Monday, November 16, 2015

Waffles & Wednesdays

Sunday mornings have finally become a thing in the Nieman household.
When we're home, anyway, and we've had a nice long stretch of travel-free weekends lately.
 I don't even remember what we did before Finley, except for vague recollections of long runs followed by pitchers of mimosas. (The nostalgia pangs are real.) When Finley was tiny, at-home weekend mornings revolved around early morning feedings followed by a desperate attempt to grab a few more hours of sleep (and repeat). And then she was bigger and still up insanely early, but it was summer so I packed her up in the jogging stroller or dragged her to the farmer's market just after dawn. Now that she reliably sleeps 11 hours or so and then likes to putter around the house all morning, we have PJ-and-cartoon mornings and eat waffles. We're starting to really enjoy our lazy Sunday mornings.

I just got a Belgian waffle maker that flips like the ones in hotels, and I love it.
I am also kind of in love with that rare and surprisingly wonderful thing, a Wednesday federal holiday. Thanks to Army leave regulations, there is no way to turn a Wednesday into a long weekend- so I simply had Veterans' Day off in the middle of the week. At work, we complained that it cost us a long weekend, but in reality it was like a gift: we didn't feel obligated to plan anything, like you do when you have a stretch of downtime, but we still got to play hooky. At least I did, and Finley's daycare was closed. Seth still had class, but he took the morning off and we went for a beautiful family bike ride on the Capital Crescent Trail, where we managed to avoid the famously aggressive owl and found a new playground for Finley. Of course she preferred the leaf piles.
The weekend felt like a bonus after a seemingly two day work week, and we spent as much of it as we could outside enjoying our Indian summer. Seth spent some Seth Time in a tree stand. I had a mini-meltdown about how back-to-back pregnancies means I haven't gotten to have Amy Time (read: long runs or rock climbs or more than one beer) in literally years (brought on by the unfortunately-timed comment that this was "only" his second time deer hunting this season.) Bless his heart. Seth tried to understand, and made me feel slightly better by making me a fresh-squeezed mimosa and acquiescing to a family hike. (During which he fished, Finley ate dirt, and very little actual hiking occurred.)
Still, outside time is outside time, and I'm trying hard not to look gift horses in the mouth these days.
I also snuck out Sunday night for a much-needed girls' dinner and a yoga benefit (for the Yellow Ribbon Fund) by candlelight. I ate spicy food, did downward dog without little hands grabbing my ponytail, and centered my chi. I also found myself thinking that Finley would love the Christmas lights on Bethesda Ave.

Seth and Finley watched the Vikings game and celebrated the big win (and current status as NFC North champs) over the pork chops and cabbage I had left in the crockpot. Finley apparently loves sauerkraut. The house smelled like Warsaw in winter when I got home, but the world's easiest dinner prep was a hit- and went well with a Vikings victory, I'm told. (I've been dicing vegetables and mincing fresh herbs and grinding my own spices all these years, why again?)

Finley's also been busy with Christmas prep, which she loves. By which I mean, perusing the ads
and shopping "for her cousins." (Thank you, Lisa and Sara, for failing to warm me about the uber-creepy beanie boos.)
The photo of the week is from Thursday night bed check. I found Finley sleeping in this incredibly relaxing position.
Oh, and this rare family shot, from our hiking/ fishing/ dirt-eating excursion.

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