I’ve so enjoyed these last few days of getting out of the house. Brady has happily watched the kids and worked on patching the walls up in preparation for painting, and I’ve been able to run around and have some fun, do some shopping, and get to my appointments. However, after now four days of it, I am home and so ready to be! My body is feeling these last few days, and I can’t seem to convince it that it was all worth it. Luckily, I know it was.

I was nervous about leaving today, since the snow has started up again and the highway forecasts weren’t looking good, but I braved them anyway, and they weren’t even slick. I watched very closely, of course, but was comfortable being on cruise. I don’t like winter driving at all, so you can understand that if I was on cruise, you would be too.

My first stop was meeting a mortgage broker and talking numbers for a bit. I wish Brady could have been there too, but it wouldn’t have worked too well with both kids in her teeny little office anyway. After our meeting, I got a bit stuck trying to get my van from its parking space, but eventually surfaced and headed to my next stop.

My much needed hair appointment has finally arrived! However, I was unreasonably early thanks to my morning meeting, so I perused Target. Canada got Target recently and it managed to tank in just under two years, so they’re selling out. The sales aren’t particularly awesome yet, but all cosmetics are 30% off, and I do love some new makeup, if you hadn’t figured it out, so I walked through and picked out a few new things to try. I managed to leave Target with a car seat toy for the baby, as well as a lip gloss, lipstick, an eyeshadow palette, mascara, a nail buffer, and a highlighting powder, and I paid around $50. It definitely could have been worse! I was a grown up and put stuff back even! Go me!

I had about a half hour left before my hair appointment so instead of continuing to shop for things I couldn’t justify buying, I went for lunch. I got a big scoop of broccoli pasta salad from the deli at Safeway and kept with the healthy theme by washing it down with a caramel frapp from Starbucks. I haven’t had a frapp in a really long time, and it was so delicious. I enjoyed my food and made it to my appointment with time to spare 🙂 I love a good hair appointment, and it had been a while, so I really enjoyed my two hours in the chair. I came out with exactly what I wanted, and even though I know lots of you aren’t fans of the style, I really really am, so I’m fully thrilled. I left feeling fresh and pretty.

I quickly stopped to buy some milk before heading home, but then was on my way. Once again, the internet boasted of horrible winter driving conditions, but the highways were clear. I came home to my happy, patching husband and the kids just lulling awake. We had some pizza together and a good bedtime. I’m so happy to be home with the fam, and I think the kids missed me a bit, too. Lots of really snuggly hugs <3 I can’t believe we’ll have another one to hug so soon!!

Until then, my uterus will hug him. Over and over and over again…

I was so thrilled to go on a date with my mom today. We’ve been pretty low key since Christmas and this was our first outing together. Brady even stayed home with the kids to get a bunch more puttying done, so mom and I could be hands-free and get our stuff done as well. The goal of the day was to purchase flannel.

My mom gives us this amazing gift with each baby that we have. We go on a date to the fabric stores, and choose material for about ten oversized receiving blankets. Not only are they convenient considering the size of our children, but they are personal to each kid, and what we like at that stage of life. They’re a great memory. Dekker has pretty demolished his at this point, since he went through a big bad stage of chewing on them, but Laela’s are still in decent, beautiful shape. So I really anticipate this tradition with each kid, and today was no different.

We tried out a fabric store in a nearby town first, with every intention to hit another one or two in the city afterwards. This was just for fun, to see what was available at a store that we had never visited. And we found everything. Everything. The fabric was beautiful quality, and not like any other designs we had found in the city before. Sharp, crisp patterns, and a large variety. I’m sooo excited to see the finished products, and to wrap my baby boy up in them.

We ran a few errands after that. A quick Costco shop, dropping off something for Bradys work, and a quick duck into Michaels as well. By that point, my pelvis was suffering a bit, and my iron supplement was ticking off my tummy, so we headed for lunch.

Good lunch. Red Lobster lunch. I could go there for cheese biscuits, clam chowder, and grilled shrimp caesar salad every day of the week. We had a great lunch, and our server was super sweet to us. Good service makes such a huge difference in almost any experience, I find.

We made one or two quick stops before taking the scenic route home. I came inside and we did sudoku together for a little bit before I had to go. Maybe that sounds silly, but its such a fun thing we like to play with together sometimes. I used to do tons of sudoku puzzles, and my mom is kind of just starting up, and we both really enjoy them. Maybe we’re nerds.

I came home to happy kids, and an incredibly productive husband. The whole house is draped off with sheets, and the putty from yesterday has been sanded. After supper, I played with the kids downstairs while he did some more puttying. There are certain areas that are really loud to work on while the kids are sleeping, so he saved them for the evening. How thoughtful!

When it was that dreaded toy tidying time of the evening, Dekker requested again that just he and I tidy toys. I told him that I was feeling a bit too sore, but I asked for a big hug and he went with it, and then tidied his toys with Brady and Laela. It gets a bit hairy at the end of toys as well, because that means bedtime. To really make him feel special, Brady said to him “It is bedtime, and I know that makes you sad, but I would love to carry you to your room!” And out of nowhere, Dekker came over to me instead, asked for a hug, and requested that we walk together and hold hands instead. Brady and I were both completely blown away! I’m pretty sure I’m safe to say there are no hard feelings about that, but it was a huge surprise. Dekker feels much safer with Brady in new situations, or crowds, or at the doctor, but I felt so honoured that he wanted to walk with me, even though I couldn’t cuddle him the same way. I don’t expect that scenario to ever play out that way again, but I will treasure this one for sure!

Moms are special. Plain and simple.

I have a lot I could write about today. About my spontaneous trip to the city to have my body put back in place. My short but much needed phone call with my sister. The guy who offered me a chair at KFC while I waited for my food to be ready. Paint shopping. I had a good, full, successful day. But I would MUCH rather talk about my kids!

They’re growing up. In a BIG way. Laela has been uttering little beginnings of words recently, or babbling in different tones to suggest language. Its been fun to watch it start! We encourage words, and try to remember to tell her everything, which gets tiring but is how we worked with Dekker on his speech. As lots of you know, he was considered “speech delayed,” which I wrote off to be his shy demeanour, which I still think holds a lot of water. But there was also the issue of his vision, and I think its hard to get everything in working order when one sense isn’t quite operating as it should. I didn’t want Dekker to have to see a speech therapist because I knew it would come. I didn’t want to “put him through that.” For some reason, that carried a stigma for me. But in some research, I learned that a speech therapist would likely start out with more so teaching me how to speak to Dekker in a clearer, simpler way. Thats what we did, and of course one eye surgery and a new sister later, the kid is more than verbal. So that whole rant aside, this is how we’ve been speaking to Laela. Clearly, with simple words, and consistency.

Today, Laela handed me Dekker toy camera and waited for me to turn it on. Its something she always asks for. I said “Say please!” and she did her cute little nod and “ya.” I was about to turn it on, and decided to take a different route. “Say on” I said, and she said “nun.” I praised her up really good and clapped and kissed her and made a big deal of it. She loved that. She toddled off with her camera, until she forgot about it and it shut itself off. She brought it back to me, and waited. I said “Say on” and she said “un.” It was so awesome!!! After that, she would try for the word that I requested of her. No, she didn’t get any bang on, but mimicking is the first step, and I’m so thrilled to see it growing in her!

So far, words that I’ve heard come from her fairly confidently are ya, mom, dad, cup, wow, baby, and on. She tried really hard to say “paper” today, but it either turned into cake or pecker. But she tried! Hopefully we’ll establish things like milk, please, more, etc. soon. She is very accurate with nodding and shaking her head yes and no. She knows when she’s hungry, or wants a diaper change, or sleepy. She’s waaay too smart.

My tidbit about Dekkers development today is about when I got home from the city. I had been gone since they went down for their nap, and I arrived about 15 minutes before bed. He was full of hugs for me, and kept telling me “I just missed you, mommy.” Unfortunately, I came home at the worst time. Just in time for cleaning up toys and going to bed. But I’m their mom, and thats just part of the day! So I mentioned to him that it was time to tidy and, as per usual, if he asked nicely, Brady and I would be happy to help. He very politely asked for help, and then specified “just mommy.” Seriously, kid?! I have a contraction every time I bend down to the floor! But I realized that he was actually just wanting some one on one time with me, so I took him up on it.

Behold the longest and best toy tidy time in our home. We held hands pretty well the entire time, so we each had one hand to bring toys to their respective place. It took seemingly forever, but it was wonderful. As soon as toys were tidied, he put on a bit of a whiny voice and said he didn’t want to go to bed. I suggested we hold hands again and walk upstairs together, but he really wanted me to carry him. I’m sort of at the point where he’s really hard to carry, especially up the stairs, so I came down to his level and gave him a really nice long hug. When we separated, he took my hand and we walked up the stairs together without any complaint. He went to his room without any crying, had his sip of water, and said his bedtime prayer all on his own. He was sooo grown up!!! Blew me away. I could have cried, but Laela was doing enough of that for all of us. Deks kept it together and was totally cooperative.

I love my kids. LOVE my kids. I can’t wait to bring another unreasonably adorable little one into the world! God is sooo good!

I feel like its been forever since I last blogged, because I posted yesterdays as stupid o’clock in the morning and now this one is actually going up after midnight! I’m sorry if anyone is annoyed by the occasional late night post but it means that I have been busy with fun, wonderful things, and that is a good thing so that is the one and only time I’ll apologize. Today ended well, with Brady and Jerilee. The rest of the day was fairly eventful as well.

I was expecting to run into the city for a prenatal appointment, a minor grocery shop, and then home. It wasn’t going to be a big day, and Brady is home a bit in the upcoming weeks, so he agreed to stay home with the kids so I could go about my errands relaxedly. I got all dolled up and felt great on my way out. I listened to music really loudly and even dropped in on my mom for some lunch on my way to the city. After some delicious chicken pot pie, I was off to my doctors office.

The nurse weighed me and put me into a room, and Dr. Guselle was there within minutes. We touched base a bit about everything and she made some notes in my file before she commented that I was 36 weeks along. I confirmed that I was, and made the expected “Its really coming up fast” comment. The funny thing was that it had completely slipped my mind what happens at this appointment. If you have kids, do you guys remember week 36? There’s a pee test, a finger poke, and some less than comfortable swabbage that tests for certain infections. Without going into wild detail, or really any at all, its all fairly awkward and icky. Turns out it was good to leave hubs and the kids at home today.

So my doctor sent me back to the nurse to poke my finger and to tell me to pee in a cup. I’m just gonna say this one. Peeing in a cup already isn’t the easiest of tasks, but lets give the super pregnant women the worlds tiniest cup and see how she does. No good can come of that. And then for the finger poke. Literally, having my blood tested that way is among my top five leave favorite things. I hate that stupid little thing. No matter what, I can’t predict when its going to snap on me. Stupid faced little blood poker thing. I returned to my room for the rest of my appointment. BP is good, babys heart rate is good, as per usual. My uterus is measuring a bit small but, upon the rest of the exam, we learned that baby is definitely dropping, which would cause us to lose a few centimetres on the tape. Not that we are worried anyway. We sat and watched my stomach jump around a bit before she confirmed that he does, in fact, seem to be healthy and thriving. We also now know that my cervix is still nice and far away, so labor is not immediately around the corner. I know you’re all just itching to know about m cervix :/ Sorry. Hopefully you’re all women.

The one downfall of todays tests was that my hemoglobin came back low. It isn’t a huge deal, and nothing that an iron supplement can’t fix, but 6-8 weeks ago, my bloodwork showed a much higher number, and I would have had to get in a decent amount of trouble for my iron to drop quite so much so fast. So that was how I ended up with a lab requisition to go get some additional blood drawn. Not exactly something I had on my schedule, but I worked it out.

Everything else looked good, so I left my appointment and hit up Walmart quickly for a few things before heading to my usual blood-sucking clinic. It was completely quiet, and I was let right into the back, which has not happened the last few times I’ve been there! Five or six people came in right after me, so I was pretty thrilled to have beat the rush. The woman who came to take my blood remembered me from my glucose test and was so sweet to me. I never know if its good to be remembered so quickly by someone in that scenario but I decided it was nice instead of not. Why wish for bad, right?

Post-blood, I brought Subway home for the family, and ended up straight back on the road to go to concert choir. Jerilee and I met at my parents house so we could abandon a vehicle and drive together. Its such a fun weekly date we have now 🙂 Plus, always a pro to drop in on my mom again. We had a really fun practice, and got super excited about a few of the songs we’ll be singing. You guys should probably all come to the concerts in April. We drove back home and Brady made us all snacks so we could watch The Bachelor together with yummy treats. I LOVE these Tuesday nights so much, but I do feel bad, since Jerilee will be lucky to get home at 1:00am. I hear some people, her included, work at jobs that are outside of their homes, and they can’t even wear sweats! Lame. Sorry, Jerilee. One day I’ll trade you off locations.

All of this being said, its been a successful but full day. Its 1:00, and I still need to watch some Greys, otherwise the day feels empty, haha! Brady was going to go snowboarding tomorrow but its forecasted to be the coldest day of the next two weeks, so I think his trip will get bumped to the very near future. It’ll be nice to have him home, too 🙂

Don’t think I don’t know.

Sometimes I see those memes posted on Facebook and otherwise about how insane Christians sound, and how believing in God is something only a gullible person would buy into. Well, call me gullible then. I’m not ashamed of my beliefs one bit. I do, however, want to talk about it all briefly, if thats cool, because I know we sound crazy about a few things, and I’m feeling a bit crazy about a few of those things this morning. Makes for a very early post.

I’d like to start talking about yesterday evening. Yesterday evening was awesome. Do you remember a while back, I was so stressed out about going into labor, and what would happen from there on out? I was very anxious knowing I had to decide between waiting out a late baby, or opting for an induction, or going into labor early. When I finally sat down and made a plan with my doctor, I felt a thousand times better. Bring it on, baby boy!! What a relief! Since then, my peace has dwindled as I have found other things to feel overwhelmed about. But yesterday evening, a couple of friends from totally different places jumped up out of nowhere and offered to help me in the worlds most perfect ways. Anxiety levels were low low low. You could ask Brady. I was thrilled, and felt light, and refreshed. Nothing could touch me.

There is definitely something to be said for finding comfort in tangible things and people.

Then, last night, I woke up a few times with the most painful braxton hicks contractions I’ve had thus far this pregnancy. And I got really, really scared. And then immediately discouraged. Because, as Christians, we are brought up with the idea of putting our trust in God as our number one thing to hold onto. And I fully agree with that! But I also know it sounds crazy. I guess I want to clarify here that being a Christian doesn’t make me less of a person. A human. I’m flawed, and imperfect, and believing that God exists and doing everything I can to live my life the way I believe He asks me too doesn’t mean I get this stuff right all the time! So I lay in bed, scared, while I had my contractions, and went back to sleep.

This morning, I am obviously already up, and have been since about 5:00am. I’m scared. I’m scared of going into labor when I’m not prepared. Everything is all lined up for when the day comes, but not if it comes today!!! I still have four weeks to go! It would be a pretty huge shock if baby came so early, and I really don’t think it’ll happen that way at all, but my mind is whirring and my body is without faith.

Because I’m already feeling weak, the enemy is beating down on me about every little thing he can think of. In the short time I’ve been up this morning, I’ve feared for my baby’s life, my own life, the general chaos of our life going up, not being approved to move again, and seemingly everything under the sun that I’ve been working SO hard to have faith about! God is in control. But it doesn’t always feel that way. Sometimes I just want something concrete to hold! Can’t God send me a letter so I have something in writing?? Or maybe God could just stop the braxton hicks contractions so I wouldn’t have to wonder what my body is doing, whether its “preparing” or actually dilating and getting set up to go! Can’t I have something secure??? Yet, saying this phrase over and over is supposed to bring me peace. While I do believe that God knows every hair atop my head, and every hair atop my baby boys head, and everyone elses, I honestly struggle to find peace in it. I just want an answer.

So to sum this all up, I am a Christian, and I believe that Jesus Christ cares for me, and my family, and everyone else, whether they care for Him or not. He loves me through my disbelief, and he takes care of me when I feel weak. I am His child, and as a parent, He knows I won’t get it right each and every time, or maybe even at all! I am an imperfect person, and while I don’t always feel the comfort in the idea of God having control of my life, I cannot imagine living my life thinking I had no help or support from above.

So feel free to think I’m crazy! I get it! It sounds crazy. But I have seen God’s good works, and I am confident I will see them again. That being said, for those of you who pray, please consider praying for me if I come to mind. I feel weak. I know, in my weakness, He is stronger, right? 😉 I should be finding some comfort in that one too. Working on it over here!

I confess that Brady and I haven’t been to church since Christmas Eve. Insane, right?? No judging, please! We’ve just felt swamped and exhausted, and the break has been nice, honestly. Not that we’ve been happy being away from all of the people in our church, but sleeping in is a luxury that we only get to enjoy once in a while. But it was really nice to be back today! We caught up with some of our good friends, heard a lot about whats going on in people’s lives, and got the kids acclimated again. I also rocked my new lips! For those who asked about the color, it looks like this:

We ended up leaving early, though. My dad is headed off on a work trip, and we all wanted to grab some lunch and have a quick visit before his plane took off, so we snuck out right around noon and hit up a nearby restaurant for food. The kids ate really well, but Laela was trashed and spent a lot of time staring down the elderly people at the table next to us. Luckily they were pretty smitten with her and didn’t seem to mind her lack of social cues.

My dad left straight from the restaurant and the rest of us made a quick Costco stop with my mom on the way to taking her home. If anyone needs any super pretty wrapping paper that isn’t Christmasy, hit up Costco now!

The kids had a decently emotional drive home, but they had a nice 1.5 hour nap once they got into bed. They still woke up at a reasonable time so I’m confident it won’t mess with bedtime too much at all. We’re going to have a quick easy supper and then get some solid playtime in this evening, and then hopefully we’ll do a bit more patching/puttying after they’re down for the night. Gotta keep things moving over here! February is about to get a bit crazy!!!

I think we all know that having kids comes with sacrifices, but as I parent, its easy for me to see the benefits more so. But the one thing that I’ve struggled the most with “losing” is my spontaneity. Brady and I were big on going away for weekends without any notice, random midnight movie dates, etc. before having kids. And the truth is that I really do miss those days. However, I’ve discovered that we can be spontaneous with the kids! In a very different way, of course, and to less extremes, but spontaneous nonetheless. I’d rather be able to be a little bit spontaneous with the kids than totally spontaneous but not have my little ones!

We had a super funny morning, full of strange fashion choices, and cuddles.

This afternoon, while the kids napped, Brady started to put the first coat of putty on all of the dings on our walls in preparation for painting sometime this February, while I lay in bed. Super helpful I am, I know. He came to hang out with me soon there after, and he offered to paint my toe nails. Its kind of difficult for me to get there anymore, so he painted mine and I painted his 🙂 Not because he necessarily loves to have his nails painted, but Dekker has requested that they’re painted, as Brady is the only one in the house without nail polish. While we painted nails, I mentioned that I was feeling a bit twitchy, and like I wish I had a good excuse to get out of the house today. You know those days? I had one. Even though Brady is out of the house almost every day, he tries really hard to help me when I’m feeling like that. Plus, I think going out with his family feels different than when he goes to work every day. So we brainstormed a bit and decided we had a few things we could do in the city. Not lots and lots, but enough to justify the trip and maybe even get home at a reasonable time.

So we did! We had put the kids down earlier than usual, so they woke up earlier than usual. We got them dressed and were out the door in pretty good time. They weren’t super impressed to be back in their winter coats (We’ve been rocking spring coats for a while now) but they looked ridiculously cute!

We hit up Costco for gas first, and I ran in for milk, yogurt, and cheese. We love our dairy products, apparently. I really wanted to go scan through the clothing section and the baby products, but I resisted the urge. I have a big bad shopping itch these days. But I’m proud that I came out with everything I needed, and only that.

Our next stop was much more exciting for me. Again, Brady dropped me off and I ran into the mall. For Christmas, Laela bought me a pair of shoes, but she didn’t know which size would fit me, so she ordered me two sizes online. To help her out, I picked the right size and finally brought the other pair in to return today. It was the easiest return ever! For those of you who don’t know (because I didn’t!) you can order from Aldo, and return anything without any time limit whatsoever. I just brought in the box and the papers that came in the parcel and it was over. Its scary to know online shoe shopping is so user friendly. After Aldo, I ran to Mac and embarrassed myself totally by saying my retractable liner wouldn’t roll, only to have them tell me I had to sharpen it. So that was good. I resolved the situation by buckling and buying a new lipstick. Don’t judge me, but its a BEAUTIFUL color, and their formula there is sooo good! So “Lady Danger” now belongs to me!!

Brady forgave me for buying lipstick. It probably helped that our next stop was Home Depot. Home Depot makes my husband happy. And as it turns out, it makes me happy too! We thought it would be fun to go in and get the supplies for the next stage of getting our house set up! Primer, plastic floor covering, new rollers, paint tray liners, etc. etc. etc. I went right to the paint desk area to ask for some advice, and knew we had come at the perfect time. The worlds nicest, most helpful paint guy was chomping at the bit to help us, and did he ever!!! We had done some quick measurements of the house before we left and judged that we probably needed about five gallons of primer. Buying it by the gallon would make it around $150, but the employee showed us a promo that offered us six gallons of the exact same paint for $120. So that was awesome!!! We’ll be more than covered, and we paid less 🙂 Yay! He took the pails of primer over to the shaker thing and we went down the nearby aisle to pick out the rest of our stuff. Once he had one pail shaking, he came back over and asked if we needed any help. We kind of hesitated and glanced into our cart, unsure. I had been pretty honest that we don’t know much about painting, but a quick look into our cart told him what we were looking for, and he helped us so much along the way. For instance, we had a three pack of roller liners, and he said that there was a four pack of higher quality ones for the same price. Boom! He helped us know which edger brushes were the best for their price, and a bunch of other stuff. He really didn’t up-sell us anywhere along the way. He was super helpful, and saved us a lot of money! So we all walked out of there feeling really good and accomplished. Yay!!!

We did a quick stop for supper on the way home, but the kids were pretty finished. Their nap was only about an hour long, and it showed, so we ate quickly and got our butts out of there. The ride home was a bit touchy, but we made it, and everyone is in bed, hopefully to be sleeping soon. My broken parts will do well in the tub tonight, that is for sure, but it was a really good day. The spontaneous trip to the city was fun for the kids, and for Brady and I. No, its no movie date or Edmonton trip, but its something, and I’ll take it!! (Plus, if not for this trip, Brady and I wouldn’t have coffee and donuts for our bubble bath!)

Time to sign off! Tomorrow will be another really fun day, I think. Finally getting our butts back to church (pretty sure its been since Christmas!!) and then spending a bit of the afternoon with my parents 🙂 So many good things so close together! We are truly blessed.

I’ve kept a decently busy schedule this week, and I’ve been really happy about it. I like having stuff up most days, and while it kind of messes with the kids schedules, they really like being busier too. But today, as I mentioned yesterday, is laundry day, and thats basically it. While we’ve had some bumps in the road throughout the day, its been exactly how I wanted it to be!

The kids ate breakfast and lunch like champs, and Dekker even shared with Laela. Our lunch is always downstairs, and its just snack foods, so the kids can wander around and play and eat at their leisure. Laela often gets a bit into her tummy and then would rather play, and Dekker took initiative with her today, bringing her crackers and offering her bites of his precious apple slices to make sure she got the healthy stuff in. He offered me bites too, and sips of water, even though I had my own lunch. I was setting up to just heat up a can of broccoli soup, but it looked really questionable as I was pouring it out, so I added some shredded cheese, and it was actually super delicious. It probably would have been more than fine without the cheese as well, but broccoli cheese soup is delicious. Yum.

We were watching a show, and I told Dekker that it would be time for a nap once this episode was over. He agreed, as he always does, and continued playing. I remembered that I needed to do diaper changed before they went down though, so I summoned them over and did that really quick. And when that was done, Dekker headed for the stairs. The episode was still going but I went with it. If he’s going to go to bed willingly, I’ll take it! He immediately started teasing Laela, and coaxed her up the stairs all on his own. Then, to “make a fair race” he got down on his hands and knees and raced Laela to their room. All on his own!!! Once in their room, he gave her a big hug and kiss, and told her he hoped she slept well, before climbing up into his bed. Unbelievable!!!!!

It took a little bit for him to fall asleep but he was a total champ getting there!! And he did actually sleep! Still is! I couldn’t be happier.

Once they were down, I phone dated my mother in law, and put another load of laundry through. It was really nice to visit and catch up, as always. Hopefully we’ll see Bradys parents soon enough, once the baby is here.

* Total side note on that topic. I WISH I was the kind of person who would out his name to the world before he was born, because I have a little video of Dekker saying it, and it is just the sweetest thing!!! Bah!

Laundry is still going, and I’m obviously off the phone (I’m not rude enough to blog and talk on the phone at the same time) so its time to put my feet up and rest my aching self. I’ve so enjoyed my quiet home day 🙂 Funny how having fewer of them makes me appreciate them more. This day has been exactly what I wanted.

I slept much better last night than I had the night before, which was a relief. It helps when one isn’t up from 4:00am on. The kids were pretty cute, and played well. We ate yummy snacks and had a pretty relaxed day of learning the names of all of Laela’s princesses, and watching some Friends on Netflix.

The kids went down for their nap really well. I wasn’t sure they would, as Laela seemed really energetic still, and squealed at Dekker the whole time I was tucking her in. But they were both asleep in less than ten minutes. While they napped, I rested up as well, watched a bit of YouTube, played Free Cell, and texted a friend or two. Just relaxed. When my mom finally called to say she was on her way over, I decided I should get myself together and look like a human. I had a half hour.

And I accomplished nothing. I put on deodorant and brushed my teeth, and I put my pants back on, haha! But that was it! I found myself sort of running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Yet by the time she arrived, the whole place (and myself) still looked a mess. Luckily, not a drop of judgement dripped off of her. I haven’t had her over in over a month, so we ran around and I showed her everything she’s “missed,” like the paint colors swatched on our walls, my fun little makeup corner I’m putting together, and all the fun new shoes we bought yesterday. I decided to stop showing off our random crap when we started discussing our new sheets. C’mon Hailey, its sheets.

We had a ridiculously yummy supper of perogies and wings, with a cucumber salad on the side. Cucumber salad has turned into my latest cottage cheese concoction, but everyone approved it first, and I made a bit bowl. It was so yummy. We watched a bit of a show, played with the kids, and painted nails. It took a bit to get the kids down, but they eventually did, and we all visited a bit more before mom had to go home. I miss her.

But its time for a soak and a snack. I’m loving these brownies, and can’t wait to eat them again!!

Tomorrow, all I have written in my day planner is “make honey mustard dressing” and “laundry day.” Both are easy and decently enjoyable tasks. I’m looking forward to my cozy day at home 🙂

I was awakened at 4:00 this morning to Dekker sobbing. He never wakes up or cries in the night anymore, so if it spontaneously happens, we go to him immediately. I rushed into their room and found him sitting on his bed, shrucking. I climbed up the stairs and held him for a few minutes until he calmed down. When I asked him what was going on, he asked me for a different blanket. I’ll admit that I immediately lost some compassion for him. Instead of a stuffed toy or something of the sort, Dekker likes to hold one of his old receiving blankets when he sleeps. Doesn’t matter which one, just some flannel to hold beneath his quilt. These days, asking for a new blanket is a stall tactic. I responded with “No, no new blanket right now. Its bedtime, you can finish off the night with this blanket.” I went to grab it and for the life of me, I couldn’t find it. Oh. I guess that was the issue. I couldn’t find it anywhere and wasn’t about to turn on any lights, so I grabbed him a new one, got him a drink of water, and put him back down.

For the next two hours, he proceeded to talk, sit up, play, wake his sister, and general act up. It was infuriating. I was wide awake, desperately trying to shut him down. On a normal night, I would have likely given up and left him to his own devices, knowing Laela would possibly go back down once he woke her, and that life would go on, and thats just what happens when little kids share a bedroom. But we had plans to go into the city later in the day and I needed the kids to not be totally shot. They were eventually both back to sleep around 6:30. My poor body. It seems to kind of depend on those nighttime hours to make it possible for me to walk the next day without excruciating pelvic pain and the sort, and I lost many of those hours. I have no idea how you mothers of non-sleepers do it. I did get another hour in before we were all up for the day, but very literally all day, I felt as though I could (and likely would) burst out into tears at any moment. Suuuper unstable and emotional. Hormones! Yay!

 *merp*

I was fading badly in the morning while the kids played, and knew I wouldn’t make it through the day with the way I was feeling, so I put the kids down for their nap about a half hour early, in hopes that they would actually fall asleep and sleep for a couple of hours before we left, so we could all be a little bit refreshed. Magically, it worked! Both kids were asleep within minutes. I gathered up a big bowl of cucumbers and tomatoes, threw some cottage cheese and sunflower seeds on top, and wolfed it down in hopes that it would bring energy. It was delicious, but I knew it wasn’t enough, so I indulged in a brownie. Then I lay in bed and dozed a bit while Friends played on Netflix. When it was about 2:30, I got myself ready at a nice relaxed pace. I got dressed and put my makeup on, and made a bit of noise to lull the kids. Right around 3:00, it was their turn to get up.

Dekker was ready and excited to get up. Laela, on the other hand…

…was trashed in the cutest little stretched out position that there ever was. I got Dekker ready and dressed first as Laela slowly woke up. Dekker woke her with his sweet little high-pitched call, and I got her all cute and ready as well. We hit the road right around 3:30, which had been the original goal. Yay for getting two kids out the door on time!

We met Brady in a parking lot near his work and left his work van there so we could run all of our errands together, which we all prefer. We started at Dr. Mikes office, where he assured me I was in better shape than the last time he’d seen me, and then proceeded to hurt me anyway. My poor pelvis. Just a few more weeks of the craziness! Brady entertained the kids in the van while I was in my appointment.

Then we hit the mall nearby, which was by far our most successful chunk of shopping day, in my opinion!

My mom had tipped us off that Dawgs was having a really good sale on everything in the store, including the cute little slip on shoes for kids. I loved the idea of getting Laela some cute sparkly slip ons and something new for Dekker as well, since he hates sandals and is in runners all summer. Brady could also use a pair of something to wear through the houses he works in once the flooring is installed. He currently rocks slippers, which works, but we figured some Dawgs would be nicer on his back. So all of that considered, we figured we’d duck in and see if we found anything. We got to the mall right as Jerilee got off of her shift at work, so she met us at the store and we all shoe shopped together. Best. Haul. Ever.

Besides the two pairs that Jerilee bought, our little family ended up with seven new pairs of shoes, and we paid $50. Unbelievable. Of all the shoes though, Dekker LOVED his blue ones! He ended up wearing them out, and he ran instead of walked for the rest of the evening. He was invincible, and he loved it. Seriously, a HUGE win! I’m just kicking myself a little bit that I didn’t inquire more about colors for Laela. I tried to get her another color or two, but out of what I asked for, this is all they had for her. But I should have asked about the more neutral ones. Oops. Oh well, pink is cute!

After Dawgs, we parted ways with Jerilee, and we hit up Superstore. I bought a few new products that I’m really anxious to try over the next little while, as well as some much-needed groceries. It wasn’t a big shop at all, but big enough to justify cookies for the kids. As per usual, they were very happy to get their treats. While we waited in line to pay for our stuff, I crouched down for some face time with my son, and he gave me a big kiss before sticking his cookie into my mouth. Now, my boy is a very sweet boy, but sharing a cookie is a pretty big deal. I made a really big show of it and gave him lots of hugs and kisses. What a generous soul.

Since they were already eating, Brady dropped me off at a different mall to take advantage of a great deal that Thyme Maternity had, and he drove to a nearby restaurant and grabbed some food for all of us. They came back and picked me up, and we ate in the van. I had bought three shirts at Thyme and paid $30. A VERY good deal!

Our last stop was Costco, and the kids were fading pretty hard. Also, I was really feeling my chiropractic treatment, and was having trouble walking without walking the wrong way, which does more damage in the end. No waddling for me. So I stayed in the van, but Dekker really wanted to do Costco, so he and Brady did it together while Laela and I hung out in the van and ate a few more french fries.

The kids slept the whole way home and cried through us putting them in jammies. Poor tired kids. But they are now down, and I am more than ready for a soak in the tub! My poor aching body, haha! I have a co-dependant relationship with my bathtub.

And as I previously mentioned, I have the same relationship with the brownies on my counter. Yum…