Category Archives: Family

12 Days of Christmas Gifts (2017)

Christmas, Family, Home, , ,

Note, May 2019: Now that I’m blogging again, I thought, DARN I should have written about my 12 Days of Christmas gifts, and LOW AND BEHOLD. I am way more on top of things than I thought I was!  Everything was written out over a year ago, and I just never inserted the pictures. So proud of past me. Too proud. Ah well. As you read, go back in time to January 2018 and pretend you’re reading it then. It will make much more sense, especially considering I did the 12 Days of Christmas Gifts for a SIXTH year in 2018, and I was nine months pregnant. Way more impressive than what I’m gloating about below😂😂😂

Note, December 2020: Hi, I’m back with no excuses except for the fact that I’m annoyed with myself for letting this all go. Again. Like I feel every few years. So, we’ll see if this sticks. I don’t even remember when I originally started writing this post at this point, but I’m guessing it was in 2017 because when I’m back in it now, there aren’t pictures of any of the gifts, which is tell-tale for me thinking, “Sara! Let’s get ahead and write this post so you can share it!” But, well, here we are!!

You guys. This was my fifth year in a row of doing the 12 days of Christmas gifts for Peter. I feel like I should get an award for doing something consistently for five years straight 😂 (Note, 2020: I’m now on my eighth year and it’s officially the longest I’ve ever been ACTUALLY committed to something aside from my marriage and coffee creamer.)

As usual, I swore after last year that I wouldn’t do this again this year, but then once summertime rolls around and I apparently have nothing better to do, I start brainstorming. What can I say, gift giving is my love language. (Note, 2020: Same this year. Same. But I started brainstorming in early October.)

Pete had a big Christmas this year because apparently I was in a very spending giving mood. He claims that he wasn’t expecting the 12 days, and after I grilled him on it, he is either a very good liar, or he really believes me every year after Christmas when I’m like “Ok, that’s the last year for this.”

At the end of November, I was like “Wow! This will be a great year because Peter doesn’t have ANY travel planned for December!” And then obviously on like, December 5, Pete was like “Oh btw I’ll be gone December 12-14 and then again December 17-21.” And I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOO and had to adjust gifts. So THAT was annoying, but somehow I made it work. Kind of. (Note, 2020: We have now been living in a global pandemic and various states of quarantine with zero travel since March 13, so likely will not have any surprise trips this year.)

Anyways, let’s get straight to it.

(insert image of all of the gifts) (Note, 2020: This is how I can tell that I started this post when I was planning the 12 days still… I left myself a note of what images to include. I’m going to do my best right this minute to find said images (there are some on each of the days), but I thought I’d just share my good intentions so I feel better about myself haha!)

DAY ONE
(December 14)
🎅🏻

If you remember last year, I gave Pete an ornament that had our little family of four on day four, but we didn’t know if Elijah was a girl or boy, so I just had “Baby” written on his part of it. This year, Elijah is here! And we love the little pook.

DAY TWO
(December 15)
🎅🏻🎄

I was originally going to give Peter these guitar hangers and put them in the basement so he could hang up his guitars down there and maybe be inspired to play, but then I found these awesome drumstick pens and thought they’d be better.

I didn’t have any elves helping me this year because my office moved to downtown Green Bay, right across the river from Pete’s office, so I was able to drop off the wrapped gift while he was out. I ended up staying at his office for an hour chatting with his coworkers – it was a nice little Friday.

DAY THREE
(December 16)
🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻

This is one of the first gifts that I got for the 12 days, and I was SO EXCITED about it that I sent a picture of it to about 20 people. Peter doesn’t really grill steaks, but here’s to hoping he’s inspired, amIright??

DAY FOUR
(December 17)
🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄

I mean, you know that I had to include something with Star Wars in here, right? The new Star Wars movie came out during the 12 days, but I just didn’t have a good way of incorporating that release with the gifts. Pete loves these socks though! They have a whole bunch of cool socks if you’re looking for a neat gift!

DAY FIVE
(December 18)
🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻

Originally for day five I wanted to do something to give myself a pat on the back commemorate the fifth year of the 12 days of Christmas gifts, but I ended up not being able to think of a gift that worked. Then I was perusing Uncommon Goods and came across these brain teaser puzzles. Peter is very smart, and loves these things, so it worked perfectly!

Also, Taylor did this for her fiance this year, and when I was telling her what I got Pete for day five, she was like, “Hm, that sounds familiar…” and then when I was wrapping it up, I took a picture of it and we ended up getting the loves of our lives the same gift. So random because it is such a random gift!

DAY SIX
(December 19)
🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻 🎄

I mean, who am I to sway from tradition? Five years of the 12 days; five years of Mountain Dew on day six.

Also, this is where I hit a snag. So, Pete left on day four for a work trip. Knowing he wasn’t going to be home until day seven, I didn’t wrap the Mountain Dew like I usually do, and I changed the note from the original to the one pictured above. I put the note in an envelope made of the wrapping paper.

As he was packing the wrapped gifts in his carry on, I realized that you actually can’t have wrapped presents in your carry on, because they will often get opened by TSA. So, I cried for a minute and then we sadly left gifts five, six, and seven under the tree to open when he got back. You guys. I was SO SAD.

Also, this ended up being a fail (you knew there had to be one in here, didn’t you??) because I made a mental note to buy a six pack of Mountain Dew to put in the fridge for him to find when he got home, and then as I often do with mental notes, it got stored somewhere that I forgot about it. Oops!

DAY SEVEN
(December 20)
🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻 🎄🎅🏻

So, even though Pete got home on day seven, I wanted to pack this because I had changed the rhyme (like day six) to be appropriate with his travels. SO SAD.

This “wash me” bag actually came with three other bags. It was WAY smaller than I thought it was going to be, but still was cute and I thought appropriate. (PS: “Cute” is exactly how Pete likes me to describe his things 😂)

DAY EIGHT
(December 21)
🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻 🎄🎅🏻🎄

Peter Day 8

This one also ended up being kind of a fail. In the beginning of November I texted our babysitter J and was like “Hey, this is WAY in advance, but can you watch the boys on December 21 for a few hours?”

And then the week before day eight, I realized that on December 21 I had my bible study Christmas party that I didn’t want to miss, so I changed the date night to December 22. J was still able to babysit, but when Pete opened the rhyme I was like “Soooooo slight change of plans…” Ah, well. Good intentions at least.

DAY NINE
(December 22)
🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻 🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻

I mean, the rhyme sums this whole thing up. And Pete NEVER has Sour Patch Kids. I think he forgets he likes them.

DAY TEN
(December 23)
🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻 🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄

Ok, this one is kind of a stretch but it made Pete chuckle and he really thought the gift was cool, so it ended up working. Pete loves journals to write down his thoughts and brainstorm and all that kind of fun stuff. I found this one when I was on a layover in Minneapolis on my way to Vegas for my sister Rachel’s 21st birthday party.

Anyways, Game of Thrones is the only show that Pete and I watch together. When I found this journal, I bought it and had to really try to figure out how to get it to work in the twelve days. Again… kind of a stretch… But it made Pete chuckle, so that’s what really counts here!

DAY ELEVEN
(December 24)
🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻 🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻

The first summer we lived in our house, we had some pretty embarrassing things happen, like our neighbors mowing our lawn while we were at work because they thought we were out of town. Anyways, at the end of that blog post, I wrote, “Donations are welcome” in regards to people giving us money for a lawnmower.

(Side note: we gave up on taking care of our own lawn (I say “taking care” VERY loosely here) and now just have a wonderful company take care of it for us. My former boss called me a “yuppie” once, and as I’m typing this I’m like “yeah, we sounds like yuppies.” 😳)

DAY TWELVE
(December 25)
🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻 🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄

Peter Day 12

The big kahuna!! Ugh, I spent too much on Pete. Back in AUGUST when I was like “Oh! Not like I’m going back to work full time with two kids and a husband who travels a lot! I’ll plan twelve days of Christmas gifts for him!” I knew that I wanted day twelve to be a grill. Pete was complaining about our five-year-old grill this summer, and I appreciate eating meat that isn’t charred, so it’s a great investment for both of us.

I texted Pete’s dad and he told me to get him a Weber Spirit and because I’m naive I said “OK!” and then I was like “Oh GREAT” because holy BUCKETS are grills expensive! BUT I sucked it up and because I love my husband and a properly grilled dinner, I got it. Actually, Pete’s mom bought it and kept it at their house until Christmas Day. Pete was very surprised that his wife is so amazing (I mean, why is he still surprised by that??).

SO! There you have it! Year five of the 12 Days of Christmas gifts, and I REALLY swear that I’m not doing it again this year because LIFE.

Need more ideas? Here you go!

12 Days of Christmas 2016
12 Days of Christmas 2015
12 Days of Christmas 2014
12 Days of Christmas 2013

Or, check out my friend edition that I did for B in 2016!

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Elijah: Two Years

Elijah Peter, Family,

Everyone told us that time would go faster with each child, and everyone was right. On May 18, our Elijah turned two.

We call Elijah our happy-to-be-here kid. He really is just happy to be here. Happy to be included. Happy. Mostly.

When he turned one, he was referred to the birth-to-three program because he was quite behind in gross motor skills. Like, he had the ability of a six-month-old when he turned one. For a minute I was like, “Is this a muscle thing?? Should I be worried?” And then the physical therapist came and evaluated him and was like, “Oh, he’s just lazy.” Right after he turned 18 months old, almost exactly a month before I had Ellen, Elijah started walking. And after that, his personality exploded.

Elijah loves making us laugh. He also happens to have the BEST laugh. It’s super infectious, and the more we laugh, the more he laughs, and it’s just the best cycle in the world. Our own in-house comedian, he dramatically falls to the ground, pretends to be hiding in plain sight and will say or do just about anything to get a chuckle out of his biggest fans. He has a goofy smile thanks to his beloved Nukie and honestly, I can’t get enough of it.

Elijah adores Daniel. He will do just about anything Daniel does – good and bad. If Daniel claims he is done with his meal, Elijah immediately puts down his fork or whatever he has in his hand and is done too. Never mind that when he gets up from his chair, he often stands at the table grabbing whatever is still in reach on his plate and eating a few more bites. Elijah went right from his high chair to the regular kitchen chair; Daniel didn’t use a booster seat and neither would he. Never mind that his chin barely cleared the table. The two have become the best of friends, and it is so much fun watching them play. Elijah wants Daniel to help him take off his shoes, wants to hold Daniel’s hand in the parking lot and always needs to give Daniel a hug and a kiss goodnight. Whenever I see my boys helping each other, playing together or wanting to cuddle on the couch, my heart simply melts.

Elijah is an instigator. When they really started to play together and I would hear Elijah crying, I would immediately put the blame on Daniel; he’s older and should know better. Then, I witnessed what was happening and wouldn’t you know it – ELIJAH was the problem. When the boys rough-house, Elijah is always the one to start it, chasing Daniel around saying, “Push me! Push me!” Inevitably, Elijah is always the first one to start whining or complain of an injustice. And do you know what? Daniel doesn’t even really DO anything to Elijah. So I separate the brothers only to hear Elijah yelling, “Push me!” ten minutes later to start it all up again.

Elijah is close to fearless. He climbs, jumps and takes risks that Daniel still doesn’t. Because of this, Elijah always has bumps and bruises, often times on his face. But the tumbles and falls don’t deter him like I want them to. All ailments are better with a kiss, and I never want that to end. When the tears are done, he’s right back at it and we’re often left wondering when the next inevitable fall with come.

Elijah is a mama’s boy. I was so nervous to bring Ellen home from the hospital. On our car ride to begin our lives as a family of five, I told Peter I had a nervous stomach, not because we were bringing home a new baby, but because I didn’t know how my bubby bear would react. He was always on my lap, by my side, wanting mama to cut up his dinner, read him books or fix the hurt. And now a baby sister was going to impose on that. I shouldn’t have been so worried. Elijah cherished Ellen from the moment he set his eyes on her. Even six months later, he can’t get enough of the baby, and I can’t get enough of watching him loving her.

Elijah loves singing and dancing. He grabs the play guitar and strums along to any music that is playing. He insists we listen to “Moana Maui” every time we get into the car. I’m his personal jukebox, singing songs on demand so he can dance along. If I don’t know what song he’s asking for it is a BIG DEAL, and I always end up listing every song I know until I stumble upon the right one. He performs for others and is starting to love the spotlight.

Our Elijah is the perfect middle child, often the breath of fresh air we need when struggling with an emotional four-year-old or trying to soothe a fussy six-month old. Always up for a cuddle and a kiss, always ready to celebrate anyone’s excitement, always the life of the party.

Our Elijah is two.

Romenesko Christmas Letter (2017)

Christmas, Family

2017 has been another one for the books in the Romenesko house. I feel like the fact that I have posted only a handful of blogs all year is an indication of how hectic our lives have been, but (most of the time) we wouldn’t have it any other way. So here is a year’s worth of blog posts in one! As I always do, I’m vowing to stay more up-to-date in the blogosphere in 2018. I love looking back on the random posts I’ve written, and know that in five years I’ll be like “So, what did we actually do in 2016 and 2017? Nothing? Ok!” And then I’ll be like “OH YEAH we had Elijah in 2017!”

😂

January was a really exciting month because we had our 20-week ultrasound where we found out that we were having another baby BOY. Pete was nervous about me finding out the gender of the baby because girls rule and boys drool… because I really wanted a girl. I had convinced myself that if we were having another boy it would actually be amazing because HI I’M FORCING THEM TO BE BEST FRIENDS and because two boys born in the same month = all clothes will be same size/same season. It was very obvious that the baby was a boy, and we were thrilled that Daniel would have a little brother. Peter was thrilled that we wouldn’t go broke because I would be buying pink EVERYTHING. Win-win amIright?
January
February. I legit can’t remember what happened in February except that Peter had a birthday, but I can’t even remember if I gave him a gift or if we celebrated. For some reason I think that Peter was traveling in Mexico on his birthday, but that might have been a few years ago… [Confirmed: this was the case in 2015. Although, he did go to Mexico in February of this year – just not on his birthday.]
February
March. Also drawing a blank. Let’s see. March. Yeah. Those 31 days are completely gone from my brain. Also seem to be completely gone from my phone because there aren’t many pictures in March of our family, ha!
March
On April 15, the travel ban I enacted on Peter went into place. After he got back from India just days before Daniel was born, I was not about to have that happen with the second baby. I made sure anyone who would listen knew that Peter was not allowed to travel after April 15, and you’re not even going to believe me when I tell you all my hollering finally worked for something! Ha! In April, we also moved Daniel to his big boy room so he basically is like, one step away from moving out of the house, and I was (and clearly still am) feeling a lot of emotions about him being in a big-boy bed.
April
May was a very eventful month for a few reasons. On the 7th, Daniel turned two. TWO. I cried a little bit on his birthday because this little boy who is so full of energy and love is growing up and frankly, I’m just not ready for it. We celebrated by spending the day at the zoo and just making sure we loved on him as much as we possibly could/he would let us. It was such a gorgeous day. For his birthday, we got him a kitchen set, and it’s a big hit. He still plays with it every day.

The day after his birthday, I was like “OK BABY, COME ON OUT ANYTIME NOW.” This was also the time Daniel walked around with a hornet’s nest in his hand saying “Look Mommy, bees!” That didn’t send me into labor, so I knew the baby was not going to come by himself.

And then I was walking around 5 cm dilated for like 3 days before I got induced and Elijah was born. I’m still amazed at how perfectly he fit into our little family. Like a good mom, my first words to him were “Oh my gosh, he looks just like Daniel!” And you know what? He STILL looks just like Daniel, so at least I was accurate.
May
June was a very splendid month for a variety of reasons. One being hello baby snuggles galore and another is that it was my BIRTHDAY and a BIG BIRTHDAY at that. I turned 30 and was shockingly unaffected by the number. It probably had to do with exhaustion, but who am I to say?

Pete had a big surprise in store for me and had gathered our families and some of our closest friends in Lake Geneva at my parents’ house for a wonderful surprise party. Some of our favorite friends from Shawano made the trek down, and my darling friend Brenda drove over from Michigan and I cried and it was SO WONDERFUL. As I’m typing this, I’m like “Why didn’t I write a blog post about this??” 🙄

Also in June was Peter’s first trip post Elijah, and I was like, “Well, I’m not equipped to be at home by myself for a week with these two hooligans” when Elijah was only 5 weeks old, so we stayed at my parents and it was wonderful.

Anyways, one of my favorite pictures of me and the boys was taken the morning of my actual birthday. I have bags under my eyes and my crow’s feet are out in full force. I remember just being so tired. So, so tired. Daniel came downstairs and wanted to cuddle with me, so we scootched over and all snuggled in the wee hours of the morning. As I’m looking at this picture almost 6 months later, all I’m thinking is about how happy my heart is in this very moment.
June
Ok, in July Marty got married and it was so wonderful and beautiful and I get all warm and fuzzy thinking about the day! I also get really sweaty because it was about 100 degrees outside and I had two kids hanging all over me, but the day wasn’t about me, so whatever. I also need to draw attention to this magical dress that I had that DIDN’T SHOW SWEAT. I mean. Talk about miracles.
July
In August Pete went on another trip, and I stayed at home with the boys by myself. We all survived. Pete, on the other hand, was preparing to NOT survive. Pete, his dad, his uncles and his cousins went to Isle Royale, a national park in Lake Superior. Fortunately, he survived. It must have been because he was so prepared. Anyways, the REALLY big news is that I went back to work and had all sorts of emotions. I kind of feel like we’re still adjusting, but I mean, aren’t we always??
August
We celebrated September with a trip to the Walworth County Fair where Elijah slept a lot in the stroller (rookie) and Daniel was in heaven being able to see animals and tractors and he also got yelled at a lot because he wanted to walk around by himself. Two year olds are always sunshine and rainbows and you never want to like, leave them somewhere “by accident.” Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. At the end of the month I went on a sister/mom trip to Vegas to celebrate my youngest sister Rachel’s 21st birthday. I bought a 100-ounce thing of piña colada and some other delicious rum drink and you guys, I made more friends in the eleven minutes it took to get back to the hotel room than I have in the last two years. It was amazing. Oh, we also saw J Lo and I didn’t know what my life was missing until I saw her in concert. Amazing.
September
In October Elijah got baptized. Peter was in charge of putting his baptismal gown on when I went to find the priest, and when I came back, Pete had put it on OVER his not-cute outfit, so Elijah was really sweaty (poor kid got that from me), and I had to keep shoving his sleeves up so they didn’t show in the pictures. It was great. We also took the kids trick or treating for the first time, and I DIED because Daniel was SO ADORABLE going up to the houses. It was a big meltdown when costumes had to come off, so I hid Daniel’s costume that night and we haven’t had any problems since. We also hid the candy right when we got home, so Daniel actually hasn’t even had one piece, but somehow there’s none left.

OctoberI can’t really remember November and it was only a couple of weeks ago, but I think it was pretty great because we were so close to Christmas and it also went by SO FAST.
November
And now we’re in December and I’m really confused as to how this year is already only weeks away from being over. We are in this incredible season of life where we’re constantly exhausted, there are always toys scattered on the floor and laundry in the dryer, but I can honestly, honestly say that I’ve never felt more complete and just… full. My heart and my soul. (And at this moment, my stomach.) I can’t imagine this life any differently, although I could stand for less timeouts. But I will say that for every timeout that Daniel has, there are about a billion hugs and kisses, so it all works out in the end.

December
I recognize that there are more pictures of Elijah than Daniel in this collage. However. Daniel is at a stage where he doesn’t like his photo taken. So there’s that.

As we reflect on the last year, we want to wish all of our friends and family the merriest Christmas season. We hope you are finding the good in each day, and go to bed each night feeling fulfilled.

Wishing you many Christmas blessings during this wonderful time of year –

Sara, Peter, Daniel + Elijah

Screen Shot 2017-11-28 at 8.54.26 PM

PS: Read our past letters here – our lives have changed a lot! But you can’t read about 2016 because I didn’t write about it and I still regret it.

2015 Christmas Letter
2014 Christmas Letter
2013 Christmas Letter
2012 Christmas Letter

PS again: I feel the need to point out that all of the photos came from my collection and not Peter’s because I did this post when he was traveling, and I just didn’t have the patience to ask him to sift through all of his photos. So that’s why there are more pictures of me and the kids vs. him and the kids.

Ok done now, go celebrate the season and be filled with Christmas joy and cheer!!

12 Days of Christmas Gifts (2016)

Christmas, Family, Home,

I’m going to just go ahead and pretend that I haven’t not blogged since Elijah was born and carry on with my life. 

Christmas is coming! It’s October! That means it’s almost Christmas!

Once again, if you want to do a super fun Christmas gift for someone, I TOTALLY recommend doing the 12 Days of Christmas gifts. If you want to do it this year, DEFINITELY start thinking about it now, otherwise you’ll be stressed when December hits and it won’t be as fun. Also, last year I did a friend version of this for my wonderful, wonderful friend B. I’ll share that post SOON. (And I know I’ll actually do it soon because it’s already started, ha!)

Also, this year I was SUPER PREPARED and had a little photo shoot for the gifts. Well, most of the gifts…

So! With that, here is Peter’s 12 Days of Christmas Gifts 2016.

Woohoo! Christmas!

Screen Shot 2017-10-03 at 9.49.33 PM.png

Day ONE (December 14)
❤️
ONE new travel scarf

DSC_0629
Christmas is my favorite time of year,
So I couldn’t help but spread the holiday cheer.
I said I wouldn’t, but it’s so much fun!
12 days of Christmas are better than one!

One travel scarf for when you fly;
I’m sorry I ruined yours from Dubai…
This one is foreign, from far away.
It’s from the Amazon! (.com… what can I say?)

So, funny story. A while ago, Peter told me that he really wanted a travel scarf. I was super confused. A travel scarf? Is that actually a thing? And I did some Google research, and sure enough, it is a thing. Anyways, I was not about to buy a travel scarf for Peter because I knew he had a specific vision of what he wanted.

Then, Peter came back from a trip to Dubai and brought home a black and white travel scarf that he got there. He loved that scarf.

Too bad he never got to wear it… Because of me.

I was doing laundry one day and thought I’d be a nice wife and wash his travel scarf before his next trip. Guys, what I’m about to share had NEVER happened before and it has NEVER happened again, but I put the scarf in with towels. And there was a red towel in there… And when I took the towels out of the washing machine the scarf was now… Pink and black.

I STARTED TO CRY because I felt SO BAD. And when I told Peter about it, he was like “OMG Sara, stop crying.” And I was all, “BUT I FEEL SO BAD.” And he was just like, “It’s not a big deal.”

Fast forward to Christmas last year, and I bought him a new travel scarf off of Amazon, that is actually a piece of crap, and I just recently threw it away this summer because I was too depressed looking at it in the closet.

Needless to say, I’m not buying Peter any more scarves anytime soon.

Day TWO (December 15)
❤️💚
A shoe horn

DSC_0632
One morning as you
Were leaving for work
I noticed you needed this –
Your two feet get a perk.

I ordered this shoe horn after getting tired of watching Peter struggle to put on his damn shoes in the morning. He still uses it! Daniel also uses it, and it’s EFFING ADORABLE.

Day THREE (December 16)
❤️💚❤️
Three ounces of Downy spray

DSC_0633
Sometimes when you’re gone,
I worry you’re a wrinkly mess.
Three ounces of wrinkle spray
To keep you looking your best.

So this was the original day three gift that I got for Peter, and then like two days before day three, I found out that he was going to play hooky from work and go see the new Star Wars movie with some of his buds. I WAS going to buy him his ticket, but learned from one of the people going to see the movie that they pre-bought tickets. So instead I got Pete a gift card for snacks to enjoy while he was at the movie. Of course I didn’t take a picture. I did, however, find the rhyme I came up with by searching my Gmail inbox because I KNEW that I told Jenna what I was getting him. Oversharing for the WIN!

The three of you 
Are playing hooky.
Have some snacks
While watching the Wookie.

Side note: I’ll bet you thought for a minute when you started seeing the photos of this post “Wow! Sara had it SO together last year!” Well, the jig is up. Further down the line of days you’ll see that I didn’t take pictures of the things. BUT you WILL see when I post my friend edition that I was SUPER put together for that one! (Mostly because I had to get it in the mail in time for B to get it, but I’ll save that for the friend edition post!)

Day FOUR (December 17)
❤️💚❤️💚
Family of four Christmas ornament

DSC_0635
Our family is growing
From three to four.
We love Daniel so much
We had to have one more!

I LOVE this gift. We didn’t know Elijah’s gender yet, but I thought it was just splendid to add this ornament to the tree because it was exactly what our family looked like in 2016.

Day FIVE (December 18)
❤️💚❤️💚❤️
Five donuts

Aaaaaaaaaaand here is where I start not having pictures.

In the song they sing
“Five Golden Rings”
But I know donuts are
Some of your favorite things!

I mean, who doesn’t love donuts??

Day SIX (December 19)
❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚
Six pack of Mountain Dew

DSC_0636
An annual tradition,
The six pack of Mountain Dew.
Drink one up and become
A more energized you!

I still never buy Mountain Dew for the man, so this is still a wonderful treat!

Day SEVEN (December 20)
❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️
A comb from Chicago Comb Company

DSC_0638
On your list was
A “non-plastic comb.”
Seven days a week
You need to style your dome.

When I asked Peter what he wanted for Christmas, one of the things he told me “a non-plastic comb” (hence the rhyme) and I was kind of confused. Like, who cares, right? And then I remembered that his coworker got her boyfriend a comb from Chicago Comb Company, and Peter thought it was THE COOLEST THING. So this was actually SO PERFECT.

Day EIGHT (December 21)
❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚
Where to Eat Pizza book

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You’ve traveled the world – 
Eight countries this year!
Now you know where to find
The best pizza and beer!

It’s no secret that Peter LOVES pizza. Frozen, fresh, anything. He loves it. It’s a real drag for him when I’m pregnant and that is one of the only smells that make me feel very, very nauseous. You guys, this book is SO COOL. So many pizza places all over the world! There actually is a series of these books; I got my girlfriend this one for Christmas last year.

Day NINE (December 22)
❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️
90-minute massage

Surprise! No picture of this one either!

This month has been crazy,
You have a sore back.
I hope ninety minutes
Will help you relax!

When Peter and I went on our honeymoon, we got a gift certificate to use at the resort’s spa. I was all about getting a couple’s massage. Peter was having NONE OF IT. So I went by myself. Super romantic, right?

Then in 2015, Peter had his first massage, and he was like “Wow, I am VERY RELAXED after that.” With all of his plane time, I figured a massage would be good for him. Fun fact: It is now October and I am going to tell Peter that if he doesn’t schedule this massage and use the certificate, I am going to use it. Because that is disgraceful, letting such a wonderful thing go to waste!

Day TEN (December 23)
❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚
10 Sharpie pens

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You recently discovered
The Sharpie pen.
A little elf helped me –
Here are ten!

One day Peter came home from work and he was like, “SARA. THESE PENS. LIFE CHANGING.” Easy gift, right?!

Also, the note on these is inaccurate. As you know, I like to have everything wrapped and under the tree on day one. I was going to drop these pens off with Pete’s coworker to put on his desk, but then he decided earlier in the week to take the 23rd off so we could drive down to Lake Geneva for Christmas. I had already written everything out, so I just was like “Yeah, Bobbie was supposed to help me… But you ruined it.” Merry Christmas!

Day ELEVEN (December 24)
❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️
$11 Kwik Trip card

Ok but seriously, gift cards are hard to take pretty pictures of.

One of your favorite places
To go for lunch
Here’s eleven dollars
To grab something to munch!

If there is one thing Peter loves more than his family, it is Kwik Trip. When we drive down to Lake Geneva, we do our very best to stop only at Kwik Trips. I mean, they do have very nice bathrooms and a whole bunch of good food choices. Peter often gets lunch there, just a sandwich or something. I don’t even think they’re that good, but man, does he love Kwik Trip.

Also, I feel like I need to point out that this year’s gift card experience went MUCH better than last year’s, where I never delivered on the gift card… Whoops! (I SWEAR that I actually bought the gift card, despite the lack of photo evidence.)

Day TWELVE (December 25)
❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚
Star Wars one-a-day desk calendar

Well I REALLY dropped the ball on this one. No photo and no rhyme ☹️ I had everything saved in a Google doc so I could access it anytime I had a Christmas inspiration. I had the rhymes in there and everything, and this is all there is for the calendar:

Star Wars facts for
Twelve months of the year.

I mean, I CERTAINLY had something clever written. The world will never know!

So! There you have it! Another year of 12 days of Christmas gifts and TONS OF FUN. If you decide to do it for something this year TELL ME because I LOVE hearing ideas and creativity!

Need more ideas? Here you go!

12 Days of Christmas 2015
12 Days of Christmas 2014
12 Days of Christmas 2013

Introducing Elijah

Baby R2, Elijah Peter, Family

39 weeks and 5 days. That’s how long we had to wait to meet our sweet, precious Elijah.

On May 18 at 10:47 a.m., Elijah Peter Romenesko rushed into the world weighing 7 pounds, 10 ounces, a perfect 20 inches long, and a head full of blonde hair.

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After walking around 4 cm dilated for a week, I had a doctor appointment on Wednesday the 17 and found out that I was now FIVE cm dilated. At that point I legit was like “If I sneeze the baby will come out.” And essentially, that’s what happened when he was born.

At my 38 week doctor appointment, my doctor scheduled for me to be induced on May 18 if the baby didn’t come before then. At that point it was comical that I still hadn’t had the baby, and I just knew that I wouldn’t have the baby until he was forced out. It was actually kind of nice, despite the extreme discomfort, to have a date set because my house was so nice and clean before we went to the hospital.

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The morning of the 18th, I woke up and showered, and then I stood around thinking “Do I put on makeup and do my hair? I’m going to be a sweaty mess, and it’s just going to get ruined. But I’ve got time…” So I decided to put on makeup and put a braid in my hair because it keeps my darn flyaways nice and out of my face.

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We woke Daniel up, dropped him off at our fabulous babysitter’s house, and then we went over to the hospital. We’re two for two on the pleasant rides to the hospital. After we were checked in, it was go time! They had me all hooked up by 8 a.m. and things happened very, very quickly.

As our fabulous nurse filled out the whiteboard, one of the sections was “Daily Goals.” She wrote Meet Elijah before 7 p.m. because that’s when her shift ended. I jokingly said, “Let’s make it before noon!” Because I’m hilarious.

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And also I can predict the future, apparently.

Around 9:30 they broke my water, I had a couple of intense contractions and was like EPIDURAL NOW PLEASE. I have nothing to prove here.

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After a little while I was like “Ummmmm, I think that you should check how dilated I am because the contractions feel very different and I think I’m like, almost ready here.” So the nurse checked and I had gone from 5 cm at 8 a.m. to 8 cm around 10 a.m.

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And then at around 10:30 I was like OMG THIS HURTS SO BAD I NEED TO START PUSHING VERY, VERY SOON. And obviously I was crying because I was remembering how much it hurts to push out a baby so I was getting all tense and like OMG I’M SCARED TO START PUSHING BECAUSE OUCH. I remember at one point looking at my mom, crying and apologizing for being such a baby. 😭

I started pushing at 10:44 a.m.

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Elijah was born three minutes later. Everyone was like WHOA THAT WAS FAST! And I was like OHMYGOD THAT HURT SO BAD. And then my doctor was like “I’m glad I got in here so fast! And BTW your epidural didn’t work right.” So then I felt justified in my pain. Poor little pook had a very bruised face from his rough entrance into the world, but by the next day he was nice and pinky pink.

My poor second child, you guys. My first words to the boy when they put him on my chest were “Oh my gosh, he looks JUST like Daniel!” Right down to the dimpled chin.

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Around noon, I was cuddling Elijah and looking at Pete and saying, “I can’t believe he’s already here!” That’s basically what we kept repeating all day because man alive, it went fast. I didn’t even have time to sweat, and you know how I have a sweating problem.

On Friday afternoon, Daniel got to meet his little brother. I had all of these visions of sugarplums and rainbows when these best friends met for the first time, and Daniel’s pupils would turn into heart shapes at the sight of his baby brother.

It took Daniel about 3 minutes to actually notice that I was in the hospital room because he had to look around at everything else. After he finally noticed me, he noticed I was holding a baby. And he didn’t care. 🙄

We forced Daniel to hold Elijah, which lasted for about 7 seconds, and then he went back to pushing all of the buttons in the hospital room.

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I’m happy to report that since coming home, Daniel looooooves Elijah… or ignores him completely. He does like to know where Elijah is all the time, and always talks to or about him in a baby voice. I mean, it’s adorable.

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It was wonderful being able to bring home a two-day-old baby after our NICU stint with Daniel. Until 4 hours after being home as a family of four I got the stomach flu and felt the most misery I’ve ever felt in my life for the next 48 hours. Words cannot describe how wonderful Peter has been, taking care of me, Elijah, and Daniel and also dealing with my crying because I felt so bad about the whole situation.

So! Now here we are, a family of four just doing things that families of four do, like wear masks while cuddling babies and watching Winnie the Pooh on repeat.

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I am so, so in love with our little family.

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Baby R2: 39 weeks pregnant + Massive Update

Baby R2, Family, Pregnancy

Well, I’m sitting here 39 weeks, 1 day pregnant and feeling like every time I stand up a baby is going to just slide right on out of there. The subtitle of my blog name is “I’m an over-sharer” so I do not feel bad telling you this information.

Anyways, to say that I never thought I’d make it to 39 weeks pregnant is an understatement. Everyone always tells you that every pregnancy is different. Guys, I just wasn’t expecting this pregnancy to be this different since the same vessel is carrying the child.

With Daniel, I was induced at 37 weeks because I had preeclampsia and they were like, “Let’s have a baby because it’s getting dangerous for both of you.” We had a pleasant ride to the hospital because I wasn’t in labor at all. After they broke my water, I had one more intense contraction and was like OK EPIDURAL NOW PLEASE. (I have nothing to prove to anyone, here.) I was 3 cm dilated when I got my epidural.

Now, here I sit, 4 cm dilated and the doctor is like “Well, your body is certainly ready to have this baby, but he’s not ready to come out.” 🙄

Two weeks ago, I went to bed on a Sunday night at 10:15 and at 10:30 I was like “Hmmmmmmm, are these contractions that I’m feeling??” And I was up until 4 a.m. with irregular and uncomfortable contractions. And then, they just stopped. And I was very annoyed. Like, come on. Don’t mess with me like that.

The next day I was exhausted and felt like I had done 1,000 sit ups. But there was no sign of the baby. At all. No more contraction-action. I had a doctor appointment the following Thursday, which felt like an eternity, and was 3 cm dilated and she stripped my membranes (sorry, TMI), and was like “If that worked, you’ll have the baby in 1-2 days!!”

Obviously the only thing I heard was “You’ll have the baby in 1-2 days!!” So I took action. My house has never been cleaner for a more consistent amount of time, and you guys, for the first time ever the landscaping around our house is basically weeded. Anything to make the baby come. I mean, I have never, NEVER willingly been like “I think I’m going to pull weeds for an hour!” Until now. At this point I’ll be doing it long enough to make it a habit, which would actually be really nice for the state of our home.

But he didn’t come in 1-2 days. When we got to the weekend, I was like “GREAT now he’s going to come on Daniel’s birthday and 100% of my kids will be born on the same day.”

Well, he didn’t come on Daniel’s birthday either. So obviously the day after Daniel’s birthday, I was like “The baby MUST be coming today!!” Wrong again.

Anyways, the point of the whole thing is that I am so anxious waiting for this baby to come, and have made everyone around me anxious too. I stand by the fact that had the doctor not put a 1-2 timestamp on it 10 days ago, I wouldn’t be THIS anxious.

I have to keep thinking about the positive things, like the fact that seriously, my house is SO CLEAN because I am constantly cleaning and doing laundry just in case we have to go to the hospital. And the fact that Daniel came at 37 weeks and had to be in the NICU for 10 days, so we should be fine this time around.

I AM starting to get concerned about the size of this baby though… I mean, I had Daniel 2 years ago, and I still remember pushing for 2 hours because of his huge head. And I remember when they told me Daniel weighed 7 pounds I was like “7 POUNDS!? 3 WEEKS EARLY!? WHAT IF HE WAS 3 WEEKS LATER?!”

And now, because I’ve done such a poor job of blogging during my pregnancy, here are some highlights.

  • The whole pregnancy I’ve been feeling really, really good (until now when I’m just very uncomfortable and have to pee like, every 20 minutes). This was not the case when I was pregnant with Daniel – nausea for about 18 weeks, ew. I also felt this baby start moving around 17 weeks (compared to about 24 weeks with Daniel). Everyone was like “It’s because you know what you’re feeling for!” But trust me when I say, this baby moves a LOT more than Daniel ever did. That combined with the fact that I never had any morning sickness and incredible amounts of heartburn essentially convinced me that I was having a girl. The pregnancies were so different. I wasn’t going to be upset if I found out it was a boy (hello, two boys exactly two years apart = forced BFFL), but I really was so sure it was a girl.Also, side note, one of the reasons I didn’t feel Daniel move until around 24 weeks and didn’t feel him move very much for the duration of my pregnancy with him was because I had an anterior placenta, which basically means (per the doctor) that there was like an extra cushion between the baby moving and me being able to feel the baby move. The point is – if I had been pregnant with this moving machine first and Daniel the non-mover second, I would be worried all the time because of how much movement I wasn’t feeling.
  • It’s a BOY! It was so much fun learning the gender and being able to teach Daniel to say “baby brother” and knowing that all of the cutesy clothes Daniel wore when he was an itty bitty baby will be the same size/season for the new baby. (Here’s to hoping the new baby is not a runt or a meatball and fits into this vision I’m having.)
  • At my last ultrasound, they took the below alarming photo of the baby. I mean, does he not look like the angriest baby you’ve ever seen? So that gave me anxiety 😳IMG_5553
  • I briefly mentioned heartburn above. At this point, I will be very disappointed if the baby is born bald. You know the old wives’ tale that is basically “heartburn = tons of hair!” Also, if the baby is born with a mane of hair, I am seriously considering naming him Mufasa. Middle name at the very least.

Anyways, we are very ready to meet this baby. VERY READY.

Any. Day. Now.

Baby R2 Post 2: Telling the G-Units

Baby R2, Family, Pregnancy

Written September 17, 6 weeks.

I’m not here to kid anyone – I took a total of 4 pregnancy tests after the very, very faint pink line of the first one. The last one I took was the digital, no-messing-around, PREGNANT or NOT PREGNANT, and surprise! Definitely pregnant! That tied in with the fact that I’ve had heartburn the last two days and I haven’t had my lady time of the month further confirms that there is another child in my womb.

SO! We didn’t want to mess up telling my parents about this baby like it got messed up the last time. Please take a moment to read the post about how my mom found out about my pregnancy with Daniel so you’re in the loop. It’s linked right there if you click on “last time” to make it nice and easy. I’ll wait.

This time around instead of just being like “WE’RE HAVING A BABY!” I bought Daniel a t-shirt that says “Soon to be BIG BROTHER” in big letters. We drove down to Lake Geneva last night after working under the pretense that we would be visiting some friends we hadn’t seen in a while. On the drive down, we talked about when we would present Daniel in his shirt.

Obviously because we’re so patient we decided on changing him into the t-shirt in the car and bringing him in the house half-asleep at 9:00 PM after he had just slept most of the three-hour drive. We’ve been pretty all-star parents, so we’re expecting great things with #2.

When we walked into the house, only my mom and dad were downstairs and awake, which was shocking because… Both my parents were awake at 9 PM. I put Daniel down and said, “Go by Grandma and Grandpa!” and he was acting all shy because again, just woke up, and my mom was all “… Why are you telling him to come over here, I don’t want him.” because she assumed it was a dirty diaper and I didn’t want to change him. (This may or may not have happened before.)

After some ushering and finally not-so-subtly straightening his shirt, my mom finally saw it and was like “!!! Oh my gosh! This is wonderful!” But my dad was NOT GETTING IT. I picked Daniel up by the arms and was like “Go by Grandpa!” and literally was holding the poor squirming kid RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY DAD’S FACE and my dad was all “Don’t force him to come by me!”

I finally was like DAD. HIS SHIRT.

“Oh GOD Sar, this is great.” I laughed and said, “I can’t believe you didn’t see his shirt!” My dad said he couldn’t read it.

Me: “Dad. If you couldn’t read that, you shouldn’t be driving.” 😐

After some hugs and congratulations and a bit of chatting, we swore my parents to secrecy.

Which lasted less than 12 hours.

Adrianna came in the house from chores and I was talking to my mom at the kitchen table, Daniel was eating breakfast. I knew IMMEDIATELY that my dad hadn’t kept his big mouth shut. Adrianna was being VERY smiley and very “Hiiiiiii! How aaaaaare you??” and told me to GIVE HER A HUG. Raise your hand if you know Adrianna. NOW raise your hand if you know how WEIRD THIS IS.

I hugged her and she said, “SO! You’re pregnant!” and I was like DAD TOLD YOU. And of course right when Adrianna said, “You’re pregnant!” Rachel walked into the kitchen and was like “What?!”

Adrianna then went on and told us that she asked my dad why Peter and I were in town, and Dad was like “OH! Sara has some BIG NEWS!” And Adrianna guessed that we were pregnant and my dad said, “You’ll see!!!!” and had a big ol’ grin on his face. Adrianna was like “Sara, I wish you could have SEEN how happy he was!” Which was really nice to hear because when we had told him last night, he was kind of confused, and my mom told me this morning that he had JUST woken up from a little nappy right before we were like “WE’RE HAVING A BABY!”

Tomorrow Peter’s parents are visiting in the afternoon on their way home from their cabin up north, and we’re excited to see how long it will take them to notice Daniel’s shirt. Since they usually make a beeline for him when they see him, I don’t think it will be long.

I also told my friend Kim today because I’m going to a craft thing with her tomorrow where we are painting pumpkin signs (let’s hope it doesn’t turn out the last time I did a painting thing turned out… 😳) and I knew she would know in a second if I was like “Oh, you’re offering me a mimosa, which I love? No thanks!” So I told Peter that I just HAD to tell her.

Just like with Daniel, the pregnancy feels a lot more real now that we’ve shared the news with a few people!

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