Little things

Got to get a July post up, not sure how the rest of the summer will go! As I probably say every year, just as September feels like a fresh start, summer always feels like a big deadline. Even though we normally travel for less than 2 months, it feels like I have to reach the end of my to-do list before we go away. If I haven't seen someone all year, it has to happen now even though it could happen in September. But now that we're leaving quite soon, I've abandoned all the lists and have focused my attention towards the suitcases and provisions across the pond.

Anyway, we did get a bunch of little projects done even if it wasn't as much as desired. A few examples are below. Little organizational fixes that will make life easier even if they're not anything fancy.

I'll do the fancier one first, though. This was hand-made by friends. I love being able to put up decorations that are made with love and not from IKEA. :)

I love seeing this as we walk in the door!

Next, some additional shelves for the floor-to-ceiling wardrobe. It was half-outfitted with shelves, and then there were a few sections with a rail for hanging coats. BUT it's a shallow wardrobe, so that would fit maybe 1 winter coat? Like it's made for someone's dress pants in their bedroom and not front hallway. Didn't make sense to me so we're putting shelves everywhere and hooks elsewhere in the entryway. The wardrobe also has cleaning supplies so it will get good use...not sure what to put on the top shelves, though!

Now each person has a shelf...reach in and grab
 your hat before heading out the door. Looks messy
 but it's out of sight. :)

June Survey/Selfie

I was going to post about something else and then noticed that it's the last of the month already!

Chose this one forgetting that I used an almost
 identical one last month! Sophia attacking my hair
while I wait for her to get sleepy. :)

What I've been...


Reading: "Wonder Weeks" by Hetty van de Rijt, Ph.D. "Daffodils" by Alex Martin.

Watching:  Drumroll....nothing! :) Today David and I watched some YouTube videos of people catching large snakes. Pretty wild. :)

Cooking/Eating: Cheesy Chicken Fritters from Natasha's Kitchen...also currently obsessed with Panzanella now that we finally have ripe tomatoes. Today I tried a chocolate-chip muffin recipe for the first time, not bad.

Listening to: Nothing here either, computer's on the blink...sometimes I put on some lively tunes for David to have a dance party.

Striving towards: Getting back to healing my core. Looking 6 months pregnant again. :/

Looking forward to: More family birthdays, and spending time in the U.S. once we get the plane ride over with.

What David is up to: Mixing concoctions in the kitchen, and planting things in some window boxes.

What Sophia is up to: Cruising around the house, often independently.


Your turn!

Birthdays as an adult

Not going to write about a party or growing older...just some rambling about everyday life mingled with birthday stuff.

So my birthday was a few days ago and I set expectations low...no offense to anyone who helped make it special, which I appreciated. ;)

I had the usual birthday insomnia. Does anyone else have that? Again not even really related to deep thoughts about growing older....just general wakefulness and trying to plan out the next day.

Finally was trying to fall asleep around 2:30 a.m., when Sophia joined me for the night. After several wake-ups, I started getting birthday texts around 8 am (on a Sunday morning). However, they were not texts from actual people. They were from stores wanting to "congratulate" me...and inviting me to buy something, of course.

Around 9 Sophia was up for the day, so I headed into another room to play, but Andrei sent me back to bed. After tossing and turning, I was just drifting back to sleep when a friend called. I lied and pretended I hadn't been sleeping. We talked for 5-10 minutes and I really tried to be conversational. But I couldn't help thinking my cup was empty...my people energy, that is.

Andrei made me breakfast, and Sophia was napping by that time since she'd been up for a few hours. Then he went to finish sermon prep and David and I started to make a cake...but Sophia woke up. Like I said, I had low expectations...I looked at the bowl with the butter sitting in it all alone since I hadn't mixed anything together yet. It wasn't too late to run and get dessert from the store. But Andrei took Sophia and encouraged me to go ahead with it.

Remembering

While gathering some notes about my late grandfather to help process his passing, I was surprised that I hadn't blogged about my trip to Budapest with my grandparents and older brother back in 2007. That was my first year of blogging when I was pretty regular. There's just a gap during those dates. But, it was a great vacation, so I'm glad I spent the time enjoying myself and their company.

Trying out some local goulash, perhaps?

Cow sculptures in  Budapest

Looking ahead

Just bought tickets for our trip to the States in a little over a month. I don't think it's hit me what I've gotten myself into. In fact, I don't think I can even imagine what it will be like with 2 kids!

We ended up having to switch airlines due to seat availability, but maybe that will be a good thing. Our last experience was actually pretty unpleasant. When we touched down in Frankfurt, we needed a few extra minutes to get off the plane. We let others go by us before getting all our bags down, Sophia (5 weeks old) in the carrier, etc. It was hard even getting our shoes on with the crowds around us and taking turns holding the baby. But apparently there was very little turnaround time or something, and the stewardess (polite up to this point) came up and started barking at us to get off RIGHT THIS MINUTE. And then she proceeded to stand over us, yelling, as we tried to gather our things now that our nerves were shot. No offers to hold the baby, help with bags, etc. I was unpleasantly surprised and I guess we will try to hustle next time.

Speaking of hustling, I chose really short layovers this time. Like, 90 minutes for switching terminals. With a newborn, we needed time for nursing/burping/diapering, but this time I decided that faster is better. So we'll put Sophia in the carrier, hope David is ready for some exercise, and BOOK IT to our next flight (aka miles-long security line). Part of the reason is that last time the few extra hours for catching a breather turned into a few hours of falling out of our seats from exhaustion as we waited for our next flight. Trying to use a bag as a pillow only to have it slide to the floor. Taking a turn with the baby only to find that I couldn't stay awake enough to hold onto her.

Next up is scheduling all the doctors' appointments, side trips, and hopefully lots of fun activities for this summer's trip. No visas this time-it'll be my turn for bureaucratic stuff when we get back to Russia in the fall.