Farewell to our elm

It's funny, I was all set to write a long post about our construction woes and then we got away for a weekend and it all started to seem like less of a big deal. So I'll try to keep it short.

Last week, we started a pretty big project to replace the pipes running under our yard. We got a permit from the city and hired a company that said they could do the work without us losing any of our trees.

But as anyone who watches HGTV knows, nothing is ever that simple.

Apparently, we had the wrong permit and ended up getting too close to our big elm tree. Jason had to spend the rest of the week running around getting new permits and meeting with inspectors and tree removal companies. And at the end of it all, we have a yard full of dirt and now have to pay a whole bunch of money to take down a tree that we love. Wah!

But like I said, a nice long holiday weekend in Cincinnati kind of took the sting out of all of it. We had a super relaxing time at Dana's, hanging out at the pool and catching up with friends. We're driving back to Chicago now, in 80-degree weather with the sun shining and Molly coloring happily in the back seat. We'll miss the tree, but can always plant a new one. A new tree for Molly that she can grow up with. I kind of like the sound of that.

Birthdays galore

Somewhere in between birthday parties for Molly's friends, I turned 34. I shouldn't say it so nonchalantly -- there actually was quite a bit of fanfare surrounding my big day. My sisters, Sean, Archie, and James came over on Saturday for dinner and cupcakes. I received a whole stack of cards a day early (thanks, family!). And then Jason took me out for a nice dinner on my actual birthday. After a crazy day at work and a drama-filled day at home (I'll write about that later), it was just what I needed. 

We went to Mexique, the restaurant owned by Top Chef Season 11 contestant, Carlos Gaytan. It was absolutely wonderful -- one of those great, Chicago neighborhood restaurants with upscale, inventive food and a crowd of laid-back diners in jeans. We even met Carlos! He stopped by our table (I think he stops by all the tables) and was very friendly and charming. I'm feeling kind of guilty now, because during that season, I wanted one of the female chefs to win (Nina or Shirley), not our local Chicago chef Carlos. I'm such a traitor! 

Here's the 34-year-old traitor, about to enjoy a delicious French-Mexican meal:

Do I look older?

I'll also include a few pics of Molly from last weekend. She had a really good week at school (7 out of 10 stickers on her chart), so we made sure she felt the love and had a fun weekend to let off some steam. There was, of course, one birthday party. We also hit up the Swedish American Museum in Andersonville--a total hidden gem for kids--that has an awesome, old-timey children's area with fake farm houses and cool props. My favorite part of the weekend was meeting up with my friends Courtney and Brian and their adorable girls, Claire and Paige, at Millennium Park.

Doing the "limbo" with Ariel and Jake (a Neverland pirate)

Molly and Izzy looking Swedish

Splashing by the fantastic face fountains with Claire

Stay tuned for a home improvement post and a farewell to our largest tree :(

Evanston Idol

Pre-haircut clips of Molly singing her 2 favorite songs from the Disney movie, Frozen.

For the First Time In Forever (I think she mixes a few different verses together here):

Let It Go (with the Elsa foot stomp):

Fat lip

My poor, poor child. Molly fell face first into a wall heater at school yesterday and her teeth went all the way through the inside of her lip to the outside of the skin :( We had ice packs on it from the time she left school until I put her to bed, so it wasn't until then that I even realized her wound was through and through. It wasn't bleeding anymore and the cut looked small enough, so I decided not to take her in, which may or may not have been the right decision. Jason is out of town, so it was all on me to decide! What's a solo mom to do?

Luckily, one of the other moms at school is an ER nurse practitioner. She checked Molly out in the morning and thought she'd probably be okay without stitches. I'm giving her antibiotics to keep it from getting infected and have instructions for what we need to do to keep the wound clean and get it all healed up.

Now that the initial trauma of the injury is over, Molly seems totally fine. None of her teeth are wiggling, so I'm crossing my fingers that none will fall out or turn gray. But she's still got a pretty fat lip!

Post-injury mug shot. Her lower lip is even bigger today. 

The exit wound isn't visible in this pic, but that's a good thing. If it scars, hopefully no one will be able to tell! 

Mom power

I am feeling pretty good about this year's day of moms. It could not have been more beautiful out -- 77 degrees and sunny. We went to the park and Molly made a new friend. We got yummy sandwiches and then spent most of the afternoon gardening. I took a long run and Jason grilled out. Molls sang and danced and went to bed without much of a peep. And now we're watching the Blackhawks. Life is good! It will be even better if the Blackhawks win :)

Picking weeds. I was down closer to the ground for most of the afternoon. But it was moments like this one that are going to make my lower back angry tomorrow.

My reason for celebrating :) Like her new haircut?

Data from my Garmin watch. This is the longest I've ever run! Half marathon, here I come! 

We've also had a few good discussions with Molly's teachers and have a plan for next week (and beyond). The teachers are going to divide nap time into 2 segments. Molly can earn 2 stickers (1 each hour) for listening and staying put on her cot. The teachers said at this age, discipline and/or rewards need to happen in the moment. But they said overall, we shouldn't worry too much about it and that Molly is usually a really good and well-behaved kid. I still don't like that she's been sassy, but it is good to know that that behavior is pretty contained to nap time and the last hour before bed. So I guess I'm not totally failing as a mom! As my own mother reminded me, I also used to fall apart when tired. Hopefully this sticker thing works. Though I'm not looking forward to having to give back naked Barbie.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mirror, mirror, on the wall

We're finally starting to make some progress with our spring home improvement plans. I've been busy the last month or so, making decisions and ordering supplies. We picked out dining room chairs, living room chairs, a new chandelier, and everything we'll need for the first floor bathroom renovation. Unfortunately, we're in a holding pattern with all of the big stuff until our tile shows up.

But the good news is, we were able to tackle a few of the small projects. First up was adding a frame to the mirror at the top of our stairs. I think it makes a huge difference.

Before

After. Thank you, Mirror Mate!

We also strung some outdoor lights above our back patio. Eventually, it should be warm enough to eat outside. These lights add a little something extra, don't you think?

Twinkle twinkle

In other news, I received a few email messages from people who read yesterday's post. Thanks for the tips! I'm pleased to report that Molly had a good listening day today and earned a stamp on her rewards chart. She seemed pretty pleased with herself. I'm planning to return Mr. Duck if she has a good day tomorrow. Let's hope she can keep it up through Friday!

A little respect (just a little bit)

We're dealing with a tricky situation right now--Molly listens to one teacher, but not the other. It seems almost mean-spirited. Disrespectful. And we're having a hard time figuring out what to do about it. 

On Friday, we found out that Molly was being sassy and disruptive at the end of nap time. This has been an on/off, but infrequent problem up until the last couple of weeks. We talked to her about it. We confiscated Mr. Duck and Barbie until further notice. Tears were shed. Promises were made. We started fresh on Saturday and had a great weekend and tons of fun bouncing from birthday party to birthday party. Then came Sunday night. Betsy, Susie, Archie, Sean, and James came over for a BBQ and Molly was an absolute wreck. She practically head butted James when he sat on her piece of paper and earned herself a timeout. After that, she was either crying hysterically, or singing maniacally, with no in between. We hustled her up for an early bedtime and blamed it on sugar. 

Today was more of the same. Once again, she failed to listen to her teacher at the end of nap time and was disrespectful. She didn't even seem to take Jason and I seriously when we tried to talk to her about it. Duck and Barbie are still gone, so we told her no birthday parties this weekend unless she listens (two are scheduled, so this is a pretty big consequence). We said she could earn the right to go with good behavior and that we'd talk to her teachers at the end of each day. We talked about how it feels when people don't listen and tried to reinforce the positives. Everyone is happy and life is fun when people listen and are nice to one another, right?

Molly ate dinner like a champ and played happily for a few hours...and then proceeded to ignore me completely when I asked her to pick up her toys and head up to bed. She shifted to full-on brat mode in the blink of an eye and got sent to bed without books or songs. Again, tears were shed. Promises were made. Pinkie promises. But I'm not sure I believe her. She seems concerned that Jason is going to call the cops on her. And I know she desperately wants to go to the parties this weekend. But she doesn't seem to understand why she needs to listen to and respect her parents and teachers. It seems almost worse to me that she picks and chooses who she is going to obey. What to do? What to do? Comments are welcome. As are book recommendations. I need some help here! Gotta reverse this trend before it gets any worse.