things I hate: a list

Since today was one of the Mondayest Tuesdays ever I thought this post was especially fitting.

1. "Infant's" Tylenol. WHY THE HELL do they label it as infant when all the dosage amounts are for children 2 years and older?! Obviously it is okay to give your infant Infants Tylenol with permission from their pediatrician, BUT DAMN!

2. Wiping pasta and/or rice up from the table. These foods surely do not melt in your mouth so I'm uncertain why they turn into goo the moment they are met with a paper towel or rag and smear all over the table.

3. When my kids don't eat their dinner but request dessert and snacks as they are pulling the sheets up to their chins in bed.

4. When you are absolutely starving and either nothing or everything sounds good and you're left to make a truly life altering decision (pizza, wings, spaghetti, veggies.. haha, yeah right).

5. Making plans and having them fall through.

6. Having to be in bed by 8pm if you want at least 6 hours of sleep for your new 12 hour shifts. So hard. SO HARD.

7. Grocery shopping.

8. Personal hygiene product directions. Face wash for instance: apply a quarter sized amount to the palm of your hand. Okay, so like a literal quarter; round and super flat? The diameter of a quarter but taller than one? PLEASE SEND HELP.

9. Cats that refuse to eat all their food and cry bloody murder until you put more food in the already full bowl.

10. The fact that Piper still doesn't sleep through the night.

11. Most people.

12. Stranger Things being only 8 episodes long. WHY?! And I finished it almost a month ago and only just now found The Night Of.. which is pretty good but such a completely different show. I don't know how I will survive the year long wait until season two. And am I the only one who developed a huge, weird crush on Jonathan?

That is a small sliver.

Negative Nancy

Leia

conversations with kennedy

Well, more of a great statement that had me in tears from laughter and from the stench. 

Kennedy: "Woah, Piper you need a new diaper! You smell like you've been at the dump for 48 hours!"

It was true, and we fixed the problem. 

Leia

kennedy + the not so graceful bike ride

If you've been following along, you know that Kennedy learned how to ride without training wheels earlier this year. Well she's pretty much mastered the skill and the necessary behaviors bike riding calls for, so we've begun letting her ride around our block by herself. Since our neighborhood is pretty quiet and she doesn't have to cross any roads we have felt okay taking this step. I mean, we all rode bikes in the road as kids, right? I know the world has become an absolutely crazy place to call home, but I don't want to dwell and make her sacrifice certain kidly rights.

Well, Wednesday while I was at work I get this picture sent to me:

OH GOODIE! Kennedy tells a story of two little girls playing on the sidewalk. Being the courteous gal she is, she swerves to avoid hitting them since they didn't move and bingo-bango she went right over her handle bars and onto the cement. Not only does she take this tremendous tumble, she does it on corner that is farthest from our house. And yeah, with our new 'freedom biking' policy we weren't with her. Have no fear though, Brendon was able to hear her screams from home and he set off on foot after her. How awesome we must've seemed to anyone witnessing the event.

This is what it looked like yesterday after one day:

The scrape really is not so bad, but there is some swelling and some nasty bruising. Bad mom alert! One of my first thoughts was, "Is thing going to be gone in time for the first day of school?!" Yes, I'm just wretched.

Then to top off bicycle issues, we were outside in the front yard when Piper wandered into the garage. Knowing there was nothing out that could hurt her, I let her go investigate on her own. After a few minutes of not hearing her rummage or talking, I went to check on her.

Yeahhhhh. About shit my pants on this one. My bike was steady but man, this would have been a very nasty fall. The scariest part for me is imagining her hike up to her seat! I truly don't see a feasible route. Do you?

The heart aches and scares of motherhood.

Leia

usa + rio 2016

Basically the United States kicked some serious Olympic ass over the past 16 days. Yeah, thanks for adding a bunch of tarnish to the 121 medals won, Ryan Lochte. 46 OF WHICH WERE GOLD!

While I was proudly sitting on my ass at home, these Americans were fulfilling some lifelong dreams in Brazil.

Michael Phelps - 5 Gold, Swimming

Katie Ledecky - 4 Gold, Swimming

Simone Biles - 4 Gold, Gymnastics

Ryan Murphy - 3 Gold, Swimming

Simone Manuel - 2 ICONIC GOLD MEDALS, Swimming

Madeline Dirado - 2 Gold, Swimming

Allyson Felix - 2 Gold, Track + Field

Nathan Adrian - 2 Gold, Swimming

Lilly King - 2 Gold, Swimming

Caeleb Dressel - 2 Gold, Swimming

Tianna Bartoletta - 2 Gold, Track + Field

Anthony Ervin - 2 Gold, Swimming

Aly Raisman - 1 Gold, Gymnastics

Okay, there's too many more to do this for! And I didn't realize that swimmers completely dominated this year.

 Congrats also to Dana Vollmer, Tori Bowie, Kathleen Baker, Abbey Weitzeil, Allison Schmitt, Madison Kocian, Laurie Hernandez, Cody Miller, Leah Smith, Katie Meili, LaShawn Merritt, Jack Sock, David Plummer, Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas, Ryan Held, Jenna Prandini, Gunmar Bentz, Makenzie Fischer, Kaleigh Gilchrist, Caroline Clark, Lauren Schmetterling, Tessa Gobbo, Kiley Neushul, Rachel Fattal, Amanda Elmore, Ashleigh Johnson, Kelsi Worrell, Blake Pieroni, Virginia Thrasher, Morolake Akinosun, Aria Fischer, Maddie Musselman, Taylor Ellis-Watson, Ryan Crouser, Ariana Washington, Courtney Okolo, Phyllis Francis, Melanie Margalis, Katelin Snyder, Helen Maroulis, Cierra Runge, Sylvia Fowles, Maya Moore, DeMarcus Cousin, Lindsay Whalen, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, DeAndre Jordan, Carmelo Anthony, Courtney Mathewson, Tamika Catchings, DeMar DeRozan, Brittney Griner, Elle Logan, Natasha Hastings, Michelle Carter, Kami Craig, Angel McCoughtry, Kerron Clement, Jimmy Butler, Tina Charles, Draymond Green, Ashton Eaton, Harrison Barnes, Elene Delle Donne, Kyle Clemons, Seimone Augustus, Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin, Klay Thompson, Kayla Harrison, Paul George, Kyrie Irving, Kristin Armstrong, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Kyle Lowry, Tom Shields, Amanda Polk, Kevin Durant, Arman Hall, Francena McCorory, Gwen Jorgensen, Christian Taylor, Matthew Centrowitz Jr., Gabby Douglas, Breanna Stewart, Gil Roberts, Claressa Shields, Tony McQuay, Maggie Steffens, Meghan Musnicki, Connor Fields, Emily Regan, Kerry Simmonds, Clark Smith, Olivia Smoliga, Kevin Cordes, Jack Conger, James Feigen, Sami Hill, Melissa Seidemann, Brianna Rollins, Jeff Henderson, English Gardner, Dalilah Muhammad, and last but certainly not least David Verburg!

And while they were unable to win a medal, Nikki Hamblin and Abbey D'Agostino were given Fair Play awards after they collided on the track. D'Agostino injured her leg, but Nikki Hamblin proudly stuck by her side and they finished together. Hooray, humanity is still present!

5am findings from the ER checkout window.

Leia

random things

Currently my favorite picture found on the internet.

Found via one of my favorite Instagram accounts: @indiangiver.

James Tatted Franco.

Leia

miracles do exist

It all started when Piper and I were playing around in my room. Apparently we were being rude and entirely too loud because Kennedy waltzed down the hall and asked if she could close the door. I said, "sure, why though?" She said, "well I'm trying to take a nap and you guys are being too loud." 

Sure enough, I check on her a little while later and she's out like a light!

Next, I take Piper into her bedroom to change her diaper and her shirt and she points to her crib and says, "weep." Yeah, it's at the point right now where it's hard to understand a lot of words if there are no context clues. Sure enough, I plopped her in, walked away and she's passed out!

WHAT TO DO?!

Leia

up north with granny

In my post yesterday I mentioned briefly that we had one-on-one time with Piper because Kennedy was Up North with granny for a day. While we have an Upper Peninsula, Up North is deemed as a 'vacation' in any city North of where you live, haha. They traveled to Oscoda to stay in a friends cabin on Lake Huron and Kennedy was quite bursting at the seams with excitement.

The first thing Kennedy was so amazed by was how you "couldn't see any other land" and that the water went on and on "until you were in a new state". Likewise, she kept calling it a pond. If my memory serves correct I think this was her first time visiting one of the Great Lakes.

Overall, this was a great little trip for them to take together (along with my little sister, Izzy). They are both early risers and Kennedy got to have more messy kid experiences without me having to stress about cleaning up the mess afterwards. Also, growing up we spent a week each summer in Tawas which is right around the corner, so I'm sure it was sentimental for my mom to take Kennedy. Hoping to plan a longer trip next year with all of us.

Woo, morning at the cabin! The night before she had apparently gotten a little homesick, most likely due to the fact that they were at an unfamiliar place and she asked, "is it okay that I miss my parents?" Gotta love her sweet self.

And now to the beach!

^^ I cringe just imagining the clean-up.

^^ And boy does she just look so grown up to me in this photo. But, do you see this suit?

$2 from Old Navy!

I found each piece on a separate rack so I'm sure that's why it was so astronomically marked down but obviously there was no way I was going to pass it up. Initially I had just the bottoms and I told her we could just hold on to them as extra, but hey! A little rummaging later and I found the top!

And eventually, their 24 hour trip had to come to and end. Shortly after buckling up and heading home, Kennedy was knocked out.

Her tank was empty and she was apparently catching flies for the majority of the three hour drive back and it was a nice source of entertainment for everyone else in the car. Haha, I don't blame them.

Happy she's home!

Leia

'the holt family pond'

Saturday afternoon while I was at work my little sister Izzy came to pick Kennedy up to head Up North with granny (more on this trip tomorrow). This meant some one-on-one time with miss Piper. What did we do? A whole lot of nothing, a trip to Target, and a fun day spent hanging out and celebrating one of my best friend's husband's birthday!

A. Can either of my daughters get their smiles in order? They have this psychotic grinchy vibe and I just want to know WHY.

B. Did Piper really just discover her belly button today? She was constantly digging around in it today and frankly I was a liiiiiiiiitle weirded out by it.

C. Why on Earth do her feet look so large?

Brittany prepared the most delicious spread; my favorite being the jalapeño poppers! It was half a jalapeño pepper filled with cream cheese and chicken that was then wrapped in bacon and grilled to perfection. It's one of Alex's traditional family recipes and I'm definitely gonna try and get the scoop on this one.

After we stuffed our guts we promptly waited 30 minutes to go swimming, scouts honor. And by swimming, I mean wading in the water making sure Piper didn't sink. I was successful by the way!

When it was time to get out of the water she was flat out not prepared to do so. She kept grabbing the floatie and heading back to the waters edge. I may or may not have let her go in for another quick round because of how sweet the moment was.

Yeah, I just couldn't say no to that toddler desire. And honestly, can swim diapers just get it together? Why are they so big and constantly visible in swim suits? Like the product is called Little Swimmers, they specialize in ONE thing. C'MON.

iPhone photos for the win!

Leia 

the cruelest month

#17, The Cruelest Month. Third installment of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series.

I started this beauty five days ago and I am only on chapter three. While my new job has ended up being one of the easiest on the planet, I have almost no down time so reading at work has not happened for me yet. Plus, since I'm still the new guy in the pool I haven't felt comfortable breaking out literature for fear of being branded a slacker.

Still working on our evening and nightly routine but I hope to slowly add in some reading/me time before my extra early bedtime.

Left my book in the car and there is 0 chance I'm going to get it.

Leia

mid-week meal share: garlic shrimp scampi

I was pretty excited to try another one of the 'spaghetti four ways' recipes because a few weeks ago I made a lemon/garlic shrimp pasta that was super simple to make but was not as flavorful as I had naively expected. Well, this one was different but again I didn't absolutely love it; it was soooooooo spicy!

Easy to concoct: hella simple.
Cost effective: ~$20-25, the shrimp makes it a bit pricier than usual.


Here's your list! But, forgot to take a picture so here's a snap from today:

½ box pasta
3 tbsp butter
1½ tsp (3 cloves) minced garlic
1 lb shrimp, peeled + deveined
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp red chili flakes
¼ cup chopped parsley


*These are the actual recipe amounts, for mine I used double.

1. Cook your pasta and set aside when it's done.

2. Rinse your shrimp under water if you've taken the frozen route.

3. Melt your butter over medium heat and add your garlic and cook until it starts to brown.

4. Add your shrimp, salt and pepper and cook until your shrimp are nice and pink. I cooked mine for what seemed like an hour. I am super iffy when it comes to at home seafood.

5. Juice that lemon!

6. Add in your lemon juice, chili flakes and parsley.

7. Add in your pasta and mix until evenly combined.

8. Enjoy!

You guys, I guess I just don't use red pepper flakes that often or I have used them just sparingly enough to not realize how hot they are! Maybe I was just having an off day and put too much in or it had been awhile since I had something spicy, but my mouth was on fire.. to the point I actually rinsed some off in the sink before giving it to the girls.

Too much? Gross? Yeah, I didn't they would be able to tolerate otherwise.

While the last recipe tasted only of lemon, this one tasted like a lemon on fire. Yah, more flavorful but still missing something. I think it's because neither recipe really had sauce. That's what I need to be on the lookout for. A shrimp pasta recipe that has sauce.. I wanted something other than alfredo but maybe that's the best option?



#blessed
Leia