Journal: the great bedroom switch 2014

TODAY

Out my window:  Sunny.  Hot.  Feels like summer.  Albeit late summer, but summer for sure.  We had 6/10's inch of rain last night.

Clothing myself in:  Running shorts.  T-shirt.  My flip-flops are almost busted, I'd say I got my $2.50 out of them this year.

Around the house: We got our basement carpet laid this past Thursday and it looks great!  The house seems so much bigger now that Gemma's bedroom is down there, and she is also using the bathroom down there.  It is great having our play-space/basement living space back as well.  Nothing like going without something to realize how much you appreciate it.  Mornings have been much less stressful, with Gemma doing most of her readying downstairs, it makes the upstairs bedroom/hallway/bathroom much less crowded, with much less potential for all the little spats that seemed to come up over every.little.thing.

 

The baby/toddler:  Is officially moved into his big boy room (with Kolbe) and big boy bed.  He is doing pretty good.  He is still nursing to sleep.  I am kind of ambivalent about it, part of me is ready to be done, part of me knows it is my "secret weapon" to help get him to sleep easily at nights and naps.  He naps about 30 minutes in the late mornings.  Nights have been decent, he wakes up once or twice but resettles easily and now that he has his big boy bed he feels pretty strongly about staying in there vs. coming in our bed.

He is showing some major interest in the potty too.  After weighing my options (cloth diapers, disposable diapers, cloth trainers, pull ups) I have him in disposable pull-ups and a disposable dipe at night.  He is telling me about 1/2 the time he has to potty, and is pretty acquiescent to trying when I ask him to.  He can stay dry for such a long time that we just weren't generating enough diaper laundry to make it worthwhile, but he has enough accidents that cloth trainers aren't super practical either.  We'll see how he does the next few months in the pull-ups and if he's still making forward progress I might try some pants-free days later in the fall and see if we can get the rest of the way there.  Not opposed to going back to dipes if he's not ready though.

The kiddos:  Clement is in Kolbe's old bed, with Kolbe's old bedding, and Kolbe got to move up to Gemma's bed (with new bedding, pink owls weren't quite his thing).  He is pretty proud of his dump-truck bed and he and Gemma's relationship already seems better now that they have some space from each other.  In fact, she spent $6.75 on a Minion t-shirt for Kolbe that she saw at Target and wanted so badly to go back and buy for him.  No reason, just wanted to get it for him because she knew he would like it.  That was the majority of the money in her spend jar too.  And even after seeing a My Little Pony t-shirt and asking if I'd buy it for her (no) she still got a shirt for him.  I need to remember these things when I want to explode at her.

Gemma has her own room, her own space, and can shower herself!  I was hoping we'd have her showering on her own by Christmas, but it took walking her through things like twice (she normally showered with me) and she had the hang of it and has been showering in the basement stall since she moved down.  

School has started and first grade seems to be off to a great start.  No separation-anxiety tears at drop-off, and full day school seems to be suiting Gemma (and us left at home) quite well.  I tell you, give that girl a bit of autonomy and independence and the change in her personality is remarkable (in a good way).  Summer was getting too long in the tooth, we are glad to be back at our Fall schedule.  And speaking of teeth, Kolbe sat on her head and she lost her seventh tooth on Saturday.  She actually really lost it for awhile (in the new basement carpet), and had even written a heart-felt letter to the tooth fairy when we ended up finding it, so the tooth fairy had her first visit to the new bedroom.

In the kitchen: Homemade supreme pizza, BBQ chicken and Black Bean Quinoa Salad, family dinner, grilling out (probably), and baked fish (cod or salmon) on the menu for this week.

Crafting: I consider putting two bedrooms together to be quite crafty enough thank you.

Learning:  I have been thinking about a reasonable preschool schedule for Kolbe for this year.  He just isn't quite as into school-work as Gemma was, which is fine, but I'd still like to have him writing his letters (with a correct pencil grip) by kindergarten.  Here is the tentative schedule I've come up with:
MONDAY: Practical Life (helping with chores, he likes to load the wash  machine and sweep the kitchen) and trip to the library.  I also have the most energy on Mondays, so we will probably do things like play-doh and watercolors when my patience is still abundant (ish). 

TUESDAY: Handwriting work (working with his workbook, the magnadoodle, and the HWT wooden letter forms) and Speech with his speech teacher

WEDNESDAY: Kumon-type work books (cutting/gluing and coloring namely)

THURSDAY: Science experiment (Gemma's godmother gave him this science experiment book that he absolutely adores, and Aaron is off on Thursdays so I told him we'd find special time just him and me to do a science experiment then.  This also helps curb the constant begging to do one.) and Speech with his speech teacher.

FRIDAY: preschool co-op with his friend Levi.  I am going to do a book each week, using the alphabet as a guide (A, B, C, etc.) and some sort of literacy extension activity.  Our first book will be An Ant's Day Off.  It's been a fave around here for years, and I'm excited I found a used ex-library copy on Amazon for around $5.  I love the ex-library books, with their attached mylar dust-jackets.  Book nerd much?

Reading: Haven't read much this past week, but have been flipping through Parenting With Grace some.

Watching: A few shark-week things (have I mentioned how much I hate docu-fiction?) and some MLB, always fun watching the Royals win.

Bringing me joy: Time with family.  Having the basement back.  Upcoming day-trip date with my hubby!!

Thinking about: hmmm, not much really.

Pictures to share:  

Gemma's new room.  Yep, that's a bedrail at the bottom of the bed.  Had to have somewhere for the ponies to lean.

The boys' room.

Journal: snow days

TODAY

Out my window:  Cloudy and oohhhhhhhh it's cold.  About 6 inches of snow on the ground from this past Tuesday.  Gemma got two snow-days out of the deal so it was a fun week, and we were able to play in the snow Tuesday before the mega-cold set in.  Would you believe I shoveled the entire driveway (the neighbor helped a little, God bless her!!) by myself!  Twice!!  I wasn't nearly as sore as I thought I'd be, guess these kids keep me in better shape than I give them credit for.  I digress.  I think it's hardly hit double digits the past few days.  More crud on the way maybe?  I'm ready for March, and SPRING!  But then, I have been since November, sooooooo...

Clothing myself in:  Black long sleeve shirt, pink tank, jeans and black socks.  A step (or several) up from sweats and a hoodie...we had preschool co-op here this morning.

Around the house: I put the poinsettias and the Nativity away.  Still a few Winter things lingering around, I usually don't get all our winter stuff put up until March-ish.  When it's really Spring.  I also packed away a bunch of kids' clothes that were over-flowing in the laundry basket downstairs.  OH clothes.  And now I am starting to think about clothing the kids for the next season.  Sigh.  Sorry, for the dramatics.  ;-) 

 

The baby/toddler:  Oh teeth.  He is working on his bottom two molars and has a little infected spot where one of his top eye-teeth will be.  If you look at him wrong, or don't look at him, or touch him when he doesn't want to be touched, or...you get the picture, he will scream in your face.  And  maybe throw himself on the floor and cry too.  He has been realllllly grumpy.  But he's still so cute.  He can say "hi" and "mama" and "dada" and knows how to say what the puppy-dog, kitty-cat and monster says.  He is starting to repeat more sounds....ohhhhh it is so fun when they start talking.

 

The kiddos:  Gemma enjoyed her snow days and it was nice having her around (read: it was also really nice not to have to leave the house).  Her reading has really been improving.  I try to have her read a book (to me with help) a day and yesterday she chose Popcorn.  I was dubious, as normally I have her do a Level 1 or maybe 2 Green Light reader, but she plowed right through it with very little help.

Kolbe is very excited, we ordered (and got) a booster for him and Aaron put it in the van yesterday.  He feels like such a big boy (even though he hasn't gotten to ride anywhere in it yet).  He is way over the height, and almost to the weight requirement, and he was getting very difficult to get in and buckled into the carseat so we decided to go ahead and make the switch.  He has also started wearing big boy underpants to bed instead of a pull-up, as it had been months since he'd had a wet, so he is feeling quite accomplished about that as well.  Last night he snuggled on my lap and told me he loves me "the best".  I think he thinks you can only love one person at once, as he's done this before.  I find it very endearing, and Aaron doesn't seem to mind too much.  :-)

In the kitchen: This week we had a homemade pizza.  I put white sauce and a combo of beef/Italian sausage and topped it with a bunch of kale and mozzarella  ohhhhhhh it was tasty.  Honey Chicken on Tuesday and a big 'ole pot of chili when the cold-cold weather hit.  Chile rellenos with some leftover ham in it tonight.  Looking forward to a big crock pot of beef and veggie stew early next week. 

Crafting: My "editors" (ahem, yes you) have been on me for my lame answers on this one, so deleting the whole category would probably be in my best interest, as I'm sure I will get another email about this, but I'm thinking about some sort of decorative piece for our side server involving a candle and split peas and a big glass vase.  We'll see.  Would it help if I blew the glass and grew the peas??  ;-)

Learning:  Gemma requested I get a bunch of books about penguins from the library as they had been learning about penguins at school, so she was excited when they arrived on the "special shelf".  She was reading as soon as she got buckled into the van, did my heart good hearing her so enthused about reading!  Kolbe and I did letter P this week (timely with all the penguins) and also had some snow activities and pulled out our pile of "snow" books on Gemma's days off school.   

Reading:  Still working through The Joy of the Gospel.  Good stuffs, I tell you.

Watching:  Looking forward to the Olympics.

Bringing me joy:  Snow days.  Kolbe-snuggles.  Big fluffy snowflakes.  Aaron picking Gemma up from school so Clem can nap, uninterrupted.  Morning Prayer.  Time with friends.

Thinking about: Chores.  Gemma has been doing some small chores around the house (folding diapers, towels and socks, emptying the trash, little things like that) to earn money for Walk in Sister's Shoes at school.  We had never paid for chores before, but this has been working out pretty well since the money really isn't for her, per se.  Walk in Sister's Shoes ends right around Lent, so I think I will have her continue with small chores like this during Lent to "earn" her alms for the Alms jar, and do the item-counting (see post linked below) with Kolbe each morning after she has gone to school.  After Lent, she should be pretty used to doing these things so I think I will then introduce the idea of a chore chart and regular (unimbursed) chores around the house.  We'll see how it goes.  I have also started thinking about Lent, and plan to do pretty much the same thing we did last year, with the addition of a little more "fasting" type activities as the kids get older. 

Pictures to share:  

Some (very belated) birthday pics:

Gemma with "Whiskers" the kitten from her kdg teacher, and Kolbe with his remote control "tractor" (as he calls it) on their bdays

After our bday shopping trip at Academy Sports.  Gemma got a "girlie" bike and Kolbe a spiderman fishing pole.  This boy loves him some fishing --- like father like son.

And the baby, because he's cute.  And because I feel sorry for apparently only taking 2 pictures of him the entire month of January.  Oops.

Journal: I'm still here

TODAY

Out my window:  Sunset, cold, calm.  I'm not sure what the weather was today, or yesterday for that matter, or really any day the past week but I heard we hit 70, last weekend??  Who knew?!

Clothing myself in:  CLOTHES!  First time I've been out of my jammies since last Friday.  For real.

Around the house: Well, I feel like I'm finally doing more than just treading water, so that is a good thing.  Last Friday afternoon I got hit with some bug, and let me tell you, it was SOME bug.  I am guessing flu??  At any rate, I was sicker than sick for four days.  FOUR!  I haven't been that sick since, well, ever maybe.  At least not in the last 15 years I know.  The kids and Aaron have all had it as well, although (thankfully) no one else was nearly as ill as I.  We're all still at various stages of recovery.  Maybe next week we'll be back to normal.  I'll just say it, I HATE January and February.  So much.  Gemma's birthday was Saturday.  I'm pretty sure I wished her Happy Birthday somewhere in between yelling at her for this that or the other while Aaron was at work and being passed out on the couch.  It was great, let me tell you.

 

The baby:  Still doesn't feel great.  Super clingy today.  Nursing a ton, which is hard on me because I'm still recovering and his marathon nursing sessions are wearing. me. out.  He did however sleep mostly through the night (in our bed) the night before last and it was woooooooonderful (he'd never really done that).  I don't expect it again anytime soon, but it came at a good time.  We noticed last week that he has both his top molars. 

 

The kiddos:  Gemma is six now.  Like I said, her birthday was kind of a bust but we did get out last Thursday to bday shop with the kids at Academy Sports.  Gemma picked out a new girlie 20" bike and a cat helmet.  She asked us to take the training wheels off our other bike about a month ago, and she really is too big for it.  This one should last her awhile.  It is pink and yellow and white and subtle yet very girlie.  It has foot brakes and was just what I had in mind.  I'm glad we were on the same page on that one.  ;-)  Kolbe is four now.  He had a super duper birthday yesterday (according to him).  I am grateful his expectations are so low.  We got him a RC car which was kind of a bust because it is a battery hog and has broken really easily, but he spent the whole day with it yesterday so I guess that's what matters.  He also got a fishing pole at Academy that he is in love with and has been practicing casting in the yard.  He was so mad last weekend when the weather was warm but there was still ice on the pond.  Stinkin' Winter.

In the kitchen: I haven't cooked much but am baking some fish tonite.  Aaron made some amazing Chicken and Brown Rice Soup last night.  It was like healing in a bowl.  MMMMMmmmmmmm.  Hoping to get back to cooking next week.

Crafting: Nothing really, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.  Oh wait, no I didn't.  That was just my couch.  Again.  Sorry, lame attempt at humor.   I put together our Family Fall Photobook on Shutterfly and am anxiously awaiting its arrival.  That's such a more fun option than regular old photo albums. 

Learning: It's pretty much been survival mode.  Gemma has missed three days of school now.  She was really sick on Wednesday, and then Thursday we didn't send her because she had been so sick all day the day before and was a little warm in the morning.  She bounced around happy all day yesterday and was so excited to go today, but then woke up with a 2 degree fever, so even though she felt fine and has acted fine it's not like I could send her.  She cried, they were supposed to have Show and Tell.  Pretty big deal.  We've been keeping up with her homework and such.

Reading: nothing

Watching:  I have a children's television, HGTV, FoodNetwork hangover.

Bringing me joy: health.  for all of us.

Thinking about: Spring.

Pictures to share:  

Gemma, the bracelet maker extraordinaire

One for everyone!

Journal: settling in

TODAY

Out my window:  Sunny and hot.  Summer is definitely back.  We've even actually had to run our sprinklers!  Guess the well wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Clothing myself in:  Shorts and a t-shirt.  Glamor personified, let me tell you what.  I do have a fresh haircut though, and that always feels good.  

Around the house: Decluttered some more...this time in the master bedroom, namely clothes and a little costume jewelry.  This minimalism thing, it's good stuff.  I also organized some of our preschool/learning items and culled a few things we just haven't (and probably won't) use(d) now that I have a better idea of Kolbe's needs and Gemma's too.  I spent some time the end of last week getting things together (making plans, printing items, requesting color copies, etc.) for Kolbe's preschool at home.

 

The baby:  He's been a little fussy and clingy.  I'd blame it on teething, but he has all 8 front teeth now and this would be a little early (at least in my experience) for molars.  Hmmm.  He is walking more and more each day.  He likes dancing.  He folds his hands when we pray, all on his own, which I think is so adorable.  I don't remember our other kids doing that at one.

 

The kiddos:

GEMMA is settling into her school routine really well.  We had tears all three days last week, that got progressively worse, so I was pretty worried come Monday morning, and not too hopeful when Aaron left with her for drop-off.  He called about 10 minutes later to tell me he walked her in, she met her teacher at her door and told her she looked beautiful (I thought that was so cute) and happily bounced into the room.  Aaron had to remind her to come give him a kiss!  God is good, hopefully we are past the hardest part and ready to settle in to school.  Half day seems to be a really good fit.  She lost her fourth tooth last night.  She was playing with the boys and absolutely freaked out, thinking she had swallowed it.  Super-mom ended up finding it on the living room carpet.  The tooth fairy brought her five dimes.  

KOLBE and I started our at home preschool this Monday.  I was planning on waiting another week but he just seemed ready so we went for it, and I'm glad.  He tells me multiple times a day that he "loves preschool." His favorite things to do while sissy is at school have been preschool, listening to CD's, reading stories, and he has really been into listening to his Bob the Builder Pilchard Goes Fishing book-on-CD lately.

In the kitchen: Enjoying quiet(er)t lunches since we eat before picking Gemma up (she eats at school).  Don't get me wrong, I miss Gemma when she is gone, but this has been a welcome reprieve.  What's cooking this week?  French Dips, zucchini and green beans last night; Chicken Picadillo tonite; pork cutlets, savory potatoes and steamed broccoli; smoked (wild caught by my uncle in Alaska) salmon; salmon, pasta and veggie casserole.  I need to make some muffins or pancakes or something for breakfasts.

Crafting: Finished our cloth napkins!  All my pictures are stuck on my camera, so I'll post pics on my sewing tab next time I get pictures.

Learning:  It is Aa week for Kolbe.  Since (as aforementioned) my pictures are currently in digital limbo I may do his own post for the first week of "school".  I've snapped some cute ones, but you'll just have to use your imagination for now.  I am enjoying revisiting some of the resources I used with Gemma in addition to the new program I'm using.  We are going to meet one day a week with some friends to do activities together as well.  

Gemma has a math sheet every day for homework and sometimes one other thing, so when she gets home we have a bit of quiet time (IE, the kids watch TV and I catch up and prep for the afternoon) then we have homework time where she does her homework and makes sure her bag is ready for school the next day and Kolbe either works on more Letter of the Week stuff or some of his Kumon books (which he also loves and asks for frequently).  He likes the cutting ones the best.  I have ordered him a few more things like this to work on, as I'm finding it is important that he is engaged in something he can do relatively independently so I can focus on Gemma for a bit.

Reading: My latest Catholic Company review, The New Evangelization and You: Be Not Afraid just arrived, so looking forward to diving in after my, um, entirely-too-long-respite from reading anything.  Still working through Schoolroom in the Parlor with Gemma.  Lots of Aa books for Kolbe, including one of our favorites An Ant's Day Off and lots of books about apples.

Watching: the usuals.  Nothing riveting or worth writing about really.

Bringing me joy: Watching the boys dance.  Our new schedule, it is so nice to be settling in to the "new normal", and a "normal" that I like at that!  Spending some more one-on-one time with Kolbe has been a joy.  I mean, Clem is here too, but it's just different.  It was hard to do a lot with Kolbe without Gemma wanting to answer every question and do everything for him (I think that's just how big sisters are ;-D), so this has been nice.  Gemma seems to really like school, and that brings me joy too, knowing that when she's not here she is somewhere that she feels peaceful and happy.

Thinking about: how I should finish up this post and get off the computer.  Later-gators!!

Pictures to share: 

Watering at the neighbors'.

Boys in hats.

Journal: woe is nap

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!

Journal: Wardrobe lamentations

TODAY

Out my window:  Sunny. Cold. Windy.  I am soooo over winter.

Clothing myself in:  I'll save this one for when I actually publish this post.  Maybe I'll be wearing something nicer.  Probably not though.  Nope.  Definitely not.

Around the house: My sister had a baby girl last week, so I have been going through our girl tubs to find things to share with her.  We have about twice as many girl clothes as we need, as we were given lots of new things and hand-me-downs and had various other opportunities to acquire clothes relatively inexpensively, and I saved everything, so it is nice to pare down a bit.  The more kids we have the more I realize that sometimes (most times) less is more when it comes to "stuff". 

 

The baby:  Has started sitting on his own....well, with a little help, but he's getting steadier every day.  Night sleep has been marginally better.

 

The kiddos:  Might go crazy if spring doesn't come soon. SO much energy, so little space.  Oh my heavens.

Gemma lost a tooth!!!!!!  She mentioned on the way home from Catechesis last Monday that she had a loose tooth and I was a bit dubious, but sure enough she had not one but two loose teeth.  She wiggled it all week and it was so loose on Sunday I told her to try to pull it because I knew she'd do better with that than me trying to.  It got really loose and she kind of freaked out, but mid-freaking-out it fell out and she was pretty excited.  Thankfully there was very little blood, so it must have been ready to come out.  She wrote a card and drew pictures for the tooth fairy, she was so excited!!

Kolbe has started going to sleep on his own at night and that has been a nice developmental progression.  It's just always reassuring that those needy babies who nurse all night and like to snuggle in mommy and daddy's bed do indeed grow up and sleep on their own eventually (in their own time).  I remember being very dubious of that fact when Gemma was a baby.  ;-) 

In the kitchen: Honey Chicken (double batch to share, thanks again for this recipe Elizabeth!); Mexican Chili; Tuna (actually probably salmon) Melts; Chile Rellenos (we have two meatless days this week!!); hubby picked up what he deemed a "really good looking bunch of kale" and requested some Kale Quinoa Salad so I'll likely make a batch of that in there somewhere.

Crafting: Nope.  Nada.  Nothing.  Except the million flowers I am in the middle of cutting out for our Lenten prayer garden. OY!

Learning:  Getting ready for Lent.  I posted our Lenten goals and ideas here.  Making Valentines this week and finishing up on birthday thank-yous.  We have more religious type things planned for learning time during Lent, but will probably try to tackle a handwriting lesson or two a week.  Gemma has been requesting reading lessons lately so we've been tackling those too.

Reading: Getting ready to finish Unconditional Parenting, and let me just say I am so glad that I didn't put it down.  The more I read the more I like.  It very much focuses on love and relationships with your children, looking at your long-term/life goals for them vs. getting [manipulating] short-term "good" behavior and obedience.  It takes a "working with" vs. "doing to" approach, which is definitely in-line with Aaron's and my (continually emerging and evolving) parenting style.  And I get him a bit more on the praise thing now (or lack there-of), in that it's more in the semantics than just plain not praising our kids.  If Gemma is sharing nicely, instead of saying "good job at sharing," say something like, "look how happy Kolbe is."  Basically try to get your kids thinking about how others feel rather than whether they are going to be punished or rewarded/praised for any given action.  I could go on (and on and on) but I'm not in the mood to do a full-blown review.  Lots of food for thought though, and definitely a re-affirmation that parenting is not for the faint of heart.  If you're looking to really examine the way you parent and why you do the things you do I would definitely recommend it.  It isn't really a "method" at all, but a way of looking at things and I liked that (I don't do well with being told what to do).  It has definitely caused me to be more introspective and deliberate in my parenting.  I checked this book out from the library.

We finished On The Banks of Plum Creek and started By the Shores of Silver Lake and I don't know.  Nothing objectionable, but I am wondering if it is just getting a bit "mature" for Gemma... 

I asked for book recommendations on my Facebook and tagged everything that people said either on  my library list or my Amazon wishlist, so I have a lot to choose from in the coming months.  I also signed up for The Catholic Company's blog review program, so we'll see if they accept me. 

Bringing me joy: An afternoon date with  my hubby (and baby) to the home show.  Baby slept on my back most of the time, and we had a nice afternoon ambling around together while the kids played at Mrs. Jo's house.  We have such great neighbors!

Thinking about: The fact that every time I look in my closet I want to cry.  I don't even know where to start with my wardrobe it's so far gone.  Not that I have time.  Shopping with three 5 and under isn't exactly my cup of tea...  But oh, it is scary in there.  I really should start exercising too, but again, the time thing...  Gemma's upcoming kindergarten, she had screening this week and it went well but I'm just, I don't know, apprehensive.  Probably mostly because I don't deal well with change. And balance, oh balance.  Life is so crazy some most days sometimes I just feel like my life has turned into constant treading water.  We knew it would be nuts when we found out #3 was on the way, and that this would likely be one of our craziest years, so I have to keep reminding myself of that.  Now and again I will catch a glimpse of the light at the end of this tunnel so I do have hope.  But wow.  Just, wow.  Ramble over.

Pictures to share:  

The toothless wonder.  Mom, do you have my tooth pillow?  I can't find it.

A (very belated) birthday cupcake.

Clem showing off his new skilz.