Currently: June

Hey there and happy Monday! I didn't intend to take a 2-week break from blogging but finding time to blog has become more challenging lately as Paul is going through the dreaded 4-month sleep regression. That means that his naps are really short (most are 30 minutes which doesn't leave me time to get much done) and he's been waking up more often at night recently (one night he woke up every 1-1.5 hours!!). So between being really tired and not having much downtime during the day, I'm having a hard time finding time to sit down and catch up with you all! But here's what's going on in my life currently!

Reading: The Ensemble by Aja Gabel. This is a debut novel about a string quartet. I heard a lot of buzz about this book and so far it's been really good. It follows the lives of the 4 members of the quartet and seems like it will be a bit of a coming of age story. 

Loving:  boxed wine. Yes, I'm keeping it classy over here. But boxed wine is great when you want to have 1-2 glasses. Opening a bottle is just too much of a commitment and Phil is more of a beer drinker. So while he'll drink wine occasionally, it's not his drink of choice and I certainly can't (and shouldn't!) drink a whole bottle on my own! A nightly glass of wine has become a bit of a necessity lately due to the sleep regression we're struggling with...


Feeling: anxious and excited to go back to work. I'm anxious about how hectic our mornings will be since Phil and I both need to be at work by 7:30... so between pumping/feeding Paul/getting ready/dropping him at daycare, I think the mornings are going to be a bit of a mad dash. I'm also anxious about how I am going to feel being away from him. The most I've been away from him since he was born was for 3 hours... That said, I'm also excited to go back to work. I like my job and I love my co-workers. I've enjoyed the time at home with Paul but I also know that I'm not cut out to be a SAHM (at least that's how I feel at this point - I may change my mind at any given point over the coming years!). I hope I continue to look forward to going to work each day or most days once I'm back at work... but I guess I won't know how I will feel until I experience it! 

Anticipating: time at the lake over the 4th of July. Phil doesn't get any time off during the week besides the 4th since it's his busiest week of the month at work. So Paul and I will head to my parents on the 3rd of July and Phil will join us for the weekend. I'm looking forward to 5 nights with my parents and seeing some extended family. I'm also planning to visit a college friend who will be at her parents' lake place, too. She recently had a baby and I haven't met her son who is 3. I can't wait to catch up with her in person, introduce her to Paul, and meet her kiddos.

Watching: lots of documentaries with Phil. The ones we've watched recently are a series about Bobby Kennedy and a show about John McAfee, the person who came up with the McAfee anti-virus program than many of us have on our computer. Turns out he's a total nut! Both of these documentaries are on Netflix.

Grateful: that we have air conditioning. This has been the hottest May/June that I can recall. We've had many days in the 90s with high humidity. Many people think it doesn't get hot and humid in Minnesota, but it actually does. We've had heat indexes over 100. I know that it's way hotter in other parts of the country but I think we can all agree that 90 degrees + humidity is pretty miserable. Luckily our house has air conditioning, though. It's still pretty warm in our bedrooms since they are on the upper level but it's cooler than it would be if we didn't have air conditioning!

Working: on making the guest room into more of a nursery for Paul. We held off on getting a crib in the hopes that we'd find a house before he needed to move into a crib, but given the lack of inventory, we are resigning ourselves to the fact that we are going to be in this house for awhile longer. The guest room is pretty small so we decided to order a mini crib. I moved my dresser and clothes into our bedroom (my clothes have been in the guest room closet since we moved in) and this week we'll get the crib set up and shift things around a bit. I'm hoping that by buying a crib and going to the trouble of setting it up and shifting things around, the perfect house will come on the market for us. ;) 

Listening: to the new podcast, "But That's Another Story." It's hosted by Will Schwalbe, author of the book, "The End of Your Life Bookclub." On each episode he interviews an author and finds out what book changed their life. The episodes are pretty short and Schwalbe is such an excellent host. He's going one of those super soothing voices that just makes you instantly calm. 

Wishing: I worked in an industry with flexible scheduling options - like the option to work 4 days a week or something along those lines. Although I'm looking forward to going back to work, I feel guilty about the fact that Paul is going to be in daycare for 9 hours a day (and sometimes more...), 5 days a week. But there's no getting around that since Phil and I both work in an industry that doesn't offer flexible schedules. But this is the reality of being working parents and we will just have to make the most of the time with him on evenings and weekends. Plus I know he's in good hands at the daycare he'll be going to!
And here are some Paul pictures to close out this post!

I bought some toys for him over the weekend as he's getting to the stage where he can grab things!

What are you anticipating, grateful for and wishing for?