Settling Back In

Blaine and I just got back from a wonderful, relaxing, food-filled trip to San Francisco.  We had planned on going on a "baby-moon" trip before Eli was born, but never got around to it.  This time around, we were just going to book a trip and figure out the logistics later!  And I am so happy that we waited until now to take a trip.  As much as you are told to relax, and take advantage of your time before you become parents, but I didn really, really get it until I was actually in it.
Blaine and I talked about how at one point in our lives we would have felt guilty spending time in the hotel room, and napping, and laying on the bed watching TV, and talking, and snacking, instead of our exploring the city.  Oh no, not this time!  Don't get me wrong, we got around to doing everything on our list while we were there, but we definately took advantage of our time together and being childless as well.  Do you know how long its been since we laid in bed together in the morning and drank coffee together while watching the news, without a little two-foot guy crawling over us? Or how long its been since we just woke up when we wanted to instead of to the alarm clock that goes off around 6am every morning with little cries, or singing, or the cutest little voice talking? Or just walked out the door and walked around for hours exploring a new city, and didn't have to worry about the time to make sure that someone got down for a nap on time? I didn't have to clean, didn't have to wash dishes, make meals, change diapers, watch an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba (although we did watch a few minutes of an episode while flipping through the channels and talked about how much we missed Eli), and Blaine and I had time to just focus on each other, even though every other minute of every single conversation was about how much we loved and missed Eli!

It was definitely hard to be away from him for so long, but knew that he was in the best hands possible! And actually, probably had waaay more fun staying with Lolli and Pop than he does at home!  We had such a great time, ate a lot of wonderful food, walked all throughout the city, took naps, and relaxed and just enjoyed eachother.

We settled back into our daily lives right away, with the exception of feeling totally run-down and exhausted from traveling.  Eli had his 15 month well-check appointment this week, even though is is already 16 months, the last month has been busy and so we are a few weeks late.  If you recall, he is a bit on the small side, but totally impressed us by going from the 5th percentile to 15th percentile in his height (GO Eli!), but dropped a bit in his weight, he weighs 21 lbs, which dropped him to the 15th percentile from the 50th.  He'll catch up soon I'm sure!  We are also getting him allergy tested for all sorts of things to see if that contributes to his eating issues, and I am anxiously awaiting the results!

We spent the majority of the afternoon outside and made a trip to the neighborhood park.  It was HOT.  I'm NOT looking forward to this summer.  One thing is for sure, we will be outside doing a lot of this in the coming months...

We are working on finishing up Eli's new room and Eli helped clean up a bit

After about 8 different samples, we finally settled on a color for his room that we all love, but I don't think you can make it out too well in this picture, but it looks great!!!!

Another project in process at our house is a front porch.  We plan on pulling out the front flower bed and making it into a nice, shaded porch since we spend so much time out in the front yard with Eli.  That means that Blaine is outside the front windows and Eli likes to stand there and watch him, knock on the window when he feels like he needs some attention from Dad and can occasionally get a game of peek-a-boo through the windows.

Fingers crossed that these projects go smoothly, and don't cause me too much anxiety. 
Oh, and I know you have been dying to see my growing belly, so at the request of some friends, here ya go....12 weeks to go....but who is counting?!?!?

Is it over yet?

Today was a particularly hard day to be a stay at home mom.  I don't think being a mom is really ever easy, but in general, Eli is such an easy going kid that some days do seem very easy.  Nothing in particular happened to make it hard...everything was a struggle! 
But we managed to get through the day, even though that meant eating most of our dinner out on the front porch out of a bag (bad Mom move!!!!)

or napping together in my bed, or wiping off a few more tears throughout the day than usual (a few may or may not have been mine), or falling asleep in the highchair in the middle of our speech therapy appointment today, or the meltdown in the middle of Barnes and Noble, or the fact that I put him to bed just a tad early so that they day could finally end.

But, at the end of the day I know that this is all a phase, this will pass, and it was TOTALLY worth it! 
I admit that being a mom is hard. But I also know it’s is a stage in our development; we’ll outgrow it, and we will grow from it. And, someday we’ll see that what we receive as a mom is more than we ever give.

And when this is what I get to put to bed at the end of the night, and I really, really, think about the day, it just wasn't that bad!

Bring on the 30's!

This weekend I celebrated my 30th birthday. I can not believe I am 30!  It just sounds so much older than 29, doesn't it?  At lunch on Saturday I was talking to a dear friend of mine and my God Mother about how many birthdays we have celebrated together and it just makes me so thankful for the wonderful people that I have in my life, that have been there for so many big occasions! I still feel like I am 23, but know so much more about myself and about life than I did when I was 23 years old. 
I have been blessed with a wonderful husband, the best son I could ever ask for and another one on the way!  I am celebrating not so much because I am turning a year older or entering into another decade, but because of all the accomplishments in my life up until now.  Some say the 30's were the best in their life, and I plan to follow in those footsteps, so bring it on! I cant wait to see what my 30's have to offer.

I started off my first day in my 30's doing something that I love--running. Eli and I met my friend Katie to run in Eli's first official 5K!  He was such a happy little guy the whole time. We had a lot of fun and it was so great to catch up with Katie, who used to be my loyal running companion on all of those 530am runs. 

Eli must have known he owed it to me to give me a break and fell right to sleep as soon as got home for a great nap, which gave me time to rest a little, shower and get dressed for lunch. 
We met Blaine, who just got off of work at noon, my  mom, Rachel, Susan, one of my best friends Brooke, and Rachel's boyfriend Hobo and his two brothers who had just flown in from Minneapolis.  Hobo comes for a family of 6 kids! Can you imagine how many sleepless nights, poop diapers, tears, carpools, trips to the doctors and shirts covered in throw up his parents must have gone through?!?!?  We hadn't met his brothers yet, so it was so great to finally meet these two adorable boys and get to know them!  Here is Rachel introducing Phil and Anthony to everyone at the table.

As always, Freddies was delicious and has such a fun atmosphere.  I had forgotten how good their onion rings were!!!

Eli enjoyed the dirt, rocks, watching the guys play washers, and hanging with his dad.

But even more, he enjoyed the cupcakes that Brooke brought!

The day ended visiting with family that was in town for Mothers Day and then to a nice, quiet, baby-free dinner with Blaine.  Eli stayed with my parents so we could come home, relax and let me sleep in on Mothers Day!  The celebration will continue in San Francisco next week!

On Mothers Day, my grandmother, mother, aunt, myself and Eli (4 generations!!!) spent the majority of the afternoon in the kitchen cooking my grandmothers most famous meal--Cous Cous.  Her cous cous isn't just plain ole' cous cous...it takes A TON of preparation!

the meal consists of a soup with chuck roast, and tons of veggies

meatballs stuffed in potatoes and zucchinis and a delicious red sauce

This meal took just about all day to cook, my grandmother used to make this for her family every Friday night for Shabbat.  Now that she is getting a little older and being on her feet all day isn't as easy, we hope to pass down the tradition to the next generation, so as she cooked, she told me what she was doing so we could have the recipe/her strategies/secrets written down since it isn't from a cookbook, but from memory from learning from her mother.

It is my all time favorite meal!!!!  It was wonderful to spend the afternoon with these amazing women who I have learned so much from throughout the years.

Eli got a little bored in the kitchen and decided to go hang out with my cousin Garrett....who should have been doing his homework, but who can blame him for wanting to play with this guy instead?

And this guy helped  keep Eli company too!  My parents were dog sitting for my cousins while they went camping for their anniversary, his name is Pupic.  Poor Pupic is so old that Eli was able to pet, pull and poke at him and he didn't even care, but he was so sweet with Eli! 

Before we came home on Mothers Day, Eli helped deliver Lolli's card to her.

Happy Mothers Day to all of my wonderful Mama friends!!!!

Happy Birthday to....

...Maw! Today, my grandmother turned 87 years old!  We had a birthday brunch for her at my parents house Sunday morning to celebrate with the family. 
I was amazed as I sat there watching everyone come up to her and wish her a happy birthday.  Because of her and my grandfather, we have this amazing, huge, loving family.  Just because of the two of them!  Today she was surrounded by her four children and thier husbands and wives, her 11 grandchildren, and her 8 great-grandchildren (with two more on the way!!!).  What a matriarch!!!!

Who knows, maybe one day, Blaine and I will be celebrating our 87th birthdays and we will (MEK) be surrounded by all of our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  I can only hope that we will be so lucky!

In true Kruger fashion, since it was a breakfast celebration, instead of a birthday cake, there was a birthday bagel.

Okay, well, really, I think the cake was forgotten today, so we did what we could with what we had!
Maw seemed to have a wonderful time surrounded by her family, birthday bagel and all.

The best part was that Eli was entertained by his cousins pretty much the whole time!  Kim, who is also expecting, was playing peek-a-boo with the chair for who knows how long. This will be her first baby and we couldnt be more excited for her and Jared!

Yep, those are Eli's pajamas!  I plucked him from his crib and we jumped into the car after his nap so we  could make it to the party on time, so he never got dressed. 

No Kruger breakfast is complete without polachinkas. 

My dad was busy at the stove slaving away to make something like 5 dozen polachinkas and scrambled eggs, all of which was finished off!!!  And no breakfast is complete without bagels, creamcheese, lox, capers and tomatoes!  I think I ate enough to keep me full for the whole day. 

Happy Birthday Maw!  Love, love, love you!!!!

Deep Thoughts

I have had a lot of sleepless nights lately and it has given me some time, too much time to think...and watch way to many epidoses of Say Yes to the Dress and The Real Housewives of New York. These pregnancy hormones are killing me!  There are nights where I literally feel like I have insomnia, oh, and a bladder that never empties!

So here are my latest thoughts that come to me in the middle of the night....

Cornucopia Popcorn is AWESOME!!!!  Cinnamon Toast, Kettle Corn, Caramel and Dill Pickle are my current favorites...so far, I will eventually try each of the 40 flavors! :)

The man who plays the trumpet at 8pm in his front yard needs to stop. 

Eli is finally getting a little taller, a little.

The countdown has officially began for my 30th birthday, which I'm still not sure how I feel about, and for our birthday/babymoon trip to San Francisco!

Brown sugar is underrated and makes oatmeal a hundred times tastier.

I am taking full advantage and acknowledging the free time that I have now and taking it all in because I know that come August, that will all change!

The little boy in my belly rests up during the day to compete in boxing matches with my uterus at night.

We still dont have a name, but there are a few in the running.

Eli discovered his shadow Wednesday night and followed it into the neighbors yard, walked back to the edge of the driveway and followed the shadow again, and again, he thought it was hilarious!

I have never gone through a fast food drive-through to order food for myself, until last week when this baby was craving Chick-fil-A #1 sandwich, and it was goooood!  But in my defense, I did order a side salad in place of fries.

I'm finding our speech therapy appointments close to useless since Eli refuses to do anything the therapists wants him to do, like eat....he is certainly independent and stubborn...hmmm, wonder where he got that from?!?!

I can not believe how many babies will be arriving within three months of Baby #2!  He is going to have a huge play group and I will have some wonderful Mamas to hang out with!  Eli's current little play group will all become big brothers and sisters by the end of the year--CRAZY!!!

I just cant get over how much I love my boys and how lucky we are! 

Saturday afternoon Blaine went to work and Eli and I went to celebrate Eli's friends birthday.  Eli and Sophia have been friends since Sophia was born (and I went to elementary, middle, and high school with her dad).  They have been in a play group with Henry since Sophia was about three weeks old.  Eli was a bit grumpy when we arrived at the party because  I woke him up in the middle of his nap so we could make it to the party.  But when he found this....

Eli and Henry

...things turned around!  This green table filled with water was like the best thing ever to him!  I can't tell you how long he stood there and played in the water.  If you cant tell from his shirt, he wasnt all that tidy in keeping the water INSIDE the table!
Then, once he came across this toy....

....he split his time between the two toys.

And really, can this girl be any cuter???

Happy birthday Sophia! And congrats on becoming a big sister!