Let the Fun Begin!

Dan is sending me on a cruise. My parents were going and Dan thought I needed a break to go do something fun. So I signed up for it and spent gobs of money on it. Yesterday I flew to Memphis and my parents picked me up. We came to Vicksburg, MS, where my brother's family lives, and tomorrow we'll head down to New Orleans, where the ship leaves from. Delaney will stay here with Andy and Kera so I can go all by myself!

I'm a little worried about leaving her for so long. She's 11 and a half months and I weaned her 2 weeks ago, so she doesn't physically require me, but she's my baby, and I'll worry. I'll also worry about Dan being alone with the other 3. He's taking all next week off, so I hope he can stand them! I did make life easy for him. Callie's clothes are all laid out so he doesn't have to coordinate outfits. And there are meals in the freezer, so he doesn't even have to make dinner, just defrost and cook.

I am excited and I do not know if I'll get online during the next 9 days. Wish me fun!

Crafts with Kids

I read all kinds of great ideas in my parenting magazines, and then I occasionally am deluded into thinking fingerpaints are a good idea, and I sometimes even break out the paints and let the children have a go. Am I crazy or is it really not anywhere near as much fun as the articles make it seem?!! Today I thought it would be fun to let them make Valentine cards for their grandparents. (Forgive me, its a rainy Saturday and Dan has gone to help someone move.)

We got out paper, scissors, glue, pens,and crayons and got started. I had read a really cute idea- let them make lipstick kisses to decorate cards. Joshua refused to put any on; Callie licked it off. Marian did a pretty good job, although Callie's are mostly pink smears. The kids fought over what color paper to use. They fought over which pens to use. They cried about making hearts and cutting out the paper. They whined about needing help, or not wanting it. They fought about who got lipstick first, and who made better kisses. They argued over the scissors, which side to decorate, what words to use.... you name it and it was an issue. And 10 minutes later, they were done and there was a mess of papers and some surprisingly cute cards left on the table.

Are THEY having fun when we do this? I know I'm not! Right now they are making "forts" in the living room with the chairs and blankets. Soon there will be crying. I want to start working on a quilt, so I better get on that before someone demands my attention!

Feeding the Missionaries

Tonight we had signed up to feed the missionaries. They had introduced us to a guy at church on Sunday and we'd invited him too. So I made roast beast and other tasty delights. I cleaned the house and vacuumed. I got everything ready and Dan came home 15 minutes before the guests arrived. He did his part by finishing the mashed potatoes, and the kids entertained (read, jumped all over) the missionaries, once they arrived. There were also 3 missionaries, rather than 2, so we had 4 hungry men for dinner. (And boy were they tasty!)

Dinner went well, but dessert wasn't quite ready. So we had the spiritual thought and watched "The Restoration" while the Brownie Pudding finished cooking. When everything was ready, dessert cooked, ice cream and bowls on the table, we invited them back into the dining room, and Marian upchucked all over the floor. She cried and spit and puked some more. And cried and spit and vomited again. And then she cried and spit.... and you get the picture. The missionaries quietly retreated to the living room. 20 minutes later, Marian finally finished throwing up and was still crying and occasionally spitting, but I had managed to clean up the floor and freshen the air and we were ready for dessert. It was marvelous, despite the prior issues.

I was nearly finished enjoying my perfectly proportioned ice cream and brownie pudding, when Callie popped into the room, sans pants and underwear. She'd wet them, and managed to pee all over the bathroom floor. Yes, it was a red letter evening for me. On the plus side, dinner was great and the guys were very gracious. We sent them home, got the kids to bed and settled in for a nice evening. I got Delaney ready for bed and she was fussy, so I sat down to rock her a bit to try to calm her and she spewed a continuous and copious amount of predigested milk and dinner on me. So disgusting. (It was Dan who fed her large chunks of pineapple, so he's not allowed to feed her any more.)

And that was my evening. I imagine it will be a horrific night, with this as the preview!

Small Victories

I am giddy with excitement, because I just balanced the checkbook! I love payday. Well, I love it until I pay all the bills and then realize its 2 more weeks till we have money. That's not true. It just feels like it sometimes. Today was exciting because we're getting the credit card bill down. We never let it get this high, but with all the traveling we've done for the holidays and other stuff, it was bad. Now we've got it about gone, AND there's still money in the account! Whoopee for the Budget-Master! That's me, by the way.

The kids are cracking me up this week. Joshua got a joke book for Christmas and has been reading it. So he comes out of the blue with these jokes that he doesn't really understand and he "heh-heh-heh" laughs at them. That's the funny part.

Marian has been a pill, teasing and scratching Callie a lot. Marian has a great time and grins like the Cheshire Cat when she's being rotten.

Callie was looking so cute- I'd even managed to get her pony tails even, but she would not let me take a nice picture of her. She wanted to be silly, and she was.

Delaney thinks it is a hoot to put things over her head. Then she crawls around, looking for me or Dan to show us what she's done. It is very cute.




Well, I'm waiting for Delaney to get a bit of a nap in, then I have to wake her up and go to the school to take Joshua his lunch. I forgot to get it in his backpack. I had not planned to leave the house today, so I have to wrangle Marian into long pants and see if I have any clean jeans!

Potty Training the easy way

I am a big fan of letting the kid decide when they are ready to potty in the pot and letting them do it on their own terms. This means that Joshua was 4 before he potty trained and Marian (although she knew what to do MUCH earlier) was almost 4. So its been a shock to me that Callie has been trying to sit on the potty and go since she was about 20 months old.

She's progressively been doing it more and more on her own. She's the only one who ever used the kiddie potty. Then she wanted to use the big one like everyone else. Its been a good 8 months of this. She would take off her diaper and sit on the toilet and go without encouragement or supervision. She was pretty much poop trained all on her own a few months ago. I just didn't want to deal with the hassle! I hate having to race for a restroom or place to stop when we're out and about and I detest cleaning up after accidents. I refuse to clean poopy underwear. I throw it away. So I was unsupportive of Callie's potty training desires. Finally, this week, I thought, "Why not?"

On Tuesday I let her put on underwear. She peed in her pants twice that day and has been dry and clean ever since! Its Friday now, and she's been accident free since Tuesday. Wow! This kid is amazing! I never had to do a thing. I have to help her get her underwear on the right way and I have to help wipe, but she's doing it all on her own. This is how I like to potty train! Dan is happy that we'll spend less on diapers now.

Not so settling back in

First, some cute Christmas pix that I didn't have on the computer before! Then onto the other stuff...

Its been a crazy long week! The kids are so great about whatever we do, but I think it caught up with them. Delaney quit sleeping so well. She stayed up way late a couple nights (11pm, midnight) and on the nights she went down at a decent hour, she woke up at an indecent hour (2:30 am, 4am)! I'm pretty sure its mainly her crying that has given Joshua sleeping issues. He had night terrors for the first time which freaked me out. And nearly every night this week he has come in with bad dreams. I have a little kiddie pull-out couch on the floor by the bed and he has slept on that most nights.

Marian also came in once or twice with bad dreams. Poor kids. They are about back to normal now. Delaney slept all night after going down a little after 11pm last night. She's still not napping so well, but I have high hopes for that this week. Last night Joshua didn't come in till 4am and he said no, he didn't have a bad dream, he just liked to sleep on my floor. Good to know!

I'm also working on weaning Delaney. My sister in law, Kera is going to watch her while I go on an 8 day cruise!! So I need her weaned. We are down to just twice a day now and tomorrow we start cutting out the morning nursing. I am kind of sad about it. She will be 11 months old on Jan 14, so she's old enough, but I'm still sad. I would have preferred to nurse until she was ready to quit.... unless she didn't ever want to stop! I'd have been fine for a few more months.

I am waaay excited about this cruise though! It is a Book of Mormon cruise! How cool is that? Dan is sending me, while he stays home with the other 3 kids. It is pretty expensive, and for him to come too, and to figure out what to do with all the kids....! Well, it happened like this: my parents are going on it and they invited any of us kids to come too. My sweet hubby said I needed to go and he would make it happen. And he is! I am terrified to leave my baby for so long. And with my sister in law. I mean that in a good way! Kera will be great, but Delaney doesn't know her. I'm just scared. I'm sure it will be fine. And I will have a great time!