a little update, iPhone style

I think this may have been the longest blogging hiatus I've ever taken -- nearly two months! I think that the longer I didn't blog, the easier it's been not to blog. I just kept putting it off, because so many other things have demanded my attention lately. Well, here I am, back again. I'm determined to pound out a post and just get going. My advance apologies for any rough prose that follows -- Charlie's coughing in his bed, midway through his nap, so I don't think I'll have time to go back and look for typos :)

And so, without further ado... my life as of late, iPhone style!

***

Is there anything better than watermelon in the dead of winter?

Nope. (And Charlie agrees with me.)

Even though I paid too much for it. It was totally worth it.

On Wednesday afternoons, you'll find us at my grandma's house,

drinking tea with cousins and listening to ancient Irish poems read in my grandma's lilting accent.

p.s. "lilting" sounds nice, doesn't it? 

:)

Here's 90% of the reason I didn't blog for the month of February:

Charlie and I like to pass our time at different local coffee shops,

sipping coffee (no, not the 2-year-old) and nibbling on scones.

Our visits are usually short, and typically end in one of us throwing a tantrum.

(In order to protect the voiceless, I won't say who throws most of the tantrums.)

We've been hanging at both my parent's and my in-law's houses a lot.

Here's Charlie with his beloved Uncle Dan.

(They're watching Elmo at this point, if I correctly recall...)

I also learned that I married a big, giant cheeseball,

in the best, awesomest way possible :)

(he did this one night on our bedroom floor, with Bananagram tiles)

I got a haircut!

Haircuts are awesome.

I've decided, since I'm somewhat of a responsible adult now,

I'm going to get regular haircuts.

This makes me feel incredibly grown-up, in a very good (and silly) way.

Charlie turned TWO! WOW!

Can you believe it, I didn't even post about it?

We celebrated his birthday with

chocolate chip pancakes

an Elmo balloon

a trip to the zoo

a visit to great-grandma's

and dinner at McDonald's with some of his most favorite people in the world.

How is it possible that I have a 2-year-old?

Amazing :)

We've been Skyping a lot with Auntie Anna and Uncle Steve.

They live in Minnesota, and Charlie misses them.

He also misses their pet turtle, Franklin.

(I think, maybe sometimes more than he misses Anna and Steve.)

One day, Charlie discovered a dry-erase marker in the drawer next to his high chair.

When I wasn't looking, he drew all over his tray.

We thought it was great, and I took a picture :D

Charlie's favorite, favorite birthday gift? 

A giant bin of plastic food.

He takes his favorite "foods" with him wherever he goes, tucked away in a plastic container.

The library.

Grandma's house.

On walks.

In the car.

Everywhere.

It's a serious obsession :)

Another reason for the lack of posting:

We got really, really sick.

We all had the flu for almost two weeks,

and Charlie ended up with an ear infection.

 It was the worst thing ever.

Charlie was up all night, and cried for most of the day.

I cried a lot, too. It was so sad.

One way we distracted him is by putting birthday candles into everything he ate.

He loves singing Happy Birthday and blowing out candles,

especially when pancakes are involved :)

Here's what our bathroom sink looked like for two weeks.

Medicine, everywhere.

(The sight of a runny nose, or the sound of coughing, or any other "sick" symptoms

now strike wretched fear into this momma's heart.)

 

On to happier times:

we actually got snow!!

This has been the weirdest Chicago winter ever.

We're also attempting this...

It's not really going. He just likes to sit on his potty and look at books.

Still. It's something.

And, we've got a new tradition.

On Fridays, Charlie and I go to Starbucks.

He gets chocolate milk. I get coffee.

We celebrate making it through another week.

I now love Fridays for a whole new reason :)

And finally, what's a super-long, random, slightly annoying blog post without a little reward at the end?

Here's our big news, and yet another reason why blogging has been at a standstill:

!!!!

Oh yeah.

Baby #2, due September 2nd.

Watch out.

It's starting all over again :)

So, how's that for an update?!

More blogs coming soon!