Its a Beautiful Day

In every way possible, today has been incredible. From waking up with the knowledge that I can remain proud of my government for the next four years, to the fancy breakfast and diversity speaker we had at work, to having lunch with my boys, to the weather...

but what the hell is up with Sunday?

Drew and I stayed up late last night to get the results. We were just too nervous to go to bed without knowing for sure. When the news broke that our home state of Ohio clinched it, we jumped up and screamed, hugged, high fived, and I may have cried a little. We're lucky we didn't wake up the boy. But it was such a magical and amazing moment.

I took a few blurry tv photos to show the kids one day

There is something about knowing that both of my children will have been born during the Obama presidency that I find lovely and perfect. I hope they are one day able to reap the benefit of the change his will continue to implement. It makes me dream of a more beautiful, fair, community oriented, yet independent, brave and strong country for them to grow up in. I feel like Obama has allowed me the ability to more openly and broadly daydream of all the opportunities they will have. What an incredible gift.

Election Night 2012!!

Today was Election Day! Although, Drew & I voted early, so it was actually kind of like any other day for us. Griffin DID pick out the outfit below all by himself though, and I found it quite appropriate:

Captain America tee & patriotically striped pants! My child is BRILLIANT. Or, just High Fashion.

Our most recent stats at work say we have advised over 680 students since last Tuesday (6 full days of advising). That means each of us has seen an average of 37 students individually each day! It's been beyond exhausting, but I'm actually super proud of the work we are doing! I've gotten SO MUCH positive feedback from my students, so I know my effort has been worth it!

Drew is (still) finishing up the bathroom. Today was supposed to be the uber exciting toilet install, but we made a mistake and bought one with an oval bowl. It looks really cool, but it's way longer than an average round one, so it makes the space feel too tight. He'll exchange and install tomorrow, so hopefully the project will be complete shortly! I'm tired of having a disaster zone in the basement. But his tiling job is GORGEOUS!!

pretty floor! all we need now is a toilet, sink & new paint!

And, here is Griffin being generally cute before bed tonight. He was insistent that he was a TIGER (not a lion) because mama was wearing a tiger t-shirt (HEIGHTS HIGH!!) He is NOT, however, being very cute right now as he screams by his bedroom door...

GOBAMA, everyone!!! I am hoping beyond hope that I can proudly tell BOTH of my children one day that they were born under a president that I truly believe respects us, both individually and as a family. Someone their mama & daddy were PROUD to cast their votes for two elections in a row. So now to hold my breath and watch the results come in...

ITCH!!

A month or two ago I noticed a persistent itch- on my lower back, shins, and the sides of my head- that would NOT go away, no matter how much lotion or special shampoo I used. After lots of searching (it was making me CRAZY) I read that it is a fairly common pregnancy symptom, and then my doctor confirmed it at my next appointment. So, at least now I have a reason (albeit odd), even if I have no relief! This pregnancy has been so full of symptoms I've never experienced before! The human body is very weird.

Griffin has been a TERRIBLE sleeper ever since he transitioned into the big kid bed. Each night we have to put him back to bed at least 3 times (if not LOTS more) before he finally falls asleep. If we try to just let him "cry it out", he'll pass out on the floor by the door (cold and miserable). Then, lately, he's also been waking up once in the middle of the night too- around 2 or 3am- and those are the WORST. I am a light sleeper and once I'm up, I'm up... so when he does that, it usually takes me at least 2 hours to fall asleep again. And since he's up for the day around 5, I'm TIRED. It's going to be really intense when we add a newborn to the mix!

Work has been INSANE lately and has me completely stressed out. I can't wait until all of our students have registered and we can move on!

Getting Stuff Done

We've had a busy weekend full of house projects. Drew has been working tirelessly on the bathroom and I took on some organization I've been meaning to do for months. We're feeling tired but accomplished!

I took a much needed break and had brunch at Duo with my friend, Stacey. We had a blast and shared some INCREDIBLE food!

Speaking of food, I've been in total fall mode lately and it's reflected in my cooking! Last night I made awesome butternut squash, bacon & gruyere pizzas and then tonight I made pumpkin ricotta pasta casserole- think a light mac & cheese. Both made me very happy!

Language!

Griffin is quite the little parrot and has been picking up a lot of what we say. This has never been more evident than last night. I was taking dinner out of the oven and burned my hand. In that second of pain, I subconsciously yelled "fucker"!! Griffin immediately looked at me and screamed "bugger!!" I had to explain it wasn't a nice word & that mommy made a mistake, but it was so hard to keep from laughing! At least now we know for sure we have to keep our language in check!

18 Weeks!!

Yesterday I was officially 18 weeks pregnant. I literally can't believe it- where has the time gone?? I feel like one day soon Sprout is just going to be here and I will NOT be prepared.

Yesterday was also the first time I busted out my boxes of old maternity clothes! I had been making do with loose tops & belly bands, but I might as well get comfortable!

Na_WriMo and Some Other Stuff

I can hardly believe it is November first. The long, hot summer ended so abruptly and left us with this gorgeous, perfect fall. Unfortunately, I'm already starting to get a tiny bit of holiday cheer and with that always comes winter. Sigh.

But until then, I'll try to force myself to live in the present and I'll talk about some of our recent happenings. First, the baby has been dancing!! I felt her for the first time on Monday. It was a horribly busy, stressful day, as they have been recently and I was dwelling in it, when all of a sudden... KICK! It was as if she was telling me to get over it, which I promptly did. And since then she's been super active, especially at night. This part of pregnancy is so fun- when Sprout becomes a little person as opposed to a vision I keep having!

And then, there is this:

yikes

Welcome to our construction site of a downstairs bathroom. For some horrible reason, the previous owners carpeted it. We've always wanted to put tile down instead, so Drew decided to start the project last weekend. Of course no home improvement is "easy" so we've run into a few stumbling blocks (broken water valve? toilet installed incorrectly?), but Drew is actually doing an amazing job handling it all. What's that you say? There is no toilet in there? Oh, yeah- that's because it's hanging out in my laundry room until next weekend when there is an actual floor. These things always give me a heart attack, but in the end, Drew has this amazing way of making a potential disaster become something flawless. I cant wait for the end result.

And yesterday was HALLOWEEN!! It was an AWESOME day!! I was super stressed at work again so Drew came by at lunch and whisked me off to our favorite Mexican place for a bit of midday relaxation. It was nearly 70 and sunny so we ate on the patio and soaked it in- what a difference from last week's snow! I had to work late so Drew got Griffin ready to go trick-or-treating, and then I met them on campus. Is my Yoda adorable, or what? The tall guy isn't so bad either.

first house. a bit confused.

getting the hang of it. made sure to say "thank you".

deciding where to go next

G's Iron Man, mama's Tree of Life, and daddy's Hulk

So November is also NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). There have been lots of spins on it- National Short Story Writing Month, National Blog Writing Month... it's basically National Writing Month, where the goal is to write something every day. I did it last year  and really enjoyed it, so I figured I'd try to do it again. I don't know what that will look like (especially given how busy I've been lately!) but I'll do my best! It's such a nice way to allot myself some time alone to decompress!