Floor Sweepers

The marriage conference we attended was amazing and will be difficult to sum up so, in the mean time, check out Decs and his cousin "sweeping" G.ma and G.pa's floor:

Low Tank

My tank is running very low.

Work has been extremely busy for both of us.

Our schedules have been overflowing.

Declan has been sick with a cold turned ear infection. This lovely infection caused us all to get very little sleep this week.

More than anything my tank is running low with my husband. We've been ships passing the last few months. He's busy, I'm busy, Declan fills every millisecond of our lives.

So, I'm super uber excited to attend a marriage conference with Mark this weekend. 

Just Mark and I--no toddlers, no clients needing my time, no interruptions. We even booked a hotel that happens to be 5 minutes from our house. Dorks, I know. So, cheers to making it through these next 2 days of craziness and on to weekend of tank filling. 

Through the tears and tantrums this ear infection created, there was a bright moment this weekend when Declan got to run around the park with his cousin. Aren't they too precious? 

Signing

I've always been interested in sign language and knew I wanted to teach my kiddo how to sign. I started early with Decs and for months and months had zero luck. One day, he started picking up on it. I really credit signing to helping us communicate with a toddler that had lots to say and no words. Now, he signs and speaks. It's adorable. 

"More"

"Please"

"All Done" (though clearly not done evidenced by the apple in hand and mouth)

He also uses "drink", "thank you", "milk" and "cracker". I'm trying to teach him "help" and some potty signals. If you haven't thought of signing or are frustrated with trying, I encourage you to keep on it. It's been really rewarding to be able to communicate, especially before he talked.

Side note- it was 65 degrees today. Pure bliss. Tomorrow? Snow and 30s. Boooo.

Too Sweet

Aren't little newborn feet the best? I had the chance to capture a friend's 10 day old son's cute feet today. He added an extra measure of cuteness by resting his one foot in between the toes of another. Sooo sweet. 

Gymnastics Outing

This morning we had a fun little outing with cousin Asher at a local gymnastics place. From a mother with a son with loads of energy, this will now be a permanent part of our schedule. Some favorites from today:

Here's Declan not quite loving the zip line yet. I know he's a little young, but he has some serious upper body strength so I thought it was worth a try. He basically goes out on the zip line but doesn't let go. It was so funny.

Swingin'

We're so anxious for Spring!! It wasn't a surprise that we were the only ones at the park tonight while it was a brisk 40 degrees outside. Declan enjoyed himself regardless.

Wordless Wednesday

Show Us Your Life- What's Your Typical Day

It's intriguing to peek in to other's lives. That's why I've enjoyed the "Show Us Your Life" series over on Kelly's Blog. This week it's "What's Your Typical Day". 

Because I haven't had a typical day for many years, here's a breakdown of might happen on our house day to day:

M-W-F: These days I'm primarily wearing my stay-at-home mom hat. Declan gets up 8am-9am and I shower (usually) before he gets up. We eat breakfast and either head out to play date, run errands or play until lunch. After eating lunch we play or head to the park (weather pending---dear Spring, I miss you!). Declan naps around 2pm for 1.5-3 hours. Throughout the day I'm texting and emailing clients if it's urgent but Dec's nap time is where I get most my work for the day done. We also swing by my office if I have something to fax or to pick up. Declan is well known for tearing the place a part, ahem, I mean entertaining my co-workers. If I do take him to a client meeting (very rare, but does happen) I just call him my cute assistant and it all works out. I love the flexibility of my job for allowing me to be mommy and career woman simultaneously. 

Tues-Thurs: These are my office/meeting days. Declan goes to daycare these two days- daddy usually drops him off (his office is 2 minutes away). I try to pick him up but Mark does that duty too if I have an appointment that clashes. I'm BUSY BUSY these days. I pack in every work related thing that will fit!

Our evenings definitely depend on my work schedule. I sell real estate so I work when my clients are off and some only have evenings available. I keep my client base a manageable size so I'm only working a couple evenings a week for an hour or two. Declan and daddy hang out doing whatever boys do. :)

I work nearly every weekend. I take appointments here and there and do some work out of my home office with an 18 month old crawling on my shoulders (literally). I never really mind this for  the most part and I work my appointments around our weekend activities. We always do something as a family on Saturdays and Church with lunch afterwards on Sundays. In general we're pretty busy with hanging out with our family and friends. 

I got to bed too late around 12am-1am. I blame this on my night owl husband. If you want to read other "typical days" you can pop over to Kelly's blog. 

C-c-cryin'

Anytime we tell Declan he can't do something or take something from him he probably shouldn't be playing with in the first place, we get this little jewel of a reaction:

It's really hard not to smile, because it's so darn cute.