Jane had a big weekend – she threw away her binkies and last night was her first night back in her big girl bed. I think it will stick this time. However, this picture was taken the fourth trip down the stairs after bedtime. By this time, all my goodwill was kind of exhausted. Jane looks slightly crazy and Cate has her manipulative face on. I can’t remember why they came down this time – thirsty? or Jane was making bird noises? I don’t know. They ended up falling asleep shortly after I took the picture.

“Holiday” weekends are exhausting when you have young children. The weather was really bad. Telfer was on call so we didn’t have much planned but then he wasn’t that busy so it was not the best weekend in the world but it was long? Yeah?

This is a terrible picture of our chickens but here they are: Penny, Pip, Tilly, and Bunny. Jane named Bunny. I named the other three after the mice siblings in Kevin Henkes’ Penny trilogy. Our chickens are starting to look like awkward teenagers. In about two weeks they can move to the chicken house in our backyard but for now they are still in the basement. Telfer fixed up a roost for them this weekend and they are happily roosting in the picture. Apart from the one time I caught Jane drinking the chicken’s water (I KNOW), Telfer and I are absolutely loving having chickens. And they don’t even lay eggs yet!

We had such a wonderful family day (it’s not all doom and gloom around here, I promise) in Seattle last weekend. Elizabeth took a few photos and we had such a good time at Melrose Market & Molly Moon’s. I love living only an hour away from such a beautiful city.

In other news, I read The Still Point of the Turning World: A Mother’s Story by Emily Rapp which should be required reading for basically everyone. It kind of blew my heart up and has given me much to think over. Yesterday I read most of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and am liking it – breezy but well done. A Penguin rep at ALA recommended it and he did not lead me astray. I would basically eat my own foot to be able to actually finish it tonight but I am off to be a responsible mother and friend!

I got back from Boston about ten days ago. Not going to lie: it’s been a rough ten days. The girls have alternated being sick the entire time – the picture of Cate above was taken one afternoon when she was so sick and yet refused to fall asleep. We cuddled in bed together and I asked her if it was okay if I fell asleep for just a few minutes. She magnanimously  agreed and I started with the fake heavy breathing until she gave it up and was asleep within two minutes. And then I picked up my novel and kept reading. Mom’s got tricks. Telfer has been busy at work and I have had a really rough time catching up at work and at home. But! I went into work Thursday evening and Friday afternoon and feel somewhat on top of things and at least ready for the week ahead.

This afternoon the girls and I are at home (Cate is coloring next to me and Jane is taking a quick nap) waiting for Daddy to come pick us up. We are scrapping it all and headed to Seattle for a few errands which mostly includes ice cream at Molly Moon’s. Is it ridiculous to drive all the way to Seattle for ice cream? We would like to think not.

What else? My goals for tomorrow include running a half marathon and baking a strawberry rhubarb pie. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully I will share the pie with my loved ones. You get pretty hungry after running 13.2 miles…

And several weeks later…I am still trying to figure out how do everything better. With the beautiful weather, we have been hitting the yard hard. I am actually weeding (and enjoying it). However, if I spend the afternoon outside doing outside projects, you should see the state of my house. Clean laundry piled up on the guest bed, dishes everywhere, broken color crayons on the floor. It’s not a pretty sight. But I am trying to let it go a little and enjoy the outside and our yard this year. Last year at this time, Jane was still eating dirt. Seriously. So being able to weed for an hour while the girls play is surprisingly fun.

The picture above is last night and it’s not staged at all. I was standing there, slicing radishes from the farmer’s market and I realized…well this is beautiful isn’t it? I took a picture and then put the radishes on a piece of baguette with butter and sprinkled a little salt on top. And then took them outside to enjoy with Telfer.

At some point this weekend I will update you on the chickens, my trip to Boston, ear tubes and other very exciting topics. Stay tuned.

 

Cate woke me up yesterday morning at 6:45 to tell me she had to go to the bathroom and did I know it was Pooh’s birthday? I did not know. We decided to do it up big: cupcakes, party hats, candles and an invited guest. Gresham came over and was like really? But how did you know it was Pooh’s birthday Andrea? Sidenote: one of my favorite things in the world is how Gresham says my name – Andwea. Well, Gresh. I don’t really know. Cate told me and we just went from there.

It’s been a good but really busy few weeks for our little family. A major bright spot: Anna came for an overnight visit and we made carrot-cardamom jam. More on that later. Both Cate and Jane have had a lot of ear problems and on the advice of our pediatrician, we are going to take them to an ENT next week. Cate is practically deaf in one ear she has so much thick fluid built up. I also went to the podiatrist last week because I am getting the very, very beginnings of bunions and will basically do anything to make.it.stop. So orthotics here I come. But really, my most favorite thing was the old-fashioned patient notes I got in the mail yesterday from the podiatrist. He describes me as “a pleasant alert oriented non-overweight 34-year-old female.” I love this so, so much. When I am having a moment, or a series of moments, I need to remember that someone at least thinks of me as pleasant AND alert. And not fat. Yes.

Last Saturday the girls in our life group went on a girls night – we ended up at Third Place Books in Seattle (very cool bookstore) and met Glennon Melton of Momastery. Just a good night all around.

What else? We are doing a lot of yard work this spring and we are finally getting chickens. I know! I am so excited. I think I sent Telfer three chicken-related emails yesterday.

I did indeed finish Middlemarch and I urge everyone to try to read it. It’s a masterpiece and officially my favorite novel. I am in awe. I love how complex her characters are – no one is entirely good and no one is entirely evil. Like real people. Eliot is a compassionate writer.

Reading The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer at the moment and like it a lot so far.

And please, when you have about twenty minutes, please listen to this interview with my friend Bekah Hall. I was having a hard parenting day but happened to listen to this after my girls were in bed. Her interview, on parenting a child with special needs, inspired me and gave me the perspective I needed on so many levels. Bekah’s blog is here.

One last picture: this is Jane one morning before I took her to preschool with a ponytail. Does it not kill you just a little? What a sweetheart.

I had to write this down exactly as Cate said it. It is totally Cate. Preschool has helped her try “adventure bites” of new foods and the social pressure has stopped the screaming when confronted by something she doesn’t recognize. Progress.

Today we spent the third Friday morning in a row at the Pediatrician’s office. First it was Cate’s left ear, then both of Jane’s ears, and now Cate’s right ear. It takes the whole morning between the actual appointment and then procurement of antibiotics. Today was a comedy of errors between the doctor’s office and the pharmacy except I was not laughing. Thankfully, Telfer got home early and I made a mental health escape downtown for a couple of hours.

We don’t have much planned this weekend in the best possible way. I need to do a long run, the Olympia Farmer’s market opens and if, the big if, the rain lets up, we will do some yard work. The dandelions are already threatening to take over everything. I want to steam some clams tomorrow and maybe I will even finish Middlemarch (finally). Doesn’t that sound kind of nice? Cate needs a lot of cuddling and Jane will keep us all slightly annoyed/entertained with her two-year-old antics.