Two Thoughts.

On troubleshooting.

That "aerial view" of my life revealed that things get pretty hairy around here after 4 pm. We still have about 3 hours before dad gets home. The boys are up from their naps, Will is starting to fuss because he's starving, J usually wants to "go somewhere" and I need to get dinner started because Will is having a conniption on the kitchen floor.

So here is my attempted solution.

• Plan out meals for the month, doubling ingredients and meals here and there to stock up the freezer, and plan for one or two big shopping trips a month. Goal: be strategic, efficient, organized. 
• Dedicate the first half hour of nap time to dinner prep so things come together more quickly. Make this a habit.
• And, for the love. Plan more Instant Pot and Crock Pot meals. This stage of my life is not conducive to any recipe that involves browning or braising. It just isn't. I can channel my inner Julia when I don't have a screaming 1 yo wrapped around my leg.

Also, I tend to get so wrapped up in my "household duties" that I start to multi-task my kids, trying to distract them so I can finish one more thing. It's the worst! 

Solution: If I can have most things finished by 3 (i.e. laundry folded, table cleared of junk, kitchen clean-ish) and let myself off the hook for everything else, then I can actually enjoy the evening with my kids instead of counting down the minutes until bedtime. 

On Do-Overs.

J and I talk a lot about do-overs. He is in a frustrating stage right now, defiant as heck and pushing every boundary he can think of. As a result I have trouble staying calm and patient throughout the day. Especially by the time evening rolls around and I am feeling like a frayed rubber band, ready to snap. We grant each other do-overs multiple times a day. Most of the time it helps.

Last night was rough for a number of reasons. We all get to have a meltdown every now and then, right? But all of my troubles looked much brighter as the sun came up this morning. The boys and I went on a walk, and all I could think about was that today is my do-over. And no matter what happens, tonight I get to sleep, and tomorrow I get another do-over! It's simple, but this thought brings me comfort. 

Ode to Summer

It's starting to feel like fall here in Southern Virginia. The heater clicked on this morning, so yeah. It's here. The start of a new season is magical. It's a time for fresh starts and new rituals. And don't we all have a little bit of Anne Shirley in us when the leaves start to change? I will romanticize the coziness of fall with the best of them, but summer has my heart. Switching out our crisp, cool summer sheets for the cozy flannel ones, packing up the fans, shaking out fleece jackets and hunting for matching gloves and wool socks; it feels very final. I'm determined to love fall and winter as much as I loved spring and summer, but still. A little sad.

So before I throw myself into Fall (which really is great, I know) Summer 2017 deserves a shout out. Most of Summer 2016 was a blur of 3rd trimester sweaty stress. But this year . . .

Early summer meant no mosquitoes (yet), almost hot days and beautifully warm evenings. We could finally enjoy our backyard again! As well as morning walks to the water, beach trips, zoo trips, playdates at the park. I read quietly on the porch during naptime and snuck outside often in the evenings to catch a quick breath and watch the fireflies. I taught J about "summer sounds" and we reveled in the racket of cicadas and crickets.

Mid summer was filled with the happy chaos of visitors. It has been years since we have lived close to family and we've become accustomed to it. Until we see them again and are reminded how badly we miss sharing our day-to-day lives with them! Trips to visit family include full days of air travel with toddlers or days of driving . . . so, you know. Worth it, but it comes with a price. Family coming to us? Gold.

And late summer. I learned to love it. The mosquitoes were horrendous. The air was muggy. But guess what? Early mornings and evenings at the beach were the perfect temperature, and mosquito free. We frequented our aquarium, children's museum, and local libraries during the day to avoid the stifling heat. I kept a can of DEET on my back steps at all times so that as soon as the breeze picked up we could leap outside for a short walk or "motorcycle ride" with J's bike. Long days allowed for walks after dinner, which was often late because we had been hanging out on the porch with the boys' water table.

Of course I'm leaving out all the sweaty tantrums, high AC bills, and scratchy bug bites, but who wants to remember that stuff? This is how I want to remember Summer 2017.

Troubleshooting

One of the IG accounts I follow has been doing a weekly series on tips to organize your life, based on a presentation she attended by Marie Ricks. The latest tip was on troubleshooting your life. Getting out of the trenches to take an aerial view, identify trouble areas, and do what you can to fix them.

But I have this problem where I go through phases. Sometimes I'm chill, sometimes I'm super uptight, sometimes I am super organized and sometimes I am a hot mess. Actually, I am usually a hot mess. Schedules, to-do lists, goals, resolutions. . . I fall for them every time! Trouble is that my "follow through" skills are lacking. 

So. I am troubleshooting and boiling it down to the basics. Getting my act together to make space for the things that really matter. For real this time.

"Halloween time"

My boy Jonathan LOVES Halloween. Our neighborhood goes all out, and when the pumpkins, skeletons, spiderwebs, and graveyards starting popping up last year he became obsessed. When the spooky stuff came down and the Christmas stuff went up he just didn't understand! How could Santa be as exciting as bones and pumpkins? For months he would ask to go on a walk to see the bones, and his conversational chatter about his Ewok costume lasted well into the spring ("I a Ewok. Mama is Leia. Dada is Darth Maul. No, Dada is Jedi. Darth Maul is mean. Jedi nice. Dada is nice.") On and on.

Fast forward to this year. As soon as he saw pumpkins in the grocery store he knew that "Halloween time" was back! Long story short, our house was fully decorated by the end of September. Most mornings he comes downstairs with a big smile, "I so happy it's Halloween time Mama!" Starting so early, we have had lots of time to stretch out our Halloween festivities. Here are a few of our favorites that will surely be traditions for years to come:

1. Halloween Books! My dream is to have a collection of books for each holiday. There is just something special about books that only come out once a year. But we have many moves ahead, and we are on a pretty tight budget, so the library is the way to go for us! We hit up different libraries to gather a few new books each week.

Favorites for kids:
Shivery Shades of Halloween
Too Many Pumpkins
The Bones of Fred McFee
Where the Wild Things Are
Birdie's Happiest Halloween

Favorites for parents/teens:
Rebecca
Coraline (great read aloud for older children. It is also a graphic novel)
And Then There Were None
Murder on the Orient Express
Also, I am currently reading Turn of the Screw. I'll let you know if it ends up being "list worthy"

2. Movies. J is old enough to get "nur-bus" now, so our selection is limited. This year we have been watching:
Room on the Broom (Netflix)
The original Casper cartoons (Amazon Prime)
Super Monsters (Netflix)

Matt and I look forward to the day when Coraline, Hocus Pocus, Corpse Bride, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Simpson's Treehouse of Horrors episodes can be added to the mix.

3. Pumpkin painting. I grew up in Southern California with very warm Octobers, so we always painted our pumpkins. We would paint big faces on them and line them up on top of our front wall. Same situation here, although with the humidity we didn't even want them outside because they get moldy so fast! This year we painted mini pumpkins and lined them up on the mantle. Both boys loved it. J used so much paint that his pumpkins took 2-3 days to dry, but they were the coolest ones by far.

4. Food. It is Scott family tradition to have clam chowder in bread bowls on Halloween night, so we definitely have that to look forward to! In years past I have enjoyed baking pumpkin bread, making pumpkin cookies, pancakes, etc. But I have been off my game this year! Maybe I can bust out some pumpkin pancakes this weekend. We'll see.

The Blog is Back

Since I last posted, we have moved to a new state and had another child. I am "team leader" to two crazy boys, the sweetest dog, and a husband in the middle of pediatric residency training. Life is insane right now, guys. For real. But my sister reminded me of an old blog that I kept back in my single college days and tonight I went back and reread it. And guess what? I would have forgotten all of those stories and experiences, in all their awkward chubby-faced glory. So the blog is back. Because I don't want to forget!

I want to remember how Jonny gleefully announced that he had "done a double" (pee and poop) when I had no idea he even knew what the word "double" meant.

I want to remember how hard Matt works right now and how amazing he is to come home and give us his full love and attention at the end of the day, even if it's just for a few minutes.

I want to remember how Will starts to run away, but freezes until he knows I am looking so that he can flash a mischievous smile before continuing to wobble off in the opposite direction.

So here we go.

6 Months: Lessons Learned

                    

After 6 months of life, Jonathan has learned to:

• Sit up on his own
• Babble away at a remarkably high volume
• Nap for longer than 30 minutes (finally!!)
• Eat baby food. He loves sweet potatoes, but don't even think about serving him green beans unless you want to scrub green barf stains out of everything.
• Smile at absolutely anyone--this kid is such a charmer.
• Laugh! His little belly laugh is hysterical.
• Recognize Mom and Dad. There is nothing more gratifying than seeing him light up when one of us enters the room. This parenting thing totally rocks right now.

After 6 months of motherhood I have learned:

• Dish soap can get stains out of almost anything.
• The power of the "mom uniform." Yes I wear basically the same outfit every day, but hey if it's machine washable, nursing friendly, and makes me feel somewhat put together, it's a go!
• As soon as we find a routine, it changes. This little guy is In Charge and he knows it. It's a good thing he has me wrapped around his little finger.
• Jogging with a stroller is harder than it looks. Kudos to all you double-stroller people. I hope to be as cool as you someday.
• Cuddling my baby in the middle of the night really isn't so bad. Ok, sometimes it is, but sometimes I miss him when he goes back to sleep.
• With my arsenal of plastic grocery bags, I can handle anything. Spit up all over his clothes in church? We've got this. Epic poop explosion in the parking lot? No problem. I have those babies stashed in the diaper bag, in the car, and in every room in the house. 
• I can handle long days and sleepless nights as long as I allow myself a meltdown every week or two. It sounds crazy, but accepting the fact that the meltdowns will come (and hoping that I'm not the only one who has them...?) helps me to be gentle with myself when I feel like I'm not good enough.
• I have a very patient husband.

Time Flies!

**This post was written (and forgotten about) in January 2015

Sweet Jonathan is 5 months old! I can't believe it. A couple of my friends have had babies since he was born, and as I hold their newborns I just marvel that he was ever that small and fragile. In preparation for childbirth I remember reading that the first few weeks fly by in a sort of "haze." New mom is in survival mode; completely focused on and basically obsessed with her baby. I'm happy to report that although the haze has certainly cleared, I am still very much obsessed with this kid. Matt and I enjoyed our first holiday season with a wee babe (more on that later) and are now back in Houston enjoying our homebody (and school) routine once again.