Life of Val » minute monday

Off to a start

Val — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:48:30 +0000

Eight hours of sleep helped me survive (and enjoy) the first day of my new job, watching my friend’s son, Kennon. He is a couple months older than Carver and the differences are enormous (seven pounds, to be exact). Also, Kennon is cruising around and has shown me exactly how to baby-proof the apartment for when Carver is his age. They get along really well, if you can attribute such behavior to a seven and ten month old. They seem to be entertained by each other and are both very forgiving when the other crawls on them. Having two children under of one year old was somewhat demanding and yet in an odd way, I kind of wish it had been more demanding. Demanding in different capacities, I should say. By the time Ethan came home, I was definitely drained of diaper-changing energy, but yearning for some adult interaction and creative release.

You regular readers may have sensed some hinting toward the fact that our little family of three is in a transition time. Well, we’ve got things narrowed down to two very different paths. Path A would mean definitely moving before Christmas, potentially a lower, but sooner salary, the fulfillment of some life long dreams and a hopeful, but scary move for a stay-at-home mom who relies heavily on a community of friends. Path B would entail the probability of staying in sunny Gainesville, a more delayed, but higher eventual salary, shifting of afore-mentioned dreams and a ridiculously hard semester for both Ethan and I. It would be hard for Ethan because he would spend 4 days a week from 6:30 AM to 9:45 PM either in class or at work. It would be hard for me because Ethan would spend 4 days a week from 6:30 AM to 9:45 PM either in class or at work.

This is all to say I want to get a gym membership. Don’t get me wrong, it is a very important decision and if you have any insight, let us know. I’m just saying, if I’m in for a semester of hanging out with two (delightful) babies all day long and I’m not going to see my husband until fifteen minutes before bedtime, I gotta get out a little. Plus, it would help me fulfill one, possibly two of the goals I set for this year, to lose the baby weight and compete in a triathlon. I already crossed “plant a garden” off the list (although I don’t have much to show for that one anymore). We’ll leave refinishing the dining room table for later.

Calm before the storm

Val — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:28:14 +0000

Alright, alright, I’ve been a lazy blogger. And since Carver’s morning nap has already lasted through a shower, breakfast, quiet time and taking off my nail polish, I really have no excuse. So here’s a late Minute Monday:

Friday: Ethan’s parents came to town for the night. It was so great to visit with them. I broke the rule that says don’t use a new recipe on guests, especially your in-laws and made salmon burgers. I should have followed the rule; they turned out really salty. We let them go to bed early (they left very early the next morning to get on the road) and had our own sleep-over on an air mattress in Carver’s room.

Saturday: My sister, Natalie and her husband, Dan traded us free reign of their washer and dryer for dog-sitting while they were away for the weekend. I think it was a pretty great deal on our end because it is such a luxury to do laundry as you go about your Saturday instead of taking a chunk out the day to devote to it. I took Tug and Carver on a long walk and Ethan worked on his thesis. When he got home, we went out to lunch and then had a generally nice and lazy afternoon. That night we went to a graduation party for our friends Aaron and Mike. Congrats, guys!

Sunday: After letting Tug out, we went to church. One thing I love about our church is that after communion, if you want to be prayed for, you can sit in the front row and one of the leaders in the church will come and quietly pray for you. What a blessing! There is a powerfully sweet lady at our church that prayed for Ethan and I with such clarity and encouragement, it left me crying tears of joy.

After church, Ethan let me nap while he took care of Carver and cleaned up (what a guy). After watching The Bourne Identity, we kept up our new tradition of Sunday breakfast-for-dinner and I made French toast. It reminded me so much of my Tampa Grandma and how she used to serve hers with grits and put brown sugar and straight corn syrup on the table for toppings. She was also a powerfully sweet lady who kept roses from her own garden on the table and said “Nabsolutley not” when she got flustered.

With some out-of-town weekends coming up and football season fast-approaching, I feel like tropical storm GainesvilleInTheFall is brewing.

Picnic Weekend

Val — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:43:22 +0000

Friday: After a 7:00 bedtime fake-out (turns out, Carver was just taking an evening nap) our picnic date turned into a family affair. All the more fun was had, though, as the three of us braved the threats of lightning and then eventually escaped inside. We finished our meal on a blanket spread out in Carver’s room. The sounds of the play-n-crawl ball just added to the romance. Seriously. It was my favorite part of the whole weekend.

Saturday: We had breakfast with our out of town visitors, Mary and Steve and then did some much-needed relaxing. Carver is still hanging on to his sniffles and I’m wondering if he hasn’t passed them to me in the form of an ear infection. For lunch, we decided to go with the picnic theme and pack some sandwiches to take to the stadium. Loyal Gator fans that we are, we had to check out the new jumbo-tron.

That night, we celebrated new life with the Allens and had a wonderful dinner at the James’ where Carver scored some stylish hand-me-downs.

Sunday: Patrick Kee gave an awesome sermon at church. That night, after a delicious breakfast for dinner (brinner?) with the Dourtes, we went back for Financial Peace University. I have to brag, after 2 weeks on the envelope system we’re doing pretty well.

Now, I have to go brave some more stormy weather and rescue my husband who’s facing a rather wet bike ride home from work!

Camp Visit

Val — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:29:54 +0000

It was another very (welcomed) low-key weekend here in Gator Nation. Sunday we went to camp to visit Uncle Sam. It was great to spend time with my little brother; he always brings out the kid in me. The little guy has a fever, so I’m going to skip each days’ details, but I’ll leave you with this video of some uncle/nephew bonding:

Monday: Finally A Weekend At Home

Val — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:07:00 +0000

With all our recent weddings and weekend trips, it was so nice to be in Gainesville this weekend.

Friday: We busted out our electric fryer for the first time (it was a wedding gift we received 3 years ago) and celebrated our friend, Chris’ birthday by frying some fish. We also turned our kitchen into a fry factory and acquired a blister or two (ok, I’m exaggerating), cutting pounds of potatoes -both white and sweet- to fry. Some of the guys slip & slid (is that the past tense for slip & slide?) and we discovered that Carver doesn’t like the Happy Birthday song. Either that or he was over-tired and intimidated by the crowd.

That night I got 8 straight hours of sleep!!! The old me would not be so excited to wake up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning, but after going to bed at 10:30 on Friday night, the momma me was thrilled to look at the clock and realize I had an uninterrupted night’s sleep!

Saturday: I put the finishing touches on my summer cleaning frenzy by attempting to sell all our stuff that wasn’t Craigslist material at a garage sale. We combined forces with the Rohans, Putnams and Dourtes. I would say they were a little more successful than us, in that we made only enough money to pay for our Cuban pastry breakfast. However, it was an overall great time and now my closet is only filled with overflow storage that we actually want.

Saturday night we went out for Megan’s birthday dinner. Happy birthday, friend! Carver stole a little bit of the attention with his blueberry mustache.

Sunday: I freaking love our church. Even though I missed most of the sermon, trying to get Carver to sleep, I always feel like I’m in God’s presence when I’m there. After church, we came home and had a relaxing lunch while Carver napped for over 2 hours! Ethan went to help the Putnams move into their new apartment while I took a look at our budget to prepare for Financial Peace University. This led me to call Verizon to see how they might be able to lower our monthly bill. Hey, its worth a try, right? Right! All I said was that we would like to pay less and the customer service guy offered us the “loyalty plan” that still provides well over the average number of minutes we use every month and will save us about $20. Its not going to cover Carver’s college tuition, but, hey it was worth the 15 minutes I spent on the phone.

FPU was great. Dave Ramsey is pretty funny for a good ole’ boy and really got us excited about saving money! The first “baby step” is saving $1000 toward an emergency fund. After we picked Carver up from Natalie & Dan’s, we all headed to Sweet Dreams for wild flavor night. My favorite was peanut butter with chocolate covered potato chips. Thanks for the ice cream, Putnams!

I’m looking forward to a mostly un-eventful week. Hope you have a great one, too!

Minute Monday: Busy Wedding Weekend

Val — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:58:00 +0000

Friday: A runny nose caused Carver and I to skip play group (bummer!). When he woke me up for a 5:30 AM feeding, I was half-asleep on the glider, convinced he had swine flu. A cup of coffee and call to the doctor’s office settled my mind. The nurse suggested I give him a few days and some saline spray to help him breathe. He seems to be just as content as always, just noisier as he nurses. After the most boring Friday I’ve had in a while, I gladly welcomed Ethan home and we adorned our cow costumes. A torrential downpour might have washed away some of our spots but didn’t dampen our excitement for free Chick-Fil-A. I love that they have Dr. Pepper. I love that the employees always say “my pleasure” and were walking families out to their cars with umbrellas. I love that they gave Carver a free kids meal even though he has no teeth and the only cow-like thing he was wearing were his cute new black & white converse hi-tops.

Saturday: Ethan’s on a new campaign to finish his thesis (praise the Lord!), so he woke up at 7:00 and worked on that. I slowly got up and got everyone packed, fed and headed out to Orlando with Kari. We met some friends for lunch in Winter Park, dropped Carver off with Ethan’s mom and got ready for the wedding. The Greek Orthodox ceremony was really neat. I was a little off when I said there would be no words, however, there were no vows and most of what the priest said (sung) was in Greek. It was great to see some old friends and learn some new dances. Somehow, I ended up holding hands with the father of the bride during a circular Greek dance. “9 steps forward, 3 steps back…its that easy,” the DJ said. Now, I know my college days are behind me, but I was counting and I’m pretty sure there was more to it than that.

Sunday: We drove to Merritt Island after the wedding and went out to breakfast with Ethan’s parents the next morning. The last time Kari, Ethan and I were in Merritt Island together was the first time I met Ethan’s parents and the first time I knew Ethan was interested in me. We had just gone down to the beach for the day and when we stopped by his house, his parents told me how much they had heard about me. Six years later and we’re back with their grandson! That evening we started Financial Peace University at our church. I’m excited to do this study because (as you know) I love saving money and because it will be 2 hours of grown-up time every week for Ethan and me.

Now I’m home, looking at an overflowing laundry basket and an empty fridge thinking how does this happen so quickly?

Minute Monday: 4th of July & Baptism

Val — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Friday: Ethan’s day off!!! I love those! We got Cuban pastries for breakfast (did I mention I’m fake doing Weight Watchers?) and had a double date with the Dourtes that included Bed Bath & Beyond followed by a Chick-Fil-A lunch. Carver did his new happy yell throughout aisles of towels and linens.

Saturday: What’s more American than breakfast with friends? Having breakfast with friends and then going swimming!

(You can tell I married into this family; closed-mouth smiles must be a genetic trait.)

He did great during the baptism, even leaning down to play with the water. Wiped out by the post-baptism lunch celebration, we came back and took well-deserved naps. To top it all off, Ethan manned bedtime while I went out for a glass of Sangria with the moms from our play group. What a weekend!