Is It Naptime Yet

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.

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.

With wanting to stick to the budget I didn’t go grocery shopping the last week of September even though we needed a few things. I had spent the final part of our grocery budget at Costco. Milk was the main thing we needed. So this last week to make it last we had a lot of oatmeal and the girls got french toast twice within 4 days. We had plenty of eggs and bread, just not a lot of milk.
So yesterday being October 1st, I can’t believe it’s October, I went on one of my normal long shopping trips. First to Food -4-Less, where nonperishables are usually cheaper and then to Smith’s where I can find the store brand bran flakes and shredded wheat that I can’t at Food-4-Less and where dairy is cheaper.
I took the girls along and since Lilah found a penny that I pointed out to her. She was actually very happy and didn’t complain about being tired. Then at Smith’s I let her pick her own yogurt as a reward for behaving. (Before the penny happened and before we even got in the store she started to say she was tired!)
I’ve decided that many people do a month’s worth of shopping on the first day of the month. I saw a lot of people with two shopping carts full of groceries and the lines took forever to get through.
It reminded me of when I would got o the commissary with my mom for our monthly shopping trips for groceries.
It was crazy.
Smith’s was busy but not nearly as bad as Food- 4 -less.

Anyways, I bought a whole chicken and roasted it in my crock pot last night. It is delicious and was perfectly falling off the bones this morning.
I did it during the night so I could cook it on low, as to not rush it, and because I have Lilah’s gymnastics class tonight and I don’t like leaving things like crock pots on when I’m not at home, even if that’s one reason to use it. If a fire is gonna happen I’d like to be here to call the fire department.
I got the idea of roasting the chicken in the crock pot from Sam, and I figured now we have chicken to do whatever we what with. Put it on sandwiches or do a salad.
I feel like I’m finally doing something extra special for my family since they’ll be getting two not usually made dishes in a row.
Monday night I made black bean enchiladas, red peppers were on sale, and tonight we’ll have chicken sandwiches from homemade roasted chicken. This is a lot of cooking for me in two days. We have rice and soup like once a week, or rice and pot pies, or pizza. I cook the same things over and over again, so these dishes are nice changes.

Jon’s diet changes have kinda put me in a funk. I don’t know what to do to spice things up, though I have been making different stir fry’s which we find delicious but Eden does not like. Oh well.
Since the chicken was cooked with the skin it’s slightly fattier than what Jon should eat, but he can still have small amounts and the breast meat is still really good for him.
I’m just happy to do something extra for us.
The chicken was also hormone free and farmed raised so that’s one extra thing I also did. Now I just have to start buying those kind of chicken breast. The frozen ones I get are huge and obviously hormone injected!

Also with trying to save money I also took our coupons. We’ve been getting a condensed version of the coupons you would get in the Sunday paper, so I’ve been cutting the ones I’d use. I’m also keeping the good store coupons that are relevant to what I buy. Like if I buy this brand of soup I will probably buy it again. So I’d rather get a coupon for that brand of soup and not some random thing that’s associated with it. Like you often get store coupons for formula if you buy diapers, or a different brand of diapers.
Anyways. I love to look for the bargains and I’m liking getting the coupons each week in the mail.

Also here’s the recipe for Black Bean enchilada’s, it’s from the Pillsbury cook book. Enjoy, it’s delicious!

Black Bean Enchiladas
prep 20 minutes (ready in 40 minutes)- really it takes an hour

2 (10oz.) cans enchilada sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced separated into rings
1 small red bell pepper, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (15 oz.) cans black beans, drained , rinsed
8 (6 inch) soft corn tortillas, heated
8 oz. (2 cups) shredded colby–monterey jack cheese

1. Heat oven to 425 degreed. Spoon 2/3 cup of the enchilada sauce in bottom of ungreased 12×8 inch (2 quart) baking dish.
2. Heat oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic; cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until onion is tender.
3. In medium bowl combine onion mixture and beans; mix well. Spoon about 2 tablespoons beans mixture down center of each tortilla. Top each with 2 tablespoons cheese; roll up. Place, seam side down, over enchilada sauce in baking dish.
4. Spoon remaining enchilada sauce over filled enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese.
5. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

my way- I use regular flour, or whole wheat, tortillas.(If you use larger tortillas use a 13×9 pan.) I also use an added 1/2 green bell pepper and a large red bell pepper so I can have more filling. I also end up using more cheese than the recipe calls for because I love cheese and it balances out the extra filling.

Eden’s close if not ready to be potty trained.  I think.
Once, a while back, she told Jon she needed to use the potty and she did. It had been after Lilah had gone to the bathroom.
Then yesterday she used the potty while in the nursery during Lilah’s class. Two of the other girls her age are already potty trained, so I’m guessing she heard they had to go potty and she decided she had to go to.

She’s also tells me she needs to go potty and once on the toilet nothing happens.
Lately she’s had a diaper rash because I don’t notice her poopy diapers soon enough.(It’s hard when they’re in the bedroom or roaming around and not near me.) I’ve had to put diaper rash cream on her and it seems she always has the urge to go potty after I change her diaper and put cream on her.
I don’t let her because then she’d get cream on the toilet seat, not that I mind since it’s the child seat in the girls bathroom, but then I’d have to clean her up and get her diaper back on.
It just doesn’t jive with me.

I had a really bad experience potty training Lilah. Besides becoming a willful 2 year old, our lives were also troubled by her going to the bathroom 2 minutes after I asked if she needed to go, and it seems that she peed on our living room rug a lot. She also always had to go once put in time out. Even now Lilah tries to use that excuse but we know she can hold it.

I think Eden only partially is really clued into when she has to go to the bathroom.  It’s a bit of a hit and miss.  Also she’s not waking up with dry diapers consistently from nap or bed time.

I really am dreading potty training. It seemed to go on for months with  Lilah, which it did, and I would get so mad when I felt she could control herself but didn’t, or if she waited too long and would have an accident.
I have my fathers patience sometimes. When having to clean pee up all the time, my patience grows thin.

So Eden’s getting close to being out of diapers, which will save us about $35-45 a month.
I try not to compare that two other girls her age are out of diapers, in which I was shocked that they were even being trained before 2 1/2, but they were both highly interested in going to the bathroom.
Eden’s just kinda interested.

Lilah only had two poop incidents when being potty trained, which I am thankful for.
I fear that Eden is less in tune with when she needs to go poop and she’s harder to read.
With Lilah I could notice when she had to go, or was going, and she even was on a pretty good schedule, which when you’re potty training you really start paying attention to when they usually need to go.
With Eden I never know when she’s pooping. I get no visual face cues and she only squats sometimes, but usually because she’s already squatting.

I think I mostly worry about my temper and possibly distancing myself from Eden.
Potty training is so stressful.
I don’t know where to begin with Eden, or when, even though I’ve trained one child. It didn’t work out the best during the training and I know each girl will be different than other.

Here they are racing a little.

On Wednesday we took an adventure with Julie, Naia, and her step-son Reagan.
We went to the beautiful Mt. Charleston, or cold mountain as Lilah liked to call it.
It really wasn’t that cold. Who knew 62 degrees could be so warm.
I don’t think we made it to Mt. Charleston, more like Lee Canyon.
We just went to some camping grounds to try to eat our food and enjoy some hiking and exploring.

We picked up some Kentucky Fried Chicken and headed towards the mountain.
We tried to eat outside in the beautiful weather but some bee’s or wasps liked our chicken and pretty much swarmed us.
( A swarm consists of more than 4 bees being around our site at once.)
Poor Reagan was totally freaked out by them, as was Julie, and they were both having a hard time, though Julie was trying to not act scared.
My girls were mostly OK unless the bee/ wasp flew around their face.
I suggested we eat in our cars so Julie agreed and we headed back to our original picnic spot. (We went to three different spots before we gave up because of the bees/wasp.)

Eating in the car.

Take a picture of me eating chicken mom!

Eden has proven to be my adventurous child. She would wander off without anyone near her. She did stay in eye range, but only because I kept reminding her to not go to far.

Take a picture of me holding the rock!

Eden, come back here!

We took a hike in the woods. Lilah loved the woods.

Wait, where’d Eden go?

We found a large tree that had been cut down.

This was the best out of the 2 pictures I took.

After being in the woods we decided to take a walk along the road.

They wanted to hold onto the stroller, at first.

Eden and Lilah both wanted to wander into the woods later so we distracted them by making them run to places.

Do these pants make my diaper look big?

Lilah’s hives came out a little with the running so we made her walk with us as Reagan and Eden ran ahead.

We had a fun day.

Eden slept for the 45 minutes home and decided that was enough nap for the day. Lilah never took a nap. In fact I think she’s going on nap strike.

On Saturday when we went to see the nurse practitioner, Lilah’s hives had cleared up a lot so it was the last shot we needed to give her.
Half the blood work was back and they were all negative for the viral infection. 🙂
So we’re still not sure what caused it. 🙁

Lilah’s looking normal and acting normal. She did decide on Sunday that she wanted to take a nap during primary though.
I think I’ll reschedule our pictures for next week because she’ll probably have some pink spots on her face still come Wednesday.

Today I’ve done dishes and cleaned the kitchen a little.
Now that the weather is going cold to warm to cold, like Vegas Falls often start out like, I’m needing to put away some summer clothes and take out some winter clothes.

Lilah is at an awkward stage where size 4 pants are a little big but size 3 pants are a little small.
Eden is wanting new clothes but she gets hand-me-downs, with a couple new things in the mix. They’re new to her. 🙂

Lots of laundry is in my future as I reorganize the clothes.

The girls room is also being taken over by a poopy diaper smell.
It stinks in there so I use a plug in air freshener, but Jon can’t stand it.
I want a new diaper pail and since Eden only poops once a day I think I might put poopy diapers in the outside trash when they happen.
I just can’t stand the poop smell.
Jon says to give the diaper pail a good scrubbing, but it’s been soaking up stinky diaper smell for over 4 years. I think it’s time to get rid of it.

Up note- Carolyn and Derek got a new computer so they’re going to give us their flat screen monitor. Now all I need to is to find a cheap, but sturdy, computer cabinet and maybe someday I will have a fireplace- instead of a desk in front of a fireplace. 🙂

The other problem being I’ll also have to find a good filing cabinet for cheap.

Maybe I should try garage sells.

Auntie Carolyn and Uncle Derek!

Lilah loves the flowers and the bear- even if her face doesn’t show it.
(She’s not showing much of any emotion right now except discomfort for her hands and arm.)
Her mommy really enjoyed the surprise also.

Flowers!- Hey where’s the excitement? She was busy asking why people send flowers.

A little smile.

Sausage fingers. Not a good pic- really just a close crop of a larger one, but her fingers are very swollen.

The hives are also darker in real life. The flash washed out the some of the pinkness she has. She does looks more like herself today though.

Update from 5 minutes ago: 🙂

She loves the bear!