We had a great family Sunday. If nothing else, canned holidays do facilitate a certain togetherness that you don't always prioritize in real life. I mean, our Sunday breakfasts are a long standing family tradition but on a regular Sunday, I'd have taken the girls to the pool after breakfast while Guy stayed behind to work on some home project. He joined us yesterday (on Sat. too for Elle's birthday) and it was nice though the heat did us in about 2 1/2 hrs. into it. We came home, napped, cooked dinner & that was that. A nice peaceful family Sunday/holiday.

Of note, Guy brought me my coffee in bed as usual -- but still, shouldn't it have been the other way around on Father's Day? Silly! He also cleaned up the remaining breakfast dishes while the girls and I napped. This is classic Guy. He is not the most touchy feely person. He's pretty reserved (which makes his dry sense of humor all the more delightful and effective) but he is a doer and master care-taker and reliable as the dickens. I'm thankful.

We had a super fun day celebrating Elle yesterday. This is the first year she didn't want to have a friend party which turned out kind of nice because her special day was truly all about her. We went for pedi's in the morning, did a little shopping, went to the pool as a family, took in a movie just the two of us, went to dinner, cut a cake at home and opened presents. It was really great. Of course, I felt nostalgic all day long thinking about how she came to be, how much she's grown and how lovely it is that she's ours. So lucky are we!

These are Anna Sofia's artfully stacked clean dishes. She can empty the dishwasher but she's too small to put away some things. She's 7, she gets a pass.
One thing I'm seriously implementing with the littles this summer is help with chores. Guy and Nat always pitch in but the young'uns have gotten away with murder thus far. To be fair, they've helped out when asked for a long time and they're champs at tidying. However, I'm a big #fail when it comes to delegating in that when I want things done and I want them done now, I just do them. It's like I'm a tyrant to myself. Cue a-ha! moment. That's exactly it, though. So, I'm trying to do better at delegating even if it means things sit undone (I'm a master late-night cleaner). Also getting better at making it a daily thing. Consistency is key!
Dishes and laundry are going well. Next step is bathrooms and floors. What a novelty a clean house -- not cleaned entirely by me or someone I've paid to do it -- will be!

This summer, I'm working (from home) for the first time in many, MANY years. I was very concerned about how I would balance mommy-fun-time with serious-work-time but I'm happy to report that less than a week into it, it's starting to take shape and going quite well.
Some days it means not making it to the pool until 3pm vs. being there first thing like previous summers but that's ok. The girls are enjoying slow, quiet mornings while Mommy works and the pool is always there from morning 'til night. As the days fade, it feels less and less like a compromise.
I'm happy and so are they.

Life is busy but good.

...down memory lane. It has been really sweet to see pictures & revisit memories we haven't in years whilst moving/getting settled in.

1. & 2. A very young & lovely me awaiting Natalie's arrival, July 1996. (Photos by MaMere)
3. MaMere and me right before Nat was born, July 1996
4. A sweet, collaborative family doodle: sentiment by Guy, happy faces & hearts by me and toddler markings by Natalie
5. New Year's Eve 2000 photo strip of the 3 of us.
6. Cheesy mall Dalmatian puppy picture of Nat at age 4.

In other news, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Tony Awards with the littles tonight. They hung in for most of it! ;)

All day long. Wah, wah

I've been pretty good about writing a little blurb about & posting a picture of each day of summer break in previous years so I thought I'd give it another go this year.
First day was nothing terribly special but not bad either.
This will be the first summer in many, many years that I'll be working so that should be interesting. Thank goodness I don't work in an office.
I love summer break so much!

It's largely the reason I haven't been 'round these parts all that much. That and I'm suddenly incredibly busy what with selling the house, moving, still being a full-time Mama and doing my consulting work around my kids' schedule and all. Not that my absence here matters, anyway. Like 99% of the rest of the world, I'm all over social media in real time so it seems silly to come back and rehash anything here. Now that I have OhLife, well, yeah, this blog seems to be going the way of Charlie Brown (he's been gone three months, by the way).

So, yeah, check OhLife out and no I wasn't paid to tell you that. I just really like it.

Until next time, mes copains.

Even though my writing here has gotten more and more sporadic, I still hold this place dear. It was my happy place, at times my therapy and a much needed safe space to share & receive friendship and support through some very important milestones. It has also been a frivolous collection of daily musings about everything under the sun (cooking, fitness, marriage, family dynamics, etc.) For a long time, this was a community and an ongoing conversation (which subsequently moved to social media) and I will always remember that fondly. 

When I started this blog, Natalie, now 16, was a growing young lady, providing much fodder and insight into parenting beyond the baby and early childhood years. Elle, now almost 11, was barely 2. And Anna Sofia was a very indeterminate "maybe" for me at the time.

Spoiler alert!: I caved. (ha ha ha)

Writing throughout that last pregnancy, the crazy postpartum period (figuratively and a fair share of it literally) and my "new normal" as a Mom of 3 was truly a lifesaver for me. A life long diarist, I'm a firm believer in the power of the written word to cast out demons and to maximize and alchemize life's gifts and treasures.

So, yeah, I don't write here much anymore but I love it all the same and will forever be grateful for the personal milestones, memories and transitions nestled comfortably here like little pregnant spiders in this big, funky web of technology we call the internet.