It’s been beyond hectic around here lately. I have neglected more than just the blog (don’t look at the baskets of unfolded laundry please) and as big changes happen in our lives at the moment we’re just sort of riding the waves and looking forward to the time when things settle down and we enter the next stage.

I’m still doing scads of walking as usual and experimenting with more ways to wear Eli until I get a double stroller.

Back wearing with the ring sling was a nice way to switch it up!

I was just running to the hardware store for some stuff around the house as we prep for renters and since it’s barely over a half mile I figured if he didn’t like it, it’d be fast.

Apparently, he wasn’t bothered at all.

When I went to the bank later, I used the Boba Air, for the sake of my shoulder.

He didn’t mind.

I find that I have the inability to switch shoulders with ring slings. It totally throws my brain off and therefore, as Eli grows, I definitely favor the Boba for longer walks.

All our personal family events have been exhausting enough for the kids but then all the social activities that come with this time of year on top of that have really put the boys in a state.  Lots of car naps.

And shoulder naps.

And faces.

We’ve been to parties, hosted parties, gone to family gatherings, house showings, church, grocery shopping, and it has left us all feeling a bit dizzy.

Not to say it wasn’t super duper fun.

Or incredibly adorable.

Or goofy.

Or even more goofy.

Or sad because of farewells.

Soon I’ll have more details but for now, let’s just say I’m grateful for family and can’t wait until I can share more.

Question: What did you do this weekend?

Or not.

Our a/c stopped working yesterday afternoon and today we found out we have to replace the unit….

However, I have to say, I’m enjoying just having the house completely opened up and smelling the fresh air. Usually I have to go for a walk to get this.

Yesterday I went on another long walk with the boys. It was sunny and quite warm. I had to run a couple errands so I took the boys out for a stroll. In case your’e curious, yes, there was another toddler pee break on someone’s lawn…discreetly.

The sun was pretty intense and I definitely used the sunshade on my boba to keep Eli’s little bald head from getting sunburned. The heat definitely had Avery flushed.

Cute little chubby face. When we were almost home he stopped answering me and I went to check on him and found he had crashed adorably and stayed asleep when we got inside so I simply rolled the stroller right into his room and he napped for two hours in there!

I’m grateful I have healthy boys. I’m grateful I’m healthy. I’m so grateful that we have the ability to go walk for hours if we want.

When we got home, it seemed cooler than the outdoors. But when Shane got home it was the same inside as outside and it didn’t get better. We had our ac guy come look at it this morning and we have a freon leak and that means the unit has to be replaced because it’s too old to repair. Lovely.

That wasn’t bad, because it’s nice today and will be for a few days but Eli has been teething and has had a slight fever because of it (I won’t even mention the kind of diapers I’m seeing) so the only way to go play with Avery was to wear Eli.

Usually I don’t backwear with slings because I generally use them for quick things like in and out of the car, grocery store, church, etc and the Boba Air is my go-to for longer distances. But he’s big enough now that wearing him in front makes me completely useless around the house and so I just threw my hands up and gave this a try. Very functional and comfortable!

He stayed happy in there until naptime and I was able to get a lot done. Unfortunately naptime came right as I was in the middle of taking apart his crib to put it down in Avery’s room (the loft where he’s been sleeping is now too hot since it isn’t ducted). Stroller to the rescue! I popped him in the stroller and rolled him into our room and finished up the crib. He slept off and on today nearly all day. Teething can really tucker out a little guy! Now he’s all perky, happy and eating his weight in anything I give him.

Here’s to hoping the weather stays sustainably coolish around here!

 

Shane started his new job this week and it is across town. Across state line. Not two miles away. Not walking distance. Not close.

I get that many, maybe even most, people commute to work. In fact, the job I had for years before I had Avery required me to commute over twenty miles  and across state line…..and back. Nearly a fifty mile round trip every day.

However, Shane and I are a one car family. We love being local, going to local businesses, local church, and Shane has worked locally our entire marriage. He has a scooter that he took on nice days and I have a stroller/baby carrier to walk where I need to go.

Now that he works far away it’s not as easy for me to have access to the car. It would require lots of needless miles to drive him to work so I could have it and I can’t just walk to his work to pick it up if I need to like I did when he worked nearby. So this means what? It means I’m finding out what the real local is.

Yesterday I needed to get coffee filters and some groceries and this meant going to the local coffee shop to get the filters and then the grocery store. Both places are nearby, but they’re on opposite sides of my house. So I spent the morning walking.

You know what? It was nice. I got a lot of exercise (five plus miles of wearing a 20+ pound baby and pushing a 30+ pound toddler as well as groceries in 80+ degree weather is a lot of work), the boys got lots of fresh air and natural stimuli and we all got plenty of sun.

Thank goodness for my Boba Air! I seriously love how it’s lightweight enough that even on a really hot day like yesterday (it got up to 90 degrees!) it didn’t make me too warm. Or Eli for that matter. However, if the weather gets any warmer (which I know it will) I’ll eventually have to sell off our current stroller and get a double stroller for the boys. Not to mention Eli is just about a year old (mindblowing) and he’s getting massively huge so long walks would be easier with a double stroller.

I have been looking around a bit for one that would work for use but still haven’t decided whether I want side by side or the other kind…whatever it’s called, where one is behind the other….obviously haven’t done enough research after all.

On our walks we get to make stops where ever we want to, like the community garden, the park, someone’s lawn for a quick toddler potty break….etc. It’s nice because in the car we’d be zooming past to our destination and not taking everything in as we go while soaking up vitamin D and getting exercise, refreshing our lungs and minds. It’s pretty much a win win win win situation.

Sure, a stroller basket doesn’t carry many groceries and sure, it takes a lot longer to get things done but there’s an upside to both of those things. Less groceries means more frequent walks, longer walks means we’re outdoors more and getting more activity.

This experience has really showed me that I CAN do more to live locally and so when we move I fully intend on doing this in our new neighborhood. It’ll  be fun to get to explore anyway since I’m so unfamiliar with the area we’re looking at.

Also, it’s amazing to be getting lots of greens from the garden. I’ve been putting them in everything from smoothies to sandwiches (on homemade buns).

Got the onions from the farmers market  and the rest is obviously from the grocery store…..because I can’t grow mustard. Just sayin’.

So, do you walk around where you live?

 

This weekend was massively insane looking at houses, Mother’s Day festivities with family, getting ready for Shane’s new job, etc. But fortunately I have had some quiet moments outdoors and I think the vitamin D and the mental rest really does do me (and the boys) a lot of good.

It’s been really gorgeous weather, sunny and in the 60′s, so we have definitely taken advantage of that. We went to the community garden the other day to get our hands dirty and take in the sunshine. I only live about a quarter mile from there so we always walk.

As you can see (by his pants) we definitely got involved with earth.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and aside from church I spent some time with the boys at the park and also had a little (much needed) solo shopping time. Then Shane and I had a carry out dinner at home with wine and watched the hilarious, and potentially amazing new HBO show called Family Tree. You can’t go wrong when you combine Christopher Guest with quirky British and Irish humor.

Anyway, back to the daytime, at the park we picnicked.

Eli ate loads of grapes, cucumber and crackers and Avery requested hotdogs (which he refuses to eat any other way than plain, ungrilled, without a bun or condiments) and ate about one….because he was waaay too busy going down the slide and applauding himself.

He looks like such a big kid! He really is getting big I guess.

I enjoyed that little outing so much. My phone was hijacked by Shane so his calls would come in to it since he’s between company phones this weekend and so I was technology free and that really helped me soak in time with my kids completely unplugged.

We had a couple rough patches like Avery fighting bedtime and whatnot but that is how motherhood is. Filled full with rewarding, fun, challenging, exciting, silly and ridiculous moments with a lot of other stuff like frustration….but it’s just like every other part of life. Even while I enjoyed my time alone doing some retail therapy, I missed them. After a couple hours I almost felt a desperation to get back with them. Shane was amazing and when I got home he had already gotten Eli to bed and Avery had played outside and eaten and everything too. I love my hubby and how capable he is with the boys and I feel comfortable being away but I miss all three of them.

Today Shane is having his first day at the new job and I’m adjusting to the mentality that he’s not down the street but across the state line. It’s not super easy to realize I can’t walk down to his work if I want. I’m sort of lonely thinking about it. Can’t wait til we find the right house and I’m nearby him again.

Until then, I’ll be doing lots of walking!

Oh what a week. Busy with Etsy, busy with the boys, Shane’s last week at his job, house hunting and gardening.

As long as it wasn’t raining I walked to the post office (about one and a half miles from my house) and it has felt sooo good. I have made that walk a lot of times lately and I like to think I can do it pretty fast wearing/pushing at the same time…but I might be delusional  I back wear Eli and he always falls asleep at some point.

Avery, on the other hand, is always looking around and pushing the limits of the stroller straps.

Mostly he brings along a toy or something but this time he wanted his doggie and blanket….I figured that meant he was tired or something but no, he just liked their company.

When we got home from this particular walk we were both thirsty and craving the green so I picked a bunch of herbs, greens, and foraged plant life to put in it.

Sorrel, mint, violet leaves and flowers, kale, collards and tarragon.

I blended it up with a banana, orange, ground flax seed and some honey and IT WAS SO GOOD!

Maybe it’s because it’s been winter forever and I forgot what a great, fresh green drink is supposed to taste like but it was floral, sweet, refreshing and Avery walked around drinking it say ‘nummy gween shmoofy. Mmmm, nummy. Avery luf gween smoofy.’ Which was adorable.

Other than that I listed a couple more slings on The Ring Slinger

A lovely green and white stripped one.

And I relisted a fav. With a new detail.

Shane starts his new job on Monday, which is exciting and we started house hunting!

I feel like things are moving so fast! His new job is across town and (gasp!) across the state line. So we’re looking for a house in Kansas…..a place I have made fun of forever because of the large, newly developed, slightly snotty, chain loving part of it. SO, naturally we’re looking in the more established, older, full of character part. Hoping to move very close to his job so we can enjoy the benefits that we’ve had all these years with him being just two miles from our house. We did some house hunting today and have a bunch of showings tomorrow so we’ll see what we can come up with.

We’ll be renting our current house and so that’s a little scary too. Hopefully we can find good renters!

It’s been a year of pretty intense change for us and very good things have been happening but we’re generally the super steady, calm life sort of people so we’re a little out of our element. It’s really crazy but we’re in it for the ride.