Tuesday, January 29, 2008
That Thing She Does
Last night, Abby did that thing that she does. Or rather, that thing that she doesn’t do. Sleep.
Abby didn’t have much of a nap yesterday, and Jack didn’t nap either so the kids went to bed about 7:30. This wasn’t that early - bedtime is usually between 7:30 and 8:00. But Abby was not ready to go to bed. She stayed up for the next three hours, yelling that she wanted me to sleep with her, getting out of bed to gather books or toys, or just talking and singing to herself. The first hour I left her alone, thinking she’d just calm down and go to sleep on her own. The second hour I went in several times to calm her and put toys/books back. The third hour I finally went and sat in her room for awhile and then told her to stop making noise and moving around under penalty of death. (Not really.) I went to bed and I’m fairly sure that I fell asleep before she did. Of course, she was up at 5am and this morning is falling apart about every 5 minutes.
Mama mia, I’m tired.
Last night was the worst its been in quite awhile, but this scene used to be fairly common. It was easier when she was in her crib and couldn’t get up to drag things into her bed, but now that she’s in her big girl bed it’s a whole different ball game. And you know how it is - the more they fight sleep, the more overtired they get and the harder it becomes for them to actually get to sleep! That was us last night.
So now that that’s out, let me tell you a few good things that my girl does that aren’t quite so exhausting. =)
- The girl eats! She’s game to try just about anything and I love having a kid who will scarf tomatoes, blueberries, turkey, corn, beans…all that good stuff. She’ll often turn her nose up at the bread on her plate and want more of the fruits and veggies. (She doesn’t get that from me, that’s for sure.)
- She is always singing something and I love how she’ll dance around the room to her little tunes.
- When she’s really happy, she’ll let out this low, guttural laugh that Tim and I find absolutely hysterical. It’s our mission some nights to evoke this response from her. We love it!
- Abby has such a spunky little personality. Most nights Jack will want to give her a hug and a kiss, but she’ll often turn her head away and giggle. This may not sound very nice to you, but we think it’s pretty funny how she exerts her independence and control over her older brother who naturally has more control in most situations.
Ah, so even though we’re both dragging around today, I’m so thankful for my Abby-girl. We’ll work this sleep stuff out. About six months ago, my sister-in-law loaned me a Toddler Sleep book, but I returned it because Abby was doing so much better.
Annette, I need that back.
Here we are at the Fresno Zoo back in November. We were much more rested that day…
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Cook or Clean?
Which one would you rather do? I know most of us would rather have a maid and personal chef, but reality intact, if you had to pick, would you rather take care of the cooking responsibilities at your house all week or clean it from top to bottom?
I prefer cooking. I would much rather be in charge of all three meals a day - plan, grocery shop and put it all together - than clean the house. Cleaning is just so boring to me. When you’re done, it is nice to look around and see everything sparkling and tidy, but I still have to force myself do it. Now food, on the other hand, is fun. I don’t make really fancy things, but I enjoy perusing recipes and trying new things. The process, for the most part, I like.
My Mom is a cleaner. She can cook just fine (I can’t remember tasting anything of hers that I didn’t like), but she doesn’t find it very enjoyable. I don’t know if cleaning is all that fun for her either, but I do know she’d rather clean than cook! Plus, she’s a super organizer and I think she gets a lot of that. We have always found each other odd in our opposite preferences. =)
So how about you?
Monday, January 14, 2008
Barenaked Ladies in Church
Yes, you heard me. Barenaked Ladies in church!!
Well, kind of.
I’m cleaning the kitchen listening to “If I Had $1,000,000” by BNL (Barenaked Ladies) over and over again because this next weekend in church, the praise team is performing this song for church. Our pastor is doing a series on how we are rich both in material wealth and in Christ, so I guess it goes with it. I get to sing the echo part. (“But not a real green dress, that’s cruel….) Should be fun. About a month ago we sang the Tom Petty song, “I Won’t Back Down.”
Am I the only one who finds this kind of weird? Are we sacrilegious?? =)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Happy Birthday, Mom!
Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mom. We love you!
The Late Christmas Post
My brother and his family, my parents, and my Grandpa came to visit us on Dec. 28 and stayed for about a week. We had such a fun visit and enjoyed having a late Christmas with them!
Here we all are, minus my Grandpa who actually didn’t come for another couple days. We decided this time to do a photo shoot of the family and got a lot of cute pictures out of it!
In the back are Abby and Tim, me, my brother Brian, his wife Laura, my Dad and Mom
Kiddos in front are Ali, Emily, Jack and Katy
The guys
The girls
The kids enjoyed playing “Don’t Spill the Beans!” with Grandma! Of course it turned into who could spill the beans, with everyone shrieking in delight when it happened! Special permission was granted for kids to sit on the table. =) Here are Ali, Emily, Jack and Katy
Grandma and Abby
Ali and Emily - I have such pretty nieces! All 5 of them are adorable!!
Hop Balls! All the kids got one for Christmas and the girls quickly taught Jack and Abby the game of “skunking” someone. This basically involved sticking out your rear end at the unsuspecting party, waving it around and saying, “Sssss!” Consider yourself skunked. =)
One of many meals we shared - yes, we did paper plates all week! It was just sooo much easier!
I know some people aren’t fond of kids tables, but it worked great for the amount of people we had over. They were right next to the big table so it was easy for us to help and interact with them. Here Jack had already changed into his Superman pajamas for the night. Sometimes he just does that. I think he enjoyed showing them off to all those girls. =) Around the table are Ali, Abby, Katy, Emily and Jack
Thanks for coming, guys! We love having you here!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Keeping It Real
The other day Jack was watching me get ready in the morning.
“Mom, you look weird.”
Trying not to take offense, I casually responded, “Really? What looks weird about me?”
“Just your face.”
Oh, well, if that’s all.
Friday, January 04, 2008
11 Years!
Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!
January 4, 1997
11 years, 8 moves, and 2 kids later…thank you for the beautiful life and children you’ve given me, Tim! I love you!!
