August

We've settled in a bit to our new lives. Sometimes I have to pinch myself because we find ourselves with so much more untethered family time, it can't possibly be true! But it is true. It's all bound to change this week since I was officially granted access during COVID times to go into the research lab this upcoming week. 
So, I'll no longer be attached to just this new "leash" for work. I feel so spoiled by getting access to a work phone, but it has sure made my life a lot more organized. 

The lab is split into two shifts, one from 6am-1pm and another from 2pm-9pm. Being around for bedtime is super important to me so I opted for the morning shift. After getting used to dropping of Adler at 7, coming home, working out, and eating breakfast on my back patio before starting my work day around 9 am--it will take some adjusting :). It's amazing how it only takes a few weeks for me to form a new habit. I'm sure for those first few mornings I'll look eerily similar to how I look at the end of an overnight call shift :)

Speaking of which, I have made it through my first two call shifts -- 5 pm until 7 am. I am required (until October) to be in the hospital overnight. After that, I can go home and just come in when I get paged. I'm not sure I'll ever "take call from home" because of the frequency with which I am called it would seem futile to be at home, but we'll see. 

I missed seeing patients so much, that even being up all night without being able to sleep I feel overall good about it. Exhausted, yes, but invigorated. 

Adler is invigorated by other things, ice cream mostly. ;) 

Here she is trying out a little shop called flower and cream (you can guess by the name  that Tom did not pick it). 

What else have we been up to? A whole lot of NOTHING. And I really am grateful for that.

We explored a plant nursery-chain-store to pick up some dirt and a few impulse buys to help make our backyard into a little more of an oasis than it already is.  

Adler was obsessed with the hibiscus plant, so of course, I didn't take much convincing to buy it!

Then again, she would be happy to just continue to care for and "pick" the mushrooms that have grown like wild fire in our back yard. 

It's not much of a transformation, and I didn't take any before shots specifically, but Tom and I worked on cleaning out the grass in the backyard to make one garden bed. It's now home to three tomato plants and three bell pepper plants that seem to be thriving. 

And this tree now has a little breathing room around it so I can plant some more goodies. I just finally broke down and bought vegetable seeds online so there's a LOT more to this garden coming soon :)


I'll admit that we've had a bit more "movie time" than I'd like these days. But sometimes, when it feels like 105 outside and you've already read books, done puzzles, played with playdough, baked banana bread, did laundry and any other house chores that a toddler could possibly find entertaining...you just want to snuggle in the central AC!

But, thanks to the YMCA for having a safe, outdoor adventure source, we can now get out of the house for some POOL time!

They let you reserve a family slot for 1.5 hours of fun in the sun (or ran as we had the firs titme we did it). But it's limited to just 9 families in the pool. So the slots are somewhat hard to come by but are definitely worth it!

Adler loves it! I tried to show you the "big mushroom" fountain -Adler's favorite part about the pool. My favorite part about it? It helps us not be the bad guys that make her get out of the pool. They turn off the mushroom fountain at the end of our reservation time. So now, we have been teaching Adler that "when the mushroom turns off, that's how we know that the pool is closing." She still sheds some crocodile tears becuase she NEVER wants to leave the pool, but this helps to make it less about us and more about the mushroom .... sigh... parenting :) 

She's given up on jumping in while standing...not sure how that skill completely went away, but she is willing to try out her snorkel mask, which will come in handy come January when we hope to get away to someplace with an ocean we can snorkel in!

We only go outside from about 7am-9 am or 7pm-9pm with rare exceptions in the middle. Poor adler (ok, poor mommy and daddy) just gets too hot. But today we saw something that filled me with childish glee-- check out this amazing caterpillar! 

We found it while wandering on the "boardwalk" of this park called Memorial Park. There is this 

inner loop that we hadn't been able to go on yet because it was under construction. It just opened and it's definitely going to be a place we're coming back to. It felt oasis like (albeit I was still pouring sweat despite only walking, not running, and it was only 8 am...)

That's all for now. Here's to hoping that my time in the lab is productive and I'm able to jump in with both feet and do my part to strike out cancer like my super-cool-freebie sunglasses suggest :)

Good night and happy August, my favorite month of the year (in probably almost every other part of the country but here :). For now, I think I'll go take what is (I think...I've lost count) my FOURTH shower of the day...getting that next layer of sweat off. Ok, ok, have I complained enough about the heat yet? It's really not all bad, it's just a lot of sweating :). Good night all!