currently link up | pi day

Happy Pi Day! This was Loretta's original due date, a day for Daddy to dork out (because math), and also a day to embrace the pun and eat pie! Good good day.

Currently is a weekly link-up hosted by the chocolate and springtime craving mom ♥ Randalin of Harvesting Kale and I am super happy to be co-hosting the series with her. I hope that you can participate by writing your own Currently post (using the provided themes or your own) and please join us by linking up. This week, around these parts, we have been...

Watching my kids run/toddle around outside, grubby from play, covered in grass stains and sidewalk chalk all over their clothes, and all of that in the sunshine! Now if plums would only come into season the world would be perfect. So even though I have a feeling this is a false little Spring we're having and another frost plus buckets of rain and grey skies are probably on the way, we are just soaking up the warm temps and sunny days while we have them.

Craving exercise. What kind of alien am I? We get a super discount on the gym at work and I'm hoping to make lunchtime boot camps or pilates or just jogging on a treadmill a 1-3 day per week thing. I need to firm this business ::making a weird, awkward gesture to the torso through upper knees area:: up! ::claps, jumps, points at self in mirror:: Maybe I'm just craving coffee?

Looking a bit more like my old self again. Loretta is sort of self-weaning down to just a couple of nursing sessions a day so my bossoms (ahhhhhhh, so sorry Dad, this is probably the post-per-month you decided to read) are back down to a manageable size lately. Unfortunately they seem to become more uneven with each baby, so we are rocking a 32a on the left and a 32c on the right. Oo

Boob shaming FTW! Honestly though I'm feeling more like myself than I have in a while. My hair is growing out. I'm back to a pre-baby weight. BB cream seems to be doing something youthful-time-machine-y to my face, and the sun we've had lately is even kissing my blue/white gecko translucent skin with a teeny bit of color. This girl is on fire!

Loving my munchkins and their weird, sweet personalities. I took them for their 1 and 4  year checkups, respectively, this week and they are doing great. We do need to follow up on some possible hearing and vision issues with Otto (both minor but both freaking me out) but all in all it was nice to get the thumbs up from the doc. Otto was pretty upset that he would have to get a shot so I did something I rarely do and bribed him to, "just stay calm and be cool, be cool, try to calm down, do you want ice cream? Will ice cream make you calm down? Please calm down! For ice cream! I will give you ice cream!" After the doc, in the Dairy Queen drive thru, Otto said, "Maybe they call her Dare-y Queen because she says (in a royal voice), 'I DARE YOU NOT TO EAT ICE CREAM!'" Ha ha ha. I know *shit my kid says* is usually like 5,000x funnier to the parent, but that is darn sweet, and witty! Bask in my child's awesomeness! :)

Planning a series of home/life improvements for the next 5 months. I am thinking of taking one project on my to-do list per month which feels more manageable than having all of them looming in my face all the time so that I do none of them. They are: living room mantle, kids dress up station, replace pulls on kids dresser, mini-van body work and wash, and mini-makeover our bedroom. I'm going to give myself a budget and deadline for each and hopefully that inspires my inert butt!

That was this week. Here are next week's SPRING! themes:

cleaning, planning, planting, skipping, wearing

a birthday cake picnic

Loretta's birthday yesterday was a day of many sweet firsts. First birthday. First unassisted steps (yes, really!). First taste of cake. My mom flew from Arizona to be here for the weekend (thank you, Nana Lee) and we kept the day sweet and simple. A quiet present opening in the morning. A trip to Target and then to a local dessert bakery to find just the right cake (confetti semi-sweet cream with real strawberry mousse filling - so pretty and honestly my favorite cake I have ever, ever tasted). Naps all around! A picnic in the yard with lots of chalk drawing and walking up and down the sidewalk with a new walky toy (she ruined her socks, it was the sweetest). Soup and toast dinner for the kids and then Rob and I took a mini date out for a beer while Ot and his Nana watched Curious George and snuck potato chips. A lovely end to Loretta's first amazing year and a sweet way to Spring forward into the next with our little one year old ♥

i think i'll go for a walk outside now...

This weekend the sun made more than a few brief appearances ♥ It felt like springtime in a state that isn't Oregon. I couldn't love it here more in the summer, but every other season I could definitely love it here more. Grey skies and drizzle day after day after day can really make you feel trapped and desperate for sunshine. But I'm not here to complain about that because this weekend was lovely and we made sure to get outside and enjoy it while it lasts.

So even though we are all still suffering varying degrees of headcold (my miracle elixir seems to have worked on me; I took it two mornings in a row and my horrible cough is now nearly under control, heck yeah!) we couldn't resist spending some time in the front yard. Otto broke out the sidewalk chalk and busted out an amazing Mike Mazowski that kind of blew my mind. Who is this kid? I mean really, check it out (above). Then we all bent it like Beckham, including little miss. We let the chilly sun bathe our poor, paste-y ass faces and it was just super super nice.

Loretta has been standing for longer little bits this past weekend too. She wants so badly to run with the bulls. The bulls being Otto. I kind of guarantee I'm the only one on the planet calling Otto a bull, by the way #Ferdinand :) anyways... She will now get up from sitting to standing all by herself and wobble there for a few seconds before sitting back down. She took a single step towards me on Saturday and a single step towards Rob yesterday. Walking is just around the corner and I'm really excited for her. She's already the fastest crawler I've ever seen. She crawls Japanese horror movie-style. It's going to be so great to see her running around with and after Otto. I can't wait for the real warm weather to come (in July) and let these two sweet gooses loose at the park, the beach, etc.

And as you can see I'm in the pic! I hate pictures of myself probably more than most people but I do realize the mom needs to stay in the picture every now and again. Looking at this one, though, I see that I need a haircut more than I thought I did. And lip-stain. I have no idea how to wear lip color but as I've gotten older I guess my face is losing its rosy-ness. I'm going to have to teach myself to add a little color or I'll end up looking like a piece of printer paper all the time. I swear the mirror likes me! Pictures always freak me out. I looked like that?! Le sigh, haha, it's a good thing I don't really care that much. Do you have a lipstain you like that isn't too BOOM? I'm so not a boom person :)

snap snap

'sup.

thank you to everyone for your kind words about georgia. losing her so suddenly has really thrown this mom for a loop. i just feel so "blah" and out of it. like a standing-beside-myself-watching-everything-i-do and being-super-awkward kind of feeling. it's very annoying! snap snap! i am trying to snap out of it. so far the snapping plan isn't working.

my sunshines...

in munchkin land things have been just darn awesome, though. Loretta is a bright little ray of sunshine. she smiles now, coos, babbles, looks at you sometimes, and is just generally so very snugly and cuddly. she is still quite bossy! much bossier and easier to anger than Otto ever was and i just love how we can see her personality already. she is a sassy little miss and i just love her to bits. she is 8 1/2 weeks old already. how in the world did that happen?

Otto is still the coolest kid on the block. he never ceases to amaze me with his sweet, loving spirit, his creativity and intelligence. yesterday he counted with me to 100... 100! fyi: that's amazing. tonight he sat down with Rob and dictated and illustrated a book about pigs, wolves, a volcano, lots of lava, hiding in a toilet, spiderman, and a happy ending. haha! and he loves doing pre-k and kindergarten workbooks with us. just a super cool little dude who loves his little sister so much and seriously is such a ham sandwich.

i'll continue to work on this snapping out of it business and hopefully will be feeling like less of a dud. womp! i am excited to say that coming up soon on this blog is a veritable "tofu week" with, count em, TWO different yummy tofu recipes i've made lately that both turned out awesome. it took me years to figure out tofu, and i've finally got it D-O-W-N. also, our family photo shoot a couple of weekends ago went so great. i should have those pictures to share soon. hurray! also my bday is coming up in a few weeks and i was thinking of asking for a new wallet so i thought i'd do a post on some cute wallets i have my eye on and share that with you. AND! (yep, there's more) i found this cool mom on Etsy who just happens to be a local Eugene mom and she agreed to let me feature her on the blog and to provide you guys with a discount code (more on that soon). ANNND!! well finally, my girl Jaimie recently tagged me in a blog post so i'm looking forward to replying to that with some random facts about life in our wild little home.

so is anyone else obsessed with the show Girls on HBO??? I am dead obsessed. So good!

ps. and for reals if you're on instagram, find me, i'm highly addicted and my name is "otandet".

you make me happy when skies are grey

i've been a serious soul lately what with worries about our move and just me being worry-wart-me about life. sometimes i feel like a cartoon character with a little grey cloud hovering over my head all the time, pooping on me (or raining or pooping rain or whatever). i am a poop cloud magnet! glum. well, yesterday on twitter i mentioned that i was singing "you are my sunshine" to Ot and that it always makes me weepy. i was suprised how many people replied that the song "destroys them" too. it just speaks so purely to love and to telling the person who matters so much to you just how much you love them. this is not a glum thing, it's a joy thing. my grandma used to sing that song to me when i was a little girl and it made me feel so happy and loved... and singing it always brings me right back to those moments from my childhood. i miss my grandma and i love Otto so much and so i just lose it, the tears are unstoppable. but at the same time it means a lot to me that i sing that song to Otto and that he has those memories, like the ones i have, of having that song sung to you in sweetness, love, and sincerity.

so this is my sunshine post! i've been browsing etsy lately looking for ideas for decorating our new place (whenever we finally get one). i am gravitating towards bright, sunshiney decor that would inspire me to be happy even when skies are grey in oregon (which i hear happens sometimes *wink*).

for the kitchen

wall hanging (the merriweather council), potholders (MamasBabyLove), organic helichrysum flowers for tea (twig & leaf botanicals), happiest mug ever (rising sky pottery), upcycled bundt cake pan flower basket (boots n gus)

for the bath

stepstool (circle creek home), cactus pot (virginia wyoming), washcloth holder (cricket capers), mermaid towel hook (TheDoorStop), wall hanging (KathyPanton)

for the family room

side table (poppyseed living), candle sconces (RetroPops), doily (roni's boutique), throw pillow (moose & bird), tube radio (leaning cedars vintage)

ok, that should do it! what do you think? hello sunshine? for reals though --> somebody buy me that sidetable!

ps. TGIF errbody! hope you're all having sunshiney days. no poop clouds! and that you have fun-filled weekends ahead of you too. We. Do! some of our oldest, dearest friends are coming to town to visit. Ot has been counting down the days all week, as have i. yay friends!

xo,
Lindsey

My Sunshine

When I was little the song my grandma always sang to me was "You Are My Sunshine". I loved that. It's the song I feel in my heart for Otto. I can't even really sing it to him because I lose it. I go all emo, quivery, tears. He wouldn't enjoy my rendition. I've tried more than a few times.

We're up in Phoenix this weekend visiting beloved family members who are staying with my parents for a few days. And spring has sprung! The sun is out! I find myself basking in the joy of "my kin" (as they'd say on Justified) and soaking up the warm rays. Go ahead and be jealous my snowbound friends! Phoenix is gorg right now! We'll talk again this summer when I'm human turkey-jerky :)

I snapped a few pics of Otto in my parents' backyard yesterday. My sunshine!

Notice anything *funny* about the guy? Guess who stuck his tongue out like a ravenous wolf when I mentioned pizza the other day and totally cracked us up (kid's got timing) and who is now milking the sticking-tongue-out joke for all it's worth.

Guess already.

Ok, I'll tell. It was Otto.

Anyways, I hope y'all are having great weekends. Hope the sun shines on you both literally and in the whole joy sense that is warming my heart this weekend. 

ps. It is seriously warm here. I packed all long sleeves and corduroys for Ot this trip. We had to emergency run to the kids' consignment store yesterday to pick up shorts & tees for my lil guy. I got 3 shirts, 4 shorts, sandals and a Brad Pitt-style newsboy hat, all name brand, for $50. Score to the score! 

xo,
Lindsey