I know we will blink and it will all be over. 

I hope you have a great holiday weekend and my goal is to actually take some decent pictures and really get back into the swing of blogging after next week. 

 

Leo - Month 21

 

::: 1 month recap ::: 2 month recap ::: 3 month recap ::: 4 month recap ::: 5 month recap :::

 ::: 6 month recap ::: 7 month recap ::: 8 month recap ::: 9 month recap ::: 10 month recap

::: 11 month recap ::: 12 month recap  ::: 13 month recap ::: 14 month recap

::: 15 month recap :::16 months :::17 months

   18 months   ::: 19 months  ::: 20 months

Weight: 24lbs

Nicknames: Leeman, Lee-Lee, Wee-whoa

Clothes: We're pretty steady moving into only 24mth territory. I had to buy you a new swim diaper because the 18mth one was leaving deep red grooves in your skin, your PJs are all starting to look a little too tight, and I bought a few new shirts for you all in size 2t! Your diapers are now size 5 and we have 1 more box of overnight diapers size 4 before we move to you to 5's there too. Still rocking a size 5 shoe.

Sleep:  We had a few early mornings this month so we have been letting you stay up until about 7:20 now. You play and roll around in your bed at night for at least 45 minutes before you finally close your eye and fall asleep, but you don't make a peep, so I think it's just your downtime that you so desperately need. You are non-stop unless you're sleeping little one!

Schedule: 

7:00am - Up and NO MORE baba! You are such a rockstar and really don't seem to mind having "milky" in your cup instead of your baba. We still make a moment of it with a blanket and we cuddle, but it only lasts about a minute before you see your toys and you head off to the races!

8:00am Breakfast- you looove waffles!

9-12am play

11:30am/12pmish- lunch

1:00 pm nap

3:15pm snack & playtime

6:00pm dinner with a cup of milk

6:30 pm bath

7:15 pm  bed

Health: Not a fun month. For about a week you had a runny nose, a low grade fever, and your hands in your mouth constantly. You were cutting your eye teeth and it was miserable. Then, which I know you were the carrier (by the way), I landed myself with strep throat. It was literal hell, and I was in bed for almost 4 days. One of those days (Thursday), dad took you to Panera for dinner so you could get out of the house. When you came into my room to say goodnight, you looked like hell, and we decided to take your temp. It was 104! 

 

Thankfully by Friday, I was feeling somewhat better and was able to be with you (you had been with sitters and we chalked some of your crankiness up to that).  Friday, you were off, and your fever was sky high when your motrin dose ran up. It hadn't broke by Friday night and was still getting so high when your meds wore off (as high at 104.7 which freaked me out!). You were up in the night and it just was awful.

Saturday morning we got you in to see your doctor at 9am. I told her I had strep and she suspected you did too. 15 minutes after your first swab, and sure enough, strep it was.

Here's the good thing about strep, we got your morning dose in, put you down for an early nap, and FOUR AND A HALF HOURS later, I finally woke you up from your nap, you were in a puddle of your sweat from breaking your fever, and were basically like new! 

It was your first experience with antibiotics and I was happy that we had no side effects. You did pass it along to Coco as well who has been down this week from it, but I'm hoping we keep the Strep bug at bay for a long, long time.

Crying:  see above for explanation.

 

Feeding:  You've loved peaches, smoothies and pizza this month!

Likes:  You are LOVING the water! It's almost hard to walk past the lake because sometimes you'll throw a fit if we aren't going swimming. You are fearless during swim lessons, love getting your face wet and drinking all of the water, you love being on the boat, going for bike rides, playing with chalk, playing with your water table, and dancing! 

 

Not Liking: Sand.

Milestones: We are in the new word every day phase and I love it. Plus, a few more 2-word sentence popped out lately including "me happy" and "eat pasta". 

You are learning how to catch and throw balls, have been playing with your new baseball bat quite a bit this month, and your coloring/chalk/fine motor skills are impressive as well.

You are starting to identify colors which is crazy, and you are working really hard on your ABC's. You basically sound like you are saying "A E I O U", but it's impressive to your mother nonetheless! 

Another really interesting milestone this month has been your awareness of "pee and poopoo". Not all of the time, but a good amount of time, you will let us know what's going on and understand that it's time to change your diaper. I do not have potty training on the radar AT ALL, but I do think this is an important step in that process.

Places You’ve Gone: We were home all month

 

Visitors: See above :)

Roscoe: Still your best buddy.

 

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Four on Friday

::: 1 :::

It is literally taking me basically until Thursday to catch up on my week enough to blog. I wish I could find a few more minutes or a few more morsels of energy, but it just hasn't happened these last few months. Joel is traveling for work a ton, and by the time the day wraps up by 7:30pm, I've got about zero desire to think! I know people manage to do SO much more than what is on my plate right now, but I'm just giving myself a little summer break and calling it what it is! The list of things I want to do, but haven't found the time or the energy is about a mile long at this point!

::: 2 ::: 

We did thankfully find time to celebrate Father's Day though. I didn't take a ton of pictures, but we had a nearly perfect day. Joel started his day off with a long 17 mile run, and then came home to a solid breakfast of french toast and eggs by request. We headed over to my parents after that to hang out with them and take our favorite dad and Papa out for a boat ride.

 

Right before nap time we gifted Joel and my Dad with some paddle boards for the lake! 

They were both really excited and can't wait to take them out. After Leo woke up from his nap, we all went over to the pool to swim and then had an early dinner outside. 

It was a perfect, family fun day that was easy and relaxing and just what Joel needed! 

::: 3 ::: 

If Joel isn't traveling next week, I'm really hoping I can convince him to install this light in the dining room. 

We have tons of family and friends coming and staying with us next week for the 4th of July holiday, and I'd love to cross it off the list (but since they arrive Tuesday, I'm sort of doubting it). I'm hoping the fixture isn't too small for the big room, but I love the style of it so I'm hoping we can make it work. 

::: 4 :::

Next week is my absolute favorite weekend of the year here in Crystal Lake. We do the 4th of July well! We are going to be slammed with friends, family, a wedding, a parade, fireworks, BBQs, parties, birthdays, and a neighborhood fest, so if you don't see me for the next three weeks, it's likely from exhaustion ;) 

four

four years ago today, Joel and I got married! 

It's pretty wild to think about how much life we have lived together in just the last four years since that perfect day in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. 

But as I think back on this past year, I'm mainly just thankful that my 18year old self saw such a good thing when she found it.

 

 

We set out to do a lot in this past year (like buy a house, and move back to Illinois, and risk things at work, and make new friends, and etc. etc. etc.) and together, we did. It's been a big year of adventure, and change, and heartache and excitement, but since Joel has been by my side, I've felt steady despite the massive changes. 

Joel is the most helpful, hardest working, goofiest, driven, loving person I could have ever dreamed to marry and I'm so glad I did. 

Cheers to four years, Joely

 

 

 

Reading, Watching, Listening, and Cooking.

I'll start with Listening: since that's where I got the idea for this podcast, but I'm still listening to the I Do Declare Podcast. It's an easy, breezy listen that is always fun. 

I also am pretty obsessed with the Bitch Sesh podcast. I'm late to this trend, I know, but it's absolutely hilarious. I actually laugh out loud, multiple times an episode, and totally of think Casey Wilson is possibly the coolest/funniest person ever. 

Other than that, we've been doing a lot of the Jack Johnson and Sam Hunt pandora stations because they just feel like summer time listening! 

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Watching: I'm on season 2 of Younger and I'm super addicted. If you watched...I just finished up the episode with the sheep guy yesterday. Mhmm.....

The show is freaking hilarious, cute, relateable, funny, edgy....and I like the episodes are short (22mins) so that I can binge watch a few of them at a time when I go upstairs at night.

We've also been watching a lot of cubs games lately. This is our first year back in Chicago which means we finally get all of the games again and it's been fun. I've never loved watching baseball on TV, but lately I've been into it even though the Cubs haven't been playing all that amazing.

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Reading: I just started It Happens in the Hamptons

And so far, it's exactly the way it looks. Beachy, fun, and easy. 

On deck reading (I think) is: The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin

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Cooking: Honestly, I have not been in the mood to cook much lately. It's been too damn hot, but as I mentioned yesterday, Joel made a seafood pasta that was out of this world. Annie at Home of Malones sent me this recipe, and although we made a few tweaks, it was DIVINE!

I'd love to know what you are RWL and C.....so please share! 

A Perfect Summer Weekend

Friday morning Joel had a meeting a little later in the morning, so he got to hang around with us a bit later than usual in the morning. We decided to take our coffee outside and let Leo play, but Leo and Roscoe decided they would prefer to get a few extra cuddles with dad instead.

 

This whole weekend we had just the perfect summer weather. We decided to take Leo over to the pool for lunch and then a little dip in the water. 

He is an absolute wild man in the water. Thankfully he'll hang out in his little floatie for a good 20ish minutes, but then he just wants to swim....which he doesn't know how to. 

I did get the puddle jumper later that afternoon, so we're going to see if he likes a little more independence with that thing on later this week.

Friday night, Joel got home from his meeting a little late, we ended up having breakfast for dinner, watched the cubs game and went to bed pretty early.

Saturday morning I drove into the city to celebrate my cousin Amanda's birthday. I stopped off at my girlfriend Sara's for an hour to visit, and then we went to Parlor in Wicker Park for an awesome brunch. 

 

That afternoon, Amanda drove back to CL with me to spend the night. We took happy hour out to the boat with my parents and Leo which was our first time getting out onto the water this season and it was perfect. 

If you can see right past those boats in the dock, that is my parents house that is in the process of being built. 

 

While Amanda and I were gone at brunch, Joel was busy prepping an absolutely perfect dinner for all of us. A seafood pasta (Thanks Annie!), a perfect salad, bread and a great bottle of Melville Pinot Noir.  

We timed dinner for about 8pm so that Leo was already asleep and so that Joel and I could actually enjoy some adult time - and it was such a fun dinner. 

We had a bon fire afterwards, drank by the fire and roasted smores and then Amanda and I left the boy to their own devices a little before midnight. 

Sunday morning we were all feeling a little sluggish, but eventually rallied. Mainly thanks to another glorious hot day and a Leo that doesn't tire.

Amanda and Andrew left by 10:30, and then I headed over to a girlfriends sprinkle at 11am. 

 

After her really cute shower filled with bows, tutus, and all things girl.....we relaxed in the afternoon and ended the night with dinner at my parents house. 

 

And I'm including this picture because I just think it's the cutest thing ever. Hope you're having a good week! 

Day in the Life - [as a SAHM with a 20mth old]

My last update was in March, and the biggest change since then is that I'm no longer doing any part time work. I'm glad that I gave it a shot for a few months, and it really allowed me to dip back into the business world and get a little dose of working with children (and it ain't easy). Ultimately, I'm really happy home full time for now, but who knows in the future. 

Friday, May 26th

6:00am: I start to wake up right about 6am since Joel is coming back in from a run, but I hang in bed until 6:30 playing on my phone

6:30am: I actually decide to jump in the shower and take the next 30 minutes to get ready. Some mornings I head downstairs in my pjs to have coffee first, but not today, so I shower, put on my clothes and makeup, make the bed and head downstairs.

7:00am: I'm able to sit down for like 15 minutes and have a cup of coffee and read some blogs before Joel heads up to get Leo.

7: 15am: Joel hands Leo off to me, Leo has 5oz of a bottle, and Joel kisses us goodbye before he leaves for work. 

7:20-8am: We hang downstairs, I watch a little of the today show while Leo plays with some of his toys in the living room and brings me a few books to read.

8:00am: We head upstairs to get Leo's teeth brushed and clothes on for the day. 

8:15am: I get both of our breakfasts going and we both sit down at the breakfast bar to eat. 

mine-

 

and Buds-

8:35am: My sister Nellie facetimes us while we're having breakfast which is a fun distraction for Leo while I try and clean up the dishes 

8:45-9:00am: I try to pick up the morning toys, run a quick load of a laundry, and get the dog (leashed) and baby (sunscreen) ready for a walk. 

9:00am: I love walks on Friday's because I'm normally lined up with a new podcast. I really like I Do Declare Podcast so as I walk over to my mom's house so we can walk together, that's what I'm listening to.

9:00am - 10:00am: My mom and I walk along the lake which is a perfect 40 minute walk for us, and I know I just left the most beautiful state in the world (Cali), but I just marvel at Crystal Lake. There is something about it that just gets to me.

10am- We stop off at the house my parents are building. It's been a long process, but they broke ground in early March and it's gone so quickly since then. They're hoping that it stays that way so they can move in come September.

10:20am: We walk back to my house, and I decide to throw Leo into the bike trailer and take him to the park. It's supposed to rain this afternoon and we have nothing else to do this morning, so off we went.

11:00am: We had a great time at the park. We ran into a neighbor there which was fun and spent a good amount of time on the swings because there were like 6 schools there celebrating their end of year parties! 

11:20am - and for a long chunk of it, I chased Leo around while I caught up with my girlfriend Beth from California. 

11:40am: Back home and I'm freaking starving. I try to put together a sandwich for myself, along with a hearty lunch for Leo too and let him have a little Mickey time so I could eat as well.

12:10pm: I had asked my mom earlier if she didn't mind me dropping Leo off to nap at her house so that I could go get a mani/pedi, and thankfully because she is amazing, didn't mind at all. 

12:35pm: Pulled out of my mom's house after feeling like I had completed an entire day before 1pm

1:00pm: I normally hate getting my nails done because it takes freaking forever, but this time, I really didn't need to rush so I took my time (listened to the Damsel and Dior podcast), and just relaxed.

2:25pm: I headed back to my parents house because my aunt and uncle were there who drove up from Mississippi. They were staying the weekend, so we had so much fun hanging with them.

4:00pm: Joel came straight to my parents from work - and was over early because it was the start of Memorial Day weekend. 

4:30pm: My cousins came over, we all started drinking, pulled out some appetizers, and just hung around for the rest of the afternoon. 

 

5:30pm: My dad grilled burgers a few more of my aunts and uncles came by for dinner and dessert, and we had a fun little Friday night.

7:00pm: Joel and I packed up and took Leo home so that he could get into bed on time. 

7:47pm: And in all honesty....I went into bed! I'm so lame, but Joel was watching a baseball game, the idea of getting extra sleep was just too good to pass up! 

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Oh how our Friday nights have changed!