Olive has been on an amazing sleeping streak the last few weeks. I kept thinking it was just a fluke and that if I said anything out loud I would jinx it. It’s become another one of the many reasons why I love her so much. Easy baby=happy mommy.
When she wakes up in the morning Dave brings her into bed with me. She eats, hangs out, kicks, squeals, smiles and then falls back to sleep. If the stars are aligned, I can sneak away and leave her there to nap, while I get ready for the day.
But today, I didn’t want to sneak away. I wanted to lay there with her, stare at her little face, kiss those chubby cheeks, and maybe sneak in a few more minutes of sleep myself.
Then Gwen came in. “Mom, my diaper is wet.”
So I drag myself out of bed, away from this little piece of heaven, to go clean her sister’s bum. And these are the days of my life.
Allow me to introduce Gwen, The Pickiest Eater on the Planet.
Ok, I might be exaggerating, but only a little bit. Her pickiness really is off the charts. For example, last night, she turned up her nose at pizza.
PIZZA!
She acted like we were force feeding her brussel sprouts. “No pizza for dinner! NO PIZZA FOR DINNER!”
Even though she is SUPER picky, she does eat oatmeal for breakfast nearly every morning.
How do we get her to eat oatmeal, you ask?
Sprinkles.
Yep, sprinkles. One morning in a desperate attempt to get her to eat anything in our kitchen, Dave disguised her bowl of boring ol’ oatmeal with a dash of decorative sugar.
While I recognize the fact that we are making her healthy breakfast not so healthy, I’d like you to know that we barely put any on at all. I’d say there’s maybe 1/4 of a teaspoon.
If that.
What can I say? Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I am sincerely sorry that I put you through that spinning class last night. I realize that you haven’t had that hard of a workout since Gwen was born. However, it was for the best. I think I am more sorry for not having worked you that hard in such a long, long time. I also realize that I need to take better care of you and that the extra pounds you have been carrying around these past few years are even worse than the spinning class from last night. Yes, even worse.
So if you will cooperate with me, I believe it is in our best interest that we continue attending these classes. If we do so, I see a bright future ahead of us. And believe me when I say that I will feel the pain when you do.
Woke up feeling rather lazy and lethargic. Talked to Kristy on the phone and made a deal. I had to go workout right then and she would go today(wednesday). I took the girls on a 40 minute walk (the big loop) so I hope you went today Kris! When I got home and put the stroller back in my car, I locked my keys in it as well. Errands were scratched off my list of things to do at that point. I am just so smooth sometimes, it really is quite impressive.
Inez came up to me and said, “Mom look what I’m doing! Do you want to take my picture?” After returning with my camera I had her pose again. I’m not sure why this was supposed to be so impressive and/or picture worthy, but I humor her. Felt overwhlemed because of this and this Trying to get creative for a little craft party that I’m wanting to hold (a.k.a. “stamp camp”, but I really hate that name, it’s so cheesy). Decorated for Halloween. “Do you want me in the picture too Mom?” she asked as she got in front of the lens. Okay Mom K., remember how last year I found the last one of these guys after Halloween at Roberts or some place like that? Well, I found them again this year at Tai Pan Trading Co. and bought one for you (you’re welcome).
Dave loves this decoration and said to me when we got out our boxes of decorations the other day, “We should get rid of all the decorations that aren’t like this and we should only buy this kind of stuff from now on.” Hmph. How do I interpret that one?
After getting Gwen down for her nap, Inez and I made pumpkin cookies for the second time this week. A bad thing since it was only Tuesday. And Liz you would LOVE these. Inez tried on her new skirt. She decided that she wanted to keep it on all day because it was good for dancing. Impromptu dance party(USA) Danced to this song:
After feeling rested, Gwen rejoined us and proceeded to follow Inez around everywhere. But got hung up on the chair, climbing up and getting down, climbing up and getting down. Again and again and again. Then she refocused and followed Inez around again, this time under Daddy’s desk to check out the vent where Inez was playing Jingle Bells(don’t ask). After eating some fresh zucchini from our garden (which Gwen loves but Inez won’t touch with a ten-foot pole) we got our jim-jams on. Thanks Aunty Kiki for the cool hand-me-down jammies! The girls went to sleep without a fight (another prayer answered). Dave went to work tweaking our blog, but should have been working on some freelance. He finally did, for hours. And I finally got in a groove and kicked out a few cards. This is one of my faves.
We went to bed at 2am.
Today I am EXHAUSTED and it’s time to start all over, again.
I keep hearing that I should listen to a podcast called This American Life. I’ve been meaning to give it a try for the past few weeks and yesterday, on my way home from work, I finally listened to my first episode, Unconditional Love.
I’ve given you the link to the episode, but If you are a parent, I recommend that you do not listen to it. Unless you have a desire to feel that your parenting skills are on par with those of Britney Spears, don’t listen. It will convince you that your children are the ones enduring you (not the other way around) and that you’ve never had a difficult day in all of your selfish life.
It might also make your eyes watery as you drive. When you reach home, it’s possible that it will cause you to give your surprized wife and daughters lengthy, embarrassing hugs followed by lengthy, embarrasing (watery) gazes and a few clumsy declarations, like “I love you guys” and “No, seriously—I SO love you guys.”
The only thing that happened between Nezzie’s innocent three-year-old kisses of yesterday and the tilted head, eyes closed, mushy kiss that she tried to give Dave today, was the watching of Barbie of Swan Lake. This morning I overheard this dialogue between Inez & Dave: I: I love you Dad. D: I love you too, Nezzie. (pause) D: Nezzie we don’t kiss like that. I: But sometimes girls kiss boys like that.
Lesson learned? Even if renting a movie from the library is only $1 for a whole week, the answer will be NO.
It is a pretty annoying movie to listen to, besides the music.
This morning after just having returned from our morning walk down around the temple, Gwen fell asleep in the stroller and was easily transported to the crib and fell back asleep. Miracle of miracles. It was 10:45 am and the leftover birthday cake was staring me down. Inez had been begging for cake all morning and I caved, but mostly so I could eat some of the frosting. I know what you are thinking and please don’t judge. You will have to just trust me when I say that my Mom makes the best homemade fudgy frosting, otherwise I would not have eaten something of that nature right after working out. I am wiping the saliva off my mouth as I type, which is kind of tricky if you are typing with two hands.
Well, after a few bites of cake, Inez decided that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. She often does this with desserts, which totally baffles me. Anyway, I gave her some of her soymilk to help wash it down and the following conversation occurred:
Inez: Mom, can I have a chocolate straw with my milky? Me: No, you are had enough sugar from the cake. I: MOM, you are not doing what Jesus said. M: Oh really? And what does Jesus say? I: He says you have to share everything.
At this point of my post, I would include a picture of the cake, but sadly at the time of publication there is no cake left to photograph. My sincerest apologies. Instead here’s what is left.
These are just two of the many reasons I love the mid-summer season.
1. Unbelievably delicious fruit like this because I put it on my oatmeal in the morning, topped with a little brown sugar, and it is TO DIE FOR. It may even be better than chocolate, which may shock Dave because he doesn’t believe that phrase could possibly ever leave my mouth, but it’s true. But look. See? Doesn’t it look yummy? 2. Shark Week. It scares me half to death, but I love it.
I am done reading the seventh Harry Potter (no spoilers here, it’s safe to read on). My brain hurts from reading so late into the night(s) after the girls were asleep. I even read it at the gym the other day but it felt SO wrong! Harry Potter really doesn’t belong at the gym.
I can now catch up on my blog with some recent happenings, so stay tuned.
