Taking a Breath

I woke up today with a million thoughts going through my head. I need to go to the grocery store. I need milk, I need this, I need that. I need to do laundry, oh so much laundry. I need to buy baby gates. I need to put away my fall decor. I need to get out my Christmas lights and decorations. We need to put up the tree. It's Cyber Monday I should do some Christmas shopping. And then I decided I need to take a breath.

We got home late (very late) last night from a really great week in Iowa with our families. Working in the banking industry I have always had to work the day after Thanksgiving and so we've always had to leave to drive back home a few hours after our Thanksgiving feast. But not this year!  This year we got to linger a little longer and enjoy a little more.

At 2 am last night I sat in my rocking chair in the nursery with a snoozing baby in my arms and reflected on what a great week we had.  We got to catch up with old friends over mocktails (my bestie is expecting their first baby at the end of March), see a movie (something I haven't done in a theater in quite a while), we went out to dinner and the baby didn't cry once and I got to eat my meal without having a wiggling baby on my knee! The dog got to play with other doggie friends and burn off the steam of being cooped up inside.  There was a disappointing moment though, when my dad called me the morning we were supposed to be visiting him and told me he had bronchitis and we weren't going to be able to have our visit.  I know this absolutely crushed him and I am so hoping that he is feeling better and looking forward to some extra special time at Christmas.  My most favorite moment though? Overhearing Corey's aunt and Corey's dad talking while looking at a picture of himself, Corey and Oliver and hearing her say "you must have needed to have a grandson to smile like that in pictures." If you would have looked down you would have seen my heart melted in a puddle on the ground.

We had Ollie's first Thanksgiving dinner. Complete with a homemade turkey onesie.

A meal fit for Pilgrims...apples, parsnips and sweet potatoes!

You might have picked up on something written above, we need baby gates.  The day before Thanksgiving Ollie started crawling! He now has it perfected...none of this army crawling, real hands and knees crawling and holy smokes are we in trouble.  I think babies just instinctively know what they aren't supposed to get into and beeline it right to it.

Our trip was relaxing and wonderful.  Full of lots of smiles, laughter, baths in sinks and snuggling. In a word, perfection.

We usually end our trips back to Iowa aching to be living back there but this time it felt good to settle back into our home in Indiana.  We may have been welcomed back by piles of laundry and floors that need to be vacuumed but I'll take it.  It's nothing that a little Christmas music and a Cozy Fireside candle can't fix.

Sweet Potato Pie

The past couple of days our house has been a flutter with holiday preparations.  I love Thanksgiving and everything that comes along with it.  The turkey, the mashed potatoes, the houseful of napping bodies scattered among couches, playing cards in the evening and going back for round two.  Even though it's been busy and hectic I have loved that for the past three days my house has smelled constantly of pumpkin and sweet potatoes baking, and not from a candle, from actual pumpkins and sweet potatoes baking.  I'm thankful for pies that turn out the way they are supposed to.

My little sweet potato.

We're leaving tomorrow to make the trip back to Iowa and it's with excitement and a little sadness.  This is the first major holiday without my mom and I really honestly don't know how we will all handle it.  Some days go by and it doesn't hurt quite as much as it used to, it's not all consuming.  I'd like to think that I'm getting to the point that I can smile while I think about memories of my mom instead of crying.  I'm hoping that we can take this Thanksgiving to be truly thankful for what we faced this year. I know that sounds strange, I'm not in any way saying that I'm thankful that we lost my mom.  What I am thankful for is the family that we will be surrounded with this week.  That same family that when faced with something as horrific as cancer, stood up, locked arms and faced it head on.

These are from Thanksgiving a couple of years ago.

If this past year has taught me anything it's that I lead a very blessed life. We may have had our trials and tribulations this year but my belief in my blessings is unwavering.  Every fourth Thursday in November we are reminded to give thanks for the blessings that we have.  All too often days, weeks and months go by and it's easy to get wrapped up in life and forget to be truly thankful for what we have.  I ran across a quote on Pinterest the other day and what perfect timing.

"What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?"


If you're like me, you would probably wake up with your babies and your husband and your family but would you wake up with everything else?  Running water? Heat in your home? Food on your table? It is so very easy to take for granted the things in our lives that make it easier to live but across the globe, across town and maybe even right next door there are people that are struggling to put food on their table and pay their gas bill to heat their homes. I hope that you take time each day, and especially this Thursday to give thanks for all that you have.

Other things I'm thankful for:

Babies that nap so I can clean up the house. (Or watch the latest episode of Top Chef)

Friday evenings with a glass of wine and new friends and fellow moms that make living eight hours from home a whole lot easier. (And make me realize the things we go through with a baby are completely normal)

A text from a friend telling me that she is thinking about me this week because she knows it's going to be a hard one.

The sound of my husband singing in the car when he thinks I'm asleep.

Sisters that make me laugh.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Nutella and Banana Panini

Nutella is delicious. That is all. End of post.

No, I guess I won't leave it at that.  I will elaborate a bit.  Nutella is delicious.  You don't need to put it into any fancy recipe, all you need to do is dip a spoon in the jar and enjoy.  But if you do want to enjoy it with a little more than just a spoon here is something that is easy and oh so delicious.

I introduce you to the Banana and Nutella Sandwich, panini style.

The ingredients are simple. You more than likely have all of the ingredients on hand.  Make it for breakfast, make it for a snack, heck make it just because!

Ingredients:

Banana

2 slices of bread

2(ish)  Tablespoons Nutella

 Start with your bread, spread each side with butter on one side (grilled cheese style) and then spread the opposite side with your nutella. Don't forget to lick the knife!

 Slice your banana and place them on top of the nutella. I like to slice them length wise instead of in circles as to maximize the amount of banana in each bite.

 Place your bread butter side down in a hot skillet.

 Place your other slice of bread on top...nutella to banana.

 Don't peek too many times but don't forget about it!  Flip it when it looks like this.

 Slice it.  I prefer diagonal but if rectangle halves float your boat by all means do it that way!

Look at that chocolately, hazelnutty deliciousness!

Enjoy it with a glass of milk if you so wish. 

Recipe:

Ingredients

Banana

2 slices of bread

2(ish)  Tablespoons Nutella

Spread each slice of your bread with butter on one side (grilled cheese style) and then spread the opposite side with nutella.  Slice the banana and place the slices on top of the nutella.  Place bread butter side down in a hot skillet.  Place the other slice of bread on top...nutella to banana.  Don't peek too many times but don't forget about it!  Flip when browned and brown on other side. Enjoy.

Hundred-Acre Wood

The warm sunny breezes from Tuesday have given way to a chillier, blustery sort of day.  This is the wind that makes the willows weep. This is a day that makes me feel like I'm in the Hundred-Acre Wood and that most of my plans for the day should be replaced with a cup of hot chai and a snuggle session with Oliver and a few good board books.  This is the time of year where most of the leaves have fallen and decor has shifted from ghosts saying "boo" to turkeys reminding us to "give thanks".  Soon thoughts will shift once more to garland strung on banisters, evergreen and hollyberry scented candles and peppermint flavored whipped cream on steaming cups of hot cocoa.

I've tried to plan better for Christmas this year.  Instead of jamming all of our shopping into one Saturday in December where good intentions turn into arguments fueled by frustration because there are still "five more people on our list and we're running out of time just pick something!!", I'm trying to spread out the shopping.  I've tried hard to listen, really listen, throughout this year in hopes that I can pick out the perfect gift instead of "just picking something".  Being at home has also given way to me getting my craft on and so a lot of my gifts this year will be handmade.  Not handmade by an elf in Santa's workshop with a wooden hammer but my me in my craft room/playroom/den/spare bedroom with my glue gun. Here is what I finished up today.  Who knows who it might be going to?! That person, who just might be reading right now, will just have to wait until Christmas! Exciting I know!!

I have a confession to make.  I broke a rule.  I have this set of rules that I live by, most corresponding to seasons and holidays.  Among these rules are watching You've Got Mail every fall, Family Man every Christmas, you have to have a jello cake decorated like the American flag every Fourth of July and so on and so forth. The rule that I broke is sacred to me, it's serious business.  Every fall I vow that I will not under any circumstance do it, but this year I did.  Last weekend I walked down the block in Chicago from my sister's apartment, I opened the door and was overcome by the nutty scent of roasted coffee, I walked up to the counter and I ordered a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha.

My rule is that I have to wait until the day after Thanksgiving before I start indulging in Christmasy coffee drinks.  I might as well have put up my Christmas tree in August and started listening to Christmas music in October.  But...it was worth every chocolatey minty sip.

Naps are for wimps...

This daylight savings business has got me and about a million other moms out there shaking their fists in the air and screaming "why, universe, why?!"  Add to that a trip across time zone lines and you've got a recipe for sleeping disaster.  Before we were even faced with adjusting to "falling back" we arrived in Chicago and went out to a nice dinner with my sister Edie.  At Adobo, a lovely little mexican restaurant with killer margaritas and even better guacamole prepared table side, we were faced with what we knew was coming eventually in our parenting lives. The clock has run out on bringing baby to a restaurant and both parents being able to eat a meal uninterrupted. It really wasn't as bad as it could have been, I didn't feel fellow diners boring holes in the back of my head but we did have to play a game of musical dining.  I would eat a few bites with Corey distracting Oliver, then he'd pass him on to me and get a few bites of his meal. So this is how it went for an hour.  A few hours later my other sisters, Desi and Kiley arrived.  Mind you Oliver has not slept at any point in the past 5 hours.  So of course the aunties had to get in their snuggle time and then I finally had to try and put him to sleep.  I will remind you that we were scheduled to run a 5K at 7:40 the next morning. The next six hours did not go well.  There was tossing and turning and crying, mostly from Oliver but a little crying from me too when I realized I was going to be lucky to get three hours of sleep before running.

So at 6:15 I peeled myself out of bed and gave myself a little pep talk and ran 3.1 miles.  Like I said in the last post I have only run about five times in the past year and am not blessed to be able to run 3.1 miles effortlessly.  So it was a pretty brutal run but I finished and it wasn't in last place. I'm not going to share my time with you because quite frankly it's a bit embarrassing.  A lot of people finished ahead of me but a lot of people finished behind me and that's fine by me.  It was a great course to run on and we all had a great time and we got chocolate fondue and Ghiradelli hot chocolate afterwards and I'll run 3.1 miles for that any day!

The rest of the weekend went way too fast and I found myself on so many occasions thinking about how grateful I am to have such great sisters and be lucky enough that they are all my best friends.  I wish that I could see them every weekend and spend our time window shopping and sharing waffles smeared with Nutella and laughing at stupid videos posted to You Tube.  As referenced above, restaurants with baby are a thing of the past so we stayed in on Saturday night and cooked together and enjoyed a fantastic meal that featured seasonal ingredients.  It was a meal almost entirely made up of recipes found on Pinterest.  You can find the recipes by following the links I've included.  Our meal was made up of a Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin, Butternut Squash Puree, Sweet Roasted Rosemary Acorn Squash Wedges and some amazing brussel sprouts that Edie's boyfriend Tyler made.  It was unanimous that the Butternut Squash Puree was a favorite but it was all fantastic and they will all definitely be added to my rotation of fall recipes.

It was such a great weekend with so many moments to add to the memory bank.  Including but not limited to...
A couples sing-a-long with my husband to calm a baby sick of being in the car.  Note: we perform a killer Itsy Bitsy Spider and Wheels on the Bus in case you were wondering.

Grocery shopping at Whole Foods Market.  I consider myself somewhat of a grocery snob.  I love myself a good grocery store and I wish that I could shop at a Whole Foods all the time.  Why wouldn't you want to shop amongst artfully marketed produce, artisan cheeses, gorgeous flowers and amazing desserts?

Making the most of a delayed race by compiling a list of things to keep us going while running when all we really want to do is walk. (To the the driver of the semi that got himself stuck under an overpass in downtown Chicago causing the race directors to divert the race route, you're kind of an idiot).

Each time I'm with my sisters we make memories that we'll be talking about for years to come.  Some of them are good memories and sometimes some not so good memories like our legendary blow-out sister fight the last time that we were home together before my mom got sick.  Even though we want to forget how disappointed my mom was in us for fighting we still remember it like it was yesterday.  We talked about that fight this weekend.  Growing up in a house with five girls there was no shortage of arguments over clothes, make-up, time in the bathroom or being looked at funny.  My mom was used to these arguments and her calm demeanor and level headedness always diffused the fights and within hours we were usually all back to being friends.  But this time her reaction to the fight was different.  I could tell that for days after she was still upset by it even though it wasn't any different than any other fight we'd ever had over the years.  Her disappointment was palpable even days later when I called to tell her I was sorry that we had fought.  Thinking back even though none of us knew she was sick, even her, I think in some way she did know that her days with us were numbered and that was why she was so disappointed that we spent them fighting.  Now when we are all together we don't fight as often, maybe because mom isn't here to fix it or maybe because we all know that our time together isn't infinite and so we need to make the best of each visit.  Regardless, after every trip to visit my sisters I'm always in a little bit of a funk for the next few days because I'm missing them terribly.  This time is no exception but I am comforted knowing that Thanksgiving is only 2 1/2 weeks away and we get to spend four days together.  We'll spend our time eating turkey and sweet potatoes, playing cards, talking about visits passed and making new memories.