TODAY
Out my window: Sunny and hot. My lantana is thriving, my begonias look terrible, and I have a new pot of basil on the deck.
Clothing myself in: Grey sweat-shorts and a t-shirt from my hubby's office.
Around the house: Cleaned the kitchen cabinets with Murphy's Oil Soap this morning and dusted the rest of the house. Beginning to think about Fall wardrobes (and Gemma's uniforms) and have started picking up a few things here and there for the kids. OH clothing. Got the older kids each a new pair of tennies (found some really durable looking Carter's ones for Kolbe, am curious to see if they will be as good as they look. For under $15 the price was right). Took Gemma's uniforms and a few of my pants to my alterations gal. Trying to figure out how to get the baby to nap somewhat regularly and for longer than three minutes. He seems to not want to miss out on all the coolness that apparently goes on while he is sleeping, and he gets woken really easily by two unnamed others who happen to reside in our residence.
The baby one-year-old: Had his birthday last week. He was getting to the end of his chicken pox, so it was a quiet birthday around the house. The kids wrapped up a bunch of our toys from the toy-box and he opened them and squealed with glee at all the "new" toys (that he'd just been playing with not two-hours previous). Yesterday I was sitting in the kitchen and watched him - with my own eyes - stand up in the middle of the room and take three steps towards me. I don't think I would have believed it if Gemma hadn't been sitting there watching too. None of the others have had first steps until closer to 15 months, so I didn't see this one coming! He hasn't taken anymore since then, but he has been standing up a lot. You are growing TOO fast, baby. He's so sweet though, and it's so much fun to see him discovering new things and becoming more aware. He's about half a pound shy of 20 lbs.
Sigh, as alluded to above his naps have been all over the place. One nap isn't always enough, but if he gets two then bedtime is really late, and for whatever reason Kolbe and Gemma and especially Kolbe like to be really loud when he is finally napping and he gets woken up. A lot. And I am beginning to think he will probably fall asleep in the van every day when I go to pick up Gemma from half-day kdg. And did I mention he doesn't transfer well from the carseat to his bed? Today he has napped for a whopping 10 minutes, and the later it gets in the day the less inclined I feel to try to get him to sleep. I'm sure he will fall asleep in the high chair at dinner and the 2 minute respite will be enough to tide him over until 10pm. ACK! All this kind of makes me want to lose my mind. I never knew sleep would be such a cause for angst in my parenting.
The kiddos:
GEMMA and I went school shopping this past weekend to get her school supplies and a few more clothing items she needed for her uniform. She also got to buy a new pony with her own money. This was her first time to spend her own money and it was...memorable. The blasted ponies come in bags where you can't tell what they are, and after she paid we walked off to the side to open her pony and it was this blue and black gothic looking one named "Spitfire" and she absolutely dissolved into a pile of tears. My heart totally and completely broke for her. Long story short, we talked it through and I ended up "buying" the pony back from her and she tried again with much better results ("Apple Stars" was much more her speed than "Spitfire"). She is now saving up to buy "Rainbow Dash" (she costs $4.04, so it will be awhile). We are going to start giving her an allowance here when school starts. AND, she lost another tooth this past weekend too, so she got some tooth fairy money for that (half of which she shared with Kolbe...heart-melt moment). We are both getting excited for kindergarten. I know it will be happy and sad...the space will do us good, but I will really miss her too. She is my clean-up queen and helps with the baby a lot, and she can be really enjoyable to have around. But it's going to be a good year. At Kohls yesterday I bought her a copy of Curious George's First Day of School and I'm going to give it to her on her first day.
KOLBE is three. He has been acting very three lately. But aside from that he is so very sweet and still likes to love and snuggle so much. We were out to eat last night and he turned to me, gave me a kiss and a big hug and said in his sweet little voice, "I love you mommy." Just out of nowhere. It made me kind of tear up a bit, just thinking that some day he'll be a big high schooler who probably won't want to give his mama a hug and kiss out in public. But maybe he still will. He is such a sweet little boy.
In the kitchen: This past week we had some Beef and Veggie Stew; Loaded Baked Potato Casserole and green beans; homemade pizza; a night out to eat; and shrimp linguine tonight. Up next week is tacos; chicken, broccoli and rice casserole; fish crisp and some other stuff TBD. Enjoying lots of fresh fruit around here lately!!
Crafting: I have some material that is the same pattern as Gemma's school jumper and I'd like to make her some sort of hair thing with it. However, I have no idea where to even begin.
Learning: When the kids were sick I was looking for more things to record for them and discovered that there is some really neat children's programming on EWTN. Some of their favorites are Cat Chat, The Donut Man and My Catholic Family. Been working on some telling time with Gemma and started her new handwriting book with her. Kolbe has really been liking his Kumon cutting and tracing books lately. Trying to take full advantage of the many learning items we have accumulated by pulling different ones out each day. You know, while the baby naps. Oh wait...
Reading: I finished St. Francis!!!!!!! My review is here. The last 10 or so pages reading about his death were so beautiful. I'm looking forward to my next review, Yours is the Church. I need to jump in and start catching up on some Catechism reading too, I am sooooo behind. Reading Schoolhouse in the Woods with the kids. Gemma really likes these stories so I went ahead and ordered used copies of the other two books in the Fairchild Family series, plus another one by the same author. Our dear friend Larry from Church gave us this Children's Bible and I've been trying to read either a story from there or a saint story each day to the kids at breakfast time. I had just been thinking about another children's Bible that was a little more substantial than what we had, and this one seems to fit the bill.
Watching: A bit of the All-Star game, which made me reminisce, as Clem was born the night of the All-Star game last year.
Bringing me joy: Chicken Pox are over. Celebrating seven years of marriage this weekend. Thinking about the upcoming school year.
Thinking about: Naps?
Pictures to share:
The birthday boy.
Toothless
Kolbe's drawing of Thomas
Reached their reading goals!
