Monthly Mumbles, January Edition

10. I've been battling a NASTY cold since Sunday. For reals. I haven't had one this bad since I went back to work after having Nolan and had to be exposed to my petri dish of an office. The cloudy feeling in my head has finally subsided a bit, but my nose is still a faucet. Crossing my fingers that the kids don't get this, but I'm not too optimistic.

9. We had family portraits taken over the weekend. Ideally, I would have loved for Megan to capture images our new family of five, but with Mike's work schedule during her holiday visit to Ohio, we just couldn't make it happen. Oh well. I'm okay with how it came out, even if I'm in serious need of a haircut:

8. Mike & I did something yesterday that we've been talking about for awhile--we refinanced our home loan! IT FEELS SOOOOOOOO GOOD! We're making some serious progress on our "get financially healthy" new year's resolution--and it's only January!

7. We had temperatures in the 60s last weekend. Nothing like getting spring fever in the middle of January--only to have it crushed when remembering we still have ALL of February to get through. {Le Sigh.}

6. So much fun stuff coming up for my soon-to-be-five-year-old; I booked his birthday party at an ice cream parlor, I signed him up to play T-ball this spring, and we have Kindergarten registration next month! I can't believe we're at this point with my little Aiden already. I'm both excited and hesitant for him to grow up; I love the new experiences, but it's hard at the same time.

5. This is one of my favorite things in our bedroom (apologies for the fuzzy photo). :)

4. My dad is officially retiring at the end of the month. He's actually already had his last day of work, but he's enjoying nearly a month of vacation before the whole thing is done. Dad's not big on parties, so we enjoyed a low-key celebration at a local steakhouse a few weeks ago on his last week of work. I'm excited for him to start this new phase of his life! If anyone deserves a chance to relax, it's my dad. TRUST ME. :)

3. I have grand plans to start potty-training Nolan this weekend. We're going to go S-L-O-W with this, and if it doesn't seem to make sense to him, we'll scrap it for a few months. But I really, really, really hate buying diapers for two kids.

2. Justin is 6 weeks old today, which also means I'm going back to work in 5 weeks. I have a lot left to accomplish here at home in that time--most notably spending as much time as possible cuddling my little man. :)

1. Excited to put out St. Patrick's Day decorations next month! As soon as Valentine's Day is over, it's time to "bring out the green" in our house. And green also means spring...c'mon, spring...