February 2025 Recap

February definitely felt like it flew by much more quickly than January. It also was a very Asher-heavy month! Which I think is okay…that’s just how it goes sometimes. Especially now that Ethan can drive himself places! By default, we’re just a little less “hands-on” with him now. As high school tennis starts up soon though, I’m sure things will swing more Ethan’s way this spring.

Accomplish List:

• went to swim meets on 4 of the 4 weekends!! Volunteered at 2 of the 4.
• hung “stick on blinds” on my office window (behind the curtain). This resolved a LONG-standing issue w/ morning sunlight + my computer screen!
• booked a fall trip to Nova Scotia w/ SHU!!!!!!!!!!! (Can I share this publicly yet? Oops I just did? 😆)
• ordered + returned several rain jackets for London…
• ordered some hooks for behind the door in Ethan’s room
• bought food/ volunteered at swim team breakfast
• did swim scholarship work (volunteer job) + organizing + emails
• cleaned the house, etc.
• bought some “sneaker boots”
• PT appts x2
• cleaned out our big basement file cabinet! (from declutter list, long overdue)
• attended Parents Social dinner after Sectionals + made food to contribute
• more London reading/ planning
• spent an afternoon at Allergy Clinic w/ Asher for peanut challenge
• volunteered at Regionals swim meet (2 day meet)
• called around to high school + library to reserve a conference room for upcoming Senior Scholarship interviews
• wrote a guest post for Elisabeth!
• cleaned out the fridge
• packaged a bunch of returns that had piled up
• helped my Dad set up Apple Pay so they can do contactless pay on the London Underground! 😉
• attended Asher’s swim banquet
• took A to Urgent Care (pink eye)
• lots of work stuff… won’t list all here! But we have a couple big quarterly meeting series that generate a lot of extra work/stress that happened this month.
• cleaned out drawer under oven (from declutter list)
• finished uploading all my clothes to my wardrobe spreadsheet!!

Happy Things/ Gratitude List:

• returned something I thought was past the return window but actually was able to and got $83 back! (I had bought as a Christmas gift but then had re-purchased because it went on sale… but forgot I still had the first one stashed away to return!)
• a movie night w/ boys (Carry-on on Netflix)
• watching Titanic in bed until way-too-late one Sunday night while Ivan was at a later soccer game
• Asher’s 1st behind-the-wheel session w/ an instructor went well
• a few warm spurts w/ temps in 40s-50!
• the spicy salsa at our Mexican place
• Ethan helping to chop veggies for dinner one night
• a completely meeting-free day one work day!
• the comments on my reading post
• the Les Mills Core class I’ve been going to
• option for telehealth visits sometimes!
• a random Thursday night we all spontaneously piled in the car and went out for a fast-food dinner. haha. Good conversation with the boys!
• mom and dad visiting for a whole weekend
• lots of personal best times/ strong end to the swim season for Asher
• a nice time watching the Superbowl with my parents + pizza
• running errands with my mom
• Asher making it to Sectionals for swim
• I found sneaker boots I honestly really like on sale for only $35!
• the PT place is close to home
• my mom made cookies before they left and we all snacked on those for several days
• going in hot tub alone one day after work
• texts w/ an old coworker!
• Ivan making it safely to Mexico despite a snowstorm that night
• Ivan had a wonderful trip with his family 💗
• one particular drive home from swim w/ Asher and Charlie along
• breakfast out + blog reading
• that the snow didn’t start until after Ethan got home one day
• chatting w/ a mom from the other high school at Sectionals + her new college grad daughter who just became a nurse!
• reading by fire alone one Saturday morning while everyone else still sleeping
• a bath
• started Ted Lasso w/ the boys!!! LOVE this series so much, thrilled to re-watch.
• Asher no longer allergic to peanuts!
• reading Harry Potter while waiting at the Allergy Clinic
• some new lotion… skin has been so dry!
• awesome swim photos from the photographer
• some good feedback at work
• a long Friday evening walk w/ Charlie + phone call w/ my dad
• a fun Regionals swim meet
• Asher drove the big interstate for the first time and did well!
• a pizza/TV night w/ the boys
• watching A Man Called Otto in bed on another Sunday night (haha, apparently when Ivan is at soccer, I ended up flipping around and finding good old movies on TV… lol)
• Asher’s special relationship with his uncle (Ivan’s brother). He stopped over the other night and took Asher out driving for a long time! So nice.
• a NAP on the day I woke up at 1 a.m. and never fell back asleep.
• the swim banquet + the coach’s speech about Asher
• milanesas + chilaquiles for dinner one day
• a rainy, spring-like day
• hot tub w/ Ivan one night before bed
• after taking Asher to Urgent Care, we stopped by McDonald’s drive thru for a shamrock shake and had a coupon for $1 any size fries… the fries were THE BEST. Definitely not always the case, but these were hot off the press with just the right amount of salt and sooooo good. Perfection.
• a walk Friday morning with Charlie when it was extra mild and sunny out + I listened to uplifting music instead of a podcast! Loved this.
• a CLEAN, sunny bedroom yesterday (with all the “piles” of stuff that tend to accumulate finally put away…)
• a swim-free week with some more chill evenings this past week

Bummer List:

*I just realized that I can’t exactly list all of my Bummers List… turns out that more than in the Accomplish or Happy Things category, the Bummers List has more private/personal or non-bloggable things! But I can still list most. Just know that there are some others, too, not listed here. 🙂

• kind of annoyed with the whole “rain jacket/ shoe” search for our trip… felt like I shouldn’t actually need anything, but yet, I did, and it was just a hassle!
• a good number of missed workouts/ general habits fall off… cliche in February, of course…
• general world stress + constant tension everywhere
• forgot my phone at home on day of Conference meet = no pics!
• skin super dry
• snowstorm on Ivan’s travel day…
• slacking off on doing my PT exercises
• extended family drama
• the feeling that I sort of “aimlessly wasted” the Sunday that Ivan was gone where I had high hopes for doing all sorts of things I needed/wanted to do with this big “free day”… and it just sort of fell really flat. Meh.
• a bunch of below zero temperature days
• too many video games for the boys!
• constantly reading/seeing negative stuff online everywhere I turn is stressful and exhausts me
• an argument w/ Ivan over something stupid
• lots of sick people! Both boys had minor illness, my sister-in-law was down with a BAD pneumonia for several weeks, my sister + dad both got influenza (across the ocean from each, not related, lol!), and Ivan just even had a little cold/virus of some sort.
• a 1 a.m. wake up one day.. ugh
• Asher got pink eye (*but thankfully, AFTER swim season ended!)
• a crazy busy gym one evening was irritating
• my diet has been bad and seriously lacking in fruits and vegetables. Feeling just sort of puffy and gross and bleh.

Habits Overview:

Some ups, some downs here, though overall I guess not terrible.

Areas going well:

• workouts (overall- though below goal this month for sure)
• wardrobe tracking on my spreadsheet! I hit 100% on this- tracked what I wore every single day! This project going strong and weirdly satisfying, and informative. More on this another time!
• reading
• making breakfast for the boys a couple times a week
• weekly grocery shopping
• fitness class 2x/ month goal met in both Jan and Feb!
• photo project (not stellar progress, but decent)
• walking at least a little most days

Areas that need re-focusing:

• 2x/ week salads fell off! Last salad was mid-Feb.
• flossing/ skin care. Not consistent enough.
• yoga
• reading w/ boys… I guess we’ve watched Ted Lasso, but not reading together
• Spanish podcast! Haven’t listened lately
• goal for boys to cook hasn’t happened (besides some veg chopping…)
• no new restaurants this month
• my cooking in general sort of fell off and we just ate a lot of random whatever-ness toward end of the month, and just ate out too much in general

Some Things I cooked:

I did still cook SOME stuff though…. Here are a few meals I know I made this month:

• a chicken pot pie soup
• teriyaki chicken/ rice
• pepperoni quesadillas! (Asher’s request)
• chicken tenderloins, corn, mashed potatoes
• ground beef + potatoes + pinto beans in salsa verde
• milanesas/ chilaquiles

Books Read:

• Harry Potter #1
• All The Money in the World

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Overall, a solid month I think! The end of the swim season totally dominated it, not gonna lie. I feel like we definitely did not do really any “new local adventures” or anything too exciting besides just the usual work + swim meets + house stuff + pretty standard entertainment (for us, our standard restaurants out, movie nights, etc.).

But I’m fine with that! I feel like the year is starting to really gear up now…. we have several upcoming travel weeks between March-August, Ethan’s tennis season, all the “summer stuff” will be here before we know it…and then in a blink it circles around to fall again and poof, the busy back-to-school and all the holiday seasons are here! 😳

I posted this in my January recap, but sharing it again because I feel like I’m kind of at that tip of the rollercoaster ride now, chugging up over the peak into March….

BUT, actually, I have to remember that this year may be different! Ethan can drive now, for one thing, and also, we are past the days of them trying to juggle multiple club sports at once!!

Last spring in 8th grade Asher had school volleyball, club swim and club soccer all at the same time. This year, he just has club swim. Last year Ethan was juggling high school tennis + club soccer (pro tip- it didn’t work! Literally.). This year he ended up dropping club soccer and just has high school soccer in the fall + high school tennis in the spring. The high school seasons are too intense to logistically do any other sports at the same time.

I also think we won’t have as much in “May-hem season” as previous years! No 8th grade graduation (with ALL the extra activities that generated….), no band concert, no “school field day”, etc. Those things are all fun, but I’m cool with things dialing back a little now in high school.

Anyway, I know we’ll still have a lot going on, because we always do. 😆 Onward to March!

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for my electric blanket I have on my lap 99% of the time in my office in the winter. 🙂