August

Gosh I love August. 

I love the hazy air where sunlight meets the morning.

I love the buzz of a hummingbird at the feeder.

I love the colors bursting forth from every nook and cranny in people's yards - flowers both planted and wild.

I love the earnestness of the bees and bugs flying from flower to flower, desperate for a sip of every variety.

I love the long inhales of fresh, Lake Michigan air filling our noses and lungs.

I love the butterflies flitting about without a care in the world. 

I love flip flops and the ease of walking outside. 

I love the sounds of children playing through open windows.

I love early mornings and late sunsets that make the days feel like they could last forever.

I love sleeping with open windows and hearing an owl hooting through the darkness through the haze of sleep.

I love driving with the windows down and a hand out the window feeling the sun and the wind and the perfection that is Northern Michigan in August.

I love when the bay reaches the perfect temperature and evenings are spent floating around on inner tubes and riding waves.

I love hats and sunglasses and the feeling of the sun on cool skin in the morning and warm skin in the afternoon.

I love bike rides and stroller rides and wagon rides and anything that gets us outside and moving and breathing fresh air. 

I love the feel of sunscreen-slathered skin and sandy feet that follows a day spent outside.

I love the water toys strewn about to be easily snatched up on the way to the water.

I love the sun on green leaves and the lazy dance of trees in an August breeze.

I love the fruits and vegetables and filling our bellies with fresh, colorful food.

I love dozing in the shade listening to cicadas.

I love the promise of life and greenery and warmth.

And I just love... August.

How to Buy House #2

Step #1: Move your husband, 1.5 year old, and large dog in with your very patient sister and brother-in-law. Promise that it will only be for 4-6 months.

Step #2: Avoid looking at houses for the first 3 months despite your realtor sending you new listings daily. Blame it on the snowy roads. Or having a sick kid. Or just being lazy and wanting to hibernate during the winter, which (spoiler alert) is not possible with a 1.5 year old.

Step #3: Half-heartedly put an offer on a house but get outbid, but realize that you're ready to seriously start house hunting.

Step #4: Look at a few more houses, but finding no contenders, agree to look at a house in the neighborhood where you want to be, but that you've been avoiding looking at because it's out of your price range and the listing pictures make it look... weird.

I know - the front elevation isn't bad looking. It was the rest of the rooms that were... less attractive?

Step #5: Fall in love with the weird house with the wild paint colors that has been on the market for 5 months and that you drove by multiple times during your stay but never thought you'd be interested in.

Step #6: Throw out a low-ball offer and cross your fingers.

Step #7: Purchase house and start planning your lists and lists of updates and DIY projects!

Hope you'll come along for the ride!

Ch-ch-changes

Man oh man have things changed in the last year and a half. Alice has grown and changed and is walking and talking and her personality is stronger and stronger by the day. And the biggest change is that last fall we made a huge decision and decided that we were finally DONE with the east coast and we made the huge decision to put our cute little house on the market and move back to Michigan!! So as of December we are all officially Michiganders and we're all so much happier for it.

 Alice now spends two days a week with her favorite person in the whole world - her Grammi. And the feeling is mutual. Even after a few months of this, Alice still gets SO excited to hear that Grammi is coming over and she runs into her arms as soon as she walks in the door. We're loving having the extra support that comes from living so close (and actually WITH) family. Right now we're living with my sister and her husband in their beautiful house and it's working out wonderfully. It's kind of crazy how well everyone is getting along actually. We're not entirely sure how long this set up is going to last, but for right now it's fantastic.

Since we moved in December we're starting to develop a little bit of cabin fever since it's been too cold a lot of the time to take Alice out to explore. Thankfully it's syrup season now, so I've been enjoying helping my parents get ready for that and yesterday we had our first boil - it was the first time that I'd been home for a boil in a decade. It's crazy how fast time flies.

As for me - I almost feel like a different person now that we're back in Michigan. I feel happier and lighter and more carefree. And I'm hoping that will carry over into all parts of our lives.

It was a scary decision to up and sell our house and move, but now that it's behind us, it's one of those decisions that you wish you had been able to make sooner!

So here's to many fantastic seasons spent in Michigan and eventually many home improvement projects when we purchase our next house and turn it into a home.  But until then this blog may change course and focus more on family activities and possibly dipping into some minimalism habits... so stay tuned!

Road trippin'

I wrote this on 8/16/15 and then couldn't upload the pictures since my parents live in the middle of nowhere... And then things got busy and I forgot about it! So this is a bit old, but still cute!

With my sister getting married in a few weeks, Big A and I had to travel back to Michigan for the start of the wedding festivities. Since J couldn't come for as long as I needed to be there, my dad bravely drove out to get us and drive us back. He ended up coming out a day earlier than planned even to fix our AC!

This was my temporary jury rig until my dad could get there.

Super Grandpa!

It just so happened that my girlfriend was also visiting that weekend to meet Al - so we had a houseful, which is always fun!

On Monday my dad, A, and I hit the road. She had been super ornery all morning and wasn't napping, so I was hopeful that she'd nap for a while in the car.

Success!!

Aaaaaand about 15 min later. Whomp whomp.

We made it about an hour and a half or so and had to stop because cranky pants was fussing. Little did we know this was happening:

Al's first blowout!

And of course it happened on the road where I had to clean her up with baby wipes in a gas station parking lot. Nothing to see here folks! Just making memories!

Road trip outfit #2

We had to stop a few more times, were stopped on the Tollway in Ohio due to an overturned semi, and had to pull off to a rest area because of a rain storm that was so bad we couldn't see, but ultimately stopped somewhere in Ohio for the night with a super exhausted baby who had maybe slept 1.5 hours of the 7 hours we were on the road? She had a meltdown in the room and I put her to bed by 9:30 where she completely passed out finally. Around 2:30am she started fussing so I got up to feed her, which of course woke my dad up too. When he came back from the bathroom he flipped his pillow over and happened to notice a little bug on it - which he grabbed and smashed. And then he got looking in his bed and found another one - which he took into the bathroom to inspect... And wouldn't you know it? Bedbugs. Insert my horrified face here.

So at that point we're up and there is no way we're going back to sleep - except for Al who was done eating and already zonked again. Awesome! What do you do at 3am with a sleeping baby and bedbugs? You hit the road apparently - after you complain to the night manager, get your money back, procure a bunch of trash bags to bag up everything in the room, shower, and then try to carefully load your sleeping baby into the car seat that has become her own personal little prison (in her mind). The silver lining to all of that was that A slept for 2 hours straight in the car until it got light out!

Trying to trick her into sleeping longer

A few more stops and we were home before noon thanks to our early, early departure time - which was great since then we had to do 5 loads of laundry on hot to kill any bedbugs or eggs that might have hitched a ride.

We made it to Grammi!

All my bites showed up 24 hours later and are still hanging on 7 days later. Hopefully they're gone by the wedding!

So yeah. The trip was basically terrible - but we made it! Al has been sleeping in various boxes and suitcases since then because we are trying to make sure there aren't any bedbugs on her pack n' play. 

Baby in a suitcase!

Baby in a box!

Just shows how adaptable babies are! Wish us luck for the rest of this trip - we need all the luck we can get based on that first leg!

Good morning!

More Baby B!

This post is just an excuse to get caught up on posting pictures from A's second month of life!

One-month photo shoot with Pooh!

She's already working the camera. Haha!

Daddy giving A her first bottle

Loving every second of our naps

Not so sure about this car seat contraption

We started getting social smiles right at the beginning of July! Mother Nature really knows when to throw you a bone! 

I love how she grabs on to me when she's sleeping

So sleepy still!

Someone LOVES bath time!

Grammi and Papa came to visit again after the 4th of July

Haha! Still working on that neck control!

Love all of her facial expressions

After she eats she likes to stand on the nursing pillow and attack me

First time trying out the activity mat

Napping with mama

Check out those dimples!

Rob, Lauren, and Max came to visit!

She makes Max look so massive!

Timber!

This picture is hard to boost, but it's important to remember the hard parts too, right? She had screamed for probably and hour before finally falling asleep here. You can tell I've been crying too - sometimes it's pretty overwhelming.

But she makes up for those overwhelming moments by being so darn cute!

It finally cooled off a bit one day so we were able to take a long walk around the neighborhood without dying of heat stroke.

First nap in her crib!

Someone told us that their baby wouldn't let her put bows on her when she was older because she never put them on her earlier. So we decided we should practice some bow wearing.

What a great accessory!

Baby and mama selfie!

Checking out Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens for the first time 

Daddy came too!

This series cracks me up! Alice and Nora's first play date. That lower lip is going to get Al out of so much when she gets older!

"I'm crabby!"

Coffee date with other "Pajama Mamas" at Vigilante

Swinging the day away

Month two!! What a (overall) happy baby we have!