Currently

February 12, 2019

Prim’s attitude towards Valentine’s Day is pretty much a whole mood for 2019.

Making: plans for Valentine’s day. Well, sort of. I’m thinking about making plans for Valentine’s Day. I have an idea for a date night at home this weekend and a See’s gift card that has been burning a hole in my wallet since Christmas. I think Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to stuff a pound of candy into my face, no?

Cooking: from the Sprouted Kitchen Cooking Club. I joined this online meal-planning service when it launched last year as a way of making mid-week meal planning easier for me and our amazing nanny. It includes 3 dinner recipes and one side/snack/dessert recipe each week and I’ve been so happy with it — the meals are creative, delicious and healthy, and it makes meal planning so much easier (and diverse!) each week.

Drinking: cocktails, lately. Especially these.

Reading: Educated (so interesting!)

Wanting: more sleep (I think I’m a little iron deficient right now, which is always fun for my energy levels).

Looking: at affordable art for a few spots around the house.

Eating: popcorn as a late-night snack, lately. I make it in the air popper and top it with melted butter, salt and everything bagel seasoning. Get on board, guys, it’s GOOD.

Wishing: for an unlimited budget for house projects.

Enjoying: the rain! Even though one of our many skylights kiiiiind of leaks…

Loving: how our house is coming together. It’s amazing how a few small touches (most recently a new plant and pair of wall sconces in the living room) can really finish off a space.

Hoping: to run off to wine country soon.

Needing: to get back to working out regularly so my back doesn’t murder me.

Smelling: coffeeeeee.

Feeling: like everyone has it together more than I do. I think it’s partially the “Instagram generation” that we live in and also just this season of my life (read: toddlers, balancing working with being a parent, trying to find time for myself and my relationship while keeping everything else together), but either way — sometimes it’s hard to remember that everyone has their own struggles, even if their life looks perfect from your phone screen.

Wearing: some new things I bought on Poshmark, including some flared overalls that are maybe my most favorite clothing purchase, like, ever. (PS: in case you’re wondering, yes, KC still hates overalls. Roooooomance!)

Watching: A Million Little Things. I just started it and love it!

Bookmarking: credit cards with hotel points. Our main credit card provides us with airline miles, but in an effort to make little getaways a yearly thing, we’re hoping to add some free hotel stays to the mix.

Uncategorized

Oh Hey…

February 6, 2019

Uggghhhhh you guys… It’s been, what, a hundred million years since I last posted? Yeah. Holy moly.

Here’s a recap of what’s been happening the last 6ish months: Prim started preschool, Lark became a full-fledged teen (basically, I mean the attitude is REAL, guys), the girls dressed up as birds for Halloween (an owl and a flamingo, it was so cute I could die), we hosted Thanksgiving, we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary/14th dating anniversary (and also figured out that moving countries + kids + jobs + massive stress is all awesome for a relationship — shoutout to our couples therapist for keeping us from murdering each other), Christmas came and went, as did New Year’s, I sent our Christmas cards out on January 7th like the super-together mom that I am, and now we’re rapidly hurtling towards Valentine’s Day and I was finally like, “UGH F@#$ JUST WRITE A F#$%ING BLOG POST ALREADY.”

So in case you can’t tell from the insanity of the paragraph above, it’s been a rough few months. The stress of adulting has been real and I wasn’t actually kidding about the therapy (or the murdering). I wholeheartedly recommend therapy for everyone and every couple — I honestly think it’s one of the best investments you can make for both yourself and your spouse.

But onto what this post is actually going to be about — 2019! That’s right, now that we’re solidly into the month of February, I figured I should share my goals for the new year. (I mean, who’s on top of that sh@# in January anyway? Certainly not me.) So here’s what I’m working on in 2019:

Using the gym more. (Please note that I did not say “working out.”) We joined a fancy gym last year that provides childcare, and while I would like to get back on the workout-train, I also want to focus on using the gym more for everything it has to offer — visiting the spa, having a drink at the bar with a friend, or simply just taking a breather (or an uninterrupted shower). The possibilities are endless!
Working on our house while working on enjoying our house as-is. We have been putting a lot of time and energy into getting our house together over these last few months — changing light fixtures, rearranging rooms, buying furniture, you name it. While I love seeing it all come together and brainstorming the “last few things” that would finish off the space, I also want to focus on just enjoying the house wherever it may be in the process of getting it to where we eventually want it to be.
Letting go of the guilt and thinking more like a “dad.” Now that I’ve been a mom for 3.5+ years, I’m really seeing the difference in the way KC and I approach our parenting duties. We both love being parents and spending time with the girls, but I am much more likely to get wrapped up in and subsequently burned-out by the all-the-time grind of parenting. This is partially because I spend more time with the kids (and don’t even start with me on mental/emotional labor), but it’s also because I haven’t made myself a real priority for quite awhile. This year, rather than give in to the mom-guilt, I’ve decided to take a different approach — when a situation arises that would normally cause me to feel guilty, I think, “What would a dad do?” For whatever reason, (societal expectations, the patriarchy, Trump) dads don’t seem to be plagued by the same dilemmas that cause endless guilt to moms (“Should I go to happy hour on Thursday or be home with the kids? Should I be taking time for myself when I could be spending time with them?”) So now, rather than give in to that voice that tells me I’m a bad mom if I opt out of parenting for a bit, I think about what KC would do (and what I really want to do), and do that — sans-guilt. Taking time for myself here and there isn’t selfish — it’s necessary. I’m a person outside of being a mom, so I’m working on remembering and tending to that in addition to being the best parent I can be.

What are you working on this year? More spa days and less negative self-talk? More broccoli and less chocolate? I mean, gross, but hey, you do you.

Lark / Motherhood / Toddler

Motherhood Update: Lark at 18 months

August 16, 2018

Saying: Oh my gosh… EVERYTHING! Lark is whipping out new words every day now and is proving to be quite the chatterbox. She probably has 100 words at this point, which is sort of insane.Eating: Lark is still a great eater (thank goodness, because age 3 is proving to be P-I-C-K-Y for someone in our house) and eats just about anything I put in front of her, whether it’s pizza or chicken and roasted veggies with tzatziki. The arrival of 6(!) more teeth has made mealtime a bit easier, I think, though the onslaught of them all coming in at once certainly cramped nap and bedtime for quite awhile.

Sleeping: As I mentioned above, Lark recently got 6 teeth over the course of just a couple weeks (all 4 molars included!) It was rough stuff for sure, and I felt so bad for her because she would be soooo tired but clearly unable to sleep through the pain. She ended up staying up late with us a couple of nights, which while not ideal, was pretty sweet nonetheless. I feel like we have had so much less one-on-one time with Lark over the past 18 months than we had with Prim, so it’s nice to steal those random moments with her where there’s no one else stealing the spotlight.

Doing: Lark has finally started walking full-time now. She took her first steps at 15 months while we were vacationing in Vienna, but continued crawling for weeks after that. For whatever reason she decided that she would walk when she was sure she had mastered it — none of this toddling around BS for Lark!

Latest milestone: Lark is walking and climbing and basically trying to do everything Prim does, including climbing up onto the arm of the couch and then jumping onto the seat cushions (cut to me yelling “how many times do I have to tell you not to climb on the couch!” I am SUCH a mom.) With all the walking and talking it has become clear that the baby stage is officially over, and let me tell you, my heart CANNOT TAKE IT.

Favorite toys: I recently unearthed numerous old phones and iPods when we moved into our new house. Having no use for an iPhone 4 or ancient Blackberry, I put the lot of them into the playroom for the kids to play with. Lark loves to make calls and often walks around with the phone up to her ear saying, “Hewo, Pim?” (Hello, Prim?) and let me assure you: it’s the most adorable thing EVER.

Sweetest things: Lark is a much more snuggly kiddo than Prim was, and now when I put her down for nap or bedtime she lays on my shoulder as I hold her and sing to her (she loves “I Will” by the Beatles.) Prim has caught on and now requests I hold her while I sing her song (“Blackbird‘), so really Larky’s snuggliness has turned into a win for all of us.

Favorite thing about this age: Hearing Lark’s vocabulary expand and watching her turn into more of a “kid” is so sweet. She clearly wants to do everything Prim does, and Prim is (usually) very good about including her in her play. One of Lark’s favorite words is “yeah” and it’s so cute asking her a question and hearing her yell out “Yeah!” like it’s the most exciting thing she’s been asked all day.

Life Abroad / Travel

The Last Hurdle

July 26, 2018

As I mentioned in the last post, getting out of Athens ended up being quite stressful. (And, yes, I realize that I wrote that post a super long time ago. I went back to work, we’re still moving into our house, so IT’S ALL HAPPENING OVER HERE.)The apartment we stayed at in Athens was about a 40 minute drive from the airport. When we arrived, we downloaded the preferred local taxi app and took taxis pretty much daily — into the center or wherever. Uber doesn’t exist in Athens, so cabs and buses were our only options for getting around. (We opted for cabs because buses with kids+strollers is sort of a nightmare a lot of the time).

The night before we left Athens, KC and I stayed up late strategically packing all our bags — making sure nothing was over the weight limit, ensuring we had everything we would need in our various carry-ons, and planned everything down to the last detail so our departure would be as smooth as possible the next morning.Our Turkish Airlines flight was scheduled for 10:10am, flying from Athens to San Francisco with a layover in Istanbul. We planned to leave the apartment at 7:15am the next morning, assuming that even if we were running late (which, with kids, you pretty much always are) we would be out of the house by 7:30am and at the airport around 8:10am, giving us two hours until our departure time.

The next morning went swimmingly. We got up at 6:30am, woke the girls a little after 7am, and were walking out the door around 7:20am. I had Lark in the carrier, KC had Prim and the majority of the bags, and we were on our way out the door, when I pulled up the taxi app to hail a cab and a message suddenly popped up…

ATHENS: 24 HOUR TAXI STRIKE.

No cabs. Zero. None.I started silently panicking. I tried pulling up Uber just to see if it was a possibility — nope. I vainly kept requesting cabs via the taxi app to no avail.

The minutes were ticking by as we wondered what to do. I pulled up Google maps to plot out the route via public transit and was informed that it would take at over an hour and a half to get to the airport by bus — basically getting us there in time to watch our plane depart from outside the airport.

Perfect.I saw no solution. Finally, in a state of complete stress, I called the family whose apartment we were staying at. They informed us that there was a bus that went to the airport that stopped a few blocks away. Despite what it said online, they assured us that the bus took less than an hour. By this point it was closing in on 8am and it appeared to be our only option, so we grabbed the kids and all of our bags, and made a run for it.

The bus stop was a ways away (like, a solid 15 minute walk sans kids/luggage), so with two huge bags, a travel crib, a stroller, two kids, and three carry-ons, the walk felt like it took an eternity. I should also mention that it was easily 90 degrees outside, we were stressed, and I was wearing Lark in the carrier, so the sweat situation was REAL, guys. We got to the bus stop a little after 8am and I nervously waited with the kids and luggage while KC sprinted to the nearest ATM to get some cash, because we had gotten rid of all of our euros, assuming we would be paying for a cab via the app that morning.

The airport bus finally showed up at 8:20am and the driver informed us that it was about 50 minutes to the airport. We were a complete sh**show loading all of our luggage and kids onto the bus — basically every parent’s worst nightmare. KC paid our fare, we found two seats and sat down to await our fate amidst zero air conditioning on the slow-moving vehicle.We pulled up to the airport at 9:20am — less than an hour before our flight was set to depart and a mere 30 minutes before the gate was scheduled to close. Somehow we managed to check five bags (which included an extra trip to the odd/oversize luggage counter to check our stroller and travel crib), made it through passport check, security, and run (and I mean RUN) to our gate and board just before it closed. We were the last people to board the plane, but WE MADE IT. And let me just take a minute to give a shoutout to the Greeks, because jeez Louise they are just the NICEST people. Everyone was so sweet to Prim and Lark while we were visiting, but especially in the midst of this very stressful and chaotic morning, people were so above and beyond nice to us.

I felt like such a wreck boarding the bus to the airport, and being American, assumed that everyone on the bus was annoyed and judging us since we so clearly didn’t have our sh** together and it took us so long to board the already crowded bus. Rather than just giving us dirty looks and assuming we were awful parents (hi, Americans), a few stops before the airport, a woman came up to us and said, “You were planning on taking a taxi, weren’t you?” I felt simultaneously flustered and relieved and said, “Oh my gosh, yes, we just found out about the strike this morning as we were leaving.” She responded, “I saw you when you got on the bus and I knew.” Then she handed us a euro and explained that there were coin-operated luggage carts available near where the bus stopped at the airport. She insisted on helping us with our bags when we got off the bus, and two other people also stepped in and asked to help us take our luggage off the bus as we were exiting, since we had our hands full with the two kids.

Everyone who worked at the airport helped us skip most of the long lines for passport control and security so we could make our flight. It ended up being such a positive experience (albeit still so stressful) amidst what would have otherwise just been an altogether terrible morning.And PS: if you’re ever considering taking Turkish Airlines — let me be the first to recommend it. It’s so nice!

Family Fun / Life Abroad / Travel

Our Trip to Athens

July 10, 2018

Athens was our final stop before we headed back to the states for good. We spent five nights there at an apartment in Palaio Faliro. This was our final home exchange as well — the family we swapped with stayed at our apartment over New Year’s while we were in Rome. The apartment was right across the street from the beach and just a short cab ride from the center of the city. I mean, not a bad view right?? KC surprised me on one of our last nights in Prague by coming out of the bathroom with a suddenly shaved head. It was especially surprising because he had done it himself… with a beard trimmer. So, it was.. less than perfect, let’s say. Luckily I was able to even things out (the back looked like an insane hack-job) and got him back to looking presentable, but it was a little bit of a shock, I’ll admit. (Luckily he’s cute with and without hair)We had kind of a tough travel day getting from Prague to Athens. The girls were a little nuts on the plane (hey, it happens) and we ended up taking a cab to the wrong place when we arrived. Apparently there were two places with the same address about 2 miles apart and in our haste to get the hell out of the airport with the two crazies, we didn’t realize this and ended up at the wrong one. (Like, unloaded all our luggage and sent the cab away. Oof.) Luckily that stroll along the beach did all sorts of wonders for our mood. As did the stop for ice cream, haha.

We visited the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and the Acropolis Museum, among other sites while we were in Athens. We made the smart decision to get ourselves out of the house early and arrived at the Acropolis before 9am and just barely missed the arrival of the hoards of tourists. Arriving early also meant that we weren’t there in the middle of the day when the sun was unbearably hot. There’s basically no shade near the Acropolis and the whole expanse is just rocks and stone, so I can’t imagine it’s pleasant around 2pm when it’s over 90 degrees out. Prim is very into matching me or Lark these days (can you tell from our navy striped shirts above?) and while I know it’s maybe a little over-the-top-cute, I am totally running with it for the time being. I’m sure that the day will come soon enough that she wants to have nothing to do with me and my style, so I’m going to enjoy it while I can.KC ended up reading about a famous Greek sandal maker, and we made a special trip on one of the days to check out the sandals in his shop. The shoes were surprisingly affordable (even though he custom-fits them to your feet!) so Prim and I each got a pair. Twins! (Oh and PS: the sandals are WAY comfortable.) Those steep stone stairs with the little cafes and shops tucked into the hillside — can you even?? I was channeling those Mama Mia vibes all the way. That right there is museum with kids realness. We did brave the Acropolis Museum (which is awesome!) and the kids did pretty well, but museums with toddlers in general is like a special level of hell. Thankfully the museum had a nursing lounge, which had some toys that the kiddos got to play with for a few minutes after I changed Lark (while KC and I had a moment to sit down and exchange looks about how much work it is to travel with kids sometimes). Larky with her ice cream propped up on her belly — she is living her best vacation life, you guys. This girl really knows how to do it up right.Getting to Athens was a bit rough, but getting OUT of Athens was another thing altogether. A post about our final travel day is coming up. Stay tuned!