Alaina and Her Daddy

Last night Lee got home from work a little later than usual.  Alaina and I had already started eating dinner by the time he walked in.  Since she was in her chair, she wasn't able to run to the door like she usually does when he comes home.  I told her that Daddy was home, and he walked through and said hello.

Alaina said, "That's my old Dad."

"Your old dad?" I asked.

"Yup," she said.  "He's my favorite guy!"

So cute.  But Lee didn't hear it.  So I told him what she said.  He came in and asked, "Who's your favorite guy?"

"You!" she said, promptly and matter-of-factly.

They celebrated with a pound.  It's moments like these.  :)

Quick 5

Good news!  This is the last quick 5 of March, because next Friday is officially April.  We've (almost) made it through the wilderness, folks!

1.  On Wednesday I took Alaina in for a haircut.  I noticed last week that all of a sudden I couldn't see her eyes, and that her hair was almost to the middle of her back.  Long hair is fun for a girl, but not for mommy, who has to comb out the yogurt and oatmeal every morning after breakfast.  Anyway, I took her to the super-expensive kid place.  That will probably be our last time.  I think she can handle the cheaper grown-up places.  The nice girl who cut her hair tried her darnedest to get me to buy their salon shampoo, saying it would really help with the breakage.  (I can't fault her there...Alaina has terrible breakage.  But she's 2, and tough on her hair.)  Sorry, sweetie, but I can't justify spending $20 on a bottle of shampoo.  We'll try our hand with Suave for awhile.

2.  Today the Grace Chorale is singing at our church.  Which means we are housing two of the college girls.  It is so surreal to me for several reasons.  a.) I vividly remember all my chorale tours like they happened last week, instead of seven years ago.  b.) We know one of the girls who will be staying with us.  We sang with her back in our Fort Street days.  She was in 8th grade then, I believe.  She's now a senior in college (or close to it.)  Our place isn't the nicest place they're going to stay, but I hope they think of our house as one of the good ones.

3.  I'm scheduled for worship team again.  I'm going to go through with it this time, even if Joya is a complete mess.  We have to just jump in and figure the rest out.  I'm scheduled to sing and play the violin, and since it's been a good six months since I've played, I've been practicing this week.  It's amazing how even simple music is challenging when you haven't played in awhile.  However, I really do enjoy playing.  It's on my bucket list to play in a community orchestra or something.  Obviously when the girls are much older, or maybe even out of the house.  But I plan to, someday.

4.  Yesterday I tried to put Joya down for a nap without swaddling her.  Big Mistake.  She flapped a cried for a long time.  I finally went in and pinned her arms down, and she went right to sleep.  My sister Carolyn gave me some good ideas on how to stop swaddling, so I'll try them out soon.  But I'm beginning to regret ever starting to use the fancy swaddling blankets.  They're nice, but apparently very addicting.

5.  While I like reality TV, Lee doesn't particularly care about it.  However, we do have several shows we watch together.  And really enjoy.  V, No Ordinary Family and Perfect Couples.  Unfortunately, according to several entertainment websites, all three of these shows have an extremely high probability that they will be canceled.  I can only come to the conclusion that our choices in television shows are pedestrian at best.  Oh well.

Have a great weekend, and happy 33rd anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Quick 5

For your enjoyment, a pictorial quick 5:


1.

Alaina

Joya

2.

Entertaining each other

3.

Clean and happy

4.

Pretty blue eyes

5.

The girl can accessorize

Quick 5

Today may only end up being a quick 2.  Or 3.  We'll see how it goes.

1.  Joya had a fantastic week at MOPS this week.  Which was kind of amazing, since she only got about a 30 minute nap before we had to leave, as she decided to scream for part of the hour she could have been sleeping.  She hung out in the swing in the nursery for most of it, which I am totally okay with.  They didn't have to page me once.  Maybe I will be able to re-join the worship team soon, since Joya might be okay with being in a nursery for an entire morning.

2.  Last Saturday, while Lee and I did some chores, we turned around to find the girls like this:

Alaina was reading an Archie comic while Joya just played.  Too cute.

3.  It is one of the joys of motherhood to see babies becoming real people.  Lately Joya has begun crying whenever I carry her into our room.  She knows that the ONLY reason I take her in there is to put her in bed.  It makes me laugh.  I'm always a little shocked that she observes the room we are walking into and associates it with a place she is not sure she wants to be.

4.  I may have developed a new bad habit: baking.  I just discovered that I love having homemade baked goods in the house.  Brownies, banana chocolate chip muffins, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies...it may sound like a great idea, but the problem is I actually eat them.  I tell myself things like the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are a great source of whole grain.

5.  Our house is a center of Australian culture, thanks to the Wiggles.  While normal kids talk about animals like monkeys and cows, Alaina likes to talk about kangaroos and kookaburras.  One day she asked me to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Stah."  So I sang "Twinkle, twinkle, little star..." She quickly tried to correct me: "No STAH.  STAH."  And then the other day I suggested we do something (I don't remember what) and Alaina responded, "That's a GREAT idea!  Beauty mate!"  I'm pretty sure she used that phrase correctly too.

Well, the forecast has us in the sixties for at least the next five days.  Welcome, Spring. 

Quick 5

We have had A Week, folks.

1.  Poor little Joya was sick.  Now, I fully realize that a sick baby is nothing new or earth-shattering.  Facebook is filled with updates about various symptoms and infections and treatments, especially this time of year.  But it was brand-new territory for me.  I have never ever had to take one of my children to the doctor because they were sick.  Alaina has had a few random colds and one round of the stomach flu, but all of that was handled by just me.  So when Joya was screaming her head off all day Tuesday and there was nothing I could do about it, I took her in.  They think it was either an ear infection or a UTI (yes, baby girls can get UTIs), so the nurse practitioner prescribed a round of amoxicillin.  Joya is so little they couldn't get hard core confirmation on either, but that would wipe out both.  Then Tuesday night was one of the worst night we've ever had as parents, with Joya coughing and crying for most of the night.  We got about three hours of sleep total.  But Wednesday she napped and ate much better, and last night she finally slept through the night again.  And all I can say is Praise the Lord that my girls are generally healthy.  That we don't have to do this very often.

2.  Giving an exclusively breast-fed four and a half month old medicine is NOT easy.  It's nasty and thick and pink, and I think she's actually swallowed only a tenth of what I've put in her mouth so far.  I have to put her on her back on the floor, straddle her, try and pin down her arms while squishing her face into a fish face to try and get the little syringe in.  Most of the time that girl has her mouth open like a fish, but when she sees me coming with the medicine she shuts her mouth tighter than Fort Knox. 

3.  Alaina has been an absolute gem the past few days.  I didn't even have to ask her to be good while Joya is sick and Momma is tired.  She has gone with the flow, even on Tuesday when I had to wake her up from her nap so we could take Joya to the doctor.  I'm so proud of her I could bust.

4.  While Tuesday was a horrible day because of sick Joya, there were actually some really good things that happened that day too.  First, in the morning when I thought Joya was on a simple napping strike, we went looking at curtains for Alaina's room.  I had in mind what it would probably cost to buy curtains and a rod, and I knew it wasn't going to be our cheapest expenditure.  However, with the power of the tax refund I set a reasonable budget and found what I was looking for.  It was going to cost my whole budget, but whatever.  However, when I got to the counter to pay, it turned out the curtain panels were half off!  I ended up spending $25 less than I thought.  Later we got the box of clothes I bought for Alaina off of Ebay, and they are more awesome than they were described.  And finally, I made a great taco soup for dinner.

5.  Want the taco soup recipe?  Here it is...

1 pound ground beef
32 oz. beef broth
1 can canned corn (I drained a little of the juice, but not all)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 onion, chopped
1 packet taco seasoning

Brown and drain ground beef.  Put all ingredients in a large soup pot.  Bring to a boil.  Heat through.  Serve with cheese sprinkled on top.

Delish!

Here's hoping your next week is filled with health and taco soup.