Today

Friday afternoon I ran to the grocery store with the kids to get some stuff for the weekend. We got home, Ryan unloaded the groceries while I started making lunch, then I put the kids down for naps, then Ryan's parents arrived and I had to run out for an errand...It was a busy day.

On Sunday, I realized there was no new gallon of milk in the fridge. I figured I'd left it at the store (wouldn't have been the first time) and reminded myself to get a new one next time I was at HEB.

WELL. Today Ryan is getting ready for work and can't find his wallet, so he goes out to check my car. He rushed inside and said, "What's wrong with our car!?!?" Apparently I hadn't forgotten the milk. No, it was definitely there in our car, all over the place! The milk EXPLODED. It was in the back seat (I remember putting it there now) and I guess it started curdling and just exploded EVERYWHERE. It was all over the car seats, ceiling, seat backs, seat fronts, inside the a/c vents, under the seats, in the front seats, on my steering wheel, on my CD cases, on the stroller packed in the back- EVERYWHERE. Literally, the only place I didn't see it was on my rosary hanging from the rearview mirror!

I gagged just opening the door because it smelled so awful.

After a near almost-breakdown, I took everything out of the car and rolled the windows down. I started the car seat covers in the wash and put everything worth keeping in a pile and everything to be tossed in the trash can. I told Ryan I wanted to bring it somewhere to be cleaned since there was just no way I could tackle this, so I called a place nearby and they said they'd detail it for $75. Well worth it, I think. I drove it over there (while my neighbor watched the kids), and the guy stuck his head in and had this "holy cow" look on his face. He said they'd need to charge an extra $15 bucks, lol. He looked bewildered that something like this happened, and I asked him if this was the worst he'd ever seen. He said no (something about a dead dog in a trunk...) but that it was definitely up there, ha! I told him if they get it looking and smelling like new again, I would tell everyone on the planet how awesome they are!

There's just no way it's going to smell like new again though. We've had it for one year and one month; it still had the new car smell. I'm guessing that the milk exploded soon after we got home from mass yesterday (after 10:30) because everything was dried and really caked in. So disgusting.

I've cleaned off the car seat shells but still have to clean my CDs (luckily not a lot), some toys and my sunglasses. I'm thinking about throwing my glasses away, they were just $8 from Old Navy!

I know I'll laugh about this one day, but right now the wound is still too new. I will definitely be making sure we get the milk out of the car from now on!

I took these pics on my phone so they're not great, but you get the idea.

Like Mary

In case you missed it on Facebook...

One day last week Beth was admiring this picture I have on the wall in her room:

She grabbed her favorite blanket and put it over her head, then got Eric (her doll) and her stuffed lamb and said she wanted to be like Mary:



I see the resemblance, don't you? (I think we have our All Saint's Day costume! We'll just borrow one of Luke's blue blankets instead of this pink one, and I'll make her a pretty blue dress!)

A tooth!

Luke is cutting his first tooth! At 10 1/2 months! Maybe now he'll look a little older. ;-)

Luke's sleep

Luke's been sleeping pretty well for about a month now, so I feel like I won't jinx myself it I blog about it!

Probably a month to 6 weeks ago, we were kind of fed up with the sleep situation around here. We decided to do a combination of No Cry Sleep Solution and The Sleep Lady, mixed in with a little bit of my knowledge of how Luke works. We've been very consistent about his bedtime routine for several months now, so preparing him for sleep hasn't been the issue. But helping him fall asleep without pacing around the room for 30 minutes- that was the challenge.

We started with a bedtime routine, shorter than Beth's because by the end of the night Luke's usually worn out so he doesn't have the patience for me to read him a book or two. When I go to sit down and read/rock, he immediately wants to nurse. He'll let Ryan read to him for awhile, but then calls me in to be the "closer!" I nursed him till he popped off (he won't fall asleep while nursing- not his thing) and then I rocked him for another minute, paced him for a few minutes, then laid him down while he was VERY drowsy. I mean, nearly asleep. Then I left. He woke up and started fussing, so I set my timer for two minutes. When it dinged, I went in, laid him back down and patted his back, shushing him, and stayed with him till he was calm. Then I left again, and set the timer for 4 minutes. Went back in, same thing, then left. I planned on doing 6 minutes, but by a few seconds after I left, all was silent! Same thing the next night, and the night after, and I think by the fourth night I could lay him down drowsy and leave, and not hear another peep from him.

I don't remember how or when he started sleeping longer stretches. For awhile, he'd wake up at 11 pm and we'd let him fuss for two minutes, then four minutes, etc. I don't think we even made it to four minutes though, I think he was out after one time of going in and quieting him down. When he'd wake up at 2 or 3 am, I'd nurse him then put him back down, and always went down easy after that. Then he'd wake up for the morning around 6. Ugh that's hard!

After some time, he's sleeping longer stretches. We put him down around 7:15 and usually don't hear a peep until around 3-5 am. I go to him, nurse him, and put him back in bed and he's down again till about 6:30-6:45. That's about what's happening now.

Now, for nap time, I still haven't figured that one out. A few weeks ago, for about a week, he voluntarily was sleeping longer stretches and he was so happy that week! It was amazing! But, I can't make him sleep during the day, you know? Right now he naps from about 9-10 am, then 12:30-1:30, and sometimes from 3:30-4:15. When he was happiest, he napped from 9-11 then again from 1-3. I didn't know what to do with myself, Beth and I got a lot done around the house that week!

I love our bedtime routine for our kids. Getting our kids to sleep has never been an issue since we've been so rigid about the routines. Ryan and I have it easy, I know it! It's a blessing most of the time, but a curse some of the time. We have them so "trained" that neither of them will really nap under any other circumstance. On those rough days, don't you know I'd love to pile them all in my bed and nap together! But, Beth won't sleep anywhere else in our house other than her bed, and Luke won't sleep next to me anymore. It's sort of sad, because I know those are some tender moments I am missing out on! But, I tell myself, at least I have the chance to get some sleep at night, sleep that I desperately need. Now I just need to make myself go to bed earlier than midnight, then I might actually catch up on some sleep from those incredibly rough early days!

Fall garden

our backyard stump leftover from the hurricane. we can't be the only people with stumps still in their yard! besides, it's the perfect tiny stage for a tiny person!

On labor day we spent nearly the entire day outside working! In the morning, I prepped my garden and Beth helped me plant seeds. I planted 3 rows- one row of carrots, one row of broccoli, and half a row of lettuce and half a row of arugula. Since they're single-harvest plants, it's best to plant them in rounds. We'll see if the first round even makes it up out of the ground! This will be my first fall garden since last year I was, um, a little busy.




The rest of the day we worked on the yard- mowing, edging, weed-wacking, pulling weeds, cleaning the garage, and enjoying the great outdoors. It was hot, but oh well. Our kids don't know any different, Beth would gladly choose to play outside in the heat than stay inside in the cool.

It's an end-of-the-summer miracle! We planted our crepe myrtles the year we moved in, and this is the first blossom! Poor trees have been the subject matter of many jokes at their expense, and finally one of them bloomed! Ryan and I are so happy, who'd have thought a blooming tree would make a man so giddy!

Last week

beth's first day of "school." we joined our local catholic homeschool group, and beth and i attended the toddler "pray and play" group together. she was a little shy but overall really liked it!

tap shoes! can't get enough of them!

she's so proud of her tap shoes!

crawling over the upside-down coffee table, he loves climbing over things!

Visit to Aggieland

Yesterday we made the trek to Aggieland to celebrate our friend's 1st birthday! Which- you know that that means- Luke's 1st birthday is next month. Ack! Anyways, we had a really great time visiting with our friends, Beth got her first "Howdy!" from a member of the corps, and Luke visited his future college campus for the first time. ;-)

beth's first "howdy!"

luke and the birthday boy- future roommates? we'll post this picture on their dorm room door!

daddy and his little "muggies" (as beth says for some silly reason)

our little family of aggies

Silly

From a couple of days ago... For some reason, Beth gets a kick out of laying backwards on the firetruck toy we have, and Luke was pulling up on the table. This series of pictures makes me literally laugh out loud!

Rough day

Today I had one of those days that no mother wants to have. I was grumpy, the kids were grumpy, the house was dirty, and we had places to be and people to see. By the time we got home, kids were starving and tired, mommy was worn down, and the mess really added to the stress level.

All I wanted was to nap. I didn't care about the pile of dishes in the sink, the dirty floor, the mountain of laundry, the diapers to be folded... I just wanted to sleep. I got Luke down then went for Beth. She resisted a little today, most likely sensing my anxiousness to get myself into bed and therefore not paying enough attention to her. I fell asleep while rocking her, jolted myself awake, laid her in bed and practically ran to my bed to try to catch as much sleep as possible before one of them needed me.

But...

Beth wasn't ready to sleep. She came to me, needing to be tucked in again. So I tucked her back in, and got comfortable in my bed again. At this point my head was racing, and I begged God for an hour of sleep or 10 minutes of sleep, whatever I needed to feel rested. I figured if she went down now, she'd be down for an hour, and there'd be a teeny chance that Luke might sleep that long too.

It didn't happen. I was up and down, trying to get Beth to nap and then resettling Luke into sleep, only to discover he didn't want to resettle and 45 minutes was enough. I don't think Beth napped at all.

I was dragging. I was crankier than ever; I bet every mom has felt that way at least once or twice. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't see straight, and I was angry. I was angry because I felt like God wasn't listening to me. I was reasonable afterall, I asked for 10 minutes or an hour. I asked for what I needed, not what I wanted (to sleep all afternoon!).

I guess He had different plans for me. Unfortunately today I failed to sanctify this opportunity for grace. I didn't accept my afternoon of sleeplessness willingly! I remained grumpy and snapped at the kids, I ignored Beth a little because I was angry that she wouldn't nap and I was bitter that Luke wouldn't sleep longer. He needs longer naps, but he just can't do it. I started my chores angry at God for not giving me the little bit of rest I needed.

Looking back on my day, I can't believe how selfish I was. To miss opportunities to enjoy my children. To miss chances for personal growth- instead I fell behind a little. To miss out on an opportunity for redemptive suffering, how I wish I could have offered it up for a special friend who needs my prayers.

Tomorrow will be a better day. God forgives, my children forgive, and my house is now clean thanks to a man that loves me more than I know. Tomorrow I will do better. I will accept my hardships, and realize they're no so hard after all. I have everything I've ever asked of God- a husband, two children, a roof over my head and food to eat. Why was I angry that he didn't give me a 10-minute nap?

Ballet!

(she wore socks since it was a trial class, now we have to get real ballet shoes!)

Yesterday was Beth's first ballet class! The trial class went extremely well, Beth met the teachers and walked right in. The first 5 minutes or so, she just stood there and watched everyone else (they started with tap) but after that she really got into it. The teacher said she could stay in, so she's joining! It's once a week, and she will have 15 minutes of tap and 45 minutes of ballet. She wasn't sad to leave, but all day today she has been asking to go back! I think it'll be great for her to do this, not just to learn dance but to learn stuff like waiting for her turn in line and following directions from someone other than her parents. ;-) If all goes well, she will be part of the production next June, so mark your calendars!

Luke had a pretty good time too. The studio had some toys for the other kids to play with, who were mostly younger brothers. I learned that Luke really likes trucks, and that I should probably get him some "boyish" toys instead of all these hand-me-down girly things he's playing with!

He's moving now!

Luke's really on the go! I'm not kidding, just two days ago he was he pulling up on Beth's bed for the first time, and today he's pulling up on everything. The coffee table, his crib, Beth's little table- anything he can get his hands on. Oh man, I am so not ready for this. I really thought he'd be content to do his three-legged crawl for a few more months!

As you can see...

I am getting tired of the hot weather. I am officially ready for fall! Bring on the 70 degrees, falling leaves, crisp walks, and college football!

Oh yes, I should mention I spoke to soon, or that I did in fact jinx myself. Luke woke up 5 or 6 times last night, and as of yesterday he is suddenly interested in pulling up and scaling around furniture (specifically Beth's bed and school table). So, just great. ;-)

A quiet dinner

Our house is rarely silent. Beth even talks in her sleep, so night can be filled with Beth's talking too. But this dinner was a hit with both of them! This is the quietest our house has been in a long time... Mom, thanks again, for the Dan Dan Noodle recipe. Yum!

"school"

At the suggestion of a few friends, I bought Beth a couple of Kumon books from Target for her to work on at home, to play "school" with. She loves the Tracing book, she has plowed through most of it this week! She started off very well, anxious to be very accurate, but toward the end as it gets harder, she's giving less effort at maintaining accuracy, haha. The book is not really tracing, more like following a path with your pencil. We first do it with our finger, then Beth holds the pencil (correctly) and she draws. The next book I have is Cutting. She loves to cut paper, she has a pair of scizzors already that we work with a couple of times a week. Our biggest challange right now is to help her remember to cut away from her other hand! There aren't too many for the 2-3-year-old range, but this Tracing book has been so awesome for her. I need to find another (cheaper?) book, similar structure. Or, what I should have done is torn out the pages and used page protectors so she could have written on them with an erasable marker! Doh, why did I just think of that???

you can have school in your pajama shirt and bloomers, right?

look at those straight lines!

Beth has always loved to read. Most days we read at least 30-45 minutes, off an on, and when Grandma and Grandpa visit, that number easily triples! This is what I walked in on the other day:


She did this all by herself! It cracked me up, of course I had to take a picture! The book she is ready (and summarizing quite well) is You Can Go to the Potty. I guess Ariel is still potty training?


Or not? Notice Ariel's big-girl undies! Today Beth decided Ariel didn't need to wear her diaper anymore, I guess Ariel is growing up too!

Next Monday Beth is going to go to a dance class! We're going to a trial class to see how she does since the class is mostly older (3-year-old) girls. I'm so excited to see Beth try it out! I danced only until fifth grade (no talent here!) but I love that I learned all the basics of dance. I want Beth to have a foundation in dance as well, but mostly I think this is a great opportunity for her to try something new! We were planning on doing Soccer Tots with her but Ryan really wants to do that with her, and we couldn't work it out this fall. She'll play soccer eventually too, her father will insist!

Last weekend I enjoyed some tax-free shopping at The Children's Place, Crazy 8, Old Navy, and Gymboree before starting my credit card diet. Beth and Luke each got a lot of new fall clothes, all long sleeves and long pants, but all super cute! I put this hat on Beth as a joke in The Children's Place, but once I saw it on her I couldn't pass it up! She loves wearing it, I can't wait till it's cold and she has a reason to wear it out of the house!

10 months

I forgot to write an update on Luke for his 10-month birthday, oops! It was my birthday that day, I forgive myself. ;-)

Everyone knows Luke is crawling, and he's fast! He isn't scaling furniture yet, in fact, he's totally not even interested in pulling up on anything except Mommy and Daddy. If we're laying on the floor, he'll pull up and stand rather quickly, but he won't pull up anywhere else. That's okay, I'm in no rush for him to walk!

He's still nursing well, he's to the point that he gets completely distracted by everything around us, so I have to be a little careful while nursing in public! Still no teeth yet, either!

Luke love cords and outlet. It's really scary, how quickly he'll move from one side of the room to another, just to pull on a cord. He also loves Finley, and our awesome Doggie will let Luke crawl all over him! Luke's gotten a few wet kisses in the face- so gross, but he just laughs!

He's also signing! Okay, one sign ("more") and he uses it totally out of context, but it's clear that he's signing it to tell me something. He signs "more" when he's on the floor, fussing, and he wants me to pick him up! With him, I also sign, "please," "milk (nurse)," "no,""mommy," "daddy," and "all done." We didn't do mommy or daddy with Beth, she actually learned those and "help" when she was much older, after she could already talk. I was thinking of creating a sign for "Beth" but I'm not sure if that's the proper way to do it. He's got awhile before he's using all those signs anyhow, hopefully he'll use"more" in the right context first! One cute thing he does that does seem to be intentional is to pray with us. At mealtime, as we pray grace, he honestly seems to stop and put his hands together. He is big into mimicking what we do, so it wouldn't surprise me if he was trying to pray with us!

We've noticed he has small reactions to bug bite on his head, only where his hair should be. They form a huge welt, so big you can see it bulge out of his little head, for about 24 hours. He did this a month ago, and then a couple of nights ago he got three bites- two on his forehead and one above his ear (where his hair is growing in). The two on his forehead are fine, they just look like bug bites, but the one on his hair got very swollen. I don't know if this is indicative of anything but it's something we have to keep an eye on. Unfortunately, both times its happened, I don't know what sort of bite he had!

Sleep. He's been doing pretty well, I haven't said anything for fear of jinxing it! He's slept all night for a few nights now, off and on. Most nights he'll go from 7:00 to 4:00, I'll nurse him, then he'll go for another 2-3 hours. When he wakes up, we hear him on the monitor just whimper for 10 seconds or so, then he puts himself back to sleep. We used a home-designed method to help him fall asleep, I'll describe it in another post. It seems to have worked very well for him!

I think this age is my favorite baby age. There is so much he's doing, so many new things to discover, so many smiles and laughs that it's just so rewarding!

Bow holder

Look what I did! Thanks for the frame, mom! Now I need a picture of Beth printed off! Beth doesn't own many bows, since she didn't have hair until recently, ha! She's still not really happy about wearing them, therefore we've lost a few and she's chewed up a few. Overall I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

PS- scroll down for birthday pics!

The Fly Swatter

Luke loves it when anyone tries to swat flies! Especially Beth!

My birthday!

look how beautiful that water is!

happy boy! he was so happy to be eating sand again!

there's evidence of the sand-eating, right there.

vacation= a break from mommy's stringent eating rules!

Bethie and Uncle Michael. I love his shirt!

right after we arrived, but before the drinks ;-)

I had a fantastic day today! We went to the beach to visit my brother, played in the surf and had a very nice dinner with some yummmmmm bread pudding. I have some pics I can post later! Thanks for all the calls, texts, and facebook messages!

"De Nada"

Today Beth and I were in the kitchen, she handed me something and I said, "gracias!" not even thinking about it. Beth immediately said, "De nana," which is totally cool since I'd never taught her that. See, tv is educational! LOL!

How to make a butternut squash

Captivate the peanut gallery

Make a huge mess. Cut it up however you can get the darn thing to actually cut since it's like cutting a brick with a butter knife.

Give a sample to an audience member. She'll be happy...

...until she realizes uncooked butternut squash is gross. Take back sample and discard.

Add salt, brown sugar and cinnamon. cook and enjoy! yum!

Next time, contemplate doing it the easy way. ;-)