Saturday, February 28, 2015

Weekly wrap up

I broke the first unspoken rule of spin class on Monday and I took someone else's bike. This blonde woman came in and saw me and her friends make a few loud jokes about checking Facebook in the locker room before class. She came over to find another bike and I said, "I know I took your bike, would you like it back?" And she got all embarrassed and said, "Oh no, I shouldn't have even said anything. It's just that I like the way that bike rides even though they should all be the same." I tried to pay attention to how the bike felt and decided that the blonde lady can have her bike back, it's not that great!
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Daniel and I officially bought plane tickets and found a place to stay for our trip to Washington, DC after graduation! For a while we were planning on splitting our time between DC and NYC, but Daniel wasn't thrilled with trying to fit in both places in just a few days, so he chose Washington and we're SO excited! We haven't been back to DC together since we got married (I went for my sister's wedding in July 2013), so we're really looking forward to exploring the city again. We requested tickets to tour the White House a few weeks ago and the place we found on airbnb is a block away from a Metro station! I'm also excited that we get to spend a few days at home after DC, it's going to be a whirlwind week!
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Matthew was a super grump on Tuesday and started breaking out in a weird rash. Daniel called it viral exanthem, it looked like adult acne to me. I called first thing on Wednesday morning and Dr. Barkimer was able to squeeze us in at 9:30am. I met with a PA student first, she seemed more concerned about his cold (he's had a perpetual cold since October, Daniel's the same way) than the rash. I randomly found out she has extended family in Wilmington and is going to spend spring break at a beach house in Carolina Beach. She said Matthew's right ear was red and when Dr. Barkimer came in he saw it right away and said it was an ear infection. My heart broke for Matthew, I was letting him cry and be sad and getting frustrated with him when he was in pain and feeling bad! I gave him extra snuggles until his medicine kicked in, he's doing so much better now!
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Also on Wednesday, Daniel submitted his rank list for residency! We celebrated with the Couch Potato from Glass Nickel (Cardiac Arrest is better) and some Yo Mama goodness. I'll be spending the next few weeks going back and forth between biting my nails and making ice cream runs.

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On Thursday I went out with some other M4 wives to the recently opened Corner Bakery Cafe. It was also a surprise baby shower for our friend, Patra, she's having a little girl and I had way too much fun shopping for her! Dinner was yummy and it was fun to hear where everyone ranked their top programs. There are a few of us who could end up back east, it would be fun to have friends close by!

Cassidy, Nina, Ashley, Emily C/Emily P, me, Patra, Eliza
(swiped from Instagram from Emily P)
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Something I love right now - Amoxicillin


This beautiful pink medicine has turned my baby back into his cute and happy self! Let's compare...

Tuesday

We went to the doctor on Wednesday...

Thursday at the awesome Betty Brinn Children's Museum

It's amazing what a difference 36 hours makes! I got lots of ear infections when I was a baby (my dad jokes that I bled amoxicillin) and so did Daniel (his pediatrician recommended tubes at one point) and his brothers, so it looks like this is something Matthew will have issues with too. Guess we'll be friends with Mr. Amoxicillin for the next few years. But thank goodness for this medicine and it's amazing healing abilities!

-Jenn

PS: I'm team white and gold. I KNOW it's really black and blue, it just takes my eyes a while to get there

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Weekly wrap up

This week I started browsing Pinterest for some party and smash cake ideas for Matthew's birthday in a couple months. I was so overwhelmed each time I logged on! I want a healthy-ish cake, but all of the recipes I found called for bananas and that's one of the few foods Matthew doesn't like. A friend suggested making banana pancakes to see if he likes cooked bananas, I hope he does because that would give me a lot more options. Also, how can I decide on a theme when there are so many cute ones to choose from?! I'm glad I started researching in advance!
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On Tuesday I went to PF Chang's for a baby shower and started feeling yucky later that night. I felt okay-ish the next morning, not great but not bad enough to stay home all day. I thought it was mild food poisoning. Wednesday mornings are when I volunteer at the daycare at the gym and I noticed Matthew was clingy and fussy all morning long. He also had a few blowouts and not much of an appetite, so I started wondering if we had some sort of tummy bug. Matthew was taking up a lot of my energy and I had several kids to watch, so I had Daniel pick him up and take him home. We were supposed to go to Appleton and see Jeff, Kendra, Stephen, Meliah, and the kids, including our new nephew, William, but we decided against it because Matthew and I were feeling yucky. There were several instances where things would've been really difficult if we hadn't been at home, so I definitely think we made the right call. It was a light day for Daniel class-wise, I am SO grateful he was able to do so much for us. I went to bed around 9pm on Wednesday and felt 100% better on Thursday, but Matthew was still sick.

Look at that poor sick face!

Matthew was feeling a bit better (eating and playing more) on Friday, but sleep was a whole other issue. Same for yesterday. The poor kid couldn't nap for more than 30 minutes without waking up and crying, and overnight he would wake up every 2-3 hours. I was mean and let him cry, it was like sleep training all over again! I was grumpy for a few days, but things seem to be looking up - Matthew napped for two hours today and went to bed without a fuss. Here's to getting back on a regular schedule soon!
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Yesterday we went to Appleton to visit everyone! It was fun to hang out and catch up with everyone, even though Matthew was not in a good mood part of the time.

New cousins!
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Remember this post where I mentioned the Thin Mint cheesecake? I made it this week! For my first cheesecake, I think it turned out well! I would probably add a bit more peppermint extract and more mini chocolate chips next time, but I'm glad I tried it.

Yum!
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We found out tonight that our boundaries changed and we're in a new ward. We were a bit surprised, but honestly we don't mind as much as others since we'll probably only be here for a few more months. We're looking forward to meeting some new people and are grateful we have friends in the new ward too!
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Something I love right now - Family selfies
This was one of the more precious moments this week when we were all feeling good. I love my little family!


-Jenn

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Weekly wrap up

I worked out Monday-Saturday this week! I can't remember the last time that happened. It might have been while I was still in college...

I've been more mindful of my body this week. The sore muscles, the creaky joints (I will definitely need knee replacements when I'm older), the necessity of a good breathing pattern, every day I've thanked Heavenly Father for my body and its capabilities. Sure, there are 65-year-olds in my yoga class who can hold a plank longer than I can, but I know I'll get there. Maybe.
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Matthew had a big week! We're starting the whole sippy cup thing, I'm hoping to wean him off bottles by his birthday in April. Right now the lunchtime drink is a sippy, breakfast and dinner are still bottles. He's slowly getting the hang of things, I think we'll make it in time!

The first sippy on Monday. He was not impressed

Matthew turned 10 months on Tuesday! These little photo shoots are getting harder and harder, he just wants to be everywhere all the time.

Still managed to get this cute shot though!

We're also working on baby sign language. Matthew knows milk, more, and all done. He knows how to sign, but he hasn't quite put their meanings together yet. It's a work in progress. We're trying to add please and thank you too.

Here's a video of his sweet skills!

Happy Valentine's Day!

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On Thursday we went out for an early Valentine's dinner. We went to Lake Park Bistro for some fancy French food and because we had a gift card (is that tacky? I didn't care at all!). Our reservation was at 8pm, so we were able to feed Matthew, give him a bath, and put him to bed before heading out (thanks for watching him, Emily!). It was fun to dress up and wear high heels and give Daniel my undivided attention! Milwaukee friends, definitely check out LPB if you get the chance - the escargots dish is amazing!

My cute outfit and my cute date!
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Something I love right now - O'Keeffe's Working Hands cream


Dry winters are pretty much the worst. Dry winters with a baby are absolutely the worst. Changing diapers, wiping up spills and messes, dropping off and picking up at the daycare at the gym - there's a LOT of hand washing going on. Ever since I left home for the frigid winters of Utah and Wisconsin, I've spent the nights from November-April with lotion and socks on my hands. Most of the time it was enough to just barely repair the damage from the day before, but then my mom sent me a tin of this stuff and it changed everything! My hands look and feel SO much better, and there aren't any cracks or chapped places at the end of the day. It's a miracle in a plastic jar, plain and simple.

-Jenn

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Dress

In my bedroom, I have a dress hanging on the back of the door to the bathroom. I have loved this dress from the moment I saw it, 5 months ago in the front display of a New York & Company. I saw it and immediately thought This is the dress that I will to wear to Daniel's graduation. My mom bought the dress as a Christmas present and I asked her to buy it a size down, with the intent to diet and exercise my way into looking flawless in it. I tried it on almost as soon as I unwrapped it and was pleased that it already fit, though I noticed a couple areas that needed some work. I came up with a seemingly foolproof New Year's resolution - every evening I'd make a list of things I wanted to do the next day (go the gym, clean the bathroom, etc.). If I accomplished everything on the list, I'd get a dollar. At the end of each month, I'd collect my money and spend it on whatever I wanted. I was basically giving myself an allowance! I daydreamed of shopping for shoes, splurging on a pedicure, laser hair removal, something that would turn me into the perfect wife for my doctor husband. I wanted to reinvent myself and become comfortable with the new persona in time for residency because things were going to be different once Daniel started wearing that long white coat.

And then it was January 1.

I stuck to my resolution for about 36 hours. Daniel was gone for days for interviews. Matthew got sick. It was too cold to leave the apartment. All of these little things piled up and overwhelmed me. I saw the dress multiple times a day. I felt little twinges of failure multiple times a day. If I couldn't complete a daily list of tasks, how was I supposed to figure out how to pay off loans or teach Matthew how to sign or succeed at my church calling?! I read over a few weeks of journal entries and realized I wasn't happy. I was letting the dress/the fantasy of perfection ruin my life. I can't get rid of my stretch marks or go more than a week without eating Chick-fil-A or not love Andrew McMahon. So I had to say goodbye to perfect Jenn. That doesn't mean I'm giving up on bettering myself, I'm just learning to love myself for who I am now. I'm taking baby steps to get to where I want to be, but I'm enjoying the journey too.

I tried the dress on today. It zipped up easily and I put on some heels and Daniel whistled when he saw me. Things will be different when he starts residency. But that doesn't mean we have to completely change who we are.

The dress doesn't hold the power it once did. It's not going to make me perfect. It's not going to be the foundation of a successful residency.


Although I am looking forward to calling Daniel Dr. Lindsay.

-Jenn

Friday, February 6, 2015

Weekly wrap up: NC edition #2 and then some

Sorry I didn't blog last week! I was soaking up every last bit of North Carolina-ness and then there was the whole trying-to-get-back-to-Milwaukee-in-a-snowstorm thing and I just decided to do two weeks of blogging in one post.
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Before we left for NC, we had a pretty good idea of where we wanted to rank each program. After the interviews though, things were a bit up in the air. We've done some rearranging and feel good about everything, now I get to be a giant stress ball for the next 6 weeks...
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My mom was able to take a couple days off of work and we went to visit my brother in Chapel Hill. Mom took us to the Streets at Southpoint and I was so upset to learn that this was just a few miles from us the entire time we were at UNC! We scored some good deals, including this sweater from Baby Gap


I've loved this sweater from the moment I saw it, but I was not willing to pay $40 for it. They also didn't make it in a size smaller than 2T, which was a bummer because I wanted Matthew to wear it immediately. I actually don't call Matthew by his name very often, I typically rotate through dudelittle misterbrolittle boymister boy, and Matthew boy several times a day, which might be why I like the sweater so much. I found it in a 2T and am planning on getting a lot of use out of it in about a year.


This is NOT an announcement, but I bought this little dress at Baby Gap too. You can't tell in the picture, but it's got a soft sparkle and adorable ruffle bloomers. I've never been the kind of person to buy baby clothes just because, but I was so smitten with this dress that I had to have it! Hopefully I'll have a little girl to dress up one day, but if not I'm sure I'll have a niece who will rock it!

This is how Daniel spends his time while I shop
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A giant snowstorm came through the Midwest late last weekend, Daniel and I were afraid our flight from Charlotte to Chicago would be cancelled since pretty much every other flight to ORD was. We made it to Charlotte without a problem, and when we got to the gate in Charlotte I asked the agent if we were really going to take off and he said, "The pilot's here and ready to go." I really didn't think we were going to take off, but we did and were looking forward to getting back to Milwaukee. I realized after about 45 minutes that we had started making a giant circle. The pilot announced that he was waiting for clearance from Chicago so we had to kill some time. We got the all clear, started the descent, and then went around in circles again for about 30 minutes. The plane sped up and started climbing and I knew we weren't going to Chicago anymore. The pilot told us that there was a truck stuck on the runway and we couldn't land and we were going to St. Louis to refuel and then come back. It was about an hour to St. Louis, and as soon we got to the gate we found out the plane wasn't going back. Matthew had been such a trooper the whole time, but he lost it when we started deplaning (it didn't help we were in row 25 of 28). Daniel was supposed to start a class the next day, so we tried getting the airline to cover a rental car for us, but they wouldn't. Instead, they booked us for a flight the next day and gave us a list of discounted hotels. We were able to watch the third quarter of the Super Bowl and that's it.

Here's our flight path from Charlotte to St. Louis

Our plane sat on the runway for an hour in Chicago waiting for a gate to open up. Thank goodness there was an empty seat next to us! Matthew was pretty fed up with planes and airports by the end
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This week has been all about settling back in. We don't have a lot of travel plans for the next few months, although we may take a weekend trip here or there if we can swing it. I am SO over the cold and snow, I'm really hoping this is our last hard winter!
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Something I love right now - Agora by Bear Hands


Back in December, we took a trip to Chicago to check out the Christkindlmarket and other Christmas-y city happenings. I came down from Milwaukee and Daniel stopped by on his way back from an interview in Cincinnati. I got stuck in terrible traffic and my GPS was taking me all over the place to avoid it. I was sitting at a light waiting to turn onto yet another random side street when this song came on the radio and I liked it and clung to it in hopes that I would get to the hotel soon (it actually took about 20 more minutes). And I've listened to it at least once a day since then. There's no real particular reason why I like this song so much, but I just can't stop listening to it! I do love the sweet manbun and adult footie pajama action in the video though.

-Jenn