Author: jesser

*Written a couple of days ago.*

I am sitting on the floor of our family room as I write this. Ben is sitting in front of me in his swing, cooing and kicking and smiling. He loves his swing. He is such a big boy these days … but still my baby. I can hear Miss Tabby playing in the other room, singing and talking to herself. She is stacking blocks. This is a favorite past time lately.

I just got finished doing some cooking. We have been busy and cooking (real cooking, not just heating stuff up or making sandwiches) has been neglected. I just finished some Sweet Potato Hummus. My lord is that stuff good! I could eat it spoonful after spoonful. It was a bit too spicy for Tabby. She will not like dinner either … Tyler's Ultimate Fajitas … but they are daddy's favorite and he does get to pick every once in a while.

Lately, Monday has been library night. Tabby is loving her library books, though tonight, she must go in and explain that a page got torn in an especial favorite. This is a first … she is usually so careful with them. But she brought this one to bed with her and somehow, a page got torn. I know she feels awful about it. I get to pickup some miscellaneous books for myself. I am trying to read more, though it is a battle at this point.

It is a blissfully slow week. We don't have a lot planned … just my b'day dinner on Wednesday … take 2. It was supposed to happen Saturday, but I was sick. We are also likely going to join a new gym. I am excited about that. Our current one doesn't take babies in their nursery (1 and up only), so it is rather useless at the moment. This one is much nicer and Tabby actually flipped out when we tried to take her home from the nursery on our trial visit. That would never happen at our current gym … they don't have a bouncy castle.

Now I must scurry … Matt is done with work for the day and our evening can commence. Yay.

On My 29th Birthday, I …
… put pigtails in my daughter's hair
… ate a pineapple upside-down cupcake
… had a lovely lunch out with my mommy (who made this day possible)
… got birthday wishes from friends and family near and far (thanks!)
… had a snuggly nap with my son
… went to Target (cuz it's a day ending in 'y' )
… went for a 50 minute run
… watched my new favorite show with my darling husband
… had the sweetest little voice sing Happy Birthday “to my mommy”
… watched our dog lick cupcake off my daughter's hands (for like 3 minutes straight)
… visited the library with my family
… watched my son smile and coo
… had a wonderful birthday!

Thanks for hanging in there with me. I plan to get back to blogging regularly when I'm back at work and in a better routine. Since I last checked in, we spent a bunch of time preparing for family reunion, attending family reunion and recovering from family reunion … because it was fun, really fun, but exhausting. Tabby ran around like crazy with all her age mates and consumed way too much sugar and didn't get enough sleep. Ben was pretty happy to be passed from person to person and was generally happy, but didn't sleep as long or consistently and I think the general upheaval sort of got to him. And of course, Matt and I had a nice time catching up with family from near and far.

Once back home, we've hit the ground running AGAIN. Monday we slept a lot. Tuesday I went to work and we went to see Indiana Jones at Film on the Rocks. Today I spent the entire morning running around trying to find a replacement adapter for my Medela Pump in Style (I have some choice words about Babies R Us if you're interested).

I'm floored that I only have about a month of maternity leave left. I have been having so much fun hanging with my little people and I know I will miss it lots. They are so amazing and amusing and while I cannot say I love every minute, there are so many lovable minutes, that the hair-pulling-out ones just fade into the background.

So … yea. The days, they go by. Really quickly. Summer is always like that for us, but this seems doubly so, what with two little ones to keep up with.

The kids are doing well. I keep meaning to sit Tabby down for a little video interview, but as the child never sits still, it is difficult. She continues to talk up a storm and I can hardly believe the funny stuff she comes up with. Her most recent acquisition is a pair of Barbie roller skates that she is thrilled beyond thrilled with. And she can now be seen scooting along in our kitchen with her bunny rabbit helmet on. What? We have to have the floors refinished anyhow.

Meanwhile, at less than 3 months old, Ben has doubled his birth weight and is now 15 lbs!! He's long too and I am thinking he'll be out-growing his infant carrier well before his first birthday. After carrying him for over an hour in our Bjorn last weekend, my back was killing me, so this week I invested in a Beco so he can go on the back (once he has full control of his head … which is already at like 95%) and I am VERY happy with it. He is very alert and terribly charming and fun. Our little people are amazing!!

Matt and I are doing well too. We're both diving head first into workouts at the moment. Matt had the bright idea to run the Music City Marathon (not until next April and we haven't actually signed up yet!), so we're getting our butts in gear. The good news is that I finally feel like I can run with purpose … not fast yet, but longer at least. In any case, I'll take it!

And now it is time for bed!!

I am savoring rare silence in my household. Both kiddos are napping and it's storming like mad outside. Colorado is gorgeous right now … we're way up on rain for the year and it is as green as it ever is in the spring … just beautiful!!

We've been having a great time these past few days. Wednesday night we went to Cafe Berlin to celebrate my sister's birthday. It was a long dinner, but both kiddos were as good as gold. Tabby went from lap to lap, showing off her knowledge of animals from her book and coloring with her awesome twisty crayons.

Thursday I put in a full day at the office while the kiddos hung out with Grammy and then we left for Vail that evening. The weekend was full of fun. We took walks through town, visited shops, gardens and playgrounds. And we spent lots of time at the condo, watching movies, playing games and cooking together …. and laughing A LOT.

On the way home from Vail, we stopped at Georgetown and took the kids on the train. It was good fun and Tabby loved it!!

Now we are back home and settling into the weekly routine. Working out. Laundry. Film on the Rocks is tonight. They're showing Office Space. Hopefully this rain will clear out and we can enjoy it.

Tomorrow, we are closing on our second re-fi since we bought this house. We got a rate of 4.875%, fixed, so we are really excited. It does mean we'll have to stay in the house for at least 14 more months to make up for the fees we'll pay, but we've pretty much decided that we want to stay here and remodel rather than move. We love it here and we want to make it work for a while longer, perhaps until we can find a piece of land and build a custom house … I can dream, right?

I must fly … bye bye … Laundry Calling!

I can't seem to get it together lately. Pictures are stuck on the camera (I took care of this!). The house is a mess. I'm behind on everything from emails to errands. The good news is that we're having a lot of fun. Some of the goings on:

• Had a great 4th of July Bash at our friends' house, complete with fireworks, outdoor movie and tons of good food.
• Have been obsessively playing Sims 3 with my spare moments – like while I'm pumping (perhaps this is why things are falling apart at the seams? Nah.)
• Bought a Netbook for the kitchen … however I have not been cooking much.
• Have been loving the crap TV on ABC Family, particularly Make It or Break It
• Visited Cheyenne Mountain Zoo with the kiddos, aunties and Grammy … so much fun!
• Am actually able to run a couple of miles at a time (at a crawl compared to before pregnancy, but still!)
• Celebrated my sister's 27th b'day
• Went to the Royal Gorge (big hole in the ground)
• Went to my fave Italian restaurant, Biaggi's, for dinner – if there is one in your area, go visit it without delay and have the roasted beet salad – you will thank me!
• Had a lovely date night with my hubby and finally saw Star Trek – loved it!!
• Have practically every moment until the end of July all booked up, including some b'day parties, Bunco, and our family reunion
• My kiddo is finally napping, but still has NO interest in potty training

I will be back, hopefully soon, with a ton of new links and an update on my Tabby who turned 2.333333 on July 4.

Gah! Can't believe how bad I've been with blogging lately. We got back from Nashville LATE on Tuesday. We had a nice trip, but it ended with a LOOONG trip home. Thanks to some thunderstorms that decided to camp out over DIA, we got to circle around SE Colorado for a while and then divert to Colorado Springs for a while to refuel and then sit on the tarmac for a while and cool our heels. The kids both had minor meltdown moments, but rallied nicely and we were sooo proud of them both. We all had big smiles when we finally got to Denver.

The trip was fun, but very exhausting. Traveling with a newborn always is, but throw in a two-year-old and WOW. I have not felt exhaustion like that in a long time, and I don't get a lot of sleep. Hehe. The gear management alone was overwhelming. I have no idea what we would have done without Matt's brother, Andrew, who traveled with us, helped us schlep gear, entertain the kids and provided extra hands. Still, 10 minutes to get through security (the actual screening bit), and that's not an exaggeration. The other exhausting bit was the Nashville heat. We apparently hit a heatwave and had temps nearing 100 plus all the humidity. Holy sweat! But it was a great visit. Matt and I enjoyed spending time with the family and our friends from Vandy. We also got to visit the Artisan Festival where I got a great necklace from Bijou Graphique (won't be my last piece from them, I have a feeling!) and Tabby came home with a tie dye dress and a cute doggy clock (which she picked out).

Tabby undoubtedly enjoyed her Nashville family, but in her two-year-old mind, the highlights of the trip were our visit to the aquarium and swimming in her grandparents' pool. That's all she'll tell you about if you ask … and the airplane. She was a big fan.

I was pretty lousy about photos … but I got some pretty good ones at the aquarium and a couple others here and there. I think we were all just too busy enjoying ourselves and trying to stay cool to be worried about the camera too much.

We hit the ground running once we got home … and I have lots to tell, but that is for another day!!