Hello and Happy March! Feels like the month is off to a good start because: sunny skies, good food, alone time for Mom and… DUNE! I’ll try not to be annoying, but Joey and I saw Dune Part 2 in IMAX on Friday afternoon and I had my face melted off by some of the most jaw-dropping cinematic imagery I’ve ever seen. Have thought about nothing else since 😂 In addition to a day date, I got to enjoy a Saturday morning massage, Sunday breakfast with my sis and Dempsey had a sleepover at my parents’ last night, so we got some one-on-one time with our daughter. It was a really good weekend!

Joey bought our IMAX tickets months ago as a surprise and when he told me, I couldn’t have been more excited or felt more loved 😋🥰 I will say that I had a few plot-related questions and nits to pick, but visually this is A FEAST! There is a scene in the first five minutes that had me straight grinning up at the screen. Never seen anything like it in my life. And I was really impressed by the performances of the cast as well. I want to watch it again! Afterward, we picked the kids up and took them home for bed. Felt sad that I barely saw them all day, though I did get some Lydi play time (how cute are her pigtails??) while I ate dinner and Joey took Dempsey up for bed.

Up and at em for Saturday morning pancakes! My girl passed her baked egg food challenge last week and I thought it would mean we could make pancakes and waffles with egg but turns out those don’t constitute as “baked,” so we’re still on that vegan train and I honestly don’t mind. These were really good! Afterward, I headed into Louisville to see my mom for a massage and Joey and the kids played outside and ate lunch. That night, Dempsey and Joey made us ricotta gnocchi and it was so delicious. As a bonus, Dempsey actually ate dinner! Put those littles to bed and fired up Sicario but we didn’t finish till Sunday, so I’ll save my comments 😋

A brief update on our sleep is that we hit rock bottom and Joey has been sleeping on an air mattress in the kids’ room. I honestly cannot believe the sleep practices we have resorted to lately. I would/have definitely judged other parents for a lot of the things we are doing now, but I have been HUMBLED by the sleep regressions taking place in this home. Please know this turn was taken out of pure desperation. Our hope is that in a few days, Dempsey will be back to him normal self and sleep through the night but it’s also possible we are just starting a really bad habit. Only time will tell! The upside is that we’ve all slept really well in the meantime 😂

My sister and I went to breakfast at Fox and the Hen and man were those breakfast tacos good! Also really nice to have some solo time with my sis 🤍 We met up with the kids and Joey at the park but it was a bit chilly so we didn’t stay long. Later that afternoon, my sis came back over and she and Wayne took Dempsey with them to my parents’. Got some photo updates and it looked like he had a great night. I made sausage, kale and white bean soup for the three of us and it hit the spot. Once we got Lydi down (she has been STRUGGLING lately!), we finished up our movie and while it’s no Dune, I still liked it. Bet it was cool to see on a big screen when it came out. I hope everyone has a nice week. I’ll be listening to allllllll the Oscar prediction podcasts 😂😋

Last night, Joey said to me “if you ignore the sleep part, this was a Top 10 weekend!” He’s right because even though we are up something like four times a night between the two kids and right now, I’m so tired I could cry, we otherwise had a really amazing weekend! Some time to ourselves, wings with Chad and Lori, amazing weather and trips to two different parks, the SAG Awards and dinner at my parents’ to end the weekend. I’m so ready for spring now!

Lydia and I started Friday at the allergist, being tested for the other tree nuts. I was ready to hear she was allergic to all of them, so I was pleasantly surprised when she got a zero for almonds and pecans and only a mild reaction to coconut. There’s hope for her yet! She has a baked egg food challenge this week, so wish us luck 🤞 Work-wise, Joey and I took a half day so we could go see the Oscar-Nominated Shorts. Grabbed a beer in between! I thought they were good and depressing in the usual way. Wish there had been a few funnier ones in there, but what can you do? Afterward, Chad and Lori brought the kids home and stayed to eat wings with us 🥰

Up bright and early for waffles and a fort! Joey made us some whole wheat & oatmeal waffles and I thought there were so good. And he made a fort for Dempsey that I later maybe took my cup of coffee into and enjoyed a moment of peace 😂 Before Lydi’s nap, we played outside and I spotted a first sign of spring when I noticed a tulip coming up! We took the kids to a new park that afternoon and though it was busy, they had a really good time. There was even a hill for rolling down and Dempsey had fun with that. Made cast-iron skillet pizza for dinner — how cute is the mini skillet for Lydia’s mini pizza?? — and “watched” the SAG Awards. The thing about watching an award show while your kids are awake and in the room and that you don’t really take in much of it, but I did see Steven Yeun’s win, Pedro Pascal’s speech and Lily Gladstone’s little head pat on her trophy and loved all of it. I’m still trying to figure out why Christopher Nolan was there though 🤔

Picked up breakfast from Sunny’s on Sunday morning and even though I was originally disappointed by how little green chili there was on my skillet, it actually tasted really good. Joey took the kids and Dempsey’s motorized car across the street to play and I knocked out salads for the week all before Lydia’s first nap! While she was down, Dempsey and I took a walk to the Cottage Bakery for croissants then ate them outside with the neighbor kids, who are always good enough to include Dempsey even though they are both older than him. After lunch, we took the kids to another busy park. Dempsey was so brave and wanted to ride the zip line. By the time we left, he was flying across all by himself and loving it! We headed over to my parents’ that evening for dinner. My uncle had shipped fresh crawfish meat and my mom used it to make étoufée. It was a little spicy for the kids, but I thought it was really good! We had dessert then headed home, but it was a really nice night 🤍 Got both kids to bed — Lydi has been STRUGGLING at bedtime the past week or so (because of teething I think!) but she finally went down easy — and then we worked on our Dune re-watch. Dune 2 this Friday!!!!! Wishing you all a happy week 😊