Quick 5

The end of March has been quite calm, as evidenced by my paltry Quick 5 this week.

1.  Yesterday Alaina and I went to get Joya up from her nap so we could go to Wal-Mart.  Alaina walked over to the pack-n-play and said, "Well, hello there, Little Fella!"  I think she's seen Finding Nemo one too many times.

2.  Joya has starting saying "Mommy."  And it's pretty much the only word she'll say right now, besides "shoes" and "bup" (up...a command to lift her off the ground.)  It melts my heart every time.  Sometimes it's annoying because she's mastered the art of saying it with a whine too, but it's a mommy thing to love something and be annoyed at the same time. 

3.  Newest way to keep Alaina entertained: Oriental Trading Company Catalogs.  She is thrilled with every single item in there.

4.  It's that weird time of year when I don't really know how to dress the girls.  It's pretty chilly in the morning, but you don't need coats later and it's a drag to haul them around.  Anyway, I mostly have their summer wardrobes ready, but I needed just a couple more t-shirts for both of them.  So I headed to the best place for that: Wal-Mart.  Props to the Garanimals brand.  I bought them each two shirts.  And strategically, I bought them each a plain black t-shirt, in preparation for Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a in July.  I'm pretty proud of myself for the foresight. 

5.  No real news on the house front, but I have gut feeling that tells me we are probably about six weeks away from moving.  Now the question is, do I start packing or just wait until it's all official?

Hope your weather is as nice as ours.

Quick 5

This week has lasted a thousand years.

At the risk of wearing everyone out with my trauma, the biggest thing that happened in our week was Alaina's febrile seizure last Saturday.  She's over it...I'm not quite yet.  But rather than rehash the details, I'll talk about the things I'm thankful for through the whole ordeal. 

1.  I'm thankful for the Holy Spirit nudging me to go check on her.  It was really silly; I was getting Joya down from lunch and Alaina had gone to "have a little rest" because she didn't feel well.  I dropped a piece of bread on the floor and my dad pointed at it for me to pick it up.  I said, "In a minute; I'll be back" because I had a STRONG urge to check on Alaina.  It would have taken me ONE extra second to pick it up, but I really felt like I needed to check on her.  And that's when I found her in the seizure.  I know the Holy Spirit told me to go right then. 

2.  I'm thankful that the seizure was not as violent as it probably could have been.  She was actually quite still, but completely checked out.  She could have been really thrashing around, and that would have been worse. 

3.  I'm thankful that we were at my parents' house when it happened, so that my mom could confirm that we needed to take her to the ER and so that my dad could drive us there.  I'm thankful that we were able to leave Joya in my mom's care and not have to think about what we were going to do with her while we were taking care of Alaina.  I'm thankful that my dad drove us in their car, so that we didn't have to clean up Alaina's throw up out of our car. 

4.  I'm thankful that they immediately took us back right away when we got to the ER.  I'm thankful that the attending ER physician was also a board certified pediatrician and knew exactly what he was doing. 

5.  I'm thankful that Alaina is back to 100% Alaina.  She ran a fever all day Sunday and most of Monday, but even those days she was back to her normal self.  And I'm really thankful it was just a febrile seizure, which will have zero ill effects on her future health or development.

Oh, and I'm thankful that Andrea was back from maternity leave so she could cover for me in the nursery when I had to stay home with the girls on Sunday.

Here's hoping that your weekend this weekend doesn't come close to the weekend I had last weekend.

Quick 5

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.
Emily Dickinson

Hello, open windows!  Goodbye, winter stench!

1.  This glorious weather has not been wasted around here.  Last Saturday we spent a lovely afternoon at the park with Grammy and Granddad.  And on Wednesday we went and had a picnic with Lee at the park next to his office.  Outdoor air is good for the soul.  Alaina and Daddy fed the geese and ducks while Joya wailed in her stroller.  I still don't know what was wrong with her.  She probably wanted to get out and walk around, but the grass was c o v e r e d in goose poop.  Life can be really hard for a 17-month-old sometimes.

2.  Sometimes in life you have to take the good with the bad.  With this warm weather has come some not-so-pleasant wind.  But I've still opened the windows as much as possible, because I love the smell of fresh air.  That means the wind blows around papers and knocks over stuff in my kitchen.  Alaina freaks out every time she hears something fall.  She shrieks "Too much air!  Too much air!"  I love that that's how she refers to wind.

3.  Joya busted out a new word all by herself this week: bye bye.  I suppose we say it to her enough, but the other morning Lee was leaving for work, and rather than just her customary wave, she called out "bye bye!" along with it.  It's like she's finally becoming a real little person all of a sudden.

4. We submitted the offer for our house two weeks ago.  This waiting is not uncommon nor surprising for a short sale.  However, I find myself in a hard-core battle with anxiety over the whole thing.  The listing agent said that she thought the wait would be short; as in three to four weeks.  The thing is, our loan qualification expires on March 28.  We need to be under contract by then in order for it not to expire.  But March 28 is just a little shy of four weeks after the signing of the offer.  I suppose the worst part is that there is nothing I can do about it.  We have literally done everything in our power up to this point.  The bright side is, it's actually made the month of March sail by, rather than dragging like it normally does.  It's flying by for all the wrong reasons, though.

5.  This weekend is my baby bro's high school musical.  (Not to be confused with High School Musical.  They're doing Guys and Dolls.)  And it's big because it's his last one.  Because he is a senior in high school.  Not only do I have to grapple with the fact that I'm turning 30 in a few months, I also have to come to terms with the fact that my baby brother is graduating high school.  And will be able to vote in this year's presidential election.  Apple Ben is practically a full grown man. 

A small Apple Ben holding a small Alaina, July 2008

And a big shout-out to my bro-in-law Nick, on his (33rd?  34th?  46th?) birthday!  Hope it's full of Chick-fil-a good times!

Quick 5

If your house is really a mess and a stranger comes to the door, greet him with, “Who could have done this? We have no enemies.”
~ Phyllis Diller 

This time of year is altogether wonderful and frustrating.  I'm truly tired of winter, but the truth is it is still winter.  But then we'll get a couple of days that are 65 and 70 degrees, and I can open my house and flush all the stale air out and I feel hope.  Then the next day it doesn't get above 35 degrees and stays dark and dreary.  I'm not sure how much of these weather mood swings I can take.

1.  This week we had a cousin play date.  My sister and I determined that once a month we would get our kids together so they could actually get to know each other.  It only took until March for us to make it happen.  But the point is, it did.  And not too soon either; Alaina had been begging to see "Naomi and her brother Oliver" for weeks. (Sorry Ollie and Joya...no pictures of you this time.)

2.  Joya loves to play dress up, but doesn't really get the concept.  Mostly she brings us these tiger ears and grunts until we put them on her.  Then she gives us a cheesy smile, rips them off, and the process starts all over again.  After about 38 times I give up.

3.  I'm trying to force Alaina to drop her afternoon nap.  It sounds foolish, but she's been staying awake so late at night.  I put her to bed at 8:00, and she's usually still awake at 9:00.  I've heard her as late as 9:30 and 10:00 too.  So I thought that the 2 hour nap she was taking each afternoon was preventing her from feeling sleepy at night.  So I turned nap time into rest time, and gave her a special new toy to play with for an hour on her bed.  I told her she needs to play for an hour, then she can come downstairs.  Both times we've tried this I've gone upstairs to find that she's cleaned up her toys and covered herself up and gone to sleep.  Wednesday night she went to sleep okay, but she did have Cubbies and that wears her out.  We'll see how Thursday night pans out.  Maybe only letting her rest for an hour will help her fall asleep quicker.

4.   Joya is a border-line full-fledged walker.  So I need some good shoes for her.  I've been having a hard time finding some in her size, but then I remembered a gift from some friends at church.  They gave us a pair of "squeaky" shoes.  As in, they squeak with every step she takes.  At first I thought it might drive me crazy, but they were the only shoes I had on hand so I had to put them on.  But now we think they are pretty cute.  It's a tiny little squeak for a tiny little girl.  And bonus: she can't sneak up on us.

5.   And now time for another game of "I Spy" with Alaina:
Alaina: I spy with my little eye sompfing...white!
Me: Is it that car over there?
Alaina: No!
Me: I give up.
Alaina: It's THAT car over THERE!!
Apparently I'm not very good at that game. 

Quick 5

My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?

Erma Bombeck

1.  No one knows better than I that parenting is a 24-hour job.  I'm aware.  But there are times that I feel even more like a mom than others, and it usually happens when one of my girls is sick.  Or injured.  Both happened this week.  Alaina had the stomach flu on Sunday.  I suppose she was a bit down on Saturday, but it all exploded on Sunday while I was at church doing the nursery coordinator thing.  Thankfully Lee was not on worship team, and Mt. Vesuvius erupted while they were at home before they left for church, so he could just keep the girls home.  Sadly, it meant missing a birthday party on Sunday and MOPS on Monday, but by Tuesday she was back to her perky self.  

2.  On Monday night I put Alaina to bed, and as normal, she bounded into bed.  She gets into bed in the dark, because Joya is usually sleeping by that time.  Well, Alaina bounded a little too hard and smacked her head on the headboard.  I heard the smack and knew it hurt, so I immediately went to her head.  Then I saw two dark spots drip onto her pillow.  I scooped her up and ran back to the bathroom.  Sure enough her little head was gushing with blood.  I grabbed a tissue and took her down to Lee, so he could put pressure on it while I found a good band-aid.  (The girls' bathroom is well stocked with Hello Kitty and Strawberry Shortcake band-aids.  Those cream puffs could not handle this job.)  Of course my first thought was "how do I know if she needs stitches?"  But the bleeding stopped within a minute or two, so I just put a big band-aid on it and sent her to bed.  By morning she was ready for the more decorative band-aids and has been wearing one ever since.  She has gotten some great attention from sympathetic ladies as we've gone about our errands this week, and she loves to tell the tale of how she smacked her head.

Headboard: 1, Alaina: 0

3.  Joya sticks her finger in her belly button a lot.  I mean a lot.  Is that normal?

4.  I love that it is staying light past 5:30 in the evenings lately.  I'm not really liking that it's light by 6:00.  The girls used to sleep or at least be content until 7:00 each morning.  Now Alaina is visiting my room by about 6:30 each morning.  I'm up and getting ready for the day, but not quite ready for little people.  When I ask her what she's doing, she says "I think it's morning!"  Gone are the days of getting ready in peace, I suppose.

5.  GREAT house news: the sellers are signing our offer!  Now it goes to the bank and we are gearing up for that Great Waiting Game.  Apparently the listing agent is feeling pretty confident about a quick bank approval.  Quick, as in 3 to 4 weeks instead of the traditional 6 to 25.  I'm praying that we'll all be surprised in two weeks by the bank, and we can officially be under contract then.  I can feel myself starting to get excited, and then spend a good ten minutes talking myself down and lowering my expectations.  But it's still good news anyway.

Does anyone else think that winter and summer are usually about two weeks too long?  No?  Just me?  Oh well.