Lately

This was a really good hair day for me.

Routines are so super important. Right now, I'm all out of sorts because I haven't been sticking to our family routine -- I'm exhausted, improperly fed and anxious. All it takes is one weekend afternoon or one weeknight which finds me doing nothing instead of making a healthy meal for the week or cleaning up to get all out of whack. So, right now, the house is a mess, I need to take our laundry to the cleaners, there is nothing green in our fridge and I've been eating out at both breakfast and lunch for the past ten days. And I took Ubers to work on Monday and Tuesday. Woof.

Last night, I kicked myself in the butt and made dinner that fed both me and Elliott and is my lunch today. I meant to do the dishes, but I inadvertently fell into the sleep of the dead after putting Elliott down. I did manage to get the leftovers in the fridge, but I left all the ingredients out. Thankfully, Lane noticed the perishables when he got home late last night and put everything back in the fridge. I may or may not be getting a well-meant lecture on food safety complete with bacteria growth charts soon. Chefs and their science, pfft. 

Elliott is still a little sick and no one has been getting much sleep. I took him in to the pediatric acute care clinic yesterday so they could check out his cough. He got a thumbs up from the doctor and a resident on his breathing, so we've just got to keep an eye on him until the cough resolves. This virus he had comes with a lingering cough and the doctors said they're seeing lots of kids with coughs lasting four to six weeks. He's sleeping, if fitfully, and eating well, so I do believe we'll all be robust and healthy once again in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

Studying motivation has not flagged, but with a sick baby and a general lack of self-care, the time to study has just not been readily available. However, I am not so behind that I am in fear of not catching up and I am participating in an informal re-takers online study group this time around. I think my big mistake with taking the December test was burnout. I was so pumped to jump back on the horse again that I just went nuts, but then was entirely over it one month out from the test. This re-take is going to be a slow and steady mosey to the 90th percentile and a five-month preparation period gives me plenty of flexibility.

We've got a long holiday weekend coming up and a baby date to go to the California Academy of Sciences. I still have not been since it re-opened in oh, 2008? And one of my friends works there? I have also lived a ten-minute walk from the Academy for the last three years. For shame! I can't wait to see Claude the albino alligator, even though he's hella stinky.

And and and -- we're taking our first family vacation at the end of February! We're going to Santa Fe to stay with Lane's aunt and uncle. (Obligatory Newsies reference.) Lane's mom will also be joining us. For such a small family, we're spread quite far apart, very much unlike my side of the family which is huge and strictly Northern California-based. The Lyons (Lane's mom and aunt, plus his uncle, and us) have only ever been together all at the same time for our wedding and when Elliott arrived (and that was sans uncle). I'm pretty excited to get some solid family time in, take a little time to hang out with my husband, maybe see some snow and get a massage and maybe read for pleasure. I know Elliott will be in heaven surrounded by two grandmas! and snow! and dogs! It's going to be great and I am really, really looking forward to our visit.