Pajama Day

Well, we kept things pretty doggone relaxed today!  We all four stayed in our jammies all day long!!

And the kids let Andy and I sleep until 10:00 this morning!  Couldn't TELL you the last time we've done that!  As I'd mentioned, they lost their video-watching privileges a few days ago, and I am shocked at how well/nicely they have entertained themselves in the morning before I get up (those two have never heard of sleeping in...)

I spent a decent chunk of (what was left of) the morning/early afternoon paying bills and updating our monthly budget.  You know, God is so cool the way He provides for things when you take a leap of faith in generosity.  It was pretty amazing to see how He took care of our Christmas budget... down to the dollar... I kid you not!

I spent the rest of the afternoon making  brown bag burritos for Andy to take for lunch each day.  I use brown rice and whole wheat tortillas now, and they usually make about 50, not 30 like the link says.  He only takes one a day for lunch (with fruit) so I only have to make these puppies every couple months.  And after eating them for lunch for years, he has yet to tire of them.  They really are very good.

I reserved some of the filling today to use for our dinner.  Our latest favorite dinner is Taco Salad bowls.  Are you aware how stinking SIMPLE it is to make taco salad bowls?!  We just spray our Corelle bowls with olive oil, scrunch a whole wheat burrito shell into them, spray the top of the burrito with olive oil, and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.  There is seriously no funner (I realize that's not a word... although spell check isn't dinging me for it... hmmm..) way to eat burritos than in as a taco salad. Anyway, we used the brown bag burrito filling for our meat/protein then topped them with all kinds of goodies (lettuce, black beans, olives, tomatoes, onions, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and this delicious dressing).  It's a super simple meal that comes together rather quickly!

And then we lit our Advent/Christmas candles for nearly the last time during our evening prayer time.  I'm not sure I'm ready for Christmas to be over yet!

After blowing the candles out (which according to Ira took 53 blows), Ruby said,  "I blew them out without dying and getting my hair on fire and getting myself on fire and burning."  Well done, child!

What I Loved About Last Week 9th Edition

Here's what I loved about last week (May 14-20):

1. Birthday.  Monday was my birthday and Andy found the most awesome card by one of my favorite children's authors, Sandra Boynton.  On the back it says "Boynton!  Trying to think of a motto since 1973."  If you haven't seen any of her books, you seriously need to go buy one right NOW.  Some of our favorites are "Moo, Baa, La La La," and "The Bellybutton Book."  Andy also made my day by having flowers delivered.  It was such a sweet surprise and totally made my day.  We took the kids to a Japanese Steakhouse (where they do tapanyaki cooking right there at your table.)  Although initially scared by the fire, Ira recovered nicely and said "awesome; that is so cool; and, how did you do that?!" for the rest of the dinner.  Ruby was pretty enthralled too.  They both had fun using chopsticks with little helpers on the end (plastic pieces that made them almost like a clothespin.)  I hadn't been there since my 20th birthday (long long ago) so it was fun to go eat some delicious food and see a fun show again (and of course the mom in me loved sharing the experience with my kids as much as anything.)

2. Fieldtrip. I helped chaperone Ira's kindergarten class' trip to the zoo.  It truly was a ZOO!  I only had 3 kiddos in my group (Ira included) but the zoo was so busy with other schools' fieldtrips that about the only thing I did all day was make sure that I hadn't lost one of my kids.  By the end of the day, I had a killer headache and a backache to boot, but it was fun getting to see Ira with his friends.

3.  We went through some boxes at my parents' house last week and found our old Geo Safari with about half a dozen sets of cards.  Nobody else wanted it, so I snatched it up thinking that it would entertain Ira this summer.  Boy oh boy, is it entertaining!  We've been learning all kinds of things from Geography to Spanish and Landmarks to Puzzles.  He loves playing it by himself, but we've also had fun playing 2 players.  I foresee the Geo Safari getting lots' o' use this summer!

4. Rubyisms.  Sheesh, this is becoming almost a weekly feature, but I tell you what, the girl cracks me up.  Her latest are: pree-dee-ah-school (preschool - we drive by her cousin's preschool on our way to pick Ira up from school.)  And then there's this: We duh duh duh cleem uh def uh Lord, we da cleem uh resuhrehtion, an you not tome a din, an you not tome a din!"  (The Mystery of Faith that we sing at church "We proclaim your death oh Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.")  She is also really into singing "O Saving Victim" at the top of her lungs all throughout the day.  It's a hoot that I've yet to catch on video (because although she sings it at the top of her lungs, she gets all shy about it when you start paying attention to her.)

5. Schooooooooooooool's ooooouuuuut for Summer!  (did anyone else's mom sing that on the last day of school each year?.... just mine?.... hmmm...)  Ira finished kindergarten on Friday and (surprise of surprises (to him at least)) he gets to go to 1st grade next year!  I am SO excited about having him home for the summer!  We have plans to do a little learning and a lot of playing and swimming and I CAN'T WAIT!

6. Lawn and Garden. We spent all day Saturday outside work work workin'.  I weedeated and mowed the WHOLE lawn (we have a BIG lot - like over 1/2 an acre.)  The weedeater must have rattled every muscle in my body because I'm achin' like bacon right now (does bacon ache?) but the lawn sure does look nice.  While I lawned (should totally be a word), Andy gardened (see what I did there, lawned... gardened... forgive me, I'm apparently a little loopy today.)  He built structures for our cukes, tomatoes, watermelon, and cantaloupe to climb.  It turned out pretty awesome and we can't wait to see how it'll work out this summer.

The garden all but done (just need to put straw down between the last 3 rows.)

Not really a picture of our lawn, but look at how big my flowers are getting! 

 7. Kids in the same bed.  The kids had (because they broke their streak last night) gone to bed in the same bed for the last 3-4 nights very well.  It helps that we completely wore them out all weekend.  I guess we'll have to see what this week brings to see if it was luck or learning that led to those 4 nights...

With that, I'll bid you adieu!  Thanks for hanging with my goofiness this week!

What I Loved About Last Week 6th Edition

Lots of things to love about last week (April 23rd-29th)!

1. Ruby. doing. puzzles.  65 piece puzzle.  Perhaps 2 pieces? connected together that actually go together.  So funny!

2. Ira's Baptism Anniversary.  We celebrated with cookies and one of his favorite meals (fried chicken with mashed potatoes) as well as a Renewal of Baptismal Promises.  It was the first year he seemed to really understand what was going on with the renewal and that was cool!

3. Spring Music Program.  Ira's school held their second concert of the year.  His class sang 5 great songs.  One of which I cannot get out of my head! ("Never Polka with a Porcupine.")  The whole concert was very well done.  I am so impressed with the way that their music teach has them singing (enunciating, breathing, holding notes, and dancing.)  It was a very enjoyable program.

4. Cleaning.  Got my car washed/vacuumed, cleaned our disgustingly dusty/sheetrock-muddy oscillating fans, and cleaned out closets and cabinets throughout the house.  Not fun tasks, but definitely feels good to have them done!

5. Confession.  Needed it.  Did it.  Got grace.  'Nuff said!

6. Date night!  Sweet Andy surprised me with a much needed date night on Friday night.  We ate dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant that we hadn't been to in probably 5 years, then went out for ice cream and coffee after that.  It was so nice to spend some time together away from the crazies kids.

7. Visitors.  Ira got to meet with a very special lady on Saturday who sends him postcards from all over the world.  It was wonderful to get to meet her and have her meet Ira.  She is traveling to Hungary/Austria/Slovakia in July and we are excited to see the postcards and stamps from those countries!

8. Garden.  We FINISHED the 6th and 7th beds.  All told, we moved between 35-42 tons of dirt by shovel over the course of 3 weekends.  I. am. SO. DONE! with that!  

9. Professional Pictures.  We got 2 and 6 year pictures of the kiddos taken as well as family pictures.  Although I've had better experiences, I think Portrait Innovations still did a great job on the photos.

Look at that Farmer's Tan!!!

9. Sleeping kiddos.  The circus that is "going to bed in the same bed at the same time" is mildly improving.  They both slept in the big bed all night twice this week.  We have a "zero-tolerance" policy on Ruby getting out of bed/goofing off too much.  That's really seemed to help her understand the boundaries and to be successful twice!  Hooray!

10. Shout out.  A  dear friend of mine started doing her own "What I Loved" posts.  I always enjoy her perspective on things.  Can't wait to see more posts from this beautiful woman!

Have a GREAT week!

Success!!!

Well hurray, hurrah! Ira's fever finally broke and stayed broken on Tuesday. I did take him to the doctor though, because his fever was 104.3 on Tuesday morning and it scared me. I'm glad I took him though, he has/had a sinus infection that wouldn't have cleared up on it's own. He's on amoxicillin and doing much better. He still fights blowing his nose like we're asking him to cut off his leg (any suggestions?) but the worst is certainly over.

Also, on another front, Miss Ruby slept through the night last night!! AMAZING!!! She was awake most of the day yesterday (just catnaps here and there) which usually means that she also will not go to sleep for the night very well. However, she fell asleep in her carseat while we were driving home from town and I wasn't about to take her out when we got home (made that mistake once before.) So she slept from like 11:00 pm to 4:30 am. AMAZING!!!! Of course, I woke up twice and nearly woke her up trying to make sure that she was still breathing (seriously, I know I'm not the only momma out there who does that!) So hurray for that too!!

She really has been doing MUCH better with sleeping - especially at home. If we're out and about, she also does well because she sleeps very well in her carseat. It's just when we're at someone else's house that sleeping seems to be difficult to her. I'm sure that she'll get used to it in her own way in her own time.

Oh, we took her to the doctor last week for her 2 month well-baby visit and shots. Her stats are as follows: 13 lbs. 3 oz. (95th percentile); 24 in. (95th percentile); head circumference: 15.5 in (little over 50th percentile). I can't believe how fast she's growing!!

Sorry for the randomosity that is this post... I'm just not in the mood to take the time to word/arrange it just so...

Right now my house is: clean and picked up for once! Laundry is laundrying in the laundry room (how fitting)

Right now on my mind: thinking about how intense the Grey's Anatomy season finale was.

Weird Monday

Happy weird Monday to all my readers out there. (ha!) I call it weird Monday because the weather (along with the weathermen's predictions) are just weirding me out. It has been hazy/misty all day and they're predicting strong storms tonight. Hopefully they're just blowing smoke, but they've got me concerned nonetheless. Okay, let's get straight to the updates:

Friday, Ira and I spent most of the day baking. We made a strawberry-creme jellyroll for Andy's mom's birthday, which was really cool by the way. I've never made a jellyroll before, and the process intrigued me. You separate the eggs then beat the tar out of the yolks (plus vanilla) until they are fairly thick, then you do the same to the whites until they have stiff peaks. Then you fold them together, sprinkle flour and baking powder over the top, and fold it all together. There's some sugar in there too somewhere. It came out of the pan alright, but not without a fight. That was okay though because it was the inside of the roll that got all bungled up.
After the jellyroll, it was on to cinnamon rolls. We make cinnamon rolls a lot at our house. Like twice a month at least... yeah... It's an awesome recipe that I'll have to share in another blog post. After cinnamon rolls, we made "Make-Ahead Butterhorns" which are like the yummiest rolls you've ever had. You make them all up, then freeze them unbaked, so that you can pop them out of the freezer whenever you want for a quick side! I made some of them really big so that we could use them for sandwiches. Let me just say they were DELICIOUS with chicken salad!! Another recipe I'll have to share sometime for sure!

Saturday we spent all day outside planting the garden. We're getting sort of a late start this year because of Miss Ruby's arrival. So if the garden is a flop I am TOTALLY blaming her. We started tomatoes, green peppers, poblano peppers, jalapenos, eggplant, and broccoli inside shortly after she was born, so it was just ready to plant outside now. Andy had already planted potatoes, green onions, onion sets, peas, cauliflower, and the lettuces/spinach towards the end of March. In addition to those things, we also planted: green beans, cantaloupe, pumpkin, zucchini, butternut squash, cucumbers, and okra. If all goes well, we should have a great harvest this year!! (That is if it doesn't get blown down by the freaky weather we're supposed to have tonight.) Ruby was awake most of the day Saturday (I'm serious) so that made for kind of a rough time getting her down for bed. (I think from noon until midnight, she slept about 1.5 hours total.) She was pretty exhausted yesterday, as were Andy and I!

Sunday I awoke to Belgian waffles with strawberries and fresh whipped cream. What a sweetie my hubby is! We got to go see my mom for awhile, then went to Andy's parents' house for dinner. I've decided that maybe I need to "wear" Ruby to help her sleep better. I wore her in the Ergo carrier while we were at Andy's folks' and she slept pretty much the entire time! Hooray!! And last night, she went to bed at 9:15. Hooray!

Today, I've been wearing Ruby most of the day, and you know what, she sleeps REALLY well in the carrier! Thank goodness I was able to buy this Ergo. It makes it very comfortable to wear her for long periods of time. At lunchtime, I had to do something really hard. Ira has been throwing fits at the drop of a hat lately (like for the last few weeks or more.) Everytime it's mealtime, he throws himself on the floor and says he doesn't want to eat. (This is despite giving him a choice about 5 minutes prior to mealtime about whether we should "eat now or in 5 minutes.") We've been talking to him about the fits, but that hasn't really done any good. So Andy and I talked about what to do, and decided that the next time he throws a fit, we're going to "give him what he's throwing the fit about." Namely, if he says he doesn't want to eat, then he's going to go down for quiet time without lunch. Now, before you turn us in, we did eat breakfast around 10 this morning, and I'll offer him a snack when he gets up here in a little, but we have just HAD IT with the fit throwing. It's ridiculous and uncalled for, and he doesn't even do it because he's not hungry. I don't know why he does it, probably because of the change in activity from what he's doing. He was pretty upset when I laid him down for quiet time, so hopefully he's had some time to think about things and he'll do better at dinner time. Because if he throws a fit then... aye yi yi!! I don't want to think about it! I'll let you know if things improve.

Right now my house: looks like playful children live here. There are markers, trucks, paper, blankets, and baby toys strewn all over the floor.

Right now I'm thinking about: how spicy that last bite of barbecue sauce was!! Yikes!

Breakthrough

Thanks to all for your suggestions on the sleeping front! I guess I needed to clarify just a bit - Ruby sleeps great DURING the night. It's just getting her to sleep for the FIRST time of the night that is such a struggle, because she screams and cries and is very difficult to soothe. I think I will give Mary the prize on the whole "sleep begetting sleep" comment. Expect nothing in the mail promptly.

I think that by the end of the evening, Ruby was just exhausted and then REALLY had trouble going to sleep for good. I have been indulging little Miss' sleepy head, letting her sleep as much/as late/as long as she wants and let me tell you what... she went down last night at 8:30ish and woke up at midnight, four, and 7ish to nurse. She is currently still sleeping!!!!! HOORAY!!!!! Saturday night was pretty good too... Enough so that I think this is the beginning of a trend perhaps! Only time will tell I guess, but right now I am thrilled!

Saturday we went to the zoo for most of the day which made for two very tired kiddos by the end of the night! It was such a nice day as a family. I feel like since Ruby's birth, we haven't done much as a family (it's either Andy and Ira or me and Ruby.) And last week was a long week for Andy because he's closing out his current project, so he was working 10+ hour days every day. It was certainly a nice respite to get to spend time with each other! Andy was even kind enough to give the Ergo carrier a try so that I could have my hands and body baby-free so that I could help Ira. It was a really nice break. Not that I don't love my little miss to pieces. But she has shown herself to be quite the momma's girl (read: she's not in love with other people holding her) but she loves the Ergo so much that she was fine with Andy holding her for the better part of 3 hours!!

And now... for your patience.... I'm rewarding you with cute kid pictures! They are out of order because Blogger is being stupid.

Late nights cont'd

So apparently Ruby hasn't gotten the memo that I want her to start going to bed earlier... Wednesday night it was 1:40ish. I don't get it. It's not like she sleeps excessively during the day. At least I don't think so. I'm still not just a huge proponent of "keeping her awake" during the day. Although yesterday that kind of happened because we had some family in town, so we were at my mom's all day. She did sleep well last night (was asleep by 10:30ish? I don't know we were busy talking... then was up 3 times I think? during the night... pretty good if you ask me.) The problem is, I think she slept horribly all DAY yesterday... cat napping for 10-15 minutes at most throughout the day, never really falling into a deep sleep for a long time. That can't be healthy can it? It seems to me like she's almost on a weekly cycle with this whole sleep thing... by Thursday nights she is so exhausted (as am I) that she sleeps really well and before you know it, I wake up Friday morning and it's 9:30 and I've been dead to the world (and the talking Ira in the monitor.) Completely, absolutely slept through Ira waking up... Thank heavens he still doesn't get out of bed on his own! Well, such is the life of a mother, obsessing about sleep I guess. I remember doing it with Ira, and saying I wouldn't do it with our next. I guess I don't feel obsessed about her sleeping in some ways, I'm just so exhausted I don't know what to do... Anyone have any suggestions?

Late nights!

The last two nights have been kind of late nights for Miss Ruby! On Monday after I posted, she woke up and was awake for most of the rest of the day, and evening, and night... she would only sleep about 15 minutes at a time and was nursing about every 1.5 hours. It definitely made for a long day. She didn't go to sleep for the night until 3 AM! Thankfully, Andy heard me grumbling and crying at one point, so he got up with her for awhile, but it was hard to sleep b/c I could still hear her crying. I think I did sleep for like 15-20 minutes maybe. After 3, she slept till like 7:30 - not too bad I'd say! When Ira got up, he watched Winnie the Pooh so I could sleep a little more, pretty much a necessity for me. I can't fathom when I was in college and even after Andy and I got married and we could go on very little sleep. I can't do it now!

After we all got up and around, we went into town to go "free shopping." It's my latest favorite thing to do. I follow a blog that posts deals that in combination with sales and coupons, allows you to get things for free or close to free. I spent around $3.75 yesterday and got 6 boxes of Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta, 4 boxes of crackers (2 Special K, 2 Wheatables Nut Crisps), a can of shaving cream, a package of flossers, a package of pads, a 4 pk of Reveal bulbs, 2 jars of Lea & Perrins thick worcestershire sauce, 6 rolls of 3M Packing Tape, and a set of JCPenney towels (2 bath towels and a hand towel.) They say shopping is therapeutic (and I do tend to find that to be true for me - I know, it's "consumeristic," nonetheless, it's true.) Well this is just a great way to get some retail therapy for little to no money. Both kids were AMAZING! Ira has always been a great traveler and a great help when shopping, but Ruby struggles with her carseat. She hates it sometimes, so going anywhere is kind of a crapshoot. We've started to notice that if you nurse her (well if I nurse her) right before I put her in it, then she seems to do okay. That was the case yesterday, thankfully. I returned home a happy momma!

Last night, I started in on the process of re-sorting/marking all of Ira's clothes and Ruby's clothes too. We broke down and bought some storage tubs for them (we had been using these barrels that Andy had gotten leftover from a job, but they were just too big and too awkward to move.) I'm just going to mark everything, that way when someone needs them for their kiddo (my sisters and I share clothes) they are already marked. I'm excited to get this project underway - I'll probably work on it most of today.

Well, I suppose I should wrap this up - Ira is almost finished with his chores and he keeps saying when he's done that he wants me to clothespin a blanket to my shirt, then he can go inside it and pretend to be a baby and kick and I can feel it. (The child has been obsessed with birth lately - last week he pretended the new UV tent we got for Ruby was a womb. I went in the living room to find him inside the tent, and the tent covered with blankets so that it was "nice and dark and warm." After I went back into the kitchen, he said "Mom, you need to come see this tiny baby that was just born" (through the opening of the tent/blankets.) Obviously this is all stemming from Ruby's birth I'm sure, and the book "Angel in the Waters" that we read to him throughout my pregnancy. I love to see him so excited about babies/birth. He will make an amazing husband someday if that's what God is calling him to be. Or maybe he'll grow up to be a good, Catholic OB/GYN. Lord knows the world needs MORE of them!!

Right now on my mind: trying to decide whether to wake Ruby up earlier in the mornings so that she'll go to sleep earlier at night. (last night it was 11:30, not too bad, but still...)

Right now my house is: even more messy than last post, but only b/c I've got even more clothes out to organize... I like to think of it as the storm before the calm!

3 Year Pictures!!!!!

So, I suppose the pictures that were just not meant to be were finally meant to be on Sunday.

(Background: we had been trying to schedule them since Ira's b-day on April 7th but couldn't get haircuts done in time, then it was Easter, then we had them scheduled for the 25th but then my Grandma Cranmer passed away and her funeral was that day; then we had them scheduled for the 2nd of May but I forgot to request the photographer that my sis used and when I called back to request her, she was off on Saturday but working Sunday, so we scheduled them for 5pm Sunday.)

So anyway, I have been nervous about these pictures for quite some time. I really love pictures, in fact, in our old house (where we actually had things hanging on the wall) I would say 90% of everything on the wall was photography. So I really wanted the pictures to turn out well, because I knew they'd end up on the wall indefinitely (that is if we ever get around to hanging ANYTHING up.) I was also a little worried because Ira's true personality doesn't usually come across in pictures. He gets this weird smile/scowl thing going when it's time for pictures and it just drives me NUTS that I can't get a good picture of him. So anyways, I know it's stupid, but I have been stressing over how pictures would turn out since I started thinking about them back in October...ish...

I've probably kept you in suspense long enough! Here are the long-awaited pictures. And by the way, I think they turned out AWESOME!!! (My apologies for my FB friends, this is essentially a repeat of my album on FB.)

The first photo taken.

My handsome hubby and I.

Mr. Ira - I think his smile might be just a LITTLE over the top in this one.

Such a big boy! Where b'zackly did my baby go?
THIS.... THIS is the look you get when you say "Ira, smile, say cheese!" Thank heavens, the photographer took note of that and from then on, she wouldn't snap a picture unless he had a genuine smile!
He looks SO big in this picture. I think he looks more like a kindergartner than a 3 year old.
I think he looks a lot like me in this picture. I do the same head-tilt. Crazy!

Look ma! No hands!
I love his expression in this one. I think he looks like Elliot from E.T.
Our very favorite picture of the day.

As some friends have put it: "He is rockin that 3!" & "He looks like he's in a musical" Ira's expression and body language in this one are priceless!
So the photographer tells Ira to say "I'm THREE! (And holds up 3 fingers)" This is what Ira does right when she snaps the picture.

Our favorite family picture of the day. Also the very last photo taken. I think it's funny that both the very first and very last photo taken were the best family ones. We liked this one over the first one b/c the background is a little more timeless (for hanging on the wall until we have another professional family pic taken.)

In other news, Quiet Time has been a HUGE success! It has brought the naptime battles to a screeching halt and Ira still ends up sleeping more days than not during quiet time. Today, quiet time was a little boring for him though. I'll explain. On Sunday night, after Andy put Ira to bed, I walked past his (Ira's) room and asked Andy "Did you leave Ira's lamp on?" "Um, No, we didn't ever have it on" is Andy's response. I went in and found Ira reading "Blackboard Bear" so I said "Oh Ira, lamps are for quiet time, not for bedtime." and turned the lamp off. We didn't see the light again. Well last night, I walked past his room again (this time it was like 9:45) and I see the light on AGAIN! This time he was reading "I Am A Bunny." Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE it that my son loves to read so much. BUT NOT AT 9:45!!!!! So I say, "Oh how sad, the lamp is all gone." He was a little upset about that, but the implications didn't really sink in until right before quiet time today. He was sitting on the pot and he says, "Mom, can I borrow your touch lamp for quiet time?" "Oh how sad, Ira. Lamps are for big boys to use during quiet time and not at night time." (Straw one.) "Well I can use my big light on my fan." "Oh Ira, big lights are for other times, not quiet time. We can't use that much electricity during quiet time." (Straw two - starting to get a little concerned.) Starts reading his books (about 2 inches from his face.) "Oh Ira, goodness, you are really having to strain to see the book aren't you. I sure would hate for you to hurt your eyes looking at books in the dark. I guess you won't be able to read during quiet time today." (The last straw - but the funny thing is, he didn't throw too terribly much of a fit. He asked me why it had to be dark, so I put it right back on him. I think he's still thinking about it...

Happy Tuesday!

"The Talk"

Yep, that's right, Ira and I had "The Talk" today. We had that life changing talk about giving up naps. Naps have been ROUGH lately with him. Let's just say they involve a lot of "No Mommy's" along with a good dose of hitting, pulling hair, and kicking (by Ira of course, not me! So today, I decided that I am done fighting it, and I'm going to switch him over to "quiet time" instead. We talked about reading books and I set him up with his daddy's lamp (with an on off switch.) I told him that he could read for as long as he wanted to and that if he wanted to, he could switch off the light and take a rest. "Now you don't have to rest, you can just read if you'd like, it's up to you." So I go about my day packing away my winter clothes (seriously, I hope I'm okay doing that now - you never know in KS). I hear him singing "Old McDonald" and I think he may have dropped a book or two (at least I hope that's what those loud thuds were.) And pretty soon, I don't hear him anymore. So, I bravely decided to look in on him. Would you believe he's laying there in bed with the lamp turned off ASLEEP!!!!!! Seriously!! HOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!
So kids, the moral of the story is - GIVE UP THE CONTROL!!!!!! Ahhhhhh Father, You always find the best ways to teach me these lessons! God Bless!

Laundry Day

I finally got around to doing laundry today! Hooray!! I think I'm going to love having main floor laundry. That is, if we can get the wash machine to stop leaking. It leaked a whole bunch on Friday when I was doing my first load in it since we moved, but Andy replaced the clamp on the drain hose and it had been working fine. On the second load today though I noticed that the paper towel that he put under the drain hose (so we could spot a leak) was wet. There wasn't much water on the floor, but there was some. I tightened the screw on the drain hose clamp a little more and have another load in there now. We'll see how that goes...

I got a new laundry cart for doing laundry. I used to just sort my laundry all over the floor (because our old laundry room was in the basement.) This thing is so cool though, it's got 4 compartments and I think I'm just going to keep it in my closet then roll it out to the laundry room whenever I feel like doing laundry. The 4 compartments each come out too so I could just carry one load out at a time if I wanted to. Here's a picture. I got it at Wal-Mart for like 30 bucks I think.
I was also excited to find out today that our car insurance will be $60 less (per 6 month period) because of moving out of the huge metropolis! Hooray!

That's about all I know for now. Ira is back to napping regularly and without much of a fuss. I think he really did just need to get settled into our new house. Take care and God bless!

P.S. The load in the wash is done and no leaks!!

Naptime Battles: Ira: 3 vs. Me: 2

Before I address the title of this blog, I wanted to give everyone a brief update on our move. Everything went very well! Both houses closed with no problem and we moved last Friday and some of Saturday. Now the long process of remodeling/redecorating begins. That's okay with me though, and Andy too, we both LOVE it. It's become somewhat of a hobby for us I guess you could say. It was almost boring at our old house since we finished everything. So we are excited to start anew with this new home! So far we've replaced the knobs on the cabinets and closets, added blinds to Ira's room, replaced the kitchen faucet (out of necessity - see future paragraph), and ripped a cabinet down in the kitchen in preparation for the over-the-range microwave. Oh, and yesterday Ira and I raked all the spikey seed pods (anyone know what kind of tree they're from? They look like miniature puffer fish) into piles. We haven't done a ton, but it's starting to feel more and more like home. Here's some pictures from moving day:

The wonderful snow was a slight hindrance on moving day.

Getting ready to go into our new house. The guy holding the door is one of the movers, not my husband!

Andy carrying me over the threshold. :-)

Luckily, we've had some beautiful days since then. We've gotten to enjoy our awesomely huge backyard several days since we moved. Here's my view from my kitchen window. The big trees you see line the back of our property and the tree in the coner of the photo is the back corner of our yard. It's hugemongous - the yard that is. Andy thinks we're gonna need a riding mower and I tend to agree with him there!

Anyways, back to the title of my post. We've been struggling with happy nappytime here at our household. Ira didn't take a nap at all on Monday (but then fell asleep 5 minutes into our drive and slept for close to two hours. Tuesday, he also did not really take a nap. I think part of it had to do with the fact that we were at a hotel. But he spent the better part of 2 hours screaming, kicking the walls, and whenever I came in to try to quiet him down, he either hit me in the face, threw his binky (which he then lost), pulled my hair, or said "Go out Mommy!" Needless to say, I was completely exhausted by the time he finally fell asleep. I laid down as well, and just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard Ira wake up. Seriously, 20 minutes does NOT count as a nap!! Wednesday, he slept just fine at naptime, but Thursday again, no happy nappy. Thursday he got his pillow out of it's case and also unzipped it out of the protector, so before he could go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner he had to put his pillow back in the case (yeah right!) So, he had to pay me with some of his toys for me to put it back in. Today, we put up light blocking blinds in his room (which we had intended to do ASAP but just finally got to it today.) I laid down with him for awhile for naptime, but he wasn't going to sleep, so I left his room. That was like 30 min. ago and I haven't heard a peep since! I just peeked in and he's asleep!!!! Hooray! Some had speculated that he was ready to give up his naps, but I just don't think he is quite yet. He was so grumpy those evenings that he didn't nap (except for yesterday because he was at Grandma and Grandpa's and he's NEVER grumpy there - they don't believe that he really ever is because they never see him like that.) Alas, I think Ira's finally adjusting to the move and hopefully naptime will continue improve.

In other news, we had to go without a kitchen faucet all this week. Last Sunday night it blew up and sent water flying all over the kitchen. Andy offered to fix it, but it was pretty stinkin' late, so we just went to bed and said we (being Andy) would fix it Friday (today). This is a picture of the new faucet and sprayer (hooray!!) The garbage disposal and drain pipes are out right now because Andy's cleaning them because they reek of old potatoes. He also found a straw in the drain pipe. Also notice and appreciate the harvest gold linoleum. Although we treasure it, it will soon be gone hopefully!

Here are pics of the old knobs (bathroom, hall closets, bedroom closets)
And here are the new ones

Well, I think I'll sign off. If I haven't bored you to tears, I'm amazed and if I have, why the heck are you still reading?! Take care and God bless!!