a taste of spring

Today we had a taste of spring, it was heavenly! Jeff took the day off and after his snowboarding trip this morning we played in the front yard. Lily tried out brother's car. Notice that Jeff is holding onto Lance, he didn't want to share at first.
Actually, I think he wanted in on the fun. Fortunately two small kids can fit in the car so Lance jumped right in. Lance even wrapped his arm around Lily, they were too funny.

Lance loves "driving" around in his car.


He was giving Lily lots of love.
Unfortunately it is suppose to rain tomorrow and turn cold again, but I think we enjoyed the afternoon and we can't wait until it turns warm for good.

the downside to solids

warning: this not to be viewed for the faint of stomach or anyone thinking about eating anything like pudding or yogurt or anything semi-solid for awhile.

The downside to solids:

We have been kind of playing around with cereal every now and then since Christmas, but on Sunday we tried bananas for the first time and have been eating them for the last couple of days.
Well today I was messing around with the computer and I smelled a poopy diaper. I naturally thought that Lance was the culprit, but he was empty so I picked Lily up out of her Boppy chair and that is when I was horrified to discover something escaping out her diaper.
Lily's first ever almost solid, stinky, eating solid food poop!

It was gross and so thick. TMI! well i thought what we had here was a case of blow it all out the back, leave nothing in the diaper. Oh boy, was I ever wrong.

Her diaper was full. I don't know how I missed this expolsion in the making because it had to be loud and forceful.
she looks so innocent.
this picture was taken by my lovely assistant Lance, who carried help carry fresh clothes upstairs and helped bathe the yucky lily. (why the angle is from below)
lance checking out the scene
practically all the way up to her shoulder blades. after getting off as much as I could we went upstairs and took a bath. lily had poop in her hair, on her calf, and obviously her back and butt. adventures in motherhood, definitely today! i feel like i need to go shower now or at least wash my hands a thousand times.

mysterious vacuum cleaners

Oh how I wish I was posting about my new Dyson, but I don't have it yet, emphasis on YET!
No today's vacuum cleaner story is brought to by Lance.
We had a busy morning. Lance's speech teacher is going to be gone the rest of this week so we had speech this morning. Lance fell down on the way inside the school so for Lance today was not shaping up to be a good day, and neither one of us knew how bad it was going to be. Lance wasn't very cooperative at speech, but you have good days and bad days, and today Lance just wasn't in the best of moods. Anyways, we left speech and headed to the library for storytime. Today's theme was "Crash! Bang! Boom!" otherwise known as loud noises. So after the hello song the librarian had a pictures of objects that make noise around the house (car, vacuum cleaner, baby, telephone, door, soda, etc) and a CD with different noises on it. She was going to play a noise and the kids were suppose to recognize what object made the sound. Well the third sound on the CD was the sound of a vacuum cleaner. Within 5 seconds Lance jumped up in my lap and tried to hide from the sound. I tried to explain to him it wasn't real, but he didn't seem to believe me. I didn't think really anything of it until he started holding onto me with a death grip and I needed him to let go so I could hold Lily (about 5 minutes later). Lance would not let go and started to cry when I tried to pry him off of me. Imagine, me sitting Indian style with Lance sitting on his knees in my lap, arm tightly wrapped around my neck, head buried on my shoulder, basically Lance trying to figure out how to hide using me. I couldn't figure out what his problem was and then it hit me, he was scared of something. I tried to ask him what he was scared of, but he just pointed to the front where the librarian had all of her props (including the CD player). Lance did not participate in the rest of storytime (okay 95% of storytime) and was ready to get out of the room as soon as we could. I wish I knew what he was thinking and knew exactly what had him so freaked out. The only thing I can figure out is he heard the vacuum and since he wasn't really paying attention he assumed that the librarian had a vacuum in the front of the room and that he did not want to be anywhere close to a vacuum. I don't understand how one little kid can be so TERRIFIED of a vacuum. Is it because I didn't vacuum enough when he was younger, or I don't vacuum enough now? Is my lack of a decent, working vacuum making a negative impact on my child's life (ha, ha just kidding on that one?) Lance will generally not go in a room if there is a vacuum in it, whether or not it is on. He is getting a bit better since there is one in Lily's room (the quieter of the two we currently have), but he is known to need assistance with walking past a vacuum. Also, he still screams when I do vacuum, and I have to say for the record, I have NEVER chased him with the vacuum, he would probably drop dead of fright, poor guy. I don't understand why he is so scared, I sure hope I can get a new vacuum and it will be quiet and help Lance get over his fear because it is getting a bit silly. It could be worse, he could be afraid of, toilets, right?

6 months of lily and some randomness

Last week Lily turned six months. Though it is so cliche, but really, where on earth has the time gone? It feels like she just arrived a month ago. She is growing up so fast.
(playing in her tunnel with lance)

She can sit up on her own now which makes things very nice! I can put her on the floor, surround her with toys, and she is content for bit, YEAH!
(showing off her sitting up skills)


She is starting solids. Lance loves to feed her though he doesn't always get her mouth. She had a very mixed reaction to bananas yesterday. She gave the full range of facial expressions, everything from joy and excitement to disgust and a gag here and there, it was quite amusing.
(showing off her snorty face between bites of cereal)

She is getting her own personality. I love this age and I am so thankful that swimming is done so I can spend more time enjoying her instead of running around like a crazy person (which I was doing before).

I have been really enjoying the extra time I have now that swimming is finished. Last Friday the kiddos and I were playing with Tinker Toys and Lance, loving all things that go, requested a helicopter. It took 20 minutes to make and since I worked so hard I took a picture of it.
Unfortunately, my work was destroyed about 15 seconds after I took the picture. I was quite proud of myself and showed my work to Jeff at dinner, which he of course had to point out that it was missing a rear rotor. Thanks for taking me down a notch there Jeffrey. Maybe next time I will get it right.

fridays are good

Especially when the babes nap! Wahoo! This is the first time all week that both kids have slept for more than an hour! Though I didn't get everything done that I wanted, I did get stuff listed on ebay! Wahoo! I am selling some of my not-so-favorite maternity clothes and some baby clothes on ebay and using the money to pay down debt. Having some no kid time has allowed me to have some time to myself and I am ready to deal with the kiddos when they wake up and will be willing to play, be silly, whatever. I LOVE NAPTIME! Today is good.

thankful thursday

to counteract the grumpiness:

I am thankful for
-that I am able to cook real meals and sit down and enjoy them
-that it is girl scout cookie time!! i love THIN MINTS, so much so I ate a whole sleeve of them yesterday (it was over the course of several hours and I don't think you get as many cookies as you use to)
-the swim season is done
-I did get a catnap in, 20 minutes is better than no minutes
- Lily and Lance slept all night long (maybe i can tonight)
-Lily is now 6 months old (yesterday was her half birthday), time is really flying by
-today is Thursday, a week and one day until I hopefully will get my Dyson vacuum!

grumpy house

I love naptime and I am grumpy when naptime is taken away!
Lance hasn't been napping very well lately, he seems to wake up to every little sound. Yesterday it was the phone ringing, today the wind blowing and rattling his windows. He woke up after an hour and came in my room where I was comatose (both kids were up multiple times Tuesday night and the lack of sleep hit me today). Usually Lance once getting up will come in my room and fall back asleep, not today. I was trying to wake up, but I must have been in deep sleep and had a hard time waking up fast enough so Lance not wanting to be up alone woke up Lily. Argh! What did he do that for? I was trying to wake up and I would be able to get some naptime chores done with just one kid, but then he had to go wake the babe who is now grumpy because she didn't get enough sleep. I am grumpy, well more like frustrated, because I don't have time to get some stuff clean and Lance is making a mess faster than I can clean up a mess. Also, I am at my limit for his sounds, why oh why will he not just talk? The speech therapist says that he is making progress, but not fast enough for me, I want words, not just sounds. I don't know whether he can't say or just doesn't want to or a combination of the two, but I am just so frustrated and don't know what to do. Lance is grumpy and getting into everything due to be overtired. Then to top it off, the direct-tv doesn't work which is usually my escape when I am frustrated, a few minutes of some bravo show, usually Real Housewives and I am entertained enough to be entertaining.

a wee little house

Our house is not big, 1365 square feet to be exact. We have four bedrooms with four microscopic closets and four small attic spaces off of two of the upstairs bedrooms, not a lot of room for things to hid, or so I tell myself. Yet despite the small square footage and storage space I can NEVER find anything.
What's missing today?
Lance's juice cup, he had it an hour or two ago and now it is gone.
The large pole that holds the paper in his easel. I saw it a month ago when he was using it as a sword so I hid it because I didn't know what it was at the time, but now I know what it is, I have a new roll of paper for the easel, but I don't know where I put it. Where on earth did I stash it?
I am also missing one slipper, its mate it lonely and on a cold day like today it would come in handy. The slipper has been missing for quite some time, 6 months or more, I a little afraid I gave the other one away to Goodwill when I was organizing my closet that summer.
I also can't find my favorite sweater of Lance's that matches the outfit he is wearing today, he had it last week, I think.

Of course we are missing the typical things:
I think everyone in this household has socks with missing mates.
There are tons of food storage containers that are missing lids or lids that are missing containers.
Sippy cups are missing lids or valves.
Puzzles are missing pieces and of course toys that have multiple parts having missing components.

My new since swimming's done resolution is to get organized so maybe things would stop getting lost. I really don't know if it is possible, but maybe getting more streamlined will help cut down on the time that something is missing. I hate not being able to find what i am looking for especially since the day I give up will be the day I find it, okay that doesn't make sense, the day I decide to throw away the right slipper will be the day I find the left.

Thursday update: to add to the list- meat thermometer

trying to get back into the swing of things

I am so excited that I don't have swim practice at the end of the evening anymore, it is so freeing! I needed to go to the grocery store this morning and I was overwhelmed trying to decide what to buy. For the last six months our dinners have been casseroles, one dish meals, and anything that can be made easily and reheated by Jeff, but now that I don't have to be gone for dinner, my options are endless! There are so many things I have been waiting to make, a recipe for shrimp scampi, pork tenderloin, a tilipia recipe from my mom, marinated chicken on the grill, chicken parmesan, and so much more. I lost a little too much weight during the swim season, when I am stressed I don't eat, and so I hope that I can get back to my ideal weight and enjoy cooking and eating once again. For me, the weight loss is one more reason I don't want to do swimming again. I will miss the extra money from the paycheck, but not the stress, drama, lack of time, and everything else that came with swimming, I felt bad, I didn't have a lot of time for lance and lily and was always trying to get everything done I never could just stop and enjoy the moment. Ah, the weight has been lifted and hopefully I earned enough for my dyson vacuum and maybe some Flor carpet squares, we will see in a week and half. Well both kiddos are up and I should seize the moment.

halfway

I have made it to the halfway point. Hurray!
Only a day and a half left, hurray!!
These is a lot harder than I thought it would be.
Lots of sitting around and waiting, actually more like standing around and waiting.
VERY LONG DAYS! we get going at 7:30 am and get to the pool around 8:30-9 then the prelims begin at 11. Prelims end around 1 and we head back to the hotel and have lunch and rest. We head back to the pool around 5:30 for warmups and the finals start at 7 and end around 9. At nine we get dinner and head are done for the night around 11. It has been rough.
Lily's schedule is completely off and I am exhausted.
Only a day and a half left, I can do it.
As though I have a choice.

focusing on the dyson

I know I have lamented about my lack of a decent vacuum before. We have a vacuum that sucks, not in the good way, actually we have two vacuums that don't really work that great and I really want one that does. This weekend is the final weekend of swimming, praise God, I don't think I can take it anymore, really burned out and I just don't have the patience to deal with the drama anymore. Anyways, some drama has been unfolding in the last 24 hours and part of me just wants to say screw it and quit, but the clean freak in me wants to hold out because I promised myself that I was going to use my last paycheck for a big purchase for myself and I have my hopes set on a new vacuum. Not just any vacuum, the Dyson ball, it is small, lightweight, supposedly always sucks in a good way, and just looks so darn cool. So my eye is set on the prize, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.
oh yeah, i know i have said it before, don't let me coach again next year, i hate drama!

bitter-sweet

Bitter-Sweet
this describes a situation we are in right now though bitter might be to strong a word, i am not bitter more like disappointed, but there is also a sweet side too. i am not suppose to say and know anything, but i don't think anyone who isn't suppose to know will read and find out so i am safe, i hope. okay, too much rambling. first off, there is a Christian organization (church and other entities) that owns the property where my church and three other organizations meet and use for church, classes, etc. We have been blessed with not having to pay any rent for the space, which is good because there isn't modern heating and cooling, it is a horrible location, and several other reasons that I can't think of right now. This Christian organization owns a lot of property and a business is interested in the spot that we currently occupy (and probably additional space too). This business offered a good price for the spot (fair market value), the groups (my church included) offered a price to stay, well the money was better from the business and we are getting the boot. Why I am disappointed, for this Christian organization, money is more important than supporting other Christians. It frustrates me because our church supports their students, we also are trying to make the surrounding neighborhoods better by loving them, helping out where we can, doing service projects for neighbors, etc. We want to make the area a better place and not just occupy space in the area. We also can bring traffic to nearby business which need traffic because there are always people coming and going every day of the week because one of the four groups is meeting in the space every day. So I am disappointed that money is more important then loving people, but there is a very sweet side to the story and I may be glad that this Christian organization cares more about money in the long run. Because of getting the boot, a new home needs to be found and a location has been found, but there are spaces that need to be filled to pay the rent for this spot. One space is perfect for Jeff's shop. With money being non-existent, we can't really afford to stay in the high rent space that we are in and want to move to somewhere cheaper, but most cheaper places are not in great locations and not looked promising. This space is the same size as what we have now plus it has some warehouse space where Jeff could put ramps and have events, his own mini-skatepark! I haven't seen the space yet, I will this morning, but it already sounds perfect. Because the space isn't finished he will be able to kind of custom fit it with the builder so it will be just the way he wants it without a lot of work on his part. Did I mention he would get more space for half the price? Also, it would be in the same building as a coffee shop, a dance studio, and our church. It is also centrally located, easy to get to off of the expressway, and easier to find. Though I haven't seen it, it sounds like it has everything both of us wants! I am excited to see the space and hope it works out, so it is sweet and in a way I am glad that the Christian organization loved money more, it may help us out a lot, we will see. So there you have it, my bitter-sweet tale, that in the long run will hopefully be all sweet, but I am still disappointed when money is more important than making a difference.

week wrap-up and a few firsts

we have had a few warm days and some lily firsts. here are some highlights of the past week:
we went to the park on sunday and were able to watch a train go across the trestle, the highlight of lance's weekend!

lance was so excited that we made it to the overlook when a train was crossing the river.
The train is really, really, really high up and the trestle is amazing, you can kind of get a feel for it here.
lance and daddy watching the train cross over the river

lily enjoying the warm day and the stroller ride. she was holding lance's ball while he watched the train

one evening i made chocolate pudding to satisfy my chocolate addiction, lance and jeff enjoyed as well:
enjoying pudding with daddy

happy baby, showing off her many layers, she has a onesie, a shirt, the dress that goes with the shirt and then a pair of pants because it was cold and we couldn't find her tights

lance enjoying pudding in his ghetto pjs- to save money, i use the summer/fall pj bottoms and then put with a long sleeve top since it is too cold for short sleeves.

lily's silly face, i think she wanted some pudding too


one morning i happened to catch lily in the act of blanket snatching!

lily loving on lance's blanket, lance would have a fit if he knew what she was doing. i am amazed at how she goes after lance's favorite things, she seems too little to know what buttons to push with lance.

lily is smiling because she is up to no good and she knows it!

my morning sunshines!

one afternoon lance wanted to crawl into the crib with lily, i took a ton of photos, the two of them are too funny

the interactions between the two of them are fascinating. lily was reaching out for lance and lance was a little unsure whether he wanted to be touched

but then he showed her lots of love with a kiss


lily was getting a bit big for the infant tub so we blew up the duck bathtub for her to try!
lily trying out the ducky bathtub for the first time

she loved it! she wasn't a fan of the infant tub so I am glad to find something that works and makes bath time easier

we had another warm day yesterday so we had another lily first: first time on the swing!

she also loved the swing. two new things that she loved in one week, wow!

lance really didn't like sharing his swing, but he did a good job pushing lily and waiting his turn.

he is getting so old so fast! he also looks huge in the swing after lily was in it.

cheeky baby she is.

the future

Today we went by the preschool Lance will be attending in the fall to sign the contract, take a tour, and hand over our application fee and first month's tuition. I am still blown away by how far in advance preparations for next year are made! I am so excited for Lance, I hope that he will really enjoy preschool next year, make friends, increase his speech, and gain some more independence. I am also excited about him attending preschool because I found out that he can receive speech therapy before or after school so I might not have to go somewhere else for speech, huge YEAH right there! Not having to go somewhere else for speech will really cut down on our schedule and hopefully free up time to do other things because right now we seem too busy to enjoy ourselves. I am also excited about the time I will be able to spend with just Lily. I just hope that the business will pick up so I won't have to work next year and I can have more time to balance everything. Some days I feel like I run around with a chicken with my head cut off trying to manage everything. I feel like Lily is growing up too fast and I have been too busy to notice her. I feel bad because I have been carting her all over the place, to swim practice, to different states for swim meets, on appointments for Lance, and everywhere else in between. I just feel bad that I don't get to spend more energy, attention, etc on her like I was able to with Lance and I know it is just what happens to a second child and I am blessed that I don't have to work full time, but I feel like she get neglected some times and she is such a good baby so it can be so easy neglect her. Okay that sounds horrible, I don't neglect her in a hurtful way it is just that she ends up going lots of places instead of sitting down and playing most wakeful moments. If I am going to be honest, what I need is better time management skills so I can use my time more wisely and spend quality time with each kid. Maybe that should have been my new year's resolution. Maybe that will be my spring resolution (after swim ends). We will see. Balance, it is so hard to do.

thankful

Thankful Thursday:
1- I have made a dent in cleaning the house- upstairs bathroom, lance room, and almost our bedroom clean!
2- I paid off another credit card- one step closer to being debt free
3- a little over one week left of swimming
4- it is going to be warm this weekend- in the 60's, can't wait
5- lance has been going down for nap great for a week now, in his own bed too!

how?

We don't have any chicken.
Chicken is our main protein source for dinner.
I decided to go to the grocery to get chicken and a few other things.
Got a little overwhelmed trying to figure out what to make for a friend for dinner who just had a baby and changed things up while at the grocery store.
Ended up running a little behind schedule talking to a friend.
Bought groceries, got home, and guess what?
Yup,
I FORGOT TO BUY CHICKEN!
How?
That was #1 on my list.
The reason I was going to the store.
What I needed to make dinner tonight.
How did I forget the chicken?
I really do think I lost a whole lot of brain cells when I had kids.
But I must think sometimes because I do have shells and cheese prepared in the freezer that we can eat tonight so I won't have to go the store twice in one day.

how small life has gotten

Life, well my life seems so small right now.
A friend from college she now lives in Hawaii and goes surfing regularly, has no family to manage, no stress other than work (which is a business she owns) and a big issue for her is what to do on her days off, she is having fun and taking advantage of her youth.
Then there is my roommate from college, she has a great job where she gets to travel all over the U.S., travel first class I might add, go exploring and not just do work on her "work trips," and is once again having great adventures and meeting new people everywhere she goes.
Yesterday I ran across a blog from my other college roommate, she is living in Colorado currently, meeting new people, finding herself, going on adventures and living an adventurous life, she is on the quest to figure out where she wants to live.
Then there is me.
Me, I am celebrating Lance's acceptance to preschool.
Yes, my life is that small, the highlight of my day is lance's acceptance into the preschool I wanted him to go to (because i went there) and my other highlight: both kids taking naps at the same time.
I am a bit envious of the traveling, adventures, and activities that my friends are taking part in while I sit here at my computer putting off balancing the checkbook, doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, picking up toys that are strewn about the house and other mundane chores of being a mom.
Some days I wish I had a bigger life, an exciting life full of adventures to new places instead of dodging spit up and flailing appendages when lance throws a tantrum.
For everything there is a season, I sure hope I will have a season of adventures too and that when my chance comes I won't play it safe like I seem to do and not let fear hold me back.
Life just seems so small today, I just hope tomorrow won't be.

mondays

I don't usually dread mondays but this morning I woke up and tried to figure out what day it was and realized it was monday. ICK! What happened to the weekend? Oh yeah, swim meet Saturday and then after church, nap, the park, and a superbowl party Sunday was done. I get really thrown off when I am gone all day on Saturday. This morning we went to small group and when we got back I was ready to crash so though my list of to do's is a mile long we all crashed upstairs. The nap felt so good (I am not a regular napper), but so far nothing has been accomplished. Actually I think more has been undone then has been done. Lily is ready for her third outfit of the day, the laundry I started this morning didn't have any detergent in it, and bills probably just arrived in the mail. I hope I will be more productive tomorrow because I am sure slacking today.