Quiet Time

Here's how things go everyday...

I'm tired all day long.

Alice cries all of the time, she's a baby after all.

Oliver, who is in love with nonsense words and wiggling, spends all day chattering and jumping around.

It is the dead of winter and frigid outside, so no one gets to breathe fresh air or run off energy.

This week, out of desperation, I created an afternoon activity called "BE QUIET AND HOLD STILL BEFORE I LOSE MY MIND" "Quiet Time."

This is not about a grumpy mom, this is purely about self preservation...

There are only two rules...

1. If your name is Oliver, you may not talk louder than a whisper.

2. If your name is Oliver, you may not run around the house in circles, regardless of how bored you are.

My job during quiet time is to breath deeply in an attempt to muster the energy and mental capacity to continue to care for two children until Jesse gets home in the evening.

This game gets really fun when I look up to find Oliver whispering his favorite nonsense words quietly to Alice while carefully giving her a pacifier.

I think we're going to make it after all.

Equal Parts CUTE and QUIET

Snowman on a Dish

Remember when I told you about the magic that Jesse makes in our home?

Well, today he gave us Snowman On A Dish...

I Hope Everyone Has an Annie

Since I don't seem to have any pictures of Annie, I give you Ollie enjoying the snow that fell yesterday...

We put Annie on an airplane yesterday just before the snow started. In fact, had her flight been just an hour later and she would have had to stay...

It was a glorious week with Best Friend Annie. She fed us and cleaned up our messes. We read Blackmoore and made baby bows together. There was Funfetti Cake Mix Chex (twice), and there was an impromptu kitchen dance party when we realized that, not only do we both love Queen, we both love the same somewhat obscure song.

She gave Oliver all the attention he needed and wasn't getting. She laughed at all of Jesse's jokes. She promised me that I wasn't losing my mind when I told her all of my crazy new baby anxieties. She loved on Alice the way only family could, which almost made up for the fact that none of my family can. And to top it all off, she cleaned my bathroom twice. Then she put on her photographer hat and took our pictures.

She did all of this purely because I asked her to over ice cream and french fries at Leatherby's that sunny day in June.

She didn't even hesitate.

And that's why I hope everyone has an Annie in their lives. I'm so lucky to have mine!

The Story of Jesse's Life: The Fun One

It's no secret that Jesse is the fun parent in our family...

He goes out in the snow, he takes walks to the playground, he makes trips to the dumpster an adventure, and he always has a pocket full of jelly beans to share.

Today he made a chalk board out a cardboard box so that Oliver could use sidewalk chalk.

His patience and creativity help him invent fun for Oliver in almost any situation.

Magic! I tell you! The man is pure magic.

29

We celebrated my friend Jesse's birthday today.

There was cake...

There were candles,

And we sang Happy Birthday like the best of them!

It was absolutely all I could muster, and it was still ridiculously low key.

 At least the cake was good!

Here's to your 29th year, my love!