Although spring must be right around the corner, I mean it’s March and I’m smelling flowers on walks and some trees are blooming, we are still consistently in the 40s for a high and rain on and off every day. It makes you feel like spring is still out of reach but I know better than that. It’s got to be nearly here. Enter March, where I question if it’s ever going to be spring, and yet know it must be. March is also, for whatever reason, birthday party month and the last month before my exam doom again. Easter is also in March this year, which seems absurd.
So since we came back from Florida we have been trying to beat sicknesses, get back into a school routine, and keep up with all of the activities. This is Reese’s second week back following the mid-winter break holiday and her teacher was out all week last week so it’s been a full three weeks since she has seen her. Reese was really proud that she did her full workbook that was sent home with her for our trip. She was also very ecstatic to get her bag of Valentine’s cards from her classmates at the beginning of last week. And to top it off, last Thursday they celebrated the 100th day of school with a celebration. Apparently this is a thing because my mom even remembers how big of a deal that was back when I was in school. We used her heart shaped hole punch to punch out 100 pink hearts for her to take in to school for the day. Reese’s week at Kids Club over the midwinter break was a lot of fun for her as she had Lottie there to play with as well as they had two field trips; one to the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) and then they went to the sledding hill, about a 45 minute bus ride away.
Work continues to be especially busy for Bryan and my work has had periods of business too. On top of that I am still chugging away at the studying. I felt a sense of relief when Reese was back in school so that also provided me with a glimpse of how chaotic this summer will be with various camps we have Reese signed up for. We were able to reunite with a bunch of friends at a brunch a few weekends ago which was great. Bryan was able to get in a night out with the guys to bowl a few weeks ago and also had his time at Guest Chef Night last Thursday night for a particularly late night of food running. While Bryan was at FareStart I took the girls to Reese’s first Girl Scouts meeting and then a Black History month celebration featuring a drum circle that Brooke dug and some sweet potato pie and jerk chicken wings that were especially good. It was a nice performance presented by Reese’s Kids Club but Reese herself started to not feel particularly well.
Reese was not herself all last weekend and this week was still struggling to feel 100%. No severe fever, stomach ache, cough or runny noise last weekend but her temp was running high, she was low energy and irritable. Despite all that we had three birthday parties last weekend and dance class! I thought Reese was finally starting to feel better but at swim class she ended the class in tears because she was cold and saying her belly hurt (very not like her) and then on Thursday of this week I got a call less than an hour before the end of her school day that Reese had a temperature of 103, was very lethargic, and that I needed to come pick her up. I biked to her school to get her and come back to cuddle up on the couch and get her to relax, which she did all Thursday night and Friday as she wasn’t allowed to go back to school for 24 hours. Reese is back to dance class today and we have another party tomorrow at the climbing gym so hopefully she starts to gradually start picking up energy.
Brooke hasn’t seem to come down with anything thankfully and she has had fun at each birthday party. She was excited that she got to play with the big kids, enjoyed the Seattle Children’s Play Garden, a bounce house with especially rowdy kids, and getting to take turns riding Reese’s scooter. She also had a fair amount of pizza and cake last weekend. Her bestie has been out of town on vacation but has been back for two days and seems thrilled about that.
An exciting item in our household for the past month and a half has been our hydroponic garden which keeps producing. We have officially harvested enough leafy greens for four salads and used a bunch of dill for a homemade tzatziki. We had a bump and run with the basil that unfortunately killed it but have since replanted it and I think that and the chives, finally, have taken root. We are definitely going through the water quicker than before, but nothing crazy, about 1L I replenish every 2nd or 3rd day. It continues to be a fun experiment and I really think that I’ll keep the salad greens going and may try to use it for a start to herbs before moving them to pots or outdoors this spring.
As I tend to do when getting close to my exam, my head wants to move elsewhere. I feel like I have been very wanderlust lately and looking at various places to travel, not that we have any major, or at least international, travel plans on the horizon. We did book a place for Chelan at the end of the summer so that’s somewhere. I also have a running list in my head of things I want to declutter or go through around the house. I’ve been rounding up all of the baby items to sell or donate and keeping toys in order I feel is a constant challenge and work in progress. I had a happy hour at the top of the Columbia Tower that Marika has been hosting for women in our industry and I’ve gone twice now it is fun catching up with old coworkers and acquaintances and hearing about their jobs and lives. It’s also just so fun to feel high class in the member’s only lounge and having a grown up conversation over a glass of wine or an old fashioned. I’ve also missed seeing Marika so being able to see her for sure once a month is great.
But I’m progressing with my studying and now that I am about three weeks out for the first portion I am just down to practice exams to take. I am definitely feeling mixed emotions with my level of preparedness. On one hand I remember a lot from previous rounds of studying, thankfully, but on the other hand I feel like the entire exam has been changed on me. Learning to use electronic pdfs of codes and rely solely on code material instead of study notes and my own personal references is a whole new thing. And taking an actual exam on the computer, well, I have never done that before and I am nervous about navigating all of the material and exam packet on one screen. Who knows? I so desperately want to be done with the exam, celebrate and move on with my life. I have a lot of things I’m looking forward to:
- Cottage for 4th of July
- We’d love to go to Great Wolf Lodge for a night
- Chelan in the summer
- Just summer concert picnic nights
- Coaching Reese’s soccer team again
- Having just work (not studying too) during the day
- Trying to hit more Mariners games this year
- Maybe a few weekend camping trips, bike adventures, or the like this summer
- Planning a family Olympics this summer
A girl can dream about the future…but I need to get through the next few weeks!
—
Chelsea
