Weekly Report

This week has, well, sucked. Last Friday, there was a thunderstorm, so S spent part of the night in bed with us, and when she wasn't there, I was up with Baby R. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep.  Saturday, the girls would NOT nap. I was so tired, I was screaming at S and crying. DH told me to go somewhere - anywhere - and take a nap. I went to my parents' house for an hour. Work has been fairly horrific; all three of my clients have had serious problems this week, and my vendors have not been paid so I've been struggling in the middle to pacify everyone. (Not to mention I was having bad dreams about a confrontation I needed to have with a co-worker). The girls haven't slept well, so I'm still tired, so I haven't done anything productive around the house, so it feels overwhelmingly messy. Blech. I just haven't had the energy to contribute to the blog like I should.

Enough whining, let's hear what fun things the girls have been up to!

Phone Call

S: Hi, Mommy!
Me: Hi, sweetheart! How was your day?
S: It was good!
Me: Did you take a nap?
S: Not really.
Me: Did Sissy take a nap?
S: Baby R, did you take a nap?
(DH in the background - "Tell Mommy you need to learn the value of sleep.")
S: Mommy, I need to learn the value of sleep.

Words

S said she wants a "fancy, cool, new thing." ???

Baby R's vocabulary is exploding. She talks about "bubbles" when she wants to wash her hands in the sink, ie, play in the bubbles. She holds a finger to her nose and says "Choo" for tissue. She says "uh-huh" in a cute, little high-pitched baby voice. So adorable; the cuteness kills me every time. And this week, her new favorite word is "No."

We have a dimmer switch for the light over our kitchen table. S likes to turn it down so we can have "moon lighting". :)

Friends

The neighbor boy who S plays with often is gone on vacation this week. She made a card for him and told me we need to get it to him so he will remember he loves her. I asked her if she loves him, and she said, "We'll figure that out tomorrow."

The other night S was dreaming and called out for me. I went in and asked her what was wrong. She said, "P and I made a mess." I told her not to worry about it; we'd clean it up in the morning. :)

Growing Up

Sunday, I got R down for a nap, and all was quiet as DH had already fallen asleep to NASCAR. I was lying on the floor in S's room (she's back to sleeping on the floor again), and she sat up suddenly and said, "Mommy! I'm NEVER taking a nap AGAIN! Number 1, because Baby R keeps me awake. Number 2, because Daddy is too loud. Number 3, because Baby R wakes me up. Number 4..." At number 4, I couldn't hold it in anymore and started to giggle. S tried not to smile but did and threw herself back down melodramatically. I told her, "Sweetie, Baby R's asleep. Daddy's asleep. No one is making noise now but you." Though I'm not ready for it, naptime is on its way out of her schedule.

S yesterday morning on the way to daycare re: streets we took: "When I was a kid, I didn't know which way to go." Good thing you're so grown up, now!

What's a Hoppenin', Hot Stuff?

Quite a bit, Long Duk Dong, thanks for asking. I haven't done an update for a few weeks, so here it is.

Random Thoughts 
Sam listens to music at bedtime. We started with classical, then Enya, but in the last year, she's wanted something different, so we've played soft rock/classic rock/folk music; The Mamas & the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, etc. Lately it's been Journey or Kansas. She heard a Journey song on the local adult contemporary station and recognized it. She was sooo excited about it.

Speaking of local radio, a new station called "GenX Radio" started last fall. LOVED it. They played music from the last 4 decades in most genres - classic rock, rap, pop, alt rock, ska, adult contemporary, current top 40, hair bands, hip hop, hard rock, etc. They went off the air last week. So sad!!!

S seems to think people on TV can see her back. She will wave at Big Jay and yell to him. Though, that may be because Daddy yells at the Jayhawks to play better. Maybe she thinks he thinks they are listening to him. **Aside: The upset loss to VCU was just that - upsetting. :(

Baby R had a tantrum and knocked the open Cheerios box off the table, spilling half of it. I picked it up and put it back on the table, then proceeded to knock it off myself and spill bunch more. "Son-of-a-!" Stopped myself. Then S said she'd help me sweep up. So SWEET!

St. Patrick's Day night (the awful day when I had to get the girls from my parents' house), S said she would be good and wouldn't cry when I left her the next morning. I was glad she was kind of getting it, but sad that it was even an issue.




Out of the Mouths of Babes a Preschooler
"Mommy, I'm getting so big! My head is past the top of the chair!" (Yes, S, you're growing up too fast.)

S singing a lullaby: "Go to sleeeeep baby Jesus so you can grow up big and stroonnggg. And be a tap-dancing horse."
???

"I make the rules." Um, no.


"It's not necessary." (S to me regarding her sister's behavior.)

"I don't need a big surface." (S in reference to how big the TV screen needed to be for her to watch Cars.)

"Mommy, I was just wondering..." (Dramatic pause as if a huge question was about to be asked - Where do babies come from? Can we get a dog?) "...if you could open this?"

Back on the rule thing, last week I wasn't feeling too hot, and I said something about it to S. She said, "Mama, Rule #2: Responsibility." WTH??? I asked her what that meant. She said, "You can't put me to bed if you're sick because I'll get your germs." Ok, but what's with the rules, who's rule is that? Preschool? Daycare. "Mine." (DUH!)

• • • • • • • • • • • •

I think I've figured out the horse comment. When the girls go to DH's parents' house, his dad tends to show them video clips from YouTube. Last time I picked them up they were watching a high school that had sang a song while doing everything backwards. Anyway, apparently there was a cartoon called "Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse". I'm guessing they watched it online or something. S also sings Train's "Soul Sister" all the time now from watching the video there.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

This Week
S has pink eye.  Monday at supper, I noticed some icky goo, and wiped it away with a hopeful heart. But when I put her in the bath and it was back, I knew it was a long shot that it was just allergies. So when I put her to bed, I told her I thought that's what it was and if it was bothering her to let me know and I'd bring her a warm wash cloth to put on it. In the morning we'd go to the doctor and get some medicine to make it better. I also told her that her eye might be matted shut because if that happened, I didn't want it to freak her out and for her to force it open which would hurt. But telling her that kicked her into worry mode, and she didn't sleep well that night.

Thankfully my mom was able to go to the ped's office with me Tuesday to wrangle R who escaped the exam room once, and was more whiny than the patient. We got home, and though I knew the eye drops would be a struggle, I hoped it would go ok. Not so much. Had to pin her down. It. Was. Awful. I told my mom I didn't know if I would be able to do that 13 more times.

I was supposed to go to a dentist appt Wednesday morning, but since I had to keep S quarantined for 24 hours from when the first eye drops were administered, I had to reschedule for Thursday. Since S had preschool, my parents were kind enough to come to our house in the morning, then drop her off for me. (We are SOO lucky to have them to help with the girls.) I picked S up from preschool at lunch time and then we got Baby R and my parents from our house, and headed to theirs. I told S she could have Chick Fil A if she would let me put an eye drop in without a fuss. Didn't happen. Went back to work after several unsuccessful attempts and an almost 2 hour lunch break. Good thing my boss is awesome.

Then there's Baby R. She's been waking up in the middle of the night in full-blown tantrum mode the last two weeks. I thought it was teething, or her cold, but it's been every night except one. Last night was awful. I got up with her at 2am, changed her diaper, got her ibuprofen in case it was her teeth, gave her a drink of water and rocked with her for a few minutes then put her back down (still awake). Fine. Five minutes later, screaming and kicking and totally P.O.'d. Went back in, asked her what was wrong. "Up!" I thought, oh she just wants to get up. I told her, no, it's sleepy time. I'll rock with you a few minutes and then you need to go to sleep. This is the last time Mommy's coming in. She snuggled her head on my shoulder, we rocked, put her back down. Same thing. About 10 minutes later, complete freak out. She's rubbing her eyes, tired, not fighting me trying to get her to sleep. And when I put her down at the beginning of bedtime, we have no issues. Separation anxiety? I'm not good with CIO, but last night after the second time, I didn't go back in. It was 5am before she was really out again. She'd tantrum, then sort of settle down, then build back up. I usually go back in when she gets that riled up, but it's been happening so often, and I'm so freakin' tired, I laid there listening to her for an hour. I'm a bad mom. If DH goes in, she gets really mad. But I don't understand because at bedtime, she either goes to sleep without a peep, or she fusses for 10 minutes and then is out. This is screaming, thrashing, kicking the crib so hard I literally think she's going to hurt herself. And it's sudden. It's not like she's been whining for me, and I haven't gone to get her. It's silence and then a full-on attack. The ped said maybe it's because she got used to me getting up with her when she was sick a couple of weeks ago, but it seems a bit extreme. Miss my laid-back, good sleeper!

As I left work last night, I was in a hurry and just jumped in the van. I got around the corner and heard a noise. Pulled over to find a flat tire. I JUST BOUGHT NEW ONES A MONTH AGO. I did buy the road hazard on them, though. Luckily, I was able to get to the gas station and air it up enough to get home. Told DH, and even though he's been sick this week and feels crappy, he was sweet and went out to put the spare on while I called Firestone. Only, there's no spare on our van. WTH? So he took the tire to the shop, planning to bring a new one back. But they didn't have one in stock. So our van spent all night and today jacked up in the driveway. How very white trash of us. The new tire is in, so when I leave work I'll pick it up.

Since we only have one car, DH's boss picked him up for work today, and I drove his car. Which means I have to leave early to pick up the girls. Which is fine, but I feel like I've hardly been at work this week. Though still busy, at least I don't feel like I'm rushing out and dropping the ball.

My friends have a daughter who will be three in a couple of weeks. Last weekend she had her SECOND open-heart surgery. I cannot fathom what it would be like to go through that. Pinning S down for eye drops is nothing compared to that. And it puts everything in perspective, keeping me thankful instead of whiny. For the most part.

Finally, I have had Prince's "Sometimes It Snows in April" stuck in my head the last few days. So for my friends in New England for whom it's apropos, (and my old roomie who's a HUGE fan), was going to include a link to the video, but I can't seem to find it. Great song, but it's getting on my nerves. Maybe posting about it will make it go away. If not, I can always result to the default way to get a song out of my head: the "Sanford & Son" theme song.

I was feeling badly about my last post being so negative and had intended to write one today about how adorable the girls are and list all the cute things they are doing. But I had to put them to bed on my own tonight since DH's softball league started today (poor guys! why couldn't it have started a couple of days ago when it was 80 degrees out instead of back down to 40?). I read to Baby R with both girls on my lap in the glider, then asked S to go to her room and put a Pull-up on while I finished putting Baby R down. She went to the bookcase and got two small books out. She said they were for Baby R and started to put them in her crib. I told her no, we were done reading, I didn't want R to have them in her crib. She kept moving towards the crib, and I repeated no a few times until I almost yelled it. She looked me in the eye...and set the books in the crib. I pursed my lips and watched her walk out.

After putting Baby R down, I went to S's room. She was sitting on the bed with her clothes still on - including shoes. I asked her to take her shoes off since we don't have shoes on the bed. She complied and was happy and chatty while we got her ready for bed. Then it was time to read. "It's so sad, but I only read stories to little girls who mind me. You put the books in R's crib after I said not to. I won't be able to read to you tonight." She started having a tantrum and ripped a page out of her favorite book. "I guess I'll have to take this until you can learn to take care of your things." I put it up on a shelf in her closet. She was screaming and flailing. I told her she needed to quiet down or I wouldn't be able to stay to snuggle for a bit like we usually do. She was in a frenzy, so I left.

About 15 minutes later, she'd calmed down to an occasional sob and a cry for Mama, so I went back to check on her. She'd thrown everything off her bed. She was whining that she wanted her pillow and blankets back. I told, "I'm so sorry honey, but we've talked about how we don't throw things when we're angry, and it doesn't seem like that is sticking with you so I'm going to have to take your pillows and blankets tonight. Because it's cold, I'll leave one blanket with you. Which one would you like?" I took the rest to my bedroom. Another fit.

Another 15 minutes went by. Baby R started to fuss. I went to S and asked her to settle down. She had thrown the blanket I'd left her on the floor. I didn't say anything, just sat with her and held her. She said she wanted to tell me something. I asked her what, expecting a big announcement. She said it was the time of year that we needed to color Easter eggs. I smiled to myself. "You're right. How about we do that this weekend?" We chatted for a minute quietly, then laid down on the empty bed. I could hear Baby R's cries building. I told her I needed to go get Baby R settled down and then I'd be back.

When I came back she told me she was very sorry and she promised to behave. Wow! Where'd she learn that one already? I told her I would bring the blankets back for tonight, but from now on if she throws anything, I'll take it away.

I was very proud of myself. Even though I'm tired (Baby R is still not sleeping well. I'm taking her to the dr. tomorrow.), I stayed calm, didn't yell, and remembered to use my Love & Logic tools. And even though it took an hour and a half to get her to bed, I'm hoping she'll mind better and not throw things. At least for tomorrow anyway.

Be Careful What You Wish For

I often lament how much I wish I could be a full-time SAHM. There are lots of reasons why. I was blessed to have a mom who was able to stay home with us until we were in middle school. She took care of me when I was sick, taught me how to read before I started kindergarten (I didn't attend preschool), encouraged my imagination, redirected my energy into positive channels. I really feel like kids should be able to sleep in in the summer, play outside all day, and have the freedom to experience boredom.

That said, the decisions I've made in certain areas have required that I work full-time. I've made peace with that, for the most part, even though my feelings about it haven't changed. I have friends who say they could never stay home with their kids all day; it would make them crazy. I could never understand that. I get that you need a break. I get that you need adult interaction from time to time, and I can see how maybe a part-time job, mother's day out or volunteering would be something I'd want to be involved in if I was a SAHM. But if I were to prefer to spend 40 hours a week away from my kids, I would have to seriously wonder why I bothered to have them?

Weekends are difficult because I need to do things like laundry, shopping and cleaning, but I just want to spend time with my kids. I have let a lot of things slide around the house and tried not to feel too badly about it. For the most part, it's ok. I still have mom guilt, but my SAHM friends tell me that they have it, too - it seems to just a part of being a mom no matter what your full-time job is. It's impossible to cram a week's worth of "quality time" into a weekend though, so there are inevitable pitfalls such as overscheduling or frustration when plans don't go well or days when the kids are just whiny. It's never the perfect bonding time you hope for, but that's ok - that's real life.

But today, today was just awful. Today, for the first time, I thought maybe it's good that I'm not a SAHM; I just didn't feel like I was cut out for it. I was tired; S wet the bed in the middle of the night, so I was up with her for that, and then R woke up at 6am and wouldn't go back to bed for me; thankfully DH got up with her and got her a snack, but S heard the commotion, so I had to get her back to sleep again, too. Me being sleepy isn't all that unusual (if you'll notice, the subject with the third greatest number of labels on my blog is "sleeping"). But I was also incredibly cranky - I'm sure part of it is PMS, and part of it is PCC (Pre-Christmas Chaos). I actually made it to church today, so I would have thought I'd be in a really good mood (that's usually the effect it has on me). But S was pushing my buttons from the start - even in church.

It was like that at the grocery store, too. And when we got home for lunch. Every thing I told her, she did the opposite or ignored. I just didn't have the patience for it today. And I let my temper get the best of me 3 or 4 times. I had hoped to take a nap when the girls did and have the energy to do all I needed to do this afternoon, as well as be in a better mood. But S wouldn't nap. Nor would she do as I ask and play quietly in her room. So I did not sleep.

We had playdate dinner plans. I considered not going; DH also suggested I just skip it. But I thought maybe if I got us out of the house and around other people, I could shake off this funk. Plus, if the kids ran around and wore each other out, bedtime might be easier. Unfortunately, it was worse. S was too tired, and we were late getting home. So it was a nightmare. S threw a tantrum and woke Baby R up. I couldn't get her back to sleep. DH finally had better luck. I was so angry. I knew I was being unreasonable; S was just tired and needed extra TLC, but I couldn't give it to her. All I could think all day was maybe it's better that I'm not with them all day during the week. Awful!

So I'm heading to bed feeling spent and guilty and unproductive. Here's hoping to a better tomorrow.

Let It Snow!

We got our first snow last night. It was bitter cold and really windy. It's hard to say how much snow we actually got because the wind just blew it all away. Based on the drifts and the low spots, I'd guess 2-3 inches. S wanted to play outside so badly today, but the windchill was -15 or something. On the radio they were talking about how the Chiefs played in San Diego today and it was supposed to be around 85. That means it was a 100 degree difference. Crazy!

I was supposed to do a 5k today (indoors!) with some friends. We met at my house to carpool. I said my goodbyes to the fam, and went out the door and down the walk. At the driveway, my foot slid in the snow and went off into the grass, rolling my right ankle (the one that has the old injury). Oh my gosh it hurt. I was only able not to scream/cry because my friends were watching. I gingerly put some weight on it but it was excruciating. So I had to bail on the race. Felt a little silly. But it was totally me.

The girls are so cute. Baby R is walking about 75% of the time and must be having a growth spurt because she is hungry...all ...the ...time. Today she literally ate every hour. I think that's the big reason she's been getting up in the middle of the night this week. I finally remembered that S went through a stage like that, too, where I had to feed her yogurt in the middle of the night. Frustrating, but if that's really all it is, I'm hoping we can just get her fed and back to sleep in 30 minutes - not spending 2 hours trying to figure out what's wrong.

Last night I met some friends for drinks to celebrate our birthdays. One of my friends and I have the exact same birthdate. Lots of people share the same birthday, but I don't know many people who know another person with their birthdate. I know three other people. And we were born on Friday, the 13th, which makes it even stranger. Anyway, we had a great time hanging out.

I'm taking tomorrow off work which will be somewhat less productive than I'd hoped since I am still struggling to walk. But I should be able to get a couple of things done, and enjoy a bday lunch with some friends. Looking forward to Tuesday when KLZ and I do our blog swap!

Birthday Palooza

Last night my friend, and wonderful photographer, Rebecca Peters (H) www.rpetersphotography.com, had her 30th birthday party. I had a great time seeing friends, and of course, Rebecca had a photo booth set up with props for people to take crazy shots. We watched a slideshow of them at the end of the evening, and it was quite entertaining.

Though I got home later than I'd planned (11:30pm), I thought I'd be a little tired, but ok today. Unfortunately, S woke up when I came home and was sneezing like crazy. So I gave her some Benadryl and she wanted to sleep with us for awhile. Around 1:30am, I took her back to her room and stayed for a bit. Came back to our bed, and about five minutes later, Baby R was awake. Fed her and put her back down, but she was fussing for a bit. I think I finally got to sleep at 3ish. Another short night.

This morning was a birthday party for one of S's best friends from daycare. He had the party at the Ag Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs. It was so cool! His mom and I were saying we needed to come back and bring a picnic and spend the day there. There's was so much to see and we only got to do about half of it in the two hours we were there. The guide showed us the old machinery they used to shuck corn, and then the grinder to make cornmeal. Then the kids got to feed that to the chickens. There was an old house with some original furniture from the late 19th century. Then we got to ride on a mini-train around the grounds. That was really fun for the kids - the party theme was Thomas the Train. There was also a real full-sized caboose that the kids got to wander through. While we were in the train depot building, one of the boys said, "Wow! This is REALLY old! Like from the '80's!" 1880's maybe.

Tonight we are getting together for my FIL's bday celebration. He and my MIL went to Cali to visit my SIL for his birthday, so we are just now getting around to cake and presents. And on that note, I need to head out to get his gift card. But before I go, one note about Baby R - she crawled on her knees today! Very exciting. She's just been army crawling, and since she'd started pulling up, we thought maybe she'd just skip "regular" crawling all together and just walk. But today she did. She's getting so big!

The One Thing I Want More Than Anything In the World

At age 3, to please my parents.

At age 5, to make a friend.

At age 12, to transition from tomboy to teen girl smoothly like in all the movies where all I'd have to do is take off my glasses, let my hair down and put on makeup, and I'd be beautiful.

At age 16, to be kissed.

At age 18, to heal my first broken heart.

At age 20, to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

At age 22, to find a job so I can stay in Colorado.

At age 25, to find a husband.

At age 28, to turn back time and erase the biggest mistake of my life.

At age 30, to be the best wife I can be.

At age 32, to be the best mom I can be.

At age 33, to get a decent night's sleep.

At age 34, to get a decent night's sleep.

At age 35, to get a decent night's sleep.

I feel like I should change the name of my blog to All I Want Is More Than Four Hours of Sleep a Night. Sigh.....

Tempering My Temper

I remember being a kid and having screaming matches with my dad. On the one hand, I was a redhead (It's gotten darker over the years. Not sure I can even call it auburn anymore!), so I sort of wrote it off as being expected. On the other, I always wondered if it was because my dad was impatient, short-tempered and a yeller that it was a learned trait. Don't get me wrong - he's an AMAZING father. But his biggest regrets now are those times he fought with us. He apologizes all the time, so I've been trying really hard not to make the same mistakes. Especially since I thought I could just avoid teaching my kids those habits. Until I had S. I've mentioned it before, but she had her first tantrum at 4 months. So now knowing a lot more of it is innate and that I had managed to outgrow the outbursts (except for rare occasions) has helped me reconcile that part of me that I'm not too fond of.

At least, I thought I'd outgrown them.

I've found over the last few months that I am absolutely awful to S at times. I get so angry that I am shaking and have to walk away from her. I've even told her I have to put myself in time-out. I know part of it is that the last six months, she was 2.5-3 so she was pushing my buttons more, and Baby R was born so I was sleeping less. Certainly a dangerous combination. But lately I feel like Pandora's box has been opened, and I can't put the anger away. I'm set off by the tiniest things, and I overreact to her so often. It kills me to see that I've crushed her little soul. I know that words are more hurtful than anything because you never forget them. I try to bite my tongue and use "I" phrases - "I am very angry right now!" instead of "You are making me crazy!" Sometimes I'm successful. Sometimes I'm not. She's the most amazing child, and I know that her tenacity and fiery personality will be assets to her. I want to foster the positives and show her how to manipulate that temper into something wonderful. But I feel that I'm failing at doing that.

I know I need to do some things to help my mood - exercise, eat better, get more rest, do meditation/yoga. I need to do those things for more than just my temper, but this may be the biggest motivation I've found so far. Because I want my baby girl to know how much I love her; not think I'm constantly frustrated with her.

Shake, Shake, Shake

R has started shaking her head side-to-side. It's really cute. She says Dada all the time, so I keep trying to get her to say Mama, and when I do, she'll shake her head no. DH will love hearing that!

A couple of days ago I got home and DH told me she'd taken a couple of steps while he was holding her hands. I couldn't believe it! So I sat down on the floor and stood her up so she could hold on to the edge of the coffee table and she pulled herself along a couple of steps. Such a big girl.

Last night she was up at 4am, so I waited about ten minutes but she wasn't settling down, so I made her a bottle. Put her down in her crib and not two minutes later she was up again. Waited a bit more, then heard her bonk the crib and start wailing and knew it wasn't going to get better, so I made her another bottle (since she'd only had a little bit), and got her back down again. A few minutes later, more fussing. Seriously!?!? I went in and rubbed her back, and she almost went to sleep a couple of times, but finally sat up, so I picked her up and rocked her for a bit, but she started to get really upset and throwing herself backwards, so I asked DH to make one more bottle and FINALLY got her back down around 5:30. Sigh.

On the flip side, S went down fairly easily last night (she was probably asleep by 8:15 - hallelujah!), and slept well and awoke refreshed. Such a nice morning! Glad it's Friday. Ready to get home and start cleaning and packing for our trip next week!

Was Potty Training Really Such a Great Idea?

Our toddler, like most, is a pro at stalling at bedtime. She's never been a good sleeper (see any post labeled "Sleep"), so we've really struggled with maintaining a good routine. The last year and a half were tough because we finally got it under control, had a couple of blissful months, then we sold our house and temporarily moved in with my in-laws, and we had to start over. Then we moved to our new house, so we had to start over. Then Baby R arrived, and again, we had to start over. Then she was potty trained and started to stay dry at night about two months ago, so we switched from Pull-ups to underwear. Though she averages a night or two a week with an accident, she's still dry significantly more often than she's wet, so I hesitated to return to Pull-ups. So now there's a new element to the bedtime stall - the need to potty. So, you guessed it, we need to start over.

The problem is, I'm just not sure how to go about it. Our usual process in the evening is this: bath (every other night), brush teeth, go potty, read two stories, then lights out. She has soft music we play at night, usually Enya or something, so we snuggle with her for two songs and then go. There are those who may say the routine is too long, but she has a really hard time settling down at night and turning her mind off. She go-go-goes all day long and then finally slows down and starts thinking about things that caught her attention that she didn't have time for earlier. Anyway, inevitably, after we've started to read or snuggle, she'll suddenly need to potty. Even though she just went no more than ten minutes ago. At first you think, well, maybe she really does have to go. She's still learning to listen to her body. Then after a few weeks, you tell her no, you already went, and then after much discussion and witnessing her doing the potty dance you've come to recognize, you relent, and to your surprise, she had to go more than she did earlier.

There were a few nights when she was sick when I put her in a Pull-up because I didn't want her to worry about wetting the bed (she's very disappointed in herself when she does, even though I tell her it's not a big deal). Since then, she'll occasionally ask to wear one. Or if I am unable to keep up on the laundry, I'll ask her to wear one just in case. More often than not she wakes up dry. But there are nights when she puts on a Pull-up, we go through the bedtime routine, no secondary mention is made of the potty, and then five minutes after we've said our goodnights and I'm downstairs doing dishes/laundry/tidying/making baby food, etc., I hear over the baby monitor the all too familiar singsong, "Mama! Maaaaa-maaaa! Mama Jeffff-er!" (Sidenote: I have no idea why our almost 3-year-old refers to me as "Mama Jennifer" when calling for me from bed. It's the only time she calls me by my first name.) I go upstairs to address whatever issue has presented itself (needing a drink, a tissue, a stuffed animal that has fallen off the bed) and come to find out she has a wet diaper. I will gently remind her (ok sometimes less than gently) that if she needs to go potty, she can just go or ask me to come help her, and I will, she doesn't need to go in the Pull-up.

The one consolation is knowing that in time, we'll get this ironed out, and can hopefully keep on track going forward. In the meantime, I try to avoid getting frustrated and see the humor in the moment. Like with the thing that's been throwing a wrench into the bedtime routine with respect to bathroom issues this past week is that her BM schedule has been happening around then. It used to be late afternoon, but has shifted in time a bit. So now most of the time she's in bed and then says she needs to go again, she really does, which does nothing to help eliminate the stall tactic. A few nights ago, Mama Jeffer was summoned, and I took her to the bathroom and had the following conversation as she was sitting on the throne:

S: Mama, I have to go poopie.

Me: Ok, honey.

S (scrunching up her face): And I need to grump. Sometimes you hafta grump to get the poopie out.

Me: Gru - oh, grunt? Well, yes, sometimes you do, but don't try to force it. If you can't go now, you can try again later.

S: No, I need to go now, I just have to grump. It's a big, big poopie. A MONSTER poopie. (Thank you, DH, for introducing her to the idea of monster poopie.)

Me: Ok, just be careful.

S: I ate my supper, and then it went into my tummy and down to my feet, and now I have to poopie.

Me: Yes, honey, that's right.

S: Mommy, why are we talking about poopie?

Me: I have no idea....

Amazing Girls

I keep putting off posting because I have so much catching up to do, but then there's just more to add, so I've saved a spot before this one for the catch up, and am starting with the present here. Lots to report from the last two months, but I've been working overtime and our social calendar has been full, so there haven't been any free moments for putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).

We have the most amazing daughters. I thought the miraculous developments in the first year would be the apex of the wonder since so much happens so fast, but I'm continually surprised by our toddler. I shouldn't be, she's always been so inquisitive and observant and advanced, but I am. The sitter mentioned to me the other day that she's doing 25-30 piece puzzles that 6 year olds do. It is so difficult for me to remember not to expect too much of her because I do often think of her as being closer to 5 instead of almost 3. It's not fair to her; I'm afraid I s

ubconsciously put too much pressure on her. She has started memorizing her stories. It's so cute the parts that she really knows by heart. Lines that I will sometimes skip because the story can go on without them - those are often the ones she recites when she's "reading" to me. Tonight she did something that surprised me. After DH and I each read her a story, she reread them to us, but started at the end with each and made her way back to the beginning. Of course she recognizes the pictures on each page to know which set of text corresponds to them, but it surprised me because I would think it would be more difficult to tell the story in reverse than in the order you always hear it. I wonder if it's easier though because you to remember the most recent events (the last page) best and that helps her to connect to the older events (first pages). Regardless, she did an adorable job telling the stories.

And lest we not forget our baby girl, she is adorable as well. When S was a baby, she would reach up and grab my facial features while she was eating her bottle and trying to settle herself to sleep. And boy did she pinch! I think she started with my lip/mouth, and then as she got bigger and could reach further, she would hold onto my cheeks, then my nose, and finally, my ears. She settled on her own ears for self-soothing. To this day, she still rubs them when she's tired. Baby R's thing is hair. She does care

ss my face sometimes, and grab at the protruding parts occasionally, but if I'm holding her upright and carrying her around, she'll take a tiny fist-full of hair at the nape of my neck. Talk about a controlling place to hold! I can't move without disengaging her first. She has so little hair of her own, just short, fine fuzz all around except for a tuft on her crown with a few dozen hairs that are a couple of inches long. Her short little arms allow her to barely reach them with her fingers, and when she's tired, she pulls on them since their the only ones long enough to do so with. I imagine she'll be a hair-twirler when she's bigger. For now it's very cute; I'm just hopeful she doesn't give herself a bald spot.

We started feeding her solids, though I haven't been very consistent with her. She's not a big fan of cereal, but she does like carrots and cauliflower. I think peas will be next. I need to start making sure she's eating every day. I hop

e that will make her sleep get better. The spring weather is a wonderful change, but the extra daylight is wreaking havoc on the girls' schedules. As S says, "But Mommy, it's not night-night time. The sun is still out." Oy. Room darkening curtains aren't enough. Plus, we've been crazy busy since last Friday, so they haven't been getting to bed on time. My MIL's 60th bday was Friday, so my SIL came into town from Cali, and my FIL took her, us and my other SIL and her two kids to dinner Friday night. We had a sitter and didn't get home til 10pm. Baby R was still awake when we got back. Sigh.

Saturday morning, I took S to get her haircut. She won't let me brush it and she rubs the back of her head from side to side when she's tired and in bed or sitting in her carseat and it gets terrible knots. So I told her we were going to cut it short. She has the cutest angled bob now. Still struggles with letting me brush, but it takes MUCH less time. Anyway, after that, we came home to discover that the baby had only napped for about 30 mintues while we were gone. Not good. S was needing to go to sleep, too, but

it was the first non-rainy day that I'd been home for awhile, so I took them to a park and we had a picnic. It was really hot and muggy though, so we only stayed for about an hour. Then we got back and I tried to put them down for naps, but S was fighting it. She finally went to sleep, but only for a little over an hour. Baby R was about the same. Saturday night my FIL had a surprise party for my MIL, so we had a sitter again. This time at least the girls went to bed a little easier, but it was still a little later.

Sunday was the series finale of "Lost".

I invited a few friends over. I had decorated a little and made "island" cupcakes with "sand" and little umbrellas, as well as had pineapple and other tropical fruit, and made pina coladas. One of my friends and her husband printed out Dharma Initiative Soda and Diet Soda labels for the Dr. Pepper they brought and made Rice Krispie treats with a little bit of orange dye and cut into fish shapes for fish biscuits. We had a great time watching the show - LOVED the first

2 hours - and although the last 30 minutes were a bit anti-climactic, it was still a good finale ov

erall. And talk about a discussion piece! The theories were flying. But I digress... While we were watching the show, DH was putting the girls to bed for me, sweet man that he is. I did go up and say goodnight and snuggle with S a bit, but I left most of it to him. It was about 8pm when she finally went to bed which was a little late anyway. Then around 8:45 she was screaming - turned out she had something in her eye, I thought maybe a splinter. So we tried to flush it, which was of course impossible with a 2 year old. But that resulted in a tantrum and a crying fit which was the best thing for it. Around 9:30 she started screaming again and every time DH went in to ask her what she needed, she said me. He told her I couldn't come up right then and he could help her, but she wasn't having it. He finally gave up and thought she was just being a pill. Unfortunately, she had to go to the bathroom but wouldn't tell him, so she finally ended up peeing all over the bed. So we had to change the sheets and clean her up. So not only did I miss two important chunks of the finale (aack!), it was almost 10pm before the little darling was asleep. Needless to say she was super cranky Monday. And she and her sister have been getting up at 5am or 6am and staying up which is making me tired and cranky.

Tonight we got the girls to bed (I thought) by 7:30ish, so I got ready to go for a run and was just about out the door when baby R started crying. (Side note - I've started running in a 5k group. Well, in theory. I've only gone for about a handful of runs since the middle of April when we started. Between a horrific allergy attack due to running on the day with record-setting tree pollen counts - DUH, working 60 hour weeks, and 5 days of rain in a row, I've been less than successful.) Anyway, I was really looking forward to FINALLY being able to run again, and ended up spending until 8:45pm trying to get Baby R to sleep. Ugh. I did go for a quick 15 min. jog around the block which is better than nothing but not quite what I'd hoped for. So after getting up at 5:30am this morning and vowing to get to bed early tonight, it's now almost 10:30pm, and all I got done after my run was one load of laundry, my most recent photos downloaded and tagged, and the post written. Haven't finished tidying the house, doing the dishes, or doing the work I brought home with me. There just aren't enough hours in the day. Even when you are awakened an hour early....

Sleep: Will I Ever Get Any Consistently Again?

For those of you unaware, check out old blogs chronically the sleep issues we've had with our eldest. Because of them, I haven't gotten a full night's sleep more than once or twice a week for the last 2 and a half years. Since we've had our baby, the toddler's been MUCH better, and the baby has been a great sleeper for the most part. But just when I say that, or try to give friends with newborns sleep advice, I get a reminder that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Last night I went to bed around 10:30pm. Baby R woke up at 12:30am for a feeding, and again at 4am. But that time, she was awake and ready to play. So it was almost 5am before she fell back asleep. At this point, I just watched the clock until a quarter after since that's what time the alarm was set for my DH. Once he was up, since I was wide awake, I had a hard time falling back to sleep. About fifteen minutes after I did, our toddler woke up - an hour early. I tried my best to get her to lie back down, and finally convinced her to come to bed with me at 6:30am in the hopes I could get at least 15 more minutes of sleep before it was time for me to get up. Needless to say that didn't happen.

There was additional frustration with last night. Now that I'm back to work, DH and I have an agreement that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights, he will get up with the baby and change her diaper and bring her to me to feed in bed. Ideally he would also take her back to her crib, but I usually let him off the hook there. So last night when she woke up the first time, I nudged him, he got up and I asked him to change her and bring her to me. Let me explain how my sweet hubby's awareness works when he's been sleeping. It doesn't. I learned this early on when we were dating. One night I called him after he had fallen asleep watching TV. When he picked up the phone, I could tell he was tired and asked if he wanted to call me back. Since we hadn't been dating long, talking to me was more enticing than going back to sleep. We chatted for about 30 minutes and made plans to go to a movie the next night. The next day, the time came for him to pick me up, and he didn't show. I waited 15 minutes and then called him. He answered, and I asked him if he was going to come get me for the movie, and he said, "What movie?" He had no recollection of the conversation we'd had the night before. Knowing this about him, I'm usually the one who handles nighttime crises. If there is something urgent I need him for (like when my water broke at 2:30am), I make sure to ask him if he's really awake three or four times til he gets annoyed with me. Then I know he's really up.

So last night after I nudged him, he went and got Baby R, and brought her to me. I said, "Aren't you going to change her diaper?" He just stood there and looked confused. I realized he wasn't really awake. At this point I was more concerned with her safety than my sleep and sent him back to bed. At 4am I didn't wake him because it was only a little over an hour til he had to get up, and I thought I'd be back to sleep by 4:30am. So much as I'd like to blame him, it's my own fault that I've pretty much been up since 4am. Luckily, he's pretty awesome, so the sleep issue gets outweighed by his many other wonderful qualities.

So this morning I find myself in a familiar place: groggy, grouchy and wondering if I will EVER get to sleep well again. I knew when we had our first daughter that there would be a few weeks of sleepless nights. But I had no idea how large a part sleep would play in our lives for so long. Food, clothing and shelter are just the beginning. We need to add sleep to the list of necessities of life...

Date Night/First Night Away From Home

Saturday DH and I had a date night! I get frustrated because we never have a date night. I'm talking maybe 3 times a year. Everything I read/hear talks about how important it is to make time for your spouse, but it's like pulling teeth to get my husband to want to have a date night with me. That sounds terrible, but it's not that he doesn't want to spend time with me, he just thinks that being at home with each other and our munchkin is the same as being out with just each other. So since we need to have S stay at overnight at my parents' house when I'm in the hospital in a couple of weeks delivery Baby R, we did a trial run Saturday which gave us a perfect chance for one of those rare date nights.

As usual, it didn't end up being as elaborate as our original plan. We were supposed to go to the Melting Pot. Of course, when I asked DH last Monday if he had made reservations, he said no. So when I called to do so, they didn't have anything available until 9:30pm. We are midweasterners. Not only are we midwestern, but we also have a toddler with a 7:30pm bedtime. Therefore, we eat dinner early. Not quite old people early, but certainly at a time that does not make 9:30pm an acceptable option to our stomachs. So we went to plan "B", dinner and a movie. The dinner was just going to be at 54th Street Grill or Chili's or TGIFriday's - nothing super fancy, but a sit-down restaurant. The plan was to drop S of at my parents' around 5pm, have dinner around 6pm and make it to the theater for the 7:10pm showing.

S and I had a fantastic day while DH was helping his friend move. She helped me clean in the morning, we walked to the park and played, then had lunch and took a nap. She didn't have a single fit all day. She ended up napping longer than we planned, and DH was still helping his friend move, so we decided to skip dinner and just go to the movie. I dropped S off at my parents' house around 6pm with high hopes that she would have a good night since she was an angel all day. DH and I headed to the theater. We saw "Couple's Retreat". It was really good. I was surprised that there was very little vulgarity and a fair amount of real-life relationship issues addressed. DH said as we were leaving, "No more chick flicks disguised as comedies!" He was teasing, but it was definitely more romantic than we expected - a nice surprise for me. :)

We got home and it was so quiet. I had planned on going to bed early, but I had so much energy since I hadn't had our usual bedtime struggle, I mean routine, that I did a little cleaning and watched some shows I needed to get off the DVR, so I was a little late getting to bed. I didn't sleep very well. Partially due to pregnancy issues - having to get up to pee 4-5 times at night, being uncomfortable on my left side the whole time, etc. - but also because a couple of times I imagined I heard S calling for me. I missed that little munchkin. It was nice to have a little time to ourselves, but I was looking forward to seeing her, too.

Sunday morning I wanted to pick her up early since it was her first time away, so we stopped to get her a sprinkle donut (a special treat for being such a big girl!) and then headed to my parents' house around 8am. We got there and were surprised to find everyone was still asleep. S is usually up by 7:30am at the latest. My dad woke up and told me how their night had gone. Not well. She didn't go to sleep til around 11pm, then she was up from about 4am-6am. Ugh! Not what I wanted to hear. I felt terribly! My poor parents! So my dad said he'd call when she woke up, and we left. About an hour later he called, and I went to pick her up. She was a terror all day Sunday since she was tired. My old roommate and his wife and son came over for lunch, and S, who is normally pretty good about sharing her toys, was cranky and bossy and hogging them. After lunch she took a good long nap, and then we went to HyVee. I had hoped she'd be in a better mood, but no. She had a little fit when we first got there, and I told her if she didn't behave, we'd just have to go home, and she finally settled down and was good for the rest of the trip. But then on the way home, she was being a pain. Bedtime didn't go well last night either, but at least she was out by 9pm. And she woke up a few times in the night, but she slept in til 7:30am. Hoping tonight will be better, and she'll get back on schedule, and we can just deal with the usual sleep issues.

Notes

Life has finally settled down for us now that we our housewarming party over the weekend. It was mostly a success. I was exhausted and not ready when it started, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves, and we had fun, so it was fine. So this post is to catch up on a few things I've wanted to make note of the last several weeks but haven't had time.

S has really gotten into making her bed. While I'm sure it will be short-lived, I'm trying to encourage it. It's difficult because we inevitably are running late in the mornings, so that's the one thing I end up skipping. But if we don't make the beds, she says, "It's a mess!"

Something she's been fond of for almost a year is crawling into the pantry and hiding. She started at my parents' house - Dad calls it her office. So when we moved into our house, she was excited to discover we have a pantry now. Ours is a little different and doesn't really have the space for her to sit in it, though, so she's only gotten in it a couple of times. One of those times I was sitting at the kitchen table and she wanted me to get in the pantry with her. I told her, "Oh honey, Mama's too big." She said in a matter-of-fact way, "Get small, Mama!" I told her that's my plan after we have this baby...

I had a day where two funny things happened in the morning. As I was in the turn lane waiting to get on the highway, I saw one of those signs in the median that people advertise on, usually for garage sales or lawn mowing. But that day the one I saw read: "Backed up like traffic? Call us about the benefits of colon cleansing." I had to laugh out loud. Then I got to work and was checking my email when I had my second laugh. I get tons of email forwards a day, lots of great ones, but one that I saw that morning just really tickled me. It said: "If you receive an email from the Department of Health telling you not to eat canned pork because of swine flu, ignore it. It's just Spam."

Patrick Swayze passed away last week. Of course everyone knows him from "Dirty Dancing", but I think my favorite role of his was in "North & South". Back when the mini-series was popular on TV, that was a huge hit. He had been fighting pancreatic cancer for the last year, so it didn't come as a complete surprise, but still sad. He spent a fair amount of time pinned up on my wall with River Phoenix, Johnny Depp and Jon Bon Jovi, among others.

Last week was hectic with trying to get ready for the party Saturday. I had tried to keep the to-do list at a reasonable level for each day so I wouldn't be stressed or worn out. And had I been able to do the list each day, it would have been fine. But a 3 ft. munchkin was not on the same page. She didn't go to bed til 9:30pm three of the nights. Ugh! I ended up staying up til midnight a couple of nights, so Saturday I was tired and stressed - the exact opposite of my goal. S had a bday party to go to at 10am so my DH took her - hallelujah! My mom came over and helped me get stuff ready. The bday party was a blast. It was at a park and a fire truck came, and S just had a great time playing at the park and on the truck. I was sorry to have missed it. Plus I forgot to send the camera with DH!

The hope had been that after the party, he could take her to get some lunch and then she'd fall asleep on the way home and could nap before the party started at 3pm. She actually fell asleep on the way to lunch, so DH just brought her home. Unfortunately, she woke up when they came inside. So after lunch I told her she and Mommy needed to take a nap. I was really stressing at this point. There was only an hour and a half til the party started - I needed that nap time for finishing things up. Of course she didn't want to nap, nor did she want to change her diaper. I was so tired and stressed and impatient with her, and she was throwing one of her colossal tantrums. I told her she would get spanked if she didn't let me change her diaper, and that's exactly what happened. She laid still long enough for me to get the one off, but started bucking before I could get the new one on. My mom was helping me, and I finally asked her to just hold her down, she was so out of control. I was getting out of control, too, and yelling at her. She was turning purple, she was so enraged. By the time I finally got her diaper on, I was crying, and she kicked me when she was flailing, and my mom was worried about the baby, so she was crying. It was a complete disaster. I have felt like a bad mom before, but this was the worst. At this point, DH came upstairs and I had to walk away, I just couldn't take it. I went downstairs and my mom came with me and gave me a big hug. This was an hour before the party was to start. She still needed to go home to get cleaned up. So she and my dad got ready to leave, and DH had brought S downstairs. She was in her half-calmed down phase where she sniffles and can answer yes or no, but if she starts to try to say anything, her little voice gets so squeaky we can't understand her and she gets mad all over again and starts to cry. She finally got out that she wanted to go with Grandma and Papa. I asked them if that was ok and hoped that she'd fall asleep on the way there. They were wonderful and took her, and she did fall asleep, and she did take a nice long nap, thank goodness!

I pulled myself together and tried to finish getting things set up, but I didn't quite ever get done before people got there. So it was a little disorganized and chaotic in the beginning, but I think everyone ended up enjoying it for the most part. My friends from Iowa were in town and stayed in our guest room that night, so that was great to get to use it right away. :) My parents brought S back with them, and she was a little discombobulated at first - she'd left an empty house and returned to a full one - but once she settled in, she had fun playing with the kids. I was so relieved.

Yesterday morning we had breakfast with my friends, and then they left to do some househunting (they are planning to move back from IA - yea!). My DH went to a friend's house to watch football all day, and S and I just chilled out. After our nap we were getting ready to go to the park when our neighbors on the north side stopped by. They had been out of town when we first moved in and had been sick the last few weeks but wanted to bring us something to welcome us (pumpkin bread - yum!). They were really nice. I knew that the woman who had lived in our house before us had only been there a year, but the couple who owned the house before her were the original owners. They are the ones who put in all the nice extra touches. I just love our neighborhood - everyone is very friendly!

Last night when we were getting ready for bed, I had just put her Pull-Up on (We started using those at night last week because she soaked through her regular diaper all over the bedspread and sheets two nights in a row.), when she said she had to poop. I said that it was ok, she could go in her Pull-Up. She said she wanted to sit on the potty. I said ok we'll get it out of the box then! So DH got it out and we set it up and she sat down like a big girl. I really didn't expect anything to happen, but she did manage to toot a couple of times. After a few minutes, I told her it was ok, we'd just try again tomorrow, but she really wanted to be successful last night. She kept wanting to try more. I think part of it is just her determined spirit, but I know some of it was her way of delaying bed time. But I was glad to finally be able to have the potty chair out for her so she can use it when she wants for now.

This morning, I asked S what she wanted for breakfast. Here is how that conversation went:
Me: Do you want some fruit?
S: No.
Me: Some cereal?
S: No.
Me: Some pumpkin bread?
S: No.

We looked in the fridge.

S: I want this!" (hot sauce)
Me: (sigh) Honey, what are you going to put that on?
S: Chicken.
Me: We don't have any chicken. (thinking) Oh, but we do have turkey. Do you want some turkey?
S: Yes!

She ended up wanting BBQ sauce instead of the hot sauce, so I went ahead and put the chicken and BBQ sauce on a plate and got myself some pumpkin bread. Then of course she wanted some pumpkin bread, too. So I got the half-eaten slice we'd saved in a sandwich bag from yesterday. There was also half a cookie in there. She wanted the cookie. At this point, I just didn't care. Plus she was eating turkey which is big because she's not much of a meat-eater. So she picked up the cookie and said, "Dip it?" I said, "Ew, no. Well, try it if you want to, but I don't think you'll like it." She did, and I cringed, and she said, "It's good!" And continued to eat the remainder of the chocolate chip cookie by dipping it in BBQ sauce before each bite. Blech! In the meantime, I was putting together my lunch, and she wanted some of the grapes, so I gave those to her as well. Which she also dipped....

The mealtime process is a mess right now. She has decided she doesn't want to sit on her booster chair any more. Which doesn't bother me except she's started getting down out of her chair before she's done eating. She knows she's not allowed to get down til she's done, so I'll ask her if she's sure she doesn't want any more to eat, and she'll say, "No. Save it in the fridge." Ok, fine. But then two minutes later, she'll want something to eat. I'm not playing this game. Going to have to figure out a good way to get her to stay put until she really is done eating.

I'm excited that tonight I have nothing that I have to get done. I need to finish tidying up from the party, but I'm going to let it wait until tomorrow. The season premiers for "How I Met Your Mother," "Big Bang Theory," and "Heroes" are on tonight. Funny to think that just a few years ago, I didn't watch tv - didn't even have cable....

I Said I'm Proud, To Be, a CSU Ram!

Woo hoo! We beat CU - at Folsom Field! I only saw the last quarter of the game, but it was pretty awesome. Wish I could have been out there. Maybe next year.

I was planning to post this weekend, but it just didn't happen. Something I've discovered about being a mom is that you get beat up a lot. I should have known - it starts in the womb. R's not as active as S was (I don't think - it's been awhile!), but she can pack a punch. Last night while watching tv, she got me with a double hit and my shirt was fluttering. I don't remember S doing that. But when we put S to bed last night, I thought I was in wrestlemania. We were all laying down and then she grabbed me to pull herself up, and her little hand wrenched my nipple so hard I thought it was going to be bleeding. I cried out, but told her not to worry about it - I knew she didn't mean to - but man did that hurt. I had finally gotten over the worst of the pain and was left with a dull throbbing when she rolled over and popped me in the nose with her elbow. This was followed by her head to my nose almost immediately. They should hand out padding when you take them in for their 2-yr checkup.

We had a nice Labor Day weekend. Very productive. We rearranged the furniture in the living room and it flows much better, thanks to DH's brilliance. He finally agreed to put the tv on the fireplace mantel. Yes! Now the living room, kitchen, main bath, formal dining room and half bath are all put together. So exciting! All I have left to do is the office/playroom, guest room, master bedroom and bath. Plus I need to clean the whole house and do just a couple of little things in the girls' rooms, but they are done for the most part. I see the light at the end of the tunnel! Which is good since I just have 10 days til I need it all ready for the housewarming party. :)

The other thing I did a lot of this weekend was cook actual meals for dinner which was exciting. I finally got to use my Rachel Ray cookbook I got for Christmas. Loved all three recipes, although, 30-min. my ass! I discovered that's not including prep work, which is always the most time-consuming part. Saturday I made Chicken a la King (different than how I've made it before - served over biscuits - delish!). Sunday I made mini meatloaves and macaroni. Mini is the way to go with meatloaf - it only takes about 20 min to bake instead of an hour or so. They were pretty good! Someday I will make macaroni that tastes cheesy enough, but it has yet to happen. I know part of it was I couldn't find the exact cheeses I was looking for. And I overcooked the noodles because my timing was off, so it was a little mushy. Not bad, but could have been better. Then yesterday I made crab-stuffed flounder. DH doesn't like fish, so I'm always trying to find different recipes that aren't too fishy. This was really good (I thought), and it got an "eh" reaction from him which is as good as it gets. The only problem is that I'm pretty sure the recipe means fresh, whole flounder, but being in the midwest, tiny frozen fillets is my only option. But on the plus side, they only took 5 minutes to bake instead of 20. It was nice to be able to make dinner three nights in a row. But it was a little heavy, too, and all the recipes had onions and/or garlic in them which is wreaking havoc on our stomachs. :) I need to keep that in mind next time I plan my menu.

DH had a good weekend - got a lot done Saturday and Sunday. Then Sunday night his friend came over and they sat out on the patio and had some drinks. Bacardi came out with flavored mojitos, so he got the raspberry one and had a little more of it than he realized. He came to bed and said the room was spinning. Yikes! The next morning (or should I say afternoon?) he said he really didn't think he'd had that much to drink. His hangover lasted all day. We used to be able to get over it by early afternoon. I was thinking about him this morning, because really, I felt badly for him, but it was kind of funny. We are definitely getting old! For some reason it reminded me of when I got sick in his dorm room in college. I sooooo should have known he loved me then! It was awful. I will spare everyone the details, but suffice it to say that it started out seeming like it was just a night of too much alcohol that turned out to be the stomach flu. He took good care of me.

Iowa State Fair

S and I hit the road Friday night to go to Des Moines to visit my friend from my old job. DH had Fantasy Football Draft Friday night AND Saturday night, so I didn't feel too guilty ditching him. I waited to leave til 7pm thinking she'd sleep most of the way there, but the little stinker stayed awake until 9:30! But she slept well that night, and late the next morning - til 8:30 - so she was ready for the big day at the fair.

My friend's husband had played in a church band performance and gotten a parking pass, so we decided to try our luck at using it even though it wasn't officially valid Saturday. I'm not normally in favor of cheating, but I feel like paying for parking is a complete ripoff. Particularly when the "lot" is a grass field, and I'm under a tree. And the cost to park was the same as the cost to get in! Ridiculous. Anyway, we made it through four parking attendants without a problem - woo hoo! We got in the gates and stopped to see the bunny rabbits first. I think S was a little overwhelmed by the rows of cages and sheer quantity of them. There were white ones, black ones, brown ones, spotted ones, big ones, little ones. It was bunny heaven! She also got to see geese, baby chicks and ducks, and pet horses and cows and a baby goat. There was a race car there that she was able to sit in. Unfortunately, we didn't realize there was water in the seat, so she had to spend about half the day in just her diaper. A plus to her not being potty trained yet! She rode her first midway ride - a little merry-go-round type thing where she sat in a car. The woman working it clearly does not have small children. She took about 15 minutes to load them. By then, S was done with the car she was in and was trying to get out. Luckily, she just wanted to move to the bus instead. Got her moved, and they got going. When she got off, I asked her if it was fun, and she smiled and said, "It spinned!" Then we grabbed a corn dog and some cheesy fries for lunch. I had thought we would need to head back for her to nap, but she actually fell asleep there. We walked around for awhile and then checked out a talent show. The clapping woke S up, but at least she'd slept for an hour. On our way to see the butter carving in the Ag hall, we passed a one-man band - The Bandaloni. He was amazing! S was enthralled with him. We got to the Ag Hall, and I couldn't believe the line. Having S with us, we didn't want to wait in line, so I took pictures but from several rows back, so they didn't turn out too well. The last thing we did was go through a Helping Hands Learning Center. The kids wore an apron and carried a basket. They got a coin type thing for a "seed" that they planted in the ground, then they "harvested" the crop they had planted farther along the line. They got wool from a sheep, milk from a goat, etc., then turned everything in at the "farmer's market" at the end. Then they got paid a fake dollar that they could spend in the store. S decided she wanted raisins. It was a very cute set up. She was ready to go by then so we headed to the car. Or at least, where we had left the car.

As I had mentioned, we were parked in a field under a tree. I'm not very good with directions when I'm in an unfamiliar area, but I would guess we were facing south. Admittedly, I'm sometimes a bit flaky about remembering where I park. However, because we were under the tree, we had remarked that was fortunate because it would keep the car shaded and cooler. So on our walk back to the car, I was telling my friend thanks for such a fun time, and we were talking about how much we had enjoyed the day. Suddenly we realized, my car was not parked where we had thought it was. We doubled checked that we were in the right "lot"; we double checked the tree. My friend's first thought was we'd been towed for parking there with an invalid pass. That never occurred to me. S pointed farther down the line and said, "Mama's car right there!" I said, "No, sweetie, that does look like Mommy's a bit, doesn't it, but that's not it. There are a bunch of silver cars, like that one," and I turned and pointed to one by a fence facing east, "and that one." Then I paused because it had a window shade on the rear passenger window and something pink in the back - just like my car. My friend and I were talking about how it couldn't be my car, but I thought it didn't hurt to check. I walked a little closer and saw that it had Kansas tags - with my plate number - it was my car! At first I was panicked. How did it get there? Did someone break in and move it to play a prank and they were watching and laughing? (An odd thought for me - I'm not usually paranoid.) My friend said maybe they needed to move it to get to someone else's car - we realized that we had been parked two deep there and there wasn't really a way for the person in front of me to get out. I thought, yeah, but how did they move it? The doors were locked, nothing was missing. I was feeling very disconcerted. As we left, my friend suggested we stop and ask the parking attendant about it. We got to her and I rolled down the window and said, "Excuse me, but my car wasn't in the same place I parked it when we came out? Do you know anything about that?" She said, "Oh, are you the one from Kansas? Yes, they had to move you to get someone else out." I asked her how they had moved it and she said they had towed it. Question answered, felt better, but still a little uneasy about the whole thing. What if we had stayed til dark, and I hadn't been able to find it, and a different attendant was working? So we headed out of the fairgrounds and when we passed the last gate, the attendant motioned for me to stop. She said, "That parking pass isn't valid for today. I'm going to have to charge you." Are you kidding me? Who charges people on their way out? If I had been thinking, I should have said, "Well, since my car wasn't where I left it, I'm not sure I should have to pay." But my guilty conscience at knowing I had just tried to get away with something got the better of me. What a bummer of an ending to an otherwise wonderful day! But it certainly made it interesting.

That night we had Jimmy John's for dinner, S went to bed pretty easily and on time, and my friend and her husband and I watched some tv and chatted. It was really nice. Sunday morning, we got up and tried to get on the road early. S slept the full night again! DH and I had tickets to the 1pm T-Bones game. S did fantastic in the car - she stayed awake the whole time, watched a couple of videos, played, chatted with me, and we sang along to her CDs. She only fussed about five minutes. I was so proud of her! There was a bridge out on the north side of KC, so traffic was stopped. It took forever to get through, so I ended up having to take her straight to my in-laws' house as they had agreed to watch her while we were at the game. I felt terrible about it - she wanted to go home first. But when I picked her up later, my MIL said she was fine, didn't protest her nap too much, and slept for two hours. Yea!! I was encouraged that after two good nights of sleeping and two decent naps, she'd be set for Sunday night at home. Uh, no. It was 10pm before she went down!! So Iowa was fun, but we are definitely back to reality...

Stuff

Friday night, DH wanted to move stuff out of the garage so I could park in it. How sweet is my husband?? So his best friend came over to help him. He and his wife ended up hanging out with us til midnight (dumb idea on my part - sooo tired already and needing a good night's sleep). They are house hunting, too, and were telling us about this house that they loved but there were a couple of drawbacks, one being that it has a really small yard. Then they said there was something about it they wanted to talk to us about first. We were like, okaayyy.... Then his friend said, "Well, it's close. I mean, really close." I said, "What, next door?" And he said, "No, but about 5 blocks over." I said, "That's cool, but I think you are the ones who need to think if you really want to be that close to us." :) Of course DH would love it if they moved there. We'll see what happens.

Saturday I had arranged for a play date for S for two hours before her nap so I had hopes of about a 4 hour stretch to work on unpacking. But I had completely forgotten that my MIL had tickets for us to go to her company picnic. S really enjoyed it; they had a big blow-up slide and a moonwalk. She went on the slide a few times. There were clowns making balloon animals and doing face painting and a sno-cone maker and games. Then I got her home and down for a nap, and a friend came by to see the house, so I didn't really get anything done that day.

Saturday night I was trying to get S to sleep (it was 10pm before she FINALLY went down!), and I was lying in bed with her, and she was holding Elmo. I heard her say, "Elmo, go time out. No, time out. Two choices, Elmo: time out or spank a bottom. Elmo, time out or spank a bottom. Two choices, Elmo. Time out - Spank a bottom!" And she spanked him. I was trying so hard not to laugh, I had to cover my mouth. That must be what happens with my dad. I do spank her once in a blue moon, but there's no discussion. I just tell her one time to quit it, or she's getting spanked and then she gets it.

Sunday, I relived my college days and headed to Mom and Dad's to do a load of laundry to get us through til our new washer and dryer get delivered today. I planned to leave S there napping and go home and get work done, but she wouldn't go to sleep, so that didn't work out either. DH has been sick, so he wasn't feeling up to doing much, so ultimately, we got very little done on the house this weekend which is frustrating. But I think I'm going to try to go home at lunch every day this week. Getting the washer and dryer will help a lot. A bunch of the boxes are clothes.

After we left there, I took S home and she took a short nap, and then we went to a friend's house for a bit. I dropped off some gently used kids shoes for a fundraiser she's doing, and she loaned me some maternity clothes. And we got to see their baby girl! We hadn't seen her for a long time - she's six months old now - time flies!

I had my glucose test this morning - yuck. It's hard to do something like that that requires exact timing when you have a toddler who runs on her own schedule. :) But it's over with. For now, anyway. I'm sure I failed it and will have to do the three hour one. I also got my paperwork to send in to the hospital. Crazy to think it's time for that already!

Home Sweet Home!

Love, love, LOVE our house. After moving Saturday in nearly hundred degree weather, we were wiped out, but glad to be home. Thank goodness we have such good friends to help us. I keep discovering more things about the house that I adore. It's funny because when we were looking for one, we'd see ones I'd like and DH would say it just didn't feel like home. I kept telling him it wouldn't til we moved in. But then we found this one, and it just feels meant to be. I'm so glad I listened to him. :)

Poor S - things were such a whirlwind for her. Saturday I took her to my in-law's to nap, but she was too wound up, so she didn't nap that day. On Sunday afternoon, I took her to my parents' house to nap, so I could get some stuff done at the house, and she didn't sleep then either. The hand-me-down washing machine we moved in ended up not working, so when I went to pick her up, I brought the bed sheets and some towels to wash at my mom's so we'd be set for the night and morning since that was our first night in the house. In the meantime, I'd asked DH to hang a curtain in S's room (she really can't sleep when it's so light out), but he couldn't find the drill bits. So I asked my dad if I could borrow his. He couldn't find his either since stuff had been shuffled when we moved our stuff in. So I asked my half-sister if I could borrow hers. She was fine with it, but was in the middle of something, so it was 6:45 before we could meet up. So, I took S to meet her, and on the way, she fell asleep. I got the drill bits, took the laundry home, got there, and DH was gone. I didn't want S to wake up, so I left the car running and stayed out front with her. I had to wait for DH to get home to put up the curtain and make the bed. Finally got that done, carried her upstairs and she woke up when we put her in bed. Poor kid was disoriented - last time she'd been in there, there was no curtain, and she didn't know where she was. I told her we were in her new pink room, and it was night-night time, and she started crying saying she wanted to sleep at Papa's. I finally got her settled down and to sleep. But she woke up in the night, so I just stayed in there with her. So I didn't get a very good sleep. Plus she woke up at 5am Monday morning. Ugh. Tried to get her back to sleep for an hour, but gave up at 6am and got up. But the two or so hours I spent in my bed, were heaven! Back to a queen instead of a full, nice firm mattress, ahhhh.

Last night she did better, but it was about 9pm before she fell asleep. She stayed that way til about 5am, though, and then I went in and laid down with her for about an hour. She slept til 7am - yea! Hopefully it will only take a couple more nights for her to get on track. Some of it is legitimate, but some is just her getting better at stalling. Either she really developed a fear of the dark overnight (which I have heard can happen) or she was just messing with me last night. She wanted her nightlight on, then the door left open, then the hall light on, etc. And every... single... step... of our routine was stalwarted in some way. Amazingly I was very patient with her. I had not been the previous Thursday night. The "one time" stall has been going on for quite awhile, but lately she's been wanting to give everything kisses good night. Which is fine, but the box her toys were packed in? I don't think so. I was trying so hard not to laugh at her different farfetched attempts.

Birthday Party and Painting New Rooms

I didn't have the energy to post more on S's actual birthday, but she had a good day. That morning I told her I'd take her to get a donut for breakfast to celebrate. She was so excited about it that when I asked her what she wanted for dinner, she said donut, and then later if she wanted ice cream instead of cake since we were having cake Saturday, she said donut again. So cute.

That evening we went to watch DH play softball for a little bit. She enjoys going and the weather was beautiful. We only go to his early games and just stay for the first two innings so she can get to bed on time, but he hadn't had an early one for awhile. We got to see him get a base hit before we left, and when he got home he told me he had driven in the game-winning RBI! Way to go, baby!

Friday morning I went out to the car to discover a flat tire. Boo. Luckily, my father-in-law was able to put the spare on for me. We thought we could patch it, but I knew I needed to get new tires and that happened to be one of the old ones, so we decided I should just replace it. Nothing like big, unexpected expenses when you've just bought a house...

Friday night I baked cupcakes for the party - I had seen this cute idea online somewhere to do a balloon bouquet (see below), so I decided to just do a balloon theme in general this year, only with colors that were a little more girly. Since we were homeless I wanted to keep it simple, and S likes Sesame Street and Curious George, but I think she will still like them next year. So I went to my parents' house and whipped up some Magnolia Bakery cupcakes. I had made the frosting on Wednesday night, and had accidentally put tablespoons of vanilla in instead of teaspoons, so I'd already had to redo one part of them, so I was extra careful when mixing the cupcakes themselves. Unfortunately, I didn't look at the clock when I put them in the oven, just set the timer, and it never beeped when it got done. So the cupcakes were overdone. I didn't have the materials or time to remake them. I was so frustrated and tired, I just went to bed. But Saturday morning, I was in a much better go-with-the-flow mood and just bought some cupcakes at the grocery store. They didn't quite look like balloons since the frosting was white with sprinkles, but it was ok. The party was fun - just family at a park, and the weather was really nice, although a bit windy.

After the party we invited everyone over to see our new house! We got possession at 5pm Friday, so we were able to show it to them which was nice since my sister and brother-in-law and DH's sister were all in town.

That night S and I spent the night at my parents' house since my in-laws were having a Jimmy Buffet party. I thought it would be a good introduction to sleepovers at Grandma and Papa's since I was there, and we're going to start having her stay overnight once every couple of weeks so she gets used to the idea for when I'm in the hospital having baby R. It was awful. It took 3 hours for me to get her to sleep and she had one of the worst tantrums she's ever had. Plus my sister and half-sister were there and could hear everything, and Mom and Dad were trying to help but it just made it worse. I was so stressed out and exhausted and frustrated, and I know S could tell. It was 11pm before she fell asleep. And of course she was up at 6am. We were both wiped out Sunday.

Sunday morning, we went to the pool with my sister and then to buy paint - my half-sister and my mom offered to paint the girls' rooms in the new house! So sweet! Then it was back to the in-laws to celebrate DH's sister's birthday while she was here. DH, S, and DH's sister and I all went to the T-Bones game that evening - S's first game! She was really good (especially considering she only napped for an hour that afternoon after having hardly gotten any sleep the night before), and we left in the 6th inning so I could hopefully get her to bed more easily. It was MUCH better, but it was still 9pm before she went to sleep. At least there was no tantrum involved. I've got to get this kid sleeping before baby R gets here. Hopefully once we get moved and settled, that will resolve most of the issues. After that I went to the house to wipe down the walls in S's room and the nursery so they would be ready for Mom and my half-sister to paint. So by the time I got that done, got home, took a shower and got to bed, it was midnight. Whew!

So last night I had planned to just relax and hang out with DH's sister before she left town today. I went by the house after work to take dinner to Mom and my half-sister, and DH since he was waiting for the cable guy. Sam had a terrible tantrum when we left. She got to bed around 9pm again, but miraculously slept until 8:30am!! I was so excited! I let her sleep in and was a little late to work today, but it was worth it. I hope she can keep her time table and I can just shift her schedule back a bit.

Busy Bees

Things have been hectic this past week. Wednesday night, S woke up at 4:30am and was up until 6am, during which time she had a half-hour long temper tantrum. Thursday night she didn't go to sleep until 9pm, and was up between 3:30am and 5am. At least this time, she was calmer. Friday she didn't take a nap for my parents, though. I'm just praying that once we get moved, she'll get settled in and get back to a more frequent good sleeping schedule. I was SO grouchy Friday after two nights of limited sleep.

Saturday my friend from MN was in town, so S and I met her and some of our other friends at a park for lunch. We played washers, and S played on the swings and slides. It was really fun. That night we went to a friend from high school's house for a get together. After I read on a blog about a way to keep in touch with old friends by having a Party of the Month, we started it and have really enjoyed it. We take turns hostessing the POM, and boys and kids are allowed, and we just do a potluck. DH was nice enough to take S home to put her to bed so I could stay later and chat. One of the girls ended up leaving kind of early - her 6 month old wasn't feeling well and was really fussy. She's never fussy - she's the happiest baby I've ever seen. Poor thing. Saturday night, S slept through til morning - YES!

Sunday I took S to my parents' house to go swimming in their subdivision's pool. Then she took her nap, and we went to a friend's son's 2nd bday party. Unfortunately, she woke up from her nap in a bad mood and had a tantrum/cried for an hour - from the time she got up until we walked in the door to the party (half an hour late). Argh. DH hung out with the guys, and I got to chat with the girls while the kids all played which was nice. That night S had a hard time going down again - it was 9pm before she fell asleep. But she slept through til morning, so at least that worked ok.

Monday I dropped S off at her sitter's and she had gotten her a birthday present - I told her she didn't have to do that. She got a little cake, too. Very sweet of her. The bank called not long after I got to work, and we found out we're closing on Wednesday!!! SO excited. I've been slow at work which has been nice because I've had time to plan S's bday party and sketch out how I want to decorate her bedroom and where to put the furniture in the house when we move next week.

Last night I went over to a friend's and got to watch the 100th episode of So You Think You Can Dance. I missed it Thursday since S didn't go to bed til late, but luckily my friend hadn't erased it from the DVR yet. It was ok - they tried to cram too much into the hour - they should have made it a two-hour special. I wish they would have shown more of the old dances, but the new group numbers were really good. I was surprised with who was in the bottom. Only two weeks left - it will be interesting to see what happens.

Tonight I'm going to my friend's for a party with a lady who advises about the different baby slings that are available. I'm excited to hear her suggestions. I really want to get one for baby R since I know I'll need my hands free for S a lot, but I don't know much about them. DH is supposed to go to the T-Bones game, but it's raining, so not sure they'll be playing.

We haven't had a lot of rain, but it hasn't been that hot, either. This summer has been so mild - aside from the one sweltering week when we moved to my in-laws. Overall it's been beautiful - mostly low-80's. There have been terrible droughts south of us and cold, wet weather north of us, but we've lucked out and been in the nice zone this year. Hope I didn't just jinx us for August...