long time coming...

 

It is official.  As of this morning, Jeff and I own our first house.  

This may be our first house, but it is not our first home.  Our first home was a one bedroom apartment on Cheltenham and Monroe Street across from JoJo’s Pizza and Bar.  There was a bright yellow kitchen and no air conditioning.  The bathroom tub was porcelain and no amount of bleach would clean it.  We had wood floors and radiator heat.  We controlled the heat for the apartment above and below us on our side of the building.  Debby, above, was always cold, so we turned it up for her, and lived with our windows open during the winter.  Which really didn’t matter because even when closed, there was always a breeze coming in.  There was a crazy lady who lived in the basement and always knocked on our door needing something – mostly to talk.  This was where we became friends and then fell in love.  We got married while living in this home.  This was where we became pregnant the first time and where we lost our first little girl.

Knowing we needed more space for the family we wanted, we left our little apartment and moved into a townhome.  It wasn’t the house we dreamed of, but it was better equipped for family than the one bedroom on Cheltenham.  We had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a basement that we didn’t have to share and gasp – our own washer and dryer.  No more 10 hour laundry marathons at our in-laws.  We became pregnant here not once but twice.  This was where we brought each of our girls “home” to from the hospital.  These are the windows we’ve looked out while rocking our girls to sleep.  Our little front yard is where we’ve blown bubbles and where Lily has walked her babies in strollers and where we have gone swimming in our little pools.  This home has been good to us.

Finally, we are able to buy our first house.  It feels like we have waited so long, like we have done it all backwards.  Don’t people usually buy the home first, then start a family?  Well, we have always done things a little backwards I guess.  We planned the wedding before the proposal.  The wedding band came before the engagement ring because that is what we could afford.  I guess it all doesn’t really matter in the end.  

our new home - flowers and gardens to come

grass free of neigbors' ciggarette butts - no shoes required

suggestions on how to paint kitchen/foyer/great room are more than welcome
(this is not our stuff)

counter space + seriously amazing fridge that is taller than me
(the one we have is sized for a play kitchen)

finally I will be able to enjoy a summer

 

There are paint colors to pick out, appliances to buy and packing to do.  It is all very overwhelming.  Who has time for this with toddlers and babies?  When exactly am I supposed to pack, clean, paint, organize?  I have no idea.  Thankfully we have a few weeks to get it all done.  Looking past all of that… I simply cannot wait to make this house our home.  So happy.

buh bye hormones...

           

Mirena touts that it keeps life simple.  It.Does.Not.

For the past four months Mirena has made me evil.  Now it is gone.  

So here’s to life without artificial hormones for the first time in almost 20 years (outside of when I was pregnant and/or trying to get pregnant).

Never again.

That is all for today.  If you want details – I am happy to share – just email me.

dinner time chaos

Gracie just started doing this last night.  It’s hilarious.  She cannot stand that she is not able to eat and also see who ever may be sitting on the other side of the table, in this case, me.  I didn’t get a picture of it, but she tips her head back and then gets a huge smile once she sees you… most of the food runs out of the corners of her mouth.

If she isn’t trying to see me, she is always watching her big sister.  Again… more food falls out of her mouth because of all the smiling.  Lily exacerbates the situation by singing or making silly noises repeatedly.  It’s chaos, but it’s fun.

p.s. That is not a super trendy and cool foil centerpiece.  We cover the fishbowl with foil to deter the cat from drinking the water and trying to play with the fish.  Please disregard the rest of our mess… our kitchen table is a disaster.

This shit is bananas, yo!

I am doing Insanity.  I love it and I hate it.

I started two weeks ago.  I got through the first 5 days and then got sick.  Very sick.  And my girls got sick.  We all had the same virus and for poor Gracie it turned into hand, foot and mouth.  Let me tell you, hand, foot and mouth is not a fun thing for an infant to have.  She turned into a baby I didn’t even know.  She didn’t sleep, couldn’t eat and cried nonstop… for about 4 days.  It was not a fun Easter at our house.

Gracie kicked over her basket during meltdown mode

There were no cute photos of Gracie digging into her easter basket or of the girls wearing their matching bunny ears.  It was all we could do to survive the day.

Gracie did like the grass - of course.

While I didn't get a photo in the matching bunny ears, they did tolerate one in their matching sun glasses...

blurry iPhone pic - but I'll take what I can get

Needless to say, when babies don’t sleep, parents don’t sleep.  No sleep + silly coxsackie virus = no exercising.  I was mad.  Here, I’d finally committed to exercising and completing this 60 day challenge and I was bailing after a week.  There was no option.  I could barely get off the couch, much less do this… 

But after a few days of catching up on sleep and feeling better about life in general I started again yesterday.  When people say that Insanity is hard, they are not lying.  I get up every morning at 4:45am because I know if I had to spend all day dreading looking forward to that workout, I would never do it.  Every morning I tell myself that I can torture myself do this for the 40-45 minutes it takes.  I can do anything for less than an hour.  And I do.  And I feel a wonderful sense of accomplishment before I even leave the house to begin my day and that alone is worth it.

Why do I love it?  It's a challenge and I feel like it will really work.  I am an instant gratification kind of person, so I'm drawn to the short timeline (60 days).  Do I expect to have a ripped 6 pack after 60 days?  No.  I don't really have a need for that.  I would be extremely thrilled with about 10-15 less pounds and some more energy.  I also love that I can modify what I can't quite do and I still feel like I'm working harder than I ever have.  I love it because it makes me so angry that I can't do everything as well, as many times, and as fast as I should and that's motivation. 

Why do I hate it?  It is hard.  I threw up twice during the initial fit test.  I was so sore during the first week that I could barely walk or sit or do anything really.  I literally could barely sit to pee.  I almost stayed home from work.  it was rough.  I also hate that I have to get up so early.  But if I don't, I will rack up 900 reasons why I am not going to do any exercise after work before it is even 10am. 

I spend a lot of time swearing at Shaun T… but at the same time, he’s fun to watch.  If I have to go through this, there may as well be some enjoyment.  

Jeff is doing this with me.  Not at 4:45am.  He isn’t human till he has his coffee.  He really doesn’t even like to talk till after he’s been awake for at least an hour, so Insanity will never be a part of his morning routine.

Jeff does Insanity when he gets home from work with the girls.  The only place we have to do this is our living room aka babies-r-us-threw-up-all-over-land.  I try to take Lily upstairs and otherwise occupy her so he can have his time.  It doesn’t always work.  She loves to “exercise” too.  And it’s hilarious.  I vow to get it on video and post because everyone should get to smile as much as I do when watching her.  

My favorite part so far is at the end of the “Pure Cardio” workout when Shaun T falls on the floor and says “This shit is bananas, yo.”  Yes, Shaun, it is definitely bananas.

ouch

I don’t usually have a problem with needles.  I have 5 tatoos. 

Today I went to the dermatologist for the first time in too many years to have my moles checked.  There was one in particular on my upper lip I was concerned with.  It had grown a bit in size and was changing color and texture.

The dermatologist thought it was best to biopsy the mole which involves essentially scraping it off my face.  This didn’t really bother me.  Better safe than sorry.

She informed me the worst part is the numbing.  Ok, not a big deal right?  I already had three cavities replaced earlier this week and half my face was numb for that.

Let me share the difference with you.  Dentists use a numbing agent to numb the area before they actually insert the needle into your head.  That step doesn’t happen at the dermatologist.  She just grabs your face and inserts that needle and you feel all of it including the awesome burning from the numbing agent actually going in.

Try holding still for that one.  Ouch.

nothing more

I admitted it was finally April today and flipped my Storypeople calendar on my office wall.  It reads…

“If there is any secret to this life I live, this is it: the sound of what cannot be seen sings within everything that can.  & there is nothing more to it than that.”

That's worth flipping for.  Gracie Belle is officially 5 months.  When did this happen?

Sort of sitting on her own, Gracie was telling crocodile his business



Lily asked to hold Gracie... finally.  Gracie never takes her eyes off Lily.



Also worth noting – Storypeople has free facebook cover art stories on their website.  This makes me hate the new facebook timeline a little less.  Just a teeny teeny bit less.