Pate's Full Circle: Lately

Hold your breath...both kids are down for a nap at the same time! That gives me approximately several minutes to wash and fold several loads of laundry, think of what to make for dinner and balance the checkbook. And yet, I am here updating the blog.
At Casa de Pate, we have been settling into our new "schedule." I say this facetiously because we don't really have a schedule per say, but we are getting closer. Liam started his child development care program at our church twice a week and really loves it. The class is very structured and is similar to what he had at Primrose. And his teachers are awesome! They have had the same class for three years so I think that it says a lot about their ability to work together. He is really thriving, and I am constantly amazed by what he is picking up. The other days that he is home, we go on play dates, go to the bounce houses, reading time at the library and to the park. If he is missing being in school full-time, he has not let me know about it, which is a great relief!

Parenting a toddler is in one word: exhausting. I am constantly filled with guilt that I can't give each child enough attention. Some days I get so stressed because every other word out of my mouth seems to be no or disciplining Liam for something he has done. I sort of felt like I had a "handle" on parenting when I had just one child. But then the second one comes along and throws you off your game! It is a constant balancing act, but we are all working on it. I started taking a parenting class at our church a few weeks back and I feel like I have gained many nuggets of knowledge on how to deal with a strong willed child. It is difficult to raise children in a pleasure-driven world and Eric and I both want Liam and Ansley to have some perspective as they go into life.

My brother, David, came to visit a few weeks back. It was great for him to meet Ansley and to see Liam for the first time in almost a year. I think he was surprised at how much he had grown up! We did a few touristy things like going to South Fork Ranch. We also hit up a few of our favorite restaurants like Kostas and Bread Winners. It was great to see him and I hope that we get to see each other again soon.

Eric and I also went on our first date in...an embarrassingly long time courtesy of our friend Brenda and her husband, Jerry. I will now name any future children after them. Perhaps Brenny or Jendra? We ate at Gloria's where I had my first post-partum mojito and went to go see a movie. I was in heaven! It was so great to reconnect with Eric. As a side note, I have cut dairy and tomatoes out of my diet as a result of Ansley's great aversion to them. Do you realize how hard it is to eat without dairy and tomatoes! Yikes! At least it is helping me to shed my pregnancy weight. So incredibly grateful to our friends for spending time with our kiddos while we were able to take some time for ourselves.

Our backyard has been incredibly neglected since we moved in. We were concentrating on the interiors for the first six months we had lived here. While we are far from being done and an older home is a constant work in progress, it is time to start tackling the backyard. When we were looking at the house we knew that the pool needed some work. But it wasn't enough of a deal breaker to deter us. So we decided to take advantage of some of the off-season deals and started our pool work this last week. It is definitely one of those - it is going to look worse before it looks better - scenarios. We have hired a company to re-plaster, re-tile, and work on portions of the deck that have settled due to poor drainage. Once the pool is done, we will have to put some elbow grease into pulling out existing shrubs and rock and put down sod. This winter we have been dreaming of what it will look like when it is all done (a la Clark Griswald in Christmas Vacation - minus the girl in the bathing suit). We look forward to entertaining outside in the spring!