I knew they'd be BFFs

Check out my little boys, y'all.

(Not really) Lazy Thursday

I've been at work every single day for some reason or another since the first day of classes- whatever that Monday before Labor Day was. Not a huge deal and certainly not anything new- it's the nature of collegiate athletics- for obvious reasons, this year is different because of my little wild card, MOCK-SEEM!

Man, I like this kid. I don't usually take days off so a blessing in disguise in the form of post nasal drip stopped by the Kurpel house yesterday morning. I'm a real piece of work- I don't like to take days off. Even when I was a teacher I used to hoard my days off and boast about it as a badge of honor because when I retired I would be able to be paid for up to 180 of them!!!! (Glutton for punishment or just crazy?)

Now I only get a certain number of sick, vacation and personal days each year that DO NOT carry over from year to year as they did when I'm a teacher- and notoriously in June, I'm scrambling to use them because I'M CRAZY and my arm basically has to be falling off to use one. Enter my job- I'm a college coach so if I don't go to work my team doesn't practice. My team doesn't practice, they might decide to act like almost every other college jock I know and take it as a challenge to see how drunk they can get- trust me, I'm speaking from experience.

I'm seizing the day! I don't have practice today (NCAA regulations can be fun!) but we do have our team Night of Relection so I have to be there at 5:15 but until then I'm home with my BB surfing the intranets with my head cold!

I might be the only person I know who welcomes illness so I can get some sleep and relaxation.

Here is a commercial break with some pics before I ramble some more about stuff you might not care about. 

This handsome boy slept from 930pm last night until 7am this morning. He knew his mommy needed a long nap.

Hat party at Spencers GRM. Raawr!

Guess who can crawl?!

Hat party, con't.

Dead stink bug on my wall.

Pop-pop pants. Well, more like Daddy pants. Todd has red shorts that he wears like this to be funny? I thought I'd send him this picture to see the example he's setting for our son.

Four years ago when "I hated my teaching job" (I say this in quotes b/c I loved teaching, didn't like the situation) I'm starting to wonder how much my negative thoughts got in the way. Now when things get tough at work I feel the same crappy thoughts sneaking around my brain. I'm reading a bit about the power of positive thinking but sometimes I'm finding that my thoughts are sabotaged even thought I think I'm making a conscious effort to thing positively. I sure don't know what the solution is but saying things like "I have been at work everyday since 8/28" and "this is THE WORST" or other distructive things like this have been taking it's toll.

Some positives in the past few weeks:

1. Awesome baby and husband. Since I'm staying at work late most nights for practice (turf lights are a blessing and a curse...) Todd and Maks have been getting some great bonding time and they seem like they're having a blast. Although I'm sad I'm not there with them, I'm really thankful for my awesome, hands-on baby daddy.

2. I made a commitment to not miss more than two days in a row for my yoga practice- and also remind myself that it's not a workout that I have to do, but what I want to do because it's good for me and I like the way it makes me feel.

3. WE GOT RID OF THE COUCH. I think I've mentioned this before but this is the first step needed from Shannon's awesome work for me. I'm going to get this together.

4. My mums that I planted last year are blooming. Over the past two years I've picked up a whole slew of perennial plants and flowers for my garden and planted them when I got them which made me forget what all's in there- which is so awesome because about seven times a year I'm surprised with pretty flowers and butterfly visitors to my yard. So now I'm on the hunt for cheap mums to put more around the yard. I love outdoor flowers. I do not like indoor flowers. (well, I like them if I don't have to clean them up.)

5. BB is taking a nap. I read all over the place about how children need routine. I'm very successful getting BB to bed at night by swaddling in his muslin blankets (which has been my go to gift for all baby showers- I know, I know, stick to the registry...BUT at nearly five months old, these are the only receiving blankets Maks hasn't grown out of.) So I saw him yawning and rubbing his eyes about 40 minutes ago so I swaddled his ass and he's been asleep since. Love.

6. I'm blogging today!

7. Itsy Bitsy Yoga is a great kids yoga book- and Maks seems to like it. PS- my kid feverishly bicycles his legs and squeals when he's happy. I wish adults were more like this.

Mental block.

I've been sitting here at my desk for an hour and a half doing nothing.

I don't have practice. I want to go home.

But I don't want to clean the mess that's there.

Which is why I'm still here.

I don't wanna.

Mad Hatter Wednesday

Oh Mah Gawd.

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.


-william carlos williams from THE poetry packet senior year.

What would we do without the red wheel barrow? And those chickens, oh, those chickens.

Enough of the crazy talk.

Had a glorious thing happen to us this morning- bulk trash.

When Todd and I moved in together we brought with us a couch. Think 1980s burlap with a sofa bed. It was given to us by his bro-in-law who inherited it from the sublet where his college roommate was staying in Manayunk. Gross.

It's been in our kitty-litter infested mudroom/office/whatever room for the past two years. I drove by the house after dropping BB off on my way to work- and it WAS GONE. Praise Jesus. I might go on a Walmart shopping spree to redecorate- and not even look at the rollback price tags to mark the celebration. I wrote a review for Walmart this morning- calling it the New Ikea. This is because they sent me a bed frame, it was easy to put together and I'm not afraid for my life while sleeping in it.

I'm all over the place today/this week/this month. I'm so busy that it keeps me from feeling sad from how much time I spend at work. I read an article this weekend on a 2.5 hour trip to Susquehanna, PA that people don't use weekends for what they're intended for: leisure. We pack them with bill paying, laundry folding, running around- and we're so exhausted that when Monday rolls around, it tends to be the least productive day of the work week.

When I started my job coaching and working at my alma mater I referred to it as my dream job. Well...I think after five years that something's changed: my idea of a dream.

I want a weekend day off. Or, crazier yet, two weekend days off. I want to be able to make plans with my friends on the spur of the moment (with baby in tow, of course) and not have to worry about being at work after 6- and coming home in time to spend some waking hours with my baby and husband.

I sent my resume for a job like this. Please, please. Please. If you pray, pray that something works out. If you meditate, meditate on this idea and will it to happen for me.

Please.

HA!

My blog is a mess.

popular demand.

Ask and you shall receive.

It's better than nothing, right?

Remember by Craigslist dream of trading my coffee pot for something awesome-er? And then trading that for something awesom-er? And so on and so on until I'm swimming in my Scrooge McDuck vault?

Well, a nice man named Bill in his orange p-wagon offered $30 for it. So I jumped at the offer since I overpaid my mortgage leaving me broke for the month. Now, I should try to stick with my plan and buy something for $30 on craigslist and keep going but Mama needed a Dunkin' latte and some egg and chee Wake Up Wraps this morning. So there she blows.

So yogaVlog is being put on the back burner for now. The field hockey season has started, thus, my mind cannot be quieted once she's awoken for BB's 3am feeding. It takes me about two hours to get back to sleep and when that happens Todd starts putting around and it's nearly time for BB's second snack when I pull him into bed with me so we can sleep/nurse. Good news, I read today that sleeping through the night for baby means five hours- and we're doing that. ANNND I've been going to bed at the same time (pretty much) as him so I'm at least getting a five hour stretch as well as a few two hour naps here and there. I'll survive.

I hear something magical happens at the four month mark- just ten days away.

Some more updates:

1. We're having our first cousin's picture (Maksi, Snake, Cake and A-buh) and I have to miss it. The kids, most of their parents and most of the grandparents are going to set the babes up in their cute matching outfits. Pretty excited and sorry I'll miss it. My sister's equiv of a MIL and my mother will most likely be standing in the background of the scene with their disposable Kodaks reeking havoc on the event. One baby will probably punch another in the face starting a screaming match and hopefully this will all be caught on film. I'm sad to miss it. I don't know why anyone would choose to be a working mom...unless they're like us and have to pay bills. This is the pits.

2. We have to move. I got a little sad and snuggled up next to Todd the other night- and looked at him and said, "Can you please help me clean up my stuff so we can move? I don't want my baby's crib next to a toilet any more." I faced an important reality there- most of the crap we have is mine and mine alone. So when I get mad about a cluttered house, I just need to stop moping and make something happen.

3. Someone in my family told someone else in my family that their child suffers from separation anxiety because s/he hugs and kisses him/her too much. Uh...no. Babies can't be hugged and kissed enough. And anyone who thinks otherwise is off their rocker. Sir.

4. I wrote this about my Vibrams on examiner.com. Go check it out.

5. Jacob ate some prunes.