Double Date!

Bryan and I always look forward to Restaurant Week, and the past few summers and winters we have enjoyed the celebration with our friends, the Monopoli. Restaurant Week occurs in Baltimore in the summer and winter, and it is a great opportunity to eat three great courses at some of the nicest restaurants in the city for a set price. Since we probably only eat out about once a month, Restaurant Week is a big deal for the Saxton's. We budget for it for months, peruse menus for weeks to select a restaurant, and then generally have our meals planned out well before we arrive.

This winter we decided to try The Wine Market, a cute restaurant and wine store in the Locust Point neighborhood of Baltimore. This turned out to be a genius move, since they are pretty much the only restaurant in the city, particularly that part of the city, with their own free parking lot. As we had received about 9 inches of snow the day before and Baltimore isn't known for their plowing prowess, the idea of not having to find street parking made the night a lot more relaxing!

I dropped Noelle off at friends, and arrived a few minutes early to the restaurant. I was excited to see they had both 3 oz and 6 oz pours of lots of their excellent wines and sipped a Pinot Noir while waiting for everyone else to arrive. Soon we were sitting down with our menus, catching up on the last month. Bryan and I both started the meal with a really good duck ragout, and then I had a seafood risotto and Bryan had a sirloin for the main course. I finished dinner with a chocolate pretzel dessert, while Bryan had some carrot cake. Everything was really good, and the portion sizes were just right - you felt satisfied but not so full you can hardly move. It was a yummy dinner with some great company!

Here are a few pictures of the company in the wine store attached to the restaurant!





Bryan and I are actually going out for a solo lunch date this coming weekend - 2 nice meals in two weeks is quite a treat! Got to love the excellent job we are doing budgeting to allow it to happen!

Crafting

Noelle is finally old enough to get in to the crafting fun at daycare. This week she finger painted a few times, and only tried to eat the paints once or twice! Thank goodness for non-toxic art supplies for little ones!

Here are Noelle's masterpieces. Try to guess which one she did by herself!





Noelle also made a turtle magnet with the help of Kayla, Ms. Rose's 4th grade daughter who Noelle absolutely adores. The turtle had an accident and lost his head, but if we angle him just right on the refrigerator, you can hardly tell!

Snow!

Yesterday we got our first significant snowfall of the season. Actually, we awoke Wednesday morning to about 2 inches, much more than the dusting we anticipated. After Bryan cleared the driveway, we all went about our normal routine, but we kept getting weather updates saying things were going to get bad around 4. Well as I drove the 15 miles home at 4, the weather turned from rain, to sleet, to snow, and the roads were already covered with an inch or so by the time I got off the beltway. It was a little scary picking up Noelle since Ms. Rose's street is a huge hill, but despite my car doing some major sliding, and getting this close to having to get out and push my car up the hill, Noelle and I made it up the street, and carefully drove home. Since the roads were so bad already, we called Bryan and made sure he was on his way as well.



When I took Maddie out after dinner, we had about 5 inches, a perfect Maddie amount. Maddie absolutely loves running in the snow, as long as it isn't too deep for her little legs. Since everyone seemed to be home for the night and we live on a quiet court, I let her off the leash to run around and she was in heaven! Not so much two hours later, when she went out to go to the bathroom before bed. The 6.5 inches or so were too much for her little body, and she refused to squat. Oh well, she held it through the night until Bryan dug her a spot this morning.



Noelle wasn't too impressed with the snow last winter but is a much bigger fan now. We went on a little family walk this morning after breakfast and she thought it was awesome. She doesn't have boots so we didn't stay out too long, but she really enjoyed walking around with mommy and daddy and watching us throw the snow in the air. And Maddie loved romping around in the truck tire tracks.







Bryan's work opened at 11, and surprisingly we saw a plow come through around 10, so he had no problem getting out. Noelle and I enjoyed the rare JHU snow day - not sure how we got away with that one when we only probably have about 8 inches. We'll take it though!

Friday Fun

Noelle and I were in to a bit of a routine on Fridays before the holidays. We often spent the post-nap morning time with my two friends, Caitlin and Caitlyn, and their sons, Will and Colin, both very close in age to Noelle at our house for playtime and lunch. After Noelle's afternoon nap (during which I did my weekly cleaning chores), we'd generally play with Maddie, go on a walk, and I started getting dinner ready while Noelle alternated between running underfoot and playing nicely on our own. Our routine has been sort of messed up due to the holidays, the Saxton sickness, and one of the Caitlin's having twins at the end of December (she is a rockstar for surviving with 3 under 18 months!)

Yesterday, it was nice to get back in to the swing of things and Noelle and I had a really enjoyable day together. I'll admit it, sometimes being home with Noelle all day is way harder than work, and Bryan's arrival home leaves me ready to drop her off with him and run upstairs for a few minutes of alone time. Maybe it is the fact that we all have been sleeping through the night. Or that Noelle is getting better at entertaining herself. Or that she is nicely transitioning to 1 long nap in the afternoon. Whatever it is, yesterday she was on her best behavior, probably only said her favorite word, no, 200 times instead of the usual 1000, and had only a very few meltdowns when she didn't get her way.

We started the morning with an errand and a trip to library story time. I love that Baltimore County has Storyville at one of the libraries, but also really love that the Howard County libraries have structured programs for babies each day of the week. They combine singing, reading aloud, and playing, and are great and, like Storyville, free. We had a great time. Then we headed to Caitlyn and Colin's house for some more playtime and lunch. Noelle loved sitting in the cozy coupe, playing with Colin's kitchen, and trying to scheme whatever toy he had out of his hands. While the morning wasn't what non-parents would call relaxing, it went really well. Noelle took a 3 hour nap that started on the way home, allowing me to catch up on some work, and then we had a fun afternoon and evening together playing and eating dinner since daddy had to work late.

Noelle is definitely a daddy's girl. She gets really sad if she doesn't see daddy before bed, so I kept her up a little late when Bryan said he'd be home around 8. Around 6, she started using the word daddy every 5 seconds and looking at the garage door. At 7, she started calling me daddy, and when she saw her daddy enter her room as we were getting ready for bed, she was psyched. She was fighting bed a bit before that, but as soon as she hugged him and prayed, she climbed into bed without being told and slept (for the 6th night in a row!) through the night.

So that's our typical Friday. I need to start getting better at taking pictures again!

Some Saxton Successes

Just a short post to share some of our recent successes:

1. Despite the thick layer of ice on our driveway yesterday morning, both the Beast Hyundai and the Beast PT Cruiser made it out of the garage and up the hill. If you haven't seen our driveway, this might not sound like a big deal. If you have, you know this is pretty exciting stuff. When we bought our house, we definitely had visions of being stuck inside for weeks at a time if the snow and ice of last January came out to play. I think we are feeling more confident that we are going to be able to escape without hitting the side of the house, mailbox, a tree, etc. as long as nothing too major comes down from the sky.

2. Noelle has slept through the night for the past 3 days. I am starting to think this might not be a fluke and that our little one may have finally decided at 17 months that she is old enough to sleep through the night. I have been telling her for about a year that we will all be happier and healthier if we sleep all night long. Fingers crossed that she is finally listening! And the toddler bed experiment is still going strong and seems to be part of the sleeping solution. I feel like I have slept better the past few days than I have for years. No, it doesn't mean that I'm not still exhausted. Working full-time, caring for Noelle, cleaning the house, cooking, walking the dog, and trying to have a small social life make that impossible, but actually sleeping for 6.5-7 hours without being forced to get up is pretty darn awesome.

So that's our good news report for the week. Hope everyone else is doing well!

Visiting Great Grandmom

The Saxton's were supposed to go to Philadelphia the day after Christmas, but the snowstorm kept us inside and warm in Catonsville so Noelle and I went to visit on Friday to see everyone and exchange Christmas presents. We also wanted to see how my grandmother was doing since she had a pacemaker put in last week. We were impressed with her progress and she will be driving again by the end of this week which is great!

My mom was supposed to come to MD for the long weekend so we could get some work done on the basement while she played with Ellie, but she has been in Philly instead taking my grandmom to appointments and helping her cook and clean. It was nice to see her for the day too, although we hope to see her again soon in MD!

Great Grandmom gave Noelle some great Christmas presents. She got clothes, a meowing piano (which is great because it has lots of volume settings, not just the standard two of loud and louder!), and a Little People Farm. Noelle now has a Little People Farm, Airport, and Nativity, so we are pretty sure Mary and Joseph are going to spend some time at the airport waiting for a flight, while the animals hang out in the barn until Christmas 2011. Maybe the angel can be a pilot?

In the evening, my Aunt and Uncle came over for dinner. We had a nice time and then when Noelle was ready for bed we headed home. It was a lot of driving for one day but we were glad to get up to Philly to see my grandmom!

I didn't take many pictures of our visit but here are a few!

Sickness comes to Catonsville

I don't know about your families, but someone in ours has been sick since before Thanksgiving. Last winter, we fully expected our infant daughter to be sick all season since she was at daycare around other kids and needed to build up her immunity. This year though, we all got our flu shots, and we thought, no problem, we'll all be good.

Not so much. Actually Noelle has been relatively healthy. Besides the current cold she is getting over, she has been remarkably well. Bryan and I on the other hand, keep getting slammed. It is probably because we want to be productive around the house on weekends. The sickness started with round one of the stomach bug the week before Thanksgiving. A few small colds hit us next. Round 2 of the stomach bug hit in time for Christmas, and I came down with the big cold/sore throat for our anniversary. Bryan and Noelle are still getting over that one, and I had a short round 3 of the stomach bug the first week in January.

I'd like to blame Noelle and call her a carrier of disease, but since pretty much everyone at my work is sick (and has also been multiple times) we are going to have to blame this one on CTY. Our only hope at this point is that maybe we all are finally immune to every strain of illness on this side of the Mason Dixon line. Hopefully, we didn't bring anything from up north from our visit to Philly on Friday!

Preschool

I spent the morning visiting a local preschool. Already, you are probably thinking? Isn't she only 1? Yup, our little one turns 17 months this weekend, and we are already on the quest for preschool. I had always read those crazy stories of Manhattan moms signing up their not yet conceived children for grade school and thought they were crazy. Turns out, waiting til the January before she turns 2 puts me a bit behind the curveball. While childcare options get easier for kids when they turn 2, finding a full-day educational program is actually quite challenging. Oh, there are co-ops are all over the place, and half-day programs that run 2 or 3 days a week. But preschools that actually welcome families with 2 working adults? Yup, not quite a dime a dozen. At least not in Catonsville.

I actually really liked the preschool I visited today, and to make things even sweeter, it is really close. However, the 2 year class is impossible to get in full-time so the best we can hope for is probably 2 days a week. Trying to decide whether to alternate Noelle between preschool and daycare when she is 2 is a hard decision. Does it really matter? Will we stunt our child's learning by not putting her in an educational program? Will Ms. Rose be accomodating to an even more part-time schedule? Trying to decide what is best for your child 9 months out is crazy at this age, so how those Manhattan moms decide what their unborn child needs 5 plus years out is insane!

I am sure whatever we do for Noelle, she will be fine. The one thing you can pretty much always count on with kids, they are pretty darn resilliant! You'd think that would make us parents feel better, but nope, we like to stress about all the little things anyways!

All Curled Up in Bed!

Lately, Noelle has been quite fond of Maddie's dog bed. She likes to try to climb in there with Maddie, which actually makes me quite nervous as they are about the same weight these days, and Maddie has tiny little legs that look like they could snap in half if Noelle were to sit on them wrong. I am sure they are stronger than they look based on Maddie's amazing speeds when running, but still, I'd rather Noelle didn't take one out!

But anyways, it seems that Noelle is trying to emulate Maddie now that she sleeps in her big girl bed. Noelle likes to wrap herself inside the boppy pillow just like Maddie curls in a ball in her bed. Then she throws her head backward over the edge. Not sure how it is comfy, but she seems to be happy!

Here are pictures of our two princesses sleeping in their beds!

Resolutions!

2011 is here, and with it, comes the yearly Saxton Resolutions. This year I'm publishing them to try and keep us accountable! Of course, we aren't so unique in our plans so our list probably looks a lot like yours!

Resolution 1: Get healthier.
We were blessed with a good eater from the beginning and I never had those breastfeeding nightmares that other moms have (that was saved for pumping nightmares at work!) Fortunate outcome of breastfeeding: losing weight while eating lots of food and without trying. Sad outcome of Noelle being totally on solid foods for 5 months: the weight cam right back on. Actually, the entire Saxton family is looking a bit plump lately, so we resolve to try to eat less dessert, actually think about portion size!, and get out there and exercise a bit more.

Resolution 2: Be better bloggers.
November and December were banner months for the Saxton Family. And January has already seen the return of Bryan to the blogging game. Can we keep it up? Our goal is to post at least twice a week, or 8 times a month. With Noelle growing so fast and learning so many new things each week, this should enable us not to miss anything too major. Since we want to print out the blog and give it to her when she is older, she should have a nice little history someday!

Resolution 3: Spend more wisely.
Remember Bryan's excel spreadsheet to time my contractions? That was nothing compared to the fancy budget sheets he has for us. Unfortunately, most weeks in 2010 we ended in the red. Now, this isn't too much cause for concern - we pay all our bills on time, save money, etc. but we spent more than we really wanted to most weeks. All in all, we did pretty good, but with a little less impulse buying, we should be able to stay in budget, and still get what we really need.

Resolution 4: Take more time for us.
This may seem to go against resolution 3, but Bryan and I need to take more time for us. This means more dates (especially now that we have the babysitting co-op)! We also need to take more downtime for our family. We tried in 2010 to keep one weekend a month non-scheduled and that was just unrealistic, but in 2011, we'd like to at least take a weekend morning or afternoon each week to do nothing. Errands, chores, and house projects can wait and we can just enjoy our little family. Perhaps this will be a good time to get in some Saxton exercise once the weather is nice again!

Resolution 5: Finish the guest "suite."
When we bought our house, the basement was a bit of a disaster. A disaster with potential though! Over the holidays with the help of my dad and brother, we tore up carpet, nail strips, and took down the stained ceiling tiles. This weekend, Bryan started sealing cracks in the concrete. Our goal for January is to have bathroom fixtures pulled out, walls spackled, and the concrete floor's cracks be sealed and then painted. In February, I hope we can get the bathroom finished. By the end of March, I'd like the rooms to be painted, and by the end of April the bedroom should be carpeted. Hopefully by June 1st the guest "suite" will be furnished and ready to use! Since we are hosting the entire Saxton clan for Thanksgiving 2011, this space needs to be ready to go this year!

So these are our goals for 2011. We'll see how we stacked up in 12 months!

Big Girl Beds

Yes, I know. You're thinking, hey, who is this Bryan guy? I haven't seen a post by him in months. Very true. Laura has been doing the lion's share of posting. I just haven't been inspired to post lately, and when I am, Laura usually beats me to the topic I wanted to post about. I was told, however, that if I didn't step in every now and then, we couldn't consider this a family blog any more, so this is my attempt to get back in the game!

As you've read, our daughter slept through the night for about 4 months. Over the last few months, though, she has decided that she needs to wake up and cry in the middle of the night twice, three times, or more. Every time we went in there, we found that her pacifier was across the room like she was practicing her throwing prowess.

(Side note: Noelle is actually completely off the pacifier during the day. It is only at night that she seems to need it. She also made it for a couple of months without it at night as well, but the start of the bad sleeping caused us to give in and try for anything that would help with sleep. Alas, it seems to have escalated the problem and she now won't sleep at all without it!).

Since Noelle seemed to be crying because she could not get to her pacifier, we decided to make it so she could get to the pacifier no matter what time of the night and transition her to a big girl bed. Well, big girl bed is relative since it still will not support more than 50 pounds and is just her crib modified with a toddler bed kit and the front rail removed. In any event, she can now get in and out of her bed at will. Noelle was super excited and spent the next few minutes after we showed her the "new" bed climbing in and out of it laughing. Fearing her falling out of the bed and scaring herself, we put a body pillow along the floor in front of Noelle's bed, but Noelle mainly uses it for an extra boost to get into bed.

The first test of the effectiveness of the big girl bed was the first nap on Friday. Would she sleep or would she just get out and play with her toys? Surprisingly, she took one of her longest naps ever that clocked in right around 3 1/2 hours! Test one passed with flying colors.

Test two was whether this new sleeping success could happen during the night. That night we went through our normal night time routine of a bath, tooth brushing, book reading, and praying (Noelle is super excited about kneeling in front of her bed and praying, although all she usually says is "Amen"). After that we tucked Noelle into bed, gave her the pacifiers (I know, we're suckers - no pun intended), and turned out the lights. 12 hours later(!!!), we woke up to find that Noelle not only had slept through the night, but was sitting calmly playing in her bed when we went in to check on her.

So, it must have been that the crib was cramping Noelle's sleeping style. If you think about it, though, who would want to sleep surrounded by bars? It is kind of like being in a baby prison.

Since the first night, Noelle has woken us up with her crying a couple of times at night, but nowhere near as frequently as before. There is an occasional whimper or loud "No", but we chalk that up to a loss of a pacifier and attempt to retrieve it. Just the outcome we wanted. Now, if we can get over that whole pacifier thing . . .