First of all, HARVEY. My thoughts are with Houston and the rest of southeast TX. I honestly cannot believe the photos I am seeing. My heart goes out to anyone with ties to the area. Thinking about that kind of disaster and what it would be like reinforces in my mind the importance of family, health, and safety above anything else. We may feel safe at any given moment, but the truth is that nothing is guaranteed. I came across this list of places to donate on Lagliv‘s blog, and personally chose All Hands, based on ratings and their global vision.
WEEKEND LIFE
Much of what I have to write about feels trivial in that shadow, but regularly scheduled life has continued on down here, several states to the east. We had a stormy weekend (NOTHING in comparison to the above obviously), with lots of hunkering down and hanging out at home.
Other highlights to this list: Jars of Clay – “Flood”, Travis – “Why Does It Always Rain on Me”, Prince – “Purple Rain”, Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and yep, Milli Vanilli’s “Blame it on the Rain”. Emphasis on the one-hit wonders 🙂
I tried to get into the hygge-spirit of it all. But, to be completely honest, I sort of failed. The kids were fine, but I was distracted and spent waaaaay too much time on my phone and sulking around.
We did cap things off well with a dinner at
Tequiztlan, which Cameron slept through right on to bedtime . . . and until 4:45 AM. Josh got to enjoy this lovely (ha) one-on-one time with C since I had gotten up with the kids on Saturday, at the much more civilized hour of 6. Thankfully I think they are back on their normal schedule now (bedtime 7:15-8 pm, wakeup 6:30-7 am). Whew.
Sunday was better.
We hit up
Young At Art, an art-themed children’s museum about 40 minutes away. (Note to the locals: MCM membership gets you half-off at YAA!).
Once home, we capped things off with a playdate/dinner with one of A’s friends who had started at a different school one district to the north. They compared notes and we all ate sushi – which worked out well.
SCHOOL START – round #2
And then yesterday — C started his year of preschool! He’s in the 3-4 class, the year before pre-K. I remember that A grew up sooo much in this class, and I am super excited that he has the same (excellent!) teacher. Having attended camp in the same classroom for most of the summer, he was completely unfazed by the transition.
Happy he wasn’t left out this time (unlike last week!)
In his element
I am feeling hopeful and excited about this school year! I did probably plan one (or two . . .) many activities for them, but we’ll see how that all plays out and revise for the spring when things are going to be a lot more low-key, partly by necessity (you know, new baby and all that).
OTHER NEWS:
1)
Hobonichi store opens this week for 2018 planners! I have made my final decision. I think. (To be discussed in a future post).
2) New
podcast episode will be up today! Episode #4 (by the way, we are going to add numbers to the titles based on some feedback!) is focused on childcare, and because we couldn’t stop talking about the topic, it’s an extra-long one. We discuss day care, au pairs, nannies, and all things related to kid care. We don’t get to outsourcing in general as much — that will be a whole other episode (probably somewhere around 7-9!).
PS: we are thrilled to have received >7000 downloads so far! Thank you, and keep the iTunes reviews, suggestions, and comments coming!!
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Workout report: 8.21 – 8.27
pregnancy week #25
M – 40 min treadmill – 15 min run / 2 min walk / 10 min run / 2 min walk / 7 min run, run paces 5 – 5.2 mph
T – 34 min treadmill, 5 min run / 2 walk repeated x 5, 5 – 5.4 mph
W – Barre30 30 min workout
R – REST
F – Ran outside! 3.44 mi in 41 min. 75F (COLD SNAP) – run segments @ ~11:10 – 11:30/mi with 3 2-minute walk breaks
S – Ran outside again before rain started. 3.2 mi in 38 min. 79F. Pattern of 6 min run (10:30-10:50/mi) then 2 min walk x 4, capped off with 3 min run at the blazing pace of 9:34/mi.
S – REST, was supposed to do barre but way too tired
mother of 3 // MD // south floridian // ESFJ // upholder.
into: planners, great food, running, reading, writing, mornings, podcasting, and coffee.
18 Comments
If it makes you feel any better my boys have no hygge spirit at all. None. They have too much energy for sweet cozy activities for the entire day (or weekend). I think they might fail at life in Denmark. 🙂
Ha! Totally get this; I think Annabel could fit in there but C would reaaaaaaaaaaally struggle. We’ll have to see about #3!
Thank you for your thoughts towards Houston. Our city is literally underwater. It is so awful. Lots of prayers are needed. However, I will say I have never seen our community come together like this . . . neighbors helping neighbors and coming together under the name of unity. It’s remarkable to witness in the midst of such tragedy.
Can’t wait to (eventually) listen to the podcast!
My daughter loves playing with all her crap, er… I mean toys inside the house, so I think she would be fine with a rainy day situation. I and my husband on the other hand… not so much. We Climb. The. Walls.
I finally listened to one of your podcasts. You have a really nice voice! Planning on listening to the one on childcare this evening while on the treadmill (rain) during a research-break.
Haha interesting! I personally think an entire weekend holed up in the houes, with rain outside, sounds kind of AMAZING. HOWEVER, not if the kids can’t handle it (and they can’t!).
I listened to episode four this morning and loved it! I think ti would be so helpful for new parents who are trying to figure out their childcare options and for parents who are expanding their families. There were a couple of points that really resonated me. One was how parents will sometimes make blanket statements about child care that are really based on their own ambivalence about returning to work. Those statements both make other families feel bad about putting their children in child care AND make mothers feel bad about wanting to go back to work. The other point that I really appreciated was that child care is not the place to trim your budget (provided that your family’s other immediate needs are being met). I think that the tuition that we pay to my kids’ wonderful preschool is the best money that we spend.
YES!! I’m so glad those got across. I really do think in many cases it’s about what the mother wants but they don’t feel they can say it outright so vague statements are made that make it sound like it’s all about the child’s welfare. (And yes, those statements ARE hurtful to working mothers, whether they do it out of choice OR necessity!).
I’m late to the party in commenting on this, but I really, really liked this episode, especially your and Laura’s discussion about how parents who choose to stay home should be realistic that it’s something they want to do for themselves, less so for the welfare of the kids. I also really appreciated your commentary on considering childcare an INVESTMENT in your career during these few years where it is extremely expensive. I’m expecting my second child in a couple months and have been feeling extremely nervous about the expense of adding a second daycare tuition to our budget, and this simple reframing came at the exact right time I needed to hear it. So thank you. 🙂
The 4:45 wake-up — I feel for you! Here’s hoping it’s all back to schedule soon. And we love indoor museums for rainy days. Too much time inside puts everyone at each others’ throats.
I have instituted a NO TV THE NEXT DAY IF YOU DON’T STAY IN YOUR BED UNTIL MORNING edict. We will see how this goes. I think C is perhaps old enough to actually respond to such deal-making (I don’t think your #4 is ready for that kind of logic, but . . .soon!)
Loved podcast #4- I really enjoy both of your perspectives and your self awareness of privilege and I loved hearing both of you discuss the beginning of your blogs. I couldn’t help but shake my head in agreement with Laura’s comment about knowing her readers and steering away from some topics bc of backlash in the comments. I’ve read some of those comments, yowser! Prior to being a regular reader of Laura’s blog I admit to being an eye roller at some of the titles of her works without reading the full body of what she would write. I didn’t think her work would appeal to me- a middle class government worker with no big job title, BUT once I checked my own bias and actually read her work I was blown away. I tell EVERYONE to read her stuff.
The two of you together have so much to offer a wide ranging audience and it’s such a pleasure to listen to you both!
I love this comment.
Thank you SO MUCH Angela!!!
I really liked Episode 4! It would be perfect for those who are just starting out with childcare, figuring out the options and what works best for them. I would love to hear you & Laura talk more about how you make your existing childcare situations the best they can be — how you manage touchy subjects (job hours or tasks changing over time, for example) and what is it that you’ve found helpful for being a good employer (aside from all the legal stuff, which I 100% agree with and already do!). I find myself frequently looking at our situation and wondering how to optimize it so that we, our children, and our nanny are as happy and fulfilled as can be. Great work and looking forward to the next episodes!
Listened to all 4 podcasts and liked all of them very much! I am sure you guys are still figuring out your style and it will evolve naturally but there were a few points where I felt Laura talked over you and broke into a mini lecture (especially toward the end of the discussion on switching to a part time schedule where I felt the vibe got a little unnecessarily negative). I think the point you made about just wanting a change and asking for it was so so important and could be a whole discussion on its own. I think women in general are more hesitant to ask for what they want but also have a greater need to have those changes offially sanctioned. I assume I am very lucky in my work place but I have been pleasantly surprised to see how management has been willing to work with lots of different requests, from myself and others! But I think they do that because they know they can trust me and I’ll do whatever work I agree to well. I do not think working less and seeing if you get fired is a good alternative, personally! I prefer to see alternative work schedules and hour normalized which I think only happens when everyone is honest about what they want and what they are doing. Anyway that’s my 2 cents!
Another topic I think you could both speak to is how to deal with all aspects of having a spouse who works a lot. How you balance family time all together vs one on one time with each other and each kid. I think you touched on this in the child care podcast but it’s something people seem to handle so differently I am always interested to hear more!
Finally- thank you so much for owning up to letting your kids watch a little tv so you can eat dinner and how you still lay down next to A to help her sleep! We do both those things at least on occasion and I don’t exactly feel guilty about it but I love knowing I’m not the only one! My friends seem to be gifted with amazing sleep abilities and I just have not felt up for that battle. Do you think you will keep helping A fall asleep even after #3 arrives?
Thanks so much for your feedback! I agree, this statement: " I think the point you made about just wanting a change and asking for it was so so important and could be a whole discussion on its own." would be a great episode topic. Will have to think about how we can do that!
And yes, we need to discuss spouse time too.
And yes AGAIN, TV. Sometimes . . .ya just need to. (And I watched plenty of Sesame Street and Mr Rogers in my early days and seem to have survived).
I have no IDEA how nights will play out with #3, in part b/c I have no idea what kind of sleeper #3 will be. It’s so funny in my mind Cameron was easy (which is true that I never had to truly ‘sleep train’ him) BUT I read some of my old posts and apparently he was an every 1.5-2 hr feeder for quite some time in the early days. All night. A&C will share a room so that may change the vibe, but I am definitely open to still lying with her if I can. I’ll probably be more likely to fully fall asleep though!
Hurrah! Loved the podcast. I was surprised at the excellent production quality! Sounded so professional for a first time podcaster. Keep the episodes coming!
Not a mom but I have listened to all your podcasts and have read your blog for ages. I think it’s really awesome you’ve decided to do this. Not to be a jerk but I was really hoping this was mostly going to be your voice on this podcast, and I know you said we would hear more from you so I just wanted to put my vote out there that I’d like to hear more from you 🙂 You have a really nice voice (sorry – is that creepy?) and are very articulate. Also, wishing you guys well with Irma – it looks like its going to hit Miami pretty hard so I hope you guys (and your home) stay safe.