Day 105 | Three Berry Tart

It was another lovely (and yummy, this time!) morning at Whole Foods. This time, Chris was able to partake in the fun.

We made delicious three berry tarts with mini pie crusts, yogurt and, of course, berries. Not all the berries made it onto the tart but that's to be expected. 

It was delicious and free family fun!

Day 104 | Mr. Aricio

Over the last few weeks, we had a very nice contractor, Aricio, take care of a couple projects around the house. He made us a beautiful built-in bookshelf (looks like it was meant to be there) and built attic access (yay storage!) with a drop down ladder. We're incredibly happy with the finished products.

He was a very sweet man and Chase talked about him a lot..."Mr. Aricio" this, "Mr. Aricio" that. It was very cute. So much that I asked Aricio to pose for a photo with Chase so he can remember him (see above).

I imagine we'll have other odd jobs that will pop up and that we'll see Aricio again but for now we'll be thankful we're done with house construction projects for a bit (have I mentioned how fun they are to coordinate with two napping babies?). 

Day 103 | Benefits of Sick Days

A few moments from our rain/sick day today.  Chase with his lego train (thanks, Grandma and Grandpa M!), Robbe with FaceTime smiles, Chase showing off his "fancy riding" skills on our new rocking chairs.

That's right, I said it. There are a *few* benefits to sick days with the kiddos. You've got to stay optimistic at a time like this, right?

Here's my list:

1. Getting over my fear of staying home: I used to be terrified about staying home with both boys ALL DAY LONG. Even when Robbe took his morning nap at home, we would run out of the house right when he woke up. The last few days have proven that we can stay home and that we won't go totally stir crazy.
2. Sick baby cuddles: this is an obvious one. Could they be any sweeter?
3. Taking the good days for granted: no more. Having two sick babies makes me realize even more how lucky we are to have healthy babies the rest of the time.  It's a real reality check.
4. Two for one: at least both boys are sick at the same time and this won't be drawn out for several weeks as it makes its rounds.  A friend made me realize this (thanks, Maureen!) and I hadn't even thought of it.

Day 102 | Busting Out

We have been cooped up in the house for three whole days with sick kiddos. All Chase wants to do is read (sweet, but very monotonous) and poor Robbe just can't catch a break when he's trying to sleep.

Today, I decided some vitamin D is just what we all needed (mostly me, I have to admit). We went for a nice long walk, tried to stop at tree park (Chase wanted nothing to do with it...that's when you know it's bad!), then headed home. Not terribly exciting but I'll take it. 

I keep thinking we're on the downhill side of this whole sickness thing but I'm not so sure today. I'll stay optimistic, though!

Day 101 | A Donation

So I've thought about donating my hair for a long time but just never had the patience to let it grow. Thanks to inspiration from my nieces (who have donated in the past), my friend Sarah (who just recently donated and reminded me of how close I was getting to the length requirement), and my total lack of motivation to get my hair cut lately, today was the day.

My last hair cut was pre-Robbe (very pre-, in fact) so I ended up having just over 10 inches cut off. I feel like a different person! And my new teeny ponytail is somehow what excites me most. It's the little things (...get it? Little things?). :)

With two babies, doing anything charitable for others is, unfortunately, a low priority (I hate to admit it!). Donating hair is such a quick and easy way to give back, and since I have a relatively low attachment to my hair, it's perfect. I'm trying to decide between Locks of Love and Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. For now, I'll admire my old friend while it dries waiting to be mailed.  

Day 100 | Update on the Team

In celebration of 100 days (!!) of blogging, I decided to update our team profile.  A lot changes in 100 days.  If I can keep this whole blogging thing up (I hope so!), perhaps I'll revisit our profile every 100 posts.  I can tell you're excited.

Name: Sara
Age: 30
Favorites: Family (immediate and extended...love, love, love these people), crafting (I'll have time for this again someday, right?), listening to toddler belly laughs, seeing my boys start to develop their brotherly bond, sleeping longer stretches at night (most nights)
Biggest hurdle to overcome: Getting pulled in two different directions, literally, as Robbe starts to think about moving (so far he's got the rolling down).
Dreams for the future: Putting finishing touches on our amazing house.  Bookshelf? Check. Attic access? Check. Dining room table? Check. Miscellaneous furniture delivery? In progress. Hanging photos? In progress.

Name: Chris
Age: 31
Favorites: "Daddy, how was your day?" from his favorite toddler, movie trailers (although watching the full movies rarely happens), having every other Friday off, Wisconsin sports teams, Cadbury cream eggs (how can anyone eat those things?), gigantic ice cubes
Biggest hurdle to overcome: Continuing his ability to create original songs for Chase. Coming up with several a day is no joke. No joke.
Dreams for the future: Finally hosting a house warming party.  Will our furniture ever come?

Name: Chase
Age: 2.5 years (well, almost)
Favorites: Books, "Tree Park", blueberries, playing chomper with Daddy (a bear pretending to be an alligator chomps at him, obviously), any outing, trains (watching, playing with, reading about), mama/dada, ma and pas (grandparents: they are grouped into one entity), his little brother
Biggest hurdle to overcome: Eating breakfast (why is that such a challenge?)
Dreams for the future: Owning/riding in/seeing a light blue car. 

Name: Robbe
Age: 5 months
Favorites: Going for walks, his brother (and mom and dad, of course), rolling over, sucking his thumb (I know...uh oh), eating
Biggest hurdle to overcome: Finding a comfortable position to take in the chaos surrounding him (laying on your tummy gets exhausting, not quite ready for unassisted sitting, too big and wiggly for our favorite yellow chair).
Dreams for the future: Starting to eat real food (fingers crossed for a smooth transition)

Name: Miga the Cat
Age: 8 years
Favorites: Being outside, sleeping on white surfaces (only makes sense since she's a black cat), head-butting for attention, showing off her snaggle-teeth (she has two, could we be any luckier?), keeping our feet and crooks of our knees warm at night (really helpful and not at all annoying), meowing at the highest volume level imaginable.
Biggest hurdle to overcome: Coming to terms with the fact that she's an indoor cat now.  Not an easy transition.
Dreams for the future: A calmer existence.  It's been a rough few months for this one: a new baby, a new house, moving to single-cat status, no more outdoor adventures. Poor kitty.

Name: Moggy the Cat
Age: he was with us for 7 eventful years
Favorites: Eating anything and everything (favorites over the years: cell phone chargers, q-tips, hair ties), getting attention from Chase (I swear he really did like it), rubbing up on Chris's work pants (he was a white cat so rubbing on black pants just makes sense), sitting in boxes (why is this fun for cats?)
Dreams for the future: Our family challenge is coming to terms with the fact we'll never see that sweet, handsome kitty cat again. He'll always be with us in spirit...

Day 99 | A Sick Day

 

We are incredibly lucky to have had to deal with only one low grade fever since Chase was born (with either baby). We were reminded just how lucky we are today (not that we needed the reminder) when Chase spiked his second-ever fever this morning and generally just feels crappy. Robbe has a bit of a cough, No fun.

We've spent the morning watching a special choo choo show, reading lots of books, singing and cuddling. Just what the doctor ordered. The Tylenol has kicked in and an energy boost followed. Here's hoping for a long, restorative nap and a brighter afternoon ahead.

Did I mention? Chris is off today so I still haven't had to deal with sick babies solo. It's definitely easier to give everyone the attention they need this way. I'm incredibly grateful for that guy.

Day 98 | Goey Gak at Whole Foods

Chase, Robbe and I spent the morning at Whole Foods for one of their Half Pint Kids Club classes. We made goey gak out of glue, water and Borax laundry detergent. Chase doesn't really enjoy getting dirty (I can't imagine where he gets that from...) so he wasn't overly excited about the final product but the process was lots of fun.

They also offered yummy snacks along with the project, all for free!  Can't beat that.  Yes, sir, we'll be back.

Day 97 | If Chase had a Twin...

Ever since we became friends with Susan and sweet Caroline (when the babies weren't even crawling!), there's always been an eerie similarity between these babies. Size, demeanor, voice volume (there used to be some loud "conversations" between the two of them), hair color, etc., they are two peas in a pod. Do you see it?

We're so lucky to call them friends.

*Photo credit to Caroline's mom, Susan.  I wasn't quick enough to get the good shots this time around.

Day 96 | A Snapshot of Our Life

Can one photo capture this time in the boys' lives any better? Chase running around like a crazy toddler and Robbe loving every second of the chaos.

Full disclosure: this moment happened yesterday but it was just too perfect not to share (and the boys are still in bed so I'll share early!).

So sweet.

Day 95 | National Postal Museum

The National Postal Museum is hands-down one of the best kept secrets in the District for entertaining kiddos.  Seems like it might be a bit dull for them, right?  Think again!  They did a great job of making the exhibits kid-friendly and yet interesting for adults.  You can even make your own e-stamp (see above).

Other highlights from Chase's perspective?

• Driving in the semi-truck cab
• Sorting packages
• Scanning mail
• Looking at historical stamps (they made it fun, I swear!)

Every time we've gone, it's been really quiet, even in the heat of tourist season.  It's also steps from the Metro (Union Station) unlike most of the other Smithsonian museums.

Have I sold you yet?  Go check it out.  You'll be happy you did...and so will your toddler!

Day 94 | Whole Wheat Pancakes

Our delicious family tradition recently has been enjoying whole wheat pancakes on the weekends. 

I've been honing my pancake recipe for awhile now and finally stopped tweaking. My goal? Yummy whole wheat + sugar free pancakes. We serve with fruit instead of syrup. You won't miss the sugar at all!

Whole Wheat Pancakes

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

• 1 cup oatmeal

• 4 tsp baking powder

• Pinch of cinnamon

• 2 eggs

• 1 1/2 cups milk

• 1/2 cup orange juice

• 1 TBSP applesauce

Directions 

• Sift together flour, oats, baking powder, and cinnamon.

• Beat together eggs, milk, orange juice, and honey in a separate bowl. (I've successfully used only one bowl by mixing these wet ingredients first and then just adding the dry ingredients one at a time. Both options work.)

• Preheat skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray.

• Serve with mixed berries.

Day 93 | Turkey Thicket Playground

Another beautiful day in the District and another super fun new park to visit. Life is good for our little toddler.

Today we drove down to Brookland (about 10 minutes away) to experience

Turkey Thicket Recreation Center

(Chase thinks the name "turkey thicket" is hysterical, by the way). I've heard great things about this playground and it totally lived up to the hype. A big train to climb on/through, tons of slide options, a rock climbing wall, cars to play in, and even a splash park (but we opted out of that activity). 

A quick stop at

&pizza

for lunch and then home in time for naps. Pretty close to a perfect morning if you ask me. 

Day 92 | One of My Greatest Accomplishments

 

I finished my dresser DIY project!  I'm borderline obsessed with the finished product.  My dream for a storage piece for the living room was 1. drawers, 2. yellow.  I realized after far too much online research that this perfect piece didn't exist.  I kept an eye out for moving sales and found this gem (in a very different state) for $50.  

Multiple sandings, three coats of paint, two coats of varnish, and a super-fun contact paper for the drawers...and this is what I ended up with.  It was a labor of love but well worth the naptime and post-bedtime free time.

If you're interested in taking on a similar project of your own, I found this website really helpful through the process.

Day 91 | Fun with Miss Sarah

What a crazy fun morning. Our friend, Miss Sarah, joined us for another jumping session at Sky Zone. The adult-to-child ratio of one-to-one is much better for this type of outing. Chase had so much fun with the focused attention and engagement. Makes me wish I could give him more of that on a daily basis. I guess we'll just take advantage of sweet friends to fill this void in the meantime.

I also got a special treat from Sarah this afternoon: she made me the delicious salad pictured above. Seriously...so yummy. It was so kind of her to host an impromptu lunch date with us. 

Day 90 | Superman

I wasn't planning on another yoga post today but after a friend snapped this photo in class today, I couldn't resist.

All three of us doing superman pose. :)

Day 89 | Differing Perspectives

We graduated Robbe to the big boy seat in the stroller recently. Quite the exciting development!

I thought it would be fun to capture what the world looks like from each or our perspectives in one photo. From left to right: mine, *Chase's, Robbe's. 

*Notice that Chase's includes his favorite view...tree park. 

Day 88 | A Bold Endeavor

I finally got brave enough to try a full-scale grocery trip solo with the two kiddos in tow. We've been stocking up on weekends when Chris or I can just pop out, but who wants to spend their precious weekend time doing that?

So here we are. One baby in a carrier. One toddler riding in the cart bribed with goldfish crackers. 

It was a highly successful trip, I'm happy to report. The toughest part was getting all the groceries into the house and put away with two babies stretched to their patience max. 

I'm pretty sure this will be our new Monday post-nap activity. I promise not to write about it every week, though. 

Day 87 | Breakfast with the Boys

I'm a lucky lady. 

Day 86 | Playing Tourist

Inspired by Chase's Clifford Goes to Washington book, we loaded up the car and headed down to the Tidal Basin to take in a few of Clifford's favorite spots.

The weather was lovely and the boys (ok, mostly just Chase) really enjoyed the outing. If you ask him, Jefferson was his favorite but from my perspective, Roosevelt's dog, Fala, was the real highlight.