Three Weeks

This is the third week I've been working from home.  With the kids.  Alone.

Justin is still going into the office because he's essential (bank officer) and he's the busiest he's ever been.  Which is both a blessing and a curse.

It's hard to be productive with young children interrupting you every 30 seconds.  However, we've started to find a routine that works for us.  There is definitely more screen time than I'd like, but what else am I going to do when I'm on a conference call?  The weather hasn't been cooperating for us either.  We are currently under a winter weather advisory and the boys don't like playing outside for long when it's freezing cold.  Walks aren't as frequent either since the wind still feels like ice.

I've also come to realize that Stay at Home moms have it MADE.  If I wasn't working and just able to spend the days with my boys, we would be having the BEST time.  Making all kinds of delicious food, playing fun games, doing the occasional craft, and taking family naps.  I will forever side eye SAHM's who say it's hard.

Perks to working from home?
Oh yeah, there are a few.

1. Staying in comfy clothes all day.  Slippers, joggers, sweaters.  You name it.  Which leads to...

2. Less laundry.  The boys want to stay in pajamas all day too!  They put on clean pajamas after bath and I have half the amount of clothes to wash.

3. Staying on top of chores.  I love being able to swap laundry between emails and empty the dishwasher during lunch.

4. Getting all of this time with my boys.  I've watched their bond deepen and their ability to play together strengthen.  I love that they have this extra time to focus on family.

5. No makeup, all of the skin care, and working on extending my hair training. #pleasedontfacetime

There are a few cons too
1. My house is messier.  Being home all day means the boys are making messes all day.  Which means I need to mop and wipe everything down every night.
It's a happy trade off.

2. We are paying for a school my kids are not going to.
With me working all day, I'm not homeschooling them either.
So that's fun.

3. Missing my workouts.  I'm not the best at working from home and with my gym closed, it's a total first world problem.  However it did wonders for my mental health.  I need some great home Pilates and Yoga videos.  Suggestions?

4. Meals aren't better than before.
Did I mention I'm still working?  I don't have any extra time to plan fancier meals than what's already on rotation.  I'm still meal planning on the weekends because I work right up to when I need to make dinner, and then sit back down at the computer once Justin gets home finish up.


All in all, I'm so glad that we are home and healthy.  We've been home since March 16th (the boys had a half day at preschool and I had a half day at work) and Justin hasn't had contact with the public at work since March 23rd.  We stocked up pretty well on non-perishables the weekend prior to staying home, but I have a Wal-Mart pickup order for tomorrow.  I pray that I can clean everything before it's brought into the house.  I pray you're all healthy too.

Life Lately

First up - this boy.

Oh my gosh, I can't even begin to describe how PROUD I am of him!  He's just making my heart burst at the seams.

Saturday morning I took him to a play date with his best pal at a local park.  While they were running around and having the best time, they would occasional pause to run up to the moms and ask "Can we have a sleepover?"  Then run off before we could answer!  haha.

We discussed it, and that night worked out perfectly.  #wiggydiggy had his first sleepover at a friends house!  (It should be noted that this friend has two older brothers that they adore, so they were spoiled rotten with fun)

I'll admit, I was so worried that he wasn't ready.  That maybe his behavior would be less than stellar or even to the point of not being invited back.  Parenting is such a mine field.  Should I have worried about that?  Maybe not all of it.  I want to make sure that I'm instilling the behaviors and manners into my son that will help him navigate life confidently.

This first sleepover was a success.
I cried.  Tears of gratitude, tears of relief, and tears of sadness that my baby is growing up.

Then there's this mischievous munchkin.

Oh my lord, is this child keeping me on my toes!  He is so FUNNY.  and very very mischievous.

It really is amazing how two children can be so different.

While they both love to destroy my kitchen, #biggywigs sticks to pulling everything out and then scurrying away.  #wiggydiggy was content to sit and play with the destruction he made.  haha.

He is also thisclose to walking!!  The most he's walked has been 5 steps, but he tries All.Day.Long. to walk everywhere.  I can't wait!

We've had gorgeous weekends, followed by rainy and cool weekends.  On the days we can sit outside and soak up some warmth, we are glued to our patio.

We still have some yard work to do, but it has come such a long way in 6 years.

I'm also excited that I'm back into working out regularly! 

I took a break from my favorite studio (Core Connections, LLC here in Helena) until I had my lunch breaks back.

#biggywigs stopped his lunch time nursing Mother's Day weekend, so I took a week off (just in case I needed to go in) and then started Pilates again!  My goal is three days a week right now.  Once I'm used to it again, I'll try and go daily if I can make a class.

Proving to my husband I'm at class.  haha.

Side note - any good suggestions for shorts to wear to class?  I love my 7/8 length workout pants, but with summer coming they may be too hot.   And yes, we do use the reformer board, so I need shorts that aren't loose (i.e. you can't accidentally see up them.)

A Christmas Tradition Part 2

See #wiggydiggy here

#biggywigs REFUSED to wear the hat.

#wiggydiggy was 1 year old when we took his photos and #biggywigs was 7 months old.

How We Make Mealtime Work

In our house, we have a few mealtime rules.

1.
We eat dinner as a family.

There are a few exceptions - event night*, date night, or one parent is working late.
*Event night is either swim class or gymnastics and #wiggydiggy eats a 'sack' dinner:
peanut butter and jelly, applesauce, Baby-bel, Goldfish, etc.

If one parent is working late, the rest of us eat together.

2.
I am not a short order cook.

We meal plan two weeks out to cut down on grocery runs and utilize more leftovers.  With that being said, it is very rare that a meal I make for Justin and myself won't be eaten by #wiggydiggy.  (think super spicy or ethnic food)  Those nights I often make chicken nuggets or fish sticks as his entree but he eats our sides.  I do put a bit of our main dish on his plate for him to try.

3.
You must eat two bites of vegetables to be excused.

This rule came about due to my lack of appetite during pregnancy.  Veggies weren't offered often so a "dislike" suddenly showed up at dinner time.  Once #wiggydiggy turns four, he will have to eat three bites of vegetables.  When he moves up to a new class at school, it'll be five bites.
Only took him one week of throwing a fit and now he eats those bites so fast!  I know adding one more won't be a struggle.

4.
We say Grace and we clear our plates.

By clear our plates - I mean to move it from the table to the sink.  This is an expectation at school so we reinforce it at home.

5.
You don't have to like it, but you do have to try it

Once we put our expectations into place, the dinnertime battle stopped.  #wiggydiggy knows that he cannot say "That's gross"or "Yucky" to food I've made.  Those comments cost him a reward coin.

Also...

Bribery

Dessert is the biggest motivator to eat well and behave at the dinner table.
(Dessert is a small bowl with 10 or so M&M's)

(We also don't use our phones during dinner, so I don't have any meal photos!  haha)

Happy Halloween

From my Chunky Monkey and Batman, to yours.

Hope your Halloween was a great one!

Batman went trick or treating for the first time and had a BLAST.  However, he had way more fun handing out candy to all of the trick or treaters that came to our house.
When we were running out of candy, he grabbed his pumpkin full of goodies and dumped it into our bowl.  What a sweetheart.

Two Week Vacation

I took advantage of my maternity leave and loaded the boys us for a two week vacation in Wyoming and Nebraska.

(I need at least two weeks out of Montana every year.  I'd prefer 52, but we'll start with two.)

I DO NOT recommend driving 10 hours with a 3 1/2 year old and a 2 month old.
Without working A/C.

#babywigs nursed every three hours, which equaled a half hour pit stop.
Add in a toddler who wanted to run his energy off at each stop?  Just add two hours to the road trip.
Either would have been fine.  But both boys together?  It was rough.

As a side not - I didn't know the A/C wasn't working.  After 8 months of winter I hadn't really used it.  After driving for hours under a hot sun across the state of Nebraska, I was so glad that my destination included a family of mechanically inclined who could fix it.
Hallelujah.

Tip - don't drive during the 'witching hour'.  You'll regret it.

The itinerary was drive to my parents, stay for a few days, then drive to Lincoln and stay with my best gal pal and her son for 5 days.  Then drive back to my parents and Justin joined us for a week of CFD (Cheyenne Frontier Days) before coming home.

So here's a *short* photo dump:

Napping with MeMaw

Parade fun!

Henry Dorley Zoo:

SHARK!

Lincoln Children Museum
This museum alone makes me want to move back.

Lincoln, NE fun

Helping PePaw at work

It was an amazing time (minus my solo driving) and I WISH I could go back and do it again. 
And Again.  And Again.

Back at It

Yesterday was it.

The first day back to work.

How did 12 weeks fly by so quickly?!?!

#babywigs is home with a nanny for the rest of this month, then he joins big brother at school.

Cue ALL THE TEARS.

We celebrated my last weekend of maternity leave with a LONG walk Sunday morning and a drive through the mountains during nap time.

More updates coming soon!

Brothers

I knew that I wanted #wiggydiggy to be the first to meet the baby.
He was so excited for his sibling to be born and I was so excited for him to be a big brother.

So we kept the baby's sex and name quiet until #wiggydiggy was able to come to the hospital.
That afternoon, Justin picked up #wiggydiggy after his nap from school and brought him to meet his new sibling.

I was a tiny bit nervous because #wiggydiggy had been asking for a baby sister for months.  Justin was too, so they talked about the new baby brother on the drive up.
I think #wiggydiggy was so excited to see his mom and dad, that he didn't care if it was a brother or sister!

He has been obsessed with his baby brother ever since.
Every day he asks to hold him 100 times.
He gives him 100 kisses and calls him 'My Sweetheart'.