9:40 - It's Past My Bedtime

Nate and I got to go out on a date last night. Thanks so much to my brave parents. They came to town just to give us a night out. They are the BEST GRANDPARENTS EVER! Not to mention the cheapest babysitters. We weren't able to stay out very late because I had to come home and pump. It turns out that breastfeeding is incredibly inconvenient when there's no baby around to eat. The joys of parenthood.

So, here I am, it's past 9:30 and I desperately need to go to bed. Who knows what time Lila will be up. She slept all the way through the night on Thursday - 8:30 p.m. - 7 a.m. It was glorious (except for the whole no baby around to eat thing - ouch). But she was up again on Friday night and Saturday night.

I'm willing to overlook her nightly eating ritual, however, because we got some real giggles out of her tonight. She's been giving us little "ha ha"s for awhile, but long laughs. She performed for us tonight - when she was dead tired and ready for bed. It's amazing how small developments make all the work worth it. She can wake up three times tonight if she giggles for me tomorrow. OK, so maybe that's night quite true, but close enough.

Since I'm writing about developments, I may as well report that Benny can now really, truly count. He doesn't double count things any more. He can even count things in Spanish. He's also giving other kids hug, which is very new. I credit daycare. He's come a long way from his shy little self. I can't help but to beam with pride. He's such a wonderful, smart little guy!

We're making our way as a family of four. It's finally starting to feel manageable - as long as I get myself to bed at a decent hour!

Mini Benny

It's unreal how much Lila looks like Benny when he was a baby. Above: Benny with Uncle Josh at around 4 or 5 months. Below: Lila at 3 months.

The 80-20 Rule

I make a lot of goals for myself. I'm a pretty driven person, so I end up achieving these goals one way or another without much thought. However, lately I've been rather disappointed in myself. I used to pride myself on my frugality. Frugality led me to being more aware of what I consume and my impact on the environment. I used to buy all of my clothes used and I always thought twice about buying anything, anything new.

As I've become busier and busier with a house, a husband, a job, and two kids, I find myself favoring convenience to frugality. That means less healthy meals, more new stuff, and infinitely more trash. So, I am reviewing my 80-20 Rule. This rule means that I need to try to buy 80 percent of my "stuff" used - from clothes, to furniture, to cars, to stuff for my kids. Nate and I do pretty well on the used furniture stuff. Of all the furniture in our house, we only bought five items new. The rest has a history. And I love that history. For example, we bought our desk from an antique store in Austin (the first piece of furniture we ever bought together). We bought our living room chair from a friend in Austin. We bought our dining room table from a family in the neighborhood. We bought our basement couch and chair from a nice guy in Boulder. We found all of this stuff on Craigslist. And the amazing thing is: It all looks fantastic. With a little patience, we'll furnish our whole house with used furniture. We even recycled our cabinets. We painted them and they look fantastic.

I'm also pretty good about getting kids clothes used (and for free). We're incredibly lucky to have a couple of neighbors who give us hand-me-downs. And I exchanged Benny's old clothes to a friend for some of her daughter's baby girl clothes.

So, I need to start practicing what I preach when it comes to other items in my life. I can't remember the last time I bought clothes at a thrift store or consignment shop. I need to start. If anyone knows of a great consignment shop in the Denver area, please send it my way! My new goal is to spend my Christmas gift cards at Banana Republic and then switch to used clothes. That way buying new every once in awhile won't feel so bad. In terms of food, I need to buy more fresh, locally produced stuff. Less packaging, less sodium, less icky stuff to put into landfills and our bodies. This is one goal that I do have to try a little harder to achieve. Now that I have two kids with impressionable little minds, I think it's imperative to really focus on these values so that they learn from example.

With all of that, I do have to admit that the new pair of brown boots that I just got in the mail are pretty freaking spectacular. I just can't feel guilty about boots, as hard as I try!

First Day

Today was Lila's first day at daycare. I cried when I dropped her off. Although I know that I do not want to be a stay at home mom (I would be horrible at it), I hate that someone gets to spend so much time with my kids when I go to work. With Benny it's not so bad because I can see that he loves his time at school and has blossomed because of it. I still miss him, but he is so much more engaged at school than he ever would be at home.

Lila, though, Lila is only three months old. This is all she'll ever know. This is all I'll know of her life. Boo.

I do have to remember that I'm lucky that I can stay at home with her two days a week. That's more than most moms get. With that, I better get back to work and earn my keep.

No, Mr. Tweedy, I Will Not Make Out With You

OK, that's not true. I would make out with Jeff Tweedy - in a metaphorical sense only, of course. Nate and I went on our second date night since Lila was born last night. We had a nice dinner and then saw Tweedy perform solo at the Boulder Theater. This is the tenth time we've seen Wilco/Tweedy perform. And he didn't disappoint. I do love the music so much.

He ended the show with a Radio Head song and then performed a song without any amplification. It was fantastic. We were in the 13th row, so we could hear and see EVERYTHING. Plus, it was a sit-down show. I'm old enough now to prefer sit-down shows. No more moshing for me!

Back at the house, Benny didn't give the babysitter any trouble, but he did report that Lila cried "a lot." So much that Benny didn't get any bedtime stories. Poor Benny. Luckily, she was asleep by the time we got home and only woke up once. After going to bed at 1 a.m., I was appreciative of that!

All Growed Up

Well, I can now say that I'm a full-fledged adult woman. No, it's not because I have two kids. It's not because I have a house. It's not even because I have a full-time job. I consider myself a real adult because I am now the owner of a nice, expensive purse. I got it for Christmas and I LOVE it. However, after living without a purse for 33 years, I don't have much to carry in it. That will change, I am sure of it! The actual purse is red. It is magnificent!

Goodbye, Old Friend

Today we said goodbye to Sylvia the Civic. She was the first car I ever owned. I bought her right out of grad school and I LOVED her. She was a great car - so reliable. Turns out a two-door Civic isn't the most ideal family sedan. Now that I'm back at work, we need two vehicles that will transport two kids.

Goodbye, Sylvia. We will miss you!