Well the vacation is over

I used my last disposable diaper yesterday. Back to cloth. (*sob*) We used disposables while we were traveling and over Christmas and then Will had to take antibiotics for his double ear infection so we just continued using them because things were a little, ahem, messy, and our house still felt chaotic with the unpacking and painting and arranging. But now it's time to face the music. I've finally got a handle on laundry so it won't be a huge deal to add diapers back into the mix. It was just kinda nice to chuck diapers in the trash whenever there was a massive turd in them, not gonna lie. On the flip side, what's nice today, is that I will not be spending any money on diapers when I waltz into Target. (Oh yes, we are going to town today!)

Christmas is almost over for these two hooligans. They received some fleecy bathrobes in the mail from Steve's mom the other day. Molly was over the moon. Sam played it cool but loves to wear the robe to bed.

Part of me thinks we need a griddle so I can cook more than one pancake at a time (and not stand over the stove for an hour and a half) and the other part of me is like, my winter body is doing really well, fluffy enough, thanks.

This feels way too real. I don't feel it as much here (since many folks have commented on how we are "dressed like it's freezing out" when in reality is it NEGATIVE TEN DEGREES), but I felt the judgey eyes in NY. It would be 49* and folks had their kids dressed like a snowpocalypse was upon us. I hate getting them dressed in full on winter wear just to run seven feet to the car and take it all off again so they can buckle up. Repeat in reverse when we arrive somewhere. As Steve would say, these are some hashtag momprobs. Ha.

Now let's move onto a prob that was more of a STEVE PROB.

IS VERY BAD, RIGHT?! Horrific even. Steve and Sam went to the local salon in town (because there is no barber shop). And when he first got back, I didn't even notice anything to be completely honest. I guess I just assume he gets the same haircut every time like he has the entire time we've been together so what is there to see. But later that evening, as I was supervising the painting (heh) I was staring at him and suddenly noticed that there was a massive weird patch missing in the back!! And turn to the side- omg. Turn to the other side- OH MY GOSH it is like she did not even have her eyes open while this haircut was taking place!!! It was at this point that Steve mentioned her hair was purple (as in, she is so old that her hair isn't even blue anymore). We were supposed to go to mass the next morning but I had to put the kibosh on that plan because there was no way we could present ourselves this way for the first time in such a small town. That probably sounds vain, and it really is, but LOOK AT HIS HAIR. We are already being talked about around here. I don't wanna add more fuel to the fire. ("Crazy New Yorkers and their weirdo haircuts!")

In happier news, bye bye yellow!

Luckily for us, Rick is something of a master barber and fixed Steve up the next day while we were over visiting.

The next day was Monday and both big kids were in school for the day. Willie and I stayed home all day and it was so fun to just hang out with him. I do not think I fully appreciated Sam's baby days when I look at them next to Will's. I had no idea how fast it would go or how precious our time alone was. I guess having a comparison is nice as far as knowing that I should be savoring every chance of alone time I get with him! He is not a snuggly baby at all, so when he curled up on my chest, I vowed to sit there in that uncomfortable position without moving a muscle for as long as the snuggle would last (approximately 48 seconds).

We got a lot of stuff done around the house and just did everything at our own pace, which was nice.

I got a call that afternoon at 3:05 from the school secretary asking if I was picking Molly up and forgot to send a note. Seeing as I pick them up at the bus stop at 3:25 (and the school is 15 minutes away) (and I was still in my pajamas...), I said nooooo..... But I remembered that Molly does not like riding the bus. The first day she rode it was her first day of school here. We didn't anticipate they'd be able to ride it home that afternoon so we didn't prep them for that. But the school insisted they ride home and I guess I figured what better time to jump in with both feet. They gotta do it sometime. But Molly got on and did not see Sam and Sam did not see Molly and some boy called Molly a baby and asked where her brother was, and by the time she got off the bus, she was about to burst into tears (which, she did once she got home). Naturally, I was ready to fulfill the stereotype that we are New Yorkers (lololol we are not) and MAKE THIS KID PAY for making my sweet Molly cry on her first day at a new school, but I decided against that. I asked the secretary on the phone if she could please make sure that Sam and Molly got on the bus together because her first ride was slightly traumatic and she happily agreed. Her bus experiences since have been very fun for her and lots of the older girls want to sit with her and touch her hair and talk to her, so I think she has overcome the initial bad bus ride.

Since she only goes to school on Mondays and Wednesdays, we tend to adopt a slower pace for Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. (I am seriously jealous of her life. I want to be 4.) Today is Thursday and it is a little after 9am and she is still sleeping. I am pounding coffee and kinda green with envy after Will decided to wake up a little before 5 for no reason, not gonna lie.

Yesterday I made this coffee cake to take over to Monica's house and not only was it quick and easy, but it was amazing. Not particularly pretty in my old 9x13 stained up pyrex dish, but I think I'm going to try making it in a bundt pan next time and see if it bakes ok in there. While baking it I realized that I probably need to find a hobby or something. If not I am probably on track to gaining about 600lbs. We just bought two 10lb bags of flour at Costco though so I guess I feel the need to make some stuff. My winter body is fully winterized at this point though so gaining another 600lbs is probably not in my best interest.

Speaking of hobbies, it has always been a pastime of mine to browse the local craigslist of wherever we live. It is no secret that the majority of our furniture has come from craigslist as I see almost no point in buying something brand new when there is something a bit more unique (and cheap!) on craigslist. Sure, you sometimes take your life in your hands when meeting a shady person, but when you walk away with your life AND a bedframe for $15, you usually forget about the losing your life part of the equation. Well I've gotta say that the craigslist here is THE most boring one I have ever encountered. To summarize: farm equipment, snow plow, snowmobile, old refrigerator, old washing machine, old beat up car, snow plow, hay, more farm equipment, snowmobile, $400 wedding dress (either a size 14 or a size 0.5- there is no in between if you're looking for wedding dresses on craigslist FYI), fishing huts, and Peter, who clearly won in my eyes last night.

He might be socially awkward, but I am willing to bet he's delicious. His new companion could be scrambled eggs? (Sorry not sorry, I love bacon.)

Let them eat cake

Or bagels. Any sort of a carb is bound to make just about anybody happy.

Molly and I set out to make bagels this morning. I realize that after living in NYC where bagels are so plentiful and delicious and cheap and readily available, that I have become somewhat spoiled when it comes to bagels and how they should taste. Store bought bagels can do in a pinch, but I don't really want to waste the calories, money, or time on something that's just "meh." And it may or may not be obvious, but there are not a lot of bagel options here in the middle of nowhere, Minnesota.

I used to be terrified of baking breads and using yeast. It just seemed so hard and the people that did it were much more Laura Ingalls Wilder than me. My mom even gave me a cookbook signed by Sister Schubert herself, reminding me to "be gentle when touching bread." I think the first time I made any sort of dough was while we were in Korea and I wanted to make "normal" pizza. Korean pizza is delicious but is covered in odd things like corn and sometimes there is green crust and interesting sauce. I loved it and still miss it, but while we were there, I missed good ol' American pizza every now and again. So my friend Kelly gave me her foolproof recipe for pizza dough. Having success with that was enough to bolster my spirits into thinking I could make anything, so I made bread, and then a really delicious cake (that is still in heavy rotation today), and even English muffins.

Once we moved to NY, I had no real reason to make any of that anymore. It was all quicker and easier to buy fresh bread from any of the many bakeries scattered throughout the city. So I was slightly out of practice and the thought of bagels was a little intimidating. But what was there to lose? Three cups of flour and a packet of yeast?

The recipe was easy enough though, and we came out with eight bagels! I followed the recipe from Jellibean Journals. (Hint: I'm a sucker for anything labeled "the best". I can't tell you how many of "the best" chocolate cake recipes I had to try before finding the actual best one. A burden my hips still gladly bear. Heh.)

Molly helped me measure and mix and we were left with a lovely smelling fresh dough ball. We let it rise for an hour, and I think Molly might have snuck a taste in at this point.

After the dough had risen, Molly punched it down and we separated it into eight dough balls.

Hair nets are on my "to buy" list.

We rolled and stuck our thumbs through the centers and made little bagels.

Next, we boiled a big pot of water and let the bagels sit in the water for a minute on each side. Then we scooped them out and stuck them on a greased pan.

Terrible photos courtesy of the fact that I was trying to get this done quickly because BAGELS.

Garlic bagels were always Molly's and my favorite in NY, so we did a quick egg wash and put some minced garlic on top of each one.

YUM

After this, they went straight into the oven.

The smell was almost too much to handle, waiting for those suckers to finish baking.

The face of approval

Y'all. These were so so good. They were soft and the texture was perfect. Not too chewy.

Do yourself a favor and only buy whipped cream cheese to put on top of these!! I foresee myself making another few batches very very soon; maybe a few different toppings or just plain (Sam's personal favorite). If your new year's resolution doesn't involve eating good food, well, I think you might be missing out.

On the 8th day of Christmas...

... I finally recapped Christmas.

Side note: So sad to see everyone taking down decorations already! EVERYONE WAS SO EAGER TO PUT THEM UP BEFORE THANKSGIVING. Christmas lasts until the Epiphany! You know the wise men were still men, right? Aka it took them a minute to figure out where Baby Jesus lay. They did not arrive the night He was born. Had a woman been in that little caravan, they would have likely gotten there sooner and maybe brought a little something for Mary as well - here girl, you look like you need a drink because you just gave birth in a stable and are dealing with postpartum messiness but instead, here are some expensive gifts for you to lug back home with you.

Anyways, now that I got that off my chest, let's move on to Christmas. We put up our dinky little Korea tree in NY, and then promptly took it down two weeks later when we moved out of our apartment. We were lucky enough to have the same movers that helped us move in, help us move out. They were quick and nice and efficient, and best of all, I did not have to actually move anything myself! A real Christmas gift, if I do say so myself. We thought we'd be outta there by the time we picked the kids up from school, but our timelines are always a little skewed, and of course we ended up not leaving until about 7:30. Our sweet landlord helped us move the final boxes out onto the truck and loaded kids in carseats as well. He and his wife have been texting ever since to check on us and make sure we got the mail they sent to us and asking about the kids. I really do miss them and hope to see them again someday soon! We took a very long and slow drive to PA that night since the moving truck could only seem to hit a top speed of 55mph....

On Saturday, we loaded the stuff we had stored in Steve's parents' basement during an ice storm; mostly holiday decorations and a deep freezer and a few other odds and ends, like 47 tubs of kids' clothes that I have meticulously washed and folded and bagged and labeled. I now know better than to part with kid clothes. THAT WAS DUMB, 2013 Jenn. Real dumb. The plan for the next day was to send Steve off to MN with the truck and the kids and I were going to drive down to VA to visit my sweet friend Sam and her kids that I haven't seen in ages, and a few other friends on the way back up. Well, the kids' immune systems had other plans. They were all hacking up a lung and sounding like chain smokers, so we canceled. I did not want to infect anyone and everyone right before Christmas. I was feeling kinda crummy too but then realized that maybe I could help Steve with the move.... We checked the return flight that we had booked months before and there were still seats (imagine that, Fargo to Philly wasn't sold out!) so we went downstairs and asked Steve's mom... Bless her heart, I don't think she had enough coffee in her system to realize exactly what was being asked of her. Because those three for five days equates to A LOT OF WORK. But she did not hesitate in saying yes. So we got to work throwing a bag together for me, writing out what Will's daily schedule/eating looks like, and giving the big kids a speech about how Santa hasn't come yet and we can still cancel this holiday if you don't act like damn saints for your grandmother while we're gone DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME. No one seemed terribly torn up over the fact that I would be absent for a few days and I think I was most sad to leave Will, as I've never been apart from him so long before. I'm actually not sure I've been apart from the other two that long either, but they talk a lot, so it takes away a bit of the sting. Hehe But my BABY. (tears)

Will was fine, of course. Turns out that someone other than me can keep him alive and well. Major blow to my ego. It was definitely nice to get away, even if it was super weird to not have any kids with us. We got about three hours away before we got a phone call that there had been "an incident."

It involved Molly using a handheld vacuum cleaner and sucking her hair up into it. As my MIL is telling me this, my only real concern was her hair. IS IT IN TACT?! She mentioned that she had to cut a small piece out but it wasn't noticeable. (And to be honest, I still haven't located the missing piece, so they did a great job with that.) I assumed that was all, but then she mentioned that the vacuum also hit her in the head and she had a cut. (This could seriously only happen to Molly.) So she sent me a picture of the cut and was inquiring with the neighbor doctor as to whether or not he thinks she needed stitches.

Well. My baby just can't have stitches! Not without me there! Coming on this roadtrip was such a mistake! I should be at home protecting Molly and her beautiful hair from vacuum cleaners! A threat I previously did not know existed!

My MIL took her to a children's hospital in Delaware. Steve was slightly offended that when he needed ten stitches under his eye as a child, that he was taken to the local hospital up the road, while Molly's tiny gash deserved a trip to a special hospital in Delaware. I mean, for real Steve, suck it up, it's just an eye. You have TWO, for cryin' out loud. Poor Molly only has one beautiful blemish-free forehead! It must be preserved!!

After speaking with my nurse friend and Steve and studying the picture we had, we decided that she did not need stitches, despite all of the people that were seeing this wound firsthand saying she did. It just looked so tiny! Stitches are so traumatic for someone who hates needles and doesn't have her mommy with her to comfort her. The ER doc was nice enough and agreed to wash it and apply steristrips, despite the fact that she thought she needed stitches. ("She's a girl. And it's her face." Yes. I see. She also has a personality and is notoriously clumsy and if she has a small scar, she can feel free to make up a cool story about how she got it when she's older.)

Anyways, spoiler alert, it has magically healed and even though I think it will fade away on its own, I still feel a small amount of guilt over whether she'll scar or not (and resent me for not going through with the stitches) so I ordered some Mederma cream to hopefully help it fade even more.

So Steve and I continued on with the trip.

I continued having complete thoughts and sitting in silence and having conversations with my husband and only feeding myself (and occasionally Steve because TEN AND TWO, safety first!) and it was so wonderful. Yes, we were going slower than molasses in the winter, but we were together and had so much time to just talk. It was wonderful. The first time in over six years that we've had that much time to ourselves without kids. If it hadn't been for all the not-sleeping and constant driving and heavy lifting and moving, it would have felt like a vacation! Maybe in another six years or so we'll get around to that.

The first night, we stopped short of Chicago, and it was frickin' freezin'! I got hotel coffee just to warm my hands up. I can't remember the last time I slept so hard. What is it about those king size hotel beds? They are so comfortable despite my germaphobic tendencies. The next night we had made it to MN. We stopped in a town about 45 minutes away because there are no hotels in the town we were headed to, and it just seemed like a good stopping point. We hit up McDonalds for a quick breakfast the next morning. As if Steve wasn't ready to fall in love with MN already, the decor in the McDonalds alone really sealed the deal for him.

Fish tables, camo-clad people everywhere, NICE people everywhere, American flags, etc. It's like he was born in the wrong state. After breakfast, we started on to our final destination.

Steve is pretending to be the pitchfork farmer from American Gothic, he's not actually mad. And I'm not actually drunk.

We met Rick's dad and wife at our new house and they were still finishing up some parts of it. (We were buying the house from them and they were renovating it before we arrived.) They had had quite a few farm-related catastrophes over the past couple weeks and were not as far along as they'd hoped they'd be when we arrived. Luckily there was plenty of space for us to move things in, and we also had to go buy a refrigerator in town. We stayed plenty busy. The next day we moved the rest of the stuff off the truck. I meant to take a picture of the empty truck, but apparently got excited and only took a picture of an almost-empty truck.

One last morning of sorting and putting things away and Rick's dad dropped us off at the Fargo airport. And look who we got to sit in front of!!

A layover in Chicago at Christmastime- I'm not even mad.

You know, traveling without children is actually VERY NICE. No one to worry about/feed/potty/entertain except yourself. A delay? Who cares? Let's go grab coffee and leisurely walk around the airport! I cannot express how easy and nice it was. SO NICE. VERY NICE. MUCH EASE.

See ya, Chicago! (in a few days. in a car. with a few kids.)

Once we were finally on the last leg home, my brain had time to think about The Next Thing. Not the baby growing in my uterus- that thought won't happen for a few more months at least. The next thing was Christmas! Three days away! Time to get in that jolly mode! Luckily I had gotten every gift off Amazon and had them shipped to my in-laws' house. Unfortunately for my family, I had not even started Christmas shopping. I like to think that they know and understand that I never have (and never will) have my shit together. Maybe one day. In about 19 years or so. We'll see.

Bright and early the next morning we had doctor's appointments! Yay.

Will's ONE YEAR well check (*sob*) where we found out that he is not so well. He had a double ear infection and the doc is concerned about hip dysplasia, so we will need to see an orthopedist in Fargo soon about that. He also still needs his 12 month shots since he could not get them due to being sick. We brought Molly along too because she could not seem to stop hacking up a lung.

She had pneumonia! Falalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

We managed to rally despite the circumstances and baked some ill-fated sugar cookies (seriously, sugar cookies are the WORST - to make, not to eat, obviously), decorate the tree, play some dreidel,  and write a letter to Santa.

Omg a crayon

Leave it to a box to entertain everyone

Snuggle time/football

Man, Sam was HOOKED on this game!

Time to "decoration those cookies" as Sam would say

Time to decoration that tree!

I asked Sam what he wanted to write to Santa. He said, "Dear Santa, I would like a remote controlled hovercraft. I would also like a new lego set. And-" Uh, son? It's Christmas Eve. This is not the letter where you ask for things. That ship/sleigh has sailed. This is more like a "thanks for dropping by, have a great night" sort of a note. Wanna say anything like that? "Oh."

What's that? Christmas Eve? Time to get started wrapping some gifts, I guess!

Cursive equals magical, right? Or maybe just illegible.

Sam caught me mid-chug with the milk. I sputtered at him to go back to bed and I don't think he noticed. Then Steve and I stood out on the front steps and chewed up and spit out all the carrots and apples so as to provide some evidence that the reindeer were here. Neighbors already know we are insane so why not.

Christmas breakfast

The kids were overjoyed with everything they received, despite not asking for anything. (And lest that sound holier than thou, they just kinda have no clue that you can ask for things, and they also don't have access to commercials so they have no idea what they should be asking for. I'm trying to keep it this way as long as possible because I'm a control freak, that's why.)

Sam got a nerf football, a karoake machine and a COLLECTION of Raffi CDs (apparently I really pissed off my mom?), a metal Hot Wheels carrying case (that he promptly loaded up with some cars that he lifted from my MIL's house), and a stocking full of winter gear! Yay. Santa brought the boring stuff this year. Luckily for the kids, my MIL stuck a Lego set in there too, and thanks to Dollar Tree, they each got about 10 Smartees, aka little kid sugar crack.
Molly received a little wooden horse stable with horses, a princess dress up set, some stuffed animals, and a stocking full of winter gear! The wool socks were a bigger hit than I anticipated, praise the lord.
Willie got a big ol' light-up music-playin' plastic walker, a soccer ball that also makes noise, and a car dashboard that - you guessed it - also makes noise! We are really lacking sounds at our house. My kids are just so calm and quiet at all times, we feel the need to inject sing-song nursery rhymes and whatnot to really help set the kid mood. Ha!

Trying out her new duds

Nice pic of Steve

Realized I can't handle decorating these things sober

I got to make Christmas dinner this year, and even though it consisted of really simple dishes, it was so tasty!

Last photo as an 11-month-old

No sooner had we wrapped up Christmas and it was time to start prepping for Will's first birthday. Luckily we had gotten some balloons from the Dollar Tree on the 23rd, so at least he'd have the requisite helium birthday balloons. We poorly wrapped his presents and I vowed to make him a cake when I had more energy tomorrow.

"Tomorrow" came darker and earlier than I'd hoped, and I started to realize that I don't really care about first birthdays. It's a great milestone, don't get me wrong. The first year has the biggest learning curve! But there is no real need to have a party. Baby doesn't care and Mama doesn't have the energy to put on some fancy show. So we gave him his gifts and he had a blast playing and soaking up the attention and then Steve and I went and picked out a $6 cake from the grocery store and called it good.

Ball pit was a solid $20 investment - an investment I highly recommend

I get points for remembering to buy a "1" candle though, right?

My sweet BABY!!!

The cake was terrible, as I fully expected, but honestly, this is the most elaborate first birthday party I've thrown yet. Sam ate a cupcake while Steve got called back into work and then promptly threw it up all over the living room rug (a mere six inches from the hardwood floor, I might add too). I bought a cupcake from Publix and split it three ways on Molly's first birthday because Steve was deployed and I was fresh out of shits to give. So a $6 CAKE (an entire miniature cake) and a group of people singing happy birthday is kind of a big deal, y'all.

The next morning, not-so-bright, but definitely very early (kids were up at 430 wtf), we set off for Minnesota. Or at least Illinois- as far as we could get in one day with three kids.

Happy birthdayyyyyyy we're gonna strap you in a carseat for 20 plus hours.

We ended up making it past Chicago and stopping at a hotel just outside of the Wisconsin state line for the night.

Dinner break

We made great time getting to our new home the next day despite some unexpected snow (or should we just always be expecting snow now?). When it came time for dinner, the kids asked where we'd be eating. Hahahahahahaha oh children. There is no restaurant in this town. Where will we be eating? Why the kitchen floor!

The enthusiasm is palpable, isn't it?

Will really knocked it out of the park and pooped at 4:40 the next morning, so that was fun.

And ever since then we've been getting back into our "normal" routine. We've been visiting with our friends and unpacking (furiously at first, but slower now that I'm feeling more put together and less energetic) and although today was supposed to be the first day of school, some overnight snow ended up cancelling school altogether! So we had a play date with our friends and shoveled snow and played outside. Even made a homemade pizza tonight. Freezing but really fun.