The one with two Pacis

There are times when my heart smiles... this morning it did. I struggled to wake up and go... but after finally trudging through my morning routine, I clicked on the monitor to check out the movement in the nursery. I saw a little head...which meant that she was sitting up in her crib. I walked in and saw this. Sitting with her blankets at her legs, paci in mouth, and the other paci in her hands, just contemplating life. This is the way every Monday should start.

The one where Daycare starts again

WE HAVE DAYCARE!!! WE HAVE DAYCARE! IT IS AMAZING!! NOT JUST THE DAYCARE BUT THE VERY IDEA! To all the part time babysitters who gave their time and energy to watch my hot mess redhead, THANK YOU... but I won't lie, I am so relieved to have some normalcy back into my life. I didn't realize how much I missed having a schedule and not having to coordinate and organize. It's nice. It's also nice that for this first week she was so played out she slept solid/like the dead for the first week back!

The other big news is that Eric moved out this past weekend. He has found a place and his parents brought down his stuff and got him and his dog all moved in. Michele invited us over Saturday night to check it out! I don't know who is more excited? Eric or his dog, Chips. They are together!

So with our basement empty and our guest bedroom empty of babysitters, suddenly our life has returned to almost normal... it's almost weird and has taken a little getting used to. Eleanor seems to sink into normalcy pretty easy. She has liked eating with the big kids in her class in the high chairs. She's getting good at pincher food... she's not an expert and she "pocket gophers" quite a bit BUT it's vast improvement. She's eating all sorts of food but has taken an interest in watermelon lately.

Her other big accomplishment is walking with her little push stroller. Matt discovered this skill this past weekend. She's a bit shakey and has tipped over, tripped, and also pulled the walker on herself BUT it does amazing me how fast she's moving and growing up.

Best meal: Huevos rancheros at the Mandan Mexican Gas Station OR Pizza at Fireflour Pizza. We had a holiday and we celebrated the holiday as well as our return to daycare by dropping her off and spending some time together. Yes, we are the world's worst parents.

MJR: What did you want to do today?
ALR: I don't even know. I'm exhausted. I want to eat, I want to sleep, I want to not worry. 
MJR: I don't think you can be a 22 year old college kid again. 
ALR: It feels like I am, just not hung over from booze but from a little being.

The one with the 8 month old baby

The snow has come, it's piled high. The cold is here. I am struggling with the inbetween of house to car, car to work, car to shopping place, etc. I've upped my prime orderings, I've turned on the fireplace, I've lived in leggings, sweatpants, and fuzzy socks. I don't know why but this winter has creeped into my collar, slunk down my back, and settled into my bones. Temps haven't been in the 20's for awhile and have settled below zero. The city can't keep up with the roads and the sidewalks are nonexistant and the snow has been smashed into the pavement creating for slick conditions. It's a good thing this winter came late, if we'd been dealing with this longer than a month, who knows how it would be going. It actually is reminding me of the winter of 2009 - where I had snowdays and went crazy.

This week has been another shuttle around week with Eleanor. After a slow weekend, where her and I didn't leave the house it sucked to cart and plan her all over the place. This is our last week of doing this. Having daycare return will be so nice.

We set up for someone's 8 month pictures... which has become a 2 person job and is exhausting. It's a good thing she's cute because she wears you down!

Eric and Matt worked really hard this weekend too - I got my last Christmas present. Eric painted my bathrooms. The master was a blue color called respite, the den bathroom was more of a dark brown/gray. I'm excited to get the hardware in and see it all finished! Matt said he'll work on that in the next little bit.

MJR one morning: I think the tiny human is trying to kill us.
ALR: Why do you say that?
MJR: I'm exhausted! Why is she awake so much?
ALR: Well, she's teething, she hurts, and with her runny nose probably doesn't feel very good.
MJR: Well, I don't feel very good.
ALR: That's because you are tired.
MJR: See, killing us.

The One with the Second Christmas

 We started the new year with the Remynses... ironically second year in a row
we've done that. This time around, we were celebrating Christmas just a week behind. They had done some celebrating themselves last week but this time it was all about Eleanor! Sure we got a few awesome gifts but that kid was the one with the haul! Matt's favorite gift of this season and probably the last 5 is the drone that Eric gave him. Sure he liked the yard tool that his parents got but even I can't compete with a drone and especially the model that Eric splurged for. I know he had more excitement then Eleanor did when she opened her presents. There was also excitement for Randy and Michele as Matt, Eric, and I all went in to get them tickets to a Steelers game... however, we made them work for their present with a two sided puzzle!


The next day I made a big Christmas dinner with Matt's roasted chicken, mashed potato and gravy, scalloped corn, stuffing, lettuce salad with a homemade vinaigrette and finished off with Michele's pies. I was so busy I forgot to get a picture of the spread. The big black cloud of the day was that Randy decided to head back to Lansford that night, instead of staying longer because of the weather. It was probably a good thing he did because the snow dropped down, blanketing us again and making it hard for Matt to find more places for the snow to go.

Michele stayed behind because she was the hero of the week and stayed to be with Eleanor each day while daycare is still in limbo. I'm glad she's able and willing to take and spend the time. Not only did Eleanor enjoy it but it was also nice to not cart her out into the elements and have the same thing for each day that week. I'm hoping we only have one more week of the Eleanor no-daycare shell game but we'll see.

Best meal: I admit I was proud of what Matt and I put together for Christmas.

Eric: See here's what I got you... and you need this remote.
MJR: A DRONE!
MJR: I GOT A FRICKEN DRONE!
Eric: If you wreck it, you have one redo.
MJR looks at ALR and in loud whisper voice: I GOT A DRONE!

The one with the Peppercorn

Today we saw the heartbeat... Just shy of 6 weeks, we got to see the blurry mess of the baby that is silently growing. We've gone through the these initial steps before with Eleanor but it still made a catch in my throat to see this tiny peppercorn and it's teeny heart beating away.

Heartbeat was at 91 beats/minute and the doctor stated that all was looking perfect for where we are at in the process. Sounded almost too good to be true! Now is the waiting game to get to week 13.

With this baby, you won't see the same things that you did with
Eleanor... we are going to change it up, just a little. Afterall, with all the name discussion Matt and I had on the first go-around we have a short list narrowed it'll either start with either an E or an A or an H or a G, depending on whether it's a boy or a girl.

Weeks: 6
Size: Black Peppercorn
Favorite thing to wear at this point: leggings and warm boots
Symptoms: extreme irritability, often chilled, heightened sense of smell, trouble sleeping, and tired (may not be baby's fault, may be EER's fault too)
Cravings: water at 2:00am and chicken nuggets

ALR goes to kiss MJR good bye who is still laying in bed and has been listening to her get ready.
MJR: Are you okay?
ALR: It's been a hard morning.
MJR: Is it 7:00 yet?
ALR: Yes and I'm already on my fourth pair of pants and I think they look stupid too.
MJR: I don't think so.
ALR: I had this beautiful window where I was finally squeezing into my old clothes and now I feel like I'm back up the side of the mountain where I start putting things that don't fit into totes. 

**This post was post-dated and released at a later date for reasons determined by ALR/MJR to be published