A bad case of the winter blahs

Yep.  I have it bad.  The winter blahs.  You know, a mixture of cabin fever and 'oh my gosh I absolutely cannot take any more winter weather' syndrome.  I want to get outside for walks with my munchkins and play all evening long outside.  I'm tired of the runny noses and the 18 million layers we put on to leave the house.  I am just over it. 

I'm half-tempted to climb into bed, pull up the covers and refuse to come out until spring.  Or at least until the temperature says 40 degrees.  But then I remember that I have children and that stuff just doesn't fly anymore.  Perhaps it is part of my battle with the winter blahs, but I feel like I'm running in a mouse wheel this days with nothing to really show for it.  I could use a 28 hour day and like a whole other person's energy stores this week. 

On the positive side of all this cold weather, I took Caleb to see 'Frozen' this past weekend at the theater.  It was his first movie theater experience and he did amazing.  I was so proud.  He shockingly sat for the entire movie including previews (come on people, 20 minutes of previews and ads for a kids movie?) and really enjoyed it.  The giant snowman scared him a little but otherwise he was fine.  Totally adorable movie and I even loved it.  I am looking forward to the time when Eli is old enough to go and all four of us can go together. 

However, there are only so many distractions and fun indoor activities that I have left up my sleeve.  Come on warmer weather!! Where are you?  It's time.

A new year... new resolutions

(I know I'm about 13 days late posting this but I'm playing catch up, remember?)

 

New Year's Eve was always a huge celebratory holiday when we were young and single. I always looked forward to the big parties in high school, college and the first few years into adulthood.  This year though, with two kids in bed Josh and I spent the evening on the couch with our DVR, a cranbrrita, and some snacks.  Really though, this was probably the 'coolest' we have been on NYE in years.  Last year we were in bed by 9:30 and back up again at midnight to see the ball drop with our crying 4 day old baby.  Two years ago, we had the worst stomach flu we have ever had and spent the entire evening on our respective bathroom floors.  Three years ago, I was literally 7 days away from giving birth to Caleb and didn't even want to move off the couch.  So really, in comparison, this NYE was awesome.

If you asked me what my New Year's resolutions were last year, I think it probably would have been literally to survive the first year with a newborn and a 2 year old.  If that were true, you could say we were successful.  It wasn't always pretty, but we all survived.  

 

This year, I have a few new goals that still include the above:

1) Obviously, first to spend more time with my children.  More time playing, more time engaged, more time teaching them, more time enjoying them.  But truly that’s probably nothing new, I think that is always my daily resolution.  Every night I go to bed, striving to be a better mother the next day and will continue to do so in this new year.

 

2) To improve my physical fitness. To tone my body to get back into a physical shape hopefully resembling that which I had before my two children.  I’m not even talking about the appearance of my body (I only wish!) but more the stamina to run long distances, the joy I had of being active.    

 

3) To read more books that are not meant for those 3 and under.  

 

4) To make huge strides and progress in our house we are updating.

 

5) To wake up earlier and use that time to start working on my to-do list. To use those really early morning hours when no one else is awake to get myself more organized and less stressed for the day. (This is assuming that 2014 will bring days that Eli actually sleeps past those early morning hours!)

Here's to 2014!

And I'm baaaaaccckkkkk.....

After taking a much needed blogging break, it's good to be back to it.  After the Christmas celebrations, birthdays for my two kiddos and a big joint birthday party, this Momma is ready to collapse into a heap on the floor. I have so many posts I'm working on, so until then here's a random catch up post at it's finest.

* The Midwest has been experiencing record cold and it's no joke.  Yesterday, we had a high of -15 degrees and a windchill of -41.  Ridiculous.  Someone on facebook posted a picture of the temperatures in Antarctica which were warmer than they were here.  Schools have been cancelled and many businesses are closed because of the cold.  Not mine, of course so we have been braving the temperatures to get to work.  It's supposed to be in the 30's towards the end of the week and at this point, it wouldn't surprise me to see people walking around in shorts if we get there.  It's going to feel amazing compared to the weather we have now.

* I'm loving all the new toys that the boys got for Christmas and their birthdays.  With the two so close, our house is swimming in new exciting things to play with.  I could tell they were both getting bored with their toys towards the end of the year and Caleb kept asking to watch movies all the time.  They have both been playing their little hearts out instead now and it is awesome.  Of course, many times they both want to play with the same toy and Eli hasn't really gotten the sharing thing down yet but if the whining about wanting to watch cartoons is gone?  I am a happy camper.

* The New Year has seemed like the perfect excuse for me to decide to get back in shape.  Luckily, breastfeeding has again been a blessing in helping me lose the baby weight but my body is far from being in the physical shape it used to be.  Before I had babies, I was a runner and loved it.  When I was pregnant with Caleb, my doctor was very concerned about me continuing to run (I know other doctors say it is fine but that was her opinion and I trusted her judgment) so I stopped.  With two children and breastfeeding all the time the first year, I just really haven't had time to get back into it.  The hope is that I can use nap time to work out but someone forgot to mention that fact to Eli.  Yesterday, he let me get exactly 6 minutes and 18 seconds on the treadmill before he woke up crying.  Sigh...  Here's hoping it gets better.

* I'm pretty pumped that the Bachelor is back.  I know... it's ridiculous (often fake or at least exaggerated) reality tv but I love it.  I've watched it since the second season aired and get sucked in every single time.  Excited to watch Juan Pablo and his "journey to find love".  ;)

* My house is a complete and utter disaster from the holidays.  I'm behind on laundry, basic cleaning, literally everything.  That coupled with a 12 month old who thinks sleep is for the birds has left me pretty frazzled.  I'm hoping to play some catch up on Sunday while we watch play off football!

Baby's first Christmas

I have been looking forward to the years when my child(ren) were old enough to anticipate and understand Santa and Christmas for what seems like ever.  Last year, Caleb understood (and LOVED) that he got to open presents but this year was the year I have been waiting for.  We read books and watched Christmas movies for weeks before and he got so excited.  He understood the 'Elf on the Shelf' and Santa coming to visit our house.  

Putting Baby Jesus on their advent calendar on Christmas Eve!

It's always been important to Josh and I to wake up in our own house and beds on Christmas morning with our kids so we didn't travel on Christmas Eve.  We had planned to spend it going to Church and having our traditional lasagna dinner alone but at the last minute my parents came up and spent it with us.  While we loved the company, the best part was that my mom brought her lasagna for dinner.  Seriously, my mom's lasagna is the BEST lasagna in the world and it's always been a tradition to have it once a year on Christmas Eve. 

After dinner, we made magic reindeer food for the reindeer and Caleb was excited to throw it out in the front yard.  This was a tradition Josh had done with his family for years and he was excited to share it with Caleb.  It's a mixture of oatmeal and glitter which as he explains to me, has a two-fold purpose.  To guide the reindeer to the house and also to feed them, of course.  We left Santa some cookies and milk that we made earlier and put the boys to bed.

For the first year, Josh and I were Santa's elves and actually had our first big toy that required assembly with Caleb's new train table.  Eli's big present was an Anywhere Chair which didn't require much assembly!  For weeks he had settled himself in Caleb's chair every night to read stories and he was excited to have one of his own. 

We came down on Christmas morning and Caleb first checked to make sure that Santa's cookies and milk were gone (which they were, Santa was hungry!) and they both ran over to the new train table to play.  They were so pumped about the table that neither one of them wanted to open their other presents! 

Finally, after a little coaxing and cinnamon rolls they opened the rest of their presents from us and we packed up the car and drove the hour to my parent's house.  To be honest, this picture below was about as excited as Eli was all day about opening his presents.  He was more excited about the paper and the boxes than most of the stuff actually in them!

We opened presents with my family and had lunch before we packed up again and drove the 2.5 hours to Josh's parents house. We were lucky that his brother and his family were able to fly in on Christmas night and we were able to spend some time together. 

Caleb and Eli loved getting to spend time with their cousin and now that he and Eli are getting older, they can really play together.  So adorable.  All the toys were pretty much community property while we were there and they shared surprisingly well.

Caleb got a new bike for Christmas from Oma and Papa and was excited to get to ride it around in their huge unfinished basement.  He's a little confused why he can't ride it around our house while it is still cold and snowy outside!  The things you can do at Grandma's house I guess!
 

 

We left late on the 26th to be home to celebrate Eli's birthday the next day.  While the visit was short, we had a great time and the kiddos had a lot of fun playing together.  They were very blessed to received so many new toys and clothes and have been playing like crazy men.  

As Caleb would say, "Merry Christmas to all.  All have good night." It's close, right?