{WHW}: A Rundown

Happy middle of the week, and WHW!

 A rundown of things that have been hap-"pinning" lately:

~My MIL came to visit for the weekend and it was SO much fun. We had a great time, the weather Saturday was gorgeous, allowing us to get out for lunch and a walk around Old Town afterwards, and that night we had dinner with my mom too. Ella went to bed that night with kisses on either side from both of her grandmas and it was so cute!

~This outfit is perhaps one of my faves lately:

~Carters' $5 item sale got me hook, line, and sinker. Luckily I teamed up with a friend for the order so I didn't order ALL THE THINGS just to get free shipping (I'm morally opposed to paying for shipping). I could have easily ordered all the things, though because baby clothes are just too darn cute!

~I found out that a coworker of mine went to a teacher outside of my building and told her that I don't see her student. Which 1) is a COMPLETE and total lie, 2) she did not seem to recall that we've had two days where she didn't have students this month, both of which fell on the day that I see her kid, or 3) that one time I was in a meeting THAT SHE ARRANGED during the time I was supposed to see her kid. It infuriates me that someone would say that in general, and also not have the balls to come to me and say "hey, I feel like you haven't seen ____, what's going on?" I plan on confronting this woman today because I'm NOT ok with you spreading lies and discrediting my work ethic.

Ironically enough, this is also the same person who MULTIPLE people complain that she doesn't do anything...

~I got a haircut this weekend--I've pretty much needed one for like 2 months but my person was out on medical leave. So I sucked it up and tried a new place by me, and it worked out great! My hair feels SO much lighter and healthier. Check it out in this snapchat photo I took at my in-service Monday with my friend:

~Speaking of my training, it ended earlier than it was supposed to, and normally I'd be thrilled. However, remember when I said life kind of revolves around naps right now? My first thought was "I can't get Ella now, because I don't want to ruin her nap"... so I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and perused the aisles for a bit until I knew she was awake #naplife

~Ella is 9 months old. How this is possible, I'm not even sure. I'm having to start thinking about her first birthday already. I'm not ready. I literally teared up on my way to work with her in the back yesterday, thinking about how much I love her and just how I don't want her to grow up too fast!

~Our dining room table is scheduled to be delivered this Saturday!!! Which works out well because we're having friends over for dinner that night, and we sold our old dining room table this past weekend! #perfecttiming 

Also, you know you're old when.... lol

Now it's your turn to link up and share what's hap-"pinning" with you!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Dear Dad,
    Happy birthday (yesterday)! I'm still in shock as I write this that this is your second birthday without you here. There's still not a day that goes by that I don't think about you, and wish you were still here. The moments Ella looks at me, and for a glimpse, I see your facial expression, or something in her eyes that reminds me of you, it hits me to the core. It also makes me smile, because I know that you're still here. Sometimes I see Ella look off into the empty space of a room, and I wonder if she sees you--I hope that she does.
   There are still moments that hit me out of nowhere just how much I miss you and I cry. The other day we were leaving a furniture store and I mentioned how your birthday was coming up, and I just started bawling in the car. I miss my dad. That doesn't go away.
     I wish you could see me as a mom, and I wish I could see you in the role of grandpa. Gosh, Ella would have loved you. And your glasses (she's quite taken with glasses). I'm sad for her that she won't get to know you the way that a girl gets to know and love on her grandfather. I'll always still tell her about you, though, so don't worry.

   We're gonna come and visit your grave soon with Ella, once it's a little warmer for her. Just know that on your birthday especially (and pretty much most other days too) I'm reminded of the amazing dad I have and how lucky I was to have you for as long as I did. I always wish it had been longer, but the time we had, we made count. I love you, Dad. Happy birthday!

 Love always (your favorite daughter :),

Jennifer

Weekly Wins: #treatyoself

Happy Friday, lovies!!! I feel like this week has flown by which is really nice! As always, the week had some lows but it also had some wins:

~Meghan King Edmonds announced she's not coming back to RHOC (that's not my win though). I commented on her instagram post, and she liked it! I usually don't comment on celeb posts because I think they rarely check them, so it was nice to see that she did (almost instantly)! 

~This sweet care package for Valentine's day that my SIL sent to Ella (the same one who sent her a Halloween and Christmas package too). I love how much she loves our girl!

~Another Instant Pot recipe win with this Chicken Tortilla soup that we made this week! 

~My MIL coming into town tonight. For some, that wouldn't be a win, but I adore my MIL and always love visiting or having her visit. We have dinner planned on Saturday with both of our moms which should be nice too!

~A bestie catch-up sesh on the phone the other day was just what I needed!

~Ella's sleep has been stellar lately! We were dealing with lots of post-bedtime wake ups for a little while perhaps due her going through a leap and getting used to eating 3 meals a day (not sure), but she's been sleeping like a champ lately, thank goodness! Although, now that I've written this I pretty much jinxed myself....
Also, she's taken to sleeping with her butt in the air lately which is funny to see. Sometimes I check the monitor in the middle of the night and all I see is her little butt haha

~Today is a teacher workday and so is Monday, although the majority of both of these days is taken up by meetings which is annoying because I'd actually like to get some WORK done on the teacher workdays. But, two days without students is still conducive to getting caught up on some work at least which is nice!

~Because I had a meeting with my supervisor yesterday at the end of the day, on my drive back to work I stopped and got Starbucks. Because I could. Like a real grown up who isn't a teacher and never gets to leave during the regular daytime hours 

Hope your Friday's quick and productive, and your weekend's packed with fun! Catch you next week!!

Thursday-ness

{1}

We had a lock down drill at my school on Monday morning (and then another school shooting on Tuesday, reminding us why these drills are necessary--which is ridiculous in and of itself, but I digress), and I had 3 kindergarten boys in my office during it. We sat quietly in the dark for a while, waiting for an administrator to come and unlock our door, or an announcement to be made that the drill was over. Neither of those came so after 15 minutes I called the office to ask and they said "oh yeah it's been over for about 10 minutes"...they also left a pregnant teacher in her classroom with her kids for 40 minutes before she called down to see, and they'd forgotten her too!

{2} 

Ella basically slept almost the entire day on Tuesday. Probably 6 hours at daycare (not an exaggeration) and then she could NOT stay up until even 6pm that night, so we put her to bed early and she slept THE ENTIRE NIGHT! Getting over this virus must be a doozy!

{3} 

MG and I listed our current dining room table and chairs on Craigslist and LetGo this weekend after purchasing our new set, not thinking about the fact that we don't even have a delivery date for our new set, and someone was interested in everything, so they're coming this weekend. I only thought about the fact that we're having friends over for dinner next weekend once we got the offer. So, dinner should be interesting when they come lol

{4} 

My hoarding coworker at my second school emailed me last Thursday asking if I could "rearrange my schedule" to come and help her test a student whose testing AND report write up were basically due this week (these things can take 3-4 hours MINIMUM)! Never mind that almost every time I've seen her since before Winter Break (Wednesdays and Fridays), she's mentioned how she has to test this student, but all of a sudden I need to drop everything and rearrange stuff to get this done for her ASAP?? I'm reminded of a saying (and wanted to send it to her)...

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 {5}

Can we talk for a second about being a sore winner? 

Philly fans are known to be "bad, crude" whatever. I don't lump them all in a group because, hello, humans are not all the same, just because they root for a team or whatever. I root for Philly when it's not my Skins (or Vikings) because my husband roots for them. But, goodness gracious I was dismayed and quite frankly disgusted to see the videos/reports of heinous fans throwing beer bottles and cans at the Coach buses taking the players/coaches to the airport after the game. Or the sign/yelling disrespectful idiots saying "F*ck Millie" carried around (about a 99 year old Viking fan who had gone to her first football game that night). I know a friend who was peed on by a Philly fan because she was wearing the opposing team's jersey, and this seemed to be the norm rather than the exception.

Since when did rooting for a bunch of guys in ONE SHIRT, equate to losing all sense of human decency??? This is not just directed at Philly because, let's be real, there are A-holes everywhere, but just the most recent display of it. 

Our friend was on one of those buses getting things hurled at them....for LOSING. Our friend has 3 kids at home, a wife, a mom and dad and brothers. Would you want ANYONE you know treated like that? For something as small and insignificant as a FOOTBALL game?

We need to get our priorities right, America. I mean, really...It makes me sick.

#gettingoffmysoapboxnow

{6} 

Ok, after that seriousness, here are some funnies to lighten the mood:

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{via} this is basically how I feel every night trying to find foods that Ella 1) can eat, and 2) can feed herself without choking, 3) that she likes for more than a few bites and 4) is healthy

One more day until the weekend!!!!

WHW: Currently....

Currently, I'm....

Reading ...

Flash by Tim Tigner; I'm only about 10% of the way in though. I got it for cheap on Amazon a couple of weeks ago and so far it's alright

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Watching ...

Other than standard Bravo shows (Vanderpump, RHOBH, Summer House), MG and I have been watching the Black Mirror series on Netflix. I like that they're all stories that make you think, and also separate of one another so you can pick and choose without having to watch one after the other in a row.

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Eating....

On the menu this week:
Monday: Sun-Dried Tomato and Feta meatloaf
Tuesday: Greek Roasted Tilapia
Wednesday: Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup (new!)
Thursday: One Pot Broccoli Pesto Pasta
Friday: eating out

Looking forward to ... 

MG's mom coming into town on Friday for the weekend. Unfortunately his dad can't make it because of tax season craziness, but it'll be so nice to have my MIL in town!

Drinking...

coffee coffee coffee, especially yesterday when Ella had a nice hour long middle of the night wake up from 3:40-4:45. Fun times!

Loving....

that our bear is feeling better. Turns out she had roseola (something I'd never heard of until having a kid). Her fever broke on Monday and a rash appeared. So, thankfully she's on the mend! Here's a pic of her in her strawberry jammies from yesterday morning:

Annoyed....
that some guy hit my mom's car in the Costco parking lot AND LEFT! Luckily someone there saw his license plate and wrote it down, and then stuck around until my mom got to her car. The guy, who was an older man, admitted to the police officer that he hit the car and left, and then called my mom and apologized. It really makes me mad that ANYONE would do this. At the very least, you leave a note with your information. Thank goodness someone was there to see it. The cop recommended the guy be re-evaluated for his license, so at least something is being done, sort of...

Excited....
that Ella is starting to want to stand more, and with support, is moving her feet towards things (sort of walking?) She's still only army crawling from time to time, but maybe she'll skip that and go straight to walking!
Which means we'll need to babyproof like ASAP...so maybe I shouldn't say I'm excited after all lol

Wanting ...

our dining room set to be delivered closer to the 2 week window, as opposed to the 6 week window. I'm so pumped about this set! (A guy coworker of mine who is 23 or 24 did not understand the excitement level but all of my girl friends did haha)

Wearing ...

Warm weather things since the temps have been in the 60s the last few days, and are sticking around the high 40s and high 50s the rest of the week.

Grateful For...

on-call doctors

Now it's YOUR turn to link up and share what's hap-"pinning" with you!

Feverish Weekending

You read that correctly, we are back to dealing with illness and ailments. Friday's date night got cancelled because all of a sudden Ella had an unexplained fever. No other symptoms (thankfully) and she was acting totally fine, but we didn't want to leave her with our friend not knowing what was going on.

So an impromptu "date night" in happened with take out Thai food, wine and some Black Mirror.

~Saturday the fever was still there with no other symptoms and Ella seemed fine so we just monitored her.

~Couch snuggles happened

~Ruffle butt pants happened

~MG and I have wanted to get a new dining room table for a while now (the one we have is pub height and we wanted something normal height so baby could more easily be there with us), and MG happened to look at a local furniture site that day and saw exactly what we've been looking for, so we went and checked it out and it was perfection.

~Picked up pizza on the way home and had another quiet night in with our feverish girl.

~Put Ella to bed with a low grade fever, but she woke up around 9:30 stirring and kind of moaning in her sleep so we went to check on her and her fever was 104.5!!!! So I freaked out and called her pediatrician and waited for them to call back. Ella seemed fine, just hot, and she took her night time bottle (with Tylenol) like a champ and went back to sleep.

~3 phone calls to the emergency line and 55 minutes later, after bypassing the nurse who wasn't calling me back, the doctor called and told us he thought it was a UTI, and to just monitor her and if she had a fever the next day to bring her in to the office. Thankfully she slept the rest of the night, no problem. I, on the other hand, checked her on the monitor at least once every 45 minutes or so 

~The next morning the doc's office called to check on her and we made an appointment for her to be seen since she was still running a fever (although nothing close to 104 thank goodness!!)

{I have a super cute pic of her in the doc's office in just her diaper, looking adorable, but I'm leery of posting anything like that because of perverts on the internet. So, just know that she was super cute!)

~We were seconds away from the doctor having to catheter our sweet baby girl, when she peed and he caught it in the specimen cup!! She actually peed two more times that he missed which was actually kind of a comical situation. The test came back negative, so likely she just has some kind of weird virus with no symptoms.

~Caught a cute moment of Ella and Cooper playing tug-of-war over Cooper's toy

~We took advantage of the nice weather (60 degrees!) and took a family walk. Ella enjoyed getting out of the house and looking around on the walk

~MG went and finalized the deal on our new dining room set

~We grilled for dinner and then put little miss to bed (who was SUPER fussy), and then dove into the Vikings game. And we all know how the ended. Needless to say, I was super bummed about the outcome for them.

And yesterday, MG had off because of the government shutdown, but he'd already taken off to have our plumbing fixed from the bathroom leak. So, on some level that worked out so that he didn't have to use vacation days.

So, all in all our weekend was kind of a bust. No date night, Vikings loss, feverish baby. At least we have a new dining room set!

Hoping your weekend was fever-free!

Weekly Wins

Haaaaaaappy Friday! Hopefully it was a short week for you, and Friday came quickly. Even with a short week, this one has felt all over the place, but I'm happy the weekend is finally here!

Time to celebrate some of the wins from this week!

~Date night tonight! We had to move it from Saturday because our babysitter ended up not being able to do it on Saturday but we're still getting our date night in tonight instead! Super looking forward to it, and trying out a new-to-us restaurant!

~The Vikings win this past weekend has been talked about many times both at work and at our house and we are just hoping for a similar outcome this weekend! #Skol

~I have been on the search for a new pair of glasses and finally got a great pair from Firmoo that fit my face! I really love them, and they're super lightweight. The only bummer is that they came with a scratch on the lens (despite the "anti-scratch coating" I paid extra for...hmmm), but another pair is being sent. Either way, I'm a fan and I got them for something like $20!

I feel like taking a selfie with glasses just never looks how it looks in real life

~a 2 hour delay due to snow gave a nice, leisurely morning on Wednesday. I would have preferred a whole day, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers and any extra time with my Ella bear is good!

~a coworker shared with me that she always loves what I'm wearing at work. Made me feel like I have my stuff together (even on days when I don't feel like I do! haha)

~Ella has a bestie at daycare who loooooves giving her toys, food, books, etc. One of the words in his vocabulary is "Ellllllllllaaaaa" which is just adorable. Every time we walk into daycare I hear "Ellllllaaaaaaa" and see his cute face toddling over to us. Heart melting.

Hoping your weekend is filled with rest, love and fun!

Thursday Thoughts

Some Thursday randoms for your reading pleasure:

~Bachelor fans: are you as ewwwww about Krystal as I am?? What does he see in her? Her creepy baby voice is gross and her fake puppy dog eyes. Ew ew ew. I dunno if you saw Shay's recap last week, but she TOTALLY LOOKS LIKE HIS MOM!!!! Just so many ew's.

Also, girlfriend loves her some crushed velvet...

~I wish the sizing on baby clothes were more reliable. 6-9 months even within the same brand sometimes can run big or small. I just bought 2  6-12 month shirts at Gymboree (which admittedly is a HUGE range) and it barely fits Ella at 8 months. But another sweater from there that's 6-12 months is massive. What gives??

~Loft got me again this weekend with their sale, and then sneakily offering free shipping hours later (if I'd bought earlier in the day, I would have been ticked off). Two long sleeve shirts and a summer romper are making their way to my house right now! One of the shirts was $7.95!

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~I had a milkshake from Potbelly's this weekend, but it was made with frozen yogurt instead of ice cream because they'd run out, and it was just as amazing. Also, I'm now craving a milkshake again.

~When you have an appointment window from 330-530 and the guy shows up at 645, I feel like you deserve some kind of "make it up to me". That happened Tuesday night with a guy who was supposed to come and assess and potentially fix a leak from our master bathroom into our downstairs hallway. Cue: annoyance. Cue more annoyance when this dude is DRILLING A HOLE IN MY CEILING while I'm trying to put Ella down to bed. So much for our quiet, peaceful bedtime routine! #dontmesswithmybabyssleep

~On that note, thank goodness we have home owner's insurance because they have to come back, with two plumbers and they said it will take 4+ hours. And it's all covered. Praise!!!

~I love snow days and I used to love 2 hour delays. I still like them enough, but now that my life kind of revolves around nap schedules, the 2 hour delay has me leaving my house for daycare right around the time Ella would be going down for her nap. Which then just throws off her whole day.

~Bank of America has been making me jump through hoops to get my name changed on my IRA account. And it also seems like the bank people have NO idea how to make this happen easily. No wonder it's taken me almost 4 years to do it!

Before I go, I wanted to thank you for all of your sweet comments yesterday about my health scare! It means so much that you all care so much and I know you would have prayed for me if I'd talked about it beforehand, but I just didn't want to bring it up until I knew what I was dealing with. But, thank you so much for the kind words afterwards!

{WHW}: Friends, Crawling and a Sigh of Relief

Happy Wednesday, friends! Hoping that this morning brings us a snow day or delay, since that would be a great little gift for the middle of an already short work week! *Update: we got a delay!!

I'm coming at you a little late with my weekend highlights because of the long weekend and because I'm lazy. #honesty

This weekend had lots of highlights, including an incredible relief from something I've been stressing about for over a month now. More on that later.

Here are my highlights from this weekend:

~Friday night Mexican dinner date with this love and my hubby at Chuy's. Unfortunately the food there is just too spicy for me to even attempt to feed little miss their food, so she enjoyed puffs, and some pureed baby food while mom and dad housed chips and their jalapeno dip, and some yummy Mexican food!

~Friday also brought this adorable spaghetti faced picture from daycare. Someone loves her some meatballs and sauce!

Oh how I love that sweet face and those gorgeous baby blues!!!

~Saturday I had a baby shower for a friend from work in the early afternoon so I headed out that way and spent some time showering the mama-to-be, and baby girl. Unfortunately, my phone was in my purse which was in the other room the whole time, so I didn't snap any pics, but I stole this one from her of her gorgeous cake!

~Once I got home from the shower, I pumped and we headed over to our friends' new house to "watch" the Eagles game. I say "watch" loosely because we came with a baby and there's really no watching of anything other than the baby lol. But it was cool to see our friends, watch some of the game in pieces and get to scope out their house. Oh, and eat some pizza--yum!

~Ella and I headed home and MG stayed with his friends to watch the end of the game because someone had bedtime. The rest of my evening involved catching up on Teen Mom OG and The Bachelor (which I've gotten back into because that show sucks me in every time).

~Sunday we had a big event in our household: someone has finally figured out how to crawl. Well, army crawl, but still. And this crawling which she's been working on for a while, was prompted not by toys...no...by jewelry. She was motivated to get my watch...and off she went! 

~Sunday also involved lots of snuggles with our princess, and then watching the Vikings game! We have been rooting for the Vikings for YEARS because our friend Kev is one of the coaches, and this year has been SO fun. I won't lie, that game gave me major heart palpitations, but it was an INCREDIBLE ending!

~Facetimed with our friends who were also watching the game, and also texted with our friends actually at the game. So happy for the Vikings and really hoping they make it to the Superbowl!!

~Monday I ran some errands and picked up these adorable jammies at Target. The Cloud Island ones are my absolute favorite jammies and you can't beat the price ($13 for a set of 3). They zip from the bottom up so you don't have to get baby naked for diaper changes. Obsessed.

~My mom came for lunch in the early afternoon and brought us soup dumplings from a restaurant near her house that we love. So much yum!

~Later in the afternoon I went to get an ultra sound of a lump in my breast that was discovered at my yearly appointment. I've been worried about it but tried to put it out of my mind over the holidays, knowing that my appointment was around the corner and hopefully all would be fine. After a WHOLE to-do yesterday including making me wait an HOUR past my appointment time (when I was already nervous), I got the ultrasound and all clear that it's just a cyst and nothing more. THANK GOODNESS! When I was laying on the table waiting for the doctor to look at the scans, I thought about a bunch of things---how great life is right now and how I want it to stay that way. I said some prayers and talked to my dad...so glad that it all worked out because the stress of having this hang over my head for the last month has been weighing on me. MG has been wonderful and reassuring during the times I've cried with worry. Just glad that I can put this behind me, focus on the good, and leave the worry behind.

So on that note of relief, I hope that your weekend and your week have been smooth and filled with fun!

Link up with Jessi and I below and share what's hap-"pinning" with you!!

Weekly Wins: Heatin' Up!

Hi friends and happy Friday!

This has been the longest short week ever it seems. With all of the snow days/delays we had (which were wonderful in their own right), getting back to work and getting caught up on scheduled meetings, testing and just my regular responsibilities has been busy busy busy! Definitely ready for the long weekend ahead!

With any week, I'm celebrating the wins, big and small!

~Ella's return to daycare has been pretty good this week. She's eating more foods thanks to other friends who offer her things like graham crackers (she loved, even though she could only really gum it haha). Ella is living her best life on those days for sure :)

~We have lots of plans Saturday: a baby shower for my friend/coworker, and then the Eagles game at our friends' new house that we'll get to see for the first time! 

~We had another instant pot success with making zuppa toscana on Sunday. It was super tasty (I'd never had it before), although I will say, it's better as a side instead of a main course. Ella even liked the potato and sausage in it!

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~The temps have finally risen above freezing, and today we are in the 60s! It's been nice to be able to get out of the house and not totally bundle up and rush from the door to the car, and back again. Plus, Ella's little chapped cheeks will hopefully get a chance to heal up with the higher temps, too.

~I've stopped my morning pumping session after nursing Ella. This may sound like a weird win, but it's been SO nice to have that 15-20 minute window back in my morning, and get to sleep in a few extra minutes every morning. This was a decision made easily once I was only pumping 1 ounce in 15 minutes which did not seem like a good use of my time. Down to 3 pumping sessions a day now instead of 4 (on workdays).

~MG and I have a date night on the books for next weekend with a friend to babysit lined up and I'm excited for another parents' night out, just us!

Hoping that if you have a long weekend, you get the extra time to recharge a bit!

WHW: TBB Asks

I'm coming at you this Wednesday on the first non-snow day or delay morning in almost a week! Craziness. Definitely time to get back into a routine and actually get my work done haha

I saw the TBB Asks questionnaire earlier this week and wanted to join in, so here goes:

1. Resolutions or No Resolutions: No resolutions. I think it's great to have goals, and those are things I try and set for myself throughout the year, not just in January. 

2. Love Snow or No Snow? Well, I've always liked snow because of snow days. And especially now that I have Ella, I look forward to them because it just means an extra day and extra hours that I get to spend with my girl.

3. Name a new place you want to go this year: Hmm, I'm not sure how much travelling is in our future this year, and if we go anywhere it proibably won't be somewhere new, but if we did, I'd love to go to somewhere like Boston, Nashville, Savannah...somewhere cool and fun to explore!

4. Would you rather have a new hair cut or color? I think a new hair cut

5. Name one special thing you want to do for yourself this year? Make more time to hang out with friends for things like happy hours etc without Ella in tow. Just normal, adult, non-mommy time.

6. Least favorite thing about January? Hmm I don't know if it's January or just Winter, but I HATE the early darkness at night. I feel like I get home from work and the sun sets a minute later.

7. Most favorite thing about January? Post-holiday sales hahah, and getting to use/wear the things that we got for Christmas :)

8. When do you take down your holiday decorations? Usually the weekend right after Christmas, or when we get home from visiting family for the holidays.

9. Do you diet in January? No

10. What are of your home do you want to organize the most? Well, we've been working on getting everything a little more organized now that Ella's toys and things seem to have taken over our house. I'd say we've done a good job with the living room. Maybe a good closet clean out and organization would be nice!

11. Favorite Winter comfort food: Soups soups and soups! Especially chili!

12. Favorite Guilty Pleasure? Other than reality tv, hmm...food-wise I'd say ice cream or chocolate. Otherwise, perhaps a good Loft sale lol

Now it's your turn to share what's hap-"pinning" with you!

Weekending: Brrrrrrrr

Happy Monday!

I'm coming at you from another day off of work/school because we are suppose to get freezing rain this afternoon during the kids' commute home. As my friend said "I love snow days, when there isn't any snow" haha.

One way or another I'm gonna need to get out of the house with Ella today--we are getting a little stir crazy in here since it's been SO cold (temps in negatives with wind chill).

Our weekend wasn't too exciting, but it's basically been since Thursday. Lots of playing at home with Ella, watching tv/movies, reading (I finished my book on Friday and started another one!) drinking wine, and snuggles with our bear in cozy clothes...

my MIL bought these pants in Alaska this summer and they finally fit Ella--just in time for the cold temps!

On Saturday we were supposed to go to my principal's house for an after holidays party, but I had a migraine and ended up skipping it. 

Our big outing was to the mall this weekend, and it seemed like us and everyone else had the same idea to get out of the house because it was PACKED!!

We tried zuppa toscana in the Instant Pot last night and it was reeeeeally tasty!

Oh, and if you follow me on Snapchat, you probably saw that Ella has started clapping now which is super adorable!

So, yeah, the weekend was pretty low key, and light on the pictures. Hoping your weekend was warm and cozy!

Weekly Wins: Snow Day Edition

Happy Friday, friends!!

I don't have a long list of weekly wins for you this week, even though it's been a great week!

My biggest win this week is that we got a snow day on Thursday due to some snowfall and really cold temps with the windchill. And THEN we got another one, mainly due to the below 0 temps with the windchill around here. So I had a 2 day work week, and a 4 day weekend ahead, which means 4 straight days with my girl! Biggest win ever!

The other smaller wins for the week include getting my office furniture after a semi debacle leading up to everything, and actually feeling like my office looks/functions better than before.

Ella did really well at daycare this week (the two days) which we'd all been a little nervous about because of the separation anxiety we were dealing with over the holidays. Now that she's able to sit up and move around a bit more, she's interacting with the other kids more and I think having a lot more fun being able to really "play" more.

With the additional time off from work, I've gotten to breeze through my current book, Ready Player One, and should finish it today or tonight! I've prioritized reading over other things like The Bachelor (which I'm not that excited about anyway, sadly), and I feel a lot better for the choice.

Another small win was that MG got a 2 hour delay yesterday morning so we had a nice little family breakfast together, and some play time before he had to go to work.

I'll be bundling us up at some point today to go have a little playdate with our friends (somewhere warm), which is how every Friday should be, I think!

Hoping you're staying warm where you are, and to my friends in the NE, please please stay safe and warm! I know you're getting hit pretty hard!

I'll catch you all next week!!

Dear Thursday...

Dear Thursday, it's been tough getting back into work mode after having 2 weeks off of work for Winter Break. Boy did I enjoy that time off with my girl, and MG for a good portion of it! Makes me wish even more that we could swing me being a SAHM for a little while, but it's just not in the cards right now.

Dear Weather, OH MY WORD it is COLD outside! And, I'm sorry, if it's going to be in the negatives with the wind chill, I want some freaking snow so that I can get off of work and be home with my baby! We have 13 snow days built in to our schedule (that we don't get back if we don't use them which is frustrating) so, it'd be nice if the school system took some pity on the poor kids who have to stand at bus stops and gave us a day off #justsayin

Dear Kindle, oh how I missed you, and am so glad that this Winter Break gave me a chance to get back to you again. I started reading Ready Player One and it's pretty good so far. I'm half way through and definitely want to try to rip through the rest of it this week/weekend. If I could just stop falling asleep on the couch at night....

{via}

Dear boobies, could you please start producing a little bit more milk? Between Ella eating more solid food, and being in a weird schedule over the last two weeks, plus basically solely pumping at work before break and now, my ladies don't know what's going on, and are decreasing their output a bunch. I'd like to make it to a year with breastfeeding (we're already supplementing with formula), but it may not be in the cards.

Dear Instant Pot, you are amazing! So far I've made 3 dishes in you (potato soup, chicken tikka masala, and spaghetti and meatsauce) and they've all been good if not great! I look forward to finding more delicious recipes to try out, even though you still intimidate me!

Dear Ella, when did you become such a big girl? Sitting up, attempting to crawl, drinking water out of a sippy cup without help? I love that you're growing up and turning into a little person, but don't do it too quickly, ok? Mama still needs her baby to stay a baby :)

Dear New Office Furniture, you were kind of a rollercoaster getting here (not sure what I was getting, last minute packing up of things I was told I was losing, etc), but it's turned out pretty nicely and now I have more storage (that looks nicer) than I did before. 

Dear 2018, I'm interested to see what you have to bring. Hopefully it's lots of good stuff!!

Dear blog friends, thanks for coming back around after my little hiatus! I missed you!!