2018 started off with a bang. If you recall from the previous post, both girls got sick in the first few days of the year when we were in upstate New York. We arrived back in North Carolina on January 3rd with a double ear infection (Rose) and RSV (Zoe) and rushed to get back before we got our first few inches of snow in North Carolina. We had experienced about 10 days of single digit (ie -freezing!) temperatures, and unfortunately brought some of that cold weather back to North Carolina with us. January 2018 was the coldest January I've experienced since moving south, and we had a handful of snow days, one of which included the most snow accumulation I've ever seen at our house. Cold is a relative term and it being "cold" in North Carolina is much more manageable than "cold" in New York. We could actually be outside enjoying the snow for an hour or two, with temperatures near the freezing mark (~30 degrees F).
Most snow we've ever had on our deck in the 6 years we've been here
The day after January 17, 2018 snowstorm
Sledding and building snowmen at the neighbor's house
The entire month wasn't freezing or snowy. We had two "snow storms." The first produced only a few inches that mostly melted the next day. The second big storm mostly melted within two days. That is why I love North Carolina.
During the month of January we also went to our beloved Museum of Life & Sciences in Durham, went to the bounce house, found kid play areas in new places (like Home Depot), and celebrated Rose's 4th birthday a little early with a few friends who had January birthdays. I celebrated Zoe mostly being potty trained (and the end of cloth diapers) by buying a new washer and dryer. I also decided that 2018 was going to be the year to really work on "fixing" my back. I started back up with a physical therapist to work on strengthening the core.
Painting at Home Depot
Rose and Landon's 4th Birthday and Liv's first!
Celebrating the birthday girl with her friends from school
The month of February always goes by so quickly. It's a short month and we celebrate Rose's birthday several times, including the day of her birth. We like to celebrate her birthday with the other February birthdays in the family - Rose's aunt and grandmother (Colin's sister and mother). That means we usually take a trip up to New York. This year we drove up and I spent the week with the girls. Thankfully the weather wasn't nearly as cold as it was in December/January. We actually had a warm spell and went to a snow tubing park where most of the snow had melted. Thankfully, we came back to North Carolina without illnesses the second time around.
Even for her birthday, Rose isn't quick to wake up
Dancing to end her birthday (and use up the cupcake sugar!)
Driving the 12 hours to New York
Lots of bilingual singing in the car on this trip!
Zoe now loves smiling for the camera for selfies (when she's in the mood)
We checked out some programs at the Music School in Albany - both girls had a blast!
Sledding with cousin Isabella
This year, February was even busier because of a grant application I wasn't prepared for. Over the past few years, I've had to write some federal grants that bring in significant funds for the state to offer health programs, but they've been written to the same funder each spring. My agency (and by "my agency" I mean "I") was asked to take the lead on a big, competitive CDC grant. It involved collaborating with a lot of internal and external partners, creating a complex plan for meeting very ambitious outcomes, and figuring out how to detail it all in a narrative and workplan with page restrictions. It also came at a time when I knew we'd be applying for another federal grant soon after (likely to overlap), and while my office was/is short-staffed at leadership and project management levels. It is really difficult to find the work-life balance when work is over-the-top stressful. I tried to engage with the girls and Colin during "family time," and to keep work separate, but the mental and emotional fatigue and stresses are harder to separate. I struggle daily with patience, and really had to work on it the past few months through the writing of two big grants from February through May.
Stay tuned for updates from March and April. There was an unfortunate injury in there for me, but spring and nicer weather mean we had a lot of fun outdoor activities start back up.
Perhaps doing a monthly post of pictures will get me closer to catching up. May can be categorized by grant writing for me and several weekend and day trips for us all.
Thankfully, the girls are mostly agreeable during car rides.
Not to mention they are stylish
May started out like a lion and ended like a lamb for me. The first two weeks I did a lot of travel for work and my "volunteerism" as new President of the Raleigh Dietetic Association. These trips also fell in the last two weeks of writing a fairly large federal grant.
I did my usual Monday-Thursday trip to Asheville the first week of the month, and had about 24 hours to unpack, work a full day, and pack for the family to head back west. Saturday was a transition meeting of the Dietetics board in Charlotte, and we decided to bring the girls so they could see my parent's new place about 1.5 hours west of Charlotte. While Colin drove the 4 hours west (past Charlotte), I worked on writing a grant. When I drove the 1.5 hours back east to Charlotte myself Saturday morning, I used speech-to-text to continue putting ideas on paper for the grant. I couldn't muster any more energy on the grant driving back to my parent's Saturday night, but did get up early Sunday to work while the girls slept in. I used the 4 hour drive back to work once again. It turned out to be a productive weekend, and I was grateful my family was willing to all help me multi-task. We also did spend a nice Sunday together between breakfast and traveling back home after dinner.
Rose running at the Carl Sandburg Home Historic Site, Flat Rock, NC
A typical sight of Zoe chewing her left middle finger
Rose and Zoe playing in the water at Dupont State Forest, NC
Since the grant was due mid-May, we just did a quick day-trip to the beach for Mother's Day.
That final week of grant writing meant very little sleep, and once everything was turned in, it meant catching up on rest and neglected work and home life, and cleaning/organizing my home and home office. Our neighborhood pool took a long time to open due to new permitting requirements put in place by the county, so we enjoyed our hikes to the playground and listening to live music that was available often. Once I was able to pay attention, I noticed how much Zoe grew during the month. She has completely transformed to a toddler and has developed her vocabulary in both English and Spanish. We dealt with some food allergy issues at school in April and May and had to go for testing in June (more about that later). She had done so well without major reactions from October to April.
Zoe has completely transformed from a baby to a toddler
Zoe singing the alphabet
Zoe talking and counting. Video was cut off before fighting began.
I think we were all very grateful for a long weekend of rest and relaxation for the Memorial Day holiday. We were able to join my parents and brother for a trip to Myrtle Beach and stayed in a resort that had a shuttle to the beach and nice outdoor pools, a lazy river, and a splash pad. The weather was amazing all weekend and we couldn't have asked for a better trip.
Daddy has a lot of patience with Rose playing paddleball
Zoe works on her soccer skills at the beach with her uncle
All in all, we had an enjoyable month (mostly the second half for me) with two trips to the beach, one to the mountains, and many trips to the parks and outdoor music venues all month. Stay tuned for a recap of June, which offered some nice weather for going to the beach and the opening of the pool!
