Life on the Farm: The Bulldog and The Baby Edition

So Dennis and Capone rolled in around 3:30 a.m. Monday with another car full of stuff, *sigh* and they were both understandably exhausted.  Unfortunately we had to put Capone to bed right away but his cage and blankets were setup and he went right to sleep.  Duke decided to wake up 13851035 3 times that night and I can't figure out if it's teething, a growth spurt, or just plain craving some mama snuggles that has this boy all out of whack.  I'd be lying if I said it wasn't making me crazy.  I am trying so so hard to be patient but MAN it's frustrating and exhausting to wake up two short hours into a snooze.  Anyone, this season will certainly pass with time so until then we've got to tough it out.  He has been the HAPPIEST of boys during the day so at least there's that to look forward to!

I was expecting some sort of excitement between Duke and Capone this morning when they were reunited but I was left wanting more.  Duke was all smiles for his fur brother but Capone was far too distracted checking out his new stomping grounds to give his little bro any attention.  I took him out {after he growled at my dad through his cage...oops! sorry dad} and let him explore his new home.  He loved being able to freely roam and looked at me a few times for some sort of guidance, I'm sure expecting me to lay down some boundaries!  So far he doesn't really need them because he's keeping to the area surrounding the house, moving from one door to the other to see who's going to come out and play with him.  I hope the transition continues to be smooth and that he eventually leaves the cows alone and stops barking at them.  =)

Already supporting the local economy with his HyVee water bucket and rocking his normal attitude.

Duke has been loving all of the people and attention that surround him on a daily basis.  I hope the poor guy will be okay when it's back to just mama and daddy in the new house!  By then {finger's crossed Dennis gets a job soon!} he should be in daycare so he will get a TON of stimulation from the other kids.  Since I haven't started work yet, we've been enjoying slow mornings, breakfast on the patio, and lots of play time!

Applesauce beard!

Today we had my cousin Jordan come out to the farm and take some family pictures of us...here is a sneak peak!  I am so excited to see the rest- he is crazy talented as a musician and I think it's safe to say his photography skills are just as on point.  Also noteworthy, this photoshoot was pretty spontaneous and the fact that I opened the package this dress was in 15 minutes before shooting AND we coordinated outfits, counts as a huge win in my book. 

Tomorrow I start my new job!  I am so excited for this new career adventure and also excited about my 90 second commute.  Ha! But seriously it's that close.  More to come on our new adventure in South Dakota and my thoughts on heading back to work {again} later this week!

Cheers to Tuesday!

-T-

Boston Adventures

Bright and early Tuesday morning {4:45 a.m.} Dennis and I were up and showered, getting ready to drive to Sioux Falls for our flight to Boston!  We maybe got about 4 hours asleep, had anxious butterfly bellies over leaving our boy for 3 whole days, and a nice dose of excitement mixed as we thought about our adventure ahead.  We arrived in Boston at 2 p.m. and quickly met up with our friends who were able to make the trip with us.  We were all pretty cranky, hungry, and craving a cocktail to kick off our midweek getaway so we checked into our hotel The Verb and hunted down a pub for some delicious food and brews.  I may or may not have been too hangry to photograph the event...#sorrynotsorry

We walked around for awhile, randomly exploring different neighborhoods but it was pretty cold and rainy, none of which we were that prepared for, so we opted to check out a neighborhood bar and have a couple beers before venturing back towards our hotel.  On the way back I spotted a cookie shop, Insomnia Cookies, and everyone thought I was crazy for wanting to go in and buy a dozen.  It's a good thing I did because those cookies made for excellent breakfast appetizers and late night snacks for the remainder of our trip!  #cookiesalwayswin

We freshened up a little bit and then tracked down an Italian restaurant for a late dinner.  The food was just so so but the wine was delicious and our server was a quintessential Bostonian, complete with heavy accent and great stories so it made our night.  After dinner, we stopped for one more glass of wine and then us girls headed back to the room to collapse in bed while the guys went to explore one more local bar.  I know it sounds like all we did was eat and drink, and that's not entirely false, but it seemed necessary since it was our first adult-only post-baby trip! I may or may not detox for the next 6 months.

We slept in on Wednesday and decided to head to Faneuil Hall Marketplace to explore the open air shopping, food, and enjoy the beautiful sunny day.  We realized it was a Wednesday so our hopes for bottomless mimosas and brunch were squashed pretty quickly but we eventually ended up at Cheers for surprisingly delicious food, an outdoor patio, and plenty of cocktails.  We leisurely ate our lunch and decided to continue our day outside with a  walk to the water!  It's easy to forget how close the water is when you're surrounded by Urban landscape, and we loved daydreaming about boats being ours one day, admiring insanely beautiful luxury apartment buildings, and strolling the cobblestone streets.

Go Irish!

We headed back to the hotel later in the afternoon to get ready for the Red Sox game!  Our hotel was literally directly behind Fenway {we had a view of it from our hotel room} so we didn't have to worry about travel time to the game.  We had a few pregame cocktails that weren't $10/piece and then headed down to take part in the pregame festivities.  We obviously stocked up on hats, t-shirts, towels, and a Red Sox baby bottle before heading into the park. 

Excellent view from our seats!

2nd Red Sox game in the 4 years we've been together = Happy Husband.

Finally getting a super annoyed teenager to take a good picture of all of us using the flash so it would be post-worthy.  It only took 6 tries. 

A bunch of players from the 1986 team being honored!

Big Papi- the man behind the motivation for the trip since he is retiring after this season!

Deeeeelicious sausage and beer!

Cheers Boston, I kinda dig you.

Woohooo! The Red Sox were playing the Rockies so it was going to be a winning scenario for us either way, but it was great to see them win 10-3!

After the game, we went to Loretta's Last Call and listened to live music, watched ridiculous people dancing and gawked at ridiculously short denim shorts like a bunch of old folks.  It was a blast.  It was a country bar so I loved and sang along to every song, while enjoying the company of some of my very favorite people.  It was the perfect ending to a really fun day.

Thursday morning was a little rough.  We were recovering from our late night out and had to be packed and out of the hotel by 11 a.m.  We were all craving a yummy breakfast so we tracked down a super cute neighborhood within walking distance of our hotel and found a restaurant with a patio to stuff our faces with amazing food and loads of iced coffee.

After breakfast we took a Lyft to Harvard, not knowing that it was Commencement Day so it was way busier than we were anticipating.  We didn't get to walk around campus like we were hoping but we could walk all around it and stop into shops all around the area.  More iced coffee and cookie dough ice cream were a necessary afternoon snack after a whirlwind few days.  We headed to the airport later in the afternoon and mentally prepared for a long journey home to our sweet baby boy.  Tuesday and Wednesday were so awesome but by Thursday I was super tired and just anxious to get home to Duke!  It was quite the successful trip.

Coming home to this nugget was everything I imagined it would be.  He had woken up about 15 minutes before our arrival for his midnight snack and my mom was able to hold him off so I could nurse him as soon as we got in.  He was all wiggly smiles and was half excited-panting, half laughing in glee that we were home.  Needless to say a million snuggles were in order and eventually he let daddy in on the action too! I think we are all set for overnight trips for a few months... :)

Blocks on a string are all the rage for this wild one.

All smiles after bath!

I am so thankful that Duke did well without us for a couple days...it made enjoying the trip so much easier!  He was a champ with bottles/food/naps and only woke Grandma and Grandpa up a couple times a night for good measure.  Cheers to a relaxing weekend! 

Don't forget to pay special tribute to all of those who have bravely fought to defend our freedom over the years and have given their lives in the process.

-T-

Life: The Blur Edition

SO as you all know, we packed up our little family and moved to South Dakota last week.  We have a mountain of boxes and furniture in my parents shed, boxes and totes taking over the basement, and half of our clothes in closets/drawers while the other half is in piles all. over. the. place.  

We rolled into town around midnight on Friday, unpacked the UHaul Saturday morning and promptly headed to my cousins wedding that afternoon.  We stayed out way past our bedtimes, spent Sunday soaking up sunshine and playing all day long and finally started unpacking on Monday to prepare for today.  What's today you ask? Well, Dennis and I are currently on a flight to Boston for a quick 3 day trip to see a Red Sox game and have some adult-only mini vacation fun!

Duke woke up this morning around 5:15, right as I was getting out of the shower, so I took the opportunity to soak up some early morning snuggles while nursing him and then tucked him back into the crib so he could finish out the night and wake up to a very excited set of grandparents. I am missing him like a stage 5 clinger and I hope he has a fun time while we are away. I know this will be great for Dennis and I, but the first overnight trip away is a big deal!

More often than not, we cram a million things/adventures into our days/weeks/lives and this month or two will certainly fit the bill.  I start work next week, we'll move into the new house 2 weeks after that and then head to Vermont at the end of the month.  My poor husband has to do a solo drive trip to Denver on Friday but it will be so worth it to get Capone moved! We waited a week for him to join us so my parents wouldn't have to wrangle both of our nugget babies 3 days after our move, and I cannot wait for him to join us.

Now I'm going to simultaneously try to rest and chug coffee on this flight because #4hoursofsleep.  Happy Tuesday!

-T-

Solo Cups, Baby Bottles, and a Tape Overdoes

Okay maybe you can't actually overdoes on tape, but holy cow I am sick of hearing the riiiiiiip of the packing tape dispenser as I make and close up box after box.  But you know what the bright side is?  We are making some serious progress!  Sure, we move in 3 days and pack up the truck in 2, but I really am delighted to say that despite the fact that I can hardly walk from one room to the next, we're almost there. 

As I was making dinner last night, I had to get a little creative when I realized just how much I had already packed/our friend had packed for us.  Thankfully I left out the salt and pepper but ended up using Duke's bottle's to get the proper water measurement for my recipe.  I also forgot to leave out the always necessary wine glasses so bright orange plastic cups had to do!  Pretty sure we'll be ordering pizza the rest of the week.

All of this is to say that we really are moving.  After all of the times I told Dennis "I really hate leaving//I wish we lived there//Maybe we can move one day?" on our drives from South Dakota back to Colorado, it's actually happening.  I know this is going to be a great move for us, but it's still a big change and all change takes some getting used to! 

We've had two fantastic going away parties, and I managed to avoid saying the actual word 'Goodbye' at both of them.  A- I just don't like goodbyes and B- I truly hope I see all of these people again!  So it's all 'See you later' and 'Talk to you soon' from me folks.  Also, I may or may not start picking fights with people this week, because I find it's much easier to leave people when I'm upset with them. Ha!

Thank God for this sweet little nugget who reminds me each and every day that we are making the right decision, that we will be able to give him a wonderful life in South Dakota, and most importantly, that no matter where we are, our little family will thrive as long as we are together. 

That's enough rambling for one day! Can you tell I really needed the distraction?! Happy Tuesday to all!

-T-

PHEW...where have we been?

This past week has been straight crazy.  Emotionally taxing, filled with an abundance of love, lots of car time, and if I'm being honest, I feel like our lives are in a state of constant chaos.  I know this is par for the course with a move coming up, and I am beyond grateful that I got to spend time with my friends and family to remember a wonderful life gone too soon.  But life seems to continue speeding right along, despite my need to hit the pause button.  Anyway, in honor of us moving in 1 WEEK {much to the surprise of my best friend who thought it was still 2+ weeks out} I thought I'd do a 5 on Friday//Friday Favorites post about 5 things that are AWESOME right now.

one-  Celebrating my first Mother's Day was very bittersweet but I still savored sweet moments and sweet messages from some of my favorite people.  I felt so much love and stole a million and one smiles from my main mini man to celebrate the day.  Since Dennis knew we would be occupied with much more important events on Sunday, he took advantage of his day off on Friday and surprised me with breakfast in bed.  He is definitely a keeper.

two- We are just weeks away from living in our OWN HOUSE {does it count if my dad's the landlord?}!  I am so so excited.  We will have a beautiful yard, 3 porches {what on earth will we do with 3 porches?!}, a guest bedroom, and loads of space.  I love that we get to put our mark on something and possibly grow our little family in the years to come in this sweet little house!  I cannot wait.

three- New job/New adventure.  I'm pretty freaked out about moving back home simply because I've never lived there as an adult.  However, last week when we were back I ran into some of my new co-workers and they were so sweet and welcoming, it truly calmed my fears.  This is a whole new stage of life for us and knowing that there are already people that are just as excited about us coming to Vermillion as we are, really reminds me that we are making the BEST decision for our family.  It will be a big change, but I truly believe it will be one of our favorite adventures in this life.

four- Sweet baby snuggles are one of my very favorite things on this planet.  Duke is at an odd stage right now where he's simultaneously curious and wanting to explore the world and super clingy/screams when I go out of his eye sight.  I'm trying to tune out the screams and enjoy the moments where he slows down and cuddles in my lap.  He's been growing and teething the past couple weeks AND I think he's starting to struggle with some separation anxiety.  I think that starting daycare this summer will be a really good change for him and give him the chance to spend time with other kiddos/people and know that at the end of the day, mama always comes back!

five- This weekend is all about Going Away Parties, seeing as many people as we can and...you guessed it...PACKING!  We officially move in 1 week from today and we have loads to get done before then.  In between the tornado of boxes and packing tape that seems to follow me around, we are having two going away parties...one at a bar with a bunch of friends and one at my in-laws with family and friends.  I am so excited to let loose tonight and have fun with some wonderful people and pretend like it's not because we won't be seeing them for awhile. #notears

I hope you all have a truly wonderful weekend!  Snuggle your favorite people and enjoy some sunshine!

-T-

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