Speed Bump

"Show me a woman without guilt and I'll show you a man." Marie Wilson, founder of the White House Project, quoted in Lean In . *Note: I'm traveling for work, which of course means I'm once again questioning my priorities, feeling guilty and missing my kids. Feel free to skip this post if you've grown weary of my internal struggles. I am an ambitious person, and I want to be a good mother. Sometimes I feel like those two phrases don't belong in the same sentence, the two thoughts don't belong together in my mind.  It is easy for me to tune into Sheryl Sandberg's message to Lean In - it goes with the grain, feels natural. I'm leaning in, sitting at the table, raising my hand. I'm not leaving before I leave. I leaned way in to get to where I am now in my career, much of the heavy leaning occurring prior to my having kids. Baby brain and new mom struggles clouded my career path for a while. But Sandberg's message tapped into my d...

It isn't really week 5002 of our remodel, but it feels like it. We're making progress, but it is baby steps and doesn't make for great blog posts. The drywall is up and the past several weeks have been all about mudding and sanding the drywall - I actually found this interesting because I've never seen it done. But it makes for some dull pictures. Things are going to pick up and get really interesting in the next few weeks...

From Monday morning in my office to Tuesday afternoon in my classroom... Izzy wasn't really sick today but we didn't want to send her back to school just in case. Today was a true tag-team effort with Ryan covering the home front in the early morning, Ryan's Dad holding down the fort between 10 and 2, and then Izzy got to come to work with me and be a graduate student for a few hours. I brought snacks, toys, and the ipad and plopped her on the floor of my classroom, thinking we would stick it out as long as possible. Amazingly, she was very quiet and I was actually able to participate in the paper discussion during class. Teaching an entire class this semester I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. I thought Charlie might be the one to make it work as he will zone in on the ipad or iphone for hours. But Izzy surprised me today and was the perfect classroom visitor. Her first day as a Jayhawk! These last few days have required a village to get me t...

Not how I planned to start my week...with a sick kid sharing my office. This in a week when I am already behind the gun and functioning as a single parent for part of the time. When you utilize two grandparents by Tuesday, that is not a good sign. But so thankful I have them! 

We met with our architects this week to go over detailed shop drawings of all the custom cabinetry that will be in the house. It was so very exciting to think about how our amazing kitchen is going to look someday soon. I can hardly wait to cook our first meal in the space.  And just when I thought we couldn't get any more excited about our future home, our architects had yet another surprise for us. They finally revealed the designs for the screen elements in the house (space in the kid's landing, stairs going down to the basement, and soffit panel for the deck). They had originally talked with us about making unique metal screens, but the talk shifted to simple metal poles due to budget constraints. They figured out a way to make the original screens for the same cost - and I think they are really excited about this new design tool and want to utilize it - lucky us! I realize this picture is not as exciting unless you hear the story behind it and can envision them in the...

Our first Saturday soccer game! We made it to the fields at Swope Park and Charlie was given his very own jersey -  probably his favorite part of the whole day.   The Roasterie sponsors the soccer league and Charlie recognized their signature airplane logo. He knows this is where we go for 'kid's coffee' (aka, milk). Charlie was a little shy at the beginning, but he quickly came around and started running and kicking the soccer ball. There were a zillion fields in this soccer park, with the pre-K teams on small fields really close together. Charlie and Izzy were fascinated with the water jug. They drained the team supply before the game even started. How cute are these little guys and girls? A couple of the kids had older brothers that helped instruct and lead the little ones around. Charlie had a big cheering section on this very windy, Spring day. Izzy was a great sport, watching and cheering the blue team on. ...

We have walls! What a difference a little drywall makes...

What a beautiful,Spring day we enjoyed this Easter. I wish I could hit rewind on the day. Charlie found an egg marked with "H" for Haley, and he put it back. I give him another year before he figures out the fun of re-hiding eggs for his cousin and sister so they can't find them. Look who we caught still hanging out in the back yard during our Easter egg hunt... After the egg hunt, Charlie decided to play a little golf. His first time hitting since last fall, but it didn't take him long to pick it right back up. He's a natural!  Squaring up to the ball... kicking the ball... Izzy hasn't shown much interest in golf, but she likes to watch Charlie. The bunny ears got in the way a few times,  but with a quick adjustment, he played on. Another Happy Easter! And what a difference a year makes !