This week is our school district’s ski week/president’s week so Hudson has had the whole week off from school. Usually, school breaks can feel especially hard/overwhelming for me as we are out of our typical routine and have a LOT of time at home, together. However, this week has actually been really nice having more time with H. T still has had a few mornings of preschool, so it has given Lance and I more one-on-one time with H, which these days is rare. On Monday, him and I did a Starbucks run together and then went to his favorite park and played an intense game of soccer against each other. It wore me out- he’s gotten so good and loves to win. On Wednesday, I had a MomCo meeting, so Lance and H got a “work day” together. He stayed very busy and active with dad. He listened to his new favorite podcast Million Bazillion (great podcast about money geared towards kids/families).

A Garage Turned Into Hockey Rink

The thing that has also been helping keep us sane during this break has been opening up our garage and allowing boys to play hockey in it. This hockey set came in the mail this week and it was the best 12 dollars we spent all week- so much entertainment. He used these goals (these are the best and we’ve gone through a lot of soccer goals) he got for Christmas and it’s been hockey time all the time. Pulling the cars out of the garage was such a help for me because I knew he was safe inside garage, but I could still be inside getting things done! It’s been perfect with the extra rain we’ve been getting this week. Keeps him active while still inside and dry.

First Visits from the Tooth Fairy

A few weeks ago Hudson lost his first tooth!! He woke up with a wiggly tooth and by the end of the day it got so wiggly he asked Lance to pull it out! This was a big reminder for me about how fast time is going. Our first baby now has a big bottom gap (as I am writing this, he lost his second bottom front tooth). Like with all changes, there is an excitement to it, but also a sadness. Little did I know, that January Wednesday would be the last day I would see his sweet smile with ALL his little baby teeth. Time is flying. I wasn’t ready to already play tooth fairy! That evening, I did a quick Google search to see what is the expectation these days from the tooth fairy. As a kid, I can remember being thrilled with a dollar under my pillow. Now days, it seems like the average is $5. For the first tooth, we decided to do $10 and I printed out this certificate from the tooth fairy. I added a little glitter to the ten dollar bill to make it feel a little extra special. He woke up and discovered what the tooth fairy left behind almost immediately after we put it under the pillow. He was thrilled. He left a note to the tooth fairy asking her to leave the tooth (which she did since it was the first one), but immediately the next morning he lost it. There were tears, but eventually he moved on. I’m sure this tooth is decaying somewhere underneath our couch.

Just this past week, this time on a Tuesday, he lost his second tooth. It was a similar thing where he woke up with a wiggly tooth and by the time I returned from Costco in the afternoon, it was out! Again, I wasn’t prepared to play tooth fairy again so quickly but thankfully had 4 one dollar bills on hand that I again glittered. I was reminded that I really should go to the bank and pull out cash, glitter it all at the same time, and stash it somewhere so it’s one less thing to stress about. Maybe I’ll do that next week? I know some families do the gold dollar coins. H gets really excited with cash so will probably stick to glittery dollar or 5 dollar bills.

Doing Things Half-Homemade

This concept always has resonated with me. Doing something fully homemade feels overwhelming, but half-homemade? That feels doable. I was thinking of this as I was preparing for a playdate with one of H’s school friends. I wanted to do Valentine’s Day cookie decorating with them. I knew I wanted to make the cookies and not do a store bought kit, but making cookies and frosting felt overwhelming, so I made the cookies with my favorite sugar cookie recipe and I did store bought frosting. Half-homemade. Thinking about it now, even did a half-homemade dinner: frozen pizza in the oven and then sautéed up some mushrooms and sausage to put on top. Half-homemade just feels like a perfect way to sum up my current level of capacity. This is what feels good right now.

Hope everyone had a special Valentine’s Day and a restful and fun 3-day weekend ahead!