A Lazy Weekend

Hello!  It was a gorgeous weekend here in Charlotte and we barely left the house! Friday, some friends invited us to a Seder  (a little late bc so many of their friends were out of town on Easter weekend) and it was lots of fun!  I had never been to one (fun fact: I didn’t have a Jewish friend until college because the rural town where I grew up had zero diversity) and really enjoyed experiencing another religious holiday celebration. Emerson searched for the afikoman and received generous prizes when she found it:) We even got to take home a rich piece of flourless chocolate cake to eat on the couch with The Handmaid’s Tale, and it felt like we were right back on vacation.

As for the rest of the weekend, we didn’t leave the house (not with Emerson at least), because we are trying another round of potty training. Some friends convinced me to try the Oh Crap method back in NYC when Emerson was younger (the author insists you must do it by a certain age which is just dumb), and it was too intense for me – I got super frustrated being trapped in the apartment with no breaks, and I think it put too much pressure on Emerson (plus, she was just young). We are trying a less intense approach this time using some of the general principles from the book (but with rewards!), and I’m trying to just go with the flow and not worry so much about immediate results. The main reason I’m trying it now is because her preschool teacher is happy to work on it when she’s at school (and most kids in her class are training too) and because we have a busy summer of road trips coming up in June and July (and then a baby due in October!!).

It’s also much better doing potty training in NC because it’s warm out and we have a yard, so we aren’t cooped up inside.  Our patio was finished last week (though we are still waiting on the french drains and seeds), so I went to Home Depot and Target and bought some accessories to spruce it up a bit.  We spent lots of time out there this weekend and it was glorious.  I’m so excited to have an [almost] finished private outdoor space! TBD if we have the budget to buy a grill in the next month or two. Matt also spent two hours cleaning our downstairs windows (and rescuing spiders), and I swept the patio and scrubbed some of the mud and grout off the side of our house.

I did a huge grocery trip at Trader Joe’s on Saturday afternoon, and then we settled on the couch for Thai food after Em was down.  Too bad the restaurant messed up my mild curry and my mouth was on fire getting through this plate!  I washed it down with a slice of carrot cake (the cream cheese icing took the edge off:)) so all was ok. I started feeling kicks last week, so I’ve been all about the sugar at night to try and feel more (although I need to tone it down after eating dessert every night in Rosemary Beach…).

This morning, we made blueberry pancakes, and then I checked out a new-to-me cycle studio, Cyclebar. It was such a nice change of pace since I’m mostly been doing Barre at the Y and Popsugar with weights at home. I’ve started having some ligament pain and stretching (at least that’s what I think it is), so I wasn’t exactly able to keep with some of the movements to faster songs; I still loved the music, vibe, and just some good cardio for once.

Tonight, I’m making PB Fingers’ Thai chickpea burgers, and resting up for what I hope will be be the worst of the potty training journey.  Wish us luck and send wine cake.