snow day

Two nights ago we had a snowstorm here in NC which brought nearly six inches of fluffy, white precipitation.  If you live anywhere in the south, you know that anything over an inch (and sometimes less in some cases) is enough to cause mass chaos and shut down schools, government buildings, and cancel any plans you thought you had.  Luckily, Erik's work closed down for the day, and I called in not wanting to risk driving in the crazy weather.  So we found ourselves with a nice relaxing day to do whatever the heck we wanted.  Wait, did I say that?!  I forgot that we have an energetic toddler on our hands.  Let me rephrase - we had the whole day off to try and keep a very wild, just-getting-over-a-cold-and-we-already-have-cabin-fever, nearly 14 month old boy entertained and happy.  Yea, that sounds about right.

We woke up early and had breakfast together, and then Erik took Lucy for a walk in the woods.  By the time they returned home, Arlo and I were bundled up and ready to head out to check out the snow.  It snowed a few inches here last week while my parents were watching Arlo during our Jamaica trip, but they didn't take him out in the snow as he was starting to come down with a pretty nasty cold.  So we were pretty excited to see what he would think of the snow!

At first, he seemed to like it...

and then when he realized he couldn't walk around because of the deep snow, he grew frustrated...

obviously Lucy hated it...

we measured around 5 1/4" of snow in the front yard.

and then Arlo face-planted.  I had to quickly snap this shot before helping him back up.  Mom of the year, I know.

but then I gave him lots of snuggles and he forgave me.

After our fun in the snow we headed back in and Arlo watched Erik shovel the sidewalk.

how cute is this little baby booty?!  I know I won't be able to get away with baby-ish pants like this for much longer, so when I saw these last week in his size I just couldn't resist...

Wearing his crazy zebra hat from Grandma and Grandpa:

Earlier this week, in anticipation of the impending storm, I stopped by the store to pick up a few essentials and other items to entertain Arlo for the day.  There is a toddler activity idea floating around on pinterest where you take pipe cleaners and a colander and teach your child to stick the pipe cleaners in the holes of the colander.  It is good for building fine motor skills, and teaching them their colors as they get a little older.  I thought Arlo would really like it, as he is really involved in putting things "in their places" these days (to him everything belongs in the diaper pail) but he didn't quite figure out what I wanted him to do.  He did however, love playing with the pipe cleaners and waving them around like magic wands.  He also liked taking apart my pipe cleaner creation after I tried to show him what to do!

Later in the day I attempted our first arts & crafts project.  Perhaps he isn't quite ready for the crayons yet, but we had fun trying.  Don't let his smiling face fool you, the whole activity lasted about five minutes before he ripped up his coloring page and started launching crayons onto the floor. 

Although we moved to NC to get away from the brutal winters of the Midwest, every year I still wish for one good snowfall.  Just a day or two where everything shuts down, work is cancelled, and we get to stay home and lounge in our PJ's all day.  Now that I got it out of my system, I am looking forward to warm spring days where we can go outside and play.  I may get that wish soon too, they are predicting a big warm up next week, and we may even get back into the 70's, hot diggity dog!

big news x3

Okay, so as I mentioned in my last post, there have been some exciting happenings in our family over the past month or so.  I am here today with some updates and announcements!

Big news #1 - Erik has a new job!  He applied for a corporate managerial position with a large automotive parts company last month and after what seemed like a quick round of interviews, he was offered the job.  It is a really big promotion for him, with fantastic benefits and a salary increase we just couldn't say no to.  The one downside of this new job, is that it is nearly an hour commute for him each way.  I know this might not be a big deal for some people, but honestly we are just not the commuting type.  We currently live a mile from his previous workplace, which allowed Erik to ride his bike to and from work and come home often for lunch.  Not only that, but he could leave five minutes before he had to be to work, and was usually home well before dinner time (which gave me the much needed break from baby duty so I could actually prepare dinner without Arlo destroying the kitchen while I cooked, ha!)  With the new longer commute, he will obviously have to leave much earlier and won't get home until much later, which will be a big adjustment to our normal routine.  This is not the ideal situation for us so.... 

This brings me to big news #2 - we will be moving!  We have been house shopping for the past few weeks, but nothing has jumped out to us as being the right house.  Ideally we would be moving sometime this spring so Erik will only have to do the long commute for a few months, but we are pretty set on finding a house that checks most, if not all, of our wish list boxes, so it might be a while until the right house comes along.  We have a pretty good idea of which area we want to live in, and while it's going to be insanely hard to leave this area we love so much (friends, neighbors, favorite co-op, etc) we are trying to focus on all the positive things that are coming along with the new changes.  The idea of living in a family-friendly neighborhood instead of being on the not-at-all-child-safe street we currently are, having a garage (this house doesn't), and Erik being able to have a short drive to and from work again are exciting things to think about.  After completely renovating two houses (and doing ALL the work ourselves) over the past few years, we are not at all looking for a fixer-upper.  We want a move-in ready house that is hopefully newish, or at least updated enough to where we won't have to worry about a new roof/plumbing/windows/etc for some time.  I am thinking of posting my new house wish list to help me organize my thoughts, but would that be weird to share with y'all??

We are not exactly sure yet how this will affect my job.  Moving close to Erik's new job would give me the same long commute that he is currently having to do, so that isn't ideal.  I don't want to stop working, I really love what I do and learned while on my extended maternity leave that I am not really the SAHM (stay at home Mom) type.  So there will definitely be some changes for me in the work department as well, it's just going to take some time to figure out if I will commute the two days a week that I work, or if I will decide to try and find a new job closer to wherever we move to.

Erik started his new job today and the last day at his old job was a week and a half ago, so that left him with nine full days off between jobs.  This brings me to big news #3 - we spend last week in Jamaica!  After Erik was offered the new job and he gave his two weeks notice at his old job, we realized there would be a week in between jobs, during which we had zero plans.  Since I work per diem and pretty much make my schedule just a week or two in advance, I also planned to take that week off.  We lined up the grandparents to come stay with Arlo, and off we went!  At first we thought about staying a little closer to home, and maybe visiting Charleston or Savannah, but then decided the new job needed a bigger celebration than that, and when else would we have an entire week off that Erik didn't need to use vacation time for, plus grandparents who were willing and able to come watch Arlo?  And so, within 48 hours of deciding to even go out of town, we had our flights and reservations booked.  I am currently working on a ridiculously long blog post about the trip, and hopefully will have that up within the next week or so.  Until then, here are a few photos we took while we were there:

taken the day we arrived.  darn water spot on lens!  #goproproblems

what much of the trip looked like  :)

fun in the sun

horse that passed by the beach

I love this boy so much.

fresh coconuts from the tree, filled with delicious coconut water, yum!

currently.

Hey!  I'm still here!  I took a little blogging break, but now I am back.  Or, at least plan to try and pop in a little more frequently to post updates.  The past couple of weeks have brought some pretty exciting changes to our family (no, I am definitely not pregnant) and I plan to share a little more about that in the next few weeks.  For now, here is a quick little update about what we have been been up to lately!

Reading:   Wild.  Oh my goodness, this book is so, so good.  In fact, I wavered between sitting down to read or blogging during the nap that Arlo is currently taking, but blogging won out because I have had a nagging voice in my head for the past few days warning me that my blog neglection over the past month might worry my three readers.  Ha.  Seriously though, this book is addicting - I have laughed, cried, and stayed up too late reading it these past few days, and I am only about 1/3 of the way though it.  She writes like I wish I could about something that a much braver version of me wishes I could have done in my early 20's.  Before this book, I read Saving CeeCee Honeycutt which was given to me by my mom, and enjoyed that book as well.  A feel-good, coming-of-age, girl-power book that is a pretty light read if you are looking for something in that category.


Making:  deodorant.  Here's why...  Three and a half years ago, just before our wedding, I developed a pretty bad allergy to my "natural" Toms deodorant.  Although, I didn't know that the deodorant was what I was reacting to.  I thought that I had somehow inexplicably acquired poison ivy under my arms.  So for the next few weeks, I kept puttin' on the Toms, and the rash got worse.  I finally stopped using the deodorant because it was hurting to apply it, and wouldn't you know, the rash went away after a few days.  I started using that rock salt deodorant soon after with mild success.  A few weeks ago I decided that maybe I had outgrown my allergy to deodorant, so I use some of Erik's "natural" stick.  Everything was fine...  for a few days.  But it wasn't long until I ended up with that same allergic break-out under my arms.  So...  I did some research online and learned that I am not the only one who has an allergy to deodorant!  There are several recipes out there to make your own, one in particular that gets great reviews.  So I whipped up a batch and have been using it daily for the past few weeks with pretty good success.  The recipe is cheap and easy - coconut oil, arrowroot powder, backing soda, and tea tree oil.  It works pretty well, but it is the middle of winter so the true test will be conducted this summer. 
And that's way more than you ever wanted to know about my allergy to deodorant isn't it?  Sorry...  But for the people who spend time around me on a regular basis, I think you will thank me.  Hopefully gone are my #dirtyhippie days.

But I am still going to continue to wash my hair only once a week.  So there's that...

Eating: I am currently on a toast-for-breakfast kick, and just polished off two pieces of whole grain toast with earth balance and apple butter while typing this.  Erik and I are letting gluten back into our lives periodically and so far, so good.  It tends to catch up with us after a while though so hopefully my taste buds will tire of toast before my tummy does! 


Feeling:  Not fully awake - Arlo has four teeth coming in all at once (his canines) and last night he was up twice, and then up for good this morning at 6am.  Thankfully, after these four teeth surface there are only four more to go - the way back molars (that's the technical name, right?) 

Listening:  90's country station on Pandora.  So lucky I have a husband who puts up with this.  And P.S.,  what ever happened to The Dixie Chicks?!


Wearing:  The new yoga clothes I treated myself to with my Christmas money from the P's.  For the past four weekends I have been going to a local yoga class and enjoying it immensely.  I forgot how important yoga used to be to me, both for physical as well as mental health.  So happy and thankful that it found its way back into my life!  I am currently doing yoga twice a week or so, but I am slowly working towards getting to the point of practicing three times a week.

Watching:  Downton Abbey.  Don't tell anyone, but Erik actually chose to watch DA with me last Sunday over the superbowl that originally he was pretty excited to watch.  #besthusbandever.


Looking forward to:  Actually, several big things.  More on that to come soon  ;)


Disliking: My postpartum hair.  It's growing back in such a way that it looks like I cut short bangs around my forehead.  I promise, I would never do that with my curly hair.  I have taken to bobby pinning back the silly parts so it doesn't look like I walked straight out of a 1980's music video! 


Loving:  Our freshly painted fireplace and new mantle hand-built by my talented hubby (pictures and info on that coming soon as well!)  Morning hikes in the woods with Lucy.  Dark chocolate.  Baby shoes - now that Arlo is walking everywhere I have become obsessed with finding him the cutest little footwear (ebay and the thrift store have had some great finds!!)  Yoga classes with my friend, mama R.  This new phase Arlo is in where he loves playing outside and cried when we have to come inside (although I don't love the crying part!)  Very much looking forward to this spring and summer when we can spend long hours at playgrounds, letting Arlo burn off all that toddler energy he currently has!