Day 302 | Birthday Party Bash

Happy birthday party day, Robbe!

Today was the purr-fect celebration of our little guy. Good friends, yummy food, sweet babies. What could be better? Oh...your first cupcake would make it better. Obviously.

Day 301 | Field Research

We took a break from birthday party prep today to do some field research on kitties at the Washington Animal Rescue League. The boys loved it!

Day 300 | 300!

Three hundred and still going strong! Here's our team update for this round.

Name: Sara
Favorites: visitors! We're heading into another season of visitors. On the list, my mom, then my brother, then my good friend, then my parents...all in two months. Woo hoo!
Biggest hurdle to overcome: conquering the great potty training challenge of 2015.
Dreams for the future: get back to yoga. I practiced twice (2!) last week and absolutely loved it. It just feels so good for the body and soul.

Name: Chris
Favorites: honing his new-found talent of iPad animations (another one of the ten hours of presents). His doodles-turned movies are quite entertaining. Especially for the two year old demographic.
Biggest hurdle to overcome: survive the last stretch (we can hope anyway) of winter commutes. Walking to and from the metro in freezing temperatures/biting wind/damp precipitation is not fun. The guy never complains, though. He and I are very different.
Dreams for the future: winning the lottery (and not even the real one, but that would be nice). The public school lottery for Chase's 3 pre-k next year. Applications need to be in Monday and we find out at the end of the month. Think happy thoughts!

Name: Chase
Favorites: brainstorming ideas for birthday gifts (for himself). At least once a day we have pretty detailed discussions about which trains he's going to ask for for his birthday. It's a tough choice for this little guy. I'm confident he'll pull through with the right ones in the end. Other favs: saying "no no Miles," blueberries (he's consistent), saying "I love you [fill in the blank]," trains (obviously).
Biggest hurdle to overcome: do I really have to say it? Definitely completing his potty training course work. He's been a rockstar thus far. I know he can do it.
Dreams for the future: teaching Robbe to talk. During most meals and most car rides, Chase enjoys repeating words for Robbe to learn. He does it very deliberately and in an exaggerated way: "mama mama mama", "dada dada," "yeeesss" (with head shake), "nooooo" (with head shake). Isn't Robbe lucky to have such an amazing coach? He'll have him talking in no time.

Name: Robbe
Favorites: tumbling acts in his crib. He thinks it's absolutely hysterical to wake up and meet us by doing acrobatics in his crib. He stands by the railing and then falls onto his tummy, he does seriously silly rolling, he wedges himself against the rails. It's quite entertaining. Other favs: eating (any and everything), brother snuggles, daddy's glasses, Miga (of course), finding everything that's not a toy to play with.
Biggest hurdle to overcome: teeth. These phantom annoyances have been plaguing our happy little tyke for weeks. He still only has two (and he's had those for months) but I see probably four that are on the cusp. Just pop through already and give us all a break!
Dreams for the future: walking. I'm in no rush for this physical development (have you heard me say, "the later they walk, the smarter they are about it?") but you can see the wheels turning in his mind about taking steps. He gets how life-changing it's going to be. Now if only those wobbly legs would cooperate.

Day 299 | Cat Craziness Continues

Just a quick snapshot of a few of my cat decorations for the big (actually really small) birthday party this weekend. Good thing I like looking at cats. :)

Clockwise from top left: cat cup sleeves, yarn-wrapped letters (cats like yarn, in case you forgot), cat garland. 

Day 298 | Two Babies, Two Years Apart

Overall, I think having two babies, two years apart is great. I love watching them grow up together. It's nice that our older child still has the same interests (bigger toys, same songs, etc) as our little guy. And I hadn't completely forgot what it was like to have a newborn and all the challenges associated with that.

It's taken me almost an entire year (358 days to be exact) to feel completely at a loss for how to manage both babies at the same time. That's not too bad, right? You might be wondering, is it because Robbe is getting into EVERYTHING? No, but that's true. Or is it because Chase has finally started having his terrible twos/threes meltdowns on occasion? No, but that's true, too.

Did you guess potty training? Ding, ding, ding. Chase has transitioned half of his bathroom duties to the potty, no problem. The other half (you know what I'm getting at, right?), is another story. Until yesterday, he just held it until we put a diaper on for nap or bedtime. I had the great idea to get mini trains to encourage using the potty so we picked some out yesterday. Now, he really really wants to use the potty and spent 15 minutes on the potty five times today in an attempt to go. No success. Have you figured out the problem yet? Yep: how can I be supporting one baby on the potty for 15 minutes at a time while entertaining a very active crawler at the same time. The bathroom is not exactly baby-friendly, nor does a baby roaming around encourage any focused potty-time.

The epitome of this conflict occurred tonight before dinner. I needed 15 minutes of cooking time and that's when Chase decided he needed to, once again, use the potty. I decided to try a tip from another mom: put Robbe in the bathtub with toys (confined=genius!). So Chase on the potty (who needed a book read to him, obviously), Robbe in the tub (throwing toys down at Chase's feet), and dinner borderline burning on the stove as I ran back and forth to the kitchen. Ahhh!

I'm going to win this war. I know it. But today's battle was definitely lost. Think happy thoughts for tomorrow. Chase really wants to play with those trains.

Day 297 | Birthday Prep: Take Three

Who thought it was a good idea to fit three family birthdays in a two week period? Lesson learned for next year: start the prep work right after Christmas. :)

So now I'm hustling trying to make Robbe's first birthday party as special, but not over the top, as possible. I'm confident we can pull it off. 

The theme is going to be cats. And I swear it's not because of my love of all things cat-related. He really does like cats. He can't handle not attacking, I mean snuggling, Miga when she's in the same room as him and if you ask "where's the kitty?" he strains his head in every direction looking for her. So a cat theme it is. 

First up on my craft list? Making sweet cat ears for all/any of our willing guests. Although not the quickest project, it is really simple: just felt, hot glue and headbands. I used paper to decide how big I wanted the ears and then just cut and glued the felt. Chase was pretty excited about them when I showed him the mock-up so hopefully at least a few of our guests will feel the same way.  

Day 296 | Artwork

After a decent amount of snow yesterday, the sun is shining and it's 45 degrees today. I'll take it. We're still playing catch up around here: cleaning, laundry, dishes (did I mention we have a broken dishwasher?), prepping for a one year old's birthday party, etc.and in the midst of tidying, I realized I never shared a photo of the artwork the boys made Chris as one of his birthday gifts. The horror!

The one on the left is from Chase. I cut out a bunch of shapes and he decided what should go where and glued them down. I was really surprised, actually. I thought it would be fairly abstract but he had a more accurate image in mind. Impressive. And, of course, he selected blue for the background because, "that's daddy's favorite color."

The one on the right is made with Robbe's hand and footprint. Turns out paint + squirmy baby + one adult = tricky crafting. The finished product, though, ended up ok so I just went with it. 

There you have it. Thank goodness these boys humor me when it comes to projects. 

Day 295 | Chase Chooses

It dawned on me this morning that our first born might be feeling *slightly* left out these days. Last weekend, everything was focused on Chris and me as we celebrated our birthdays. And we went straight from that to planning and organizing Robbe's upcoming party (next weekend!). So, today was officially declared Chase Celebration Day. He got to choose everything we did today. Curious about what he selected?

• Blueberry pancakes with a side of mixed berries and orange juice for breakfast
• Reading time with Daddy during Robbe's morning nap 
• A trip to the library (and we told him he could select anything) for new Thomas books 
• "Chicken" (ok, they were tofu) nuggets for lunch with a side of blueberries
• Reading a book at the lunch table. Crazy, I know!
• Oreos for afternoon snack
• More books (do you notice a trend?) and some quality choo choo play time after nap
• Chinese food for dinner (I swear that's what he chose...and he even asked Chris very sweetly to drive out in a snowstorm to pick it up) with a side of blueberries, obviously

It was sweet to see Chase so excited about the day being all about him. He loved making the decisions and gave us the biggest smile at bedtime. First ever Chase Celebration Day was a success!

Day 294 | A Day in the Life: Chris

Rounding out this series of posts, here's what a typical day in the life of my hard-working but always-has-time-for-his-family husband looks like:

6:25 - Wake up to alarm clock (not even a phone...how retro!): shower/dress/eat breakfast (cereal)/make lunch/out the door

7:25 - Workbound commute: walk .63 miles, wait for train, metro 15 minutes, walk via indoor walkway to office (fancy, right?)

8:00am - Arrive at office: respond to emails and review documents
8:45am - Meeting and coffee with boss
9:15am - Read material and prepare for meetings
9:30am - Meetings
10:30am - Respond to emails
11:00am - Conference call
11:45am - Eat lunch at desk (two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pretzels)
12:15pm - Prepare for afternoon meetings
12:30pm - Meetings (including a meeting in favorite conference room--the one with a great view of the Capitol)
2:00pm - Send emails and talk to co-workers to prepare for later meetings
2:30pm - Meeting
3:00pm - Respond to emails, draft documents discussed in earlier meetings
4:00pm - Meeting
4:30pm - Continue drafting documents/revise other documents/respond to emails
5:50pm -Homebound commute: walk via indoor walkway, wait for train, metro 15 minutes, walk a blustery .63 miles

6:30pm - Arrive home to excited babies and spouse and eat dinner 

6:45pm - Change out of work clothes/change Robbe out of stinky diaper

6:50pm - Playtime with the babies=favorite part of all three of their days

7:20pm - Give goodnight smooches to Robbe

7:25pm - Continue playtime with Chase (Chase has Mama Kitty read a story)
7:40pm - Start Chase's bedtime routine: potty/brush teeth/lotions/pjs/pick out sleeping friends/read two books

8:10pm - Put Chase in crib then pay bills and review mail

8:25pm - Check in on Chase and say goodnight one more time

8:25pm - Catch up on correspondence, check flight prices for future trips

8:50pm - Settle in for some funny tv

9:30pm - Watch the Badger game 

10:45pm - Head to bed: get water/check locks/brush teeth/change

10:55pm - Sleepytime

There you have it. You wonder where the days go and then you track them like this. There's your answer. 

Day 293 | A Day in the Life: Robbe

It's our little guy's moment in the spotlight. Here's a glimpse at what a day looks like for our he'll-be-one-in-10-days baby:

6:00am - Wake up screaming. Mommy offers teething drops and a restless sleep ensues. 

7:30am - Up for good. Snuggle time with mommy.

7:35am - Eat some delicious mommy milk

7:50am - Independent playtime in crib with books and stuffed friends. 

8:05am - Diaper change/dressed
8:10am - Playtime/exploring
8:20am - Breakfast time: green oatmeal with banana and water
8:45am - Playtime with big brother
8:55am - Diaper change
9:05am - Shoes on/coat on/hat on
9:10am - Tag along for a drive to big brother's school
9:45am - Return home for morning nap
9:50am - Naptime routine begins: diaper change, sleepsack on, sing "Hush Little Baby"
9:55am - Sleeping like a baby
11:00am - Wake up time
11:10am - Back in the car to pick up big brother
11:50am - Independent playtime back at home
12:10pm - Lunch: zucchini pancake, string cheese, and strawberries with water
12:40pm - Independent playtime with big brother: ransacking the ottoman toy chest
12:45pm - Family playtime downstairs: ball tower, animal friends, wooden vegetables
1:25pm - Naptime routine begins: changing, sleepsack on, eat mommy milk, read two books
1:50pm - Sleepytime
4:30pm - Wake up, welcome playdate
4:45pm - Snacktime: yogurt pouch, dried apple pieces
6:10pm - Dinner: quinoa tex mex casserole, blueberries, sweet potatoes, and cauliflower with water
6:45pm - Daddy playtime: Mr. Potato Head, quality time with Mama Kitty and baby polar bear
7:10pm - Family playtime
7:20pm - Bedtime routine: change into pjs/sleepsack, lotions, eat mommy milk, read two books
7:45pm - Sleepytime

Day 292 | A Day in the Life: Chase

Next up? Chase! Here's a glimpse at what a day in the life of our almost-three-year-old looks like.

4:30am - Realize cat pillow is missing from crib. Scream for someone to help. Mom arrives and retrieves cat pillow. Say, "I want to sleep" and fall back asleep.
8:10am - Wake up/change into clothes (with undies!)
8:20am - Eat breakfast snack (a few Cheerios, two prunes, a few craisins): this used to be a way to buy time as I was prepping breakfast when he was teeny but now it's just habit. And playtime.
8:25am - Breakfast time: green oatmeal with dried blueberries and granola. And water.
8:45am - Playtime with little brother
9:00am - Potty/brush teeth
9:05am - Shoes on/coat on/hat on
9:10am - Get chauffeured to school, point out every school bus enroute.
9:30am - Say "good morning" to Mrs. Bruce and Mrs. Olsson. Schooltime fun: worked on our Valentine surprises, had a fire drill (they did a great job), played upstairs in the Great Hall (too cold outside), read a Thomas the Tank story (can you believe Chase's good fortune)
11:30am - Picked up from school. Explain day to mommy: had crackers and water for snack, played with cars and a barn, read two Thomas books
11:50am - Return home/independent playtime.
12:05pm - Ask mommy to read Thomas book before lunch...and she actually agreed!
12:10pm - Lunchtime: leftover turkey burger, soft carrots, blackberries/strawberries
12:40pm - Independent playtime
12:45pm - Family playtime: lots of choo choos
1:15pm - Naptime routine begins: go potty, change into pjs, put on lotions
1:25pm - Independent playtime while mommy puts Robbe down for nap: read some books, played with legos
1:40pm - Reading time with mommy
2:00pm - Quiet time/naptime
4:10pm - Wake up/read book/change back into clothes
4:30pm - Playdate with friend from school. Showed off superb sharing skills.
6:10pm - Dinner: quinoa tex mex casserole, blueberries, avocado. And water.
6:30pm - Daddy gets home = favorite time of day
6:45pm - Daddy playtime: Mr. Potato Head, quality time with Mama Kitty and baby polar bear
7:40pm - Bedtime routine: change into pjs/lotions/teeth brushing/book reading
8:10pm - In crib with three sleeping friends
8:25pm - Mommy and daddy check in one last time.
8:30pm - Sleepytime

Day 291 | A Day in the Life: Me

I wrote a teaser about this series of blog posts last week. I'm chronicling what a typical day looks like for each of us in this household. For the most part, these days are ordinary and completely representative of our every day life. The day? Tuesday, February 10. First up? Me.

4:30am - Wake up to Chase screaming (this never happens) and find out he has misplaced his cat pillow. Problem solved.
6:00am - Attend to crying Robbe (what's going on with these babies this morning?). I offer teething medicine and try to go back to sleep. No luck.
7:00am - Shower/dress
7:30am - Snuggle Robbe
7:35am - Nurse Robbe
7:50am - Breakfast prep/dishes clean up
8:05am - Change/dress Robbe
8:10am - Chase awake/dressed
8:20am - Breakfast prep
8:25 am - Breakfast for everyone (cereal for me)
8:40am - Wipe down babies/clean up dishes
8:45 am - School prep (backpack check)/laundry/potty/teeth brushing/diaper change
9:05 am - Coats on/shoes on/hats on
9:10 am - Off to school
9:30 am - Drop off Chase at school
9:45 am - Back home
9:50 am - Diaper change for Robbe/Sing two songs/Put Robbe down for nap
9:55am - During naptime: prep dinner (crock pot meal!), prep lunch, make allergist appointment for Chase all while listening to my favorite podcast.
11:00am - Wake up Robbe (have to pick up big brother)
11:10am - Drive to school
11:30am - Pick up Chase from school (he had a great day!)
11:50am - Return home/prep lunch
12:05pm - Read Thomas the Train story
12:10pm - Lunch (hummus and cheese sandwich for me)
12:40pm - Lunch clean up
12:45pm - Family playtime
1:15pm - Naptime routine starts: potty/pjs/lotion for Chase, then diaper change/nursing/books for Robbe, then back to Chase for books before nap.
2:00pm - During naptime: create/print/stuff/address Valentines for Chase, publish blog post, catch up on correspondence, create new potty chart, watch Days of Our Lives (I'm not embarrassed to admit it...ok, just a little).
4:10pm - Chase awake: change/use potty
4:30pm - Miss Cassie, Matty, and Maggie arrive for afternoon playdate
4:30pm - Robbe awake: diaper change
4:45pm - Prepare snack
4:50pm - Playtime with friends
6:00pm - Dinner prep
6:10pm - Dinner: Quinoa tex mex casserole
6:35pm - Dinner clean up
7:10pm - Family playtime
7:20pm - Bedtime routine for Robbe: change into pjs, nurse, read books
7:40pm - Collect garbage to put out in alley
7:50pm - Nightime catch up: babysitter prep for Thursday, check in on Chase, fill out Chase's medical forms for tomorrow, fold laundry.
8:55pm - Check out for the night: tv and knitting
10:00 - Get ready for bed
10:15 - Sleeptime

Ahhh, the exciting life of a stay-at-home mom. I'm exhausted just reading all of this. Did you enjoy the peek into my life? Stay tuned the rest of this week to learn more about what keeps the boys of this household busy all day.

Day 290 | Birthday Business: Take two

As if Valentine's Day and my birthday weren't enough, we shoved celebrating Chris's birthday into this long weekend as well. Woohoo!

He managed to squeeze in most of his favorite things today: a trip to the casino, a McDonalds breakfast, snuggle time with the boys, ten hours of gifts (thanks to Chase and Robbe for helping me with this one), a surprise booze delivery (thanks Jason and Mike!), meat and potatoes for dinner, and dirt dessert to top it off. 

Whew. Now if only the weather cooperates and can give him a snow day tomorrow. Asking too much? No way...he definitely deserves it.  

Day 289 | Birthday Business

Such a great day. Filled with yoga (thanks Tranquil Space), babies, flowers (thanks mom/dad and Chris), sushi, ice cream cake (thanks Sarah and Michael), mango mojitos, and board games. Oh...and Chris got me tickets to see Newsies, the musical, in June. Woo hoo! 

Birthdays are the best. 

Day 288 | Happy Valentine's Day

Happy heart day! I've been fully enjoying the love from my favorite three valentines today. 

*Special note: in case you're curious what the perfect glaze frosting is to go with my cookies from yesterday's post, here it is:

4 cups powdered sugar
6 Tbsp milk
6 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp almond extract (the most important ingredient!)
food coloring

Just mix everything together and then you can dip the cookies in and let the excess frosting drip off. I've been working for years to perfect this recipe for Chris's dream cookie. This is as close as we're going to get. Try it. I promise you'll love them. I promise. 

Day 287 | Cookie Cuties

*Photo credit to Susan. Such a precious moment.

Susan and Caroline came up to make cutout cookies with us today. Chase's attention span lasted about four-cookies worth but Caroline stuck with it for a long time. Don't worry, though, Chase's stamina for eating cookies was much more impressive.

It was so much more fun making my annual Valentines cookies for Chris with friends. This is going to be my new tradition, for sure. 

And the best recipe I've found? Right here. But good luck finding a cuter baker than the ones I got to work with. 

Recipe update:
Don't forget the frosting! Here's the glaze frosting I've landed on after years of searching for the perfect compliment to the perfect cookies:

4 cups powdered sugar
6 Tbsp milk
6 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp almond extract (the most important ingredient!)
food coloring

Day 286 | Valentines

Chase has his first school Valentine's Day party at school today. So sweet!

The top photo is the Valentine I made for his classmate and the bottom left and right photos are of the goods he brought home from school (including a fun Valentine mask). He was so so excited!

As if that weren't enough excitement for this morning, I toured what I hope will be Chase's future school. It's a five minute walk away, great facilities, is super-diverse, and has passionate staff. Sounds perfect, right? Now hopefully we can secure one of the highly sought after spots. Think happy thoughts come March.

Day 285 | A Little Prickly

Today was the next installment of the trying to clear up Chase's skin saga. Off to an allergist for a skin prick test. We found out a new possible cause of the rash: staph (not sure why the allergist had to tell us that). And we received some new treatment suggestions. We're headed back for another appointment in two weeks so we'll see what happens. Fingers crossed for a different outcome this time.

Day 284 | Curls Ahead?

A girl can hope.

Here's Robbe's hair post-bath. This is how Chase's hair started out, too. And it ended up like this.

*Special note: I'm chronicling all of our happenings today for a special series of blog posts I'm calling "A Day in the Life". Next week, I'll be sharing what a typical day looks like for each member of our family. Get excited!

Day 283 | A Heart Day Sneak Peek

I mentioned that I was working on a Valentine's Day surprise for the boys. Want a sneak peek?

Here's an in-process glimpse at the Valentine collage for Chase. Think he'll like it?

A special thanks to 4-H for honing my collage-making skills. All those long long hours have been put to good use. 

Day 282 | Turkey Thicket

It's a beautiful day and I can't wait to get outside to work on a special Valentine surprise for the boys...but first, a photo from our morning. 

We ventured over to Brookland to visit the Turkey Thicket playground. It's a family-favorite. There's no doubt about it. Did I mention there's a train to climb in? Yeah. That's right. 

Day 281 | Morning Muffin

I can't believe I haven't posted my go-to whole wheat blueberry muffin recipe yet. Time to remedy that. 

Here's the recipe I use. 

I've tried taking out the sugar but, alas, it needs it. I did reduce it to a 1/2 cup, though. That's not terrible. Even Robbe got a delicious taste of this morning baked good. Lucky boy!

Day 280 | Sharing the Love

Chase has been all about sharing the love the last few weeks. He's constantly pausing mid-conversation or mid-playing (and I mean about 10 times an hour) to look right into my soul and say, "I love you, Mommy." He does the same to Daddy and Robbe. It's probably one of the sweetest, most heart-warming sentiments ever.

The scene above occurred for the entire last five minutes of our grocery trip this afternoon. See? Sharing the love. 

Day 279 | Such a [Bigger] Sweet Pea

Here's the other half of our cute-as-can-be family. Equal time for everyone around here.

Day 278 | Such a Sweet Pea

Could he be any cuter?

Day 277 | Books for the Babies

With two birthdays right around the corner (and two more if you include mine and Chris's), I've been pretty deep into bday planning mode around here.

One of the items high on my to do list for these birthdays is updating the babies' books. Seems simple enough, right? I've done a pretty decent job keeping up with the task along the way (I'm not even starting from scratch!) but the process of reviewing scribbled notes, writing everything out, and finding the perfect corresponding photos is crazy time consuming. 

Some tips I've learned along the way:

• Jot down notes along the way. It's impossible to think you'll remember when things happen by memory. There are just too many milestones! Have a sheet of paper in a convenient spot (ours lives behind our calendar in our kitchen) that you can quickly write down the date when something fun happens. 
• Keep photos organized. I know it's hard but it's worth it. It makes picking and choosing the right ones much less of an overwhelming task. 
• Go with your instincts. Don't hem and haw about the ideal thing to write down for the questions. Your voice will shine through if you don't over-think them.
• Know your style. I've realized after working through Chase's book that I prefer a fill-in-the blank type book, which is what I got for Robbe. Chase's is more free-flowing and open-ended. I've realized I'm much better at just filling in the "answer" and can do that much quicker. 
• Start a box, too. There are a lot of random baby memories that can't live in a book. Claim a box for the sweet baby mementos (think: the hat he got in the hospital) so you know everything is in the same place.

In case you're interested, this is Chase's book (on the left) and this is Robbe's book (on the right...and this one even comes with a keepsake box).

Fingers crossed I can get these both updated in the next month!

Day 276 | We're Getting Closer

Not to be outdone, Robbe added to our week of big (huge!) accomplishments last week.

Example #2: Robbe is no longer eating in the middle of the night. That's right: we're down to just three feedings a day (8am, 1:30pm, 7:30pm). Woohoo!

I'd like to say he dropped the feeding/waking on his own, but I decided it was time to nudge it along a bit. He's handled it remarkably well. He has still woken up most nights (though not last night!), but he goes back to sleep on his own and isn't starving when he wakes up. Progress indeed.

Day 275 | He's Kind of a Rockstar

Remember when I mentioned last week was a big week?

Example #1: We're well on our way to a fully potty-trained toddler! Can you believe it? We can't either. It started on Tuesday night when Chase decided he wanted to wear his Thomas undies (that had been sitting in his drawer for a couple of months). Full disclosure: credit goes to Chris for broaching the subject again.

We spent two days changing pants a lot. I started to get a bit worried, I'm not going to lie. Did we start to early? Is it going to be like this every day now? Ahhh! Then, Friday he had no accidents. None! We did put a diaper on him for an outing and lunch and he came back dry. On Saturday we went all in. No diaper except during sleeping. He did it! Stayed dry all day again. And the same thing happened today. Three days seems pretty good, right? We're pretty stoked. I know we can slide backward but I think we've made good progress so far. Chase even earned his "potty train" (Get it? It's a train he gets for using the potty) in record time by getting a sticker every time he used the potty. Quite the motivator, I have to say.

We still have some work to do...I'll spare you the details, but hopefully everything continues as smoothly as the last couple of days have gone. Yippee!