I can honestly say that today was probably my favorite Tuesday out of all of my recent Tuesdays. We went to bed early last night so I felt pretty rested this morning, and the kids were super cute and did great at breakfast. Laela had been a bit moody yesterday and it seemed like she and Dekker traded off, so Dekker was a bit twitchy after breakfast, but nothing that cuddling wouldn’t solve. They did well over lunch, and went down for their nap very well. Apparently, they were more than ready. Maybe they party all night and we just don’t know about it.

After they went down for their nap, I did some stuff on the laptop before making myself look like a human. Brady and Jerilee both texted from roughly the same place around the same time to tell me they were on their way over, so I washed my hair and finished up my makeup. Brady beat Jerilee by less than five minutes and came bearing noodle bowls for supper. The kids got up and we all ate supper together. However, we couldn’t stay to play, and Jerilee and I left the moment supper was done.

We drove about 50 minutes north and hit up our former bible school. We have officially joined their concert choir!! They put on a performance twice a year, and any community members/alumni/students are welcome to participate. Sadly, this is the last year that the school will be open, and we thought it would be really special to be part of it, sort of as a last hurrah. We made it just a few minutes early and found spots with some people Jerilee knew. I was surprised to see such a small group, to be honest. I thought there would be many more people who wanted to be part of the last concert choir, but I’m still very happy we went. Every song we sang was beautiful, and I know they’ll all flow together beautifully when the time comes to actually perform. It was also really, really fun to sing in a group with strong four part harmony in a big room with good acoustics. Its been a while.

One of the best things about practice tonight was that it ended exactly on time! We were nice and out of the building and on the road by 8:20. We stopped and visited with my mom for a short time along the way, but ultimately, arrived at home around 10:00. Brady has busied himself beautifully! All of the furniture in our living room was moved into the middle, ready for puttying and painting to begin. AND he baked brownies. So the three of us gathered up some snacks and headed downstairs for our weekly viewing of the Bachelor. Yes, it got pretty late, especially for poor Jerilee who had to drive back to the city around midnight, but it was fun, and a really good ending to my day!

I feel refreshed, albeit tired and like my pelvis is going to come apart at the seams. It’ll be good to see Dr. Mike tomorrow and have him put me back in place! Tomorrow should be another good day, with plans later in the day, and the same story for Thursday! I’m loving the fact that I’ve been able to keep a slightly busier schedule these last couple of weeks. It makes me feel more accomplished, and I also appreciate my quiet, home days more than I used to. Friday will be so nice, as I have nothing currently planned. It will probably be a laundry day.

Ok, time for bed. Poor Brady gets up in five hours, sooo…

I was going to save blogging for the evening, since I have a fun outing that I’m really looking forward to, but after a texty date with my sister, Grace, I realized that what we were talking about is something I’d love to just briefly touch on today 🙂 I’ll leave the stories of eating chocolate and having my feet rubbed for tomorrow maybe.

Roles within the family. I won’t go too terribly in depth, because I don’t feel like they’re very specifically defined in our house. We all fit into lots of places. But Gracey and I were talking about birth order and things like that, and it made me think about how having a third child will be a whole new cup of tea! Even though I have had a couple of kids already, and yes, I know the ropes of a couple different courses, no two kids are the same, and their order is part of that! So, just for fun, here is a breakdown of my views of how and where our kids fit into our home 🙂

Dekker Thomas is our oldest, and it shows. He’s had the most one on one time, so he’s a bit more hesitant around groups of people, having been alone with me so much, but he’s learning. He doesn’t like having his stuff messed with. He likes order, and for things to remain where he last put them. He is mommys big helper. He pulls his weight around (literally) by carrying his dishes to the sink, putting them in the top of the dishwasher even, unloading the dryer, bringing diapers and wipes when I ask, and feeding Laela snacks. This morning, Dekker was playing with his tea set, and was “stirring soup” in one of the cups. He carried the spoon all the way across the basement to feed Laela a taste, and came back to share some with me too. He also took it upon himself to comb Laela’s hair and admire it afterwards, telling her she looked so pretty, complete with a hug and kiss. I am confident he will be protective of Laela as they grow up together, and be the classic big strong brother who teases her about boys until she cries. He is a doting older brother to his younger sister, and seems to be genuinely anticipating his little brothers arrival. He even asked me if I thought the baby would tickle his tummy. He is so ready to have another little one around to play with and care for. He is incredibly sensitive, and has a very gentle soul.

Laela Hazel is the second child, and she is completely different from Dekker! She is always on the move, and is very very brave. She is the one who can smack her head against the couch and not miss a beat. She is the daredevil that makes me almost poop my pants on a somewhat daily basis. Yet, being that she is our second child, and I am considerably less afraid of everything, she also takes more spills because I rush to catch her less. When Laela falls off of the couch, she turns it into a superman dive roll and makes it look intentional. She is a mimic, which I actually quite enjoy. Her “monkey see, monkey do” mentality is endearing to Brady and I, and luckily, Dekker still thinks its fun. He isn’t always happy when she follows him like a shadow, but when she imitates his movements and we applaud, he loves it then. Dekker has taught Laela peek-a-boo, clapping, and the “sooo big” motion. Laela loves to be tickled and played with, but plays beautifully by herself. That being said, when she is upset and lets fly, you know she means it. She also loves to help, because Dekker does. If he retrieves a diaper, you can be confident that she is not far behind with a diaper of her own. She will throw her dirty diapers away in the diaper genie, and put her laundry into the hamper. She is incredibly clear in her communication, which has been probably one of the best things (in my opinion) about having her around. She has nodded “yes” for probably a good couple of months already, and its usually accompanied by a “ya.” She now shakes her head “no” too, and waves, points, and is just starting to utter a few small words, like cup, boo- for book, and wow 🙂 My heart shivered just days ago when she crawled up the stairs and upon arriving at the top, screeching “mommy mommy!!” I melt.

Dekker and Laela have a very special thing going, and while I hope no one is excluded or ignored, they have been together for a while now! They talk to each other in the car, share toys back and forth, and tease and tease and tease. They have a fabulous thing going!

Baby boy is our third child, and while I don’t know too terribly much about him just yet, I’m going to try and let you in on the few things that I do know, or suspect. Being that he is down the list in the birth order, there are almost no belly shots of him. We feel a bit guilty, but I don’t think its uncommon for this to be the case. He still makes himself to be noticed, so I wouldn’t say he’s neglected. He is quite unpredictable, and hasn’t been exactly like one pregnancy or the other. He is definitely an original. We think he will want to be noticed amongst his siblings. Currently, his way of doing this is by sleeping very, very lightly. If I roll over in the night, so does he. Over and over again. He has big opinions about what I eat, but almost all are positive, so he will likely be a tank who loves to eat. No purees or baby food for this boy! As for him being third in line, he has a brother and a sister waiting for him, and he adores them both already. When they are both sitting on my lap, he manages to nudge them both practically the whole time. Dekker thinks its funny, while Laela hasn’t noticed too much yet. She prefers to contact him through my belly button. I’m very curious to learn more about him, and to be able to share his name and stats with everyone else who is anticipating him. The biggest stereotype that I want to fight against for him is that babies get less and less exciting the more you have. Guys, he will be making his appearance in FIVE WEEKS, and I couldn’t be more floored and thrilled out of my face to meet him! I hope you feel the same, to the sane and appropriate degree that people should care about someone elses baby, haha! But let’s not let him be the random forgotten third child.

I can’t wait to fill in these gaps a bit more and get to know our baby boy so soon. These kids are spectacular.

The kids woke up with a vengeance maybe around 8:00. They played loudly for a little bit before Dekker climbed back up onto his megabed and they both went back to sleep. No word of a lie. No one got sad first or anything. They just went back to bed until shortly before 11:00!!! It was pretty insane, actually. To celebrate, Brady made us a delicious brunch of pancakes and bacon, and the kids were thrilled.

Because of the ridiculously long night, we knew they wouldn’t nap well, if at all, and we had come to terms with that. But at or around their normal nap time, Laela was rubbing her eyes and Dekker was picking fights. So they both were tucked away for some quiet time. Laela slept, and Dekker rested quietly for about an hour before they were both up again. It was fine though. Better than we had expected.

We didn’t do much else today. I know we’re a couple of years late, but we finally finished up the dvd series of The Office. It was a really good ending, and we were both really happy at the end 🙂 Lame to be excited about a tv show maybe, but its been a long time coming. So that was a significant highlight from the day.

Also today, we dug through our tub of baby boy clothes to see what we could reuse from Dekker for the new baby. I know its still a little early, but since Dekker was born mid-August and Jim will be born in March, the seasons are pretty opposite, and I wanted to have an idea of what we have that we can use, and what gaps we sort of need to fill. We’ve already bought a few sleepers, since you can never have too many, and a couple of other tiny little things, but from the tub, we got five sleepers, one pair of dressy pants, a sweater, two hoodies, six long sleeved shirts, and two tshirts. It sounds like a lot as I type it out here, but it actually isn’t much, considering how much our children barf. I know every kid is different, but we have rocked two barfers so far and I won’t be surprised if we have a third. That being said, we threw away quite a bit of clothing that we had saved to reuse, that turned out to be incredibly stained. Like, yellow aaaaall down the front and aaaaall the way around the neck. Pretty nasty. But it was fun to dig back into it all and reminisce a little bit, while anticipating the future. Five more weeks until I have my third baby in my arms. Its finally starting to feel like its coming up soon, and not months away. Its pretty much just month away 😉

AND! This next month is really big for us! For us, February is our anniversary (7th), Valentines Day (14th), and this year, we add the one year anniversary of Dekker’s eye surgery!!! Hopefully, among all the celebrating, we’ll find time to paint our house, and potentially get things organized-ish in the way of listing/moving/building/who knows. Its both an exciting and chaotic time, and I’m looking forward to getting the ball rolling!

Remember yesterday, when I said we weren’t super productive? We were even less productive today. While I feel like we’ve been a bit sluggish maybe, I’ve also really enjoyed the last couple of days, so that is that. Happy me.

The kids were really happy this morning but were really edgy before lunch already. Usually food helps, but today, it did not. So they went down for their nap a half hour early and both fell asleep pretty quickly. While they napped, I watched a bit of YouTube, and Brady wrote up all the relevant numbers and sent them to our mortgage guy. Now we just wait for him to get back to us. We wait on pins and needles, probably with some sweating and over-eating. We wait to see what we qualify for, and to learn whether or not its enough to move us on to our next adventure.

Once the kids started to lull, Brady jumped in the shower and I headed over to my beautiful place to play in my makeup for a bit. I’ve sooo enjoyed my new products, and I feel like I have a new one to try out every day. I didn’t use one old product today! Fun stuff.

We got the kids up and dressed, which is always a big indicator that we’re going somewhere. They cooperated beautifully and were ready to get out and in the van. Thankfully, the freezing rain from the morning had subsided and the highway was nice and cleared. The same can’t be said for our driveway or sidewalk but we were all very careful and no one went down.

We got to my parents place around 4:30 I think. Ish, anyway. I’m not positive. The kids beelined for the toys and settled in immediately. We played hard and chatted and watched a few cute videos of the kids for a while, until supper time. We had sausage and rice, gravy, and green bean casserole for supper. I love this meal, and its mostly because I LOVE green bean casserole!! Dekker ate his body weight in sausage, as well as some of everything else, and Laela ate everything. She was refusing to eat any more until I offered her more green beans, which seemed to open up that hollow leg. It was a very successful supper.

Dekker reappeared at the table to claim his pumpkin cream cheese cupcake, and then was off for toys, after a very endearing thank you to grandma, assuring her that the cupcakes were his favorite cupcakes.

Brady and my dad did a bit of work on the computer, setting a couple of things up, while my mom and I puttered around “doing dishes” but mostly just playing with the kids and visiting. We stayed a bit longer than we expected to, but its so hard to leave when everyone is still happy.

We finally piled out just after 7:30, and thankfully, the kids stayed awake the whole drive home, so we had high hopes for a smooth transition to bedtime. It was actually probably the most fun we’ve had with them at bedtime in a long time, with TONS of tickling and munching and teasing and chasing and partying. It was awesome. Of course, they’re now solidly riled up and who knows when they’ll fall asleep but it was worth it. We truly have the best kids on the planet.

Today really felt like a Saturday, which is sooo nice, because we get another Saturday tomorrow! Except that at one point, I thought today was Wednesday, but I’m going to blame that one on baby brain. Anywho…

Brady had yesterday and today off, and today was the first day in a good handful of days that we haven’t taken the kids anywhere, so it was a well deserved jammie and downstairs day. However, we did get a few things accomplished, which felt great. I didn’t do anything too crazy, but I did do laundry, so thats all caught up, which is nice to go into the weekend. No laundry tomorrow! Also, Brady worked a bit on our taxes. As an update on that, we did a couple of hours each evening for a little while and got everything organized, added up, and entered into the program a while ago, but lots of places that we need specifics from haven’t sent out their letters yet. Today, Brady took that job on and called each place this morning, and got every single number for us!!! Ok, there’s one more, but mostly we’re just waiting to know if we actually need a number from them. We didn’t think of it last year or the year before, and if its something important, we don’t want to miss it again! Yikes! So, waiting to hear back from one place, but all of the big ones are taken care of 😀 YAY! Yay for finding out our possible mortgage numbers soon!

Other than that, we played with the kids, and watched a bit of tv while they napped. Or half-ass napped. Laela slept less than Dekker did, and then they were both ticked to be woken up when they fell asleep too late and hadn’t rested enough. So the evening was a bit rocky. Our yummy supper plans flew out the window, since they never eat much when they’re tired and grumpy, and grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit cups became the new plan, and seemed to go over well enough.

While we accomplished a couple of important things, I feel like it was kind of a sluggish day, and my body feels a bit restless. I’m looking forward to getting out of the house again tomorrow and going to my parents for the evening. Its so nice to have things to look forward to. But until then, Brady and I need to come up with some supper for ourselves, and have a soak in the tub. Even being lazy seems to do a number on my silly ailing pelvis. One day it’ll operate correctly again, right?

Brady was expecting to work this morning but as I so often say, he worked his butt off the last few days so he could spend a full day with us instead of just a few extra hours. Thats always so nice on prenatal visit days! I just had one last week, and my doctor and I had discovered that for some reason, I was already being booked for weekly appointments instead of bi-weekly, so we agreed to cancel this one. But as my pregnancy brain would have it, I forgot, so instead of bailing last minute, I decided to just go anyway. It never hurts me to hear my babys heartbeat!

Before my prenatal, though, Brady and I booked appointments with Dr. Mike. We were both feeling pretty rough, so we were greatly anticipating our visit. Brady went first, and Dr. Mike confirmed that he was definitely in need of a treatment, and got him all back to where things belonged. For my turn, I told him that my right leg was giving me the worst time of it. I can’t stand on it to pull on a pair of pants, much less walk correctly. I’ve been using all the tools he’s given me, and genuinely following the rules. He really spent a lot of time with me and my gimpy leg today, checking my pelvis and back, stretching my leg, and pulling it around a bit. He had to help me up at the end, not going to lie. It was not the worlds most enjoyable treatment at all, but those always leave me confident that he did lots of work and it will feel better soon. I’ll see him again in a week, and Brady probably in a couple. The kids were cute and quiet the whole time. Yay kids!

Once getting back to the van, Dekker and Laela appeared to be right at the end of their ropes, so Brady agreed to drop me off at Dr. Guselle’s office and go get good with them. My appointment was the first one after her lunch break, and I had pretty much just been there, so we knew it would be a quick visit. I waited for just a few minutes but was in a room nice and quick. While she is a doctor who is DEFINITELY worth the wait, its always nice when she’s running on time.

I updated her a bit on how my prescription for acid reflux isn’t cutting it anyway, and she told me all the information I need to know about how much of what I can take, so if things keep worsening in the next two weeks where I won’t see her, I know my limits. That was really the only change I had to report, so we went through the routine of blood pressure, measurements, and heart rate. It all checked out, until she couldn’t find the babys position right away. She’s so calm about it, but finally says “Where’s that head?” I know he had a head last week, so I didn’t panic too fast, knowing it was in there somewhere. I’m actually pretty happy to say that his head is nice and low! She just had to go a bit lower than she expected, which is pretty great! I know anything can happen at any moment, but its a nice confidence booster that he’s getting all set up for delivery in there, and that he’d have to work a bit harder against gravity to flip around now. Yay baby!

I was really happy when she looked at her schedule and said excitedly, “Oh! We had our group meeting tonight! Its really good that you came today, so I’m all up to date.” She basically told me that the doctors all really try to respect the schedule, so if I go into labor before I’m induced, and someone else is scheduled, technically I am their case. Makes sense, of course. But she said that she really tries to get in with her patients who have had chaotic deliveries in the past, for their peace of mind, so she said she would put my story out there and just ask that, if someone so desired, they could call her to take my case if I came in spontaneously. She was very clear that there is no guarantee with that, and her family and activities do come first, and I LOVE that! Because they do!!! But she wants to know whats happening with me, and if she can be there, she will be. I love her.

I felt really uplifted after my appointment, as I pretty much always do. I went back to the van and was greeted by yummy food and happy people. We did a quick Superstore trip afterwards for some groceries and cookies for the cookie faces, and then went home.

The kid missed their nap and are in pretty rough shape. At least Dekker is. Laela slept a bit in the van but Deks didn’t and he is something of a crazy person, so they went down a half hour early. Supper was leftover macaroni, and even that wasn’t especially well received by the tired kids. Brady and I had big bowls of fresh veggies with some cottage cheese and bacon bit on top. My gosh, it was delicious!

I can’t wait for a soak and a snack. Tims coffee is waiting in the fridge to be reheated, and my achy leg is anxious to be soaked and babied a little bit. Should roll out to be a pretty good night!

With my previous pregnancies, I have experienced a lot of acid reflux. I truthfully have no idea what heartburn feels like, so I can’t compare the two or state the differences, but I know they’re often treated with the same stuff. With Dekker’s pregnancy, I ended up taking Zantac twice a day every day by the end, and it was the perfect amount. I never took another after the day he was born. I love that part of delivering a baby. So many of the uncomfortable symptoms are gone in that one moment! Of course, you are met with all kinds of other things to deal with, but the ones you’re really tired of are gone. With Laela’s pregnancy, I was on Zantac much sooner. I didn’t waste time trying to suppress my reflux with Tums, and I knew what dosage I was allowed from last time, so I just went for it. Towards the end of that pregnancy, I remember starting to kind of lose it. I know people deal with all kinds of illness throughout pregnancy, and my acid reflux sounds pretty petty, but do you know that feeling you get in your head when you’re about to puke? Not quite a headache, but almost? Its a very specific feeling, and I get it when I have acid reflux. So it prevents me from sleeping, or eating, or whatever else I kind of need to do, because my body things its going to throw up. Its gross. So in the last weeks of Laela’s pregnancy, I remember having a lot of trouble, having my two doses of Zantac not being enough but not being allowed to take a third.

This time around, my Zantac came on a bit later, but much harder. After being on Zantac for less than two weeks, I was up to the full two doses. That quickly became not enough. I had purchased a bulk amount of Zantac from Costco earlier in my pregnancy, knowing this is just something that comes with it for me, and I asked Dr. Guselle if I could just take three per day. She said if I needed something stronger, she would just give me a prescription. I explained to her that I have no health coverage, and already have a stupid amount of Zantac in my house, so if I was allowed to take more Zantac, I’d rather do it that way, even if taking just one pill is more convenient. Unfortunately, she said that three Zantac could be safe, but it is an “unstudied dose,” therefore making it “unsafe.” I agree with this, and would hate to take the risk. So she prescribed me the pill I’m taking now. One pill every morning, and I’ve been untouchable for weeks.

Until now. I wake up in the morning with that terrible burn in my throat and ache in my head. I woke up at 7:00 this morning, which is a solid 1.5-2 hours earlier than usual for us, and took my pill immediately, but it was too late :/ That lurking grossness still surfaced, and I felt sick to my stomach.

A couple of hours later, it still wasn’t gone. So I am officially that person who is taking The strongest Zantac available as well as my prescription. Yes, its doctor approved, I promise. Its just a bit annoying. How can my baby already be huge enough to caught this much of an issue in my digestion?? Bah. Lame.

At least I’m finally getting some use out of the massive quantity of Zantac I bought…

We finally got Laela in for her one year vaccines today. I always hesitate to write about shots, since I know they’re such a touchy subject, but we’re confident in our well-researched decision, just as I’m sure many who are against vaccinations are, so let’s just all respect each other. Deal? Deal.

We don’t run on a delayed shots schedule or anything, but we aren’t too hellbent on getting them done on the exact dates either. When Dekker’s eyes crossed without any warning, all the doctors that he saw boiled it down to the fact that his immune system was fighting too many things at once, and his body reacted in this way. Thinking about how and when my eyes crossed as a kid, I think a very similar thing happened to me. So because of that, I wait until my kids are in perfect health (to my knowledge, anyway) before taking them in for their vaccines. Some people may disagree with that, and thats fine, but its what we’ve chosen to do, after much research and prayer. Each time I had a plan for taking Laela in for shots, she would get a cold, cut a bunch of teeth, or get a rash. When she was finally in decent health, it was Christmas, and now it is finally the new year and I decided to just bite the bullet and take her in. So yes, we are late, but she’s in decent health and its getting too close to her 18 month shots to hold off any longer, haha!

Brady met me at the clinic and hung out in the van with Dekker while Laela and I went in. We had a really friendly nurse who ran through all of the long awaited measurements. I dont have recorded measurements for her past six months, which is strange, but I think I had her weighed around nine or ten months maybe, and she was around 21 lbs. Now, at just about sixteen months, she weighs 22 lbs. Thats it! I was pretty surprised, but on another hand, not at all. She’s so petite, unlike her brother who surpassed 22 lbs in his fourth month of life. Crazy kids. Just to have it on here somewhere, she is 31″ tall, and while I didn’t hear her head circumference, the nurse commented that it was “above average,” which I am not even slightly surprised by.

I won’t pretend it was a smooth appointment otherwise. Laela was pissed the second I tried  to hug her to my body so she couldn’t wiggle away from the needle. She wailed for the rest of our visit, but I hate needles too, so I can’t blame her. While we gave her a bit of time to recover, the nurse and I discussed a few different things about her, all of which she was happy about. How much she eats and drinks, talks, comprehends, walks, etc. She was very intentional about explaining why she was asking each question, and eventually asked me if I was a nurse, too. I said I wasn’t, and she acted surprised, saying I seemed to know my stuff pretty well, and that I was so relaxed about everything. I just laughed and told her I had done this before, and I’m a bit braver than I was the first time. But I took it as a bit of a compliment, honestly. Whether it was meant as one or not. If I were to go back to school at this point, I’m pretty sure it would be for something in a medical field anyway. Glad I fit the bill in even just a little way.

Laela wouldn’t relax until we left the exam room. When we finally left, she had worked herself into quite a tizzy and was just red in the face and hot to the touch, so we walked out to the car without her jacket. The wind caught her by surprise and she was immediately full of giggles. She was pointing at all the signs and squinting in the sun. She was sooo relieved!

She slept the whole way home, but Dekker didn’t sleep at all. However, he was quite a grump, and I knew a nap would be in order, assuming she would let him sleep. Its always hit and miss when one of them sleeps in the van. As soon as I got them home, Laela was wide awake, laughing at Dekker and eager to play, and Dekker was pretty ticked after slipping outside and getting a couple handfuls of snow. I brought them to their room and tucked them both in. Dekker was still all growly, and Laela was wide-eyed, but neither has made a sound in a solid 45 minutes so I am not complaining at all! I’m so pleased to be able to tucked away in my own bed, even for just a short time, and rest my legs.

Brady will be home in a couple of hours, and Jerilee is coming over for another night of the Bachelor! I love Bachelor night. Its been a pretty decent day already, and its only going to get better!

Maybe it sounds crazy that I say its been a good day. Who likes needles?! But I felt good to finally get them done. I felt confident in my parenting, and the fact that Laela is reaching milestones as she should. That being said, I’m happy that I no longer put so much stock in what public health has to say about my kids. I am a more confident parent this time around, and while I’m sure I mess stuff up all the time, and I’ll look back at lots of decisions I made and shake my head, I am confident now.

It would appear Laela thinks she’s had enough rest, which apparently means that I have too! Have great evenings, all!

I know TGIF (thank God its Friday) is MUCH more popular than thanking God for Monday, but I vote we’re all thankful to have another day here on earth, am I right? Personally, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed today! Its nice to be back in the swing of things, actually getting a few things done, and planning out my week. The kids slept in a bit, which is probably what kickstarted my good morning! It gave me time to wake up, watch a bit of YouTube and eat breakfast cookies. Yup, they’re a thing. No, they’re not made out of cereal or even oatmeal. They’re just cookies at breakfast time. Delish.

Once the kids got up, I changed their adorable bums and got some good kisses and hugs in. I hadn’t seen them in almost a whole day, so it was good to finally get my hands on them!

Breakfast lasted over an hour. I don’t even think they were especially hungry, but they were very distracted. I was running around, getting the day organized, and they were mesmerized for one reason or another. I put some dishes in the dishwasher and set it going, which isn’t abnormal, but they were still very aware. Then, I grabbed a tub and started grabbing all of my makeup and beauty products out of the bathroom and hauling them to my room. I know you guys know I’m excited to tart learning a bit about makeup, but I actually don’t know if I’ve talked about it all in depth! Did you know I have something of a beauty corner forming in my room?? Anyway, With all of my new products from date night, I brought everything into our room so I could get it all organized at some point today. Lastly, I took all of the crib sheets and full sheet sets that I bought at Target the other day, and started to disassemble them from their packaging so I could run them all through the wash. That seemed to really grasp the kids attention. I don’t think a bite was taken the entire time I did that. I couldn’t tell you what was so exciting about it, but it was obviously epic. Dekker would tell me after he had seen each set that it was one of his favorites, and Laela would nod profusely. Such little yes-men 🙂 I love that.

Once breakfast was finally over, we all went downstairs and started the riveting linen laundry. The kids played well for the most part, but there were lots of cuddles in between. I had the privilege of changing one poopy diaper per kid, and then feeding them more still, for lunch. Dekker was unusually good at sharing today, which was very nice to see. He was also really loving to Laela, and caring towards her. She tends to dig herself into this spot in our basement where she’s scared to try and get out. She’s perfectly safe, in a wide open space, but she gets spooked. I never rush to her at that point, because she’s done it a number of times, and can easily “free” herself, but she doesn’t. Anyway, today, she was crying from her spot, and Dekker brought her a water bottle to help her feel better. She had a nice big drink and then was done, so he brought it back to the table. I celebrated his actions, and told him that was so sweet of him! But Laela kept crying, and that confused Dekker. So he asked for a Kleenex, and he brought it over to her to “wipe her big tears.” He brought back the hardly wet Kleenex and I chucked it for him. But Laela would not let up. It was around their lunch time anyway, so I went upstairs to get them some food, and figured I would lure her out with that. It didn’t work, and resulted in Dekker bringing her snacks. I gave up finally and went over to her. I just put my hand out, she grabbed my finger, and walked out. Done. It almost makes me annoyed, but its so easy and I know she’ll figure it out soon. Of all things to be annoyed about, right?

The kids went down well for their nap, and I’ve been playing with my new makeup ever since. I have a nine drawer unit that I’m organizing all of my beauty stuff into. I’ve organized five of them, and have concrete plans for two more, so we’ll see where the last ones end up, but I’m sure they’ll fill in no time. Once I got the drawers where I wanted them, it was either blogging or folding the first batch of sheets, and I really didn’t feel like doing that. But this is over, and the sheets are wrinkling, so I guess I’ll head there next! I have some type of plan for most of the days this week, so its nice to know I won’t have cabin fever for at least a few days here 🙂 There is always lots to do, and I’m finally having a better time finding those things, and even better, not being completely intimidated by them!! Yay for gradually learning to keep a house!

For Christmas, Brady wanted to buy me all the makeup I wanted, so he arranged for us to go on a date, where he would accompany me to all my favorite places and shop with me instead of for me. Considerably less risk that way 😉 So Jerilee agreed to watch our kids for most of the day, and we left our place around 1:00 this afternoon.

I’ve been pathetically planning this date out. I knew my budget, and wanted to make sure I got my hands on all the right stuff. So we hit the mall first, that has a Mac and Sephora. Brady was very patient and gave input as I asked for it, and I managed to pick up most of my “priority” things at both places, plus a little bit from Shoppers Drugmart, since they carry Essence and no one else does. We weren’t at the mall for too terribly long, and ventured over to Walmart afterwards, for a few drugstore things. I know we could have gotten most if not all of it at Shoppers but its always more expensive there. So I grabbed a few foundations from Walmart that I’ve been wanting to try, as well as a bright violet lipstick. (Upon arriving home, I discovered its completely broken and will need to be returned :/ Merp.) I had accomplished all I came to Walmart for, so we hit up Dollarama last for some plastic baskets, and some makeup pads, sponges, cotton balls, etc. Nothing too thrilling over there.

We were done the shopping part of our date sooner than we expected, so we knew our lack of dinner reservation wouldn’t get us in too much trouble. We decided to try out Cactus Club for our first time, and were seated right away. We had very friendly servers and staff, and a very beautiful brand new baby girl to stare at just a few tables away. The food was a bit of a wait, but we had lots of time. When it did finally come, we agreed that it was definitely worth the wait! Brady got a bacon cheese burger and fries, and I got the blackened creole chicken with buttery mashed potatoes and asparagus. I didn’t taste Bradys, but my food was unreasonably good. The chicken was loaded with flavor, cooked perfectly, and a really nice heat behind it. I was really sad to not be able to finish it, but I ate more than I normally would because I just couldn’t stop. It was sooo yummy! We had planned to get dessert after too, but were way too full. Plus, we had other food plans for the evening so we just took the bill instead.

We caught a movie after supper, and had one of those passes that gets you popcorn and two drinks. I’m not sure how, but we did manage to make that disappear as well. We saw the Wedding Ringer, and honestly, it was probably the low point! I mean, it was a funny movie, and I like the cast a lot, but it turned out kind of crappy. I don’t want to spoil anything for those of you who might see it in the future (Its only just come out) but I was pretty disappointed by the ending. It seemed like the writers changed their mind halfway through the script, and I found it all kind of disconnected. Not a big deal, though. We were in the nice theatre where the armrests fold up so you can better cuddle with your hubby. We enjoyed just sitting together, watching a new movie, and not having responsibilities.

The movie was the end to the evenings festivities, so we grabbed some milkshakes (because we obviously hadn’t eaten enough), filled the van up, and drove home. Its so comfy to be in my bed, in my house, with my family. Jerilee had a bit of a battle at bedtime, but she was such a good sport, as usual. AND she made cookies! Way too on top of things, she is.

But the house is quiet now, my body is sooo tired and angry at me for forgetting my supporty belt at home, and Brady works tomorrow. So bedtime! I hope you all had a great evening, tucked away one way or another with your loved ones! I know I did <3