The Importance of Girls Nights

I have a girls night with some of my friends once a month., We talk, vent, laugh and very rarely cry. It helps get me through the month emotionally, it helps me to have perspective and helps me define myself as an individual instead of just a mom. I was reading an article about how to make a marriage last- it was a lot of stuff I knew and some stuff I hadn't thought about before. One I thought was interesting was something my girlfriends and I seem to have done on our girls nights without ever really talking about it. It allows you to vent without causing permanent damage to the reputation of your spouse (or garnering harsh criticism of your marriage).

 It is a husband pact:

I promise to listen to you complain about your husband even in the most dire terms, without it affecting my good opinion of him. I will agree with your harshest criticism, accept your gloomiest predictions. I will furrow my brow and agree when you describe him as a hideous ogre. Then when your fight is over and love shines again like a beautiful sunbeam in your life, I promise to forget everything you said and regard him as the most charming of princes once more. 

Re-Entering the World

You can tell when I have a lot on my plate because I stop posting pictures. I love taking them and if it has been over a week without touching my camera I know it's time for things to change. So here is my attempt to re-enter the world.

Another Quick Update

Yesterday (and even starting the day before that) was probably the most stressful time of my life (minus exam periods in law school). It started with Audrey being off- she was crying for hours and being almost two she is dramatic but that usually doesn't mean hours at a time of crying. So it turns out after a trip to the urgent care (on the way to pick up Don from the Hospital) that she has an ear infection. Don was also given the green light to come home- but he is pretty bad off, he is still in a lot of pain and now he has symptoms of a head cold- it's hard to tell what is sickness or just his body being warn out from the surgery and all the pain- hopefully as he gets stronger his symptoms will go away.

Medical dramas in a family are hard enough but yesterday we also got two offers on our house! It was kind of crazy because our house has been on the market for 2 months without a single offer and then suddenly we got two on one day! It worked out well and we picked the best one and went under contract but the negotiations and all the waiting was so stressful. Luckily at the end of the day Audrey was on antibiotics, Don got to sleep in his own bed and we are done showing the house (let the dirtiness begin).

It was a lot of pressure and I felt like I was making a lot of really important decisions by myself but it looks like things are going to get better from here on out!

Medical Update

Quick Update:

   It has been a rough week in our family. Don had his surgery which was successful but about an hour longer then they had estimated, that last hour was rough on me. He is still in the hospital in a lot of pain but the worst of this medical drama is coming to an end. The same day as the surgery Ryan got his first incident report at school because he face dived the ground and ended up scraping up under his nose pretty badly. Again that same day I ended up pinching a nerve in my back which is still bothering me (Especially after sleeping in the chair at the hospital). To say that Thursday was a bad day would be a super understatement.
    Hopefully he will be out tomorrow, but it's possible now that it will be pushed out to Monday. On top of everything else we have had 4 house showings this weekend alone which means a lot of cleaning and keeping the kids out of the house.
   I am declaring that tomorrow is our turning point. Tomorrow we will get good news about discharge, we will get an excellent offer on the house and everyone will get a good nights sleep. Here is to positive thoughts and positive results!

Superhero Capes

Ryan's birthday is next month and like last year we are throwing a joint birthday with one of his friends. We have decided on a superhero theme (what's better for a 4 year old boy?). In a moment of craft crazy Crissy (the other boys mom) and I decided to make personalized superhero capes as a party favor for each child coming to the party.  It took 1 day to buy the materials and 3 sessions of  "capefest" to make them but they turned out super well, I can't wait to see all the kids reactions! Now onto cupcake planning....

Day 16: Flower

Truth be told I am not trying very hard to keep up with this photo challenge. It's hard to be inspired by "stairs" when you are tired so I am just posting when I feel like it. It has made me at least post a lot so there's something. This picture is of Ryan and Audrey "gardening" in our backyard. Flowers don't last long because they get picked so these plants are as close as we get.

Bath in the Grass

Ryan and Audrey made up a really funny game yesterday where they gave each other a "bath" in the dried out mowed grass. The good news is that it kept them occupied for a good 30 minutes- the bad news is that our house had to be vacuumed everywhere the kids went after the game was over. They finally had to get in the real bath because I was tired of cleaning up their trails.

Strawberry Picking

Ryan and I have always had the tradition of picking strawberries, he loves it, even if he doesn't eat the strawberries. This year we got to include Audrey and it was even more fun. Ryan is old enough to be able to pic the strawberries himself and know which are good and which aren't. Audrey carried the bucket and ate strawberries the whole time (no joke she had SO many). It was a lot of fun, and PERFECT weather- blue skies, 70 degrees!

Day 8: Younger You

Here is my high school senior picture. I have posted baby pictures on here before and since I wasn't really up for posting one of my awkward middle school pictures (can we say eyebrows!)  this is what you get :)

Day 7: Happy Easter

I am very much aware that the theme of today's post was supposed to be the inside of my wallet but let's be real, I have 2 kids therefore the inside of my wallet is bare and dreadfully boring, in fact I lost my license last week so there is very little show. So instead I will post Easter pictures because let's be honest I couldn't not post the pictures- so to save your time and mine... here goes. These were all taken at my moms house except the very first one which was an Easter egg hunt a friend of mine put together. 

Day 6: Shadow (Durham Bulls Game)

Today we went to one of Ryan's best friends birthday parties at the Durham Bulls Baseball park. Super fun (and a little chaotic- mostly thanks to a squirmy little sister). Over all we had a great time. The first picture is of Audrey wearing her brand new Durham Bills baseball hat which is casting a SHADOW over her face. I didn't take my camera when they both got to try out the fast pitch and the batting practice in the kids area- hopefully next time I can get pictures- it was super cute and they both really enjoyed it! 

Day 6: Lunch

Yesterday was rough. I was sick (thus the chicken noodle soup) and we had a house showing at lunch time so we packed up and went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. The kids played on the structure- and I lounged in the booth. I don't know what we would do without this place with our house on the market.

Day 5: Tiny

Two quickly growing kids on one TINY chair. Luckily they get along well enough to watch TV this way. You would think with a whole living room full of space they wouldn't need to be in the exact same spot!

Day 4: Someone Who Makes You Happy

Yeah... it's two people, but I couldn't just pick one! Don't you just love the look Ryan is giving Audrey... He doesn't want her to touch the toy.

ANOTHER trip to the ER

In case we didn't have enough going on in our lives Audrey ended up in the ER this evening. She had something called nursemaids elbow... essentially her elbow just slipped out of joint and needed to be put back in. She was in so much pain until they fixed her up, I had to carry her and I couldn't move her or touch her arm at all or she would tense up and scream/cry. The second they fixed it she was dancing and smiling and kept repeating "Bye, Bye Boo, Boo."  I'm glad it was an easy fix- I was picturing casts and slings and a whole list of even more serious issues. Their test to see if her arm was working properly after they popped it back was to hand a Popsicle to her bad arm- she passed the test with flying colors :) 

Day 3: Mail

One of Ryan's many "jobs" around the house is getting the mail. He still doesn't understand what time of day the mail comes so he ends up checking at least a few times a day (hint hint family- he likes receiving mail)