PheMOMena

Who remembers the theme song from Welcome Back, Kotter? That is totally playing over and over again in my head. Welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back. Now it is totally running through your mind-- you're welcome.  Welcome back, to me!! I took a little self imposed hiatus from blogging this summer, so I could enjoy quality time with my little pumpkin eater. It has been outrageously satisfying watching her grow, taking her on trips to museums and farmers markets, letting her try new foods and watching her interact with new people. It has been a blast! Now there is a chill in the air and we are getting into a more home bound schedule, freeing up more time for me to type about our adventures. Welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back!  Let's get after it, y'all! 

Summertime in the city! The weather is fantastic and here in the Midwest everything is in bloom. Our garden is growing like gang busters and we are loving the life of fresh fruits and veggies that we planted and watered. A few years ago we planted berries (strawberries and raspberries). This year the raspberries have done so well. We can get a couple handfuls every other day. The strawberries have not fared as well-- the ants are eating them before we can pick them and the size of the berries have declined. What is a girl to do? Put everyone in the car and drive an hour west to Troy for everything strawberry!! A few weekends ago we did just that. June is a weird month for us. The weather is wacky (either too hot or too rainy), my mom's birthday is a week before Father's Day, my brothers and sisters are getting out of school and summertime activities are kicking off. We are crazy busy. So, even though it has been 5 years since I moved back to Columbus, we have not ventured out...

Welcome March! It seems like it was just yesterday I was heavily pregnant, praying for a safe delivery and a healthy baby. It wasn't yesterday... it was a year ago. One year and two weeks ago, we had a lot going on-- it was the first weekend we had free (we travel a lot to see one of my brothers play basketball), we took a baby care class (and yep, we were the oldest folks in that class) and we had a baby shower!!  Baby showers are a huge deal. I didn't know that prior to getting pregnant. I mean, I had been to showers before, but I had never had to be hands on during the planning process. I just showed up, usually with diapers, cruised the dessert table and hung out with all the not pregnant people. Cool, right? Well, last year, I found out what baby showers are truly all about. First, I had to get invitations. I will make a different post dedicated to invitations, just know that it is a process. An intense process. I had to REGISTER for gifts, figure out a guest list, he...

If  you have seen the PheMOMena instagram account, you know that my cute family just took a little trip down to Savannah, GA. I was really nervous to make this trip because it was Baby K's first trip on an airplane AND there was a layover heading down there and coming back home. A ten month old, plane ride, air pressure, layovers = sounds like a party, right? Yeah, to say that I was a little less than thrilled would be an understatement. But, after complaining a moderate amount, I decided that it is better to see how my little darling will react to being in an airplane on short flights... with complete strangers that I never have to see again, so off to the airport we went!  Our flight out of Columbus was scheduled for 9:15 AM. Why?? Well, hubs got these tickets months ago for an event, and we wanted more time to hang out with folks at that event. The event was ultimately cancelled and we could not get our money back for our airline tickets, so we decided to fly into the...

My Facebook Memories just informed me that around this date last year, hubs and I were on our way to our chosen hospital for a maternity tour. Fun and excitement, right? I mean you are anywhere from five to fifteen weeks to meeting a little person that looks like you, so why not go see where this being is going to be delivered? Don't you want to see a mock up of the room where your Labor and Delivery nurse will take a crying blob, with your husband's nose and a head full of amniotic fluid soaked hair, and place it on your chest? Good concept... the actual visit though? Uh, no.  So, I LOVED my hospital experience, I loved the staff, I wanted my daughter to be born at The Ohio State University hospital (just like I was, and my sister... and my mom). What i didn't like was the fucking maternity tour--stay with me here. I wanted to make sure that I did all the "mom to be" stuff, especially after hubs and I decided that Baby K was going to be an only child, so I w...

Central Ohio has much to offer for family adventures. There is so much packed within a 60-90 minute drive and we were able to take full advantage on Friday. Hubs had the day off so we packed up Baby K, braved state route 161 on a Friday afternoon and headed 40 minutes East to a little city named Newark. Newark has been in the news this year because the Longaberger building is there. Y'all know what I am talking about, right? The building that looks like a basket. Yep, that one. There is also a branch of Ohio State out there. Neither of those attractions are the reason that we were there on Friday. We went for three specific things: root beer, museum, farmers market.  Root beer: Hubs is obsessed. Like, seriously obsessed with root beer. I'm not kidding. He has a Facebook page. He rates them. He DOES have more pictures of our daughter than root beer... I think. A few weeks ago he came out to Newark all by his lonesome to go to a root beer bar. A ROOT BEER BAR. He and his ...