Is It Naptime Yet

My morning went pretty well for the first part.

I got Eden to poop in the potty! This was the first time and hopefully not the last.
I was setting the timer and putting her on the toilet every 15 to 20 minutes during her normal poop time, or after 10 o’clock,   and the second time she went poop in the potty.

Wahoo!

Now sometimes she poops once a day, sometimes 4 times and some days not at all. I didn’t want to be putting her on the potty all day long, since I still like to let her take the initiative and I just remind her at key times of the day. (When she wakes up, mid morning, before and after her nap. )

So I let her go on her merry way for the rest of the morning.

Around 11:30 I started washing dishes. Towards the end Lilah comes over to me holding a powdered sugar bag. I look over to see that she had spilled about 1-2 cups of powdered sugar on the floor. I was nearly done  washing dishes so I made her wait, and while she waited she created a pile of powdered sugar.

Then as I’m doing the very last dishes I hear Eden in the bathroom calling for help. I made her wait till I was finished also.

Then I heard Eden say something about poop.
Had she pooped in the potty again?

No.

She had pooped in her pull-up and then tried to get it to the potty and in the mean time was cleaning it up using wipes and getting it everywhere at the same time.

There was poop on the floor, toilet, step stool, her, and her hands. It was gross. Really, really gross.

So Lilah was still making a powdered sugar “castle” while I got Eden cleaned up and then the bathroom poop free. I’m glad she made the effort, to get the poop into the potty even if it was a little late, but I hope that next time it gets in the potty or stays in the pull-up.

Then I had to sweep up the powdered sugar. I swept while Lilah got her feet and hands washed off. Then she had to come clean my floor because apparently powdered sugar on my floor is like those pink tablets you chew to find plaque on your teeth as a kid. Powdered sugar sticks to anything on your floor including spots where a little girl walked while “cleaning’ up the powdered sugar. I had Lilah wipe the floor down with a rag while I supervised.

I was pretty upset between the two accidents and Lilah got the brunt of it since I was trying to be calm for Eden. For whatever reason I’m having a really hard time keeping my temper lately.  Plus, my girls rarely make messes like these. Spilled water or juice every once in a while is the worst.

It was a rough morning.

I’ve taught three Gospel Essential lessons since being put in a month or so ago.

My first lesson was on the Holy Ghost. It went OK. We had some good discussion and some not so good, very off the topic, discussion. I actually ended early because a woman was going on about things that weren’t bad, but they were not about the Holy Ghost and I wanted to try to ended before everyone forgot what we were discussing in the first place.

It can be hard to get back on topic in any class when someone decides to go on a rant or rambling. It’s especially hard in Gospel Essentials because a you don’t want to offend someone who is investigating or just coming back or anyone at all, but you don’t want to let the class discuss off the subject topics that are not enriching. There are times that I feel it’s fine to discuss what is brought up, but other times it’s hard when an individual goes on about things that are important to them, but not important to any gospel topic. I think this is what I like least about teaching this class.

The next lesson, or last week, went OK too. I was a little nervous since I didn’t know the material. I had only read the lesson a few times during the week and prepared it Saturday night, after Lilah’s party. I hate preparing lessons on Saturday. I have so little time to revise and read over it, but I was too distracted with the birthday party and I hate preparing it too early, because it’s often not any more helpful than waiting last minute because I prepared it so far in advance I don’t remember it anyways.

Today was my third time teaching, I was prepared and things went smoothly. I ended a few minutes early, but it was because I had nothing else to discuss or say. I go with the philosophy that it’s better to end when you’re out of material rather than ramble on to take up time.

I’m happy to have a break from teaching. I taught since it was the fifth Sunday and Amy, the other teacher, taught an extra week  to get us on schedule. (I teach the second and forth Sunday, she teaches the first and third and we’ll alternate fifth Sundays.)

Teaching is wonderful and I enjoy it, but it can be hard for me to gear up mentally and prepare to teach each week.

Lilah still sucks her thumb, but possibly not anymore.

I thought last year she might be on the verge of quitting thumb sucking, but I guess she just wasn’t ready and she still continued to self comfort, and I think she did it a little more frequently too.

Tuesday night something had happened to her right thumb. There was some sore on it, no doubt from thumb sucking, and the other thumb just wasn’t ‘comfortable’ and it was very frustrating for her. To help calm her and get her to sleep, it was around 10 o’clock because of the play we went to, I got out a Hello Kitty Band-Aid that had been a part of a birthday present and put it on the sore. This helped and she went to sleep without too much whining. The next day she was set on keeping her band-aid nice and it was kinda funny, except when she wouldn’t do things for fear of bending the band-aid. We took it off later that day and she has avoided sucking her thumb due to the sore.

Just a few moments ago she told me she wasn’t going to suck her thumb anymore. I asked her why she had made the decision. If she just didn’t want to or if she was getting too big? She replied she just didn’t want to and then expanded that “I’m getting big and big people don’t suck thumbs.” (Earlier today she was wanting pacifier but I said she was too big for a pacifier and we joked a little. She was saying she wanted something to comfort her.)

I’m mostly OK with her sucking her thumb, but I do admit I like the times she’s unable to because I hope she forgets that she wants to suck her thumb and I hope she’ll stop. I try not to say things but I do try to prevent the girls from sucking their thumbs when in public, but mostly for sanitary reasons.

Only time will tell if this is the end of thumb sucking for her, and I’m OK if it’s not.

I feel like it’s Saturday, but since I’m just getting started on my lesson for Sunday I’m happy that it’s Thursday.

Jon’s home. He took two days off with only one to recover and tomorrow he goes back to work. He has to drive the Subaru, or our manual car, oppose to my nice automatic car, because of the parking permit he needs and I don’t have. You gotta love working on a campus where you have to pay for your own parking and they’re stickers that can’t be easily removed.

Today we went to a community pool with the mommy/ preschool group. It was the last hurray. The girls had lots of fun and it was a nice, clean and quiet pool. It’s kind of off the road and you don’t see the pool easily. My friend Emilie says it’s never been too busy during the week for her, but Saturdays can get busier.  It’s $3 for adults and $2 for children three and older so I will probably try to go one or two times before Eden officially turns three. I think I’ll also have to hit Sweet Tomatoe’s one more time till I have to pay for her.

It’s a nice pool with less stuff than the one we went to last summer with my sister in Henderson, which is good. My girls don’t like water in their eyes so to have less made it easier to avoid and thus better.  It had a slide that had water coming from different areas and just one mushroom with water. I don’t know how to describe it except as a mushroom with water coming out of the top to make a water wall around it. The girls really enjoyed it, though Eden had to warm up to it but once she was comfortable I couldn’t keep them with me. They wanted to go in different directions so I just sat and watched them at one point since it was open and not too busy. I did lose Eden when she tried to go onto the slide with her life jacket. (I thought she was just walking around it and waited a moment to see her come out from behind it, but she decided to climb up to the slide.)  The life guard got there right as I got there, so it wasn’t that long that I lost site of her, and she was sad that she had to get down, but she didn’t want the life jacket off or water in her eyes from the slide.

It was nice and we stayed for just two hours, which was definitely long enough. I have pink areas where I didn’t get a lot of sun screen on me, like the middle of my nose and my right shoulder, which faced the sun most of the time anyways.
I think the girls are OK and not too pink anywhere.

After coming home I got Eden down for a nap then me. Then while getting dinner started I totally thought it was Saturday. Luckily I have two more days till my lesson, even though I’m looking forward to next week. Monday will be cleaning day. Tuesday making cinnamon rolls day. Wednesday delivering cinnamon rolls to those I need to thank for letting us use their house for Lilah’s party day and lunch with Anna. It’s been over a month since I saw her and it will be nice to visit.

Plus I think we might go see Wall-E this or next Saturday and I can’t wait.

Jon will be moving job positions. He’s decided to take a position where he’ll be on a team of employees that are implementing a new computer system for the university.  One of the people decided they didn’t want to be apart of it for personal reasons and he was the next best person.

It has it’s pros and cons. One is more money, but he will probably be putting in more hours around deadlines too. He’ll be in a cubicle still, rather than the office he was going to be getting this summer.

It’s also guaranteed for only two years and nothing after that, but as President Ashley stated in a budget meeting discussing the budget cuts last week even some professionals might be getting pink slips at the end of June stating their contracts won’t be renewed next year and his position won’t be needed after the system is implemented. So now, at least he’ll know the system and hopefully they will keep those who’ve implemented the computer system.

This will change the course of his masters a little. I just want him to get his masters so the next couple years are going to be hard, and hopefully he won’t be too grumpy of a husband and dad with all the added presure.

Saturday was a little busy. We went to help Jon’s parents house to move their washing machine. It’s broken and broken not because of age but because the floor under it was so unstable and the washing machine had broken beyond repair. They now have to have the floor torn up and the joists fixed and hopefully it won’t kill the new washing machine as quickly. I think this one was like 6 or 7 years old.

Jon also helped clean out the shed out front.  While he did this I ran errands for us and my MIL. I had to get stuff at Trader Joe’s and Costco, and she needed things at Costco so I took Eden, while Lilah stayed and played with her cousins that were in from Arizona, and got us what we needed and what my MIL needed. Her medication makes the heat very unbearable for her and Costco is only open to the public at very hot times.

Sunday Lilah gave a talk in Primary. I’ll have to post it later. Then we had FHE with my family at my parents.

Monday we went to the library to get the Summer reading info. I really just do it for the free Lied Discovery passes for the girls and they enjoy it. We read so much that it’s not because we need motivation.

Tuesday I did a few loads of laundry and cleaned my floors. It’s been over a month since I couldn’t mop and it felt so nice to clean them. Hopefully it will keep the girls feet a little cleaner. Their feet would be so dirty without even leaving the house. We also went to a play called Honk that our friends the Lee’s are in. It was a play/ musical based on the Ugly Duckling. It was really cute and  the girls enjoyed all 2 hours of it.

Today Jon had skin removed and sutured. I’ve also been to the library to get a book for him, to Target and to Smiths.

I haven’t done dishes and my house smells weird. Jon made his beans yesterday, he boils beans for his lunch and adds salsa and cottage cheese to them, and whenever he makes beans the house smells weird. I think it’s the having the water poured down the sink that keeps the scent around if I don’t clean it out. I guess I should do dishes since we have no spoons and only 2 plates. I would buy plastic, but now that I’m better I can do the dishes. If anything I should have bought plastic while Jon was having to do the dishes. Poor guy was never ever able to get ahead and there were always dishes in the sink for him to do.

I’ve figured out a way to get Google video to work so now I have the four videos I’ve wanted to post for your viewing pleasure.

The first is the piñata hitting– order of the kids: Lilah, Britta, Aurora, Eden, Aaron, Isaak, Katy, Howie, Adrienne and Howie again.  Side note: At the end Eden is the child under the table and she always laughs about being under the table.

The second is the of singing Happy Birthday to Lilah.

The third is of Lilah kicking around the pool and other people in the pool.

The fourth is the video I made to celebrate Lilah’s birthday.

For Lilah’s birthday we all woke up and had a late start to the day. I showed Lilah the video I made for her, which I will have to add another time and she loved it and watched it twice.

We had a very late breakfast and then got ready to get Lilah’s present.

She thought she was getting swimming goggles because she’s been asking for some, but after much research we decided to get her a pet Betta fish. They’re relatively easy to take care of and can live for a few years.

Meet Blueberry, Lilah’s new pet.

Lilah thought of his name all on her own. She had asked for suggestions so I gave her many names along the Bob and Fred area and even told  her we could name him Blue or Bluey. Once at home she thought of Blueberry and it has turned out to be a perfect name for our new addition. He is also a similar color the the fruit. We made a little name sign and decorated it with some stickers she had gotten for her birthday.
He’s the perfect pet for our family and oddly enough I already feel attached to him. He will come and look at you if you go to his tank and he just seems aware of his surroundings. We really like Blueberry.

After we got Blueberry Lilah and I picked out flowers for her birthday. The night before she mentioned getting flowers in a box, like I had from Jon on our anniversary. I had completely forgotten she had wanted flowers delivered to her on her birthday. She still seemed happy to pick out her own and she choose the Crazy Daisy bouquet.

We then had lunch and tried to get Eden down for a nap. Eden was too excited because we were going to go to Applebee’s and she did not sleep.

We went to Applebee’s for dinner. Lilah had chosen it earlier this month. The girls ate very little of there food that night. They really don’t eat a lot when we’re out. Lilah was too cold and thus unable to eat very much according to her reasoning. It’s funny because our bill with tip was around the same amount we paid for the ten pizza’s we bought for Lilah’s party. I was also reminded that you should never buy a steak unless you’re at a steak house because there is no comparison to the expensive steak I had on my anniversary at Austin’s Steakhouse.

It was a fun family day. Lilah had invited Britta, unannounced to us, so she was sad the her friend could not be at Applebee’s with us, but I think she still had fun.

This morning I asked Lilah what the letter and number of the day were on Sesame Street. She couldn’t remember what they were and said:
“It must have been a letter in the Alphabet.”

I think it must have been one of the 26 letters.

Then she started counting and saying it had to be one of those numbers.

Jon stayed home for Lilah’s birthday. We had been up very late the night before. (I was working on a video for Lilah til 3 am that I can’t get loaded on Google. Arg, Google video right now.) Eden was in our room playing and I made the comment that Mommy and Daddy were still trying to rest so could she go to the living room? Her reply.

“But it’s morning. It’s time to get up.”

I really wish you could have heard how she said it because that’s what made it really cute.

Father’s day was a bit of a bust. I was so preoccupied with the party and the lesson that I had to give on Sunday that I didn’t have the girls make anything for Jon and I didn’t make breakfast because lets face it, I don’t get up any earlier than I have to and I was very tired from the previous day.  Lucky for me Jon has very low expectations, I think I keep them low by not doing anything, and he thinks Father’s Day is a manufactured day of appreciation anyways, even though he always does something for me for Mother’s Day and I like it that way.

Anyways. Sunday while at church our organist, and also first counselor on the Relief Society, came up to us to get Jon’s name and tell him how wonderful of a dad he is. She said how she’s watched him from the stand and is always impressed with how he treats our girls.

This isn’t the first time someone on the stand has noticed him. I remember one week he had carried in both girls to Sacrament and the chorister thought it was so cute that he was carrying the girls and also mentioned how he is always so loving towards the girls. The organist in our old ward also loved to watch the girls and said Jon was always so good with them.

Jon is a great dad and I appreciate all the love he gives our girls and patience he has with them and myself.

Happy Belated Father’s Day my love.