Now What?

And so after more than over a week of not posting a single new entry, where oh where do even begin?

This could turn ugly folks, hang on. Mybe get some coffee to stay awake if you plan on staying.

Let's just start off with some random pictures from last week shall we?

On your feet Steelers fans!

Check out the spread on this defense!I didn't happen to mention that we enjoyed a family date night a few weekends back and got Lincoln's 8 month picture taken. The slack-mom that I've become, I didn't get him in at 6 months because he had croup and/ or a cold for most of the month, followed with Eric being gone for hunting season in November, Thanksgiving and ending with Christmas. Our busiest months by far. And so, that's how we end up with 8 month pics. I'm thinking the next professional portrait session will be with both kids for Easter and rounding out with Lincoln's 1 year old pictures in May. Boy, I've come a long way from the conformed-do-things-on-schedule-mom that I once was with an only child. I have since forgiven my mom for slacking on professional pictures of me alone. (She'll be the first to tell you that I wouldn't smile unless my big brother was in the picture with me. I'll tell Lincoln the same.)

About this photo session. I was diligent to consider nap times of both kids and fine tuned an exact bath time for Lincoln so that his face wouldn't be blotchy or dry and even ironed his clothes. And what does my little Pipsqueak do for me in return?Scratches. Claw marks on both sides of his forehead. AND, I just trimmed his little fingernails the night before. Seriously. This kid can grow fingernails overnight and they can still make a mighty scratch from below his fingertips. Stinker. Luckily, this was before his bath in which most of the redness calmed down to be much less visible with some warm, soapy water and A&D ointment. Who knew those butt creams were so useful?

Moving on, just this past weekend I headed out to visit my parents and Eric's parents by myself and the kids. Eric decided that since it was a long, 3 day weekend, (thanks MLK!) he was going to stay home and work on some projects around the house. It actually worked out well since I had scheduled a Tastefully Simple party to do for a friend and we still had Christmas presents to take home since we ran out of room in our truck last time.

It's such a luxury to visit my parents house. What with free babysitting a 1 on 1 ratio, wonderful dinners served to me, early bedtimes and the opportunity to go back to bed after I pass my early riser children off to my mom? Beautiful. Well..... parts of my sleeping plan were foiled when we arrived at nearly 10:00 Friday night and within a 5 minute window, Elaina went from being sound asleep in the car to wide awake and bouncing up and down while playing with her Pop-Pop. Oh dear God. Did you hear me say 10:00 at night? This is the child who goes to bed no later 9:00 if I can help it. 8:00 on a good night. But 10:00! Playing!

Knowing this is never a good sign, I couldn't even imagine how I was about to tame this wild banshee from her grandparent high. And then there was Lincoln. Long story short, Lincoln was overly tired and couldn't put himself to sleep after his 2 hour evening nap and stayed up (mostly) fussing and restless until almost 2 a.m. And since we all shared a room, Elaina couldn't fall asleep and I had already exhausted my mom until 1:00 and was on my own. Two overly tired children, one exhausted grandma and a mommy who was about to spit fire from her ears. This wasn't even close to what I had signed up for.

The next morning Elaina and Lincoln woke at their regular 7:00 hour and were rearing to go again. Think about that: 5 hours of sleep + a 2.5 year old + full attention of her grandparents= disaster. I really couldn't believe how well she lasted and for how long. She really didn't have that bad of a day, especially after she got her nap.

Lincoln usually does pretty good wherever he goes so the previous night must have been a fluke. Here he is keeping warm with his Pop-Pop, watching the fire burn in the fireplace.On Sunday, I actually got the most sleep. Not only did I sleep in, I stayed in bed to cuddle with Lincoln for his morning nap. Don't I just love that little sweet cuddle- kid of mine!! We actually did make it out of the house to visit Grandma and Grandpa W. for the evening. Their cousin Evan had waited for 2 days to play with "Ewaina" and was anxious to see her. I'd say they're both a couple of potheads.

(Note to God: Please don't ever let my corny puns ever come back to haunt me. Thank you. Amen.)

We all enjoyed a nice evening of visiting and lounging about followed by yet another delicious home cooked meal served to me (yay!) and my kids were actually well behaved. My lovely in-laws were kind enough to watch my kids as I headed out to my favorite store nearby, one of which we don't have around my home (at all) so that I could stock up on their sale on baby food and leisurely browse the sale racks. And here is the fast-forward version of how my 20 minute shopping trip took me over an hour. Begin: Score 5 cases of baby food cheap. See more sales and can't resist. Call M-I-L who states "kids are good, take your time." Shout hooray and run through the store in my frugal glory. Gather a cart full of items and convince myself it's time to leave. Bid a fond farewell to O Favorite Store of Mine. Upon exiting, dig for my keys in order to lessen my time wasted outside in 10 degree weather. Cannot find keys. Call OnStar to at least take advantage of one service that their giant annual fee sets me back. Quickly learn that next time I call OnStar, I will lie telling them that a child or pet is locked in my car so they can open my doors a little quicker. Unload my stockpile into my now unlocked vehicle and begin looking for my keys within. No luck. I ransack my purse to find that the lining in the outer purse pocket has torn and my keys were buried deep within the lining. I stop to get gas in 10 degree weather since my five cases of baby food netted me a gas rebate of over $6 at their gas station. Finally arrive at my in-laws house feeling foolish and guilty that I had been gone for so long. Find everyone content, happy and I feel bad about feeling so frazzled. Realize that I'm the only one who's a mess.

We drove home peacefully on Monday while both kids slept away their hyperactivity almost the whole way. Elaina woke for the final 20 minute stretch and we listened to one of her kid's CD's. After she bounced herself along happily through a song, once it was over she proclaimed, "Mommy? That song made no sense." I thought I was going to bust up laughing. Her timing and sincerity were priceless.

We were all happy to see Daddy, but realized that the timing of our trip was of very poor planning as Eric was scheduled to leave out of town for work the next day. From Tuesday through Thursday, Eric was gone and my two darling children were more than a handful. Actually, Lincoln tends to remain pretty constant, but Elaina? Oooh, Girl! I don't even know what to say. She has been bad. No, she has been BAD. Just refer here. The girl does really great with consistency and keeping on a schedule. That's the way it is and always has been. We're just asking to unleash her wrath if she doesn't get enough sleep. Enough said. It's Thursday night and we're just about finished un-programming the spoiled brat out of her. Tomorrow will be better.

If you're still reading, congratulations! Here is the biggest news of all: Lincoln crawled tonight! He really did! It was just a mere 2 creeps, but it counts! As it is, he is all over the place by twisting, pivoting and rolling and my guess is that he'll be a full blown, official crawler by the middle of next week. Oh, and did I mention that his second tooth has officially made it's debut? It's his second bottom tooth and he remains as cute as ever!

There you have it. An update! Hope to talk to you again real soon and we won't have to deal with this run-on jumble again.

Thankyouverymuch.