TGIF

It's Friday! And it's my last day of having a kid home with me quarantining. Hurrah! Here is how my week shaped up.

The book I'm reading is The Golden Season which is a debut I heard about from Annie B Jones of The Bookshelf (who is basically a real life Kathleen Kelly a la You've Got Mail). This book is about a young woman from a small town in Texas where football is revered above nearly all else. The publishing tagline for the book is "How do you love a place that doesn't love you back?" It's about a college-aged young woman who comes out to family and friends and is met with nothing but disapproval. 

The high of my week was going on some family walks/scoots. Our new routine is to go for a walk/scooter outing after dinner. Will is just so hard to entertain so it's nice to get out of the house and have him contained in a stroller. Then by the time we get back, we give him a bath and it's bedtime. The time between dinner and bedtime can really drag in this stage of toddlerhood so I am glad the weather is nice so we can get outside together.

The low of my week was Will's crappy sleep. I think he is going through the 18-month sleep regression. I thought he went through it a month ago but I guess not? Or he's going through it again? Who knows. He started in a new classroom this week so that is probably contributing as it's a big change to be with bigger kids. He's tough to get to bed at night and has been waking during the night and it takes a long time to get him back to sleep. And then one or both boys are up before 6 so we are just really tired. I keep telling myself "this is a stage, it won't always be like this." I hope the stage ends soon, though.

A recipe I made was Chicken Tikka Masala with Cauliflower and Peas. This is one of our favorite recipes so if you like Indian flavors, it's a good one to check out! Phil and I love it but the boys won't eat it. 

A show I am watching is Ted Lasso! I got a 3 month trial for Apple TV when I got a new iPhone so Phil and I just started this show this week. I like that the episodes are 30 minutes long, so we can watch one/night. Plus it's nice to watch something light and funny! Prior to starting this, we watched "Under the Banner of Heaven" on Hulu. Oof it was a hard show to watch. It's about fundamentalist Mormons who murder their SIL and her daughter and claim it was done to fulfill a revelation from God. I had read the book but actually did not care for the book - it felt really dry to me. The tv show is well done - but it's obviously a super heavy topic. But the show prompted some good conversations between Phil and me about religion, fundamentalism, etc.

For workouts I did stroller runs with Paul on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Let me tell you - even though Paul is petite, pushing him + a stroller makes runs really HARD since I am pushing 60 pounds between him and the stroller! We only run about 3 miles since it's so challenging for me. I will be glad when I can go back to running by myself! But the weather has been gorgeous this week so it's been nice to get some runs in. That's the extent of my workouts, though. It's hard to fit workouts in when Paul is home with me. He will not leave me alone if I try to do a beach body workout.  So besides those runs, I've been going on lots of family walks.

The best money spent recently was writing out a big check to my nephew for his grad gift. A couple of people asked how I set up an account for him when I mentioned that was my gift so I thought I'd expand on it a bit. Early on, I decided to give him a book and then deposit money in a savings account for him in lieu of giving him toys for his birthday and Christmas. The account wasn't under his name - I just had a separate account at Capital One 360 that I titled "James' savings account." I think I started this when he was around 1? I only did this for him since he is my Godson. Interest rates have been super low during his entire lifetime so the savings account did not earn much, but I wasn't looking to maximize his returns over that time period. I just wanted something simple that would accumulate over time. Then for his graduation gift, we rounded up and gave him a nice check to use for whatever he needs as he starts college. In hindsight, it would have been better to put it into an equity ETF or something like that, but you aren't guaranteed a positive return and I didn't want to put his gift at any risk of declining so a savings account made the most sense. I know he was thrilled with the gift and it likely made up for all the years of not getting cool gifts/toys from his practical aunt!

My plans this weekend include getting take-out tonight to celebrate the end of quarantine for Paul! Tomorrow we are going to the birthday party for a classmate at a local park. On Sunday morning, Will has swimming lessons. We haven't been in a month between us having covid and being gone last weekend! After swimming lessons I would like to take the boys to the farmers market and park. 

Bonus Pics:

I did an in-person presentation this week at a financial advisor practice in St. Paul. This is what I look like when I've actually done my hair and wear something nice!

Paul has had  A LOT of screen time this week as it's the only way I can get work done, but he did sit by me and do some drawing on Wednesday. Little kid drawings are soooo sweet, aren't then? And in case you are wondering, Taco = Will. When I was pregnant with Will, Paul named him Taco and the name as stuck! Paul did a good job writing everyone's names. He has trouble with lowercase ds but I think his writing is really good for a 4yo!

I try to log off around 4 each day and get outside with Paul. On Wednesday we explored a new area of the creek by our house. On this walk, Paul said "I love nature!" That is basically a mic-drop moment for me!

How was your week? What are you watching these days?