a cozy-good friday.

Life today has felt more like the normal, laid-back Indianola pace I love.

I sort of slept in too, so that was nice.

Hailey has a new pattern of waking up at about 6AM.  At this point, I always, ALWAYS think to myself "Oh, I should get up, let her play on her playmat, and work out for 30 minutes, take a shower, and then be ready for the day by the time Shea wakes up."

I don't think I have ever once followed through with this thought.  Maybe if I keep thinking it though, it will happen?  My bed is just soooo cozy.  And then, sometimes Hailey will go back to sleep and I can get another 30 minutes of sleep before Shea wakes up...but lately, she just happily babbles for an hour or so in the dark.  I think I need to start getting up at 6.  Then she can be awake and take her first nap at 7.  I gotta start working on her schedule.  It was much easier with Shea, because I only had one child and could fully devote myself to this whole figuring out their schedule thing.  With Hailey, I don't seem to care too much, but down the road, I KNOW it is easier when your one year old has a healthy, predictable sleep pattern, because then everyone is happier.

Anyway.  I stayed in bed until close to 9:30!!  Hailey fell back to sleep right when Shea got up (around 7:40), but Jeremy turned on sesame street for him and I went back to sleep.  Let me tell you, this was woooondeeerful!  Although I did feel slightly guilty for letting Shea watch that much TV.  Hopefully the rest of the day will make up for it.

Once I got up, Shea and I started a fire, cuddled and read a book.  Then Hailey went back to sleep for her nap.  During this time, I decided to go on Netflix and find a workout.  And I discovered something.  They "lost" their license for all their exercise videos(???).  Apparently, the studios raised their prices, and users aren't making up for the price raise, so they just got rid of them.  I googled it and stumbled onto a blog where I learned all about this, and I guess a lot of people are writing in now because they want their workouts back! I was kind of bummed, because we just got Netflix yesterday again, and I was looking forward to having some of my favorite workouts back.  So, instead I looked up a workout routine for my new kettle ball instead.  Jeremy was given 10 pound kettle ball from the lady he was working for (she was getting rid of a bunch of stuff, because she is getting her house ready for some renters).  I love it!  It's the perfect starting weight, and after I did this circuit twice, I felt like I worked out as well as I feel after my hour long zumba or my 45 minute weight training.  I also added in a few other quick reps from other workouts that I like.

This lady also gave us 9 new mugs!  I LOVE THEM.  I have been wanting to get new mugs for a while, because I have never liked the ones that came with our dishes, and our other ones were getting old, but I didn't want to spend money until I find the exact ones I want.  These aren't exactly what I WANT, but I love the colors and size of these, and they are all like brand new.  They look kind of bright in this picture, but they are actually darker and more neutral in tone.

After a quick shower with baby (while Shea played), we had lunch, and then Shea worked on a few thank you notes for his birthday.  It is amazing how far he has come in the past 6 weeks of school!  He traced the "thanks" on the card, and inside I just had him trace his name.  He didn't even understand the concept of tracing the first time I showed him, and now he can do it by himself.  Although, we need to still work on proper pencil grip, but he has years to master that.  Its just fun to see how he is growing and learning new things!

The leaves are some artwork we made after our walk.  We picked up them on our way home.  Shea made the yellow page, and he insisted that I make a picture too, so I made a heart with mine.  I actually kind of like it.  I think I'll put them in frames for rest of the fall season.  And, I think I have to have my preschool class make some heart leaf art this coming week, too.

Oh yes, so we went on a walk!  I'm so glad we did!  I haven't been getting us outside enough lately - even with the rain, there has been some mild enough days that we could go for walks at the least.  

Shea loves going on this little bridge.  If you walk to the right on the beach (from our house), then it leads to a little trail with this bridge and a few makeshift bridges made out of planks into a short forest preserve.  It's fun because we can go on a "hike" without taking a long walk.  Then we just walk back to the house on the road.  He was excited because he got a new "chuck" truck for his birthday and also found his old one outside, so they are best friends today and he has been playing with them for the past hour since we've been home.

Here is a cool bench someone built out of driftwood on the beach, and I was just showing you my new red skinny jeans.  Probably shouldn't have bought them, since I'm still losing weight, but ah, they were cheap and I wanted some new pants until I get down to my normal size.  Only about 10 pounds to go.  I'm fighting for it this time, ha.

Anyway, baby is sleeping, Shea is playing peacefully, the house is cozy and warm, and I feel wide awake and rested for once!  My plan is to go tackle laundry (I haven't folded it for days, and still have like two more loads to run...4 loads of laundry is a lot of little shirts and pants to fold around here!) and start planning for preschool if I have time.  Jeremy and I are going to try and sneak away for a little date tonight too, if his parents can watch the kids.  I'm thinking Pho or frozen yogurt will be in order.

Happy November!