Over the weekend: St. Patty's Day 2013

As you may recall, I have married into a family that has a standing tradition of marching in the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in the Quad Cities. Joshie had a bachelor party in St. Louis so I went all single mom up in that parade and Dexter and I represented. And by represented I mean he cried at the beginning and I stressed the eff out. It was cold, he was just getting over his bout with the flu, and I am not used to flying solo when it comes to these kinds of things.

I tell you what, all you single mamas out there, I tip my hat to you. I had a helluva time trying to throw beads, steer a stroller/carry a kid and not run into the trailer or the parade goers.  I also decided that I may need to join a gym or something because I am crazy sore. So weak. 

It's worth it though because look how gosh darn cute he is in his outfit! Baby leg warmers is where it's at, kids. Write it down.

And if this was a style blog, I would tell you the pants are from Target and are part of a two piece Carter's pajama set and that they are a size 5t that are being held up by a hairtie because someone refused to wear suspenders. Then I would tell you the bowtie was thrifted and the hat is vintage c/o Grandma. And that's how you do St. Patty's Day.

Over the weekend: Being two

It was a big weekend around these parts. Dexter turned two and celebrated the occasion with family, Mickey Mouse candles, pizza and gifts. 

Two is something. Two is trying. Two is a little bipolar?

I feel like each age has its challenges. When we were still in the wee months, the challenge was being inexperienced and unknowledgeable.  Those days were filled with not having any idea what the hell a cluster feed was and trying to figure out your "sleep training philosophy" (note: we are a cry it out family. Ain't no shame in our game). Then came the post 12 months era and the art of articulating something by not articulating anything at all. Use your words...that you don't have, little friend.

And now?

Well, now there is the speaking. The talking. The repeating. The shouting. The whining. The fake crying. Oh, yes. The fake crying that appears in seconds and disappears in nanoseconds. You sweet little magician.

There is also the singing. The running. The jumping. The dancing. The hugging. The cuddling.

Two is confusing.

And I hear three is worse. So there's that.

    P.S. Two is also in need of a haircut.

Over the Weekend: The one where we all hang out together

It's really easy for us to go several weekends without seeing our friends during the winter. The idea of braving the cold isn't the most tempting plus the current flu epidemic that is sweeping the nation is a quick way to put the kibosh on any social gatherings.

But then this weekend happened and it's as if the stars aligned themselves just for our little group. We were all able to hang out on both Saturday and Sunday. Gasp. Cue the choirs of angels.

The highlight reel goes like this:

On Saturday, we all went to Dance Baby Dance. This time the organized activity was a group sing along led by these folks and tell you what, that Dexter's little face was in shock when she started singing the ABCs...and then all the other kids were singing it too. Jaw dropped. It was a very "Holy crap, mom. Are you hearing this? All these people know this song! This is my jam," look. Josh told me it was the exact same look that I give him when a band starts playing a song that I know at a concert.

Afterwards, we decided to do a leisurely lunch with everyone at La Hacienda. And then we remembered there is no such thing as a leisurely lunch when children of a certain age are involved. Suffice it to say, our waiter earned every penny of his tip.

Sunday brought us the Superbowl and we hosted our first Chili Cookoff. Seven kinds of chili. We did a blind taste test which was kind of good but kind of crazy to organize. I used this printed tape from Target to designate which chili was which and had help dishing it out from my former-vegetarian-okay-with-chicken-but-ground-beef-not-so-much buddy, Kelly. Thanks, pal! Nick and Amy took top honors with their riff on a Spicy Three Meat version.

During our party, it became evident that if we ever host a party we may as well host it in a shoebox because our home felt approximately that size once we stuffed eight couples and eight kids in it. P.S. There were eight kids but somehow it felt like 80? There were kids in bathrooms, in closets, on stairs, in potato chip bags. If our dear Sudsy was still with us it would've been quite a sight.

It was the kind of weekend that was both exciting and exhausting. A good weekend. No photos this time around because while hanging out with everyone this weekend was kismet, sadly a camera to capture it was not.