Mallory and I got our freezer meals done. It took us two days to do it, plus a third for the shopping. Not exactly how we'd planned. Okay, nothing like what we planned, but it happened and that's really all that matters. We had 5 kids to work with, so that's why it took so long. The first day had me on my feet for about 6 hours straight, and that really took a toll on my body. Standing up and walking was pretty difficult, but stairs were next to impossible. The second day, I did pretty much everything sitting down. And then I spent the next 3 or 4 days on my butt to recover. Anyhow, I now have...okay well I forgot to count but something like 20 meals in my freezer that I'm saving for May and June. I have a little bit more that I'd like to do, but nothing big like what we already did. Just a batch of calzones and breakfast burritos. And maybe some waffles, too.
Last week was a little rough for me. We were leaving for Colorado on Thursday afternoon, so that meant that every day before then I was working to get us and our house ready for that. Tuesday was cold and gloomy, and when the kids made it near impossible to get anything done, I decided it'd be better to give up. We chose to cuddle on the couch with blankets, hot chocolate and Little Women instead.
By the time the movie ended and we had a snack, the kids didn't go down for naps until 4:20! So that meant that I didn't have any down time or, more importantly for my sanity, any alone time except for the 15 minutes until Shad got home. Then we went to Paul and Mallory's for dinner and games. We had to change from our regular Thursday night to Tuesdays. My brain is still trying to refigure the days of my week now. The kids have a new way of playing "horsey" since I can't be a horse and Shad would rather not have a 30 pound Tommy on his back. It's pretty cute seeing Tom be the horse now and run around with Katie on his back!
Wednesday, Shad decided to call in sick so that he could rest and get over a head cold that started on Tuesday. He didn't want to deal with that all weekend in Colorado. However, that only added to my stress. I know how sick days go for our family--it means I have 3 people needing me to take care of them, less help, and trying to keep the kids away from Shad so that he can rest. They're usually pretty stressful days. Add on top of that the fact that I still had laundry and some cleaning to do...and that I had yet another day without any alone time...I had a good emotional breakdown at 8 pm. Oh, and those two days for some reason experienced the bad combination of me wanting personal physical space, and the kids desperately wanting to climb all over me and poke me in the face all day. The more they tried to get to me, the more I wanted my space and pushed them away. The more I pushed them away, the more they wanted to be on me. It was awful. Anyway, when I had my breakdown where I just cried and couldn't do anything to stop it, Tom climbed up on me (that didn't help anything) to stroke my cheek and tell me, "It's okay, sweetheart! Don't be sad. Be brave like Hiccup!" It was nice and made me laugh, but still I just wanted him off me more than anything. Shad put the kids to bed for me and then washed dishes, all while still feeling crummy. He's the best!
Thursday was much better after that emotional release. I got everything done that I needed, though a bit behind schedule. We left an hour later than desired, but still got to Jared's in time to drop off my ring before they closed, and made it to my parents' house by 9 for a short visit. All weekend any time we had to leave my parents' house to go somewhere else, Tommy would cry and say he needed Grandma's house back. He just didn't feel like any amount of time was sufficient. We stay at Shad's brother's place instead of my parents' house because of Shad's pet allergies. Tom will like it in July when we go out again because my mom PROMISED that the kids could sleep at her house so I don't have to deal with all 3 kids (one being a few weeks old) in Dan's living room with me for a weekend. We're not going otherwise, so just remember, Mom!
Tom and Katie definitely play the favorites game with their grandparents. There's no denying that Tom prefers Grandma and Katie prefers Grandpa. Tom loved cooking on the kitchen set for Grandma and serving her "dinner." She also told me that he gave her a haircut. Tom's given me a haircut before, but it was with play scissors. Apparently the haircut he gave Grandma was with buzz cutters (a plastic spatula from the kitchen set)! He made all the right sounds and motions going up the side of her head and then put his hand over her face to shield her eyes and gently brushed the hairs off her head!
Katie sat on Grandpa's lap and tried looking for the cat's ears. She didn't recognize cat ears and was looking for human ears. When she couldn't find them, she concluded, "Ears all gone." We educated her on cat ears at that point.
Ryan and Katie were good buddies at Chris' house, watching Toy Story and playing with toys together.
And getting comfy on the floor:)
Saturday we went to my friend Sharley's house to get my hair cut before leaving the kids with her for us to go to the temple. This time I was much more specific as to the length I wanted, and it even came out shorter! No problem with that. Sharley was a bit worried, but I love having her cut my hair because she knows what I like as well as the personality of my hair. She did a great job. Tom had a hard time with it for a couple days. He kept looking at me and saying we needed to get my hair fixed. He seems okay with it now though. Here's a picture of the haircut with an 8 month belly. It'll be 8 months tomorrow!
We had a great time at the temple for Lori's endowments. My dad was able to go, too, which was awesome. Okay, it was more than that. I have been looking forward to going to the temple with my dad for years. And even more so every day this month knowing that it was finally going to happen. I love my dad and it meant so much to me to finally be able to go and have him there too. We went to Deseret Book after the temple and got some nice wall art that we've been wanting for a while. It's nice to catch those things on great sales and clearances! Then we picked up boba for us and Lori, had dinner with my family and went to the Bailey's for games. We love our Bailey friends! Tom and Katie just got to watch movies and play by themselves...or try to join the adult games...because Isaac and Jon went to bed just before we got to their house at 7. They were exhausted after 2 days of no naps and then Isaac's birthday party. We stayed until...11:45. So it was a really late night, but we had a lot of fun with our friends.
We went to church with my parents and Lori Sunday morning. Tom went to Grandma immediately and Katie bounced between Grandpa and Lori's lap, landing on mine only once to get a closer look at a baby sitting in front of me. After sacrament meeting Shad and I came out from visiting in the chapel and saw the kids and grandparents sitting together. We didn't try too hard for a looking and smiling picture. It was clear that wasn't really going to happen. So here are the two candids that came out well.
This week so far has just been catching up on laundry. There's a lot of it between what naturally needs done, and what we bought at the thrift store in Colorado. And those loads of laundry? All loaded by Tom and Katie. Voluntarily without me asking. In fact, it was begging on their part! On Monday Tom noticed that his fish wasn't in the bowl. I explained to him that his fish was at the missionaries' house so that they could feed the fish while we were in Colorado. He understood, but was very adamant that they needed to bring his fish back. When they came later that day for games and dinner, he was soooo happy to sit and watch Two swim, and occasionally hug the fish bowl. Oh, this might also be a good time to finally write about something that I don't think I've ever written about--our current betta fish. The fish that my parents brought to us in February 2012 died in August when we went to Utah...a day after we passed him into someone else's hands for babysitting. His name was Bm Bm (because that's the sound Tom reported that a fish makes). When we got our replacement fish, I asked Tom what this fish's name was. He said, "Two." He's so good at naming his fish!
Here's a video from lunch time today. Tom still loves his Call Me Maybe song.
http://youtu.be/XGzgWhyOgrw
Pictures I found on my phone:
Tom playing with his drum as he viewed from the animal marching band on Disney's Robin Hood. This was a proud moment for me. After this picture he went and found a couple of his hammers to use as mallets because who knows where the drumsticks went?
During conference, Tom decided to stand up by the tv and repeat, word for word, President Eyring's talk. Not the whole thing, but he kept it up for a good while and did a good job.
Meanwhile, Katie decided that her shorts were pockets and started stuffing them with crayons. It was funny to watch her then try to stand and walk. She'd say, "Uh oh!" when they'd all drop out, plop herself down and load up to try again. She never got tired of it and she never got frustrated and upset.
After conference, Shad and I wanted to play some ping pong. So did the kids. So we set them up with their own ping pong table and they tried to play together.
On one of our Subway outtings, Tom finished off the crumbs out of the bag of chips he shared with me, so Katie, naturally, needed to do the same.
And then she and Shad gave me this picture and I just can't get over the coordination of their faces!
Well, time to head off for tea and popcorn. Bis spater!
