weekend inventory

I had such a great weekend you guys and I hope you did too!

Friday I went and did a little shopping and then came home to find my two guys hanging out playing on the floor together.  Talk about cute.  Hank was scootin' around in a t-shirt and diaper.  DJ made me dinner while I played with my little bear and then got him ready for bed.

Once Hank was down for the night, I strapped on my running shoes and got in a quick run between thunderstorms.  It was awesome weather for an evening run.  Humid and warm, which for some reason made me extra happy.

Saturday I had plans with my bestie, Megan, to go out for the night for drinks.  It's just been way too long for a good girls night out, just to talk and vent.  We went to the bar right down the street from our houses.  Much needed drinks and conversation.

Sunday was the best day.  I got up with Hank and let DJ sleep in a little. Hank and I were extra productive.  Meg and I had more plans on Sunday.  We were going to a run in downtown Detroit followed by a vinyasa yoga class.  Hank and I ate breakfast, worked on our composting, threw in a load of laundry, emptied all the garbage cans and took out the garbage, got dinner prepared for later and emptied the dish washer.  That's when I discovered that the brand new carafe I just bought from Target a week prior, was annihilated by the dishwasher.  Damn that dishwasher can hardly get the broccoli remnants off my baking dishes, but it will warp the hell out of a plastic carafe.  (It was only $3 so I'm pretty sure I can spring for another)

Meg picked me up and we got coffee, met with another girlfriend and ran from the yoga studio down to Comerica Park and back.  I was already exhausted but we went up to the yoga studio where the instructor had fresh pressed juice for us and we found a very full and warm studio.  It was an hour and fifteen minutes of the best yoga I have ever done.  I wouldn't consider myself an advanced yogi, but I am surely not beginner either.  This class was PERFECT! I hate going to a class at a gym because every class is taught like no one has any idea what yoga is all about.  The instructor, Monica was great and I felt like I sweat out every ounce of water I had to possibly sweat out.  We chanted, balanced and it was just what a Sunday yoga session called for.  I even learned a new arm balance pose that makes me feel like the most centered and strong woman ever.

After yoga we treated ourselves to brunch and met the most adorable beast, Lola.  Lola is a two year old great dane and a precious giant baby.  Her owner taught her not to slobber kisses all over people so she would just nuzzle her nose against your cheek to show affection.  Hello, heart melting all over the patio.

excuse my uniboob-not sure why my boobs look uneven either geez

We drove home afterwards and luckily for me Hank was all primed for an afternoon nap.  Oh happy day.  We napped and woke back up to dinner smelling delicious, just as I planned.

weekend inventory

I will be getting to our vacation starting tomorrow, but today is just a wrap up of this past weekend.

Friday we all slept in.  Even Hank.  We had a slightly nightmarish flight home on Thursday night so we all really needed the extra shut eye.  Once our bums rolled out of bed, DJ and I made coffee and a bottle for Hank.  We were immediately inundated with the Boston bombing updates.  We had not been able to shake the awful events that occurred at the marathon.  We kept the news on most of the day and not only did I get our suit cases unpacked but I also got our laundry done. (pick your jaw up off the floor)  We did some running around, groceries, Target for general odds and ends and Lowes for veggie seeds and to look over some flooring options.  (we've made some big decisions regarding our home and we're not hesitating to start the remodel process)  Once we got home, Hank was nearly ready for bed.  He was still so exhausted from vacationing and teething has reached a wicked stage.  I gave him an early bath and got him in to bed.  DJ and I ate dinner while we sat glued to the tv and were over joyed when they finally caught the suspect.  I planted my veggie seeds and when DJ left to play late night hockey, I struggled to keep my eyes open beyond 11pm.

Saturday, we did not leave our house.  Partially because we really needed a day of full on vacation recuperation and partially because April 20th is my unluckiest day of the entire year.  All bad things happen to me on this day and it's all related to being in a vehicle.  It's my best friends worst day also.  We've been in accidents together, accidents apart, tickets, etc.  Therefor I battened down the hatches this year and crossed my fingers I wouldn't choke on a chicken bone or something.  Luckily nothing bad happened, unless you count Hank's rotten awful day of teething.  That's been going on for days though so I didn't sweat it.  We spent the day in jammies and ordered chinese food to be delivered.

Sunday, we all went to the winter farmers market in the morning and bought damn near a case of jam.  It was our local jam lady's last market in Michigan so we stocked up on her raspberry jalapeno jam and a few others.  I was thrilled that there was lots of fresh produce to choose from.  I planned on buying a ton of fresh produce but was sorely dissapointed to find that they were nearly sold out.  That left me to buy spicy turkey jerky and gluten free sweet treats.  After the market we headed to Henry's friend Will's first birthday party.  It's incredible to see how at one year, Will is such a little man.  Not so much a baby, but a boy.  Hank is six months, a half a year.  Six months flew by.  I'm certain the next six months will fly by just the same and we'll be watching our son smash into a cake just like handsome Will.

It was a great weekend that ended with yummy dinner and a little swinging on the back deck and only a little bitter sweet knowing that I had to come back to work today. 

I have the day off tomorrow so it's only a little awful to have to return to the working world.  Happy manic Monday!

post aquarius birthday joy

February brings lots of love all month.  Between Valentines day and so many of my favorite people having birthdays through out the month it's a short month with an abundance of reason to celebrate.  Monday was my sexy hubby's birthday and Friday was my Aunt Sandy and bestie Meg's birthday.  We celebrated DJ's birthday quietly at home.  One of DJs best friends, Darin, came over to visit and afterwards Henry actually fell asleep before the festivities began so he missed singing "Happy Birthday" and seeing the candles blown out, but I'm sure he dreamed sweet dreams about it.  DJ wanted food from our favorite chinese restaurant, Chopstick House and I surprised him with a special birthday pie, clothes, tickets to The xx and tickets to Of Monsters and Men (those were kinda my half birthday present too) and a stupid amount of new hockey stuff.  The man has nicer hockey equipment, that he uses to play in a beer league, pond hockey and drop-in, than some professionals I swear.  I can't complain too much though.  He's never told me that I couldn't buy a new pair of shoes so I keep my lips sealed.

I mean.  Could my husband be any more awesome?  The answer is no.

Saturday was a bit more raucous for my BFFs birthday.  I recall shots being involved.  Her and her boyfriend had a shared par-tay. 

After fighting with myself to not eat any cupcakes, I caved and ended the night at the greasiest of burger joints in the area with DJ.  It was all so worth it though.  It was so cold out and my choice of short shorts made the walk from party to food to car a treacherous one.  My insides were screaming to be warmed up with bad food.
All in all a very good month so far.  Much better than that stupid cold January.  Although I did run a few miles this morning in the bitter cold at 6am (12 degrees...burr) and thought I was going to puke.  I considered for a moment that I was just out of shape, but then I felt like the weather being ridiculous felt like a more logical excuse.  28 days until spring sprangs suckas.

friday feelings

Blogging is a funny thing.  Sharing your life, the joys, the frustrations, the inspirations.  I started my blog with a certain style in mind, but life and growth have taken it in a completely different direction. 

One of my favorite things about blogging is the sense of camaraderie and support among bloggers that I've come to appreciate so much.  You begin by following someones blog that catches your eye.  Then they by chance follow you.  Someone comments on your blog and then you take a chance and read some recent posts from them and realize how much you have in common and then you follow them regularly.  Reading about their life while they read about yours.  You get to know one another.  Complete strangers that live across the country sometimes, that you would never have otherwise met.  Friendships develop so quickly.  I find myself chatting regularly with fellow bloggers and celebrating their victories, sometimes more frequently than my own friends.  The next thing you know you are part of a little circle of blogger friends.  Your friend follows someone, so you follow them.  Then you start following them on other social networking sites and you are just that much closer to them.  It links your lives in a small way and sometimes a very significant way.

I can ask for inspiration and advice or read their blog and gather ideas for a better me, a better dinner, a better home, a good laugh.  I've come to enjoy my blogging friends more than they could know and for that I must say thank you!


There is a small amount of blogging that stinks though.  When you share your life with people, some icky people feel as though it gives them the right to criticize your choices.  Sadly, it seems like negativity can sometimes be more contagious than positivity.  Someones hurtful comments or words make your blood boil.  Who is this person and what gives them the right to say these things to me?  They don't even know me, but they think they do because you share.  I try my best to stay honest and share good and bad without bumming anyone out with personal frustrations or failures, but there are still things that I keep to myself and my family.  I think that's what people sometimes forget.  We read about what others want to share.  I instantly feel upset, mad, frustrated and want to respond, but per usual most of these negative Nellys use "anonymous" or dummy profiles to spread their hate.  It's a cowardly way of bullying.  The funniest thing is that lots of us have site trackers that also provide us with lots of information about these meanies, what location in the world they are viewing your blog from, what site led them to ours, i.p. addresses that contain their names, etc, etc.  So really you're not as anonymous as you think you are, jerks.  Just as in life though it's far better to take the high road and ignore the filthiness.  I am sensitive though and even one negative comment in a six month period is one too many.  I do wish we could just ship all of the meanies and spammers away to an island and they could just be mean and spam each other. 

I do love blogging though.  I like to share my life because it's a good one.  I'm a proud wife and mommy that takes far too many pictures of her son, but that kid is too cute not to brag about.  Happy blogging and happy reading to all you positive Pollys out there!

Oh by the way, Hank has some late breaking news!

Hank is super excited to welcome his BFF, Phoenix to the world!

Us Bloomingburgs are overjoyed for our friends Marianne and Alex on the arrival of their baby boy.  Can't wait to meet him :)

baby talk

A few weeks ago our friends, Cara, Rob and their baby River, stopped by to hang out.  Their son is just a month older than Henry.  It was so fun to be pregnant at the same time and have someone to talk to that could relate.  Now it's even more fun to have two little boys so close in age.  We all sat around and drank bottles.  Us ladies shared a bottle of wine, the men, bottles of beer and those sweet babes had bottles of milk.  Bottles all over the place. 

I was amazed at the difference a month can make in baby time.  Baby River was doing lots of rolling, toe grabbing and his head was so steady.  Barely a milk drunk head bobble to be seen.  And despite what the pictures may lead you to believe, he's a bit bigger than Mr. Henry.  Henry was clearly stretching his little limbs as long and tall as he could to match his baby friend. 

In the past few weeks though since we had our little play date, I've started to see Henry start to improve in all the same areas.  It's incredible to see him go from not being able to touch his toes to the bottom of the jumper one week and then the next he's practically flat footed on there!  He must have been taking notes from his older and wiser friend ;)

bella loves babies

weekend inventory

This weekend was the Plymouth Ice Festival.  We've been planning a little triple date action with our friends for a few weeks now.  Nana came over to watch Henry while we went out to eat at The Sardine Room, a newish restaurant in downtown Plymouth and then walked around looking at all of the ice sculptures.  Well we tried to.  The weather was apparently too warm for shaved blocks of ice and by the time we got out of dinner there was not much left.  Obviously afterwards an alcohol drink was in order to warm the insides back up.  We even stayed out semi-late for our parental bones.  It seemed like a fine idea since I had Sunday and Monday to recover on sleep.  However as you can see in some of these pictures the later part of the night was a slight blur which made for a rough early start on Sunday and a very very lazy day.  The kind of day where you wake up and take your pajamas off only to shower and then put another pair of pajamas right back on.

Henry has still been feeling yucky.  Even though to the naked, non-mom or dad eye he hasn't really seemed sick at all the entire time.  He saves his crankiness for us two.  If you can't be your crankiest around the people you love the most, who can you be cranky around?

Sunday I did manage to make chicken stuffed peppers for the second Sunday in a row.  They are so good.  I'm working on introducing healthier meals to DJ.  Slowly but surely over the past few years I've done my best to get DJ acquainted with healthier food options.  I won't even tell you how against skim milk he was five years ago and how now he thinks whole milk tastes like sludge.  He protests EVERY single new dish I make, but ALWAYS ends up loving it so much that he requests it again within the next week.  Usually accompanying the request for a repeat he wants to add, replace or subtract something though.  It cracks me up, but as long as it stays healthy I am open to the suggestions.  I also made peanut butter cookies with the little Hershey's kisses in the middle for a sweet snack.  Working on that "perfect" homemaker title over hurrr.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

weekend inventory

Going back to work really makes the whole "Mondays suck major balls." feeling come rushing back real quick.  I do love my job, let me be clear, but leaving my son's smiling face every day is such a dagger to my soul.  He is my whole heart and I feel empty without him.  I am extra lucky to be able to come home for lunch everyday which makes it a little easier and DJ sends me pictures during the day to keep me updated, but it would just be so lovely to stay at home again.  I'm sure this pain I feel everyday will start to lessen to a sting, but for now I am trying to cope as best I can.

Friday night DJ and I ran around with Henry to do some shopping and then DJ left to play hockey.  I had Hank all to myself and it was perfect.  We played and laughed.  We officially started the process of transitioning Hank from his rocker to his crib and Friday night was not successful.  More on that later this week though.

Saturday morning Handsome Hank was so tired I actually had to wake him up at 8am!  We let daddy sleep in and fell right back into our morning routine.  I watched him play on his mat and cried a little in complete awe at how big my baby is getting.  It's amazing to see him learn each and everyday.  He is so curious and excited for new adventures.  Waves of love spilling out all over the place.  Hank took his morning nap in his crib and I worked out, cleaned the house, showered and got ready!  It was such a great day.  Hank's Nana came over that evening and babysat while DJ and I went to a surprise party for my best friend.  She got a new job and I am so proud of her.  She is the most amazing woman and I am so happy for her.  All of our girlfriends went to the bar.  We all live all over the place and it's hard to get us all together at the same time, but when it comes to celebrating a friend's success, we will all be there.  It was a a great reminder that I have terrific friends.
Sunday was nice and lazy.  Hank needed to be woken up after sleeping almost 12 hours.  Him and I played while daddy slept in.  We read a story, worked on tummy time (big development there) and he laughed at himself in the mirror.  Nap time followed play time, lunch, more play time, another nap, dinner and cuddling.  It snowed on Saturday night so we felt pretty confident that a slothful day indoors was in order.  We had lots of things that we were supposed to do, but lackadaisical triumphed over production.
Oh and hey The Bachelor starts tonight!  Who's excited?  

PS to my fellow bloggers:  Have any of you had an increase in the amount of SPAM comments lately?

weekend inventory...um super late

Well we survived the holiday weekend and we still have leftovers to show for it.  No pecan pie though.  The pecan pie was gone by Friday night.  Friday night was a big night over here.  Not only did we finish off the pecan pie, but Hank rolled over as well!  Must have been all the good turkey day food.

Saturday we went to a friends house and watched some college football while Hank met his baby buddy River.  River was born about five weeks before Hank and they were beyond cute hanging out together.  River's mommy, Cara, and I told told them to hug and hold hands.  It was slightly a joke because...well...they are infants. Wouldn't you know it, those babes placed their tiny precious hands right on top of one another?!  Of course I forgot my camera AND phone at home.  Mommy brain: 1 - Laura: 0.  Cara got lots of photos though and promised to send them my way so I'll share when I can.

Sunday was my sweet soul sister, Marianne's, baby shower.  She is pregnant with baby Hank's BFF and he was so excited to meet her.  Hank, Grandma Nancy and I all arrived at the same time and walked in to see the most adorable decorations and favors ever!  Marianne is so incredibly creative and her shower was a perfect example.  Hank was the only boy allowed at the party and the ladies loved him.  Baby Worlow's grandma and great grandma even got some practice in before he arrives :)

Since my lovely friend was in town we Bloomingburg's took full advantage.  Monday, Marianne came over to take some photos of my precious boy and Tuesday was taco  night at her sister's house!  We missed Mr. Worlow but it was so nice seeing my friend with her little baby boy in her belly. She has that mommy glow for sure! I'm so sad she had to leave, but it gives us a perfect excuse to get our butts to Austin!  Miss you already Marianne!

 I really can't believe it's Thursday already.  How did that happen?  Thanksgiving was already a week ago!