Brrrr! So long, January!

The end of January has been very frigid! With temps in the teens and 20s, we try to get to warmth as quickly as we can, dashing from house to car and car to building. Even Emmy will say "It's cold!" as I hustle her from the daycare to her car seat. Despite the cold, Meg and I are still meeting on Saturday mornings for our runs. This past Saturday was a chilly 22 degrees, brrr! (Our record stands at 17 degrees from January of last year.) Despite the cold, we have both felt pretty strong during our runs, but we are ready for shorts and t-shirts again. 

Secretly, I am glad for winter and the rest and hibernation that the cold forces upon us. We haven't had quite the busy schedule that we usually have in the fall and spring, with the jam packed weeks and equally busy weekends. It has been nice to hunker down at home in the evenings. I think Emmy especially enjoys the nights when we are all three home. She loves play time after dinner when she can build things with her "legos" (i.e. Mega Blocks), have a tea party with her babies, spread out her flash cards and memory games, and rough-house with Daddy on the floor. In lieu of the neighborhood walks during the post-dinner hour, we have found other ways to have fun inside. 

Lest you think that we are all about engaging activities and creative games, let's be real: we have entered the stage of "screen time." With the start of potty training, it seemed to come along naturally as we began to let Emmy watch videos while she was on the toilet. She has become quite partial to Peppa Pig, and we have slipped into a routine of Emmy watching Peppa on the potty both in the morning and in the evening. I think combined it is less than 30 minutes of screen time. Since Emmy's daycare does not have TVs, I am telling myself that this half hour is a relatively low amount. AND it has helped to make for a smoother start to our day. In the mornings, Emmy will usually go straight from her crib to the potty, and we wait until she requests it - "I watch Peppa Pig please" - and then she will watch Peppa while I get her dressed, fix her hair, and brush her teeth - all on the potty. She is very cooperative when she is watching Peppa! We somewhat repeat the routine in the evening in reverse as we get her ready for bed. I thought perhaps she would develop a British accent like Peppa, but it seems she will have a southern drawl after all. I captured her on video singing her ABCs, and the way she drags out her letters certainly make her sound like a Southern belle. Here is our little princess on her throne watching Peppa!

A Long Weekend

We have had a fun three day weekend! On Friday, Emmy and I had taco night over at the Williamses while Daddy went to his school's conference swimming meet. The Houstons were there too, and all the kiddos especially loved the chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Emmy got a selfie with Aunt M! 

On Saturday morning, Meg and I knocked out our weekly run at Salem Lake. We have signed up for our 2019 half marathon - the Craft Half in Winston on April 6th. We still have about 3 more months to go, but we have been upping our distance to get ready. It is hard to believe that we have been running together for a decade now! After a shower and a little bit of downtime, Boomer, Emmy, and I hopped in the car to head to Charlotte. We met up with Granny, Paw Paw, Carlin, and Matt for a Charlotte Checkers game. Carlin is in her second season of working with the Checkers as the Fan Services and Retention Coordinator, and she hooked us up with free tickets. This was Emmy's second Checkers' game, and she loved watching from Granny's lap and bouncing on Daddy's shoulders after a goal. Daddy has trained her to say "Go Deacs!" anytime we are watching sports, which I'm sure was confusing to the nearby fans. Emmy especially got excited when a stick, puck, or person ran into the glass and made a big bang. 

Just after the Checkers tied it up 3-3, it was getting late for our little girl. With an 1.5 hour drive home, we made the decision to leave before the end and made a quick pajama change before hitting the road. It wasn't too long before Emmy was knocked out! 

Yes, we are still wearing our Christmas jammies! It may be January, but Emmy is still in the holiday spirit. In addition to her pjs, she also loves singing along to her Mickey Christmas book, especially "Naked Bells." Every evening, she loves coming home from school and pulling all her new toys out of the toy box. Her favorites right now are her flash cards and her teapot set. 

This past week has also included a visit to the new Kernersville library, looking outside after a bath, a few dinners at home, and extra cuddles before bedtime. Emmy has had an pretty persistent cough ever since returning to daycare after New Years. Luckily it hasn't progressed to a fever or anything more serious, but it has meant a runny nose and some cranky mornings. The weather continues to bounce back and forth between the 20s and the 50s, so it seems unlikely that she will be back to full health any time soon :( I certainly haven't minded her requests to "sit in Mommy's chair" before bedtime. I have been rocking her to sleep in the chair most nights this week. 

With the MLK Holiday, it was nice to extend our weekend with an extra day off. Boomer needed to spend some time writing, but first we planned to go out to breakfast together. I love when the three of us can go out to breakfast - it doesn't happen very often! Between my Saturday runs and Boomer's writing, there aren't too many lazy mornings. For breakfast this morning, we went to Krankie's in Winston. They were recently pictured on the front cover of the February Our State magazine, and so of course we ordered the featured Texas Pete chicken biscuit. Over the summer, we went to another Our State restaurant (Miller's in Mocksville), and since then, we have kept a "to-do" list of other local spots within an hour or so that we want to try. In this case, Krankie's was special, because we had been there before - it was the location of Boomer's and my very first date. We went there for coffee over 10 years ago! Boomer's friend, Jason, recommended it because it was a cool, local spot that he thought would impress me. Now, 10 years later, we aren't too worried about appearing cool...as you can see, Boomer is doing his best to fit in with the coffee-drinking college students and hipsters!

One last photo. I hesitate including it, because I know it will embarrass Emerson later in life! Weekend naps have become a bit of a struggle. Emmy still likes to nap, but she will often play in her crib for up to an hour or more before finally succumbing to sleep. During today's nap, once again she was not interested in going to sleep, and at one point I looked at the monitor to see this! Luckily there was no mess to clean up...it seems she was just practicing dressing herself. I think it is finally time for us to invest in blackout curtains! 

Amphibious? Or is it ambidextrous?

We have been chugging along through the usual day-to-day routine of daycare, work, dinner, bath, and bedtime. We just finished up a full 5-day work week, which was long after our shorter 3-day week following New Years. Why can't every week be just three days?! There isn't too much to report. Boomer's sports schedule has picked up with basketball, wrestling, and swimming in full swing. He had to stay late almost every night this week. We miss Daddy on nights when he is gone (and he misses us!), but luckily Emmy and I enjoyed some extra time with the cousins and with Grammy and Grandpa. Last weekend we spent some time outside since the temps got into the upper 50s. Emmy loved sitting on the front porch in our rocking chairs. 

Emmy also loved going through the car wash after church! 

She still calls the sunroof "car wash." I guess I opened the shield for the very first time while going through the car wash, and now, during every car ride, she says "car wash open." It is so cute, and I don't plan to correct her! :) 

We've had several dry days in a row and even #2 on the potty - yay! Our little girl sure is growing up! I still can't tell if she will be right-handed or left-handed. As you can see here, she uses both hands equally. 

Well, this has been a blog post. Happy weekend! :)

New Orleans, New Year!

I don't think we could fit one more thing into our 11-day break! As I sit here typing and getting ready to go back to work tomorrow, I am so thankful for all the memories we made. Here is one more picture from the holiday; Boomer's dad took this picture of our crew at dinner on Christmas. Unfortunately Granny is cut off - oops! It was so special to all be around the table together. 

In the days immediately following Christmas, Boomer went back to work, and on one of his workdays, we picked him up at Forbush to go to the Forbush vs. East Surry basketball game. Our two schools were playing in a Christmas tournament at Starmount High School, and it was fun to watch it together. Emmy remained neutral and pulled for both sides. 

That same evening, we carried on the annual Bakewell Christmas movie tradition. Being realistic about the ages (and attention spans) of our children, Meg and I decided it was best to leave the kiddos at home with our hubbies. It was just the original Bakewell 4 that saw Mary Poppins Returns. Mom and Dad even picked us up so that it really felt like the old days! 

 There was also time for playing with new toys and reading new books. 

On Saturday, the 29th, Boomer and I took off on a second anniversary trip. Aren't we spoiled?! We hadn't expected to have the night away in Elkin, which was an added bonus earlier in December. Several months ago (and when the Panthers had a winning record), we had planned a trip to New Orleans to watch the Panthers vs. Saints game. Neither of us had ever been to NOLA, and it seemed like a good trip for the two of us, rather than a summer trip, since there is no baseball team there! In order to maximize our quick mini-vacay, Saturday started with a 3:30AM alarm and a 6AM flight! Boomer didn't quite wake up until we were in Louisiana!

We had a fairly smooth travel day with a layover in Atlanta and only a short hour delay on our second flight. We were in New Orleans by lunchtime. Before the trip, I gathered recommendations from a few of Boomer's friends - Ashley and Bert Ellison, who lived in New Orleans during Ashley's medical residency at Tulane, and JR and Becki, who recently went to New Orleans themselves. One recommendation from Bert was a burger joint called Port Of Call, so after dropping off our bags at the hotel, we made our way there. Port Of Call is a local dive on Esplanade Street in the French Quarter. We of course ordered burgers, along with their famous monsoons. The monsoon is a super strong drink reportedly drank by pirates before they were forced to walk the plank! 

After lunch, we made our way to Jackson Square for a free walking tour. We did a similar walking tour in Portland, OR a few years ago and love how you can see the city with a local comedian/historian. From Jackson Square, we walked through several of the neighborhoods in the French Quarter. It was interesting to hear about the mixture of French and Spanish influences. 

Tennessee Williams penned A Streetcar Named Desire on the top floor of this walk-up. 

The William Faulkner House - now a bookstore and museum

Quite tired from our travels and the walking and the monsoons, we made the decision to cancel our dinner reservation and finish the day with beignets instead. The tour ended in the French Market, so we jumped in line for beignets and hot chocolate at the famous Cafe Du Monde. My mouth still waters thinking of the hot sweet dough sprinkled with powder sugar!

On Sunday, we dressed in our Panthers gear and set out for breakfast. We followed another recommendation from Ashley and went to Surrey's Cafe and Juice Bar. It is located on Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District. Boomer and I both were very happy with our choices: shrimp and grits for him, and New Orleans style french toast for me. 

 The game was a noon game (Central Standard Time) so after breakfast, we followed the flow of Saints fans toward the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. While we are normally also dressed in black and gold, this time we were the outsiders dressed in the Panthers blue and black. There weren't many other Panthers fans, so we were sure not to ruffle any feathers! From what Boomer tells me, the game didn't mean much for either team. With the Panthers' losing streak, they were already out of the playoffs, and the Saints had already clinched the first seed with their winning record. Even so, it was exciting to see the Panthers win 33-14, and we have kept our perfect record for seeing them win in person.  

The game ended around 3:30PM, and since we had skipped lunch, we were ready for dinner. Like on Saturday night, we made another adjustment to the itinerary. I had originally picked out a local jazz bar called The Three Muses for dinner, but we were both in the mood for the famous New Orleans po' boy. Boomer's friend Jason recommended a place called Parkway Bakery and Tavern on Hagan Avenue. Like at Cafe du Monde and Port of Call, there was a line, which is always a good sign that the food must be worth the wait. I got the shrimp po' boy, and Boomer got the Surf and Turf, with shrimp and roast beef. That would have been plenty of food, but we also added the mixed fries (sweet potato and regular) and fried pickles. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs!

We ended the evening with a walk through the Roosevelt Hotel, which was beautifully decorated for Christmas. 

 On Monday morning, our quick 48-hour trip to NOLA came to an end. We were back at the airport to make our trip home. Emmy loved getting these photos of Boomer 'sleeping'; she would say "Wake up, Daddy!" 

While we were away, we Facetimed and texted often with Grammy and Grandpa. We certainly enjoyed the time away just the two of us, but we also missed our little girl. Based off of these selfies, it doesn't seem that Emmy missed us very much! 

We've had a quiet New Years doing laundry, unpacking, and getting ready to go back to work tomorrow. We wish you all a happy and blessed 2019!