Belly Laughs...

So we had some company over for dinner tonight. We talked about this and that, and got to talking about the baby coming. We chatted names, and at some point one of them must've seen me squish my belly or something to that affect. It blew his mind. He didn't think you should be able to squish a pregnant belly like that. His reaction made me laugh so hard, I'm probably lucky I didn't pee my pants.  I guess some people don't realize that the big belly you see is not all baby. (Although I've been told by all my doctors that I am mostly all baby, but still.) I tried to explain how all the major organs are squished out of the way and there's tons of fluid in there. But it still weirded him out. I really don't recall the last time I laughed quite that hard. Every time I did, it made my belly button poke out from under my shirt, making me laugh more.  We talked a ton about labor and delivery, pregnancy and whatnot. It was hilarious to hear his point of view, being a single early 20's guy. When they left, I had to thank him for the laughs. I'll definitely make a point of giving my belly a good squish the next time I see him. Just for fun. :)

Happy Day...

Today is my hub's birthday. That's why it's a happy day! We didn't do anything out of the ordinary (that's his way. Not really a celebratory type.) but it was still a nice day. Oh, despite the 6:15 wake up from Moose who had way too much to drink last night while he avoided his black bean soup. But we had a nice outing together as a fam running some errands. I made a killer dinner. A recipe from Applebee's called chicken fajita roll-ups. Yummy. Then the hubs played with the kids while I took a short bath. Right now they're getting jammies on, possibly in the hopes of watching a few minutes of Star Wars. We're in the midst of the second one. Will they be able to rescue Han Solo before he's taken to Jabba the Hut? We'll have to wait and see. It's been fun watching it with Moose and explaining it to him.

We officially took down Christmas, which was sad, but fun. Leads the way for a new beginning, the new year, etc. We like change.

Monkey just came to tell me Moose is getting his jammies on. She finally has her own version of his name. It doesn't exactly sound like his name, but it's consistent now so we know when she's referring to him. I like it. When he first tried saying his own name when he was younger, his version was way off. We still don't know where it came from. It became a silly nickname we still use for him on occasion. I imagine her version of his name will become a nickname for him one day as well.

Happy Birthday Hubs. You're the best father and husband I could've asked for. It's been the best 6 1/2 years married to you, and 7 years of having you in my life. I can't believe it's been that long. Sometimes it feels like it should be much more, and other times it feels like it's been such a short time. But either way, the best years I've had. So Happy 29th sweety. I couldn't do it without you. :)

This and That...

Each day is almost always filled with a little bit of this or that.  Here are some bits from today or the last few days. (Sometimes the details run together.)

*Why is it that Moose so often forgets to flush when he really has something worth flushing?

*Monkey's newest pasttime is playing in the sink. Pros: She's drinking more water. (Out of those little medicine cups) She is also giving me a reason to clean the floor infront of the sink. It's hand-mopped almost every day.

*A million questions game. This is Moose's latest thing. He just asks questions about every single detail of things. Especially if it's a conversation between me and the hubs. We've decided he does his best listening when no one is talking to him.

*Monkey actually dinner without prodding. Black Bean Soup ala TGI Friday's. I was so impressed I gave her tons of dessert. (pieces of candy from her gingerbread house.) On the other hand, Moose was dragging his feet big time. He didn't end up finishing, or getting dessert.

*I love having the hubs home this much. He's got enough energy to drain them of energy. Like taking them outside to play in the snow for 15 minutes while dinner finished cooking. Or playing with them after dinner while I relaxed for a few.

*Monkey has an absolutely adorable run. I don't know if I'll ever get tired of watching her run down the hallway. She bounces, her hair moves a certain way, she turns kinda funny. It's just so darn cute.

*Monkey just threw a fit cause Moose went into the bathroom. Can't wait til we're over that one. Now she's playing in the kitchen sink with the most minimal amount of water coming out of the faucet.

*Monkey's latest bedtime routine is all the normal stuff, we sing, close the door. She cries, goes to the door. The hubs goes in, she freaks out. He gets her in bed, calms her down and sings a few more songs. Then when he leaves she goes to bed. Everytime. We don't really get that one either.

*Another thing Moose does lately is that he tries to do things on his own that he shouldn't be, or that we do for him. He says it's because he wants to be big like us. Like the other night he took the initiative to brush his own teeth. Normally this would be sweet, but our routine is that he brushes in the morning, and we do it at night to make sure it gets done well at least once.  It's the little things. But it gets old after a while. I keep telling him that if he wants to be big like us, he has to start by not whining or complaining. Afraid he's not going to be big until he's married and living elsewhere. (Hopefully by then the whining will fall on his wife's ears and not on ours.)

*We still sing the kids Christmas songs when we put them to bed. Don't know when we'll go back to other songs. I like it.

*The last few days at naptime, Monkey has been so tired that I'll sit next to her and sing. I'll stroke her temple and cheek, and within a few verses, she'll be asleep. It's sweet.

Tomorrow we're putting away Christmas stuff, most likely. Oh, and tomorrow is the hubs birthday. The big 2-9. He's not into celebrations and whatnot, so we'll keep it low key. But it is still kinda exciting. Can't believe he's almost 30. Then a week from tomorrow I've got my glucose test for the pregnancy. Make sure I don't have gestational diabetes. Haven't had it yet, and hopefully that trend'll continue. I'm just about in the last trimester. Still doing well and not at all eager for her to be born. I'm totally not there yet. Hopefully 3 months will be long enough for me to get there.

Potty Breakdowns...

So this is surprisingly not about my one potty trained kid, but the one still in diapers. Every single time Moose says he has to go to the bathroom, Monkey tries to follow him in the bathroom. We've taught him to quickly close and lock the door (since she can open doors) so he can have privacy and she can learn that bathroom time for him is private. (Even if it's not for me) So whenever he locks the door, she falls on the floor and starts bawling. Every time. It's getting so annoying.

A potty trained obstacle I never considered. Oh well. Perhaps her fascination with the bathroom will mean she'll potty train before she's 3. (Which is how long it took Moose.) I'm all for that.

In Christmas wrap-ups, we made our gingerbread houses. Finally. We didn't have a very large selection of candy. 2 sizes of red and green M&M's, some leftover gumballs, smarties (leftover from a birthday pinata back at Thanksgiving), mini candy canes and some Peep Trees. Moose loved making it, as expected. Monkey was completely unable to stop from eating anything. She immediately ate one half of her roof, turning her house into a box. Then she continued to try and eat everything we gave her to decorate with. So the hubs took her to take a bath while Moose and I finished. It was fun. And now our Christmas festivities are officially over. Oh, and I finished cross-stitching my last Christmas present today. So yes, we're officially done with Christmas. Perhaps we'll have to put away Christmas next.

Baby Number 3...

So I realized a while ago that I hadn't been posting much about the baby or pregnancy. Pregnancy-wise, things are great. I've got a nice bump, and I love it. I'm eating great, the heartburn has calmed down the last month (yay!!) and I can sleep comfortably at night. Really, you can't ask for too much more than that.

We still haven't settled on a name yet. We have a short list that's more or less constantly changing, and our number 1 name changes pretty regularly too. But we'll pick one.

Moose has felt the baby kick multiple times now. I love how aware he is of her and what's going to happen. He understood when Monkey was born almost 2 years ago (he was almost 3 at the time), so there's no doubt in my mind he's fully comprehending what's coming. Although me and him can't agree on any names. :)

The hubs is already prepping to take work off. He has to put in paperwork to get a substitute for his classes. He's going to take 3 weeks off! :) He took none off with Moose, and wasn't really working formally when Monkey was born, so he took none off then. So this should be pretty interesting. And the due date is at the end of his spring break. So we'll basically have him for 4 weeks. My mom will be here for 2 weeks, hopefully getting here before she comes. (Unless she's a week early, which is still okay with me.)

It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone. The first pregnancy was completely all-consuming. I thought about it every minute of every day. I was constantly internet searching, reading, and more or less counting down every day.  With Monkey's pregnancy it was slightly less so. I was busy taking care of Moose and my other daycare kid. I was more familiar with what was going on (pregnancy wise, not delivery wise. He was a c-section, so I had a bit of prepping to do for my VBAC.)  But with this one, I'm so busy with 2 kids and everything that entails, that half the time I don't think at all about the fact that I'm pregnant. The baby doesn't move a ton during the day. She's a night owl. I'm sure as she gets bigger and makes her presence all the more known, it'll be harder to ignore her. But it's really just another thing on the day's list. In a way it's great, because the pregnancy goes by faster. I'm about to take a glucose test to see if I've got gestational diabetes, and after that I'm visiting the doc every 2 weeks. I can't believe I'm at that point already. It's nuts. This Friday I'll be 27 weeks. Once you hit 30 it seems like it starts to wind down really fast and everyone starts anticipating the baby's arrival. I feel like that's so far away, but I know that the new year is going to go by so fast. We're a somewhat busy family, and time just seems to fly. I hope I'll feel really ready by the time she's coming.

So that's Baby Number 3. Eventually she'll have a name. Although I suppose I won't post it here, as part of my agreement with the hubs. I guess she'll end up with another nickname. Perhaps it should start with an M?

Any suggestions??

Christmas Aftermath...

The last few days were quite busy and hectic. I spent a large portion of them sewing, shopping and wrapping. And otherwise spending time with the hubs (when he wasn't working) and the kids.  Christmas Eve he took the kids sledding while I cross-stitched a present. (Still not entirely finished, unfortunately) Due to the busy-ness, the kids did not take naps. For Moose that was okay, but for Monkey not so much. We stayed up late Christmas Eve with a big family dinner, and other Christmas Eve traditions.

Christmas morning was great. The kids got up at 7. Monkey was grouchy, unfortunately, but we dealt with it best we could. We opened stockings, ate breakfast and then slowly opened presents for over an hour. The kids would open one and want to play, so we'd open them up and let them play. Then we'd open some more. It was nice. We had one hiatus while the hubs put Monkey back to bed. She didn't ultimately stay there, but it let her know we were serious about dealing with her serious grouchiness. After we were all done at home, we went to a family member's house for more present opening and lunch. We got back by 2, and Monkey had conked out in the car. But unfortunately she wouldn't nap. I had her asleep all the way in the house and laying her down. But in the last minute she woke up and wouldn't sleep. We took her out of the room since Moose was in there and we didn't want her to wake him.

After he woke up we went to another family member's house and hung out til dinner time. We got home a little late that night and the kids were in bed around 8:30. Monkey fell asleep on the hubs while he sang her songs. She slept in til about 8 this morning (yay!) and took a nap today (double yay!), so hopefully she's on the mend.  

We managed to organize toys a bit today. It's amazing how much you end with. We have such generous family, we're always taken back by how much they give. The kids have tons of new things to keep them busy and happy. I'm amazing we've found homes for most of it.

This next week should be slightly less crazy since the holiday is past. We still have a decent amount of things going on, but we're hoping it feels slightly more vacation-y. It's hard to believe Christmas is over. But I'm glad it's come and gone. There's so much work that goes into it, I'm okay with it being over. But I love the feel of Christmas, and we'll try and make that last a little bit longer. At least through this next week before the hubs goes back to his normal job. (He's still working some random days in his holiday/summer/weekend job, including tomorrow.)

So I realize I haven't mentioned much about the pregnancy or our little bun. Perhaps tomorrow. I've got a sweet baby bump, which I love, and 3 more months to go (more or less. Mostly more.) I hope everyone out there was able to have a great Christmas, and remember what it's really about. I know we did. :)

Ouch...

This morning I woke up and the kids were up playing with the hubs. So I sat down on the floor and started playing. Monkey found this dragon toy we got at McDonalds. It has fire that goes in the mouth, and when you pull the tail the fire comes out. But she can't figure that part out. So she points to the fire and grunts or whines. I saw this going on and told her to bring it to me and I would help her. So she started walking towards me, and then a few feet infront of me she threw it at me. It hit me square in the nose.

I thought I might be bleeding or something. Luckily the toy isn't that heavy. But it still stung like crazy and I felt silly for crying, but I couldn't help it. The hubs rushed over and gave me some space while I worked through the sting. Moose was very sympathetic, which was cute. After I was alright, I tried talking to her about it and told her she gave me an owie. (A concept she understands for the most part.) She seemed slightly sad (or maybe intrigued) for a while. A few times during the morning she came up and would touch my nose very softly.

Hopefully that'll be the first, and last time for that.

Ipsy Dipsy...

We spent a large portion of the evening, right before dinner, in the car delivering goodie plates. By the end Monkey was getting tired and bored of being in the car. So we took to singing her favorite songs to her.  Lately, her most favorite is "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". Every now and then, Moose would offer to sing her a song. He sang her spider song, but instead of "itsy bitsy" he says "Ipsy Dipsy".   Guess that spider isn't the smartest in the bunch. :)

Looking forward to another day of Christmas vacation with the hubs home tomorrow. Although I'll admit we're busier when he's home. He's intense about getting things done. They're all important and good things. But it makes for an interesting and busy vacation. Maybe we'll get all the important things done this week so that next week can be a more typical relaxing vacation.

We'll see. :)

Really Vacation...

So we decided that today was really the first day of vacation. Sundays are generally somewhat relaxing and rejuvenating, but since the hubs worked yesterday, it was officially our first day of vacation.

My morning was pretty busy with 2 choir practices in the morning before church, then 3 separate numbers I participated in during our church meeting. (Never singing, mind you. Conducting or playing piano.) But it all turned out great and was nice.

The afternoon was capped with naps from all (but the hubs), followed by prepping apples for making applesauce. The hubs and I made (simultaneously) applesauce, banana bread, banana pudding (with instant vanilla pudding mix) and stir fry for dinner. Every now and then the hubs gets on these types of rampages. It seemed chaotic at first, but the kids more or less left us alone, so it wasn't so bad.

Then we capped off the night going to a Christmas play at a local church. It was quite the production, with 2 sets, songs, and choreography. The family was pretty amused by how closely Moose paid attention when he was choosing to listen. At one point it mentioned that everyone dies, and he says "I don't want to die." So we had a small chat about that. Then a character said "stupid" and he reminded me that we don't say that word. As the characters shared that Jesus is what Christmas is about, he made notice and then when another character said it was about money, he made sure to point out that he was wrong. Christmas is about Jesus. I told Moose that he was right, and the character was wrong. Monkey basically played on the stairs next to us the entire performance.

Tomorrow should be a nice vacation day. The hubs is taking the kids to the store first thing to do a major shopping trip. I'm going to be at home sewing. :) Then tomorrow evening is caroling at my bro-in-law's house. And yes mom, I'm going to make the artichoke dip. :)

Tidbits...

Today doesn't have any one remarkable moment or thought. Just lots of little things. I thought today would be the first day of vacation, but the hubs was asked last night if he would work today, so he did. Then he got asked to stay later because someone else was sick, so he did. So it wasn't really much of a vacation day after all. He did take the kids with him to the store this morning and bought a new phone to replace the one Monkey broke in half the other day. I was able to make some serious progress on Monkey's next Christmas present, a little pinafore. All I have left is the straps that will go around her neck and to finish the straps that tie behind her back. But it's mostly done. Yay!  Oh, and I might add a pocket too, if I get enough time next week with the hubs being at home. (Which might not really be what I was anticipating since the manager really wants him to work next week, although the owner of the store isn't on board. So we don't know what's going to happen.)

Despite the kids undeserving behavior, we painted some homemade ornaments (courtesy of their grandma who gave us leftover supplies from her third grade class) complete with googly eyes, ribbon and mini-buttons. Super cute. Monkey painted one, mostly. Moose did 2, and I did 1.  Then after Monkey went to bed, me and Moose (Yes, I know the grammar is wrong Mom. I don't care.) made some oatmeal cookies. We've got one more treat to make (fudge!) and then we'll be able to finish our treat plates. We're going to take them to some select homes and do a bit of caroling. :)

Now that the kids are bathed and jammied, we're doing another installment of Star Wars for Moose. They're currently trying to escape the Death Star with the Princess. We're having a bit of fun watching it with him in small pieces. We pause it often so he can ask him questions (which are many) and answer them fully. I don't know exactly how long it'll take us to finish the movie, but it'll be fun enjoying it with him.  He's getting a few Star Wars action figures for Christmas, so it'll be nice for him to understand something. Although he's getting an Anakin, and we're starting with the originals. But he'll at least be able to understand it more.

Tomorrow's going to be insanely busy for me. Send me good thoughts. :)

Why Did You Say Candy...

We've noticed that when Moose gets tired, he will get focused, or more like obsessed, with one concept/idea/word. It can be terribly annoying. Tonight as we were putting the kids down, the hubs told him if he did something we asked him not to, he would lose all his candy for tomorrow. (Post-meal desserts, and the like) A few minutes later as we were finishing up a few Christmas songs for them, he starts asking us, "Why did you say candy?" over and over and over again.

I'll admit I'm not in anyway patient when he gets this way. We basically closed the door after our songs and ignored him completely. I don't think he'll be scarred for it. :)

Vacation...

I only say vacation because I'm sorely looking forward to next week when the hubs is on his Christmas vacation. Today was a good but rough day. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was just a grouch. I really wanted more sleep for whatever reason and just struggled a bit. Monkey is pretty much all better. She took an awesome nap, which helped too. But what helped the most was the nap I took. I was able to wake up feeling like a completely different person. I didn't craft or anything like that, which I usually use naptime for, but I decided the way I used my time was by far the best use. I told the hubs the house was pretty messy because I slept during naptime and didn't make the kids clean a ton because I wasn't patient enough. He said he didn't care one bit. He'd rather have a messy house and a happy wife than the other way around. Have I ever mentioned how much I love that guy?

This week is going to remain pretty busy. Preschool at our house tomorrow. I've got a pretty big choir performance at church Sunday that I've been practicing the piano for. We've also got a caroling that I'm planning, which is happening Monday. (I'm playing the piano for that too.) I've got 4 Christmas presents to finish. (1 in the works, the others waiting) I've got 2 treats to make (fudge and oatmeal cookies) for treat plates we're planning on giving out. Granted, that one I'm not responsible for solely. It was the hub's idea and he wants to help and be in charge of it. But still, it's on the to-do list. I've got a few Christmas decorations I've planned to make with Moose for his tree.

Don't get me wrong, I know hat ultimately some things just don't get done. And I know that. But I really like the feeling of productivity and accomplishing things. We'll see what happens. And then there's getting over my cold, and getting enough sleep.

On a lighter note, the hubs introduced Moose to Star Wars tonight. :)

I want to scream at Mama...

Despite the heading, today was a good day. We used some alternative tactics to get Monkey to sleep last night. She was really struggling with the cough. She just hates coughing when it's time to be sleeping and gets so frustrated. So the hubs propped himself up in bed, and got her to lay with him. Then when she was comfortable and sleeping, we made a small pillow pile between us in our bed and laid her on it so she would be propped up. We tried propping up her mattress, but she still moves so much I was worried she'd spend half the night with her feet where her head should be, making her cough worse.  But nestled between the two of us she didn't squirm nearly as much, and she was probably so tired that helped too.  So she slept in our bed til around 2 or 3 when I took her to her own bed. (At her own insistence. The hubs was going to carry her and she asked for me. Half-asleep at 2 am and she still prefers me. Go figure.)

Today was significantly better. She slept in til 7:20 and took a nap from 12:30 til 3:30 without crying or coughing at all. It was miraculous. And she just went to bed and I have yet to hear her cough. That doesn't mean she won't, but the progress is fantastic compared to the last few days. I'm hoping she'll be over it within a day or two as long as she can keep sleeping this well.

So, the title. I sang her songs and told her good night. When I shut the door she started crying and screaming. After a minute or so she got up and opened the door. The hubs was the one who went in there and once she saw him she started crying, "Mama!" I thought to myself, "What? You'd rather scream at me, and not him?" I know she's clingy about me still but sometimes it just makes me laugh. Like the occasional time when she walks out into the living room and if he starts to walk towards her she starts crying "Mama" and running away from him. It's kinda cute, but tiresome after the first few times.

Yay for kids getting better. We ended up not having preschool today. With Monkey sick, another kid's brother was sick and in the end you have to have more than 2 kids, so it just ended up falling through. But I'm truly surprised we've gone this long with a group of 5 kids without having it cancelled due to sickness.

Well, she's crying now (5 minutes after I started this post) but it's not due to coughing. I guess that can be counted as progress, right? :)

Cough, cough, cough...

So today was up and down, mostly about Monkey. She's still coughing a bit, although she didn't wake up once last night. So at first I thought it was going to be a better day. But when it came to naptime, things just didn't work out. I put her down early, and she cried on and off, possibly sleeping in the off times, for about 3 hours. It was awful. I felt so bad for her. But she only coughs during sleep times. She doesn't cough consistently throughout the day, but when it comes to sleeptime, that's a whole other story. Then she also ended up staying up a little late tonight too, due to company. But she's quiet now, so maybe, just maybe she's already passed out from exhaustion. And if her cough is actually improving like I think it is, she might even sleep in to make up for lost time.

It was a slightly difficult/tiresome day, but despite that it was still productive. For one, we had some killer homemade pizza for dinner. :) Then I was also able to work on one of Monkey's Christmas present during "naptime". I'm definitely gearing up for some relaxation tonight.

Oh, and I'm hosting preschool tomorrow. Asssuming they still bring their kids after I emailed the moms all about Monkey's coughing situation. We'll see. :)

Another Day...

Today was pretty average. We all went to church. The kids took naps. The kids are now in bed. The only news is that Monkey is still struggling wtih a cough that wakes her up too early in the morning and too early from her nap. I can't wait til it's gone because I'm betting she'll sleep in really late that morning since she'll finally be able to sleep more peacefully.

Me and the hubs set up our new computer (from which I'm blogging). Our old one is 6 1/2 years old and we worry it's going to crash on us. So we got our wonderful new computer set up and I taught Moose how to play some news games, introduced him to "paintbrush" (what kid doesn't love playing with that) and overall got more organized. It feels awesome.

This coming Tuesday and Thursday it's my day to do preschool. Let's hope I can handle it all in my somewhat more advanced pregnant state. We'll see.

Hope Monkey doesn't cough too bad tonight. Well, I'm off to see "The End" of Lost. Can't believe it's finally over. :)

Have I Mentioned Being Busy...

As predicted, the busy-ness hasn't slowed down one bit. Yesterday was a busy Friday, as usual. Not to mention the nasty cold I have/had. It hit me really hard that morning, so I spent as long as possible dozing in bed while Moose watched a movie from the library and Monkey played around me. Then last night me and the hubs had a date night, finishing off most of our Christmas funds and hooking up our new Blu-ray player to our tv and setting it up to watch our Netflix on the tv. (Very exciting for us!) So we were psyched up to watch an episode of our show on tv last night (via our new Blu-ray) and blogging was postponed. Not to mention the pure exhaustion I was feeling.

Today was slightly better. Equally busy, although the hubs was home most of the day. (YAY!) Me and Moose made some chocolate chip cookies. We're planning on making goodie plates to give to a few families, and wanted to get him involved in the giving process. Then we had a great Christmas party tonight where we experienced "Bethlehem" and ate foods they would eat, dressed up (yes, towels on the head, that sorta thing) and sang some great Christmas songs to a short program. It was great and the kids had a good time. Monkey loved it because we all sat on the floor for the most part, so everything was on her level. They also got a driedel. (I'm sure that's spelled wrong) A top, for those who can't figure out what that says. It comes complete with instructions one how to play a game with it. Moose was super excited because he was able to figure out how to spin it. (Quite the fine motor skills involved in that one.)

Now the kids are in bed (hopefully for the night), things are mostly  put away, and we're about to finish the last episode of "Lost". Oh, and I started making Christmas project #5 today. It's a pinafore for Monkey. Gonna be adorable. Anyway, time to relax. With the insane busy-ness lately, we take our relaxing very seriously. As should you all. :)

So tired...

That's about all I can say. Last night wasn't nearly as smooth as I was hoping.  Monkey woke up at 3, still with a fever, and pretty much stayed awake til somewhere around 4:45. I slept by her bed on the floor to keep her reigned in and not coming out of her room every few minutes. We slept in til a little after 8, but it was still exhausting. Her fever has persisted today, but it's slightly lower. So hopefully by the end of tomorrow it'll be low enough that it won't bother her so much. I know she's pretty exhausted too.

Christmas is continually coming closer. I can hardly believe it's almost 2 weeks away. I just hope I can get my projects done by then. Even if I don't, I'll still make them for the kids. But it'd be nice to meet the deadline.

I'm looking forward to a day of nothing to do but school with Moose. (at home) Mondays and Fridays are my haven at home days. Nowhere to go, no schedules to meet. Since he started preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Wednesday has become our official library day, (all of these good things) it keeps us really busy. It's been good for the kids to get out of the house so regularly, especially in the snowy winter. But it makes me enjoy those days at home all the more.

Can't wait til the kids are in bed. I'm looking forward to a big bowl of popcorn and watching a few episodes of "Lost" in bed. Hope Monkey sleeps better tonight. For all our sakes. :)

Keeping busy...

I am learning that over this holiday season I will be kept very busy. Unless I completely drop the ball, anyway.

Yesterday we had preschool, me and Monkey kept busy while he was gone. I've been Christmas crafting during naptime, getting some serious work done. The hubs had an evening meeting, so I was busy with kiddos and bedtime. Then we relaxed with some tv episode watching on Netflix, one of our more favorite past times.

Today was equally busy. No preschool, but our weekly trip to the library. More crafting during naptime, finishing Christmas project #4 out of 8. Then I had some evening business to take care of. There's still wrapping to be done, shopping to be done (probably get it done during our date Friday night), and more sewing!

Poor Monkey is feverish. She woke up with a pretty high fever. I hate seeing her lethargic or sicky. I mostly just saw her grouchy, but gave her a dose of tylenol while she was in bed (when we put Moose to bed) and she just seemed so sad. I'm sure it was just her being tired because she was woken up 2 hours into her nightly sleeping, but still. I hope she's feeling better tomorrow and doesn't wake up at night due to fever or other discomforts.

Darn those winter maladies. We've almost all got coughs and runny noses. Grrr.

Spring Cleaning...

Sorry for the two day lapse. Saturday night we had a long day with the hubs at work and we spent dinnertime with a friend who was in town. Yesterday ended up being a mass spring cleaning day. The hubs was inspired by one thing and it turned out being a huge overhaul of the apartment. It was great. We have tons of tubs. Living in apartments and moving often, we've acquired plastic tubs. Big ones, small ones, medium size ones. We pulled them all out (over half of them hold the kids smaller clothes, for when we need them again) and rearranged, consolidated, and purged. We also put together a bookshelf deal with doors that's been in its box on the floor for a week. We ended up with multiple empty tubs and an empty shelf. We were able to put it all away and have the house feel less cluttered and more organized. I did one last bit of it this morning with Moose and he was so excited to organize. He thinks it's the best.

So, an update on the big girl bed saga. It's getting better. We've had a few rough go downs, but all in all she's getting used to it. Although she woke up crying at 6:00 this morning and was basically awake from then on. Needless to say, she had an early and long nap.

As part of our cleaning, the school/craft area is extremely more organized. (That's what the new bookshelf deal was for.) I was feeling super inspired to rejuvenate Moose's school we do at home. So we had school today. We didn't really do anything new, but with things more organized it just felt better. He was super motivated too and did a ton of pages from one of his activity books, practicing writing the alphabet and numbers. It was great.

I'm trying to pick up my Christmas crafting, knowing that the holiday is going to spring up on me before I know it. I just finished Monkey's first project today, a dress-up skirt. It has jewel type things all over it, so it's a bit sparkly. I like it. Next is project #4, a camera case for Moose. (for his digital camera he got for his birthday.)

And a few days ago me and Moose made a Christmas paper chain from my Christmas scrapbooking papers and put it on their Charlie Brown tree in their bedroom. It's not long enough to really go around the tree more than once, but it still looks great. It's currently decorating the bottom half of the tree. Sometime during the rest of the week we're going to make a popcorn chain, and paint a few styrofoam balls. Perhaps even toss some glitter on them. :)

Monkey's already broken one Christmas ornament. Luckily, it was fixable. :) Hopefully the rest of the ornament will survive the Christmas season.

Progress...

So today was better. Slightly worse in some ways, but better still in the end. If that makes any sense. 

Monkey was up at 6:30 in the am with her brother, who normally gets up at that time. (Take note, that's over 2 hourse earlier than usual for her.) They still went to nap at their normal time of 1 o'clock. Moose ended up in my bed again, after one strike from missy getting out of her bed. She was better about staying in it. She'd just get up, get toys, go back to bed, and repeat over and over. But once he was gone, she wasn't a happy camper. She noticed immediately that I locked the door. It only took 2 visits to her room before she was down for the count. The second visit was mainly due to the fact that she dropped her paci and couldn't find it. So all in all it was very productive. And she took a 3 hour nap, thanks to her early wake up.

Bedtime, fantastic. Didn't go in once.

And I haven't found her on the floor lately. Ever since that one night, I check on her everytime I get up for my midnight/early morning potty break. She maybe she's slowly figuring out this bed thing. Perhaps I'll even be able to let them nap in the same room soon.

Progress is progress. Thank goodness.

0-Me, 1-Someone Else...

I'm going to sum today up, then drown my sorrows in a bowl of vanilla, chocolate syrup and whipped topping.

I was woken up by Moose, who had shoved a small plastic something up his nose. Fortunately I was able to remove it, using a dull-tipped crochet needle. Thank goodness. No trip to the ER today.

Naptime was a total bust. Monkey is just not digging the idea of napping on that mattress. So after 1 1/2 hours, I put Moose to bed in my room (he was such a trooper the whole time) and locked her in her room. She fell asleep within an hour or so. Unfortunately, I went to check on her after a long quiet period, only to realize she was asleep against the door, and I stirred her. She fussed, went back to sleep for 20 minutes, until Moose woke up, closed my door in a not-so-quiet manner, reawakening her.

Then there's the diaper change. She was poopy, so I went to change her. She wouldn't lay down, so I laid her down. Not entirely unusual. But she completely lost it. I ended up wiping her bum while holding her with one hand on her ankle, body mostly hanging upside down. Putting her diaper on was equally difficult. After that little escapade she had another time in her room with the lock on, so I could cool off and recover from such an exciting diaper change.

So I don't know who got the points today, but it certainly wasn't me. Tomorrow's another day. Let's just hope it's not another one like this one. :)

Big Girl Bed Saga...

I have a feeling this one will be lasting a while.

Miss Monkey woke up at 6:30 again this morning when Moose got out of bed. So again, I went into their room and laid on Moose's bed while she went back to sleep. (For those who are wondering what on earth Moose is doing, he sat on the couch til 7, then watched a DVD from the library with headphones on.) She did fall asleep again, and slept til 9:45. I think I won't let her sleep in this long. Because her normal 1 o'clock naptime was too early for her and she struggled. So I ended up in their room at naptime to help her fall asleep. I ended up laying next to her on her mattress and watched her fall asleep. (I've never done that before, with a kid this age. It was actually really cool. Once she stopped squirming and fighting me.)

However, bedtime tonight didn't go so hot. I came home from somewhere as the hubs was calming her down for the first time. They heard me come in, and instantly she started crying. (Her whole attached-to-Mama-at-bedtime-unless-she's-not-here thing.) So I calmed her down and put her to bed. She came out of their room about 3 times after that. Finally, I think, she's down for good. I was starting to get worried that she secretly liked me being there when she fell asleep, even if I terrorized her for the first 45 minutes of it. (It took an hour.)

But she didn't wake up at all last night, not until 6:30 anyway. But she's definitely getting a 9 a.m. wake up call from now on. Especially since Moose has preschool tomorrow at 9. I'm teaching him to be fashionably late at a young age. Even if our version of fashionable is questionable. :)