Is It Naptime Yet

Jon took Yesterday off. We had dentist appointments in the afternoon and he has tons of vacation time since we hardly use it.
We took his car into the mechanic in the morning. The AC appeared to not be working and we’ve had an oil leak that has progressively gotten worse.

Well the AC actually does work it’s the knob that’s broken, which isn’t too surprising to me and they fix the gasket that was leaking.
Since they don’t keep 94 Subaru Impreza AC knobs handy they’re ordering it and we’ve decided we’d just bring the car back in for that.
So instead of blowing all hot air, it now blows all cold air, and it’s really not warm outside.

After we dropped our car off in the morning we went to Costco to buy nuts. I forgot to get almonds for Jon earlier this month and he wanted to also price walnuts, two things he uses in his daily nut mix for his snack at work.

We found the almonds and the walnuts, but we also found a no salt seasoning Andrea told me about, dresses for the girls and a CD of all the Beatles #1 hits.

We did stop at that, though had I gone alone I would have just bought nuts, because we have a tendency to approve things for one another when we’re together at the store.

So we get back to the car and I smelled something.
It was odd to me because I noticed this smell in Costco  and now it was also in my car! It reminded me of a strawberry scented car freshener. I asked Jon if he smelt it too and he did.
So while I then drove us to the jewelry store for my semi-annual ring check I realized what the smell was.

My new deodorant.
Apparently Secret Platinum botanical silk smells like strawberry air freshener when mix with my sweat.

After the ring check we headed home for lunch.
After lunch I dropped Jon and the girls at his parents house, which is only five minutes away from our dentist, and I went to get some cavities filled.

After that I then stayed at his parents house while he went to have his semi annual check up.

The girls had fun at the Blake’s and Lilah did this foam floor puzzle they have for about an hour and a half, just taking it apart and putting it together again a couple times.

Our Subaru was ready to be picked up after Jon’s appointment so we went straight there to get it and then home.

We had no silverware or dishes so I then went to Quizno’s for dinner. Soup sounded so good and hot sandwiches seemed appropriate for last nights chill.

Now today, Thursday, Lilah’s class is canceled because all the other five kids are sick or have a sibling that is sick.

The girls are playing nicely together, something that started earlier this week. But they are making a huge mess. Something I just got upset about.  Lilah says she’s tired whenever I tell her them clean up. I’m now going to try to enforce a one toy rule. They each get one toy and once that toy is put away they may get another.  Lilah uses the tired excuse a lot and I’m tired of hearing it.

I have things I need to do around the house, like mopping the floors and dishes, but I don’t want to get sweaty while mopping the floor since I’ve already taken a shower and dishes just aren’t appealing.

I feel like I should go take the girls somewhere fun, but it’s a little chilly outside and I’m a wimp. Plus we need to get a gift for Lilah’s friend who’s having a party on Saturday, if she’s felling all better.
Maybe we’ll go shopping and to the Library.

Yesterday was President’s Day so Jon was at home with us.

He made pancakes for breakfast and after doing the dishes he reached under the sink for the detergent and realized we had a leak.

I called my dad for some advice. I also e-mailed him this picture.

In the end we changed the on/ off valve but it is still leaking, just at a slower pace. It appears to be part of the pipe, or that back bolt which is very rusted.

For now we have a bucket catching the falling drops of water until we figure out what plumber we want to call.

Plumbers are so expensive, so I’m not really wanting to call. But I hope it is something that can easily be fix, and not something like the pipe needing to be ripped out of the wall and redone.

Ugh.

So after Jon fixed the pipe the girls were hanging out outside.
I went to check on them and realized a glass jar that Lilah had filled weeks ago with water and dirt had been broken.

We cleaned up the glass and since our sidewalk on the side of the house was horrendous I trimmed the bushes picked up the shingles, trash, and pine needles that had blown into that area and swept it so it’s now easily passable.

I then needed a shower but since I needed to clean the tub I did and then took my shower.
Jon was taking care of the girls, folding clothes and reading. I think he also may have unloaded the dishwasher.

In taking care of the girls I mean:
– Putting Eden down for a nap in only a diaper. (Her clothes were dirty so he took them off, he just didn’t replace them with anything. He did change her diaper though. )
– Letting Eden get up from her non-existent nap even though she’d been awake since 6:30 am. To his credit she was laying down for about 45 minutes. ( He is such a softy when it comes to letting the girls stay awake.)
– Letting the girls watch Mulan, which is why Eden came out from her nap. And yes, Eden was still naked when I finished cleaning and taking my shower.

Later in the evening I made a delicious dinner of salmon burgers, garlic potatoes, and fresh steamed green beans that were cooked to perfection according to Jon. (I also made the dinner because we had cereal for dinner two nights in a row. Partially because we didn’t have something easy like pizza to bake and he let me take late naps until it was dinner time and Jon really just makes breakfast and bread.)

And after dinner Jon did the dishes once more.

He’s such a sweetheart.

Tuesday we made truffles at the Jewitt’s.
Wednesday we made muddy buddies to give to the girl’s classmates and printed off Valentines for the girls to give away.

Yesterday was Valentine’s day.
I had to teach Lilah’s class. I wanted to send her away with all her whining. (She is so needy when I’m around. Later she said she didn’t like that the other kids needed me too.)
So my morning was pretty stressful. Lilah did become her normal none whiny self for the second half of class and was able to enjoy handing out Valentine’s to her classmates.

So after class we came home and ate lunch.
Then we baked a red velvet cake.
Then I put Eden down for her nap and I was tired and Lilah has been extra whiny lately, for the past week, so I tried to have her take a nap. Instead she lied there stroking my arm, keeping me a little awake, which was kinda good because I was too asleep to hear the timer on the cake and she was the one who told me it went off.

My sister called and since Lilah wasn’t falling asleep, I let her stay up and help make frosting and watch me frost the cake.
I talked for a while with my sister so my floors didn’t get mopped, oh well, and I just made a wonderful dinner of black bean enchiladas and we had some hummus on that side that I had bought last week.

Jon got some candles out so we had dinner by candlelight.

The red velvet cake was fun, since it’s red, but it’s not our favorite.
The girls loved making it though.

Then I found a note from Jon.

We played a little and put the girls to bed.

More on accident than on purpose we had Hitch from Netflix and Jon fell asleep while I watched it. He did wake up for the ending though.

Valentine’s day usually turns into my day to do stuff for Jon and the girls and we keep it pretty low key.
Our anniversary ends up being his day to do things for me.  (I can’t wait, especially since it’s on a Saturday this year so we’ll have the whole day together.)

I have to be honest.
I’m finally getting that lost feeling after being done with school for over a year.
I use to get it during the summer between semesters and now it’s just a bad habit.

I sleep in every morning till 9 am, unless we have somewhere to be, then I get up at 8 to get my shower.

The girls do not sleep in till 9, so what are they doing? Watching a movie or PBS. If I’m lucky they don’t get up till 8, so it’s just one hour, but many days they get up at 7 and easily watch 2 hours of TV while I sleep.

Now I don’t always feel the need to sleep in if I’m up at 7 to say goodbye to Jon, but I don’t feel a desire to get up and going so I turn on a movie and go back to sleep.
My day becomes too long if I get up before 8 and have no where to go, which I usually don’t.

Besides sleeping in I take a nap nearly every afternoon. Not like a 20 minute power nap, but a 2-3 hour nap.
What are the girls doing? Eden is taking her nap and Lilah is watching TV, which I try to interrupt after about an hour or an hour and a half and get her to do something else, like play or use the computer. (She gets up later then Eden, about 8, so I let her watch her shows like Super Why.)

I do get the normal day to day stuff done. Dishes get washed, laundry gets done, though not always folded.
I just don’t have motivation to do the extra stuff. Like organize our room or organize the top bunk in the girls room.

I’m fine once I’m up, usually.
I don’t feel down necessarily but I do hang out at the computer a lot.

I’m just not motivated and I’m not sure what to do to get motivated.

I feel the girls are getting along fine, though I could spend more time playing with them or reading with them during the day.

The funny things is I stay up very late, usually just watching TV, or sometimes on the computer. I just want to stay up late and be by myself. If Jon does perchance stay up late, I don’t go to bed till he does.

I just feel a little lost. Being at home is becoming less fulfiling and I feel I accomplish very little.
So that’s what’s going on with me mentally.

Lilah’s not much for change and so far she’s experienced a lot, with more to come.

First, Sunday was her first day in her new Primary class. We didn’t know who her teacher would be, rather the substitute since her teacher just moved and they haven’t called a new one because they’re changing ward boundaries this Sunday in a special 4 ward meeting.
So Sunday during sacrament meeting she was whinier than normal and she cried when we took her to primary. The teacher was her classmates mom and she has seen her, but I think it was just a lot for her to handle with not knowing until that moment. Plus her friends came into Primary and are now Sunbeams, but she’s in a different class and doesn’t quite understand why she had to change.

Then Tuesday was gymnastics. They had her old instructor but their was also a new one and lots of new kids. We didn’t know about it and I don’t know if Jon introduced the instructor to her or what but I think that may have been too much with the whole primary thing. She seemed to break down after she saw me have food, which is odd because we always are eating a snack while there. I think that was just he breaking point for her.

Wednesday when I was telling her about preschool, or the mommy class that we do, she didn’t want to go to it Thursday.
She did fine today, but I think she’s had a hard time adjusting and with the ward boundary changes who knows what things will be like. We are planning on possibly keeping her out of primary until we know who the teacher is, which hopefully won’t be more than a week. I think to have it constantly change will just make her want to go less and she was having problems before all this happened.

Changes suck when you’re child doesn’t like change.

On an upside the nursery class is smaller and with younger kids so they had a nap time on Sunday. Eden didn’t sleep but she had fun.

Yes, I was the mom with the very loud and annoying cart.
I understand it made a terrible squeak that could entice even a sane person to want to throw it across the store in rage.
Just think how bad it would have been if you were pushing it around with a 4 year old in it and had a 2 year old slowly trailing behind?
Just be happy that I found a less annoying cart near a check out line and left the squeaky cart for the next desperate mother.
Wait, you’re the mother who got the annoyingly squeaky cart? I apologize.

Yes, I was the mom playing Marco Polo with my 2 year old who loved to hide in the clothes racks.
You see her older sister complains to no end if I have her out and walking and the younger one who knows no fear, hides in the clothes rack making each one her home if she is walking. Also if I hold the 2 year old’s hand she whines and pulls until she wiggles free.
It’s just easier to play Marco polo than to argue with them.

Yes, I was the mom who left the cart in the middle of the isle after she checked out.
You see the sea of people in line made it difficult to maneuver the cart towards a more respectable place, like the entrance, so the next costumer would be able to use it.
I usually return my cart, or in this case child stroller with a bag to put things in, to the cart area, but there are none in Mervyn’s and like I said I was just too lazy to push it through all you people waiting in line.

To an employee of Mervyn’s: My 4 year old had a stuffed puppy that she took with her under a table while I was talking with a friend. It never made it out and is still hiding in it’s new home beneath the table.
At this point I was just too tired to care about restoring it to a place within the pajamas where she found it that was also obviously not where it belonged.

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 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.

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.

Lately the girls have only been happy with one another if their’s a movie or the tv on. Today we watched a movie and then they went on their way to play. They started fighting over the strap on the changing table, we don’t use it so it’s just buckled underneath. I heard “I had it first” and once I was in the room I saw them pushing on one another. I told them to work it out but it didn’t help. I try not to intervene because one of them will start crying because I didn’t choose what they wanted. After I told them again to work it out Lilah started crying, while they’re both still holding onto the strap, Eden stops her whining and asks Lilah what’s wrong. She often does this when Lilah lets out a full on cry.
They continue to fight and I remove them both for the exciting strap that’s attached to our changing table.
Then they almost immediately started fighting over the toy shopping cart. All Lilah knows how to do is push, and Eden pushes back and so Lilah cries, and Eden cries back. It is so lovely. I take the shopping cart and decide to separate them. Eden went on the couch with nothing but her blanket an Lilah stayed in the room with nothing but a blanket, she didn’t like this because she was playing with a towel that I had to take away.
I’ve decided they’re watching too much and not working things out so until they can start working things out their will be no tv and once I feel that they’re civil they can have 1 hour a day. If they’re not being civil or communicating the toy or whatever gets taken away. If they start in on another toy they’re then separated until they decide to be nice.
Eden’s really starting to assert her self and throw tantrums and I think Lilah is just following in suit.
I’m going to try to spend more time with them and encourage for them to communicate. I feel as Eden is still young for this, but I know Lilah can talk, though she often just cries instead of using her words, which really annoys me. I also hate that Lilah’s crying actually kinda helps her get her way, or at least sympathy from Eden, by Eden then asking what’s wrong. I like and hate it at the same time.

I’m also going to go through their toys and take some away and put some in a box to be rotated out. Our stuffed animals are overthrowing our two baskets and the small toys drive me nuts. I want to toss it all, but in reality they don’t have that much so I’m going to just put some away.
I’d have them help but I know they wouldn’t get rid of anything.

Their fighting is just driving me a little bonkers.

After the whole separation on the couch it was lunch time and since Eden woke up at 6:15am I put her down early for a nap. So once Lilah was done with her lunch we sat and did some activities in this preschool book I got her. I see that I’ll be tested when it comes to teaching her. After we were both done with the book I let Lilah practice with some small scissors I got her. Since this was relatively her first time with kid scissors she was very awkward with them and can only cut out small things, forget lines for now. I hope she gains the hang of it and it becomes easier soon.