Home » Family Friday (vol. 89): Ringing in 2019!

Family Friday (vol. 89): Ringing in 2019!

I cannot believe it was November 30th that I last posted a Family Friday! Time really does fly, doesn’t it?

The holidays were good! I had a bit of anxiety going into them because we had lots of travel planned. That is, after we canceled out trip to Cancun (don’t feel too bad for me, we just booked a 9 night stay in MAUI for our 10th anniversary this spring!!!). Piper also came down with what I have to assume was the flu. She had 103 degree temps for 2 days and was a little limp noodle for 3+ days. She recovered just in time for Christmas, though!

Christmas Eve I worked a half day, reported home to throw everything in the car, and headed 2 1/2 hours to my cousin’s house. We did a whirlwind Christmas Eve there before driving back home and doing the whole Santa thing. The girls were sound asleep when we arrived home, but good thing mom and dad remembered Santa’s cookies (and cocoa, not milk…thanks to the lady at checkout one day. UGH) and the carrots for the reindeer. Santa even left a handwritten note telling the girls they needed to be good in order for Santa to come again next year. In the morning, they first had to finish up Santa’s cookies (guess he wasn’t all that hungry after a very filling Christmas Eve) and only after all the sugar was gone could they then moved on to gifts. The highlight was the “rainbow watch” that Santa was lucky enough to score on Amazon. Because really, where does one find a RAINBOW watch? The elves were stumped. We really did keep it simple this year: watch, sled, Shimmer & Shine dolls, a game/puzzle each, toothbrush, and Contigo kids water bottles because they disappear only every other second. It won’t be long before we’re upping the ante on the holidays so we enjoyed keeping it at a minimum. Oh, and for now, two of everything. Keeping the peace as we learn the intricacies of sharing.

On Christmas Day, my parents and brother reported to Michigan for a day of homemade cinnamon rolls, appetizers, and lounging around. A little gift opening, too, of course. My crew didn’t get up until well past 9am and so albeit a very busy morning for me, I had cinnamon rolls rising and all my appetizers prepped by the time they sauntered down. I think next year (at 5 and 3-years-old) it will REALLY get exciting. Piper sure does love saying “Christmas!” every time she sees Christmas lights or a Christmas tree. This includes every evergreen tree we see. I really do think 2 is the most perfect age. Don’t get me started on how every coin (penny, quarter, nickel, fake coin, whatever) is a “wishing coin”. She recalls the ONE time at least 7-8 months ago we threw a penny into a wishing well. She’s just the cutest. Shea, on the other hand, while absolutely adorable, questions EVERYTHING. I realize this is part of development and is age-appropriate and so I dig deep for all of my patience. The girl is just incessant with the talking and questions. She’s basically a miniature version of me and so naturally that just doesn’t always jive 🙂

The evening of Christmas we packed up and headed to my in-laws for 5 days. We got to see my sister-in-law who was in from Seattle and got in some visits with friends, cousin time, an Illini game, a little bit of shopping, plenty of eating, and fortunately, plenty of sleep and exercise. The midwest temperatures have been glorious!

We got back last Sunday and I returned to work on Monday. I wasn’t really planning to work a full day, but I definitely did. My leadership cohort is wrapping up next month and I’ve got some catching up to do. I present to the health system’s senior leadership team in just over a month and obviously I want to showcase all that my project entailed. With New Years Day off, it was a weird mid-week break before returning to our regularly scheduled program of daycare and work on Wednesday. We got in a groove just in time for the weekend and so here we are. I think we’re all ready for a return to normalcy – you know, reasonable bedtimes, waking before 8am, brushing teeth before noon, eating vegetables…the whole bit!

In case you didn’t read or see, Mark got me a Peloton for Christmas! It was most unexpected and it gets installed on Monday. It is JUST the thing I need to get back in the groove of morning workouts. I was at the gym this week and holy heck was it BUSY. I just can’t. The gym in January makes me nuts. I’m very excited to retreat to my basement with my new bike and really get into some lasting morning workout routines. It is forever a struggle of mine even though evening workouts are straight up TORTURE.

I got 2 new cookbooks (1 as a gift and 1 as a gift for myself – oops) and I’m thoroughly enjoying both. I’ve chosen some killer recipes and have some happy campers over here.

My FitBit died yesterday and I’m so annoyed. I got a Versa in late August and in the past week the battery started draining about 3-4x faster than it had been and than it should be. I called FitBit and they were wonderful, providing directions on next steps to perform a battery life test. I was in the process of recharging after it died completely, as instructed, and now it is totally unresponsive. I called FitBit back last night and they are sending a new one. Still, I’m annoyed. Mark teased that I might as well not move until it comes because I won’t get “my steps” (what a terd), but it’s just the concept. And admittedly, I’m so accustomed to text alerts and calls coming to my watch that I feel a little lost without it. Oh, technology. What insignificant problems you present!

Our podcast is going SO well! So well in that we finally have a groove and we’re loving it. If you haven’t checked it out, please do! It’s called the Dietitians Dish. We’d also love if you’d review our podcast after listening. We welcome any episode topic requests or questions – feel free to email those or post here as a comment! I always love to hear what people want to hear about. ‘Cause lord knows Gina and I could make a podcast about nearly anything and have a blast in the process. She’s my new Saturday morning coffee date in the basement as we record podcast episodes.

I’m also thinking about writing a blog post devoted to how we started our podcast. It might save someone a LOT of time and energy. Plus, it’d be podcasting for dummies because we are such novices on the tech side…but have so much nutrition, food, mom, and girl stuff we want to talk about. I can’t wait to see where 2019 takes our little podcast!

Date night tonight – better get to looking presentable. Have a super first weekend of 2019!

Be well,

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7 Comments

  1. Pingback: Family Friday (vol. 89): Ringing in 2019!
  2. Liz
    January 5, 2019 / 12:44 am

    We have a Peloton as well and love it! What’s your leaderboard name? I’d love to follow you – I’m foodlover.

    Also I’d be interested in learning more about starting a podcast! Can’t wait to listen to yours!

    • Nicole Morrissey
      Author
      January 6, 2019 / 1:01 pm

      Liz! I will check back with my name, but hoping for PreventionRD 😉

  3. Alex
    January 6, 2019 / 11:40 am

    I always love reading your family updates. You keep it real! I don’t have kids, but I can totally appreciate your thoughts on parenting and working full-time. It’s a lot to get done! Cheers to 2019!

    • Nicole Morrissey
      Author
      January 6, 2019 / 1:00 pm

      Thanks so much, Alex! We have great support from family and babysitters which is super helpful for our sanity 😉 May 2019 be your best year yet!

  4. Stephanie
    January 15, 2019 / 1:19 pm

    I’d love a podcast about kids and nutrition, especially one that might deal with kid’s allergies and nutrition. I’ve got an 18 month old with a dairy allergy who is also a picky eater and getting food into him is just hard. Especially with a 5 year old who doesn’t understand why her brother gets extra snacks.

    • Nicole Morrissey
      Author
      January 15, 2019 / 4:27 pm

      Hi Stephanie! We do have a kiddo + Celiac post coming up in May (I know, not soon!) but we definitely plan to discuss! We have other topics with kids and nutrition coming up, too: March and April both! Hope you continue to tune in and thanks for listening! Would love your review on iTunes if you think of it! 🙂

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