Simpleton Pleasures

What a great weekend! I just feel really content lately, which is refreshing after a year of panic, sickness, misery, pain, and grumps. It's nice to be back.

I took on more than I ever have for Thanksgiving at Jared's parents' this year, and for the first time ever I think I crushed it. It was a lot of prep and a lot of cooking but everything came out so delicious! I made two types of green bean casserole (canned and fresh from scratch--do not ask me why I felt compelled to make both because I have no explanation), thyme lemonade that didn't make enough so I pivoted to wassail and apple cider, cinnamon honey butter, and 5 pies--two pumpkin, two chocolate cream, and one cinnamon pie. I found all new recipes and all were spectacular, and I'm not usually a pie person. This was my first time making a good pie crust from scratch--all thanks to my mom for making us a bomb blackberry pie after I had Alice and teaching me that crust doesn't have to be difficult.

After dinner Jack developed a gnarly cough; like, a really gnarly cough. He started the morning off with a mild cough that we thought was on its way out, but by the end of dinner the coughs were so deep that I was sure he was going to throw up, and he was asking to go home. Jack does not ask to go home from a social occasion. Ever. So we took off early. He's been requesting naps and early bed times all week. It's wild. He's better today but now Alice has it, poor baby. It's been humidifiers and snot suckers all weekend. When Jack was a baby he would wake up every 20 minutes all night long whenever he got sick. Alice has been the opposite, sleeping away the day and night. #blessed

^^Jared had his birthday over the weekend as well! We let him sleep in and then we had Alice "kiss" him to wake him up. She ended up licking him instead, which he was not expecting. Glad I captured the moment. It was a sweet morning of family snuggles and then Jared chasing Jack around the backyard, both of them in dinosaur costumes. Jack got Jared a "dino rider" costume for his birthday. At first I tried to steer him away from a dino gift, but then I remembered that Jared has actually wanted this specific costume for a few years, he doesn't actually have any Halloween costumes, and they're all on sale right now. Wish I'd taken a picture but it was fun to watch. Also this is Jack spotting eagles in the trees behind our neighborhood, not peeping on the neighbors haha

^^Savvy coming in hot with the birthday hugs.

^^Jared's parents came up to take us out for Jared's birthday dinner at the local Thai restaurant our backyard neighbors own. Alice slept through the ENTIRE DINNER IN HER CARSEAT. Weird week for our kids taking naps. Alice has never napped in her carseat, or through an entire dinner at a restaurant. It was wild. And then Jack fell asleep for the night snuggled up on the couch after Jared opened his presents, which is another thing that has never happened. This sickness is not my favorite but I am enjoying the aspect where my children fall asleep all over the place.

^^My parents got Jared "Stealth Fitness." You put your phone on it and do planks to play games. Hard to explain but it's really cool.

^^Birthday babies. Ok I'm off to get ready for preschool drop-off and, fingers crossed, an outing to pick up our car! It's been pushed back so many times now, but Jared chewed out our dealership real good over the weekend and I think we might actually be getting it today. I'll report back next week.

One Year Older

OK, he's not 5 until February, but Jack just hit a huge milestone this evening that I wanted to document. This evening, Monday November 7, at 6:00 p.m., for the first time EVER in his nearly 5 years of life, Jack recognized that he was tired and, based on that feeling, decided to put himself to bed. I am SHOOK to my core. Who is this child. We had just finished dinner, Jared went upstairs to finish some work, and I said to Jack, "Hey, let's pull out some Christmas decorations! I just need to get myself a drink of water first. Would you like a drink of water?" And his response was, "No, I need to go to bed now." And sure enough, I saw this dazed look flash across his face and next thing I know I'm following him upstairs and asking if he wants to put some comfy jammies on or stay in his day clothes and he's saying, "No, I'll just wear these clothes. I need to go to sleep right now." And he climbs up into his bed and tells me, "You can say the prayer tonight. I'll just be sleeping though." So I say the prayer and leave the room and within 60 seconds he was out?!!!! I am speechless. Ok clearly not because I had to come write this extra blog post documenting the occasion. Granted, he is sick with a gnarly cold and I'm sure that's playing a factor. But he's been sick plenty of times before and never even come close to recognizing and acting on his own sleepiness. He has been my sleep fighter since day 1. This is an enormous milestone that will probably never be repeated again. But maybe it will. Dare to dream, kids.

Whelp, since I'm already writing a bonus post. I took Alice to her 2-month appointment this afternoon and other than the 4 vaccines she needed (poor baby) it went really well. She is ahead of her curve for height and weight. 12 pounds 4 oz, I think.

While I was there, Jared had the afternoon off and had his mom take him to "pick up" our new car. He was able to sign all the paperwork, but nobody told him he'd need to stop by our bank, an hour from the dealership, and do some more paperwork before it's official. So still no new car, but hopefully we'll have it by Jared's birthday this Saturday. It's been quite the Monday!

^^Jack, age 3. The only photo I have on hand at the moment tho. Love this bedtime boi.

Baby Jack 5 Year Update

Time is a thief! Last night I was noticing that our favorite zip-up swaddle for Alice was getting tight. I googled when it's time to stop swaddling baby, and the results said around 2 months, which she already is! That snuck up on me. I fully thought we'd be swaddling her for several more months. Me and Jared just looked at our sweet baby burrito and commiserated on how just like that, the baby burrito stage of life is just about behind us. She's not rolling over yet so we'll probably swaddle her for another week or so, but it's bittersweet how much faster time is going with baby #2 than it did with baby #1.

Not a whole lot to report. I spent my free time this week prepping for Jared's birthday, which is on Saturday. Jack is very into geography lately. (As in, "which country did this dino live in? What country did that dino live in? Tell me every single country where every single dino ever lived, all the time, plz and thx.") He's been drawing lots of maps. Jared had his first day working at our small-town clinic--it went great, and I think he really enjoyed that when he forgot to pack a lunch he could just call and have me run something over real quick. Alice is just the best. I can't get over how she'll actually hold still and snuggle into us? Snuggling was never possible with Jack because his little body couldn't figure out how to stop jerking its limbs around constantly. The newborn phase is entirely different this time around. Alice is sleeping better at 2 months old than Jack did at 2 years old. The last couple nights she's only woken up once. I get up, feed her within 10-15 minutes, and set her back in her crib where she immediately falls back asleep. I'm in shock every time I just set her down and she just goes to sleep. Bless baby Jack's heart, but he could NEVER. To be fair, Jack is the guinea pig oldest child. I have a lot more knowledge and tools this time around. We've practiced putting Alice down "drowsy but awake" daily basically since she was born and that's helped her to learn self-soothing skills much earlier and more gently.

That's about all there is to report. Here are some pictures form Jared's phone for a change, from the past month or two:

^^Unintentional (and tired) family matching with newborn Alice. She was even matching us with olive green pjs under her swaddle:

^^Found Jared's beloved Grandma Bonnie on his phone. We've both been blessed with the best grandmothers.

^^ Jack went to his first real friend birthday part with some of his best preschool buddies last month. Alice was just 2 or 3 weeks old so Jared took Jack and they had a blast. Above is Jack and his good friend Lucas.

^^Check E. Cheese is life. I'm so happy it's still around for my kids to experience. Truly the happiest place on earth for me when I was 5 haha.

^^I have a mini me! She looks a bit like everyone in the family, which I love. I'm so happy I can see some of me in her.

^^I was feeding Alice, then Jack came up and laid on me, begging to be read his favorite Dinosaur Encyclopedia for the 500th time. And then Savvy wanted in on the action too haha.

^^"Dad, take a picture of me holding this hot dog."

^^A 2-month-old Alice. Love this chonk so much.

Jared's phone has entered the chat

I love November. It still feels like I'm getting some cozy fall remnants, and the mornings that get frosty are novel. Thanksgiving is on the horizon (YES to food holidays), and it's fun to get excited about Christmas and prepare for it, but without feeling stressed about last-minute Christmas stuff yet. This year is especially wonderful with 2-month-old Baby Al. We're starting to get into a good routine! We're back to usually only 2 night wakings, and last night she only woke up once. She's had some extremely fussy, seemingly painful days in the past, but lately, some combo of probiotics, reflux meds, and limiting my dairy intake has her mostly very happy and calm!

Some favorites from this week.

-Postpartum clothes thrifting! Thrifted clothes are way more expensive in Washington than they were in Wyoming so this is my first time really diving into the clothes section. When I realized I'd need to buy myself some new pants I started with Walmart. I didn't find much that sparked joy for me at the price point I was looking for (cheapskate price point), so a few days later I took myself on an evening thrift date. Definitely my happy place. I'll have to do a post with some of the outfits I found and some of my thrift tricks!

-Homemade applesauce. I think I mentioned last week that Jared's mom brought us a big box of apples and a big box of pears. I needed the easiest possible way to use them up so I opted for slow-cooker applesauce. I had about 25 apples and thought I'd end up freezing half of it to pull out later. NOPE. It came out so insanely delicious that I put the full batch in the fridge and now, 4 days later, it's almost completely gone. Here is the recipe. I added a few grinds of sea salt to bring out the flavor and maybe a Tablespoon or two of brown sugar:

https://strengthandsunshine.com/slow-cooker-applesauce/#tasty-recipes-20453-jump-target

-Homemade pear sauce. When the slow cooker applesauce came out so good, I decided to make pear sauce with the pears that are already ripe, and then make pear jelly when the rest ripen. It was a good life choice. The smell of apples and pears slow cooking with cinnamon is the VIBE. I decided to add a few grinds of sea salt and a dash of brown sugar to this sauce, too. I left the applesauce mashed/chunky, but ended up pureeing the pear sauce:

https://theupcycledfamily.com/easy-crockpot-pear-sauce-recipe/

-Bonus: French Onion Soup. I made french onion soup for the first time this week and it was a hit. The only bummer is that Alice was REAL fussy the next day--pained sounding cries, red eyebrows, the whole fussy baby thing. It occurred to me that maybe eating a bowl full of onions topped with cheese could be PrObLeMaTiC for my potentially tender-tummied breastfed baby. So I'll share the recipe with you so you can enjoy it while I'm abstaining for the next year (be aware that you need to slice and throw the onions in a pan to start caramelizing around 3 or 4 in the afternoon so they can be ready in time for dinner):

https://www.budgetbytes.com/french-onion-soup/

Least favorites from this week:

-Postpartum hair loss has begun and it is EVERYWHERE. Every time I run a hand through my hair there's a good handful of loose strands. Good thing I've got a thick head of hair, but I don't love finding loose hairs between my toes and in my pants and tangled in Alice's fingers and somehow just everywhere.

-Postpartum dry everything has begun. At first it was just dry skin and I was like, "Huh, I guess this is because winter is coming?" But we live in a pretty humid area, and then everything else started to dry out. Dry scalp, dry mouth, dry eyes. And I'm remembering the postpartum dry phase and trying to really up my water intake and see if that helps a bit.

Ok that's all. Here's some cute pics of a cute bb:

^^Front Pack Lyfe. In the past, Alice has spent most of her waking hours in the front pack. She wakes up, eats, and then she'd be happy chilling or sitting in a swing for about 10 minutes before she'd start crying until she was put upright in the front pack until her next nap. This last week she's been lasting a lot longer. I wish I'd tried probiotics and cutting out dairy with baby Jack, just to see if it would've helped him a little, because it does seem to be helping Alice. (We put baby Jack on reflux meds and that did help a bit, but he was still impossibly colicky for the better part of his first year of life.) I'm so grateful I'm feeling basically 100% recovered from childbirth so I can properly enjoy all these sweet front-pack snuggles <3

^^Since Jared's birthday is in November and he's usually the one who starts begging to put up the Christmas tree first, I give him full say over when we start decorating for Christmas. Happy birthday. He pulled out the tree yesterday and it brought so many cozy vibes that Alice fell asleep right on my lap (this is something my babies do not do). Coziness level 100.

^^Jack loves hanging out with Alice so much and it is so sweet. I'm pleasantly surprised that he's already finding ways to "play" with her. My favorite times are when he's in her room with me while I'm feeding her. After I've fed her and set her down, I find an excuse to leave the room, and EVERY time, I come back to find Jack talking to and playing with her. Honestly, pre-Alice I was kinda bracing myself for the worst with Jack's transition to having a sibling. We talked about what it might be like to have a baby sister a lot while I was pregnant, and it for sure helps that he's 4 and getting less needy and more understanding. But I think the major key with Jack, and I can't believe I didn't make this connection until, well, today, is that Jack is a big-time PEOPLE PERSON. More is more when it comes to people in Jack's life. So any disappointment he may be experiencing with less attention being given to him is offset by "yay there's another person in our house to love and play with!" And now that Alice is saving nearly alllll her smiles for big brother (she really does--I'm kinda jealous), that helps too.

Sauce Season

(Jack's pronunciation of "favorite")

We're starting to get into a groove over here. Alice is 7 weeks old, and honestly the time has kind of flown. Jared's remained sick with the mancold this past week. Some of his patients have tested positive for the flu so he's suspicious that might've been it. He wasn't ever nauseated but did have a bit of a fever for a day or two (wasn't covid). Luckily he had a week of "continuing medical education" scheduled, so he was able to stay home and rest/take an online course.

The free time is lacking, but when I do get a spare moment I'm in my organizing era. It's kind of a "give a mouse a cookie" situation. It started with organizing Alice's clothes. That snowballed to organizing the playroom, and over the weekend I had Jared add a shelf to our closet. So that's next. Super exciting stuff. My toxic trait is that as soon as I get 50% of the way through a project I think of a new project I want to start, so I never really finish a job 100% of the way. Oh well, I'll take 70% over 0%.

Not much new to report. Here are a few of my favorite things from this week:

-Favorite Snack: sourdough toast topped with brie cheese and pears. Jared's mom gave us an enormous box of pears. Jack has decided that he "hates" pears, and Jared has decided that they give him a sore throat (I feel like his medical license needs to be put under investigation for making this weird claim). So I'm on my own over here trying to find new ways to go through pears. The toast and brie one is a keeper.

-Favorite Show: Mysterious Benedict Society on Disney+ is what me and Jared have been watching. Very family friendly. Jared loves the storyline. I love the styling and cinematography. I've also been watching Gilmore Girls as my nursing show. Such a good, wholesome nursing show. Love that it's about a mother and daughter, and since I've already seen it it's not a problem that I only catch about 50% of what's going on during the night feeds because of exhaustion. It wouldn't make it into top 5 for favorite show ever, but it's cozy as a nursing my way through the fall and winter show.

-Favorite Baby Products: an exercise ball and ergo baby carrier. It's so nice to have a reliable, 100% guaranteed way to get our baby happy when she's not happy. That guaranteed way is strapping her into a front pack and bouncing away on an exercise ball. Bonus points because we can use the ball as a chair and do this while eating, blogging, watching tv, etc. We also did this a lot with Jack, but he was so colicky that sometimes it wouldn't do the trick. With Alice it's pretty much a guarantee. Waaaay more effective than a rocking chair for her. (All babies are different though. My babies hate carseats/rides and could care less about the baby swings, but love a good exercise ball haha)

Ok here are some pictures from probably our last sunny fall day of the year. We picked Jack up from school on Thursday and drove to this cute suspension bridge 10 minutes from our house. No one was there so we hung out on the beach and enjoyed the scenery for a while. 5 stars to Washington.

^^This week I rediscovered my love of a daily nature walk, now that I'm not pregnant and I'm pretty well recovered! Unfortunately this was only a possibility because Jared was home from work all week. We're at the point in the year when it's dark when he leaves for work (even with daylight savings), and way past dark by the time he gets home from work. I could of course do this walk with the kiddos during the day, but that isn't quite as therapeutic as going on my own. I'll have to save my nature walks as a weekend treat.

^^Jared's dad has a coworker who is like family to them, and she bought these ADORABLE hand-knit booties and pom hat. Her head's already too big for the hat but sheesh, how cute.

^^My crew!! They were all sitting there together on this couch that's randomly in our bedroom right now, and I was just hit with this wave of like, wow, all these dudes are mine. Such a good crew <3

Fravrits

Happy Halloween from a smiley pumpkin and a dilophosaurus! (NOT a dragon--don't make that mistake.)

On Saturday night we went to our ward's "Cabin or Treat." Basically it's a trunk or treat, but we have a beautiful church camp in our ward boundaries full of cute little cabins. So our ward gets to do lots of activities there and for Halloween families can rent out cabins for the evening to decorate. This was our first time attending--next year we will claim a cabin to decorate. (Picture above is us enjoying some nostalgic boiled peanuts--a popular food in rural areas of Georgia. The senior missionaries over Cascade Park lived in Georgia for 17 years so we reminisced and were so happy to enjoy the boiled peanuts they made. Most people aren't into the mushy texture but I actually love them.)

^^This cabin had a "Candy Land theme." And when me and Jared would stop to talk to friends in the ward Jack would frequently ask me, "Mom, is it ok if I run?" And then he'd book it to the other end of the park and back until we were done talking haha. We love to see it.

^^Jared as a wizard with Alice in the front pack. Our fall-back costumes on years we can't get it together are a beard and wand for Jared, and a cowgirl hat and shirt for me. Honestly I'm shocked we were able to get our kiddos costumed up this year. Jared snagged Jack a dino costume on sale at Costco and we had this pumpkin hat and booties from when Jack was a baby for Alice. So stinkin cute.

^^They had the BEST sourdough bread bowls and soups for dinner. Best bread bowls I've ever had in my life.

^^I used to think the moms who made themed snacks for their kids were a little "extra," but after one time trying it I'm converted. This is the first time Jack's willingly snarfed down a lunch full of fruits and veggies in a while. He was so excited to see this when he came down from quiet time. He even said, "Mom this is the greatest snack ever! I want you to make this forever and ever. Can you make it every day?" So now I'm the mom who does cutesy themed lunches.

The only pic I got trick or treating our neighborhood with a neighbor friend, Quin.

^^Rainy trick or treating, but our hats kept us dry. I loved spending this time with by little boy. And now since I couldn't narrow it down to just one pumpkin bb picture, a bunch: