We had absolutely no winter this year. I personally was a little bummed. I look forward to fire's in the fireplace and any excuse for my husband to have to keep me warm. Shall I even bother mentioning how thrilling it would be to get the chance to play in some snow with Aidan? Luckily I found other excuses to snuggle up with Adam but that snow thing was FAR from happening. And now Spring is here.
We have spent the past few weekends planting new flowers and soaking up the sunshine. On Monday my girlfriend Amanda had the day off so we got in some time at the mall and then an afternoon sunbathing on our FRONT lawn. We had anticipated laying out in the back yard but it was just too shady!
Those of you that know us in real life already know that our house has been on the market and we were days away from breaking ground on a new house in a neighboring area of town. WELL....that's not happening anymore.
So the story goes...we've known for a while that we are outgrowing this little house of ours. We love it but we would also love it more if it had more storage space. Our closets, the attic and every spare nook and cranny are stuffed with some sort of belonging (read: Lego's). Then there was the school system issue. Aidan was headed to Kindergarten and the school system we are in is just awful. Well CMS as a whole is awful. We had plans to start Aidan in Catholic school (I'm a Catholic school kid and I turned out OK) and then when the house was finished, if we felt good about it, would move him to the new school.
If there is one thing anyone knows about me, it's that cookie cutter homes are not for me. I love an old home, with history and character and creaky wood floors. Buying a brand new home, with fresh paint and clean and never touched by anyone but us? That would be too easy!!! This should have been the first indication this was not a good plan. The other thing is that I'm a city girl. I love being close to uptown and the convenience of being 20 minutes to everywhere else. I like going to sleep to sirens at night. Second indication.
We picked out a great corner lot and started driving by on a weekly basis to see if they had made any progress. I just wasn't get excited. I think I was wondering in the back of my head the whole time if I could make this work. The space and the school system were pulling me in. I could live anywhere as long as my boys are with me.
Then a few things happened. We made the decision to send Aidan to TK next year instead of Kindergarten. He could have gone either way, but I was getting the opportunity to keep my ONLY child home for half the day for another year! And he was excited about it? Sign us up! TK it was. The school system situation was fixed for the time being.
I started to work with the Design Center on picking out options for our new house. I guess the problem with me is, I know too much for my own good. I know about cabinets and hardwoods and the quality of windows and the builder came back to us and said in not so many words...your trying to build a house that is nicer than this neighborhood. And you never want to own the nicest house in the neighborhood unless you want that house to be yours FOREVER. And we didn't.
We put the brakes on the process and took a few weeks to think it over. We knew before we even asked ourselves that this was probably not the right move for us. Our excitement about a bigger house got the best of us. We signed our termination letter yesterday.
The pressure to be in a new house before the summer was over is off of us. We're enjoying our patio and not getting stressed if we don't have a showing scheduled. Our house is still on the market and now we are looking for a great re sale with the same amount of space, closer to the city that maybe needs a little work. Turns out we know a cabinet guy so remodeling kitchens and bathrooms is easy for us. I'm excited to see where we end up and one thing is for sure wherever that is it will have been well worth the wait.
For the record, I'm also feeling EXTREMELY blessed that my husband has worked so incredibly hard so that we are able to have the opportunity to buy a bigger home. I'm always so thankful for how well he takes care of us!
Katie over at Snippets of Me...tagged me in her Eleven for Eleven post and I'm so excited about it! I decided this would be the perfect time to do my first VLOG!!! I don't know what I was thinking. Obviously everyone is their own worst critic but :
1. My face is so broken out and this girl needs a tan.
2. Contrary to this video I do know how to speak and say words like "pictures" instead of pishtures and whatever other words I stumbled over.
3. I do say "ummmmmm" entirely too much all the time.
4. Real life is your 4 yr old screaming Mom at you while your vlogging.
5. I am a cheery person, although that seems debatable here.
The rules of Eleven by Eleven
*You must post the rules.
*Answer the 11 questions that the tagger posted fo you;
then create 11 questions to ask the people you will tag.
*Tag 11 people and link to them in your post.
*Let them know you have tagged them.
Next up is 11 questions for my 11 Bloggers!!!
1. Do you have any hidden talents? You know, skills?
2. What is your favorite iPhone app? (If you don't own an iPhone at this point, you may be living under a rock)
3. Team Edward or Jacob?
4. What's your favorite vacation spot?
5. If you could have any blog name what would it be?
6. If there was one thing you could change about yourself what would it be?
1. I can touch my tongue to my nose. Booyah. Don't be jeal. (and I know you all just tried to do that!)
2. Currently my favorite iPhone app is Nordstrom. I like to spend my days daydreaming over summer sandals I will never buy.
3. Team Edward. Enough said.
4. Favorite vacation spot is Ogunquit, Maine. We summered there at our cottage when I was a child and now I take my own family back there. The ocean is freezing but it's the most gorgeous color.
5. I love my blog name. Adam came up with it and it just works.
6. If there was one thing I could change about myself I would like my pre baby body back. Or the ability to be more disciplined about adding money to my boob job fund.
7. I met Adam for the first time on my parent's front porch.
8. Favorite online shopping website is Amazon. Tell me, what can't you get on Amazon?
9. My all time favorite movie is Beaches.
10. My favorite meal is pizza. When Aidan was born...I was like "he's cute, I KNOW THERE IS SBARRO upstairs. GET IT NOW."
11. As long as it was the Heath Klondike bar, I would consider handing over a family member. Just kidding. But don't try me.
Recently Aidan and I have been spending a lot more time with my best friend Candace and her two boys. Her son Cole loves Aidan and Aidan gets the biggest kick out of him as well. I could hold Mason all day every day and I love the time I get to spend with Candace.
All of us piled in the car.
Cole and his baby brother.
Aidan and Cole rolling around on the floor.
An afternoon at the park.
I think Candace would agree it's crazy how fast time has flown by. It doesn't seem like long ago we were going on and daydreaming about being Mom's. Now we're spending piling our kids in the car together and watching them run around the park. It's surreal sometimes!
Two weeks ago now, I cut my foot really bad on the corner of the front door. It was raining, Scout was trying to escape (NO!) and I leaned down to grab him and let the door go and pulled my foot in at the same time. Drug the corner of the glass door across my heel. It was soooo painful. Aidan and Adam fixed me up. Aidan kept saying "Mommy, calm down baby, it's not that bad." (while holding my hand and kissing it) and Adam kept saying "Please stop crying in front of the kid." Aidan clearly listens hard when he is injured and Adam thinks I'm a wuss. It still kills me when I walk two weeks later. We discussed stitches and my mom won't even look at it. AND so the last time we went to Tarjay as a family Aidan was pumped because I rode with him in the cart. Poor kid always wants a buddy in the cart.
Typical of the Harvey boys, dancing their way in to Target.
"Moooommy, you can sit here with me."
We are all laughing hysterically because only one bum cheek would fit.
Leave it to those two to always make me feel better. Even when I'm limping around.
One of the great things about living in Charlotte is there is never a shortage of things to do. I mean honestly you could probably create tons of things to do anywhere when it comes to kids but we are lucky enough to live in a town packed with fun kid friendly things to do. I had been wanting to take Aidan to paint pottery for some time. They just moved the pottery studio to our neighborhood so I thought we would clear out an afternoon and head over there. It was so much fun! We had the whole place to our selves and we went to town. I painted a nice platter and Aidan painted a fire truck (what else) and a monster truck. I think Aidan may have gotten some of my creativity!
Don't laugh at my artwork. This was my finished product.
My Dad and Aidan are two peas in a pod when it comes to their iPad's. They do everything on them! Excuse the mattresses on the floor and the random massive piece of artwork in this picture. My parents are living in a rental while their FABULOUS condo is being completed and they just put pieces of their collection wherever there was room. My mom would be mortified anyone saw where they were living right now but I couldn't not show these pictures to my readers. I love the relationship Aidan has with my Dad. Whenever something exciting happens in his life...the first people he wants to tell are Adam and I (of course) but next on that list is Grandpa. We spend a lot of afternoons fighting because I refuse to let him call Grandpa while he is at work.
I think it's so funny when Aidan spends the night with them, my mom sleeps in the guest room and they snuggle up in my parents bed. So sweet! He is a Nana's boy too. Nana was his first word and in his eyes, no one's pancakes are ever going to be as good as hers! Anyways...the iPad pics:
My Dad is most likely reading The New York Times or browsing Remodelista and Aidan is most likely watching fire trucks or working on his letters and numbers on his.
In Feburary my Dad had a big birthday and he didn't want us to make a big deal out of it. My brothers were both gone for the weekend and Adam was working. He and my Mom had dinner at Ruth Chris and while they were out, Aidan and I planned a "surprise party". Where the two of us were the surprise! I picked up some balloons, a cake and some cupcakes for the four of us to enjoy when they got home from dinner. We parked the car down the street and hid in their house. My Dad was pleasantly surprised that his two favorite people were hiding behind his ottoman when he arrived home. We sang "Happy Birthday", enjoyed some grocery store cake (his fav) and then Aidan spent the night and they watched 102 Dalmations. It was the perfect way to celebrate.
This video is of Aidan and I watching out the kitchen window for my Mom and Dad to come down the street. Excuse the second where he tries to be silly and lick the side of my head.
Recently I was asked to be part of the "Life Well Lived", "Getting Happy" blogger panel. The question this week was...
How do you teach the children in your life happiness?
I mulled and mulled and mulled over this question. I'm not completely sure you can teach anyone happiness.
Luckily, our son seems to be incredibly happy and I'm sure I had some part in it but it took me a while to think through what I may have done to contribute to his happiness.
This is what I came up with and the best advice I could give another parent:
BE HAPPY.
I know, it's so much easier said than done. And you never want to constantly put on a happy face because your child won't know that other emotions exist but try you best to exude happiness. I am a firm believer that happiness is a choice. I choose it everyday. My husband and I laugh a lot. We're silly. We revert to our inner child. We try to find the good in a world full of a lot of bad. I think that is really important.
Choose happiness and live it.
Secondly,
FOSTER WHAT YOUR CHILD LOVES TO DO
If we notice Aidan has a true, genuine interest in something, we jump in head first. We learn more about it, we spend time letting him pursue it. We encourage him. He loves to spend time outside. Everyday when he gets home from pre school, he knows I'm going to let him get an hour in out in the sunshine. Whether I'm out there with him or watching him from the kitchen window, I know he's so content digging in the dirt or running back and forth with the dog. He loves firetrucks. So we take him to the fire station, we watch YouTube videos on the iPad of fire fighters, we read books about firetrucks and stations. We pay attention to what intrigues him, to what makes him tick.
And I have to tell you, I don't know where it came from but on a daily basis Aidan says to us "I'm so happy." I can only HOPE that I've had a little bit to do with that.
So tell me,What are you doing to teach your child happiness? I'm curious to know!
Head over to BlogHer and participate in the conversation!
and make sure you Enter The Life Well Lived Sweepstakes!
My girl crush Bethenny is back for another season! I seriously love her! Are you watching?
She and her husband Jason are so down to earth and their daughter Bryn is precious. I think they are totally relatable (minus the fact that she is a gazillionaire) and I am always laughing watching them. Except when I'm crying which happens too. She has a lot of baggage. Don't we all. See? Relatable.
You are missing out if you are not tuning in.
Monday nights on Bravo. 9PM Eastern via
Since Adam is gone a lot, I try to keep him in the loop by sending him pics via iPhone of Aidan and I. This latest one was of Aidan in a new pair of pajamas. I don't know what's up with the goofy face but I thought it was hilarious he climed up on the toilet and asked me to snap a pic of him to send to Daddy.
Minus the fact that he is an escape artist and I spend a lot of time chasing him around the neighborhood, Scout is still clicking with us pretty well. Secretly, I LOVE him to death!
He enjoys sitting on Aidan's with his squirrel.
Luckily he loves Aidan as much as Aidan loves him.
He gets so jealous if I pay Adam any attention. The other night we were trying to watch a movie in bed. I went to lay on Adam's chest and this is what I got. A paw to the face. "Back up off my man."
Rarely do I take the time to go and get a manicure. Pedicures are a different story. It would take a lot to keep me from allowing another woman to rub my feet at such a small price. But I have so much fun doing my own nails. And I like to change them up a lot. My Essie nail polish collection is slowly growing. Here are some of my favorite colors from them...
And this makes every single one of them more exciting:
Set in Stones
Lately I've been painting my nails and then putting Set in Stones on my ring finger. I love the look.
I know I have been absent from the blog recently. As usual we have a ton of stuff on our plate around here. No one is complaining (we are counting our blessings) but it doesn't leave much time for blogging. And truth be told, I've been in a rut recently.
Adam is working 85-90 hours a week and we never see eachother. Aidan and I spend a lot of time by ourselves. While I know it's not something that will last forever, right now it feels really awful. I (we) miss having him around. It's like being a single parent. Plus we have all the other things going on that I am pretty much responsible for all by myself. The last thing I want to do is bother him when he comes in the door close to midnight every night with more stuff he needs to do. There's a lot of pressure being the sole person making such serious decisions about our future! We're grateful for his job and the opportunities it provides for us but I still get to miss having my best friend around more.
Then there's my side kick. The kid has been in rare form for the past couple of weeks. I was on the phone with my best friend Candace earlier today and I felt badly for venting. She just had her second son Mason and her little boy Cole is 18 months old. Talk about having your hands full!!! And I'm freaking out because Aidan threw at tantrum about not getting a bag of potato chips right before dinner time?? Luckily she's more than happy to listen, can relate and we are able to have a good laugh when the bad days are over. Thank God for best friends. Right? And little boys. Even on the bad days...I love the heck out of that Aidan.
Oh and Scout has learned a new trick. He can break out of the fence in the backyard. Anywhere, any way. We could build a 10 foot wall with a moat around it and he would still be down the street with the neighbors. The only way to get him to come back is to offer him a treat and quite honestly the last thing I think he deserves is a treat when he has just made me run all of God's earth in my bathrobe because he couldn't just have a morning pee and come back inside.
My life in a nutshell. Glamorous isn't it? I know that these things will pass and I will always make it through to the other side. Sometimes is just sucks being in a rut.
I'm April. I'm wife to super{hot}husband, Adam. We made a little miracle and named him Aidan. This December we are adding to our family! We're excited to meet our newest little man! This is the story of our life and how we're living happily ever after to tell you all about it! Thanks for stopping by!
