End of the Week Musings...

Feeling content.  It's Thursday night and both of my boys are asleep and it's just after nine.  I tucked Cruz into bed wearing his Jake and the Neverland Pirates headband, said his prayers, and cracked a window in his room to let in the crisp spring air.  For the first time all day, the house is completely quiet and I'm soaking in the serenity.  I pulled on a fleece sweatshirt and went outside to give the gardens a drink and spent a lot of time staring through my windows into the home we've created here for the last five years.  I see so much when I look through those windows - a kitchen ripped apart and remodeled with our own blood, sweat, and tears, newlywed nights, dinners on the deck, and dreams and plans for our future, a feline friend we'll always love, and a brand new baby in a carrier here to see his house for the very first time.  This house, but more importantly, the life we've created here means so much to me, and I'm a bit of an emotional wreck thinking of leaving it.  We're here for the time being, but I tell ya, sometimes I want to live here forever...  

Eating greens.  We didn't have a lot to eat around here for lunch today, so I grabbed a scissors and took to my cut-and-grow lettuce bowl for a healthy salad.  Have you seen these lettuce bowls?  I found ours at a local greenhouse and supposedly, you just cut what you need as you go and it will continue to replenish all summer long.  I topped my salad with some cherry tomatoes and an avocado, along with salt, pepper, and some balsamic vinegar.  I feel this amazing sense of independence when I'm able to grow my own food and begin to have visions of cows and pigs and a coop full of chickens...before I remember that I don't really like the smell of them...

Reading Glennon Melton's, Carry On, Warrior.  I just started it, and have plans to dive in after I'm finished with this blog post.  I love Glennon's Momastery blog, and appreciate her sincerity, her hilarity, and her amazing way to write what is in my head so eloquently.  I have high hopes for her book.

I also just finished M.L. Stedman's, The Light Between Oceans.  It's truly a wonderful book and a definite must-read of the summer.  And if you don't trust me, read the Amazon reviews.  They're off the chart.

Listening to lots of things.  I'm not sure what's gotten into me, but I've been listening to a lot more country lately.  Blame it on summer, but that Rodney Atkins', Back Road song makes me want to hop in a car and be back to 16 again...just for an hour or so ;)

Proud of my boy.  It's been a big, amazing week for Cruz, a week of potty training, and patience, and much to celebrate.  Of all the developmental milestones and markers, this one has definitely been the most daunting, but I'm thankful for one amazing lead teacher at daycare who lives up to the reputation of being a potty training queen.  She decided it was time for Cruz to start going diaperless during the day at school, and asked that we bring lots of extra clothes, an extra dose of patience, and good plans for reinforcement at home along with us on Monday.  Four days later and our boy is proving to be a prodigy.  He's went dry just about every single day, wakes up dry after nap time, and even tells us when he has to go.  We've been really blown away by this, as a week ago I would have said he wasn't close to ready.  We've been celebrating with stickers on his rocket ship chart, lots of potty dances, and tonight I took Cruz on a special trip to Target (our first public outing in underwear, aka, terrifying) to wander through the aisles and pick out one new toy.  He picked out a Jake and the Neverland Pirates telescope (go figure) that came complete with a matching red headband and secret treasure map.  He proudly marched through that store holding his new toy and felt like a million bucks handing it to the cashier.  We celebrated another dry night with a treasure hunt in our backyard and a popsicle before bed.  I'm still holding my breath a bit with the whole potty training thing; however, am pleasantly surprised with how smooth it's going thus far.  Now if we can just get Tricia to move in with us after this week...  

Our potty trainee with the first two stars on his potty chart.  He filled up that chart by today - a week ago, I told Beau it would be all summer before we'd hit 26 successful times. #neverunderestimate #overthediapers  

   
Loving my newly organized pantry and linen closet, a crossed-off to-do list, and a rediscovered treasure map we bought Cruz when we visited Cape Cod when he was just a baby.  Lemon in my water, peonies almost ready to bloom, and a blueberry cheesecake cupcake from Scratch.  Our thick grass in the backyard, long conversations with my brother on the phone, and unexpected calls from my dad during the day.  And finally, a three-day weekend, and long summer that awaits...