Seven Quick Takes

1. You guys, I am so surprised that I managed to get this post together. I just feel like I have no time these days! I mean, laundry is getting done, meals are being prepared, and the house is getting cleaned (at least a little) but I am still on the seemingly never-ending quest to get the girls to predictably nap at the same time. A couple days this week, Maggie napped from 12:00 to 1:00, then Claire napped from 1:00 to 3:00, and then Maggie napped again from 3:00 to 4:00. So there goes mama's free time...

2. We have been making slow and steady progress on getting the house in order. This week's project was organizing our closet. We decided that we'd try to keep two weeks worth of clothes for each season (fall/winter and spring/summer) in there. Do you know how easy that is for guys? Adam has six t-shirts, six polos, six long-sleeve tees, six plaid button downs, four dressier button downs, two pairs of jeans, two pairs of slacks, a blazer, and a handful of ties. He also has a suit and a few coats, all stored elsewhere, but that's basically it. It helps that his company doesn't have any sort of dress code. Why can't it be that easy for us? And why are guys clothes always so much more durable? 

3. Even though things have been just as busy lately as they were in January and February, it's a much more enjoyable kind of busy. The first two months of the year were just about making it through the winter with two small children. A very boring kind of busy. But March brought a move, a little girl's birthday, and a visits from a couple of our favorite people. The big events on April's agenda are Easter and a certain handsome husband's birthday. So I've had Easter baskets on the brain this week. Maggie is getting this Tomie dePaola board book (it was on sale for $2.50 last week!) but I'm not sure about Claire yet. While browsing Amazon I stumbled upon the cutest little Our Lady dolls that the Easter bunny might not be able to pass up...

4. We pre-ordered Leila's and Jen's new books this week, so I hoping one of those will arrive in time to find a place in my Easter basket. I really loved Jen's gift with purchase e-book, the Family First Creative. I don't have any passions outside of the homemaking domain (at least for the time-being) but I still found it very insightful. It was just a great reminder that you can't do everything and that you should spend your limited free-time as a parent on the activities that give you energy. I think the idea of having a big garden and cooking from scratch more is so neat, but deep down I know it's just not for me, at least in my current stage of life. I want my kids to reflect on their childhood and remember things like homemade Halloween costumes and organized photo albums. I don't really care if they think, "Man, we sure did eat a lot of Costco frozen ravioli." So I've got a newfound resolve to keep trying to squeeze time in for my favorite hobbies of blogging and craft projects and just not feel bad about it.

5. You guys, I stopped by the church office last week and the parish secretary assumed that I was pregnant. Mostly, I found this whole thing pretty funny, because only in the Catholic world would someone assume that a mom carrying a five-month old and holding a freshly-minted two-year old by the hand would be pregnant again. But, it certainly didn't make me feel great about myself, that's for sure. I lost all the pregnancy weight easily, but after housing two babies in nineteen months, my stomach muscles are just so stretched out. I'm hesitant to try any sort of dieting (besides just general healthy eating, of course) quite yet because I'm afraid of supply issues creeping up again, since that's what ultimately did us in with Claire. I really think it's more of an exercise issue anyway. That comment has definitely kept me going through some long walks with the double stroller in our hilly neighborhood this week...

6. When Claire was a baby, I was firmly against exersaucers. I did not want another big plastic baby item cluttering up our apartment. But lately I've been really wishing I had a spot to set Maggie down for a bit and our doorway jumper doesn't fit in a convenient location in our new place and our pediatrician doesn't recommend those bumbo seats... so we found ourselves an exersaucer on Craig's List and are loooooving it so far. Maggie is just the happiest, cuddliest, most easy-going baby. I'd like quite a few more just like her, please! Here's a few video of her rolling over for the first time a couple weeks ago:

 

7. Claire had her second visit to the dentist this week and it actually wasn't all that bad. She also wrote her first song. It is sung during diaper changes and goes something like this:

 

" I peeee, I poooo, I peeee, I poooo...."

 

The following exchange occurred this week:

 

Adam: Hey, Claire, do you think Maggie's cute?

Claire: No, I cute!

 

She calls yogurt "goburt" and it just cracks us up. She also thinks frozen yogurt squeezes are ice cream and we haven't corrected her...

 

For the grandparents, here's a video of her identifying colors from a few weeks back:

Have a good weekend, everyone! Go see Jen for more, more, more.