My sketch(es) done for Day 3 of Inktober were not at all what I had in mind but I’m learning. These were also entirely done with sharpie but my exercise in futility for art will hopefully at least bring good posting habits.
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Sigh…Tranquility
So I definitely could use some tranquility this week but I’ve had to settle for a bubble bath with some lavender EO in there. Dr Teals is awesome BTW.
Inktober prompt two is tranquility and what I had in my head is definitely not on the paper lol. 
Confessional/Ponderings
So I️ feel like I️ need to confess some things at least to the blog-o-sphere.
I️ may seem like it from the outside, but I️ hardly have my shit together most days.
Was our parents generation really better at juggling life or were they better at not over-sharing/complaining? I️ think there were a lot of closet drinkers….just sayin’.
Do people really expect parenting to be easy? I️ didn’t and still didn’t expect some of the balancing act.
How the flying flip do household with two working parents and two small children keep the house clean? Mine constantly looks like it had a tornado go through it…..even 20 minutes after I’ve just cleaned it.
Am I️ ever going to feel like I’m off the hamster wheel? I️ long for the weekends because my seven month old doesn’t sleep and it means I️ won’t have to get up on a schedule like normal.
Is there a club for Overthinkers-anonymous? I️ should google that…
Baby Break
Back to work!
I think it’s obvious when I say I’ve been on a sabbatical. Everyone knows new-mommy life can be very time consuming to say the least. I’m back to work, pumping and trying to keep afloat at home. As of that wasn’t enough we are also looking at possibly buying a new home. Stress anyone?
So while I will elaborate on the work aspect a little more on my NP blog, I’d like to talk about being a second time mom and all of the above in the next several post. I’ll tell you a little about our story and then what has worked and not worked for us!
Little Bit became a big sister and I ended my child-bearing journey on Cinco de Mayo this year. Punky Doodle came into the world pink and crying and a few hours later decided blue was more her color so ended up in the nursery and then the NICU. Brand new experience for our little family. Moose followed her down there and was hand on as much as possible until I was released a day and a half later (c-section). She was by far the biggest baby in her neck of the woods there and quickly got better but we were still there a week. The Ronald McDonald house is awesome and our families new charity after meeting some amazing people and witnessing all the good work they do there. They made us so much more comfortable than we would have been otherwise. It was the last week of school so my mom, dad, and sister (The Princess) took care of Little Bit while we took care of Punky Doodle.
So Little Bit has adjusted pretty well. A few jealous moments mostly with the Princess who is her BFF, but otherwise she is in love with her sister and so are we.
For the first time ever I was able to spend the whole summer with her and be a stay-at-home mom for awhile and I actually really enjoyed it. Could I completely quit work? No, I’d miss my patients and doing what I do to much but could I cut my hours more? Yup if and when we could afford it. It was still a lot of work and I give props to SAHM and my sitter but we had a really good routine once baby and I were out and about; I kept big sister active all summer too.
Anyway that’s what we were busy doing. I’ll post some more about breastfeeding and pumping and back to work soon! Ciao!
Gender Reveal
My little sister hosted an AWESOME gender reveal for Moose, Lil Bit and I. She is not always the best secret keeper but she was the only one who knew what the baby was and did a great job. We had about 30-35 people over at my parents house where she hosted and we did a live Facebook stream for my family out of town. As it was just a few days before Christmas she did a Christmas themed party with red and green and gingerbread men.
We had a hot chocolate bar with cups, an Ugly sweater aspect that we voted on with the cutest ugly sweater ornaments and a sweater voting for boy/girl. Boys were 16 to girls 11. Tons of Christmas treats as well as hot food for guests.
My father-in-law has a side photography business including a photo booth that we had a ton of fun with!
My sister tricked us initially by having individual wrapped ornaments and having everyone open them with the stipulation that if you get gold, sorry you don’t have the winner, if you have red its a girl, green its a boy. Well they were ALL gold. Then she had a sack of balloons for us to open. They were also all gold.
Opening balloons….wait a minute…
So we were taken outside for the real deal and we were literally in the dark about what was going to happen. She and her best friend had decided to be master engineers and create a light display for which Josh and I had the plugs
On the count of three we turned on the sign that said:
Another sweet girl for our home!
We are very excited to welcome another girl to our family. I will have to come up with a good nickname to call her. Hmm…
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
I hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas! We are sending you love from down south where our air conditioner will literally be running today. A little warm but it isn’t putting a damper on our holiday. My daughter is busy playing with everything Santa brought and that we gave her as fast as she can. My husband is enjoying his new Garmin Vivoactive watch and I’m typing from my awesome new backlit Bluetooth keyboard. But honestly the best thing about today is that we are all happy, healthy, bellies full of delicious (and organic) breakfast. Even the dog seems super comfortable and happy today. I wish you all the best Christmas and a Happy New Year!
And for some cheer, please enjoy this picture of my crazy bulldog snoring on her back with her jowls flapping in the wind. 🙂
Post-vacation
So as usual when we try to go on vacation when we return from wonderful something inevitably breaks. This time it was the computer that completely ate it…along with the pictures I have to match posts I have lined up from vacay. We just got a new hard drive in so when I get a few moments to (re)upload pictures to the computer I’ll be able to complete said posts and you should have some more beautiful Ireland (I’m already home-away-from-homesick) and stories awaiting you.
Exploring Dublin
We’ve officially spent our first full day in Ireland and Dublin. We arrived to the airport and then went to pick up our rental car which took quite awhile. Little Bit did AMAZING on the flight there and slept most of it (unlike the 3 adults). This was our first peak out the airplane window!
We don’t plan on using it much through Dublin but will be using it to drive to Tralee in 2 days. My first impression once we got to our hotel was that the food was way better than anticipated. We drove to find a hair dryer and straightener from the pharmacy and it took 3 tries before we ended up all the way in St Stevens Green shopping centre where we then met a nice merchant who suggested we get out of Dublin ASAP and head towards the countryside, lol. We told him our plans and he made a few recommendations and suggested we avoid Kilarenny and go ahead towards CO Kerry that there was some beautiful places to visit and see “although the roads aren’t brilliant” and the drive might take closer to 5 hrs than the 4 we thought.
We left there and swung by the mall at St Stevens Green which is another beautiful piece of architecture. We found it especially humorous that TJ Max is TK Max over there. Not sure why they feel the need for the letter change but there you have it.
On the way out we stopped by Butler’s Chocolate Cafe where I bought one of the best cups of hot chocolate I’ve had in my entire life for €3.50. They also gave me a free chocolate to go with it and I got the Butter Praline which was good as well. The next day however when we stopped by and ALL got a cup (The Princess, my sister, got a white chocolate and Moose a Mocha which they use the hot chocolate with the coffee)we tried the shaved white that was phenomenal.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to our lovely, rather nicer than expected room with a Queen bed and two singles. We didn’t really eat dinner and all of us proceeded to sleep 11-13 hours each.
We woke up the next morning and were at it again bright and early to try to get both breakfast and to make it to Trinity College and Guinness to play true-to-form tourists for the day.
I loved Trinity College but then again I’m a nerd. Here you can enjoy the back of my head along with views of the courtyard facing those gorgeous 200+year OREGON oaks. Lol.
It was beautiful, the tour was fun, interesting and I got to go to the library…the only thing I cared about why we were in Dublin.
Incidentally, we have discovered a new challenge. Apparently this gold snitch-like sculpture has brothers/sisters around the world.
My family and I hope to have our pictures taken with them all at some point or another. At least we like the idea of it. We very much enjoyed the tour and left to explore some more of downtown Dublin and head towards Guinness.
To Be Continued….
Laugh a little
Sometimes you just need humor at work and today we started the day with these…
in honor of my future international flight
And this one…be warned, don’t read this while you need to maintain composure….Moose and I have voted it the most passive aggressive gift and he is buying some for work. What’s even funnier is I can see him writing the one about Satan bears.
(Pic courtesy of www and free clip art)
Enjoy and send some of your favorites my way!
Long days, Short Straws and Aliens
In the wake of a very long day at work I receive a text from the Princess (my sis) reminding me of a motherly duty that tomorrow is Alien day at school and that my Lil Bit would like a pink and green Tutu and crazy hat they found via Pinterest.
Sigh.
Saying no, we can use something silly we’ve got at home would be easier………………So I made this one
…after a quick stop to the store for some last minute tule and googly eyes. Why doesn’t the Moose ever have arts and crafts duty? Being a working mom can be tough sometimes but, I know that when I see her sweet little face in the alien costume tomorrow my heart will swell and today’s exhaustion will be worth it. Plus, there’s always coffee…
The Everyday Empress 