Monday Musings

• Just some random thoughts to document what's happening at home during this season.
• This week my lovely mother-in-law is in town helping me get the nursery ready. We're painting a dresser and a cabinet, as well as the room, and if time allows, we'll tackle a couple nightstands for the master. Thankful that the weather is cooperating and it's not freezing outside.

• My back - oh my aching back. 

Ha! That gets annoying after awhile, doesn't it?!

• Eleanor has taken to pretending to be Curious George. We watched the Christmas movie a few times this season, and she, rather smartly, noticed that he wears mittens on his feet when he goes outside. One day she walked in with mittens on her own feet and announced that she was Curious George. I laugh every time she does this. 
  
• I'm addicted to the Olympics. Ice skating has always been my favorite, since I grew up watching it with my grandmother. But, I've really gotten into men's snowboarding. Fascinating what they can do!
• I'm in crunch time at work, getting everything ready for the rest of the semester of Sunday School before this baby comes, since I'll be out for the last month of it. Not stressful in the least. :)
• I keep adding projects to my list of things to get done before the baby arrives, but with work, they keep getting pushed off. I'm sorry sweet baby! You'll get your own quilt one day. 
• Avery will start kindergarten in the fall - eep! Where has the time gone? School choice has been made, and we're excited about it. 
• I still have 3 more years with Eleanor, since her birthday is a week after the cut-off. Thankful for the extra time with her!
• The baby is still nameless. We've been playing the name game very casually for months now, but we're having a hard time settling on something we like. It was easier to narrow down the boy choices, but the girl names are harder this time. 
• Eleanor is talking up a storm now, repeating everything we say and quite well. It's like she sat back and watched for a really long time, and chose to start speaking only when she could do it in phrases and short sentences. 
• My pregnancy dreams have been off the charts weird this week. Panic about my other children being hurt, weird body issues, all kinds of strange happenings.
• Braxton-Hicks contractions are picking up. Never noticed them with Avery, and not until the last 2 weeks with Eleanor. 
• My energy is lagging. I'm starting to get to the point of being tired of pregnancy. Not fully there, but I'm ready to meet this baby now (in 7 weeks! No early babies!).

Monday Musings (on Tuesday)

You know it's Monday when Eleanor puts something in the toilet that doesn't belong there. Today it was her snazzy pink shoes.

Monday also brings dance class, and the new studio has more space for Eleanor to walk around and more space for the moms to sit and talk. Really enjoying this one hour of our week.

Avery is doing so well with listening to her teachers, following instructions, and focusing in class.

Our home is a disaster. We've been out of town on 3 separate occasions over the past 2 weeks, and we barely have time to recover from one trip before we're packing for another. I have exactly 8 days before we leave for Thanksgiving, so it's a flurry of activity trying to get everything unpacked, washed, and re-packed all amidst purging the extra junk that has piled up and the regular life activities of the week.

Worn.Out.

Eleanor loves post-bath naked time. She runs around with just the hooded towel flying out behind her and squeals with laughter as we chase her.

I'll throw in a couple Avery-isms, too.
We saw a "hiccup" truck on the road yesterday.
"Break-dancing is much more cool. Check this out." And then...she break-dances. (She's quoting from Angelina Ballerina.)
Her dance teacher couldn't find a CD she wanted, so she asked Avery if she took it. Avery didn't even miss a beat, responding with, "Yes, I did!" So Ms. Sarah asked Avery to return it, and Avery pretended to toss it back to her and exclaimed, "There, I gave her her music back!" Ha!
"I just want to focus on eating right now."

an old photo, from a month or two ago, but just the right amount of cuteness to perk me up

Monday Musings

A little contemplative, a little lighthearted for your Monday morning....

My one word this year is RENEWAL. I have to say that this year has felt like anything but that. More like sifting, so I guess that would translate to renewing, but "renewal" has such a positive connotation, and not much has felt positive this year. But, looking back on my original post about this year's word, I'm reminded of this:

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18

I'm also a glass half-empty kind of person, and that's a battle of the mind I have to fight constantly. As the holidays approach, it's time to start thinking of next year's word. I wonder what word will find me in the next couple of months.

Eleanor is sick, with the highest temp I've ever seen her display before. We're headed to the doctor first thing in the morning to see if it's RSV, which is going around right now. Poor little girl has been happy happy despite all of this, apart from an hour or so after nap today when her temp was at it's peak.

We are back in dance after having to miss last week, and Avery was so excited to go. We watched Angelina Ballerina this morning in anticipation of her class.

Avery is into role-playing. All weekend she was Kai-Lan, and Luke was Grandpa (from an episode on one of her movies we have in the car). Eleanor turned into Baby Amy (?) and I became Aunt Michelle. Uncle Nick was Santa Claus. Not once did she misspeak and get us confused. That girl's memory is incredible.

Monday Musings

Man, things happen around here on Mondays just so I have something to write about.

After the dumping of trash into the toilet by the 1 year old last Monday, combined with a 3 year old who uses the potty regularly, we had to have maintenance come fix it because our plunging efforts failed. They brought out some kind of scary looking 6 foot pole thing. On the upside, I got them to change out the line for me so that we could hook up our diaper sprayer!

Eleanor also experimented with Lysol today. We spent the next 15 minutes flushing her eyes out (in which I had to climb in the bathtub with her, after I saw her squat and pee in it...I later amended my technique to sink-side, duh) and then I had to try and get juice down her, which she refused because I had traumatized her with eye-flushing. Or maybe she just preferred the taste of Lysol? Sigh. I have never felt so horrible, because it's absolutely my fault that she could even reach it. That can has been BANISHED to the top shelf, along with everything else I could find, and if you get sick at my house, it's because I've quit cleaning because I can't reach anything anymore.

No dance today because of Columbus Day (the holiday I never remember), so we played at Barnes at the train and lego tables with our dance friend T, her siblings, and her mama. Kids played, we drank coffee. Nice way to spend the morning!

Avery is spending nap time singing to herself and playing make-believe. Last week she only had two naps all week. Sigh. Is this the end of naptime? At least we have quiet time everyday, where she's in her room for a couple hours. Signs of her growing up. *sniffle*

Crazy fun weekend! I'll do a separate post, but it involved chalk and a (food) trailer park. Suburban Round Rock's not so bad!

Crazy fun week! It was Round Top week! I scored some nice finds and walked my poor little feet to the end of their capabilities, sorting through junk to find good treasures. The girls were awesome on Wednesday, as were their baby cousins. We didn't see as much as we could have without the babies, but we had fun. Avery-girl showed off her dancing moves on the stage at lunch. I learned that she knows how to waggle her hips. I also learned that her shyness with strangers doesn't extend to performing in front of strangers - not a lick of stage fright in her! Thursday I hit up Round Top adult-style with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and we scored big.

Struggling with discontentment - my usual vice.

No pics because I haven't uploaded them yet. It's my least favorite part of the blogging process. Uploading them, that is. I like having them on the posts.

Monday Musings

It's October!! I love the start of a new month, especially one that ushers in fall so well. Avery is super-excited about Halloween simply for the candy. I could skip over that day entirely, but I'm always excited to sew her a new costume and I don't mind the loot she brings home, either. 

You know it's Monday when your morning starts out by fishing trash out of the toilet because your 1-year-old dumped all of it in.

We spent last week at my mom's house while she was out of town, taking care of her dogs. Easiest dog-sitting gig ever, since my sister was there (someone to hang out with) and my brother-in-law had to be in town also for work, so he did all the heavy lifting regarding the dogs. Thanks, Nick!!! We made a point to visit as many people as we could. Tuesday was Aunt Ju-Ju and Cousin Sophie day, with some shopping at H&M and lunch out, Wednesday was with my friend Lauren from college and her 10-month-old Isaiah, and Thursday we went to Nana's for the day!

visiting my grandparents - Grandpa just had shoulder surgery , so we had a short visit

Avery loves finding Easter eggs, so my grandma had them hidden for her to find when we got there

Avery then hid them again and again so she could find them a few more times

sweet Isaiah - it was so fun to finally meet him!! And hanging out with his precious mommy was good for my soul

hangin' while I folded the stroller up

Eleanor was in love with Hannah the cat at Nana's house

she has a unique sense of style

Eleanor's sniffy face. This is the face that Avery also did, copying their daddy's face from when he was a baby. Genetics are so interesting. 

The girls are a mixed bag when it comes to traveling. Avery does okay for the most part, but she was a tad whiny and didn't understand why Nonnie wasn't home when we were there. Eleanor - that girl. Ugh. She cried anytime I put her down or left the room. It was fine for her to leave me, but not the other way around. We also had the worst nap schedule ever because we were out too much. We got home Friday and I handed them off to Luke.

We had the first cousin bath. No pics of the full group because I think Avery is too old to have bath pics posted online. But here's a modest shot of the cute babies! Right after this, Grayson decided to tackle Eleanor. And then he melted down into absolute anger-tears. He was DONE with this bath.

Eleanor finally cut that fourth tooth, so we have a happy girl again.

I introduced Avery to the Fancy Nancy books, and she is loving them. We took home about a dozen assorted books from the library, and the Fancy Nancy books are the only ones we have repeated. She barely acknowledges me when I tell her goodnight because she's already absorbed in the books. She's going to be the kid that hides under the covers with a flashlight.

Avery loves her dance class still (phew!), and one of her favorite parts is when they get to dance around freely with scarves. Avery prefers to run laps around the other girls while waving her scarf around, but she was put out this morning after class because her teacher told her to quit, that she should sway gently with the scarf instead. Boring, right?

Her second favorite part of dance? The stamps on their hands.

I don't have a ton of caffeine these days because of nursing, but over the course of 2 hours today, I had a (half-caff) pumpkin spice latte AND a diet coke. I'm surging with energy over here. I hope Eleanor sleeps well tonight!

trying to climb onto the table, but got trapped

our climber getting in on a little Pinterest action

 Eleanor fell into Avery's bubble bath one night, shocked herself silly and then proceeded to eat as many bubbles as she could.

I have stacks of books to go through on my side of the bed. STACKS. I'm trying hard to get through them all, but I just keep adding to the pile. Religion/doctrine, grief, fiction, parenting, and birth education books abound. I think my currently-reading list on Goodreads is half-a-dozen books long?

Round Top on Wednesday and Thursday! This week is going to be a good one.

Monday Musings

Had a really great day with the girls, after a really long night with Eleanor - she woke up at 1:30 and we were up for the next hour. Have no idea why. Teeth? Sinus issues? So we cuddled in the rocker for 30 minutes until I felt her body go limp, and then I layed her down in the pack n play in our bathroom, praying praying that she would stay asleep.

Dance class and lunch at home, good naps, then early dinner at home followed by ice cream at Chick-fil-a because we had a toy to turn in for free ice cream, then a quick run through Target. Eleanor fought going down for some reason, I think she was hungry, so I got her back up, gave her a snack, and then Luke and I tucked the girls in at the same time with a story.

Wrote down some GOALS for this fall. It's high time I'm more intentional with our days.

• Starting quiet time with Avery - she journals next to me while I do my morning devotional. I set my clock for 10 minutes, because that's all the focus she has unless it's Dora. We'll gradually increase this over time, but for now, shorter is better. Her journaling consists of colored scribbles on multiple pages. We're going to go through journals very quickly at this rate! Eventually I'll have her color something specific or actually write in it (when she learns to write). Again, the object lesson is FOCUS. Can this wiggle-worm sit still for 10 minutes?

• Start rising before the girls, instead of with the girls. It's hard, because they are technically awake before seven and want up if they hear any noise going on outside their room. Living in an apartment makes it difficult to do anything in the kitchen (like make the necessary coffee) without disturbing them. I'll have to settle for quiet time in my room without coffee. 

• Preschool-lite with Avery. I was supposed to start after Labor Day. It's still technically after Labor Day, right? Just pushed back a bit. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be short lessons with her, to help teach her focus, to work on learning some Bible stories, to read new books, etc. Nothing too strenuous - it's more of a chance for me to see if homeschooling is in our future, because this past year has really made me re-evaluate where we are headed in terms of a lot of things. I always thought I'd homeschool, but now I'm struggling with that decision. School is such a hard choice, and there are opinions from all different camps, which I won't get into here because I'm just not that brave on the web. What I've learned this year, though, is that sometimes it's okay to let go of what we thought was best and to rest in what God is working in us. Perhaps we'll still end up where I thought we would. But this is my year to really pray and seek God's wisdom in this.

• Find a hobby. I'd love to take guitar lessons, but I need a guitar first. I have grand visions of running a half-marathon, but my track record (ha!) for exercise is not great. But, I am seriously considering this, possibly one for mid-spring. 

And some random tidbits:

Avery loves bubble baths these days. I need to find some kid bubble bath because she's going through my favorite scent way too quickly. 

Avery announced to everyone, "Welcome to Chick-fil-a!" when we were sitting down at our table tonight. 

My vegetarian/vegan friends will rejoice - I love tofu. I make a lot of vegetarian dishes at home now. Way more fun than messing with meat in my kitchen. Still not fully converted. Please send your favorite recipes my way!!

Round Top is two weeks away. I am SO DARN EXCITED. I even get to go twice that week, once with the girls and once without. 

Monday Musings

• Potty incident: Avery poops and hops off the pot when finished, Eleanor drops a box of raisins in the toilet, I have to fish it out, toss them in the trashcan, turn around to wash my hands, and then look back to see Eleanor trying to grab the poop.
• Two days later, Eleanor crawls in with a box of raisins. I almost opened them to give to her, but a light clicked on in my brain, and I ran back to the bathroom to check. Sure enough, the trashcan was toppled over and toilet paper was everywhere. These were the poop raisins.
• Avery started dance again today, and there is a world of difference between now and her very first class. We switched studios, and I am loving it. It's a full hour of non-stop moving, whereas the last studio had too much downtime which made it hard for the kids to stay focused. Avery is also more confident and has a friend in class with her which helps put her at ease. She was one of the most spirited girls in there towards the end - not out of control, just very enthusiastic about each step.
• We're trying to phase out diapers for naps and bedtime. We forgot to put one on her two nights ago, and she woke up dry. We've survived two naptimes (dry), and last night I woke her up before I went to bed, but sometime between midnight and 7, she had an accident. We're trying again tonight. I think she just uses the diaper because it happens to be there, but she doesn't really need it. We'll see how it goes for a week or two. 
• Eleanor is getting better at walking each day! It's still mostly only a step or two at a time, but I've seen her take a step on her own before lunging for the furniture, when it used to be only under extreme duress because I was dangling a toy in front of her.
• Avery has a shopping cart at home, and one at Nonnie's house. Last weekend at Nonnie's, it flipped and we found her stuck on the underside, dangling in the air caught between the wheels. This week she did it again at home, only this time her face caught the handlebar as it flipped over. Not so funny this time - poor girl! It took awhile to comfort her. I've parked the shopping carts for awhile.
• Eleanor is a big climber, and she's so creative at figuring out how to get up on the couches. Today she pulled a basket to the couch, flipped it over, and stepped up on it. She then used my knee and Luke's face as step-stools too. 
• I read recently that mothers get a significant percentage less sleep than fathers. This is absolutely true. I need to find the article.
• We put a bunch of pictures up at Eleanor's birthday party, including some of me pregnant. Avery turned to me, touched my belly, and asked who was in there. I'm going to say that it was probably because of the photos, but perhaps I need to exercise a bit more. Or at all.