Day 274 | Back At It

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I'm back to my regularly scheduled blogging. I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the random things that bring a smile to my face these days. It's been a big (huge!) week around here while I've been distracting you with My Favorite Things blog posts. I'm going to keep you hanging one more day before divulging details, though, because we went on an outing too fun not to share this morning: to the National Building Museum.

I've talked about it before, but this is really one of my favorite indoor activities to take the kiddos to in the District. Judging by the crowd of people and two sold-out Building Zone sessions, a few other people think the same thing. We had lots of fun looking the Hot to Cold exhibit, playing in the atrium, and visiting the gift shop (Chase is really into picking things out for his birthday lately). The highlight for both boys was the Building Zone (no surprise). Then we packed up the car, braved DC traffic, and made it home in time for naps. Just perfect.

Day 273 | My Favorite Things: #5

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Home sweet home.

I'm in love with our house. It's the perfect size for our little family (not too big but room for everyone to spread out). I'm a big fan of the layout (it's very open). The kitchen couldn't be more ideal (yay for cupboard space). And any of the issues we've had since moving in have been quickly remedied by the construction crew that did the renovation (thank goodness for tough negotiations during closing). I feel very lucky and blessed to be living in this house, in this city, with these boys. 

Day 272 | My Favorite Things: #4

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I'm so happy that knitting is back in my life. I tend to do a few projects (love it!) then somehow stray away due to other crafts. 

I'm definitely back in a big way this round. I finished my first Christmas stockinge last week and then quickly transitioned to a project just for me (woop woop!): a stocking hat. A beyond-adorable, perfect-for-me hat that I can't wait to finish and wear it out. It's pushing my knitting capabilities: I've never done two colors before and it called for a different casting on technique. I'm happy to report I'm nailing it so far!

Here's the pattern so you can see what the (hopefully) finished product will look like. 

Day 270 | My Favorite Things: #2

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Random cat items. I think my love affair with cats (did you know I can speak their language?) has officially transitioned from the real animals to amusing cat things (don't worry, I still love you, Miga). I'm not looking to add on an addition to our house to make room for this growing collection (it's actually the purr-fect small-size at the moment) but for some reason this random cat stuff just makes me smile.

Special note: Thanks to my mom and dad for the adorable cat blanket. And to Mary Catherine Starr for the sweet kitty mug. And to Chris for thinking I stole the tiny cat figurine (I really did pay a quarter for it...I swear!). All pictured above.

Day 269 | My Favorite Things: #1

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After a long long week last week full of too much crying and Chase's first full-fledged, limp-body, kicking-and-screaming meltdown (we almost made it to three years without one, that's something to be thankful for, right?), I'm tying to stay positive this week. So, to brighten my own spirits, I will be posting a photo a day of my favorite things. And I really mean "things," material things that is. Otherwise I'd feel obligated to come up with baby-related uppers and I'm trying to steer clear of those. I still have a tiny bit of me that exists outside of being a mom.

Here we go, day one: fresh flowers. And these in particular. I'm not even sure what they are...I picked them up on a whim from Trader Joe's and they're my new favorite. So dainty and feminine. 

Day 267 | Prepping for Christmas

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That's right. It's January and I'm planning [way] ahead for Christmas. That's what you have to do when you're taking about knitting stockings for the whole family.

I've wanted to craft stockings for my family since before we had kids. That's serious. Now that we've settled in as a family of four, it's time. 

My mother in-law crafted some amazing stockings for the boys which we'll continue to use for official Santa business (since they're much fancier). These knitted ones will hang on our mantle, just as festive decor. 

I'm debating about how to add names to these beauties (some sort of tag hanging off of them, probably) but for now I'll just keep on knitting. One down, three to go. 

Oh, and here's the pattern for all you fellow knitters. It's surprisingly easy and quick. You can do it!


Day 266 | Chase Update

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It seems only fair to offer an update on our older tyke as well, right?

Here's your Chase fix for the day:
  • He's still very into reading, reading, reading. Favorites right now? Thomas (no surprise), Berenstain Bears (although the obsession has subsided somewhat), anything from the library (new=exciting!), rediscovering old favorites (oh that's what those books on the other end of the bookshelf are).
  • He's been practicing standing on one foot. And he's pretty proud of himself for it, too (for good reason). 
  • He memorized his first (long!) book. To him, he's "reading" it but it's apparent that he's just heard the book (a Thomas one, obviously) a million times and can now recite it word for word. It's pretty text-heavy, too. Quite an impressive feat. Thanks Uncle Brian and Aunt Tera (and the girls!) for getting the book for him. 
  • He can spell all his family members' names. And this is definitely more letter identification than memorized tricks. Chase's real name (remember, we go by middle names around here) is eight letters long so, again, super impressive. 
  • He can identify letters. As noted above, he's getting to be quite the alphabet expert. It's amazing how it's like a light-switch flips and all of a sudden he can do all these awesome things.
  • He knows all the Thomas and Friends characters and can tell you color and number for most of them. This boy loves Thomas. 
  • He's started breaking into song randomly. It's like we're in a fantastic musical where "I've been working on the railroad" and the alphabet song are the leading songs on the soundtrack.
And his status quo list:
  • He's still obsessed with trains: riding in them, reading about them, playing with them, talking about them, giving compliments related to them, etc. And can you guess what he's asking for for his birthday coming up? Yep! More trains/attractions for his wooden set. We're getting to be quite the impressive railroad track engineers around here. 
  • His favorite food? Yes, sir. Still blueberries (and fruit in general). At least he's consistent. 

Day 265 | Robbe Update

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Robbe signing "all done."
It's been awhile since I've given an update on our little guy. Things change quickly in the life of a soon-to-be one year old so I couldn't wait any longer or we'd miss some fun stuff.
  • He's waving at everyone. At the grocery store, at Chase's school, going up to bed, everywhere. 
  • He's signing "all done". That's the photo above. Chase didn't catch on to signs until well after his birthday so I wasn't expecting this so soon. I love it, though!
  • He's eating finger foods. I'd say about 75% of the chucks make it into his mouth at this point. Not too bad, right? Favorites include: bananas, sweet potatoes, green beans, cheese, carrots, Cheerios, strawberries, blueberries, oranges. 
  • He's saying "dada" pretty consistently, although we're not ready to call it his first word yet. Of course, it usually comes after I ask him to say "mama." Ha! Sounds about right. 
  • He can accurately tell you what a camel does. It's kind of a pfugh sound with lots of spitting involved, in case you didn't know. 
  • He really really likes the following: playing on the couch, being up in his brother's business, chasing Miga around (good thing she's fairly tolerant), playing up/down in the crib (stand up, squat down, repeat), pulling a blanket up and down to reveal his face (aka peek-a-boo), and reading books.
  • He enjoys doing somersaults (or a close relative of them anyway) by putting his head down in my lap and having me flip him over. 
  • He's a lover. This kid is constantly giving smooches and snuggles. My favorite is all the kisses he gives to animals and people in books. He does kind of a dive-bomb with his head to give the kisses. With people, we're trying to work on teaching that kisses without teeth are better. After that, we'll start working on less juicy smooches. But one thing at a time!
And a couple of things that have remained status quo:
  • Still not sleeping through the night. He's only done it once (this time) so far. But I'm staying optimistic. It's going to happen...for good...soon!
  • Still just two teeth. I think there are a couple on the horizon, though, so stay tuned.

Day 263 | Gel Manicure Review

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As promised, here's my run down of my experience with my first gel manicure: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good: it did last forever! In my life, forever for a manicure means 2+ weeks. A normal manicure lasts about two days so this is huge. And my nails ended up growing out more than chipping. Woohoo!

The bad: taking it off is a pain. I went to a salon to have it removed and can probably manage to do it on my own next time, but it's no joke to remove. Makes sense, right? It stays on so well for a reason. 

The ugly: my nails are not looking fantastic at the moment. I don't think the salon got everything off of them but even the few that are completely clear have seen better days. 

The final verdict? I'll definitely do it again. My nails don't look great on a daily basis anyway so that's not a huge a deterrent for me. I probably won't do one right after another (nor do I have the time/money for that anyway) so that should give my nails a chance to recover a bit. 

Day 262 | Three Friends

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After a long weekend of almost complete social isolation, I'm happy to report we got to catch up with three friends today!

1. Our neighbors from the Hill. We so miss them and the old 'hood. Brings back such a sense of home every time we're back. 

2. Our friends from our year-long stint in Iowa. We're so lucky that our paths have continued to cross and we're only ten minutes away from each other now!

3. The metro. One of Chase's best friends (you can have friends that aren't human, right?) and one we haven't spent much time with since we've moved. As we were riding, Chase said, "This is fun. I like trains. I like Thomas." That pretty much sums it up. 

Day 260 | School Lottery Saga: It Begins

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Chase listening carefully during the presentation.
Today we officially started the search for the perfect school for Chase. Seems a bit early? We agree...if we lived anywhere else. In the District, though, most of the public and charter schools offer 3 year old pre-kindergarten programs. Which means next year (!!!) for our little guy. Crazy, I know.

You have to get into one of the schools via a lottery so we'll rank the top 12 (at the max) schools we would want him to end up in and then we'll be randomly assigned come March. Seems easy enough, right? Well, as you might imagine, spots in the good schools are really hard to come by. We're trying to stay optimistic, though, because there are a handful of schools in our direct area that we're really excited about and might not be quite as sought after. 

Today, Chase and I went to an open house for a Montessori school down the street. We decided (Chase and I, that is) that we could find a better fit. On to the next open house!

Tune in for more open houses, application woes, and lottery results as the months tick by. And think happy thoughts for us, would you?

Day 259 | Oh How Times Have Changed

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Not too long ago (about three years, actually), the idea of spending the morning at a car dealer service center would have been one of my least favorite ways to spend a few hours. Fast forward: two babies and no free time later and I'm loving the quiet, kid-free morning. It's almost too good.

What kept me busy for three hours?

  • Knitting (Woohoo!)
  • Reading a magazine (What? They still print these?)
  • Getting my nail polish removed (Turns out you have to go somewhere to have that done for gel nails. My full gel manicure review will come soon.)
  • Splurging on a delicious soy latte and muffin

Thanks, Chris, for hanging out with the boys so I could enjoy this luxurious outing. Ha!

Day 257 | Meet My Friend, The Slow Cooker

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Have you discovered the beauty of the slow cooker? I've had a long-term relationship with this small appliance but just recently started fully appreciating how perfectly magical it is to throw everything in a pot and ignore it for a few hours and then, ta-da!, dinner is ready. The best!

Interested in some of my favorite recipes at the moment? Here goes:

Braised Beef and Peppers

Chicken Taco Soup

Quinoa Tex Mex Casserole

French Onion Soup

Teriyaki Chicken

Sausage and Kale Stew with Mashed Potatoes

Vegetable Parmesan Quinoa

Happy slow-cooking!