This Week...

Since I am sure that all of my avid readers are dying to know the play-by-play of my week (since I lead such a fascinating life) here you go, a recap of my week:

First, Monday was a good day. I cleaned out my closet. Don't scoff. It was invigorating and liberating and my newly cleaned and organized closet has made my world feel realigned. Seriously. You see, I have a tiny obsession with clothes/shoes/handbags, etc. And my closet was filled to bursting. I regularly clean out my closet so technically most of the stuff in there wasn't too old, but I have to admit, I was only wearing about 1/4 of the total. Time to Spring Clean! Carver helped too. And by "helped" I mean he unloaded all of the things out of my closet that he could reach--most were things I didn't want to be removed. Then I spent an impressive amount of time searching the house for my missing belongings (he really likes my heels...don't tell his daddy!). One thing that precipitated this cleaning spree was the BIG NEWS that I am almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Hooray!!! Still a ways to go but maybe the end is in sight. I wonder if that means I can quit exercising 3-4 days a week? I hate exercising, it is torturous and miserable and a nightmare...but I digress.

Monday was also Valentine's Day. Which is, in itself, not a big deal to me. I do, however, love flowers, so these made my day!


Jump ahead to Thursday night. (Tuesday and Wednesday were unremarkable). On Thursday night my MOPS group met at the Black Dog Bistro for appetizers and a night of painting. A local artist led us through painting a picture and it was super fun despite my complete and utter lack of artistic talent. Apparently it skipped me and went straight to Julia :) But, my painted canvas is now gracing the shelf of my newly clean closet. It's a cheerful addition that only I will see-- which is a good thing.



On Friday Carver and I had a day on the town. In Buford actually. We perused the wonders of Babies R Us, which never gets old. I could spend days in there. Then we headed to the mall and did a little shopping, played in the indoor "playground," and ate lunch. The best part was saved for last...we stopped by Tutti Frutti for some frozen yogurt on the way back home. I LOVE frozen yogurt. It's an obsession and I may need a 12-step program to end the addiction. But not yet. It was Tart and Strawberry with granola for me and a little dollop of Tart for Carver. (He loves it too).



But, I have saved the very very best part of my week for last...

Are you ready?

Daniel started a blog. Really, I swear. I couldn't believe it either. He has a blog! That means I have a new blog to stalk. And, can I just say that it makes my heart feel full to bursting to read first-hand Daniel's thoughts on fatherhood and Carver and such. I love it. Love, love, love it. I hope he keeps it up.

Check it out here.

Bucket List

Lately I've been thinking about what I would put on my "bucket list" if I actually had one...which I don't. Until now...I am making it as I go. I'm surprised I've never really thought about it before. For the last couple of days things have been floating around in my head so I decided to formalize it and make a true list of all the things I hope to do before I die.

So, here you go:

1) Commit to vegetarianism.

2) Attend culinary school.

3) Earn another degree- preferably my Ph.d. or at least another master's degree.

4) Get published.

5) Speak/give a presentation at a conference or symposium (for historians).

6) Run a marathon...or a mile...

7) Return to London and Oxford but spend some time in rural England also.

8) Travel to Greece, especially Athens. I want to see the Acropolis.

9) Travel to Italy (Rome).

10) See the pyramids in Egypt. (might wait awhile to head there...)

11) Own a cat. (This may seem minor, but if you understood how Daniel feels about cats you might realize that this could be the one thing on my list I never cross off).

12) Return to Hawaii and Seattle.

13) Commit to recycling, buying locally, and other earth-friendly things.

14) Find mission work to commit to, at least annually. Abroad or here...anywhere, really.

15) Move back to Asheville.

16) Buy a car. As in, not Daniel buy me a car, but be able to purchase one all by myself. Financial independence, I guess you could say.

17)

18)

Surely this list will continue to grow, so I'll leave some space at the end :)

Playing at Camp

We have had a really cold, rainy, snowy, icy, windy winter here in northeast Georgia. So I am beyond thankful for sunny, mild days. Now that the little one is walking we really need to get out of the house more and burn some energy.

Yesterday, Carver, the girls, and I loaded up in the car and headed to Strong Rock to see Daniel and baby Winston. Daniel was in the middle of one of those weekends where he is working so much that he leaves the house before Carver is up and gets home after Carver is in bed at night.

And, who could go very long without seeing this cute face?


Carver loved visiting his Daddy at work and he really loved the wide open field to run in. He took a number of tumbles but he was a trooper, he got right back up every single time and got right back to playing.

It was a beautiful day, a short visit at camp, but sweet moment together; watching our now-toddler son "run" and play outside. I can't wait for many more of these days.

Family Time

Last week Carver's Nana and Papa came to visit him. Carver absolutely loves having family around, he loves the extra attention :)

Not only did Carver get to spend a lot of time with them, but Daniel and I also were able to have a date night in Helen at the Hofbrau Restaurant (German fare) while the grandparents played with the sweet boy-- we had a really great time trying a local restaurant and being able to spend the evening together. Thanks to my Mom and Dad for the gift certificate!

Nana also brought Carver a Raggedy Andy doll that she handmade especially for him. I love it! It is super cute and he seems to like it as well :)

Sharing

I think all parents worry about teaching their kids to share. I mean, who wants to have the mean, selfish kid who hoards his toys or steals other kid's toys, you know?

Well, even though Carver is an only child at the moment, it looks like he is starting to figure the whole sharing thing out.

Evidence: Carver likes to share his snacks with the girls. Sometimes he will take a "cracker" (i.e. crunchy Gerber snacks that look like cheese puffs) and give it directly to one of the dogs. Sometimes he likes to chew on said cracker for a minute and then remove it from his mouth and let the dogs eat the mush out of his hand. And sometimes he likes to throw his food on the floor and then lean over the tray of his highchair and watch the dogs scramble for the food.

Thinking about it...

Here you go "Wee-ah"! (i.e. Lea)

Look at how much they love me!

There are a couple of pros and cons to this new habit:

Cons:

1) The girls are on diets and actually losing weight. Getting a lot of random treats from Carver is not going to help with further weight loss.

2) Carver (for the most part) eats organic snacks specifically for babies. And, they aren't particularly cheap. Definitely not economical to feed half of his snacks to the girls.

Pros:

1) The girls will actually "play" with Carver when he has food. i.e. They don't ignore him or try to pretend like he doesn't exist. I also think that they know it is technically his food because they never try to snatch it away from him.

2) In fact, the girls in general seem more tolerant of Carver. Of course, the way to their hearts is definitely through their stomachs.

I am hoping that this first attempt at sharing will carry over into actually sharing with other kids. I'll keep you posted.

Under Construction

The blog is "under construction" right now. Hence the random changes. I'm working on it...it may take awhile....so be patient.

Date Night

A couple of weeks ago Daniel and I had an honest-to-goodness date night, all thanks to Rebecca who was willing to come and babysit the little one for us. Rebecca is officially our first non-family-member babysitter. It was so nice to be able to go out for several hours and not worry at all about Carver. Rebecca promised that Carver was good for her, and I really hope he was-- especially since the day was a little rough for him. He was just starting to show signs of an oncoming sickness and he hit his head on his dresser about an hour before we left for the evening. He had an enormous bump and bruise on his little forehead. Sad.

Sweet Lily Belle even came along for the evening. I love it that Rebecca knows that Lily is always welcome here, just like I know that if I'm invited to Rebecca's house that the girls have an open invitation as well.

It was great to spend an evening with Daniel. We went to see "The Dilemma" and then to dinner at the Black Dog Bistro in Clarkesville. All in all it was a really fun night and a much needed evening together.

Not that I didn't miss Carver because I did. Intensely.