Canal Days

Canal Days is the name that our little town festival goes by and commemorates each August. I consider this weekend a "hump" of sorts as it marks summertime being half over and another hurdle to monopolize our time. Since Eric is on the volunteer fire department and the firemen host a food stand in the town park, much of Eric's free time (READ: "all of his time") is spent lending a hand selling food, serving food or selling raffle tickets. I, on the other hand, volunteer to work a few random shifts in booths or elsewhere that I am needed. Thank God that my mom and dad have begun to make it a tradition to come visit us for the weekend to help take care of the kids and make our lives easier. I don't know how we could ever get through it without them.

This weekend was especially interesting given that my parents had already arrived at our house when I came home from work on Friday, only to find Elaina cuddled up, watching a movie with my dad and roasting with a 103 degree fever. And do you want to just imagine the temperament of a tired 3 year old with a 103 fever? Answer: not so good.

Despite Elaina's fever and Eric's limited guest appearances in our house, we actually had a great weekend. And since it will be impossible (and likely boring for you) for me to recap the whole weekend, I present: photo-telling. (I just made up that phrase and decided that I like it to narrate a whole story without a lot of words.)

So here we go on a photo-telling tour....

This picture of Lincoln was during the Grand Parade which marches right in front of our house. Seriously, the kid was in total awe of the whole thing. He loved it all. I imagine that his sweet, little blue eyes were awfully tired in the end since he barely shut them to blink throughout the whole parade.
And, HEY... who is that on top of that van? No other than Ronald M. himself! Cool!

And as much as I talk about "Nancy the Babysitter," would you like to see what she actually looks like? Nancy is sitting with Elaina in front and her real life granddaughter, Gracie (also Elaina's friend) aside of them both. This was the first time that my mom had met Nancy and it was a delight she and her husband both came down to enjoy the parade with all of us.

Elaina is pretty lucky to have so many Grandpa's (and Pop-Pop's) who love her so much. This Grandpa didn't seem to mind hanging out with his favorite granddaughter.After getting ice cream in the middle of the day for no good reason except that it was there, we went to see Eric host the canoe race. Elaina wasn't terribly impressed with any part of the canoes and just really wanted to throw rocks in the water.

Pretty much unrelated to anything "canal days," just one cute boy who loves his cars.

I got two shifts working the monster truck inflatable bounce house. And honestly, it was so much fun! Not because I bounced, but because the kids enjoyed it so much and that's all Elaina wanted to do is jump. Good sign that she was medicated and feeling better. Best of all was Sunday night when she got to jump with her best friend, Ali and no other big kids.

And what evening is really complete until you have 15 pounds of candy to sort through? This is Elaina's haul from the parade on Sunday. That's alot of candy, folks.

Finally, Elaina was hell bent on using my camera to take my picture for a change. I have to say that this picture actually turned out pretty good. No editing, just a lucky shot. Lincoln even mustered up a half smile.

So... weekend in a nutshell: GREAT! The weather was awesome, our company was unbeatable and when Elaina peaked at feeling good, we were all happy. Things that we could have done without this weekend: Elaina's fever and attitude, Lincoln crying his head off in the middle of the night and passing this summer hurdle reminding us that summer is already half over.

Teaser

This past week has had us bouncing from here to there and everywhere in between all in preparation for our town festival this weekend. Being with the volunteer fire department, Eric had spent almost every evening last week helping to set up the booths and the food stands. Me on the other hand, I made my best attempt at being a short order cook and parent. Dinners were rushed to get him out the door before I was left to wrangle the kids for the evening.

At this point, the weekend festivities are finished, my parents have come and gone to lend a hand and I am left exhausted but with lots of great pictures and stories to share. For now my must-do list begins with getting some sleep and preparing for the upcoming week with hopes of returning to more regular postings soon.

Here's hoping everyone had an enjoyable weekend and stop back to see what Elaina plucked off the street!

Work, schmirk

Since the beginning of July, Eric's division at work has mandated a set schedule of when their employees' days begin and end. Previously, for the past almost 9 years, his schedule has offered great flexiblity in that when he fulfills his 40 hour week, he's done. Most times he could knock that out in as little as 4 days, meaning bonus time at home and with the kids.

I've not been overly impressed with how his new work scheduled has panned for the overall function of our household morning routine. His day is now scheduled to begin at 7 a.m., and since our home is considered his home office, he must be out the door at that time. This is coming from a family who hadn't been accustom to waking up until just a little bit before 7:00, let alone, be up, clean, dressed and out the door. Because Eric is a hunter by nature, early mornings don't seem to bother him in the least. His wife on the other hand is NOT a morning person. But, this hasn't held me back from waking up an hour early to have myself completely ready for the day and still making time to accommodate the "unexpected's" the morning will surely bring. Once I'm ready, the kids gradually wake up and we go about our business to get ourselves out the door.

Do you want to know what I'm really having a problem with? I find myself more and more not wanting to go to work at all. At all. When I arrive at work, it sometimes feels more like trying to navigate a field of land mines abounding with attitude, superiority, depression and overall pissiness. That's some days. Other days, everyone is happy-go-lucky and just wants to be there to socialize. And really, I'm okay with both. I'm not in charge of anyone, I don't pay them from my payroll. I like a well-balanced, happy medium. Sometimes we have it, sometimes we hit rock bottom.

The biggest part of my general feelings toward work have centered around Lincoln and Elaina. Every single day, Elaina comes into our bedroom first thing in the morning and is a complete love doll. She is slow and sweet and gentle and loving and her mind is just exploding with the most awesome thoughts and ideas that she presents. And I love to watch her talk. Yes, I could watch her mouth move about her face for hours. There is nothing like seeing the sweet child you love so dearly talk so much like a grown-up but with words coming from the most tender baby face. And her voice. Don't even get me started on her voice. She cracks me up in the tone of voice she uses for even the silliest of things. And when she gets really serious, her voice gets really deep and low. Oh, how I can't wait for morning to come just for her to entertain me once again.

And really, would you think my morning would be even close to complete without my sweet Lincoln? When he wakes up, the first sign he gives me is pressing the music button on his crib aquarium. He'll lay in there just as quiet as a bug and suck his little thumb and play. When I slowly open the door with Elaina at my side, he POPS up and coos and smiles and sways back and forth against his railing so excited to see us. He is full of cuddly, warm hugs and just wants to be held and loved. Every morning I tell him I could spend the whole day just squeezing him. And I could. Lincoln wakes up happy and ready to explore the greatness that another day brings with it. The worst part for me comes when I change his clothes and see his little baby body that seems to have literally grown overnight into that of a toddler. Gone are the days of the little pudge-pudge legs and thick middle section. He's growing long and lean by the day. Even his face is losing the round-ish baby fat and growing more distinguished and handsome. Oh the pain of it all!Probably not unlike any other SAHM or WOTHM (working out of the home mom) I could give you a hundred reasons in favor of me continuing my career and another hundred reasons to quit tomorrow. At this point, I don't suspect that there will be any drastic career moves on my part and most likely I won't be able to wave my magic wand and change the grouchies into good at work. So, here I am. In the middle. Trying to savor my time with my kids and not let my work get me down. All the while, this non-morning person is trying to freeze and bottle all of the sweetness from my kids that holds me together each and every day.

Does anyone else have any magic that gets you motivated to do what you really don't feel like doing?

Yelly and Purple

The title might suggest the new nicknames of each of my beloved. As I eluded to previously, there was a hint that a certain somebody whose name begins with and "L" and ends in "incoln" may have had a little bout of the yellies while we were at our parents' houses last weekend. (Seriously, it's a WEEK later and I'm finally getting around to this?)

The first of Lincoln's fussy fits began around 4 a.m. on Friday night with a familiar succession held the following night at 2 a.m. at my parents' house. We knew he had been working on cutting in both of his top row molars at the same time and I had packed nearly the whole medicine cabinet in preparation. We were almost out of Tylenol so I packed children's ibuprofen, which I considered to be the next best thing. Since he began fussing each night around bedtime and gnawing on his hands, we gave him some ibuprofen right at bedtime to insure a good night's rest for him, pain free. My comfort level of dispensing the children's dose of ibuprofen has only been recent since the ER doctor made the recommendation for the same upon Lincoln's last visit there for his high fever (months ago). In retrospect, I have a sneaky suspicion that it was this medicine that made my kid more hyped up that a bag of popcorn on a jet engine. He was absolutely! not! tired! And let me not fail to mention, completely screamy. Eric and I took shifts trying everything in the middle of the night to appease him to no avail. The kid finally surrendered to sleep between 8-10:00 a.m each day. Dear Lord! Until I find some time to do some further investigating the effects of ibuprofen, I think it's going to the top shelf, only used during daytime hours.

So if Lincoln was the yelly one, any guesses as to whom the purple one may have been?

Allow me to present: Article A

I'm not sure if I should blame it on poor decision making based on sleep deprivation or if I just really thought that looking extra cute would surely help her to be able to pick more blackberries. In any event, I was the village idiot paying dearly for my lack of judgment sending my kid off to the woods in clothes that I expected a repeat wear from. The last time Eric took Elaina into the woods to pick wild blackberries, she came home covered in mosquito bites. This time we were playing defense with long clothing and mosquito repellent. Smart thinking, huh? Nonetheless, Eric and Elaina yielded a substantial load of berries into their bowl and both had a good time. Eric was really impressed with Elaina saying what a good job she did picking off berries from the underside of the bushes that even he couldn't see. She was on her hands and knees harvesting the juicy ripe ones that even the birds couldn't get to. That may explain why she came home with little burs in her pig tails, while birds don't even ruffle a feather.

In case you have a bout of stupid, such as myself and find yourself covered in blackberry stains (even after I told you; bad idea), Borax was the only cleaning solution that completely removed all of the stains. That and some elbow grease. And cussing. And patience. All seemed helpful to me.

Back in the Saddle

Oh seriously. An entire week without blogging. What's going on here? Given the context from my last post about parting ways and severing ties, you surely didn't think I would abandon my favorite readers did you? Never! Not even if I wanted to. So here I am!

For the past week, I've been telling myself every night that some day, our lives will begin to settle down just a little bit and that I will finally find out what it means to have "free time." Just as fast as this thought enters my mind, I begin to think that maybe this is it. Maybe this is exactly how we will be spending the rest of our days; one jam packed full day after another. Part of me is alright with that because this life, however exhausting, is fun and most definitely action filled. But, on the only hand, HOLY SMOKES! I need to sleep.

Without further ado, how about me catching you up on the fun ways we filled our days which have taken me away from blogging.

This past weekend we went to visit our hometown to see our parents. We stayed with Eric's parents on Friday night and Elaina and Lincoln found the best of entertainment in the form of the grandpa's dog's cage. Both kids took their turn crawling in and out of the cage at their own will and delighted in shutting the door on the other. Seriously, has Fisher Price looked into this kinda set up for the next up-and-coming kids toy? I had to tear my kids away from this and bribe them onto something new to play with. Isn't it good to see the little guy having the upper hand with his big sis?

On Saturday, Elaina and I enjoyed a morning out of shopping, just the two of us. Our special girls' day treat was a shared slurpee (Elaina's first) as she helped me run errands for my class reunion the following day. She is getting to the age that she is able to handle herself for longer stretches of time and has already come to appreciate our shared time together, just mother and daughter. I totally love having a girly-girl to share this special time with, just like my mom and I did and continue to do. I'm only doing my part to continue the tradition. I would be at fault if I didn't.

What made Saturday even more special is that Uncle Greg brought Colin to Grandma and Grandpa H's house to play for the day. The kids were both so excited to see each other and got along like they have never been apart. My baby Lincoln tried his best to keep up with the big kids and loved being in all of the action. Uncle Greg pulled out all the stops as he became the kids' landing pad as they decided to leap onto him from the toy box. Lincoln wanted so badly to follow their lead and eventually was able to hike his little leg onto the toy box and pull himself up too. All of them were so darned cute, but seeing Lincoln trying to act so grown was sweetly comical for me. His babyhood is just flying out the window with each passing day.

As if having Elaina, Lincoln and Colin all together to play wasn't enough, the big boys (the dad's) decided the Elaina and Colin needed to go fishing. I have to say that it was especially daring since neither kid had time for a nap all day and they had been playing for 5 hours straight up to this point and it was closing in on my kid's bedtime. Yet, they did it and successfully at that. Elaina is truly her Daddy's girl and proved it by helping to catch 3 fish which she was over-the-moon excited about. Greg captured some great little videos of their fishing endeavor which you can enjoy here.

And for the grand finale of our weekend and the whole event that compelled us to travel all the way to our parents' houses for the weekend was my class reunion. Oh yes, good old class of 1993 which boasted a graduating class of 53 students from our small Catholic high school. Pitiful Me signed on with a fellow classmate at our 10 year reunion to do the planning for our 15th year (this one) so that she wouldn't have to do it on her own. Can you believe that there just weren't any other volunteers chomping at the bit to do the planning? More than that, do you want to see the product of our 15 year class reunion of which 15 classmates RSVP's to?

Brace yourself, you won't believe what you're about to see.

SIX! Yes, 6 classmates in attendance. Given that 2 of us were the planning committee, 4 other people obliged their RSVP and showed up. Because we planned it to be a very casual, family-style picnic day, we were expecting 33 guests total (this number including kids). The result; just over 10% of our graduating class. Wow. I think that I've already lamented plenty to any ears that have crossed my path, but I really just found that people's attitudes toward coming (after RSVP "yes") were quite rude and mostly just disappointing. In the end, I was glad to share some time and memories with the ones who did feel this reunion to be worth their all-precious time and I'm just really glad that it's over. Needless to say, there has been no talk of planning a 20th class reunion.



We eventually found our way home after this exciting weekend and every night has just been one thing after another. There are plenty more stories to share and lots of pictures to post, but for tonight this reunion crasher is going to bed. Next time, I'll be sure to tell you all about Lincoln's sleep strike while we were away visiting and helpful hints for berry picking with a 3 year old. Until then... party like it's 1993!

Parting Ways

Yesterday was a landmark of big decisions for me. None particularly life changing, but big nonetheless.

For the past 3 years, I've been going to see a chiropractor for a sprained sacro-illiac that had gone undiagnosed for 2 years after our loss of Ella. The chiropractor finally concluded that the sprain was my body's way of coping with the extraordinary amount of grief and suffering and the direct result of physical and emotional trauma. Put in relation to Ella's passing, enough said. Prior to seeing him for my pain, I had been consulted and/or treated by a physical therapist, neuro-muscular massage, podiatrist, and a physiatrist, all to no avail. The chiropractor was the very first to even begin to ease my pain in my side and in my back. Soon, weeks turned into months and months turned into years with an end result of my pain still not diminished and all of my leg muscles being shorter than ever. Until now, there didn't seem to be an end in sight for my bi-weekly office visits. Last night I entered his office with a different vibe. A need to move beyond what he could offer. He helped me to devise a stretching routine which I need to incorporate at least 10 minutes each day and I cancelled the remainder of my scheduled visits. Now, I just have to be willing to do my part and keep up my motivation. 10 minutes a day. I can do that. I have to do that.


Since I seemed to be on a roll of making big decisions yesterday, I confirmed my thoughts of quitting my venture as a Tastefully Simple consultant at the end of this year. My feelings of severing ties with this opportunity have weighed heavily on my mind for a few months now and I've taken much into consideration. I feel that I've given it a fair shot for over a year at that point and it's becoming an obstacle in my life. Part of me is saddened, yet a bigger part of me feels relieved. The parties and new connections have been fun as well as the discount on the food items which have treated my family very well. While I wasn't foolish enough to believe that I would become rich overnight, I've learned that it is not the money maker I had hoped it to be. In addition, I've found that it does require much of my so called "free-time" (you know, when I should be stretching) and I just feel that it has become more of a burden to find the motivation when it comes to paperwork and computer work when I would rather be blogging or spending time with my family.

Last night I felt a little sad. And a little bit bad. I have a lot of mixed emotions, most particularly toward my little business venture with TS. I guess that in the big picture, both my chiropractor and TS have been there when I needed that little something to make me feel good and productive and I have no regrets for either. With that I carried myself to bed into the arms of my sweet and supportive husband who didn't try to analyze, criticize or even coax me into rethinking or regretting my decision. When everything is said and done, my husband and my kids are really what always makes me feel my best and who make everything I do so worthwhile.

Peeks and Valleys

Clips from our weekend:

High: We enjoyed a nice evening hanging out with some friends on Friday night.

Low: Elaina is still covered in mosquito bites she got while picking berries in the woods with Eric. Friday night we basted her in bug spray.

High: On Saturday, Eric enjoyed a guys' day out four-wheeling with his buddies while I had a Mommy-day playing with my little buddies.

Low: We met up with Eric and his friends for dinner and our kids were the least content kids to sit through a meal which made me wonder why we left the house in the first place.

High: Our meals were delicious but the server got Eric's order just a little off and sent him home with a fresh, full entree done accordingly, even after Eric told him that it wasn't a problem.

Higher: Since we drove separately to dinner, I sent the kids home with Eric and went mall shopping and grocery shopping all alone. I so much felt like I had run away from home as it was midnight before I finally returned home.

Low: Shopping until midnight makes this Mommy really tired the next day.

High: We were looking forward to taking the kids to the county fair on Sunday afternoon.

Low: It was getting too late and decided upon the local playground instead.

Lower: It was a scorching 86 degrees outside and we were all baking in the afternoon sunshine.

High: We returned home to play in the water table and sprinkler.

Higher: I've got memories like this to share.

Check Ups

Just so you know that I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that I always feel behind, this one is a doozy. Eric and I took the kids for their yearly well-baby visits on Friday morning. What's that? Oh, Lincoln turned one 2 months ago? YEAH! Isn't he the one whose mother is always behind? Yes, I'm afraid that's the one.

My thought was I would take both kids in June, splitting the difference of their May and July birthday's. Lincoln would be a little late and Elaina would be a little early. So much for that plan. They were both late! The reason that it gets to be so hard to get the kids to the doctor when they're healthy is because the doctor's office is only open the same hours that I have to be at work and their limited Saturday hours only allow for one nurse scheduled. When my kid has to get four shots, they (and me) prefer to two nurses to do multiple shots at the same time, versus repeating 4 shots one after another.

So this morning we made a family day out of the ordeal. I scheduled the very first appointment of the day and Eric and I both took the kids in. Surprisingly, Elaina didn't need any shots and everything looked good. Even the low grade fever that she has been running for a couple days didn't register any concern.

Poor baby Lincoln was overdue on his 6 month shots (a surprise to both the doctor and myself) because every time we had been in, he was dealing with an earache or just getting over some other symptom which doesn't time well with inoculations. And then came the four big, fat shots into his little chub thighs. On the bright side, Lincoln settled easily with his very first cherry lollipop.

Dr. Joni determined that both kids are sailing in the 50th percentile category and even estimated Lincoln to grow to around 5'7. With that said, he'll not only look like Eric, he'll fit in perfectly to the height category of Eric's side of the family. Custom made, what can I say?

Sparkelaina

Elaina has recently discovered my fancy box of sparkly powder that I had shoved in the way-back of my dresser drawer. It was shoved back there for the same reason that it was discovered by. Anyhow, it contains a powder puff pre-filled with sparkly, scented powder. Needless to say, it was love at first shine for my three year old.


In the past few days, this sparkle powder has served as Elaina's go-to-fix each morning for some extra girly pampering for the day. This morning she seemed quite alarmed upon examining her outstretched arms and realizing they were missing their lovely shine. She told me that she was missing her "sprinkles." I told her that as soon as it was time to get dressed, I would powder her. All of five minutes passed and without warning, Elaina somehow went into full-blown "fragile" mode. Everything on her hurt. Her forehead hurt. Her foot hurt. Her arm hurt. Her hair hurt. Very delicate, that girl. I asked her if some sparkle powder would make her feel better and with the very most pathetic, whimpering, "Mm-hmm" she could muster, I fixed her fragile little self with just a pat of of my powder puff. I somehow doubt that Lincoln will go for this magic when he turns 3. Second thought, I really hope Lincoln isn't into powder puffs and sparkles past age 2. What kind of magic do you suppose I could conjure up from a toy truck?

Hair Despair

If I were to tell you that there is one thing that I only do once a year (if I'm lucky) what would you guess that one thing to be?

Anyone? Anyone?

Ooh, I'm a little afraid to consider what you might be guessing. I'll tell you. I pay through the nose to get my hair highlighted. Superficial, yes. Worthwhile, usually.

Since this summer has rolled around I took into account all of the upcoming events in which I would like to present with my new golden kissed locks in tow. With all things considered, I chose to break the bank and go Monday evening for a shaped up hair cut and the ever loving highlights.

I should preface this story by saying that since Eric and I have lived here for 10 years now, I have only found one other stylist (who moved) and the one I am currently going to that I really like. With that said, I'll begin to tell you the reason I will never go back to my favorite stylist for highlights. My Girl, let's call her Mandi, because that's pretty much her name and she's not a blog reader, was touching up just a little portion on my bangs and just by some freakish, careless accident splashed bleach into my right eye. Yeah, I'm talking straight from the brush, slopping into my eye and my cheek simultaneously. I don't believe that the word pain even begins to describe how much my eye hurt instantly. Mandi felt absolutely terrible to the verge of tears out of concern and I tried to reassure her that I knew full well that it was purely an accident, but Dear Lawrd that hurt! Within 10 minutes, I had recovered enough to be able to see through my tears and for her to get me done and out of there. When I got home, 3 hours later, Eric (the king of safety and hygiene, by profession) told me that I absolutely had to rinse my eye for at least 10 minutes. Oh, not that! I have learned that I am mostly alright with just about any other kind of doctor getting all up in my business, but when it comes to touching and messing with my eyeballs, forget it. Scary. I did as he said and followed with a very damp and cool wash cloth covering my eye for the next hour. Within this same time, I had begun to experience the most severe headache I have ever had. It felt like every teensy corner of my brain and sinus cavities were being disinfected and stinging with a rolling stream of bleach.

As if it couldn't get any worse than that, (wait I guess it could have; I could have gone blind and didn't) but on the superficial front, my highlights sucked. Instead of my hair being transformed into a gorgeous caramel and honey kissed splendor, it was orange. Faded and orange. With a tinge of brassy for good measure. It was horrible.

Tuesday, I opted to take a *sick* day, (mental health day) (whatever you want to call it because work has been incredibly SLOW) and made the most of my post headache trauma. I called Mandi to let her know that my eye was much better, but I wasn't especially thrilled with my highlights. She asked me to come back for a re-do, minus the bleach in the eye.

This time, after another 3 hour stint of sitting around with a roll of aluminum foil crammed into my head, I had blond highlights and brunette low lights. More of what I asked for, but not quite right. When I got home and took a closer look, my hair appeared to be brown-ish, with faded white looking straw colored strings running through it. Do I really need to tell you how ugly this looked? It looked like I had been sleeping in a haystack the way the color stood out against the brown.

Needless to say, I've been greatly disappointed. My solution? Color it all. Start over, start fresh and get the straw out of my hair. I dumped a whole box of "nutmeg" hair color onto my hair and gambled with how much I was going to destruct my highlights and the overall health of my hair. The result was mixed; the front of my hair is very brown, there are some caramel colored low lights that shine through the back and my hair has managed to retain somewhat of a healthy appearance despite all of the chemicals being thrust into it with a short 48 hour period.

Talk about disappointing! Six hours of my time wasted sitting in the salon chair, my highlight money right down the drain,(literally) and nothing but regular old brown to show for it. Luckily Mandi gave me a fair enough discount otherwise, I would be out of my mind with regret and anger. So, what the heck do I do now? I still haven't achieved the color that I so desperately wanted and I'm still out of money. Should I settle and be happy that I can see and my hair hasn't fallen out or should I move onto another option to see about really being able to get what I wanted in the first place?

Favorites Trio

I haven't really done this before and I hope it doesn't come off as being tacky, but since this blog is my record keeping of my kids' childhood memories, I figured I may as well. I wanted to highlight Elaina's three favorite birthday presents that she received this year. Also, this has gotten me thinking how cool it would have been to see what kind of presents I got when I was three years old. My hope is that Elaina finds it just as interesting when she's a young adult, while at the same time, laughing at me for using the word "cool."

So, here we go, first on the birthday roster is the horse and carrier that Elaina loved immediately. It took about three days for Elaina to come up with the perfect name to call her horse, but she very thoughtfully decided upon "Stella." I think that Stella is the perfect name for her new friend. Stella also came with a comb and an apple and carrot which are magnetized to cling to the horse's mouth. All which lead me to think, "Why didn't I come up with this idea?"
The next great gift comes from Grandma and Grandpa H. Elaina had expressed interest in a computer and I wanted to supply her with something that could grow with her and that didn't have 786 functions which only an engineer could figure out. This little keyboard is awesome. I would highly recommend it to anyone buying a birthday gift for any child in the 3-6 age group. Elaina has been dragging it with her to the baby sitter's house, on car trips and even to bed with her. It's use is simple and helps to teach letter, sound and word recognition in a fun, animated way. Better yet, it has various stages of learning starting at the top of the selector and progressing downward from basic to comprehensive learning.

Lastly, CROCS! Just like her Mom! These little darlings came from Grandma and Grandpa W. As much as Elaina likes toys, books and games, she also really likes clothes and shoes. She's been going through a phase where she asks where everything came from and who bought what for her. When I reply that I had gotten a particular item for her, she drops what she's doing and rushes me with a hug and says. "Oh, Mommy, Thank you so much for getting this for me! I love it. Awwe." And yes, she is the one making the "awwe" sound. Talk about gratitude. And since all of her little friends at the baby sitter's house have Crocs, I knew Elaina would like some too. Grandma was so thoughtful to even jazz up her new shoes with a Cinderella and heart shaped Jibitz. This is all Elaina wants to wear now and she loves them! She begged to call Grandma right away to tell her thank you. She tried to squeeze the phone to send Grandma a hug.

So that's what topped the birthday list this year. I'm thinking that I may just continue to spotlight the kids' favorite toys and gifts as the list grows. I do think that it will be fun for them to look back to see what they played with when they were kids and how the styles change. As for anyone else, you may just be able to refer to my list as a "personally recommended" guide to gift-giving for toddlers. Thank you to everyone for the lovely gifts and very sweet birthday cards for Elaina. She loves them, Awwe.

Kids on the Fly

Has it really been that long since I posted new pictures? Well, holy smokes, it sure has. Lucky, I'm here to now to end the dry spell and catch up a long, long weekend of greatness. Only 6 days late.

Can you believe that they are both holding still?Our very first fourth of July parade! Notice the jeans in JULY! Aack! Lincoln loved the parade. I was concerned about the blasting, blaring sirens of the fire trucks and emergency rescue squads as they rounded out the end of the parade, but both kids seemed more interested than scared. Which was good. Lincoln, (my non-waving child) actually waved to the last units in the parade like he was sad to see them go.

We ended up partaking in the little homecoming activities of a neighboring town for the first time as they celebrated the fourth and we were very much impressed at the amount of activities and entertainment this little town put out. We even enjoyed the fireworks display from our friends' backyard.

Even more impressive is how we gambled with both kids behavior as we kept them out way past their bedtimes and even exposed them to fireworks for the first time (Lincoln anyhow). Lincoln took some down time before catching his second wind and pulling through happily. Elaina laughed hysterically and deliriously at the fireworks while Lincoln snuggled in my lap and took it all in.

And for another family first, we went to our local community pool. I put all of my germaphobe tendencies aside and just rolled with it.

At one point, Lincoln was falling asleep in his pool floaty and so I made him a nest in his stroller while I attempted to catch some well overdue rays. That lasted all of 5 minutes. And he was up.

And for Sunday's finale, Eric took Elaina fishing for the first time. She was so excited to go out with her Dad and was anxious to do everything, just like Dad. Before Eric headed out the door, I pleaded with him not to let my baby touch worms or fish. Especially worms. I got turned down. At least, for the love of God, take the sanitizing hand wipes! No again. I know I shouldn't pass along my issues to my children, but you don't even know how much worms creep me out. Ughh! Okay, she can touch the worms, if she wants to, just don't encourage her to, mmkay?

Could she be any more my girl? It turns out that Elaina wasn't really interested in touching worms. Or fish. All of my insides wanted to shout with joy and relief upon hearing this. I want to allow her freedom to explore and learn, but please keep the gross stuff to a minimum. ( I know that's so wrong. But worms? Okay, it's just me.) 'Atta Girl Elaina! You make Mommy and Daddy so proud!

Technical Difficulty, you lose!

For the past few months, no, make that YEAR, our computer has been running very s-l-o-w-l-y. And I mean s---------l---------o----------w.

Apparently, it was feeling a little rundown with a couple (dozen) (or more) viruses and spam-crap. (Spam-crap; ever heard of it?) And when our computer decided it wanted to be done working, it conveniently shut itself down. Oh, and did I mention that it's s----l----o-----w? So, let's say when I would go to reboot it, it would take just about 10 minutes to put me back to where I wanted to be. We've not had a good relationship, me and computer.

Enter, my husband. While Eric is mostly proficient with computer applications, etc., etc., all the stuff I don't understand, he pulled everything off our computer and breathed new life into it's formerly pokey self. Now she's running like a Dell of a gal!

This would be the reason for my latest blog hiatus, bur be forewarned, I have loads of pictures and stories to share with you about our wonderful fourth of July weekend. I just need somebody to reboot me and give me a fresh start every now and then to get me up and running too!

Opinions?

And so... notice anything new?
What's the consensus people? What do you think of the new appearance of my blog? Go ahead and be complimentary, flattering or just plain old honest about what you don't care for.

I've learned that Eric isn't overly impressed, nor am I for that matter, that the box that holds the body of the test isn't wider. Since I chose this standard to format, I don't think there is anything I can do about making it wider. If any of you genius bloggers do know how, please share. I did prefer that my text looks larger and since kicking it up a notch, my post look as though they will never end. Other than that, I think I was just ready for a change. I liked my girly pinky screen when this was just exclusively Elaina's blog, but since Lincoln, I've been thinking that it needed a less fru-fru-fluffy approach. What I came up with is pleasing to me as it's not overly girly, but lends itself to femininity and classiness.

Oh, and how about my blog song? Don't you LOVE it? I stole it from some else's blog as I was entering a whole bunch of pay-it-forward contests (that I didn't win) but I did win my new favorite song! Um, anybody know who sings it? (Hello GREG!) I think that I've listened to it over a hundred times now and can't even think I'll get tired of it. It's bouncy, it's sassy and I lah-lah-lah-lah love it! Everybody clap your hands together now!

So, share your comments with me about what you think. Good, bad or ugly. I'm still wondering what color I made the comments section.

And the reason is...

From time to time, I feel like it's my privilege and my right to do some creative editing on my part as the exclusive writer of this little ol' blog of mine. Okay, whatever. Basically, you may want to check out this birthday post that I've written to Lincoln and this one to Elaina that I squeezed in with a back date.

The reason that I sometimes hesitate on my most important post and the sole reason that I am a self admitted horrible return e-mailer is because of timing. I feel that if I don't have time to make it just perfect, I don't do it. Ironically, my strive for perfection sometimes presents in such a way that it back fires on me. When I don't do my kids' birthday letters on time, I feel like a bad parent for not making time on their special day and when I don't promptly return e-mail, I look like an uncaring friend. So there you have it, my dirty little secret of posting. Feel free to take a minute to click on back and see if my timing paid off.

Stalling in my pasture

Why, oh why was I blessed with an extra helping of the procrastination gene?

Seriously, I look around my house and see so many things that need done and have needed done and things that I should have done months ago and wonder to myself, how can I get so behind in such a short amount of time?

I do manage to keep up with the basic needs of the household. I mean, we do wear clean, laundered and pressed clothing. Dinner is cooked and cleaned up each night. All of us keep bathed and groomed pretty consistently. And I can walk through my house without tripping over mounds of mess and disaster. What I'm talking about is how I can let myself blatantly ignore important things like transferring funds from my Tastefully Simple parties. Not putting away my consultant supplies from my last TS party. 2 weeks ago. And not making myself concerned with the baskets of unclassified "stuff " that have been laying in the upstairs hallway for over 3 weeks.

How is my OCD self okay with this mess? I really can't figure it out. Even more than that, I can't seem to make time for my precious, all-important blogging. What gives? Every day I'm thinking of new things to share and I feel like I'm in the hole with about 14 new topics I wanted to touch on here. Now where will I find time for that? I see that other moms keep up. Why can't I join their club? Is there a coffee drinking minimum? I've been thinking about starting the habit and being hyped on caffeine for 20 hours out of my day, but I don't know that I can bear as much as the smell of coffee.

Well, before I get lost in more random ramblings, let me share the instances of cute that have happened here.

Mommy: Elaina, do you need to go potty?
Elaina: No Momma.
Mommy: Are you sure? It's been a while.
Elaina: Momma! Momma, look at my butt! (pulling down her pants to moon me) It doesn't need to go potty!

And then there's my sweet Lincoln who, unlike his sister, prefers music over books and reading any day. Everything in his world stops to watch and listen to me sing (he doesn't judge my off-key, tone deaf, rhythm) and always claps his hands when I finish. As I was holding him tonight, I was singing him a little made up Lincoln song to which he awarded my finale by dropping his blanket and toy car from his hands to begin to clap for me. Maybe he's just glad I stopped.
Darn he's cute.

Elaina Turns 3- (really)

Dear Elaina-

Happy 3rd Birthday my sweetest Angel!

Elaina, you are all of my joy and all my heart wrapped up into your sweet little self. Three years already. Amazing. With yet another year passing, I can say that my record of not taking a single day with you for granted is still going strong. Every time I look at you, hold you and even just thinking of you, I thank God that He made you OUR daughter. And as much as your Dad and I both love you, I can't even see for a second that you could belong to anyone else but us. You are our custom made miracle and I love you more than you will ever know.

I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed your former 2 year old self. I've heard of the "terrible two's" but with you, you were nothing but terrific at two. Upon your last birthday, I was so much looking forward to all that the roller coaster ride of a two year old toddler had in store for us. What we experienced was a sweet, little girl who within her second year grew out of her stumbling, learning and exploring phase of a one year old into a well spoken, polite, young lady who knows what she wants and has a sense of humor about everything. Even at two years old, you have a gift of being able to recall specific events and details about the most random things. Not only is your memory sharp, but your verbal skills hit the roof in the past year and your imagination leaves me in awe.

Although we've all had a rough time as of late with you being somewhat particular *ahem* about eating, I totally get you. You're a little bit stubborn; you have blueprints in your little head of how you want things, the order in which you want things and how things should work. I get that. How did I not birth you , Child? You are so me. Amazingly, I feel that I have more than a special connection with you. I feel that I have a way of listening to you and being able to know what you're really saying and feeling. I don't know if every natural mother has this with their biological children but you and I are together. There are plenty of times that I just want to hold onto you and press my heart and my love into you and never let you go. For this we have a game where we pretend that we're glued to each other and act like we can't come undone. I know that my love for you will never come undone.

Elaina, you amaze me. You truly leave me in awe of what a 2 year old is capable of. You don't even know how much I am looking forward to for your 3rd year. We've just started to experience some mother-daughter moments that I've waited my whole life to share. You are my little, best friend. I will never know how God stopped the universe long enough to make us such a special match, but I'm pretty sure that He knows what an incredible job He did. Every day, I believe that I am the luckiest Mom in the entire world and Baby, there's no one who could have ever loved you more.

My sweet Love, I am excited to see what you have in store for us this year. Most days, I feel like you can't get any better than you already are and then the next day comes along and I feel that way all over again. You excite me, you inspire me and you've given me happiness like I've never known. Thank you for the greatest 3 year ride of my life, my sweet daughter. I can't wait to begin the journey of the next year with you.

All of my love, my sweet Angel,
Love, Momma

Calling a truce

Since my last post, I have felt badly about Eric and myself always being the heavy, trying to make Elaina eat. Sunday came along and I was off to a baby shower followed by some errands. Basically, this meant that Eric was in charge of both mealtimes by himself. I felt guilty, but it also felt good to have the mealtime break from nagging that I so desperately needed.

Just past dinnertime, I called home to check in and let Eric know I was on my way home. He let me know that Elaina refused to eat lunch and also refused dinner. Hmmm. Sooo, did he not feed her anything I wondered. And since he was in charge and I was away, I can't argue with his method and discretion. I later learned that she ate a mini box of raisins. Oh. I guess he was testing the theory of "She'll eat when she's hungry."

Along about 1:30 in the morning I begin to hear Elaina gasping and crying from down the hall. She had thrown up in her bed. She didn't present any sign of a fever, but continued to get sick consistently and dry heave for the next 4 hours. With me by her side. Finally some soda crackers settled her stomach and she was able to sleep. Eric got Lincoln off to the babysitters house (since I had planned on trying to get some sleep myself) and Elaina woke around noon just as fresh as a daisy. I don't know what her deal was last night, but I'm glad that it's over and behind us.

As for the food battle, that's enough. I'm done. I'm through. I quit. This is not to say that we won't continue to encourage and bribe her to try new foods, but when it's all said and done, she's going to win out and eat whatever junk she needs to fill her tummy. I now know where that old saying that I detest got us ("eat when she's hungry") and I'm not having it.

Amazingly enough, the dinnertime battle began to escalate tonight and with some stroke of magic, luck, karma and the sheer grace of God, Elaina ATE! I know! SHE ATE!! Tears of joy nearly filled my eyes when she ate a whole 1/4 of a Hillshire Farms Cheddarwurst sausage. Really, of all things! Her reward was a cookie and pudding, just like she had requested instead of eating. She ended up liking it, (she said) and I even took her picture eating her new choice entree and labeled leftovers with her name on them to try again tomorrow. It's very important to duplicate for her so she doesn't forget.

So there you have it, miracles really do come true and we may just be onto a good healthy start for something new. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm just on cloud 9 because my child ate something new. See how desperate I am?

Size 9, Now available

I don't really think it's ever been a secret how much I adore my precious baby girl. I swoon over her sweet smile, sparkling eyes and infectious giggles. My heart melts over her manners, her friendliness and her general sense of joy and pure spirit. With that said, I am about to expose our worst battle and the cause of my stress each and every day. Elaina not eating.

It may seem like a insignificant topic to most, especially those who have never dealt with the most picky of eaters. And really, it goes deeper than her just not eating. Just for advanced notice, I'll be mentioning some of her bathroom habits here as well.

The root of all of my stress is that for the past year, Elaina will only want to eat one food item for about 90 days and then burn out on that specific food altogether. And then what? Uh, that's when I ask myself what the heck comes next? I don't know and she certainly doesn't know. Her list of burnout foods include scrambled eggs, chicken nuggets, meat (of any kind) and grilled cheese. For the longest time, she would plead to eat these for these for lunch and dinner and now, she can barely tolerate them. And then, it's up to me to coax, con and beg her to try something new that will serve as her standard favorite for the next 90 days. Unlike any other sane person who will look forward to trying something new and tasty beyond the same old, same old.

At one point, when my frustration peeked, I told her that when she turned 3 she would be eating what we eat with no exceptions made. Well. We saw how well that went. With my parents here to celebrate and help to reinforce, Elaina's birthday happened early this year and thus, she is already 3. It will just take 2 weeks longer for her to turn 4 next year.

Since my parents' visit, we have been giving Elaina incentives for her to eat and try something new. The bottom line is that she had to eat to earn a birthday present. Because that is what 3 year old's do. Seriously, it took the child 3 days to earn her birthday cake. 4 days to earn her first reward present for going poop on the potty without struggling. (TMI details ahead.) 5 days to earn her first present for trying a new food. (Good God, she tried chicken noodle soup and it didn't kill her!) 9 days to earn her 2nd present for eating chicken nuggets. (Can you believe she's still alive?) So here we are, 10 days out and she still has 3 more presents to earn by trying something new. Do we feel accomplished? I'd say NOT.

Now, just so you don't think that we're a couple of nut jobs all caught up in fighting the never ending battle of a picky eater, let me tell you how much more involved the issue really is.
***Warning: TMI bathroom talk ahead***
When Elaina chooses to eat her standard diet of mostly carbs, with minimal nutrition value, she gets a little backed up. *Ahem. * And the problem with that is when she feels the urge to go, she struggles to hold it back and gets herself even more clogged. Basically, she doesn't want to relieve herself because she knows it's going to hurt and it is going to hurt her because she'll end up holding it for days. And there, if she would eat right and get her plumbing working more efficiently, she wouldn't have this problem in the first place. And her mother wouldn't want to bang her own head against the wall.

The stressful part for me is when we're sitting at the dinner table, trying to enjoy a nice meal, Elaina always ruins it for all of us. She has become a pro of lame excuses. Her current roll call of reasons not to eat include:
** my (tummy) (foot) (finger) hurts
** I'm (tired) (scared) (cold) (on a break) <<--- (a break? she's 3!)
** I don't like this food
** Something's stinky
** I'm not older yet
** I want some (cheese) (cereal) (fishies) <<---(goldfish crackers)
** I don't want (to sit in this seat) (this plate)

I kid you not, she can present each of these at will, for each and every meal. Every day. See that wall? BANG HEAD.

So there you have it. My stress. Worse than that, I don't know a solution. I know, I KNOW, plenty of people say, "She'll eat when she's hungry." But dear God, they're not the ones who have to face the battle in the meantime and listen to the excuses and the whining and the begging for something with zero nutrition and full clogging ability. And they're not the ones who have 3 precious evening hours in the work week to spend with their beloved children and have one of those hours ruined by the whiney table guest and feel like she's not only ruined our meal, but taken away our time from Lincoln who so loves to eat.

Hey look, I thought I was almost done but dear Lord, look! I still have more to gripe about!

When dealing with Elaina's age group and a rather sensitive subject matter concerning food issues, I realize that I am also walking a fine line. By no means do I want food to become a control issue, while at the same time, it can't be viewed as a reward or a punishment. We're currently laying the groundwork for shaping her eating habits and learning about discipline. I don't want to overlap the two, setting the stage for eating disorders in the future. And yes, I do worry that far ahead. And no, you can't tell me otherwise. Don't even try. However, we do want to establish a consequence of not eating. More than just telling her that her belly is going to hurt because she didn't eat. We send her to time out when she decides to play at the table by using her food to smear into the table, beginning to play with her clothes or chair and when she is just down right defiant. And there, an hour has just disappeared from my evening and the poor attitude is sure to follow. I hate that.

If you can believe this, I think I finally got enough of this off of my chest. I have been so worn out this week. I like to think that there's room for improvement and that it will get better, but until then, what do I do? Other than "She'll eat when she's hungry," (because you know I don't want to hear that) does anyone else have anything more to offer? Can I send her to any one's house for eating boot-camp and you send me home an eater? Am I terrible parent for letting all of this get to me to the extent that it does? I feel like I'm sinking on a cruise ship during the midnight buffet. And no one is eating their way out!!

So, go ahead and walk in my size 9 shoes for just one day. I need a break.

Because I didn't forget my camera

I'm finally documenting proof that we existed last week...

There's nothing like a "3" year old helping to install windows.
Oh, this is just because I think this guy is handsome. With 2 big brown dogs here, it's hard not to get a dog tail in the way most of the time.

My mom picked up this little scooter bike for Lincoln and all he wants to do is push it around and make it go. He gets irritated if we put him on the seat.

Our first family trip to this little gem of a park close to home.

Elaina loved all fo the rides and felt so proud that she was able to ride almost all of them by herself.

Lincoln, on the other hand, nearly climbed out of my arms to ride the airplane ride like his big sis. It hurt me to have to make him stay, but 13 months isn't quite age-appropriate to be flying through the air just yet.

Elaina rode the carousel with my mom and according to Grandma's ringing ears, she squealed and shrieked with enjoyment for the duration. Look! Evidence that someone can operate the camera other than myself! Not a very photogenic picture, but heh, I exist!

And those were some of the great moments of last week. There's still so much that I need to get down, but the newly 3 year old child has been wearing me thin this week and I end up exhausted every night once we manage through dinnertime. It's not been easy, but progress is being made on the eating front. There's plenty more to come, I just need to stay awake to share it all.

*Sigh* sigh.

Here I am. Back in the saddle of wife and mother, minus my live- in help. I can't even begin to tell you how nice it was to have my parents stay for the week to watch our kids, help around the house and spend our so-called free time with. No, this week I'm back to being responsible for having dinner made each night, completing the whole process of laundry from start to finish because the clothes refuse to fold themselves and sacrificing time with my husband because he is back to being his usual solo work crew to complete things in and around the house. Last week was something of pure luxury. Busy luxury, but wonderful.

This week leaves me with trying to figure out how to recap everything we did last week and how I can manage to squeeze just one more hour out of each day so I can blog. And if one hour isn't possible, how about some kind of recording chip implanted into my brain so that as my day progresses and I think out all of these great stories I want to freeze in time, my recorder will already have my blog half written for me. Just thinking of the beauty of that gives me goosebumps. Just think of all of the pointless ramblings I could share with you then!

Since none of the aforementioned have yet come into fruition, it's just me here and my shot to highlight some breaking news of last week. Here's something: we celebrated Elaina's pseudo 3rd birthday last week. Yes, June 19 isn't particularly the same as her actual July 2 real birthday, but we had enough valid excuses to convince ourselves that it was the right thing to do. Topping our list, most importantly was that Grandma and Grandpa were here to share her special day and celebrate with us. When July 2 rolls around, it will just be the 4 of us. We've decided to end the traveling-of-the-birthdays to relatives houses. Also, another great motivation of our early birthday was that we had struck a deal with Elaina that when she turned 3 she would begin to eat what she called people food. Contrary, of course, to the non-people sort of food we had been feeding her? I digress. Anyhow, age 3 was to begin the new magic age of her beginning to try new foods with the ultimate incentive of her being allowed to get her ears pierced like her friend at the baby sitter's house. How's that going, you may ask? It Sucks. Elaina and her issues with food and eating is a long overdue post that will bore your socks off but must be written for posterity and to let Elaina know when she becomes a distinguished professional one day, these are the early days of her strong-willed persistence. That's what we'll call it anyhow. Stinker.

In other randomness of last week, my Dad and Eric installed 7 new windows in our house and completed installation of tons and tons of cabinets out in the garage. Suffice to say, the storage space he has in the garage cabinets put most newly built kitchens to shame. My current kitchen storage now seems the equivalent of cardboard boxes with nails. I've been informed that a drastic remodel is in our future. Take that my old-worn- out- wooden-kitchen-compartments!

So, I'm still wrapping my mind around the fact that my mom and dad have returned to their quiet, peaceful abode. Their stay was pretty much what I had looked forward to as my vacation. Not only because they offered so much help, and not because I shortened some of work week, but because they were here and it was special and out of the ordinary. It was nice to be greeted by my happy children and my parents as I walked through the door. Having my parents here to see and be a part of our day to day routine was interesting as they could get a feel for what kind of mother they helped me to become and see firsthand, parallels in our parenting styles. And let me not fail to mention the beauty of having dinner cooked for me, laundry done, my bed made, (complete with shams) and a willing shopping partner on the side.

Mom and Dad, is it too soon to plan your next visit? Anyone?

When Grammy Babysat for the Week

Editor's Note: I seem to have been disillusioned that with my parents here for the week to watch our kids and help around the house, we would be lounging around, watching movies, eating well while still having time for evening blogging. Maybe I was drunk when this thought crossed my mind because seriously, it's already Friday and I haven't made time to blog, I haven't watched anything on TV, but at least we're eating well. At least everyone but the girl whose name begins with "E" and ends with "Laina." But that's a long story and I'll save that for a special post- day. Since I can hardly recap our week of busy, I've left my Mom in charge of yet another duty around the house, just to get the whole feel of how we spend our days. Here's what Grandma had to say about her week here.

Laura's babysitter is on vacation for the week. Could we come and take care of the kids for just this week? Of course!!! I raised two kids. This should be a snap. NOT!!!!! I forgot that it has been thirty years since Laura was Elaina's age, I forgot that a routine makes that day go easier ( and I didn't know the routine.) Most importantly I forgot that God doesn't make 60 year old mothers because they are just too tired for the job. So with Pop-pop for reinforcements and our big brown chocolate lab for moral support, we arrived on Sunday night to a shower of hugs and kisses from the two sweet grandchildren that we had been dying to see. Over supper, Laura tried to fill us in on how the day should go and what to do. While I paid close attention, I still kept thinking that this would be easy. So when Laura dashed off with Lincoln to the hospital and Eric headed to off work, we had breakfast with our one grandchild, made the beds and folded the laundry. Laura was home in time to pass off Lincoln and take Elaina off for a nap (Laura woke up just in time to grab a fast bite and head off to her appointment.) With two grandparents and only one grandchild awake at a time, we patted ourselves on the backs as we picked up toys and fixed supper. This was going to be a breeze.

But today's breeze can turn into tomorrow's tornado. Right after breakfast on Tuesday morning, Pop-pop decided that I really didn't need any help in the house and headed out to the garage to get some work done for Eric. Elaina was ready to play outside and Lincoln went too. About fifty-five trips up and down the driveway bent over to help Lincoln steer his little bike, I decided that we all needed to watch Noggin until nap time. ( I was hoping that I would be able to enjoy a little nap too.) When you have the kids around you all the time, you learn the trick of getting them both off to sleep at the same time. Too bad I don't know this trick. I wasn't able to get Elaina settled for a nap at the same time that Lincoln slept. In fact Lincoln woke up just as I was heading down the stairs after getting Elaina off to sleep. With his tubes in his ears, Lincoln was feeling good. Good for a thirteen month old means able to destroy a room in less time than it took me to type this sentence. But with an eye on the clock and Pop-pop watching the grandkids, I managed to get supper ready, the dishes all washed and most of the toys picked up in time to greet Laura and Eric at the door. Day three went by the same as day two but with less help from Pop-pop and "more energetic" grandchildren. Strangely men have a different parenting style than women. Women are proactive and men are reactive. Women go around childproofing and keeping children away from trouble. Men figure the kids will be smart enough not to hurt themselves or else they will learn what will make them hurt. The end result was that everything got done and but both Pop-pop and I could hardly wait for bedtime (ours not the grandkids.) We were beat but we were making it work.

Thursday arrived with a screaming Lincoln who didn't want to eat and just couldn't get happy because he was cutting two molars on the same day. Just to make things more interesting, Elaina chose that day to not eat or sleep. And of course, the grandparents who have always lived in a one story house were trying to function in a two story house where everything we wanted was upstairs when we were downstairs and everything else was downstairs when we were upstairs. (Did I mention that I have arthritis in my knees?) I was never so glad to see Laura and Eric come through the door. So Friday is here and we have all survived. I still love my grandchildren and my daughter and son-in-law but if the van doesn't work on Sunday when it's time for me to go home, I'll walk.

The New and Improved

4:30 a.m.
Dear God! That's what time I peeled myself out of bed this morning.

5:30 a.m.
Yawn.... Stretch... this is what time I had to pluck my little Baby Sweet from his snuggly, warm crib.

6:00 a.m.
This is the time we arrived at the hospital for Lincoln's ear tube procedure.

7:30 a.m.
Actual time that Lincoln's procedure was to begin.

254
Number of times that I found myself grateful that (#1) they air the Disney channel in the individual patient rooms, (#2) thankful that Lincoln finds great comfort in his blanket and his thumb and (#3) happy that Lincoln will finally be relieved of the pain and discomfort of having fluid in his ears and constant ear aches.

I'm happy to report that Lincoln's ear tube procedure was a great success. I felt especially comfortable with the doctor performing the procedure since I had chosen him myself and as an added bonus, our neighbor/ friend just happened to be scheduled for a rare morning shift and was the surgical assistant in the actual operating room. She saw Lincoln's name on the surgery schedule and was eager to take care of her little, baby buddy. His procedure literally took all of 5 minutes and the doctor was out to talk with me so quickly when it was over, I had a hard time believing that he even had time to begin. The doctor and our friend Kim both commented on how excellent Lincoln did and how flawless the tubes went in. Our time in the recovery room was even quite short as Lincoln gulped down a sugar-water bottle and acted fine almost immediately. My tough little guy did great and was even smiling like his old, happy self within the hour. God I love that boy!

Another great part of our day was having my mom and dad at home caring for Elaina while I was with Lincoln and Eric was at work. Elaina coaxed me into a nap with her (read: I ran her upstairs as soon as nap time approached) and we woke to find my bed made with pillow shams and all in perfect order, a full basket at the bottom of the stairs of carefully folded laundry and the smell of lunch being prepared for me. Helloooo! Pinch me now Please! I could sooo get used to this. And since I was already scheduled off work for the whole day, I had made an appointment with my dentist to get a crown put on my tooth. So there. My perfect day of getting my baby fixed up and being treated like a queen quickly hit the wall when the dentist was drilling in my head for an entire hour. I guess even karma has to restore balance from time to time. Lucky for me, my mom is doing her best to still tip the scale of spoiling. That's what I'm talkin' about! If they're not careful, I'll be forced to disable their van and sell their house and belongings and they'll just have to stay here. Ha! Let's see what kind of karma that brings on.

Dad-dio Loungin' on the Patio

Happy Father's Day Daddy!This weekend was lovely, beautiful and gorgeous. Really, all of that rolled into one single, solitary weekend. Oh, and the bonus was celebrating Father's day for Eric and my Dad on Sunday. Eric enjoyed a day of no commitments, no nagging wife and freedom to spend the day as he chose. So, do you want to know what kind of day my husband finds enjoyable? That would be sleeping in, groundhog hunting and hanging out with his kids. What a day!

My parents would be arriving later in the evening and thus beginning their week long stay taking care of our kids while our usual babysitter is vacationing. We've all been looking forward to their visit and they've been eagerly awaiting taking on the challenging role of full-time grandparents/ caregivers for the week.

It seems as though our kids look happiest in the pool!

Anyway, to my dear husband and my babies' daddy; I don't say it nearly enough and sometimes don't even show it, but I do think that you are an awesome dad and your love for our kids is beyond compare. I've seen you change and grow in affection and commitment and admire your effort to work with me as my partner in parenting and as my husband. You've supported me as we've learned together and shared an immeasurable amount of love for our little family of four. Many times I find myself just dreaming about our future together and feel the excitement of so many great experiences I am looking forward to sharing. Not a day goes by that my heart doesn't feel complete with you, Elaina and Lincoln to share my love with. I couldn't have found a better partner to share my life, children, and future with. I love you today and always. Happy Father's Day!

And to my wonderful Dad, I'm so glad you're here to spend the week with us! Thank you for all of the times you've made sacrifices for our family and for your years of hard work to make our lives comfortable. I appreciate you throughout the year and would love to share much more of our daily lives and your grandchildren... if only you lived closer. Hmmm!! Happy Father's Day Dad!

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There was a time, not very long ago that I was all anxious and stressed about Eric being out of town for a length of time and me acting as Commander-in-Chief of the household.

Oh, how things have changed. This marks Day 4 of Eric being out of town and Day 4 of me getting by just fine with the kids. In the past, my main concern for being anxious was Lincoln's poor sleep habits and the random bouts of hour-scream-fits that are hard to handle at 2 a.m. Another concern of mine was trying to get myself in and out of the shower and ready for work before the kids got up. Specifically, Lincoln. Elaina can handle herself unsupervised as she lay in bed, watching cartoons, but Lincoln does better off tucked in the safety of his crib.

It's already Thursday and this week has been relatively good. I've even surprised myself. My kids are getting older and things just seem to be settling in place for the most part around our house. Although I've missed Eric being around, I've gained a new sense of accomplishment that I can really do this whole solo-parent stint. It's really amazing to me that with each passing day, we continue to establish and collect teensy, little pieces of our roles within our family and we grow together. I, for one, love seeing all of our pieces fit.

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Check out our ugly, little, triplet neighbors.

Yeah, I know that some people think, "Awe! Lookie the sweet, widdle baby birdies!"

Me, "Oooh, when are these no-feathered, little beaklets going to leave the nest?"

And you may have thought I had a heart. Heh.

They'll probably stay forever. They have a sweet little neighbor girl who talks to them and waves to them every single day.