Los Porchs

I am feeling the stress of the holidays in such a weird way this year.  All of the gifts are wrapped (mostly, except one... and the one I got for Porch... and one that I bought for someone special), the house is "decorated" and we have been doing the traditional things like St. Nick, cutting down & decorating our tree, baking cookies, etc.  I am functioning like a normal, adult human being. But I am also feeling this feel. This hope. This joy. This concept that the best is yet to come, that perhaps there's more to be excited about in 2017.  Charlotte is an amazing kid who challenges me daily and is the perfect mix of passionate and compassionate.  She asked me today where my heartbeat was and I nearly responded that she was my heartbeat but paused for fear that our very concrete thinker would take that as fact.  2017 will (hopefully) be the year that we get to experience life as a family of 4.  And even if it's not, the hope for future attempts ...

I hate resolutions.  I find the whole process of finding something to work towards just because it's a new year exhausting.  I also find it humorous to watch as the number of cars in the gym parking lot dwindle with each passing day as people throw in the towel.   Full disclosure, I'm only seeing those cars because the gym is right next to Starbucks and I'm getting coffee; I have never had a resolution to "work out every day" or "stop eating sugar."  I know me.  I'm not going to set myself up for failure before the first month of the year is through. 2015 was a hard year.  As a whole, it was filled with good times with family and friends, work, and a general sense of happiness.  However, it wasn't all happy.  Even before I became unemployed, I had a nagging sense of unhappiness.  I was feeling guilty for working so much and let that guilt tell me I was a bad mother.  I let work interfere in my most meaningful relationships and I find m...

The day started kind of gloomy & overcast and Charlotte was not feeling the nap situation at home so we ended up having her take her nap in the car on the way to the pumpkin patch.  Not ideal, but better than nothing.  I was nervous because as we pulled out of the driveway, the rain started.  Luckily, it was only cold & windy on the farm, no rain.  The sun even made a brief appearance at the end of our visit.  It was a great day & I am so glad we met up with my parents!  This was a new location for us, but I could absolutely see us returning in the coming years.  It's an awesome place for kids! Sorry not sorry for the amount of pictures; I took 117 pictures and have not posted NEARLY that many here, so really, you're welcome is more appropriate than an apology ;)  I feel like I waited my whole life to have a tiny human at the pumpkin patch (she was too tiny last fall to get anything out of it and we were Chicagoans at that point so a...

This weekend we had some great weather and even better company!  Friday night, our friends from college came to town with their darling daughter, Baby J, who is about 6.5 months and all kinds of cute. Saturday we went to check out the Art Walk on Brady Street with my brother and sister-in-law.  We took Charlie and their puppy and made it a family affair.  Perfect weather, cold beer, and amazing people-watching made our afternoon fabulous.  We brought the party back to our place and threw some chicken on the grill for dinner and enjoyed the evening on our new deck.  One of our neighbors had a rummage sale and seems to have had a very challenging time getting rid of his treasures as he continued to knock on the fence and ask us if we wanted stuff (even into the morning/afternoon).  When we politely declined (we've got enough junk of our own, thanks), he muttered, "I can't even give this shit away" as he sulked away.  The night was made by our other nei...

We were very excited to see our good friends Jackson and Amanda and to spend the first camping trip of the season with Nate & Casey.  But let's be honest, this weekend was all about the tent. We had been meaning to have a practice run in the backyard before leaving, but with me being back in school and closing the center on the other nights, there's just no time for daylight activities lately and when I get home, I. Am. Beat. Happy to report that the tent was amazing.  Not the easiest set up ever, though we realized why as we were putting it away.  And I might point out that someone (Nate) was so excited about this new tent that he wouldn't let me help set it up which made it seem even more difficult.  Though I did enjoy not having to set it up ;) The screen porch! We had the totes ready and waiting.  I have become totally OCD with our packing for camping.  Everything goes into a tote and gets restocked when we get home so it's ready to g...

Word to your mother.  I am straight up healthy. I had a visit with my lady doctor this week and all signs point to a healthy and happy (relatively) Mrs. Porch!  My hormone levels were good, my thyroid was good, and my ultrasound was clean.  Can I just share how exciting it was to have an ultrasound where I didn't get weird feedback?  Or feel totally freaked out afterwards?  Both ovaries look good (no cysts!) and my uterus was empty.  What?  He had to check.  Interesting fact the ultrasound tech decided to share:  Your uterus expands to more than 20 times its regular size when carrying a baby.  In fact, he once saw a c-section and when the cut open the abdomen and could see the uterus and it looked like a clear balloon.  I couldn't help but laugh and thank him for his fun fact.  I mean hey, it made the blog. This means we can start looking into other factors and then get movin' on the baby-making fun.  How much will you...

For those of you who keep up with my Facebook, you probably noticed (just a little) that I am completely in love with my new cousin who arrived this morning at 10:10.  She's just so teeny tiny and every time I see a picture of her, I just want to squeeze her!  Gah! I can practically smell her new baby smell. I'm keeping this in mind as I attempt to "reduce the stress" in my life (they make it sound so easy, don't they?) Positive.  Vibes.  Only. Sometimes it's hard when I see birth announcements on Facebook but I gotta say -- seeing her sweet face today just made me burst with pride!  Her parents waited a very long time to meet her and I am 100% certain they will say she was worth the wait.  Just wait until I get my hands on her, oh, there will be pictures.  LOTS of pictures. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm so happy to be surrounded by new babies!  It's just so joyous! It makes my heart sing. xo