Turn, Turn, Turn

With the beginning of Spring, I feel like the seasons have changed for us too. At the end of February, I made the difficult decision to leave ExxonMobil and join a smaller law firm that will give hopefully give us a little more flexibility. I’ve still got my precious part-time schedule, so #fridayswitholivia are still intact! Change isn’t my favorite thing, but I am trying to embrace it and maybe even enjoy it?!


We started off March an awesome birthday celebration for me. Matt and I enjoyed a much-needed and appreciated stay-cation night off at Hotel Sorella in Houston. My parents took Olivia for a night so Matt and I got some drinks, enjoyed some sushi, and had great plans of sleeping in at our luxurious bed.

Unfortunately, Olivia’s typical 5:30 wake-up-calls have me trained to be an early-riser, so I didn’t enjoy as much sleep as I would have liked. But it was nice to just lay in bed in the quiet! Matt begrudgingly agreed to attend a spin class with me at Revolution Studio – my latest obsession.  He was a good sport, although he says he will never do it again. When we got home, Olivia kept asking him why his shirt was so wet if it wasn’t raining outside! ;) I then enjoyed a day with my family – resting and just being together.

A few weeks later, I had my annual Mehta birthday party.  I had such a good time (and clearly so did Olivia).

She loved the necklace I got!

My best friend Kate planned a little birthday dinner for me and also arranged for a babysitter for Olivia + her two girls.  I offered up our house for all the girls to stay.  Olivia was thrilled to have a pajama party with Sofie and Minah (matching PJs again -- we're obsessed!).  When we got home, Kate started to pack up her girls and all 3 of them immediately burst into tears.  I'm still a little foggy on the details but I remember crying and claims of being "best friends" and before I knew it, Matt and I were suckered into hosting Olivia's first "slumber party." These crazies stayed up until 10:30 and woke up at 6:00am, immediately changed into princess dresses and went full speed ahead until they all crashed for 3+ hours at nap-time!  (Truth be told, some of my best childhood memories are sleep-overs at Kate's house, so the fact that our own daughters were now having a sleep over of their own is almost more than I can handle.  I'm pretty sure Kate and I were more excited than them and texted all evening!)

Organized Chaos

That seems like the best way to describe 2015 so far at Casa Dean. It has been a hectic few months around here – we started the year off with sickness.  Olivia has endured the flu (which she generously passed on to her mamma), a stomach bug, and a double pink-eye/ear infection combo!  Can it get any sadder than this?!

2015 also brought LOTS of work travel. Matt traveled 6 out of 8 weeks at the beginning of the year and I made a quick trip to Doha during one of the weeks he was home. And, in the midst of all of that, ExxonMobil moved its offices about 45 minutes north to the Woodlands.  So I inherited about an hour and a half commute!

When Matt is out of town, Olivia claims his side of the bed.

Or sometimes the entire bed

We also enjoy sushi dinners with the Aunts.

My favorite part is the champagne!  Mehta girls never turn down a glass of champagne - our mother taught us better than that! ;)

And Grandpa came to spend the night one night when Matt was out of town to help me with Olivia.  Its normal to have a planking challenge with your grandpa, right?

We met Yazzie the next day for some painting and lunch.

Yazzie decided to spice things up by ordering mimosas for everyone! :)

We also enjoyed a visit from sweet little Blythe.  As you can see, the obsession with Blythe continues.  For all the Deans.  Matt was out of town during their visit and could barely look at the pictures without being sad that he missed the fun!

 

I may have mentioned before that when Matt is out of town, the discipline really goes down around here. Well, one area that took a particularly big hit this year was the bed-time routine. Olivia started revolting and she knew a weak target when she saw one. After one particularly bad night of coming out of her room, I begged her to stay in – stay up all night – just don’t come out anymore. Well, she didn’t come out anymore. But when I went to check on her a little while later I found this.

A certain doctor aunt that shall remain nameless apparently had a proclivity to similar antics when she was little, so I guess it runs in the family. This organized chaos continues each night…but at least she doesn’t come out of her room! J

And had fun making some very "sprinkly" Valentines cookies + Valentines for our friends & teachers.

Matt was out of town for Valentines day, so we spent the weekend with some of the other people we love – Mimi & Grandpa and the Born family!  In the spirit of avoiding sleep, Olivia stayed up late at Mimi's house "organizing" the room and changing into her bathing suit.  In the spirit of picking my battles, I let her sleep like that.  When she woke up in the morning, the little swimmer was very happy to open her Valentine's basket.

We hung out with my parents during the day and then headed to Aunt Casey's who was kind enough to let Olivia and I crash her Valentines night.  Her 3 boys were at a friend's slumber party - so it was just Olivia and Annabelle.  We swam in the pool, made fondue, and had a slumber party.  And, of course, we had to have matching PJs!

Olivia and I also tend to eat out a lot when Matt is gone. By the time we get home at night, I’ve got no interest in cooking. I couldn’t have been happier to indulge her when she requested Indian food one night!

When Matt was back home, Olivia proceeded to try and give her parents strokes by telling us she has a boyfriend at school.

I am happy we were able to survive January and February. March has already brought about some new beginnings, so I think things are looking up!