Author: Kathleen

weekend plans
It’s technically been a short week but it’s also felt long. We’ve had a lot of rain and even flooding. One day they couldn’t keep the water out of the infant room at my kids’ daycare, so I had to take Liam to another facility. That was a crazy morning.

Meredith has been in one of her difficult phases. I don’t even know how to describe it and I don’t really want to try, but I have felt sorely lacking in patience this week. However, she has also had a couple days of being extremely sweet and cute, so I never know which version of her I’m going to come home to. It’s exhausting.

Tonight we have our weekly dinner with my parents, and Saturday we have no plans so far. Sunday is church and small group in the evening. That leaves plenty of time to do other things, and this is what’s on my list:
- weekly chores
- plus one deep cleaning item (I’m thinking I want to clean the water deposit buildup on our fridge dispenser)
- meal plan + grocery trip
- take some specific photos for future blog posts
- baste together my quilt sandwich (still haven’t decided whether to machine or hand quilt it)
- at least start working on a runner I’m making for our dresser
- work on Liam’s stocking
- try to get a workout in
- something fun with the kids – I’d say the pool but it’s supposed to keep raining
What’s on your weekend to-do list?
May 30, 2014
day in the life // may 2014

Last week I decided it was time for another day in the life. I recorded everything on Instagram, but here it is again all together.

5:37 am : the day begins with coffee. Liam has been awake for half an hour already so I just brought him out with me.

5:45 am : Meredith woke up crying asking to hold me. Now I have both of them on my lap. It’s going to be a sub-par Bible study this morning.

6:04 am : working on a God-centered mindset in the midst of distraction.

6:24 am : morning routine includes bottle prep. I have a helper for everything.

7:10 am : conquered the getting dressed meltdown and are headed out the door. (Five minutes later, that is, since someone had to dirty his diaper right as we were leaving.) (Make that ten minutes later, since someone didn’t want to leave her coloring and then insisted on having crackers.)

7:29 am : daycare dropoff. Preschool room was crazy, baby room was calm. In and out.

7:58 am : settling in at work. I’m actually alone in the clinic today. I got my rooms set up and now I’m checking charts waiting for the first patient.

8:04 am : I have time to eat a little breakfast, which is blueberry maple refrigerated oatmeal.

8:49 am : first patient is here and set up. this is what we’ve got going on.

10:35 am : things got really crazy at work being alone and having three patients come at once. Finally sitting down again; quick twitter break.

11:39am : ran away to spend some time with my buddy the breast pump. this is very late to be pumping but it was so hard to get away.

12:26 pm : having a pre-lunch snack (dark chocolate covered almonds) and logging my calories so far. things have settled down in the clinic.

1:34pm : lunch. there was a birthday potluck today so obviously I had to have cake. I also ate enchilada casserole and salad.

2:09pm : I am pretty worn out after that super busy morning. another cup of coffee while I prep charts for tomorrow.

3:51pm : time to get down to the business of documenting what I’ve done today. still have one patient here but I have all my charting left to do.

4:47pm : pumped once more then I’m out of here. Running a bit late.

5:03pm : this is my exercise time. I planned to run but because I’m running late and feeling stressed we’re just going to have a little yoga situation instead.

5:37pm : daycare pickup time. Liam is my responsibility and David gets Meredith. we both end up there around the same time and it’s just better when we split them this way.

6:22pm : we’re all in the car headed for a spontaneous dinner at my in-laws’ house. little lady is singing nursery rhymes as usual. she yelled at us when we tried to sing too.

6:37pm : the great thing about dinner at the in-laws’ house is I get to rest a bit. starting a frivolous pleasure read tonight while the food cooks.

7:04pm : breakfast for dinner.

7:19pm : puzzles with papa and cousin Lily.

8:29pm : home and we immediately divide and conquer for bedtime routine. Meredith scraped her knees tonight and has two tiny cuts but I can hear her from the other room claiming she can’t walk.

8:45pm : everyone is ready for bed. dramatics over Meredith’s two boo-boos are still happening and Liam spit out half his antibiotic which makes me irrationally angry but we’ve almost made it.

9:07pm : lights out. one day soon we need to get these kids out of our bed but for now they are cuddled up against me and I sure don’t hate it.

May 29, 2014
project life 2014 : weeks 19 – 20

I’m happy to say that I’m still keeping up with Project Life. This is from May 5 – 18.

There’s nothing really new here; it’s all my same old simple techniques. I did include an insert with the photos of our house from this post. I kind of set them apart by bordering them all in white, and I think it makes them look less cluttered.

I always use some kind of tab when I do an insert.

This was when our second dog died, so I included her picture and a little extra journaling about that event. A rare photo of my husband makes an appearance, one of Meredith and her cousin being adorable, and a screen shot of a new favorite song.

And I just love this photo of Liam sucking his thumb. Meredith didn’t do that, so it still makes me smile every time I see him do it. :)

On the right side we have Liam’s four month update, a couple things from Mother’s Day, a photo of me & Meredith on our sick day, random cute Liam, and a collage of toddler selfies.

I do regret that I didn’t get any pictures of myself with my kids on Mother’s Day, and none of me with my mom either! I kinda wish I had written more about the day here as well, but I do have it written down in another journal so it’s not too big of a deal. Moving on!

May 28, 2014
motherhood pen pals

Back when I was pregnant with Meredith I read the book Great With Child by Beth Ann Fennelly. I loved it so much, and it remains my favorite “parenting” book although it’s so much more than that. It’s a series of letters that the mother of a preschooler wrote to her former student while the student was pregnant and living in a place where she didn’t know anyone and didn’t have any support. The letters are true and honest and also beautiful and poetic. After I read the book I wanted desperately to write real letters again, and I tried to cultivate a pen pal but it never really worked out.

Fast forward to last year when my friend Maggie was pregnant with her first baby boy. I knew right away that I had to give her that book. Her son is almost six months old now and much to my surprise and delight she emailed me telling me how much she loved the book and asking if we could be motherhood pen pals. Apparently it had the same effect on her. :) So now, even though we live twenty minutes away from each other and are connected in so many digital ways, we are taking the time to hand write pages of thoughts and feelings about our lives as mothers. It’s exciting and slow and therapeutic and amazing.

And who doesn’t love an excuse to buy some cute stationery? ;)

May 27, 2014
around here // memorial day

Around here, I ran my first 5k in several years.

Previous to this I had only run about 29 minutes straight (and right now I’m running approx 12 minutes per mile). A group of us from church were running and I’m happy my friend Joanna and I kept a similar pace and we were able to finish without walking (other than one short water break) in 36 minutes. I felt good! Races are so fun and I’m motivated to find the next one to sign up for.

Around here, summer has begun even if not technically. It’s hot and we kicked off the season by swimming in a friend’s pool. Meredith was super scared at first but eventually allowed me to lead her around the water and kicked her feet. I guess it’s time to think about swimming lessons for her.

Around here, we’ve also begun prepping our backyard flower beds by removing some rocks.

All of this activity really wore Meredith out. I set her on the counter and she straight up fell asleep like this.

Unfortunately the napping hasn’t been going so well and we have some extreme whining going on. I’m having to dig deep for extra patience and I seem to be lacking. Liam is just going with the flow though, only crying when he gets especially hungry.

Around here we had a family lunch but other than that we’re just hanging out. Reading, coloring, working on projects, taking walks to the park. Just look at that tired face.

As for me, I’m back at work on the quilt. Turns out the fabric I bought for the backing isn’t big enough so I’m going to patch together some strips to widen it.

I hope to not leave the house today except to maybe drive through Starbucks. I might not even change out of my pajamas. Happy Memorial Day. :)

May 26, 2014