Is It Naptime Yet

So they were going to break Andrea’s water today at noon.
I was at my parents house during the madness, well more like grumpiness, of them getting ready to leave.
I kept telling my dad that they baby would be there once he got there so it didn’t matter when they left. (Once he’s ready you must be ready because he gets grumpy, even if it took him a while to get ready.)
Heck if they get there early, they’ll just get to wait around anyways.

My parents also picked up some food from some Chinese restaurant, Payday or something that I’ve never heard of, for the mother and father to be.
I hope the lettuce wraps still taste good after 4 1/2 hours of driving.

It took me 6 1/2 hours to have Lilah after they broke my water, so I think my parents might have to play the waiting game once in Ely, though the left here around 1:30.

I hope the labor goes as smoothly as labor can go. I hope Brien doesn’t faint.

Friday was a wonderful day. The girls played all day with very little fighting. It was dreamy.

We called Andrea that night and the girls sang happy birthday to her. Her birthday was Monday but I kept remembering  when one girl was asleep or it was in the day while she was at work or her phone line was busy. I found out that she was pretty far dilated, to a 4,  and the doctor thought she might have the baby this weekend. I told her I was at a 5-6 with both girls and had to be induced for both, so I think it’s normal in our family to get far along all on our own. Brien got woozy at the thought of having a baby this weekend and Andrea had to drive home from the appointment. I thought that was funny. I wonder how he’ll be the day of the delivery.

Eden’s costume is mostly done. I just have to put the zipper, collar and the buttons on.
I have to teach Lilah’s preschool type class the next two Thursdays and I’m not sure what I’m going to do. We are having a costume parade the second week so I have two weeks to do Lilah’s costume. I will be working with the costume satin and chiffon and I am totally nervous. Both are soo slippery and the time I’ll spend hunch over my machine is going to make my back ache again.

We had fish an butternut squash tonight, yum.
Lilah’s first primary presentation will be next Sunday. (She’s getting too big!)
I went to her practice yesterday and they had me sit on the stand because they were short like all their teachers but the one who showed up, luckily it was Lilah’s teacher, but I think I hindered Lilah. Lilah puts on a needy persona when I’m around her in new situations, or she acts tired. It totally bugs me, and she was needy and tired while I was on the stand.
When I sat on the congregation’s benches the second time through she did much better, though she did pretend to be tired through one song.
It totally bugs me because I don’t know how to discourage her behavior without wanting to just get upset at her.
I try to be patient but it runs out fast when I know she’s really just fine. Like she was totally fine until I was on the stand to help, and sitting behind her with Eden didn’t help.
I think I would decline a calling in  Primary just because Lilah gets needy around me.
Anyways. Life is pretty normal.

Have a baby Andrea!

Today we went on a field trip to a local fire station.
The girls had tons of fun and Lilah had her ears plugged most of the time, in which Eden also decided she should plug her ears. It’s becoming my children’s signature.

Plug your ears, everything is loud.
So here goes.

Most of the group.

Jon said at least she puts her fingers in her ears and not her nose and Eden just does what Lilah does.

Our tour guide fire fighter put on his gear for us.

He crawled towards the kids, telling them this is what they would see if they were ever trapped and a fire man needed to get them out.
Most were not hot on the idea of seeing him crawl towards them in his gear.

They turned the trucks lights on.

They showed the kids some of the tools they use .

Sitting in the fire engine.

We went through the whole station.

The tv room was a hit. The kids were fascinated with all the recliners.

The other fire truck came back so went to look at the hoses.

The fireman asked if I wanted to try on the gear, but I’m not too hot on putting on sweaty things. I also didn’t have socks and would have had to put my bare feet in the boots.
One mom had long pants and socks so she was volunteered by her SIL.

Our group.

Are we done taking pictures yet?

The kids had tons of fun and when we came home Lilah played a fire fighter game on the computer.

It was lots of fun and the fire fighters were very nice and spent lots of time with us.

Fun fact: Eden says fighter fighter instead of fire fighter. It’s just cute.

Yesterday I worked hard on Eden’s costume. I’m about 2/3rds finished. She’ll be Dorothy. As I cut the fabric Lilah asked if she could be Dorothy.

Uh, no.

I bought Lilah a wand to go with Glenda’s outfit and I think that will make her very happy, and it will probably make Eden jealous.
I made some dumb mistakes while sewing and I added a little detail that if I were to ever charge for this costume I would add another $20 to the price just so someone would know how annoying it was to do. I’ll explain once I get pictures of the finished product.

Today I went and bought some bows for our family pictures, plus some that I just wanted and some for Andrea. I went to the women’s house, since we have met before and it was on short notice, so she gave me a good discount. She had a five year old son that was way too friendly for Lilah’s comfort, but she got over it and they did play and have a good time as long as I was in the same room as her. Then we played at the park in the woman’s complex. The girls had lots of fun, but wondered where the swings were. It was a small park. I was happy there were no swings because then I would have been put to work pushing rather than just enjoying them playing together.

We took family pictures tonight. Finally. The pictures turned out OK, but my one complaint is we did not get a very good family picture, because she only took three, so we had just three shots to choose from and the first one was out of the question, so it left two mediocre shots. I miss my sister’s friend Marie doing our photo’s, but her photo company is just way to expensive for us now that she’s left Penny’s and has gone off on her own.

We were the last ones of the day so I’m sure that made her speed things up, plus she was working with 3 babies before we came. One thing I know is you just have to take a lot of pictures to get nice pictures when children are involved. If it wasn’t a 20 minute wait to view the pictures, so we could even order the ones we wanted, I would have insisted on more family pictures to be taken, but it was 7pm and we were all tired from smiling and keeping Eden from messing up her hair.

Lilah and Eden were cute. For once Eden was shy and Lilah was all about the smiles.
A little too smiley for Jon, but I thought she was adorable.

So I was sick like all last week. Well my throat was swollen and I started sounding funny Thursday and today, Monday or 5 days later, I’m finally starting to sound like myself.
At one point I thought I might get laryngitis, but the girls weren’t so lucky as to have a mom without a voice.

I’m so happy to start sounding normal. I hate having a sick voice, though nothing else was wrong with me, any stranger wanted to stay five feet away from me, and I’m sure some friends too.

So I’m hoping to begin cutting Eden’s costume today. I’ll be going to the store to get the rest of the materials later tonight before FHE.

I’m going to have Naia 3 days a week this month again, so I’m not sure what I will and will not get done.

I’m hoping my sister Andrea has her baby soon, though it may be a little bit still.
I’m so excited for her.

I’ve heard that there’s been a lot of funk feelings going around.
I sympathize with you all, in different ways though. I hope we’re all able to get over them.

For me making the girls costumes is exciting to me. I really enjoy making things and having the girls look cute is so fun. I do like praise after all. 😉
I am bummed that our trunk or treat is the night of Halloween. The other ward that we combine with for this party decided to do it the night of Halloween, and the youth are in charge of games and carnival type booths. Yeah, what youth wants to be at a ward party rather than trick or treating. Honestly as a parent I would let my 12-17 year old decide where they wanted to be since they’re old enough to take care of themselves.
Also our block and neighborhood is always so quiet that I feel like it’s my duty as one of the few people who participate in Halloween to be home and give out candy. Literally we had five house on our little block out of 20-30 homes be home and give out candy last year, which included our home. I also don’t like having to pick between a church function and my community.
So I may stop by the trunk or treat, but that’s it. Which makes me sad because I like the fact that the girls wear their costumes twice when we have the trunk or treat on a different night than Halloween. I may crash my parents or sister’s trunk or treat if they have theirs on a different night.
I guess if we do dress up for Lilah’s class they get to wear them that day also, but I just don’t like ward activities on Holidays even if it is just Halloween and the trunk or treat is suppose to help replace the dangerous going out and trick or treating. I think to do it on the holiday secludes you from your community and how many wanderers off the street are we going to get the night of Halloween. “Hey there’s a lot of cars giving our candy lets go.”
Totally a bad idea.
Anyways, I’m off to start cutting fabric. The girls are going to be so cute.

Jon came in before his shower to tell me that Eden was awake and that she had woken up at 6:15 am.
Lovely.
It did work out in the end because I put her down for her nap right after lunch and she woke up a little after 3, just in time for us to get ready and leave for Chuck E Cheese. (It was Howie’s Birthday party tonight.)
In the end I really enjoyed today.
It was breezy and cool so I left the windows open. I closed one because the scent of dirt was too strong. I think we need a new screen on it.
I turned on the CD with the Primary songs for the presentation and the girls “read” church magazines. They got along well this morning while I did things.
I got my kitchen clean, including cleaning my dishwasher with the jet dry cleaner.
It seems like I do dishes and still have more that need to be done. Then I take a day off and the cycle begins anew.
Today I had no dishes in the sink until lunchtime.
I did laundry and I put a new bed skirt on our bed. I had to iron it though. Boo for bed skirts that have to be ironed.
With getting a new bed skirt I can now get rid of my full size comforter set.
I’ll miss it, but I have no reason to keep it. It was one of my first big purchases for myself as a teenager. Hopefully some one else can enjoy it once I get it to DI.
I also tidied in our room today.
I’m happy I got so much done, even though it was just a little, because I’ve been in a funk. I haven’t wanted to do more than necessary, hence taking a day off from dishes until I had to have dishes done because we’re out of something, usually having all dirty bowls get us in a bind.
I’m also excited to start working on Halloween costumes. Lilah informed me she now wants to be Tin Man and Eden can be Dorothy.
Great. Good thing I just got the pattern and haven’t started cutting.
I’m happy because I think I’m emerging slowly from my funk.
Doing one nice thing , like cooking real meals, leads to another, like organizing just a little.

I hate being in funks, though they do give me an excuse to be miserable and not get anything done. I still feel like I’m having a hard time with the girls but I’m feeling better about doing things.
Lunch time is the worst with the girls. They know how to annoy each other to no end and that annoys me.
I hear “Mom, Eden’s talking to me”, “Mom Eden’s making a noise I don’t like.” and “NOOOO LILAH!” as Lilah does something like touch Eden’s high chair tray, or she takes Eden’s food, when Lilah runs out of animal crackers Eden’s a good target, also Eden is good at mimicking so it’s also “Mommy Lilah talking!”
I tell them to ignore one another like I ignore them when they whine, but it doesn’t work.
It’s great. I feel the sisterly love.

The day was good overall.
I feel a change in the air, and it’s not just my crazy sick voice possibly getting better or the cold air we’re getting.
I think I’m getting back on track. I think the holidays will be good for me.
Lots of things to keep me busy and to focus on.

Today I went to do some major clothing and miscellaneous shopping. I needed to return a couple shirts and I needed to buy winter clothes and shoes for the girls and a few things for me. (Jon and I had a discussion that I have never bought socks since I’ve been married. I’ve been given socks, and I only wear socks during the winter, but my socks are getting pretty old. I use to buy a lot before being married, another reason why I haven’t needed to buy socks within the last 5 years. What have you not bought since being married?)
Back to the regular topic.
I live near a shopping center that is a U shape. One store was at one end of the U , one in the middle and the other store at the other end of the U. I parked in the middle of the U so as to be in short walking distance from each store in case I needed to drop bags off before I hit the last store, or Target.
The girls were pretty good. At the first store, or Mervyn’s, Lilah found a marble and it kept her and Eden occupied as I waited in line.
Then we went to see about shoes for Lilah, and she lost her marble, so she got upset before we went to Target. She was “tired” so I told her as long as Eden continued to behave she could be in the shopping cart. Eden was pretty good, but she did knock a few items over that were on low display shelves. Luckily nothing was breakable.
I left Target after getting most of what a needed and a couple of things  that I wanted.
I started to go to the side parking lot and then the the front left wheel stops working and cart stops. I thought that something was stuck in the wheel. I tried to pull the cart, but that wasn’t working and I realize, duh, there was a locking mechanism on the cart so you don’t take it off the property. My car was not viewable where I was with the cart. I had one isle to go and then I was on the opposite side of the next isle.
I was frustrated because I was parked to the side of Target, rather than the front of Target where the main parking is for Target.
I debated on what to do. I had to much stuff to take my children and my bags to the car easily, otherwise I would have left the cart inside the store.
I brought Eden and did a quick run to the car and then I went back for Lilah to get the other half of our things and her. I’m sure the couple cars that drove by were wondering why a little girl was being left in the parking lot.
I am also a person who always, except on those very lazy or rainy days, puts her cart in the designated areas but the wheels would not unlock so I just put the cart out of the way of traffic. Lilah ask why we were leaving it there and even had a little bit of concern in her voice, it was kinda cute.

It was so annoying in the end. I was in the same parking lot as the store and no farther, if not a shorter distance,  than what their parking lot goes in to the front of their store and I couldn’t get to my car! I probably could have taken Lilah out instead on leaving her. I was able to see her from where I was parked. But if I had tried to take all the stuff and the girls I wouldn’t have had a hand to hold for two girls who tend to wander away from me while we’re walking.

It was fun. Carts with locking wheels are a blast.

Today was Lilah’s second gymnastics class. Last week she was great. She stood in line and listened and even sat when all the other kids were standing, though by sitting she stayed in her one spot instead of moving forward in the line.
She let her teacher do the roll-overs with her and she tried so hard when it came to doing a big jump on the trampoline.

Today was not the same. She didn’t want to wake up from her nap. I tickled her to cheer her up which worked short term but she continued to whine as we got ready.
Once there she didn’t want to do the warm-up stretches so I tried to direct and help her since she was in the back away from the teacher.
Then once in line to do things she decided she would cry. It was frustrating. I helped her a couple of times to do the roll-overs to the kart wheels and each time she would cry once I left her. Then I just decided I’d take her home.
It reminded me too much of her dance class towards the end, when I had to keep encouraging her to go to dance each week and then once there to dance.
It’s no fun if you have to make them do it and if you have to hold their hand and continually encourage them. I fell like it’s her wanting to get my attention, but rather than do it at home than in a class.

I’ve decided if she’s not wanting to go on her own free will, I’m not going to take her. I wanted this to be fun and I want her to want to go.
I feel like her whining is just a way to get attention and I’d rather give her attention for the positive things she does not for whining about a class.

I just get so stressed with her neediness. She’s fine one week and then the next she’s crying and whining for me. I could tell that she was genuinely upset, compared to acting, but it was just frustrating that she did this her second time there. If it had happened last week I’d probably be a little more sympathetic.

Tonight we practiced the roll-overs and the kart wheels they did today at home. She seemed to have fun and I tried to show her some patience. I want to encourage her to not need me while in class. So we may have to try to get there early next week and see if talking to her teacher helps her feel more comfortable again.

If I can’t find patience for her in gymnastics and if she doesn’t start wanting to do it, Jon might have to come home early and take her and we’ll see if his patience pays off.

It’s funny how children keep the same laugh even as they get older.

Here’s an example of Eden laughing when she was eleven months old.

And here’s the girls having fun tonight.

I love compliments. Heck, that’s half of the reason I do things! Not really, but I think everyone enjoys hearing nice things about what they’ve done or their children.

We went to a work picnic Sunday afternoon and once introduced as Jon’s wife three of the co-workers almost immediately complimented me on the truffles I made for Christmas time last year. So I loved hearing that even though it’s been nearly 9 months.
We figure if I continue to make them maybe they won’t fire him so they can have his wife’s truffles once a year. 🙂 No, Jon’s a hard worker so I don’t think they’ll fire him unless something strange were to come up.

The other compliments were about Eden. The nursery leader that had her on Thursday, who is new to the group, said how sweet Eden was and how nice she was the whole time. Our regular nursery leader also tells me how nice Eden is and that her disposition is so kind.
My girls definitely behave better for other people, but I love to hear that those watching them enjoy to watch them because how nice they are. It makes it easier to find babysitters.