My Excuse

I think I have a pretty good excuse for not blogging in a while...

Baby #2 due July 28th!

I'm 17 weeks today, so I've been feeling much better for the past four weeks or so. Those first few months were a bit rough, but luckily Phil had three weeks off for Christmas break which was a blessing. We'll find out the gender the end of next week. I think it's a girl, Phil thinks its a boy. So we'll see!

Felix seems really excited about the baby in mommy's tummy. We talk to him a lot about what it means to be a big brother and at night Phil tells Felix stories about being a big brother and the ways he can help. Felix will come up to me almost daily and rub or kiss my belly. It's so cute and melts my heart. I know it won't last, but I'm trying to think positively and believe this transition for him is going to go great.

Here's what we've been up to lately....

Trying to stay warm, despite the many many very cold and snowy days we've had. This is actually one of the worst winters Ann Arbor has seen in a long time, both in terms of temp and snowfall. It's been rough. So far we've survived, but I'm very much ready for spring to get here...though it probably won't until May. Ugh. 

Having lunch with Daddy at his school. 

Sleeping in crazy positions. We very often find him in positions like this when we check on him befoer we go to bed. He's actually only fallen out of bed once and loves his bed. He won't even get out until one of us comes and gets him. Though, this also means he yells "mommy, mommy, mommy" every single morning. Never once does he yell for "daddy"...

Learning about tools and building!

Cuddling

Hanging out with firetrucks and firemen! This was actually this morning for our church playgroup. The firemen came and showed us their truck, their gear and answered questions. They were great and Felix just loved the truck. 

The Christmas Card That Never Was & Update

Every year I say out loud to Phil: "we should do Christmas cards this year." And every year I fail to send out anything! I think it always comes down to time and money for me. Someday it will happen, but for now we'll stick with the virtual kind! 

Update on the Singer Family:

PHILLIP

Phil started his PhD program this past fall in Health Services Organization and Policy (I got the name from the website, because I always forget the long title!) He really loves his classes and the material he studies, but the amount of reading and writing really piles up. He's extremely busy and works really hard! This year Phil and I have taken up running, though Phil has been a little more dedicated than me this winter and still runs about 3 times a week in the mornings before he goes to school. He seems to really enjoy it and is looking really trim! Phil continues to be a wonderful dad and Felix never tires of playing with him. They take frequent trips to the library together and have recently started a nightly tradition of unloading the dishwasher! Felix enjoys it so much that we sometimes use it as a reward for eating all his dinner! 

JENNIFER

There are two things I'm most proud of this year. The first is running my first ever 5k back in July (you can read about that here). And the second is potty training Felix! It went so much more smoothly than I imagined it would. I think the key was waiting until he was ready instead of trying to push him. He amazes me everyday and I can't believe how fast he grows and matures. Most of my time is wrapped up in taking care of our little man, but I do get some moments to myself! I've been reading quite a lot this year, a lot of things I wouldn't normally read, like fantasy/science fiction and youth and young adult fiction. In the fall I was asked to serve in the Young Women's organization in our ward over the beehives (12 & 13 yr olds). It's been so fun to see Young Women's from the "other side." It makes me appreciate my past leaders so much more. It takes a lot of time and effort! This past spring I also had the opportunity to take my first train ride down to Chicago to spend a few days with two of my best girlfriends from high school/college. It was so nice to get away for a few days and indulge in good food, good conversation and a new city!

FELIX

Felix has had a big year! He turned 2 in April, flew on 12 airplanes (Boston, Salt Lake City, Portland all with connecting flights each way), started a preschool/play-school group, learned his ABC's, started singing songs, learned his numbers (1-10), potty trained, and recently started sleeping in a big boy bed! Felix loves to play with trains. I guess I should rephrase that and say, Felix is OBSESSED with trains. I'm not complaining. With the breadth of what's available to kids out there, I'm pretty pleased it's trains he's gravitated towards. I'm hoping the whole superhero/fighting phase will take a few more years to catch on. Felix is very smart and talks a lot! Its so fun to have conversations with him. The other day I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up, he looked at me with a quizzical face and said "Christmas?" I'm pretty sure he didn't understand the question, but his response and the way he said it was priceless. One day he thought he heard the snowplow outside clearing the sidewalks in our complex. He said "mom is that the snowplow outside?" I responded that they were not outside, he must have heard something else. His response: "no, it was, I know snowplows" very matter-of-factly.  But he still reminds me frequently that he's still my baby boy when he wants to cuddle and play with my ponytail. He's played with my hair every since he was a baby as a way to sooth himself. To this dad he'll walk up to me and ask "play with your hair?" I sure hope that sensitive side of him never goes away, it's what makes being his mother a pure joy! 

Roseburg

The next part of our Oregon adventure this summer was spent in Phil's hometown in Roseburg, OR. Our first order of business was to celebrate Clem's birthday with a family luau. Rita decked us all out in leis, grass skirts and flowers for our hair. It was a really fun night spent out on the back deck.

We also had the opportunity to take family pictures. Phil's sister in law, Brittney took the pictures and did such a great job! For the family picture she just used her remote with a tripod. They turned out great.

We were lucky to have two sets of family pictures taken this summer after never taking any! I think we're going to start doing it regularly. 

This is my favorite picture from the whole shoot. That smile kills me! 

We loved being able to spend so much time with Phil's family, especially in Roseburg! Felix had never been, so it was fun to take him around to different places and show him Daddy's hometown.

The Coast

In August we went to Oregon to visit Phil's family. All of the brothers and their families were able to come, so it was a great family reunion. First, we spent a few days on the coast Yachats, OR, which was beautiful.

This is the view from the back of the house Clem and Rita rented. It was a great location and a great house. It was so great to able to sit out on the deck and just listen to the sound of the ocean hitting the rocks. I didn't know I missed the ocean. It is such a soothing place to be.

We also had a great time exploring the beach just down the road and playing with cousins. It was also so fun to see Felix bond with his cousins and his grandpa and grandma. He loved and we loved it. 

The sunsets were STUNNING!

(it was a pretty cool day, but nothing was stopping Whitney and Annie from taking a dip!)

(I just LOVE this picture. Felix loves his grandpa and its so awesome to see them bond!) 

Rita was able to get free tickets for the whole family to the aquarium just up the coast, so we took a morning to explore. Felix loved the starfish. He touched them a few times and even tried to pick one up! He sat and watched the sea lions swimming for a good 15 minutes which was really fun. 

We loved being on the Coast. I loved the weather, even the rainy days were so nice. Thank you Clem and Rita for giving us some great memories!

Menu Planning

We've recently really buckled down on budgeting and with that means I need to really menu plan so I'm not spending more than we need to on groceries. I've been looking and looking for a notebook or planner to help me do this, but I haven't been able to come up with one that is strictly just menu planning and nothing else. So I decided to make my own! I thought I would post it here in case anyone else wanted to use it too. I'm going to see if I can make it into a notebook or something to print it out.

Download the PDF HERE.