Hodgepodge & an Obsession with Sleep

It is a rainy, rainy spring day today. I like days like this although it gets a little damp running errands. :-)

N1 has woken up in the middle of the night EVERY NIGHT this week. She goes through spurts like this every once in a while. Saturday night she fell out of bed ... hasn't done that in MONTHS so she ended up in bed with us. This morning she was up a little before 5 a.m. I think I'm a little excited that she is spending the night at her Aunt & Uncle's tonight ... she can wake them up at 5 a.m. tomorrow. :-)

While we are on the subject of sleep, N2 is doing great sleeping at night. She's averaging about 6 1/2 hours when I get her to bed between 8:30 and 9 p.m. And then, every few nights she'll want to eat about every 4 hours, or like last night, do an 8 hour stretch. One thing I have never minded with both my girls are the nighttime feedings. It's weird, it doesn't seem to phase me too much to get up with them because both girls (after the first couple weeks) have been good about getting down to the business of eating and going right back to sleep.

And while still on the subject of sleep, we are transitioning N2 to her big-girl crib in the "girls' room" slowly. She has been in a Moses basket in our bedroom since we brought her home and she loves it. She can burrow her way to the head of the basket and feel and surrounded by squishy-ness and snuggled in. I think the crib and all is "vastness" is a little overwhelming to her. :-) I'm starting to put her in there for her nap times, but she's still in our room at night until she's just a little more consistent on how long she sleeps.

Check out the utter coolness of this:





Made by Blestwithsons and I love it.

I had the wonderful privilege of meeting Meredith from Like Merchant Ships today. We met at the library and were able to chat for a little while ... until N2 started being a little stinker and wouldn't take a nap like she was supposed to. :-) And look what she brought me ... made with her own flowers!





Because I have no green thumb abilities whatsoever, this kind of beauty that people can put together really does amaze me. :-) It is going to be such a treat to have these on my desk where I can enjoy them.

Tomorrow night is the annual youth's Valentine's day dinner/fundraiser for our church body. I'm sure some have picked up on the fact that we're holding our Valentine's dinner on April Fool's Day ... not a joke, really. :-) Since N2 was only about 2 weeks at Valentine's, and Travis heads up the youth and thus the dinner, we postponed it several weeks until it was a little more manageable. It's going to be a crazy busy day tomorrow so N1 is going to my sister for the evening tonight to spend the night, and the my Mom is going to take N2 for several hours tomorrow afternoon so I can help Travis and the kids set up. It's going to be strange to be kidless for a few hours ... that hasn't happened in several months.

And the pictures keep coming...

She is two months old today. :-)

What every family needs for home entertainment

Your run-of-the-mill black afro wig. :-)

Photo Day

The neice and nephew were over today ... their parents have really let their hair grow out.*

We did some outside playing ... and caught N1 in the middle of a jump. Her most favorite physical activity is jumping and she will jump like specific things - frogs, kangaroos, etc.

And N2 wore her first real girlie dress. Can you see the rolls on her little legs?

Did I mention I saw Dana & Bedky on Sunday?

There was much laughing and visiting and passing of baby.

Very. Fun.

*That's really a wig, but way too funny!

For Safekeeping

Meals for March 27 - March 31

Monday:

grilled chicken

mashed potatoes

gr. beans

Tuesday:

meatloaf

salad

Wednesday:

Mexican cornbread (crockpot)

chips & cheese dip

Thursday:

potatoes w/ gr. beans and sausage/keilbasa

Friday:

pizza

Friday Felicities and Other Stuff

N1 was up before 5 a.m. this morning ... not sure WHAT was up with that. So, not surprisingly, she had crawled back into bed by herself by 9 a.m. and went right to sleep. She's woken up really early almost every day this week. Most I've gotten up with her, but this morning I just sat her on her bed with some books and told her to stay there and read, thinking she would relax and go back to sleep. It didn't and she was up for good by about 6:30. Wishing I was drinking caffiene right about now, I can tell you. :-) When she gets up, I may load up the girls and go to McDonalds and let her play in the playyard there. It's too cold to go outside for long and she needs to play.

I'm trying to be diligent about finding activities for her that don't involve the TV and ordered two books last night to read for inspiration: The Toddler's Busy Book and Small Beginnings: First Steps to Prepare Your Toddler for Lifelong Learning. I came to a realization last night ... this may be rambly, but it struck me as true. My husband read computer books. He buys computer books - new, used, doesn't matter - and reads them to glean information to help him perform his job better, to make him a better employee, and maybe one day even make him more marketable if he wants to switch jobs. And, he just likes learning about computers and computer programs! Well, what do I do for a living? I am a wife and mama. It makes perfect sense that I could look for resources to help me with my job and I wouldn't have to stumble blindly here and "ruin" N1. :-) Granted the Bible is the first and foremost authority, but there are other fabulous resources out there written by Godly women and men that I can be learning from. Duh! This has been brewing in my head just after finishing a wonderful book by Carolyn Maheney called Feminine Appeal: 7 Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother. I could not put it down. (For me to say that about non-fiction is huge). Anyway, I'm pumped to read other books and have a stack of homemaking ones here on my shelf as well. Now to decide what to dive into!

Friday Felicities
Things that make you happy. From the mind of Nattie Rose.

Naps.

Healthy children.

Sugar free pudding.

Good books.

Wild onions that are cropping up in my front yard.

Cold, sunny days.

Baby Einstein toys.

Gummy, toothless baby grins.

Husbands with gotees.

W@H

Pray for...

Dawn's little one, Marie. She has contracted the rotavirus and is not doing well in the hospital. She's about the same age as our N2 so she's on my mind right now...

Shh, Don't Tell

Administrative Note: I'm switching my site so that you have to register to comment ... unless you are a total freak or something :-), I can't imagine bumping anyone's comments. Just wanting to know who's coming by and seeing my girls. :-)

It's almost 1 p.m. and I'm still in my PJs. :-) I'll clarify that by saying, it's not because I've been laying around ... I've been cleaning and doing laundry and just haven't stopped yet to get dressed. (It doesn't help that most of our clothes are in the dirty clothes basket at the moment ... hence the laundry!) We are having a steady spring rain today and I'm loving it. Staying in, checking things off my cleaning list, and attempting to organize for the week. I'm feeling pretty fired up today, but I think it's because we had a really relaxing weekend around here. We had our usual Friday family night of hanging around and watching a video. On Saturday, Travis took the dogs to the vet for their yearly appointment and the dog run. Clean bills of health for both dogs, although they do need to shed a few pounds. They are both weighing around 90 lbs! (We thought they looked like they had been bulking up ... hmmm.) Then it was such a pretty day - cool and sunny - that we loaded the girls up and went to the zoo. N1 wore herself out running around and N2 did great in the stroller on her first BIG outing. And Sunday we were actually home for most of the day. Our typical Sunday is to go over to my parents for lunch with them and my sister's family. And not that we don't enjoy it, but yesterday Travis and I laid on the couches and rested ourselves, both girls got good naps and it was good. I need weekends like this every once in a while.

This afternoon, I'm going to make a batch of cookies for N1 ... I haven't made her any since before N2 was born and it's about time. :-) We're having a breakfast dinner tonight, too, and I want to make some biscuits ahead of time. Then, when I'm making sausage patties, I'll have an excuse to make some sausage gravy. :-) I've been reading a new magazine called Making it Home and it has been inspiring me to keep my home (meaning family and household duties) as a priority instead of just fitting them in as I am prone to do. That's not being faithful to the calling that God has given me here at home and I'm seeing some work that needs to be done around here. I've been slacking with my little 2 year old and some attitude issues - blame it on late night feedings or trying to keep caught up on just stuff - but it still boils down to Mama-slacking, and we're only going to pay for it later if it doesn't get checked now.

Free Prints

30 free Shutterfly prints

Log on and enter AM1K-4TTC-6DYA-FRAPCF where it says "enter special offer code" to get 30 free prints. Must use by March 21.

Bits and Pieces

So today was Bible study day.

We didn't end up going.

N1 was complaining of a tummy ache about 9:00 a.m.

By 9:15 she was asleep on the couch.

By 9:30 she had thrown up.

The first of four times.

Then she asked to take a bath, which I didn't blame her one bit!

So we've been in all day today.

She finally quit throwing up about noon and went straight down for a nap.

She woke up starving and she's kept it all down.

But now she's running a fever. :(

I've gotten lots done at home today.

Laundry, picking up, music picked to go with a sermon a few weeks down the road.

And time cuddling N2.

She is smiling. All. The. Time.

And she is now mostly in 3-6 month clothing.

At 6 weeks.

I just bought her size 3 diapers.

Safe to say she is NOT built the same as N1. :)

I need to get started on dinner.

Chicken pot pie and leftover squash cassarole from last night.

The squash cassrole is from my Mitford Cookbook. Sooooo yummy.

He's a little bit cute...