Life of Val

Best Buds

Differences…

…between Carver and Kennon

C-falls asleep every morning on our jog (despite Kennon’s efforts to play with him, tell him stories, show him trees and grab his knee; despite my efforts to talk to him, give him toys, keep him awake by making him hold my water bottle, etc)

K-enthusiastically points at every single tree we pass on our morning jog, talks to people we see, bounces his feet on the stroller

C-puts everything in his mouth, including mulch, shoes, dust, toys, books, paper, the playground swing

K-points at everything, including people, trees, leaves, plants, windows, vans, buses, bikes, me

C-naps for 45 min.

K-naps for 2 hours

C-loves to snuggle (he even gives kisses now!)

K-loves to dance

Its crazy how much personality these boys have and they haven’t even tasted their first birthday cakes!

Catching up

Ahhhhhh…Let me wipe the chunks of carrot and cantaloupe off the chair so I can sit my freshly-showered self down, make room among the sippy-cups for my plate of cake and blog for this first time in…? I’m allowed to eat cake because I ran 3 miles today (with 50 pounds of baby!) and yesterday. And I’m allowed to ignore this mess because the water was off (therefore no dish-washing) all morning…again. I don’t just blog on the days they turn our water off, it really just happens a lot.

A little H2O would have come in handy this afternoon when I was feeding Kennon. Not because he was making a mess; actually, he’s a pretty clean eater for a 10 month old. No, Carver had wandered over to the pantry. I didn’t want to him pulling canned goods off the shelves so I diverted him with a plastic pitcher and some cups. Little did I know he managed to get smudge from Ethan’s bike tires ALL over him.

Who me?

Let me back up a little and cover a few highlights since last time. Ethan turned the big 2-7! What an amazing husband I have!!! He took the plunge and decided to go to school full-time on top of a full-time work schedule. His persistence and energy has blown me away. I miss him a lot and there are 2 days a week he doesn’t see Carver for one waking moment, but I know at the end of the semester we’ll look back and be thankful. I decided he needed a birthday lemon meringue pie for all his hard work, so after preparing the crust and lemon curd in advance and having dinner with lots of our friends I thought, “ok, I’ll just go home, whip up the meringue and stick a candle in it.” Easier said than done. We completed the meringue after about 45 minutes only to find the filling never set! The lemon soup topped with meringue is still in our fridge because I haven’t had the heart to throw it out. I keep telling myself we’re going to eat it anyway.

Life at home has been generally awesome. I have really enjoyed watching Kennon and having a gig that allows me to stay home with Carver. They play so well together, although sometimes I wonder if they notice each other. We have made a habit of playing in the kitchen. They love the tupperware and spatulas.

We have also been hanging out a lot with Amanda and baby Ansley. We had a play date last week at the museum and yesterday all 5 of us went to the farmer’s market!

Carver’s big news includes inheriting a high chair (which makes everything so much easier!), trying out his new sippy cup, switching to only two naps a day, growing some red curls and eating lots of finger foods.

Hopefully it won’t be so long until next time!

PS- Free chick-fil-a Monday. Google it.

Highs and lows

6:40 AM- Carver wakes up (much better than the 5:30 wake-up time yesterday).

9:00 AM- Water goes off in our apartment building.

10:30 AM- Carver wakes up early from his nap and we get to spend some one-on-one time together.

11:30 AM- Lunch time, the most stressful time of my day. Kennon shrieks while I try to feed him milk from a bottle, Carver starts crying uncontrollably, I have a melt-down, I call Lindsay (wonderful friend and neighbor who happens to be a pediatric nurse practitioner) and she comes over with a stethoscope (apparently I made it sound like an emergency… it kind of was…to me).

12:00 PM- Sweet Lindsay calms me down and plays with Carver while I feed Kennon and we all go for a walk. Carver, who was straddling Kennon in my stroller designed for only one baby fell asleep with his head on Kennon’s back.

2:10 PM- Carver wakes up five minutes before Kennon goes down for his nap (I think they planned this).

3:00 PM- Amanda comes over, followed by the rest of play group!

6:00 PM- The water (which was supposed to come back on at 5:00) is still not on.

7:45 PM- Carver goes to bed without a bath.

8:00 PM- Some welcome quiet time…

9:00 PM- Ethan comes home!

Around the apt

Late last night I was plagued with a case of love to organize/hate to clean which resulted in a pantry makeover:

and a neatly stacked pile of dirty dishes (that I still haven’t done):

Right now, both the boys are supposed to be napping, but talking to each other in baby gibberish through the walls. As soon as they stop and I am assured they are peacefully sleeping, I need to go grab the laundry out of the dryer. That’s right, I put it in the wash before the sun came up. I never thought I would be that desperate for clean clothes, but there is absolutely no way I could have made it down to the laundry room with both boys and 2 full baskets. And, since we are on our last bib, I started it before Kennon got here.

Gibberish stopped. Got to go.

Free Apple Sauce

Did you know that apple baby food and unsweetened applesauce have the same ingredient list, but that the baby version is usually at least twice the price per ounce? Most applesauce brands make a 6-pack sold in 3.5 ounce servings, perfect baby proportions.

If that news wasn’t good enough already, and you live near a Publix, or another store that accepts competitor coupons, you’re in luck! Use this manufacturer’s coupon to get $1 off Mott’s and this Food Lion coupon to get another $1 off. Since Mott’s 6-packs are on sale for $1.66 at Publix this week, your applesauce will be free! Some stores even give an overage. Mine doesn’t, but I’m going to print several of the Mott’s coupons (they don’t have a print limit, the FL ones do) and stock up on some extra applesauce for $0.11 a cup!

Off to a start

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.

I love my aunt

This is a great video of Carver laughing!

I love this kid

Fun wedding seating

I don’t know these people, but this is probably the coolest wedding seating I’ve ever seen. More of the wedding is highlighted on Anna Maria Horner’s blog.