A lot going on at the moment...
- Charlotte Martin
- May 27
- 15 min read
I knew this would blog would be challenging to keep up with, especially with both me and Brennan going back to work! Brennan was back to work on April 15th and I officially went back on May 4th. The entire last month of leave I found myself soaking in every minute with both kids - rocking Clementine to sleep instead of letting her fall asleep independently, staying up late with Silas to watch old Disney movies - I wanted to squeeze everything out of every little minute with them, knowing they would soon be under the care of a new nanny. It's funny, we hired a part-time nanny when Silas was 8 weeks old, but haven't had any part-time help the second time around until we went back to work. Our second child has really taught us how to lean into parenting, and we are ALL IN. With the first, you can sort of be half in your old life and half in your new life as a parent, but with two...you've just gotta jump in head first as a parent and embrace it. It's really made us both realize how much we love being parents and love prioritizing our growing family.
So what have we been up to? Better question, what HAVEN'T we been up to! Two days after landing back home, Silas and I went to a friend's son's 6th birthday party at a brewery in Fort Worth while Brennan watched Clementine at home.
We raced home from the party to join our annual neighborhood Easter egg hunt and ended up at a neighbor's house with all the neighborhood kids until bedtime. We've really fallen more in love with our neighborhood lately. It's a part of my life I didn't realize I needed - neighbors who are in the same life phase as you with the same age kids. It's becoming hard to imagine ever moving away from this neighborhood even though it feels like we have already outgrown our house!
Clementine hit a big milestone when she could finally ride in the shopping cart and no longer needed to be in a baby carrier. We visited Target and Whole Foods multiple times each week over the last month together shopping, each time building up her little fan club. It's funny, I cannot go anywhere with her without someone making a comment about her - always positive - saying she's beautiful, or beautiful eyes, pretty head, dark eyelashes. And this is not just sweet old ladies, people range from teenage boys to grandpas, moms and grandmas and everyone in between. I think she is particularly striking because she has these piercing blue eyes, black eyelashes and a giant bald head, so there's nothing to distract you from her eyes!
Silas and I dyed Easter eggs the day before Easter and we woke up the next day to Silas tearing through his Easter basket. He got a Tonie music box, some stickers and a US map puzzle. Clementine got a rainbow fish stuffie. We ate breakfast then cleaned ourselves up and attended mass at Good Shepherd Catholic Church...along with what felt like maybe a thousand other people! We ended up getting seated outside (it was a beautiful day) of the parish hall where the priest was doing a second mass while mass was also going on in the main church. I've truly never experienced this many people at church before! I remember growing up they would always add folding chairs to the pews, but this was another level of attendance and given we aren't very regular churchgoers, I supposed we contributed to the craziness!
The week of Brennan's birthday we took family photos at a studio in Fort Worth. These were fancy family photos where we all got dressed to the 9s and they did traditional heirloom-style portraits. It will take a few months to get these back as they are hand-finished (!) but I can't wait to hang them up over our fireplace. I even asked my dad to build us custom frames for these photos so they truly will be heirlooms that we will pass down.
On Brennan's actual birthday, all he wanted for dinner was homemade chicken and noodles and homemade brownies. I've got the brownies down, my recipe is quite famous in the neighborhood, but I had never actually made chicken and noodles. However, my grandma Brysch was an EXPERT chicken and dumpling chef and I remember learning how to make the chicken broth from her - just chicken and water, how hard could it be? As for the noodles, well thankfully we had just taken that pasta-making class in Italy so I was fairly confident I could whip up some homemade noodles as well. I ended up adding a twist to the broth by including onion, carrots, celery and a cheesecloth sachet with thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns, garlic and parsley. When I say this broth was mouth-watering...IT WAS MOUTH-WATERING. And also SO easy. Around 5:15, Brennan started getting concerned that I hadn't made the noodles but I had a recipe in my head and thought it would be quick (I was right). Giant bowl of salted flour with a hole in the center where I whisked 3 egg yolks + 1 egg slowly, collecting the flour gradually (like we learned in Italy), until I had a dough ball. Rolled out the dough ball, cut it into strips with a pizza cutter and tossed the noodles into the boiling (strained) broth for a few minutes and voila! Homemade chicken and noodles for Bren's 38th birthday. While he would never admit if they were better than his grandma's, he did admit they were delicious. And the brownies were probably my best batch yet. The only reason I say this is because I shared the leftovers a couple days later with a neighbor and her husband even admitted eating them was a "religious experience" - HAH! I've noticed I've really loved cooking for my family and friends lately. There's truly nothing like bringing that delight to others.
The next day, we all decided to hit the Fort Worth zoo. We were both still off work, so we wanted to do something extra special for Brennan's birthday with both kids. Weather was perfect - 75 degrees and sunny - and we enjoyed a few hours at the zoo. We saw almost every exhibit but ended up skipping Australia and Texas animals...we know we will be back! One highlight was Silas seeing the giant hippo swimming in the river and relieving itself (gross I know), and then watching all the fish in the river eat it! Totally disgusting but Silas got a kick out of it.
The next weekend I found myself in NYC with my two best friends, Brittany and Whitney. We try to go to NYC together each year and had been planning this trip for a while. Both Whitney and I had babies in the last year so we had to move our regular Christmas trip to the spring. We saw Tom Felton in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, ate at bougie and delicious restaurants, drank at top 50 bars, saw Starry Night at the MoMA, caught up with NYC friends and just had a weekend of genuine joy and connection with each other. It's so important to me to have these little getaways occasionally with my friends and I couldn't be luckier to have a husband who likes taking care of the kids for a long weekend.
The next week Brennan started work and we had his cousin Jase and his girlfriend Kate over for dinner. After dinner, Silas decided he wasn't getting enough attention and sat in Clementines baby seat, then quickly realized he was stuck and panic ensued. Brennan and Jase ended up having to get scissors and cut the fabric part of the seat out in order to get him out as he was screaming hysterically. It was a very unusal Silas thing to do, but could probably be attributed to his daddy going back to work and not giving him attention 12 hours a day!
We've also completed a few house projects (that weren't really on the house project list) since Brennan went back to work. Funny how he goes back to work THEN decides to renovate our guest bathroom. It was pretty dated and the baseboards were gross, so I was fully supportive. New paint, new vanity, new baseboards and new decor - couldn't be happier with the result!
Our other project was our double wall oven that had gone out a few months ago - but it was also connected to our microwave and we started noticing the microwave took much longer to heat our food up and knew it was about to go out as well. We replaced the too-high microwave and broken double wall oven with a counter-height microwave and single working oven. Had our carpenter and painter in within a week for cabinets and checked that off the list!
We had another birthday celebration for my good friend's son, Asher, at a cute little barn venue way up in McKinney. It was a good 55 minute drive for us but as we got closer to the barn, Silas commented "wow, look at all these trees and this grass!" Brennan and I chuckled to ourselves thinking the poor city boy needs to get out in the country more often!
That next week, Silas had his third dentist visit, but first actual teeth cleaning and he did great. The pediatric dentist has TVs mounted on the ceiling and gives the kids headphones. They turned on Cars just for Silas (it was PJ day at school and he had on his Lightning McQueen PJs). He had a good report from the dentist so I guess we will continue doing what we are doing!
My mom was in town visiting and helping me with the kids while Brennan traveled for work meetings. We drove out to my grandma's one day and unfortunately it was raining but the kids still really enjoyed it. Grandma even got down on the floor to play with them AND got back up! It's so special to me for her to experience these moments with my kids while they are young, and for my kids to experience the same farm that I remember being so excited to visit as a child.
I started back to work on May 4th and actually started in a new position at Diageo. I had interviewed four rounds back in April and was unofficially offered the job the day I started back. My new role will be focused on commercial transformation - and I'm excited for this as these are the types of projects I really enjoy and am energized from doing. While things were looking up at work, unfortunately we didn't have a nanny lined up on the homefront! Our original plans had fallen through, but thankfully our company provides us with a temporary nanny service at a very low cost to us that we were able to use while we quickly tried to hire a new nanny. Brennan's mom ended up coming down to help us that first week after 2 temporary nannies massively failed at the job (screaming baby all day long makes it challenging for both parents to get anything done). She also rode back up to Missouri with us for Mother's Day weekend, and got to experience the wrath of Clementine in a carseat. I truly don't know if that child is really that bored, gets car sick, or just hates the car but she screamed 3 of the 6 hours. We keep thinking she will get used to it, but she hasn't yet. Regardless, we were determined to spend Mother's Day with my mom, then Brennan's mom and Brennan's grandmas. First stop was Monett and boy does Silas love the farm. He would not stop riding his tractor or balance bike until we begged him to come in for dinner. He’s gotten really good at riding his balance bike the last couple months and may be ready to get a big boy bicycle with training wheels this summer. Clementine got to experience her first Acambaro trip while in Monett (best Mexican food ever) and she indulged in quite a bit of refried beans and guacamole!
On our last night in Monett, we saw a double rainbow and Silas thought that was the coolest thing.
We went to Joplin on Saturday before Mother's Day to spend time with Brennan's family. Grandad heated up the hottub (pool was way too cold) and both kids got to "swim".
Clementine started teething pretty good that weekend and had a rough night on Saturday. It was like multiple teeth trying to come in at the same time and she wasn't in her home crib and wasn't having it! I ended up putting her next to me in bed because that was the only way she would sleep. Wasn't the first time I had to sleep with my baby (remember Madrid?) and probably won't be the last. It's interesting how we never slept with Silas, probably for fear of the "back to sleep" police coming after us. But with Clementine, we just lean in and do what works for her. Again, becoming a mom for the second time has really helped me come into my own.
On Sunday, we all enjoyed a big Mother's Day lunch with both sets of Brennan's grandparents and his brother and brother's wife in attendance. Silas insisted on playing with just about everyone in his room (yes, he has his own room with tons of toys and books at his grandparent's house). Later that afternoon, we packed up the car and headed back to Texas, screaming baby and all. Silas actually does great in a car, but tends to get carsick if he is watching his tablet during the day. He managed to entertain himself without a tablet until he fell asleep for a nap, and then when he woke up we were almost home.
My second week back to work included a company-wide restructure announcement with a July 1 rollout date. There are still more questions than answers, but I'm glad I took this new role as I think it will offer a good challenge during these tumultuous times. My parents ended up coming down to help with the kids that week as we just didn't trust the temporary nanny service and we both needed to start getting real work done. They also took my grandma to a doctor appointment where she finally started to get a plan together to answer some of her recurring medical ailments. It's truly crazy how much you have to manage your own healthcare these days. Thankfully, she has my parents to help her navigate the complicated healthcare landscape!
That weekend I was off to another girl's trip. I know, it sounds like I do this all the time but the timing was really unfortunate!! This one had been planned since November and it was celebrating my friend Lisa's birthday with a Morgan Wallen concert at her favorite place - the Swamp in Gainesville. We had a great time catching up and enjoying the concert together and again, I'm so grateful I'm able to travel and maintain these friendship connections even though we are in very different phases of life.
Come Saturday night though, I was missing my husband and babies and ended up taking a late flight home so I could be there when they woke up in the morning. These trips also remind me how much I love my "boring" home life just being lazy with my family on the weekends.
I've been reading quite a bit over the last couple months as well. By reading, I mean mostly Audible but I did read one physical book as well for our neighborhood book club! Our book club selected the book This Time Around by a local Colleyville author, and the author came to our book club meeting! Even my mom read the book and attended with me. It was pretty cool to hear the author's process and how she just writes on the side. There's a sequel coming out next month too. It's an easy read and I definitely recommend it! April's book club book was Wild Dark Shore and I vividly remember finishing it (very dramatic ending) while holding Clementine during a nap and bawling uncontrollably! It's definitely one that rips at your heartstrings, particularly if you are a parent (and holding your sleeping baby!). Lastly, I read Yesteryear as well and let's just say MIND. BLOWN. That's our neighborhood book club pick for July and I will be hosting the meeting. I can't wait to get everyone's thoughts on it. Anne Hathaway actually has the rights to star in and produce a movie adaptation and it should be really good as a movie.
Wondering why my parents are STILL in town? I know, they should just move here right? It was Silas's end of year school program the next week and they couldn't miss that! I know he had been practicing the song and dance for the last month. Brennan's mom came down for the program as well and it happened to be on her birthday! So we celebrated with an early dinner at a Mexican restaurant before heading to the auditorium. I dropped Silas off with the other students backstage and the director mentioned to me that we had reserved seats up front because Silas was 2nd place in the school's tamale sales - SCORE! We all took our seats in the front row but I knew it was going to distract him to see us right there; however, he did so great. I was honestly very emotional watching him sing and dance in Spanish, especially when I realized the boys outfits were Spanish matadors (how fitting?) and the girls were flamenco dancers! They were channeling their inner Sevillano and it could not have been more perfect since we had just spent time in Sevilla.
This brings us to last weekend, when my childhood best friend Jessica traveled in from Virginia with her husband and 3 kids. They had just stayed with us in November, so Silas was very excited to play with her two older kids again. They were in town for a family member's graduation, and we also had a family member graduating (different school). It's hard to put into words how it makes me feel watching my best friend's kids hold and play with my own children. It's like this surreal feeling that they've always been friends their whole lives, even though they've only hung out a handful of times.
It's just easy when they get together and it's funny how close our parenting styles are even though we haven't lived in the same town since we were 9 years old! I was also worried about Clementine having stranger danger with them but she had absolutely no issue with Jessica or Jessica's kids holding her and playing with her all weekend - she loved it. She even started waving on command over the weekend and it's as adorable as you would imagine. And Silas...well Silas hit a new milestone that weekend too. The older kids were in the pool and I told him if he wanted to get in the pool he had to wear his floaties (he had never worn floaties before). He reluctantly agreed and within an hour, he was swimming in the deep end, after two hours he was jumping off the edge by himself and going under! It was such a relief for me to finally see him interested in swimming and he ended up being the last kid out of the pool that afternoon...we had to bribe him to get out! It's so good for him to be around and learn from older kids. I think about my childhood growing up as one of the youngest cousins by 5 years, and surrounded mostly by cousins 10+ years older than me. I'm certain it shaped my personality and who I am today (in a positive way I think).
I mentioned Clementine was teething and her teeth are coming in an unusual order. She got her first tooth (bottom) way back in March, I noticed it when we were flying home from Europe. She had no more teeth until around Mother’s Day weekend when several started getting close to the surface, including the second bottom tooth and some top teeth. What happened? Next kind of surprised us all, she ended up getting a top lateral tooth before the top front teeth. Apparently when that happens, those babies are nicknamed vampire babies and it couldn’t be more fitting for my child. It even looks like she’s about to get the second lateral tooth before the front teeth, making her a full blown vampire 😂
She had her 9 month checkup today and she’s growing like a weed. She’s definitely packed on the pounds vs her 6 month appointment, but her body is gearing up to be able to have the energy to crawl and walk. She is so close to crawling right now, I imagine she will be all over the house in a few short weeks! Brennan and I think we will need to do a little more baby proofing with her that we ever did with Silas.
After several weeks of temporary nannies and putting our moms out, we’ve finally hired a full time nanny who started this week, and could not be happier with our choice. She’s actually bilingual and we love that she can help Silas practice his Spanish more. She’s also been the only nanny who has cared for Clementine now for two days in a row with virtually no screaming from Clementine. Here’s hoping she sticks around!
Lastly, a couple sweet moments stick out in my mind with Clementine over the last couple months. After all, this is a blog about being present and sometimes I get lost in the "what happened" vs the "how did we feel". The first moment happened when I was singing Oh What A World by Kacey Musgraves to her in the rocking chair one afternoon before her nap. She was just staring at my mouth in wonder. She looked at my mouth/eyes almost the entire song and we just had this ethereal moment of connection. She's really becoming ultra perceptive. The other moment(s) worth mentioning just happened this week. She's really struggling to go down on her own for naps and bedtime all of a sudden - really since her teething ramped up - so we are having to hold her until she is pretty much asleep before laying her down. I KNOW we're not supposed to do that but we will break the habit one day (second child, I’m not concerned remember?). Anyway, I noticed that when I hold her and shush her, she starts humming. I realized I spent the entire month in Europe singing to her at nap and bedtimes (without the assistance of Alexa) and she was asking me to keep singing.
I'll sing to you for as long as you'll let me baby girl.
Until next time...
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