Lately/balance

(reading to Coco and his friend)

(sometimes you have a tough appointment, and the patient brings you cookies) 

(reading in a bit of sunlight) 

(there were about 30 pics identical to this on my phone) 

(having a bit of water post-workout) 

(checking out how far the toilet paper in the hotel can be pulled) 

(sunday morning breakfast) 

(working)

The whole work/life/everything balance is totally hard and impossible and who cares. For me, at least. For example, I always (usually) feel really good about my relationship with Jon and Cohen. Though sometimes when I get home from work, I still have work on my mind, and it's hard for me to shake it, and so I am not fully present at home. And I always (usually) talk to my best friends on the phone at least once a week. But then some weeks we play phone tag every day, and we can only talk for two minutes, and that's that. And I always (usually) find time for the meager workouts that I do which entail 20 minutes of copying a super-fit person who I find on youtube. Except sometimes I can't even force myself to work out for 20 sad little minutes, because I would rather be eating a chocolate bar and reading dumb blogs.

My latest thing is that I can't and won't spend 3-4 hours in a stylist's chair getting my hair done. My hair takes forever to do, and I just won't take 4 hours from my time with Cohen. If I lived somewhere that offered hair styling late at night, I would totally do that so I could do it while Cohen sleeps. And maybe it's partly because I am leaving Cohen for four whole nights next week, which feels like forever. So to deal with the 2 inches of roots, I have been using sun-in every single day, even though I don't get much sun, because it's not that sunny here. And I am luckily going grey at a really fast rate these days. And I am using purple shampoo to kind of take away form the orange shade I am developing in my root area. And I just chop a few inches off my ponytail here and there. Perfect.

Busy

We have been busy lately. Not super busy, but just busy enough that I haven't been updating this little blog read only by our immediate family. But the thing is, J and I love looking back at this blog to see what we have been up to. So I update it for us. Because we are not the type of people to get professional photos on special occasions, or scrapbook. We are more the type of people to take a family selfie on a Thursday when Cohen visits us at work. This is what his visits look like: He runs in ahead of the sitter straight to the sticker box by the reception desk that we have for kids who were good for their appointments. Jon or I come and say hi, and he looks up at us, then right back to the staff who are totally helping him stuff stickers into his pockets. Then he runs into our little office and starts eating whatever snack we have there, usually an apple. Then he draws all over our schedule for the day, says goodbye, and runs out the door with the sitter. Sometimes he will take every crayon in the waiting room and throw it on the floor. It pretty much makes our mornings.

PS: Our clinic is the most lovely shade of yellow in most rooms, except the two operatories that have been newly painted fuchsia. Very relaxing.

Hotel review: Bannerman Park Suites, St. John's, NL

We ended up spending a night in St. John's this past Easter weekend. We booked into Bannerman Park Suites at the last minute. This place most be pretty new. Everything looked fresh and clean. We liked it. 

(lovely tub with a little dude in it) 

(oddly comfy sofa) 

(comfy bed)

Price: $165 per night including tax and parking. Really good for the area.
Bathroom: So nice! There is a huge shower with awesome pressure and this nice big tub. Everything looked newly updated. The soaps and shampoos were sad, but other than that, the bathroom was sweet.
Breakfast: Nope. But there is a fridge and stove so you could make breakfast.
Wifi: I think? We never used it.
TV: Two huge televisions with lots of channels. We watched disney cartoons cuz we are parents.
Location: Ummm, not as awesome as so many other hotels. Not very walkable to downtown, except maybe in the summer (that is like 3 weeks long around here). I didn't love the location. Though just FYI, it is right directly beside the swanky Ryan Mansion hotel.
Parking: There were two free parking spaces, and we got one. I don't know what happens if they are taken.

Notes:
- so this place is technically an apart-hotel. Our suite had a separate bedroom and a kitchenette. We like that because we travel with a mini snack bar for the kid. The downsides to these kinds of places include no front desk, no restaurant on site, no room service. For us, a family with a toddler, these places are the best. But when we had a newborn who slept all the time, I was all about room service. So it's all what you prefer.
- We found Executive Suites Hotel to be very similar, only a bit nicer with a better location. And only a little more money. So while we would stay here again, I'll always try to book Executive Suites first.

On the Easter weekend

We had a big Easter trip planned, but through a series of unfortunate events, we ended up at home with not a relative in sight. We made the most of it by making the two hour drive into town to go swimming with the dude and get a non-McDonald's coffee. 

(Easter present from Nanny and Gramps: picnic table aka drawing table) 

(loving the train set at Chapters in town) 

(completely amazed by the television at the hotel. we don't have one at home. whenever a commercial came on, he came over and made me look.) 

(family selfies) 

(at the hotel) 

(the mall was filled with these old-school rides*. )

(30 minutes in this bubble) 

(exhausted on the drive home. there is nothing like a sleeping baby in the backseat)

*i don't know if they are new or they were just invisible to me before i had a kid who was obsessed with them. either way, old-school rides, i love you. we don't ever put any money in them. Cohen is completely happy just sitting in them. they are sweet for allowing jon and i to take turns running into a store to check something out.