So. I finally got to spend some time with my lovely sister over Christmas break. She left for home again this past week. It was fun, although hopefully next time I’ll have more free time to see her and we won’t have a blizzard smack dab in the middle of her visit. The best part was our ‘girl date’ with my oldest daughter. We drove to Joann fabrics with her and ate at Steak and Shake, and then later the same day, we had a ‘boy date’ and took my 3-year-old to pick up Chinese food and to buy a coloring book at the dollar store.
We’re starting to get some financial breathing space again, now that I’ve been back at my job for a couple of months. Enough space, at least, that I’m not freaking out at the thought of filling my gas tank or picking up some groceries. Things were pretty tight for a while when I first came off maternity leave. I do need to pick up more hours than I’m currently working if we’re going to pay off our car loan anytime soon, but I’m trying to hold off on that until the baby is old enough that I no longer need to pump at work. One of my biggest worries lately is trying to pump enough milk for the time that I’m away from her. I just don’t have the massive milk supply that I took for granted with my two older kids.
I found some nice chunky purple yarn at the thrift store on one of my outings with my sister, and I’ve been making a baby hat with it, using one of these:
It’s simple enough that I can manage it while balancing a sleeping baby on my lap. I decided to make similar hats for my older kids, so I picked up some rainbow yarn for my girl, and a darker pattern for my dark-eyed boy.
Today is Saturday, the last weekend of Christmas break. My two older kids are outside, sledding with their cousin and with the two friends that my daughter had spend the night last night. They moved to our school district over break, which we’re very excited about. This is one of those rare weekends when my husband and I are both home at the same time. Lately I’ve scheduled most of my shifts for weekends (thank goodness for self-scheduling), which works out best for not needing a babysitter, but unfortunately also deprives us of family time together.
Lately, I’ve enjoyed going through all the archives of Bluebirdbaby. I love her photos, and her general spirit of optimism and creativity inspires me.
I’ve also been enjoying this song over and over, ever since I heard it on the Warm Bodies trailer the other day. I told my husband that he has to take me out to see this movie. Not counting grocery shopping ‘dates’, we haven’t been on a real date since my oldest was a toddler (6 years ago!) so I’d say it’s high time.