Random Observations

1. Pink ballet inspired socks don’t stay on feet any better than the plain white ones


2. English Breakfast tea doesn’t last very long at our house


3. Store bought cookies are never as good as homemade



4. Making a fort is fun no matter how old you are



5. Sod can be laid in a small backyard very quickly when several people help

Diapering in the Dark

Isn’t that a song? Oh wait…it’s Dancing in the Dark. That’s different.

I have recently moved the Sweet Pea into the Blobster’s room. She now has the big crib because her feet were hitting the end of the bassinet. And that means we had to get a new bed for the Blobster. He loves having a ‘big boy’ bed.

Here we are reading before bedtime on the Blobster's new bed. It is a bunk bed which will come in handy when the Sweet Pea outgrows the crib. 

But now that they are together in the same room it means that I’m going in there to feed and change Sweet Pea in the middle of the night. In an effort to not wake up the Blobster, I don’t turn on the light. Let’s face it, I don’t want to wake up any more than I have to either. The nursing part is mostly up to Sweet Pea…all I have to do is sit there and burp her when she is done. So that is easily done in the dark, but the diapering part is all up to me. As much as I wish she could climb up onto the changing table and do it herself, somehow I just don’t think that is going to happen. Sigh...

So I have a method to diapering and follow the same pattern every time so that I can pretty much do it with my eyes closed. I mean, come on, I’ve been doing it for 2 years; I should be pretty good at it by now.

Undo the millions of snaps on her sleeper. Undo the velcro on the cover, undo the Snappi – put it in the same spot as usual so I can find it again, put the dirty diaper in the pail, new diaper on – twisted just so and folded down, Snappi on, new cover on. 

Redo all the millions of snaps on the sleeper. 

So now I’m sneaking around diapering in the dark. Oh, and the Blobster still wakes up.

Here is a picture of what he should be doing... sleeping.

Some crazy math… let’s say I’ve changed an average of 7 diapers per day for 25 months. That’s 5,250 diapers. And that doesn’t take into account the 12+ diapers a day for a newborn or the overlap of diapering when I had 2 kids in diapers before the Blobster potty trained. That sure makes me glad we are using cloth diapers. If we had used disposables we would have spent over $1,800 so far. It’s hard to say how much all our cloth diapers cost because most of them were generously given to us by family and friends, but my estimate is about $600-$700. And now that Sweet Pea is reusing the same diapers we got for the Blobster, we are saving even more. 

And they are really cute. I’m just sayin’

These are her colorful diaper covers. 

Recent Happenings

I apparently have a few events to catch up on. Mother's Day, Easter, and my friend Jen's visit. I just uploaded the photos from my camera and realized I haven't posted anything recently. So I will get you caught up with the most current events in my life.

Mother's Day:

This is a photo of the girls...my sister, my mom, the Sweet Pea, and me. We had lunch at our house to celebrate both my mom and Goatee Man's mom.

There he is with his mom; the lovely lady. 

 Here's my sister again with the Sweet Pea.

 And the Sweet Pea again. Isn't she cute?

The Goatee Man helped celebrate my motherhood on Saturday night with a lovely dinner and flowers. Then he made breakfast (with help from the Blobster) for me in bed. The Blobster even picked some dandelions for me. He was so proud of himself. It was so cute.

Easter:

We had Easter baskets for the kids at breakfast. Then we went to church, and were able to sit through the whole service without being called out to attend to our children in the nursery. That is a rare occurrence. What a nice treat!

Then we went to my mom's house for Easter lunch. Goatee Man's parent's also came, as well as Isabelle, a wonderful family friend. We had a nice, relaxed time and wonderful food.

Here is my mom with Sweet Pea. 

Here is Goatee Man's dad with Sweet Pea. 

I didn't get any other pictures that day. I really wanted a family photo (we were after all, dressed up so nicely), but it didn't happen. It is getting really difficult to capture the Blobster in photos. 

He moves too much. 

Jen's Visit:

One of my best friends moved to St. Louis a few years ago, and she came into town for a visit recently. It was so nice to see her. We didn't do anything exciting. It is too difficult to get out and about with 2 kids these days. But we were able to sit and talk for a long time. It didn't feel like any time had passed since she left. We were able to talk just like old times. 

Except we were often interrupted by the Blobster. 

And we weren't sitting at Champs with beer/wine and appetizers. That was what we used to do after work regularly. Ah...those were the times. 

Anyway...

Unfortunately, I didn't take very many photos of her visit here, and most of them didn't turn out very well. So, sorry Jen, this is the best I have. 

 Jen was bouncing the Sweet Pea to keep her from crying. 

It didn't work. 

Still Sleeping

It is 7am and my little boy is still sleeping. This is monumental! He has very rarely slept more than 9 hours at any point in his life (usually much less). I remember the last time that he did this I went into his room at 7:30am to make sure he was still breathing. So far, so good (on the breathing bit, not so good on the sleeping history bit).

Most recent pictures of my little man

 Because he was still in bed I went ahead and started breakfast without him. He is my kitchen helper. He really likes to cook with me. Especially breakfast. We usually alternate between making eggs (sometimes with bacon or as he says ‘bakie’), and oatmeal. This morning it is oatmeal. He regularly sits on the counter next to me and measures out the oatmeal into the pot. When it is ready we add cinnamon applesauce to it and he eats almost more than I do.

When we make eggs, his favorite part is stirring the eggs before I put them in the pan. We are now getting our farm eggs again (from a co-worker who lives out east), and he is fascinated with the occasional green and blue eggs. It’s like opening a present every morning when we open the egg container. What color will they be today??

He also now tells me the steps… by pointing… to how I should make my tea every morning. I sometimes have coffee, but lately I have been making tea more often. 

There is something comforting about having my tea and listening to morning news radio. I really enjoy Marketplace Morning Report. They are so sarcastic it makes me giggle. Okay, maybe that shows more of my lame financial side. As my friend Dan says “Accountants aren’t boring people, we just get excited by boring things.”

Well, ahem… moving on…

My plans for the next few days…

The Goatee Man is gone for some training, then helping with a plumbing project, so he will be gone for a few days. I will be having lunch with a friend today, then my sister is coming for the weekend – the plumbing project is at her house so she is coming to escape the mess and be here where there will be running water. I have a birthday party, a dr. appt, an engagement party, and shopping planned. So I will stay busy!

Cheers! Have a good weekend!

Birthday Party

The Blobster’s birthday was Monday, so we had a party for him on Sunday. Well, we kind-of had a party for us which he attended. He is really only just starting to understand what a birthday means – he is only two. But he does understand that it means cake. And balloons. And presents. 

We had considered just doing a small family party but all of our friends started asking when his party was going to be, so we decided that we better do a big party. It is so nice that our friends like him and enjoy spending time with him. At least they tolerate him. 

He had so much fun playing with everyone, and playing with his new toys. 

My Coffee is Cold

My coffee is cold.

It’s 8:45am and a lot has happened since I made myself a pot after breakfast. First there was the Sweet Pea to feed and change. Then oops, another diaper change. The Blobster to help to the potty; then the inevitable repeat trips to the potty to get out of finishing his breakfast. Then we had training on how to pull pants off and on by himself. (I think he is getting it! Hopefully that will mean fewer accidents). Then we had family devotion time. Next, we headed upstairs to reassess the baby’s wardrobe. It seems she no longer fits in the newborn size and is ready for the next set of clothes.

* We are so fortunate to have inherited girl clothes from several close friends. It is awesome to see the accumulated piles of pink in the closet. *

After we picked out a new onsie for the Sweet Pea, I headed back downstairs to get pants that would fit her. Then back upstairs to play “Peek” with the Blobster. (He likes to throw his blankets over the side of his crib and hide behind them while I crouch down and jump up saying “Peek!”.) Then we went back downstairs to get a snack – I guess he didn’t get enough to eat at breakfast – oops. Then when we got back upstairs, we had a lesson on sharing so that Sweet Pea could lay on one of Blobster’s blankets while I played with him. Then there was a succession of cheering as several more trips to the potty were made. (I think he just likes the cheering because most of the trips were unfruitful.) After more practicing pulling the pants off and on we changed the Blobster out of his pj’s and into his clothes. Next, I did some push-ups and sit-ups (with the Blobster trying to help).

Whew.

Now my coffee is cold and the Sweet Pea has fallen asleep. I think I will go take a shower. 

The Sweet Pea sleeping this morning in her new outfit.

Things I don't want to Forget

Yesterday I put the Blobster down for a nap, and about 1 1/2 hours later he woke up but was still kind of groggy. I had just finished feeding the Sweet Pea, so I put her down on the couch next to me and pulled the Blobster up onto my lap. I was catching up on Facebook and a few minutes later looked down at the Blobster since there wasn't much movement, and found that he had fallen back asleep. That is pretty rare, and really sweet to have him sleep in my lap. I realize that it won't happen very much anymore as he gets older so I smiled to myself and snuggled him closer.
Shortly after he fell asleep, the Sweet Pea also fell asleep where she was laying on the couch. So here I was 'trapped' by two sleeping children and loving it. Danny texted to see if I needed him to pick up anything on his way home. Well, as a matter of fact, it would be really nice if he could pick something up for dinner since I was stuck on the couch. He came through gallantly with tasty steaks, mashed potatos, and green beans. Then he proceeded to do the dishes as well. What a great guy!
Wait, it gets even better. 
This morning he made us eggs and bacon before he went to work. AND unloaded the dishwasher. Not that it is unusual for him to help out, but all of these things put together makes for a huge blessing to me.

These are the kind of things that I don't want to forget. I haven't done a great job of chronicling my children's milestones or achievements but I keep a journal where I have written entries for my son telling him about some of the fun things we have done. It is not usually about a great development step for him, but more about the everyday sort of things that go on.
Some other things that I don't want to forget:

• The cute way the Blobster says "Hi" and "Morning" when he wakes up and toddles into our room. Also, the way he says "Apple Juice"... it kills me every time. 
• The softness of the Sweet Pea's hair. 
• How Danny takes the Blobster downstairs to watch cartoons (or Bobcat videos) to give me a chance to sleep in later on the weekends.
• The first time the Blobster said "Bless You" to the Sweet Pea when she sneezed.
• Riotous laughter when tickling the Blobster. 
• Hiking during the summer.
• The way the sun filters through the trees while we walk in Shooks Run.

Oh, there are things I don't want to remember too (like the intimate details of the current potty training), but for the most part those things fade into the background as I choose to remember the good things. And I know that I'm truly blessed.