My brother in law recently asked for an update on "the purge". Ask and you shall receive.
I've started, although I've made little progress, packing up boxes to store at Obscure's home. I've started with the toys since there are so many of them and they were going to be more at Christmas. I have about 7 boxes packed and ready to go right now. I didn't want to pack anymore until our house was in a more livable condition. It's taken a while but I think we're almost there.
Another part of the purge is just getting rid of stuff. We found out that our county accepts many items for free (Cough. Paid for by taxes.) Mr. Sloth loaded up an old TV and will be heading back soon with old computers, a vacuum, and a floor lamp. Plus a friend of my offered to take anything I didn't want and sell it on Craigslist (I won't do Craigslist) so I said, it's yours! And obscure took an old scanner that has been sitting around. It feels so good to get rid of stuff!!
I just ordered Motivated Moms for this year. Mr. Sloth said that if I posted a list of things to do around the house he could help out when/where he could so I thought it was worth a shot. It's actually been my favorite home organizing method I've tried. Very simple and doable.
Anyway, that's how the purge is going. Pretty boring, huh?
The Sloths
Lazywife, Mr. Sloth, Demand, Prophet, Rooster, and King
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Take Two
About a month ago Happy's godfather was in town for a visit. One day during his visit I had a homeschooling field trip and Mr. Sloth was heading to work that day so I asked (made) said godfather come with me. We were heading to the orchestra for a 45 minute show. It was geared towards children and the theme was "Sleighride". How bad could it be, right?
The second we grabbed a 'first come first serve' seat Pax had a blowout. So Godfather sat with Happy and Demand while I went to change the diaper. When I came back I found they'd been booted from their seats for no good reason and the infuriating usher was seating an entire school in between us and my homeschool group. After giving the clueless usher a piece of my mind we finally took our seats but now I was seated next to teachers and students not homeschool families. Happy was content for all of three minutes before he wanted to sit on my lap, which was taken by Pax who was nursing. A fit then ensued. Of course by this time I'm getting looks like, "Why would you bring babies to the orchestra?" Twice, Godfather, took Happy out of the theater before the show ended and we made a very quick dash for the exit.
The experience intimidated me. How can I do this alone? I could barely do it with help, and I wouldn't consider that a success. I can't physically hold Happy and Pax and I definitely can't chase Happy while nursing Pax...or can I??
I let some homeschool friends convince me it was possible. When my friend who has three boys the same ages our our children (four, two, and four months) told me that The Children's Theater is different, I believed her. Last Saturday some free tickets became available so I decided to give it a go. Sunday night I found out we were supposed to get a snowstorm right as we were to be driving and it was in the city where I rarely drive. When Mr. Sloth asked that I not go I thought "Great! A good excuse for not going." Then the weather changed and it wasn't supposed to be so bad. (Grrrr.)
We had to be there, in the lobby at 9:45am. Let me tell you something, the Sloth family cannot be anywhere before 9:30am (We are usually a part of the procession for 10am Sunday Mass) As most parents know, if you want your child to sleep in, make plans. To get there on time I had to leave the house at 9am. Happy slept until 8:30am and usually takes his sweet time eating breakfast . Demand is the slowest human being on the face of the earth and the more you rush her the slower she gets, and Pax of course wanted to nurse at 8:55am.
Deep breath.
Thankfully, God provides, and Mr. Sloth didn't go into work until we were loaded into the van. He corralled "Thing 1& Thing 2" while I nursed Pax. Then it was off to the show. It was actually an easy drive. It's one of the few places I've driven to before so I wasn't nervous and we were there in plenty of time. I was surprised to find that I seemed to be one of the few families without a father present. You gotta love homeschool families. Most dads were off for Christmas I guess and with us just getting back from vacation (big mistake in December) Mr. Sloth had to work that day. I found a friend who didn't have babies and had her husband with her and asked....ahem...told her that we were sitting next to her. Before I could finish my sentence she said, "So you can ditch?"
God Bless you!
This particular friend of mine shares the same maiden name as me. We tend to understand each other.
So we had to meet at 9:45am but the show didn't start until 10:30am. We were seated first of course and Happy wasn't happy about it. Now Demand is scared to begin with. That one thing you must remember or nothing else that follows will seem wondrous. (Sorry, that was a movie reference.) Demand is in a phase where she is afraid of everything. So when the show started by turning the house lights off and I was up the stairs chasing Happy, Demand started crying. So there we were Act 1, scene 1. One child crying and three on my lap.
I was eventually able to peel Demand off of me and Happy was very entertained for the first 20 minutes, then he remembered he was a two year old boy and started making exit attempts. Demand was getting increasingly frightened as cowboy's with guns (a specific fear of hers) and scary dream sequences unfolded onstage. One of the homeschooling mom's behind us caught on and had her 9/10 year old daughter, who was sitting next to Demand, offer to hold her hand. Demand leaped out of her chair and sat on this girls lap.
One down, two to go.
Since I needed both hands to chase Happy, I handed Pax over to another mom. After chasing/repremanding Happy I came back. Soon Pax started fussing so I traded babies with my fellow mom-friend. She handed me Pax and took Happy. Pax needed a diaper change. Out I went for the fourth time. When I came back Happy just HAD to sit with me, but Pax wanted to nurse. So as it turns out, I can chase a toddler while nursing thanks to my extra-long muslin swaddle blankets I just bought. At this time, carrying two babies I managed to find my way to the cry room. Turns out, it's pretty nice in there. You are still in the theatre, just behind glass. (The other theater there just plays a video of the live performance in the lobby.) Finally, intermission. I made my way back to the seats to collect Demand and my diaper bag as now Happy seemed to have filled his pants. Being intermission I had to weave my way though 20+ girls waiting to use the restroom with Pax in the carrier, Happy on my hip, and Demand trailing behind very....very slowly. I wrangled Happy only to find that he had not pooped but was in fact just gassy.
After collecting ourselves and heading to the lobby for the rest of the intermission I asked Demand if she wanted to stay or go. She wanted to stay but stay with me. Fine. However as Act 2 started Demand who was playing with her friends was no where in sight. Another mom found her sitting with her friends so I headed to the cry room without her, but she thought I was in the theatre. Just as the show started I saw her new friend walking her back to find me. So I had to drag Happy and Pax back out into the lobby to meet her and then head back to the cry room.
The second act went surprisingly well. Demand and Happy stood on chairs to watch the show through the sound proof glass while I stood there hand feeding them whatever snacks I had and Pax slept in the carrier. I don't think I mentioned this before but just as we were seated we found out that the show was 2+ hours long. Whoa there Tiger! I was assuming this would be 45 minutes, 1 hour TOPS. Two hours???? So we blew through snack time AND lunch. As soon as the show ended we were heading for the door and I would have stopped somewhere close for lunch (it being an hour and half past their lunchtime) but it was a heavy snowfall remember and I wanted to get as close to home as possible.
Finally a little after 1pm we pull into our garage. Demand is starving, Pax too is hungry and has been screaming for fifteen minutes, and Happy is asleep and I am forced to wake him. The good news is that starving your children through snacktime and well past lunchtime does seem to make them eat more. Too bad it was Burger King.
That my friends was my second attempt at an outing with the kiddos and yet I press on! Tomorrow I am 'planning' on trying to take them to morning Mass. If you've ever seen us at Sunday Mass you would now laugh and say "IMPOSSIBLE!" and I wouldn't doubt you, but I have to try sometime and there is no time like the present. Now the real trick is getting out the door in time. Mass starts at 8am and we are rarely out the door before 9:30am...9am earliest. So if we are up, fed,dressed, and in the van by 8:45am it will be a Christmas Miracle, but this girl likes a challenge.
The second we grabbed a 'first come first serve' seat Pax had a blowout. So Godfather sat with Happy and Demand while I went to change the diaper. When I came back I found they'd been booted from their seats for no good reason and the infuriating usher was seating an entire school in between us and my homeschool group. After giving the clueless usher a piece of my mind we finally took our seats but now I was seated next to teachers and students not homeschool families. Happy was content for all of three minutes before he wanted to sit on my lap, which was taken by Pax who was nursing. A fit then ensued. Of course by this time I'm getting looks like, "Why would you bring babies to the orchestra?" Twice, Godfather, took Happy out of the theater before the show ended and we made a very quick dash for the exit.
The experience intimidated me. How can I do this alone? I could barely do it with help, and I wouldn't consider that a success. I can't physically hold Happy and Pax and I definitely can't chase Happy while nursing Pax...or can I??
I let some homeschool friends convince me it was possible. When my friend who has three boys the same ages our our children (four, two, and four months) told me that The Children's Theater is different, I believed her. Last Saturday some free tickets became available so I decided to give it a go. Sunday night I found out we were supposed to get a snowstorm right as we were to be driving and it was in the city where I rarely drive. When Mr. Sloth asked that I not go I thought "Great! A good excuse for not going." Then the weather changed and it wasn't supposed to be so bad. (Grrrr.)
We had to be there, in the lobby at 9:45am. Let me tell you something, the Sloth family cannot be anywhere before 9:30am (We are usually a part of the procession for 10am Sunday Mass) As most parents know, if you want your child to sleep in, make plans. To get there on time I had to leave the house at 9am. Happy slept until 8:30am and usually takes his sweet time eating breakfast . Demand is the slowest human being on the face of the earth and the more you rush her the slower she gets, and Pax of course wanted to nurse at 8:55am.
Deep breath.
Thankfully, God provides, and Mr. Sloth didn't go into work until we were loaded into the van. He corralled "Thing 1& Thing 2" while I nursed Pax. Then it was off to the show. It was actually an easy drive. It's one of the few places I've driven to before so I wasn't nervous and we were there in plenty of time. I was surprised to find that I seemed to be one of the few families without a father present. You gotta love homeschool families. Most dads were off for Christmas I guess and with us just getting back from vacation (big mistake in December) Mr. Sloth had to work that day. I found a friend who didn't have babies and had her husband with her and asked....ahem...told her that we were sitting next to her. Before I could finish my sentence she said, "So you can ditch?"
God Bless you!
This particular friend of mine shares the same maiden name as me. We tend to understand each other.
So we had to meet at 9:45am but the show didn't start until 10:30am. We were seated first of course and Happy wasn't happy about it. Now Demand is scared to begin with. That one thing you must remember or nothing else that follows will seem wondrous. (Sorry, that was a movie reference.) Demand is in a phase where she is afraid of everything. So when the show started by turning the house lights off and I was up the stairs chasing Happy, Demand started crying. So there we were Act 1, scene 1. One child crying and three on my lap.
I was eventually able to peel Demand off of me and Happy was very entertained for the first 20 minutes, then he remembered he was a two year old boy and started making exit attempts. Demand was getting increasingly frightened as cowboy's with guns (a specific fear of hers) and scary dream sequences unfolded onstage. One of the homeschooling mom's behind us caught on and had her 9/10 year old daughter, who was sitting next to Demand, offer to hold her hand. Demand leaped out of her chair and sat on this girls lap.
One down, two to go.
Since I needed both hands to chase Happy, I handed Pax over to another mom. After chasing/repremanding Happy I came back. Soon Pax started fussing so I traded babies with my fellow mom-friend. She handed me Pax and took Happy. Pax needed a diaper change. Out I went for the fourth time. When I came back Happy just HAD to sit with me, but Pax wanted to nurse. So as it turns out, I can chase a toddler while nursing thanks to my extra-long muslin swaddle blankets I just bought. At this time, carrying two babies I managed to find my way to the cry room. Turns out, it's pretty nice in there. You are still in the theatre, just behind glass. (The other theater there just plays a video of the live performance in the lobby.) Finally, intermission. I made my way back to the seats to collect Demand and my diaper bag as now Happy seemed to have filled his pants. Being intermission I had to weave my way though 20+ girls waiting to use the restroom with Pax in the carrier, Happy on my hip, and Demand trailing behind very....very slowly. I wrangled Happy only to find that he had not pooped but was in fact just gassy.
After collecting ourselves and heading to the lobby for the rest of the intermission I asked Demand if she wanted to stay or go. She wanted to stay but stay with me. Fine. However as Act 2 started Demand who was playing with her friends was no where in sight. Another mom found her sitting with her friends so I headed to the cry room without her, but she thought I was in the theatre. Just as the show started I saw her new friend walking her back to find me. So I had to drag Happy and Pax back out into the lobby to meet her and then head back to the cry room.
The second act went surprisingly well. Demand and Happy stood on chairs to watch the show through the sound proof glass while I stood there hand feeding them whatever snacks I had and Pax slept in the carrier. I don't think I mentioned this before but just as we were seated we found out that the show was 2+ hours long. Whoa there Tiger! I was assuming this would be 45 minutes, 1 hour TOPS. Two hours???? So we blew through snack time AND lunch. As soon as the show ended we were heading for the door and I would have stopped somewhere close for lunch (it being an hour and half past their lunchtime) but it was a heavy snowfall remember and I wanted to get as close to home as possible.
Finally a little after 1pm we pull into our garage. Demand is starving, Pax too is hungry and has been screaming for fifteen minutes, and Happy is asleep and I am forced to wake him. The good news is that starving your children through snacktime and well past lunchtime does seem to make them eat more. Too bad it was Burger King.
That my friends was my second attempt at an outing with the kiddos and yet I press on! Tomorrow I am 'planning' on trying to take them to morning Mass. If you've ever seen us at Sunday Mass you would now laugh and say "IMPOSSIBLE!" and I wouldn't doubt you, but I have to try sometime and there is no time like the present. Now the real trick is getting out the door in time. Mass starts at 8am and we are rarely out the door before 9:30am...9am earliest. So if we are up, fed,dressed, and in the van by 8:45am it will be a Christmas Miracle, but this girl likes a challenge.
Pictures from our Trip.
Pax enjoying the excitement.
Princess Demand and Prince Happy.
Lightening McQueen!!! (And Mater)
This was a pretty exciting event for our family. Happy's eyes lit up when he saw Lighting.
Demand posing in front of one of her favorite Characters.
Pax wondering, "Is this really Florida?"
Happy. Just where we want him....unconscious.
Sweet Demand in front of an anomatronic Mr. Potato Head while waiting in line for two hours.
Meeting up with friends in Georgia. Six children four an under makes for crazy airport fun.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Days of Rest
Greetings faithful readers!
First let us be clear we went on a trip, not a vacation. Vacations are relaxing, this trip was exhausting.
We decided to surprise Demand with a trip to Disney. It was mostly a surprise because we didn't want to deal with the "are we going TODAY?" questions for a week, or even a day. So Sunday, the 5th, we woke up as usual. However, when she asked for breakfast I told her that Daddy was picking up breakfast today. (There was no way we were making a mess in the kitchen that morning. ) After breakfast we all dressed then we told Demand to get in the van. The girl of many questions of course asked, "Where are we going? Are we going on a trip? I think we should go on a trip. We should go to Disney world. Ha. Ha. That would be funny." Then we pointed out that if we were going on a trip we'd need bags and did she see any bags?
In the van we went with Sidekick along with us (to drive the van back home) Now Demand doesn't miss a thing, she has the wherewithall to be a London cab driver so it wasn't long when she realized that we were going to the airport. When she got out of the van and saw the bags already packed she was excited but didn't know where we were going.
Ok, let's talk about flying. Yes, the Sloths were brave enough to fly to Europe with a three year old and a seven month old but that was three adults vs two children (one who's more manageable while traveling) This trip however was two adults vs. three children, one of whom is an almost two year old boy. Let the challenge begin.
For whatever reason we didn't bring a stroller, (My uncle can get us free stroller rental at Disney) so this meant Mr. Sloth and I had two carry-ons, one diaper bag, one computer bag, one four year old and two 'babies' to carry.
Who's exhausted already??
I'm not going to lie. It was miserable. And let's not forget security. You basically have to unpack to get through security. Four pairs of shoes, computer out of case, DVD player out of case, camera out , video camera out, phones out belts off, and any liquids out which for us included gas medicine, children's tylenol, sippy cups, and hand sanitizer. This was all while chasing Happy or holding Pax.
I'm exhausted reliving it.
The good news is we had ideal seating for the two flights to Orlando. We had the very last row to our selves. We were right next to the bathrooms (Which were well used by the Sloth family.) and I could stand in the galley with Pax if I needed to. Our first flight brought us to Atlanta where we met up with some friends. The last time we saw them was a few weeks before both of our weddings. Between the two families six children have been born but we've never met each others children. Well two hours is just not enough time to catch up but it was great seeing them just the same!
By the time we landed in Orlando, got our rental van, made three trips back for car seats, and drove to my Aunt and Uncles house it was 10:15pm. After visiting for about forty-five minutes we went to bed. I'm sorry. Pax and I went to bed. Happy screamed at Mr. Sloth for a good hour while Demand wondered around waiting for them to go to sleep so she could sleep.
If you think that sounds exhausting try this....Being completely exhausted from a day of traveling we decided to do a half day of Disney (Remember Demand still doesn't know where she's going) We let the kids sleep in and took our time getting ready. If there's one tip we've learned with all of our travels it's that you can't push kids. There is no pay off for pushing young children. In order for us to get free admission for the parks we have to meet my Uncle at the park where he works and get in with him. So instead of heading to Magic Kingdom first, everyday we had to park, get everyone out of the van walk ten minutes to the park, get in, and then go back to the van and to whatever park we wanted. Well we were in the parking lot for Animal Kingdom when, Demand, who knows ALL About Disney World noticed "Mt. Everest" and said, "Hey, we're in Disney World." And that was that. She was very calm and collected. Then she started telling us her agenda. "I want to go on the Toy Story ride first!" I want to do this ride, I don't want to do this one because it's scary.... the girl knows what she wants. By the way, before I go on, if you are picturing us in shorts and tank tops (please don't picture Mr. Sloth in a tank top) just know that it was in the 40s-50s and windy the entire trip. We were FREEZING.
So we get to Hollywood Studios where the Toy Story ride is to find that it's a 120 minute wait and they are out of fast passes for the day. What could we do? We promised this girl she could go on this ride and the line is not going to get shorter, and remember she's the best traveler in the world. She never complained ONCE during the entire trip. Not a "I'm tired", "I don't want to", "I want this"....nothing. She just goes with the flow. So when she has her heart set on something it's hard to say no.
So we waited. For two hours. In line. Carrying Happy and Pax. Happy screamed the first half an hour until he finally fell asleep on Mr. Sloth. Don't get me wrong the ride was awesome and Demand loved it but we were exhausted. All I could think was, I cannot do this for a week. I cannot hold Pax perpetually for one week. It's rare that I TELL Mr. Sloth I'm doing something especially when it comes to making a purchase but I TOLD him, "We're buying a stroller tomorrow so I have a place to put Demand and possibly restrain Happy."
Best decision ever. Disney has an awesome stroller in it's park stores and before you think "expensive", my uncle gets 50% off. So for $25 dollars we got the best umbrella stroller ever (and I know travel strollers) It reclines, or sits up, Has a drink holder, an adjustable canopy, storage bag, great wheels, and best of all tall handles. I'm in love with this stroller.
From there the trip got much easier. Don't get me wrong we were all in bed by 8pm everyday but it was fun just the same. We spent most of our time at Magic Kingdom. 80% of the rides there are geared for Demands age and even Pax could go on them. We let Demand pick most of the rides we went on, here's what we rode for the week.
"It's a small world" 3x
"Goofy's Barnstormer" 3x (in a row while her brother's slept)
"Mickey's Philharmagic" 2x (a 4D show)
"Mad Tea Party"3x (even Happy did this)
Dumbo 1x (crazy wait for that one)
Pooh Bear ride 2x
Snow White's Scary Adventure 1x
Pirates of the Carribean 1x
Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride 1x
Toy Story Mania 2x
Buzz's Alien Spin 1x
Muppet's 3D show 1x
Peter Pan's Flight 1x
Little Mermaid's Adventure 1x
....that's all I can remember right now. Now before you think "Ugh. It's a small world, three times" Just know that it was always around 2pm in the afternoon so it was a welcomed 10 minute break. Happy sat perfectly still the entire time and Pax usually nursed to sleep...as he did on most rides.
We got home from out trip at 5pm on Friday. Saturday morning Mr. Sloth and Demand headed out in the blizzard to get us a most beautiful Christmas tree which we promptly decorated, it being Gaudete Sunday and all. Sunday morning Mr. Sloth woke up with the flu. The house was an absolute disaster having just gotten home from a trip and the children were way out of sorts. Happy was just not himself and Pax, having been held the entire trip and nursing in bed every night didn't want the party to stop. Oh, and remember the blizzard? We woke up to snow up to our waists. Mr. Sloth's mother called and asked if we were going to 10am Mass. I just had to laugh. With Mr. Sloth sick and three little ones to take care of there was no way I was getting out of my garage by noon let alone to Mass. I spent all of Sunday either taking care of the children, shoveling snow, or doing laundry. I know Mr. Sloth was sick and all, but at one point he jokingly told me to "have fun" shoveling the snow and all I could think was, "There is 20+ inches of snow here. It will be late May before they find your body."
Later, I ended up hitching a ride with Sidekick and Demand for 5pm Mass and when I arrived home I found out that Demand too had the flu.
Lovely.
So that set the stage for the week. A messy, messy home that just seems to be getting smaller, two sick people, two high-needs people, and Christmas one week away.
And with that I bid you farewell until I can get at least a bit of my act together.
First let us be clear we went on a trip, not a vacation. Vacations are relaxing, this trip was exhausting.
We decided to surprise Demand with a trip to Disney. It was mostly a surprise because we didn't want to deal with the "are we going TODAY?" questions for a week, or even a day. So Sunday, the 5th, we woke up as usual. However, when she asked for breakfast I told her that Daddy was picking up breakfast today. (There was no way we were making a mess in the kitchen that morning. ) After breakfast we all dressed then we told Demand to get in the van. The girl of many questions of course asked, "Where are we going? Are we going on a trip? I think we should go on a trip. We should go to Disney world. Ha. Ha. That would be funny." Then we pointed out that if we were going on a trip we'd need bags and did she see any bags?
In the van we went with Sidekick along with us (to drive the van back home) Now Demand doesn't miss a thing, she has the wherewithall to be a London cab driver so it wasn't long when she realized that we were going to the airport. When she got out of the van and saw the bags already packed she was excited but didn't know where we were going.
Ok, let's talk about flying. Yes, the Sloths were brave enough to fly to Europe with a three year old and a seven month old but that was three adults vs two children (one who's more manageable while traveling) This trip however was two adults vs. three children, one of whom is an almost two year old boy. Let the challenge begin.
For whatever reason we didn't bring a stroller, (My uncle can get us free stroller rental at Disney) so this meant Mr. Sloth and I had two carry-ons, one diaper bag, one computer bag, one four year old and two 'babies' to carry.
Who's exhausted already??
I'm not going to lie. It was miserable. And let's not forget security. You basically have to unpack to get through security. Four pairs of shoes, computer out of case, DVD player out of case, camera out , video camera out, phones out belts off, and any liquids out which for us included gas medicine, children's tylenol, sippy cups, and hand sanitizer. This was all while chasing Happy or holding Pax.
I'm exhausted reliving it.
The good news is we had ideal seating for the two flights to Orlando. We had the very last row to our selves. We were right next to the bathrooms (Which were well used by the Sloth family.) and I could stand in the galley with Pax if I needed to. Our first flight brought us to Atlanta where we met up with some friends. The last time we saw them was a few weeks before both of our weddings. Between the two families six children have been born but we've never met each others children. Well two hours is just not enough time to catch up but it was great seeing them just the same!
By the time we landed in Orlando, got our rental van, made three trips back for car seats, and drove to my Aunt and Uncles house it was 10:15pm. After visiting for about forty-five minutes we went to bed. I'm sorry. Pax and I went to bed. Happy screamed at Mr. Sloth for a good hour while Demand wondered around waiting for them to go to sleep so she could sleep.
If you think that sounds exhausting try this....Being completely exhausted from a day of traveling we decided to do a half day of Disney (Remember Demand still doesn't know where she's going) We let the kids sleep in and took our time getting ready. If there's one tip we've learned with all of our travels it's that you can't push kids. There is no pay off for pushing young children. In order for us to get free admission for the parks we have to meet my Uncle at the park where he works and get in with him. So instead of heading to Magic Kingdom first, everyday we had to park, get everyone out of the van walk ten minutes to the park, get in, and then go back to the van and to whatever park we wanted. Well we were in the parking lot for Animal Kingdom when, Demand, who knows ALL About Disney World noticed "Mt. Everest" and said, "Hey, we're in Disney World." And that was that. She was very calm and collected. Then she started telling us her agenda. "I want to go on the Toy Story ride first!" I want to do this ride, I don't want to do this one because it's scary.... the girl knows what she wants. By the way, before I go on, if you are picturing us in shorts and tank tops (please don't picture Mr. Sloth in a tank top) just know that it was in the 40s-50s and windy the entire trip. We were FREEZING.
So we get to Hollywood Studios where the Toy Story ride is to find that it's a 120 minute wait and they are out of fast passes for the day. What could we do? We promised this girl she could go on this ride and the line is not going to get shorter, and remember she's the best traveler in the world. She never complained ONCE during the entire trip. Not a "I'm tired", "I don't want to", "I want this"....nothing. She just goes with the flow. So when she has her heart set on something it's hard to say no.
So we waited. For two hours. In line. Carrying Happy and Pax. Happy screamed the first half an hour until he finally fell asleep on Mr. Sloth. Don't get me wrong the ride was awesome and Demand loved it but we were exhausted. All I could think was, I cannot do this for a week. I cannot hold Pax perpetually for one week. It's rare that I TELL Mr. Sloth I'm doing something especially when it comes to making a purchase but I TOLD him, "We're buying a stroller tomorrow so I have a place to put Demand and possibly restrain Happy."
Best decision ever. Disney has an awesome stroller in it's park stores and before you think "expensive", my uncle gets 50% off. So for $25 dollars we got the best umbrella stroller ever (and I know travel strollers) It reclines, or sits up, Has a drink holder, an adjustable canopy, storage bag, great wheels, and best of all tall handles. I'm in love with this stroller.
From there the trip got much easier. Don't get me wrong we were all in bed by 8pm everyday but it was fun just the same. We spent most of our time at Magic Kingdom. 80% of the rides there are geared for Demands age and even Pax could go on them. We let Demand pick most of the rides we went on, here's what we rode for the week.
"It's a small world" 3x
"Goofy's Barnstormer" 3x (in a row while her brother's slept)
"Mickey's Philharmagic" 2x (a 4D show)
"Mad Tea Party"3x (even Happy did this)
Dumbo 1x (crazy wait for that one)
Pooh Bear ride 2x
Snow White's Scary Adventure 1x
Pirates of the Carribean 1x
Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride 1x
Toy Story Mania 2x
Buzz's Alien Spin 1x
Muppet's 3D show 1x
Peter Pan's Flight 1x
Little Mermaid's Adventure 1x
....that's all I can remember right now. Now before you think "Ugh. It's a small world, three times" Just know that it was always around 2pm in the afternoon so it was a welcomed 10 minute break. Happy sat perfectly still the entire time and Pax usually nursed to sleep...as he did on most rides.
We got home from out trip at 5pm on Friday. Saturday morning Mr. Sloth and Demand headed out in the blizzard to get us a most beautiful Christmas tree which we promptly decorated, it being Gaudete Sunday and all. Sunday morning Mr. Sloth woke up with the flu. The house was an absolute disaster having just gotten home from a trip and the children were way out of sorts. Happy was just not himself and Pax, having been held the entire trip and nursing in bed every night didn't want the party to stop. Oh, and remember the blizzard? We woke up to snow up to our waists. Mr. Sloth's mother called and asked if we were going to 10am Mass. I just had to laugh. With Mr. Sloth sick and three little ones to take care of there was no way I was getting out of my garage by noon let alone to Mass. I spent all of Sunday either taking care of the children, shoveling snow, or doing laundry. I know Mr. Sloth was sick and all, but at one point he jokingly told me to "have fun" shoveling the snow and all I could think was, "There is 20+ inches of snow here. It will be late May before they find your body."
Later, I ended up hitching a ride with Sidekick and Demand for 5pm Mass and when I arrived home I found out that Demand too had the flu.
Lovely.
So that set the stage for the week. A messy, messy home that just seems to be getting smaller, two sick people, two high-needs people, and Christmas one week away.
And with that I bid you farewell until I can get at least a bit of my act together.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
I'm posting only to let you know that I'll be posting something real soon. We surprised Demand with a trip to Disney World and after spending a week in "Sunny" Florida we have found the flu in our home. My time is spent keeping up with sick kids, being sick myself, dealing with the mess we left the house in, catching up with laundry from the trip and when I have time panicking that it's only 11 days until Christmas. Oh, and there was a blizzard.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Pictures
Over Thanksgiving my brother-in-law brought up the fact that I hadn't been blogging lately. Unfortunately while my life has been interesting enough to blog, it has been too interesting to give me time or energy to blog. How about some pictures from last month to tide you over?
My mother's birthday was 10-10-10 this year and she requested family pictures as a gift. Here are some of them. More interesting stories soon.
The Sloths
The Parents
Demand
Mr. Sloth & Happy
Happy & Demand
Me and my bros
Happy
Pax
Me and the Mr
My mother's birthday was 10-10-10 this year and she requested family pictures as a gift. Here are some of them. More interesting stories soon.
The Sloths
The Parents
Demand
Mr. Sloth & Happy
Happy & Demand
Me and my bros
Happy
Pax
Me and the Mr
Thursday, November 11, 2010
New Digs
Mr. Sloth finally nipped it in the bud and requested a change of roommate. Not with me, with Pax of course. The grunting, snorting, gagging was keeping us up more than necessary so I spent all of last Friday converting our packed closet into a bedroom and beginning a serious home-wide purge. I had decided, excitedly, a few months ago that Pax would never move into the closet. By seven months (the time he'd need a full size crib) Demand and Happy could have a bunk bed. Plans change though.
I'm sure you remember Happy living in the closet, and my mother still has panic attacks just thinking of living in a closet, but remember we have a very large closet and this time Pax has even more space. I moved the dresser/changing pad from the 'kids' room into the closet and gave Pax a night stand as well. He even has a make-shift mobile.
This addition of space unfortunately only gives Mr. Sloth and I 1/3 use of the closet which leads me to my next topic. The house-wide purge. I know you hear of my purging every few months but this one is different. I'm reading the book "It's all too much" and finding it very inspiring. I'm accepting that even if it's in good condition, functional, a gift, or if I once loved it, it's OK to get rid of it if I don't use or love it now. Getting rid of stuff is incredibly freeing and can make even the smallest space seem livable.
So Pax is loving his new "room". I even hung a toy from the closet shelf to it's within his reach on the changing pad and he thinks it's the bees-knees. Best of all we're all sleeping a bit better. It also helps that he's eight weeks old now and starting to get over his painful gas stage.
I'm sure you remember Happy living in the closet, and my mother still has panic attacks just thinking of living in a closet, but remember we have a very large closet and this time Pax has even more space. I moved the dresser/changing pad from the 'kids' room into the closet and gave Pax a night stand as well. He even has a make-shift mobile.
This addition of space unfortunately only gives Mr. Sloth and I 1/3 use of the closet which leads me to my next topic. The house-wide purge. I know you hear of my purging every few months but this one is different. I'm reading the book "It's all too much" and finding it very inspiring. I'm accepting that even if it's in good condition, functional, a gift, or if I once loved it, it's OK to get rid of it if I don't use or love it now. Getting rid of stuff is incredibly freeing and can make even the smallest space seem livable.
So Pax is loving his new "room". I even hung a toy from the closet shelf to it's within his reach on the changing pad and he thinks it's the bees-knees. Best of all we're all sleeping a bit better. It also helps that he's eight weeks old now and starting to get over his painful gas stage.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Prayer Requests
For some reason I've been bombarded with depressing news this week. I won't go into all the details but I do have two college friends for you to pray for.
Pray for my friend "G" I don't want to go into details here.
My other friend is Emily. Emily is "G's" best friend and last December 3rd she was in a car accident with her son. Her one year old son is fine but she is not, she's been fighting in the hospital every since. She's mostly likely paralyzed from the neck down and blind. She might have more damage but she keeps getting pneumonia and every time it is life threatening. The constant battles with pneumonia keep them from finding out the real seriousness of her injuries. Please keep her and her family in your prayers as they approach the one year anniversary.
Here is her Care Pages site http://www.carepages.com/carepages/Emily_and_Max
So pray for both of my friends who are truly suffering.
All the depressing news I've heard this week have at the very least mad me realize how blessed we truly are and incredibly easy my life is compared to some....most.
Pray for my friend "G" I don't want to go into details here.
My other friend is Emily. Emily is "G's" best friend and last December 3rd she was in a car accident with her son. Her one year old son is fine but she is not, she's been fighting in the hospital every since. She's mostly likely paralyzed from the neck down and blind. She might have more damage but she keeps getting pneumonia and every time it is life threatening. The constant battles with pneumonia keep them from finding out the real seriousness of her injuries. Please keep her and her family in your prayers as they approach the one year anniversary.
Here is her Care Pages site http://www.carepages.com/carepages/Emily_and_Max
So pray for both of my friends who are truly suffering.
All the depressing news I've heard this week have at the very least mad me realize how blessed we truly are and incredibly easy my life is compared to some....most.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
No fantastic updates to share but I thought I would post a few videos and pictures. We took the kids to a corn maze yesterday as is the fall tradition here. There is a corn maze, giant slide, petting zoo, camel rides, pig races, tons of food and music, pumpkin sling-shot, hayrides but best of all is the corn pit. So much fun for kids of all ages. Happy took some time adjusting but it was hard to get him out in the end. It was a great day to go weather wise, a little windy but great temperature and best of all it hasn't rained in a while. We've been there years past pushing a stroller through a muddy corn field (no fun). If that wasn't fun enough we then drove to Grandma's for playtime with cousins and dinner. It was a long day for everyone but totally worth the effort.
Other than that the Sloths have been trying to settle into a routine. In addition to Monday ballet class and Tuesday Good Shepard class we've been homeschooling Demand. We try and read about a saint every day at breakfast and celebrate some feast days. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was a really busy day for us but I found time to improv an art project that Demand loved. She received dot markers for Christmas so I covered the table in paper and we made a giant rosary using the dot markers. She loved it so much we made another one later in the week. Some days (if I'm prepared) we do "Preschool". This past week we learned about fall and read poems and books and a bunch of activities all with a fall theme. Other days we do Math and/or Reading. Demand loves math especially since the program we're using has a video for each lesson. Reading is trickier. If you tell Demand you're doing a reading lesson to tenses up and basically refuses to do anything. One day I asked her to read me a book while I nursed Pax...a book she already knew how to read and I tried to encourage her by saying "You can do it!" She said "I can do it!" and then started crying.
Gee-whiz, kid, relax a little.
So I'm learning to be creative about things. We've already bribed her saying that if she reads 10 "pink books" she can buy any book of her choice. While interested she still resists. I did manage to get her to read one of the books (5th of the 10) by telling her she'd get ice cream. She'll do anything for ice cream. 5 more books to go...
Pax is learning a routine of his own. He takes hi morning nap in the swing across from the laundry room while his siblings play about. Even though he gets very little belly time due to safety issues with over-loving siblings he can hold his up really well just like the rest of the Sloth babies. He's still a pretty good sleeper but could be better.
Happy is learning how hard it is to be one and half and Mr. Sloth and I are learning to be patient parents of boys. Happy has a totally different temperament than Demand. If you told Demand "No" she'd stop. If you tell Happy "No" he laughs and does it again. So Happy is starting to learn about time-outs and toy removal. Aside from disciple issues the new joke around the house is that Happy tries to get people to "look into his dimples" almost as a means of hypnosis. Works on me more than I care to admit. Stinkin' kid is so adorable even while causing mischief.
Pax at his first Baseball game. Isn't he cute?
I drew a cross to start the Rosary for Demand. I told her to color it and when I came back to the table she'd drawn the Corpus. Impressive, huh?
The proud artist.
Due to technical difficulties, videos will be updated later
Other than that the Sloths have been trying to settle into a routine. In addition to Monday ballet class and Tuesday Good Shepard class we've been homeschooling Demand. We try and read about a saint every day at breakfast and celebrate some feast days. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was a really busy day for us but I found time to improv an art project that Demand loved. She received dot markers for Christmas so I covered the table in paper and we made a giant rosary using the dot markers. She loved it so much we made another one later in the week. Some days (if I'm prepared) we do "Preschool". This past week we learned about fall and read poems and books and a bunch of activities all with a fall theme. Other days we do Math and/or Reading. Demand loves math especially since the program we're using has a video for each lesson. Reading is trickier. If you tell Demand you're doing a reading lesson to tenses up and basically refuses to do anything. One day I asked her to read me a book while I nursed Pax...a book she already knew how to read and I tried to encourage her by saying "You can do it!" She said "I can do it!" and then started crying.
Gee-whiz, kid, relax a little.
So I'm learning to be creative about things. We've already bribed her saying that if she reads 10 "pink books" she can buy any book of her choice. While interested she still resists. I did manage to get her to read one of the books (5th of the 10) by telling her she'd get ice cream. She'll do anything for ice cream. 5 more books to go...
Pax is learning a routine of his own. He takes hi morning nap in the swing across from the laundry room while his siblings play about. Even though he gets very little belly time due to safety issues with over-loving siblings he can hold his up really well just like the rest of the Sloth babies. He's still a pretty good sleeper but could be better.
Happy is learning how hard it is to be one and half and Mr. Sloth and I are learning to be patient parents of boys. Happy has a totally different temperament than Demand. If you told Demand "No" she'd stop. If you tell Happy "No" he laughs and does it again. So Happy is starting to learn about time-outs and toy removal. Aside from disciple issues the new joke around the house is that Happy tries to get people to "look into his dimples" almost as a means of hypnosis. Works on me more than I care to admit. Stinkin' kid is so adorable even while causing mischief.
Pax at his first Baseball game. Isn't he cute?
I drew a cross to start the Rosary for Demand. I told her to color it and when I came back to the table she'd drawn the Corpus. Impressive, huh?
The proud artist.
Due to technical difficulties, videos will be updated later
Friday, October 1, 2010
Diving In
Today I decided to brave my first trip out of the home with all three kiddos on my own. I was debating going even as late as this morning but, as Mr. Sloth said, I have to do it sometime.
The real motivator was the underwater aquarium exhibit at the mall which is usually $18/person was only $5/person for homeschoolers and today was the last day to get in on the offer. I'd been wanting to take the kids for years but not at $18/person. So this morning I woke up around 7:30am (an hour earlier than the past week or so) and started my usual day I had decided to go and was pleasantly surprised to find out some of my homeschooling friends were going as well. I kicked it into high gear to meet them there. I must say I did an awesome job (as will be the theme this post) at getting everyone ready in record time. It was pretty easy getting the kids dressed since they got new clothes last night and were eager to try them out. Pax was up late with Mr. Sloth last night so he was all about sleeping and I managed to find clean fitting clothes and pull of a good outfit if I do say so myself. I even remembered to pack everything, diapers, change of clothes, sippy cups, baby carrier, double stroller, cameras...
Off we went. We were even there before they opened. Turns out, offering a 75% discount to homeschoolers really brings 'em in. We waited a half an hour just to buy our tickets. So instead of $18/ticket I paid $12 for all four of us (Pax didn't count). I thankfully discovered yesterday that Pax actually liked one of my baby carriers so I was able to logically manage the kiddos. Pax slept in the carrier the whole time and Demand and Happy rode in the double stroller. After doing the aquarium once we headed for lunch. Here's where I continue to get awesome. The Sloth go out for lunch almost every Saturday mainly because we are out and about running errands that day. Eating at the mall with Demand and Happy has always been difficult for me AND Mr. Sloth this time I was +1 kid, -1 husband. Yikes! I bought a piece of pizza and bread sticks for the kids to split and then sit them at a table right next to where I wanted take-out. Happy was awesome and sat in a big boy seat eating his lunch peacefully while I bought my food (Panda Express, Yummy!). Oh, and by the way, it being a feast day the Sloths were free to eat meat today which made it all the more easy for me.
The kids ate peacefully and then we packed up, had a bathroom break and headed back for another round of underwater adventure. I was more nervous this time because the clock was ticking and I was afraid of breakdowns. Would Pax wake up? Would Happy have a breakdown? It was even more fun than the first time. The kids were really into it and I even let Happy out of his restraints towards the end. He did a pretty good job too. He only ran off a few times, and much to his loss he ran in a dark room full of mirrors. (That was actually fun to see...only because he didn't get hurt of course)
Then we headed home. Pax woke up and cried the first few minutes in van but then fell back asleep. Happy was asleep by the time we got home and transferred to his crib just fine. Pax then woke up to nurse and fell back into a deep sleep.While Demand and Happy peacefully played, I spent the entire afternoon super-cleaning the house. We're talking pre-baby nesting energy. It was FANTASTIC! I even managed to improvise an awesome snack for the kids. Apples and carmel dip in honor of the Feast of St. Therese. (Demand is still wondering how carmel and Carmelites are related)
Mr. Sloth came home to a clean home, happy children, and of course and awesome wife.
Demand looking at Nemo and Dory fish.
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Do7s-S-skKHVo0LBZlQvAR31nonWLUsTUc6Pp_EKvKPur6iAHvQPPxoF3Kv-w05kggMI9jpiqG1FycnygNY_cI1TCxAikOarZWcXeVACxSKahyqxPXpnULOUin1qVKtrm5IO6Gqlzh8/s1600/DSC03750.JPG">
Happy looking at Nemo fish.
Happy admiring Nemo fish.
Shark nursery (There are baby sharks in there!!)
Happy wanted the camera back.
Umm, Happy took this picture...I'm nursing Pax.
Demand being Demand.
Happy being Happy.
The real motivator was the underwater aquarium exhibit at the mall which is usually $18/person was only $5/person for homeschoolers and today was the last day to get in on the offer. I'd been wanting to take the kids for years but not at $18/person. So this morning I woke up around 7:30am (an hour earlier than the past week or so) and started my usual day I had decided to go and was pleasantly surprised to find out some of my homeschooling friends were going as well. I kicked it into high gear to meet them there. I must say I did an awesome job (as will be the theme this post) at getting everyone ready in record time. It was pretty easy getting the kids dressed since they got new clothes last night and were eager to try them out. Pax was up late with Mr. Sloth last night so he was all about sleeping and I managed to find clean fitting clothes and pull of a good outfit if I do say so myself. I even remembered to pack everything, diapers, change of clothes, sippy cups, baby carrier, double stroller, cameras...
Off we went. We were even there before they opened. Turns out, offering a 75% discount to homeschoolers really brings 'em in. We waited a half an hour just to buy our tickets. So instead of $18/ticket I paid $12 for all four of us (Pax didn't count). I thankfully discovered yesterday that Pax actually liked one of my baby carriers so I was able to logically manage the kiddos. Pax slept in the carrier the whole time and Demand and Happy rode in the double stroller. After doing the aquarium once we headed for lunch. Here's where I continue to get awesome. The Sloth go out for lunch almost every Saturday mainly because we are out and about running errands that day. Eating at the mall with Demand and Happy has always been difficult for me AND Mr. Sloth this time I was +1 kid, -1 husband. Yikes! I bought a piece of pizza and bread sticks for the kids to split and then sit them at a table right next to where I wanted take-out. Happy was awesome and sat in a big boy seat eating his lunch peacefully while I bought my food (Panda Express, Yummy!). Oh, and by the way, it being a feast day the Sloths were free to eat meat today which made it all the more easy for me.
The kids ate peacefully and then we packed up, had a bathroom break and headed back for another round of underwater adventure. I was more nervous this time because the clock was ticking and I was afraid of breakdowns. Would Pax wake up? Would Happy have a breakdown? It was even more fun than the first time. The kids were really into it and I even let Happy out of his restraints towards the end. He did a pretty good job too. He only ran off a few times, and much to his loss he ran in a dark room full of mirrors. (That was actually fun to see...only because he didn't get hurt of course)
Then we headed home. Pax woke up and cried the first few minutes in van but then fell back asleep. Happy was asleep by the time we got home and transferred to his crib just fine. Pax then woke up to nurse and fell back into a deep sleep.While Demand and Happy peacefully played, I spent the entire afternoon super-cleaning the house. We're talking pre-baby nesting energy. It was FANTASTIC! I even managed to improvise an awesome snack for the kids. Apples and carmel dip in honor of the Feast of St. Therese. (Demand is still wondering how carmel and Carmelites are related)
Mr. Sloth came home to a clean home, happy children, and of course and awesome wife.
Demand looking at Nemo and Dory fish.
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Do7s-S-skKHVo0LBZlQvAR31nonWLUsTUc6Pp_EKvKPur6iAHvQPPxoF3Kv-w05kggMI9jpiqG1FycnygNY_cI1TCxAikOarZWcXeVACxSKahyqxPXpnULOUin1qVKtrm5IO6Gqlzh8/s1600/DSC03750.JPG">
Happy looking at Nemo fish.
Happy admiring Nemo fish.
Shark nursery (There are baby sharks in there!!)
Happy wanted the camera back.
Umm, Happy took this picture...I'm nursing Pax.
Demand being Demand.
Happy being Happy.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The Birth Story
Here it is The Birth Story.
I of course won't let you in on all the details of the birthing process, but if you are that squeamish I don't see why you'd be reading my blog anyway. Here goes....
A few days before my due date I had already 3 cm, but knowing that dilation means next to nothing as to when baby will arrive I tried to ignore the information and only told a few people. I was however excited to have dilated that much without noticing though. Less work later, right?
My due date came and went as mentioned in my last post and in one week I had dilated another cm. Sweet! We started to have a feeling that baby may come late, but would probably come faster than the other two. (We were right) Having gone past my due date before I was thankfully emotionally prepared for it this time only having one bad day. I had a feeling I would go between five and ten days late. (Demand was five days late, Happy was ten.)
Saturday was five days past my due date. I felt nothing the night before and I felt nothing all morning. Shortly before nap time I suggested going for a walk to get my body a little more prepared. I walked while Mr. Sloth and the kids slept. After that we all went to Target to get some groceries. Just as we got back from Target I started feeling 'different'. No contraction, just pressure. This went on for hours. It got to the point where we discussed going in just to see if anything was going on and get a status. Without having any contractions I felt silly going in obviously not in labor so I suggested we get the kids to bed and then see where we were. The kids struggled to fall asleep that night and since I had a feeling that they'd wake up without me there, Mommy-guilt kicked in and I laid with Demand until they fell asleep. Things were off an on all evening. No contractions just some pressure and light, irregular menstrual cramps. At 10:30pm Mr. Sloth asked me, "This baby is going to come at 3am isn't it?" "Yep." I said. I just had a feeling. So we decided to go to bed early (for us) so that we'd at least have some rest. Mr. Sloth, has an understandable yet exaggerated fear of "catching a baby" or worse having the baby in the car. But we both agreed he could get a new car if I gave birth in the old Saturn. So I promised that the first real contraction I had we would go to the hospital. Around midnight I woke up with a contraction but fell back asleep, around 12:15am I had another one, a bit stronger. I quietly got out of bed and started getting ready letting Mr. Sloth sleep as long as possible. Mr. Sloth and his "spidysense" caught on fast and nervously asked me if everything was O.K. I told him we should probably go. We called our friend to come over. I had to leave a message, but she called right back. Apparently in her sleepy state thought what everyone thinks when someone calls at 12:30am.."Who the heck is calling me??" We finished gathering our stuff while she walked over. I went in to say good-bye to the kiddos even though they were sleeping. It surprised and embarrassed me how hard it was to say good-bye to sleeping children. I guess I just knew how hard the next few days would be for them and I felt particularly bad for Happy. He had NO IDEA what was about to happen and as he slept peacefully his reign and 'baby' would be stripped away and his routine would be turned upside down. So with tears in my eyes I decided it was time to go get a new family. Besides contractions seemed a bit closer.
I remember the ride to the hospital being much more pleasant than the last two babies. Our plan was to leave earlier this time so I'd be sure to make it in the water birth room and just in case I went faster than expected. (Apparently leaving at contractions 4 minutes apart in a snowstorm two hours before Happy was born was cutting it close for him) The weather was great outside and traffic was clear. Mr. Sloth called the hospital on the way to let them know we were coming. He told them my contractions were 10 minutes apart, but they seemed to be picking up. As we stood in the lobby waiting for our escort upstairs we also noticed that they seemed a bit closer, but nothing too strong. We got in our room and got settled. The nurse finally checked me 5 cm, only one since Thursday. It looked like I had done it, I was in labor but not too far along. They started getting the water birth room ready and said they'd check me in a half an hour and then I could get in the tub. That was around 1:30am. We worked on some paper work between contractions. Then they decided they'd start moving furniture over to the waterbirth room and I could get in but baby had other plans. Just as everyone left the room my body just started pushing. At first I didn't believe it, but after another push Mr. Sloth called people back and everyone else believed it. Then there was a scurry as they moved all the furniture back into my room and called for the on-call OB. A few minutes later, at 2:17am "Pax" entered the world. 9 lbs 3 oz, 21 inches. Thankfully, my doctor didn't wait like she said she was going to do but came right away making it just in time to catch the baby. Even though I didn't get my waterbirth I'm more than happy with my two hour labor. I went from a few contractions to pushing, skipping that whole seriously painful part. If the rest of my babies could be like that I would be a happy girl.
In case you are wondering about the name "Pax". It of course means peace in Latin (Catholics and their Latin). He's such a peaceful little guy. Easily pleased and easily soothed.
So there you have it people the birth story. My apologies for the delay. I had 80% written when things went downhill around here. Life goes on I guess.
I of course won't let you in on all the details of the birthing process, but if you are that squeamish I don't see why you'd be reading my blog anyway. Here goes....
A few days before my due date I had already 3 cm, but knowing that dilation means next to nothing as to when baby will arrive I tried to ignore the information and only told a few people. I was however excited to have dilated that much without noticing though. Less work later, right?
My due date came and went as mentioned in my last post and in one week I had dilated another cm. Sweet! We started to have a feeling that baby may come late, but would probably come faster than the other two. (We were right) Having gone past my due date before I was thankfully emotionally prepared for it this time only having one bad day. I had a feeling I would go between five and ten days late. (Demand was five days late, Happy was ten.)
Saturday was five days past my due date. I felt nothing the night before and I felt nothing all morning. Shortly before nap time I suggested going for a walk to get my body a little more prepared. I walked while Mr. Sloth and the kids slept. After that we all went to Target to get some groceries. Just as we got back from Target I started feeling 'different'. No contraction, just pressure. This went on for hours. It got to the point where we discussed going in just to see if anything was going on and get a status. Without having any contractions I felt silly going in obviously not in labor so I suggested we get the kids to bed and then see where we were. The kids struggled to fall asleep that night and since I had a feeling that they'd wake up without me there, Mommy-guilt kicked in and I laid with Demand until they fell asleep. Things were off an on all evening. No contractions just some pressure and light, irregular menstrual cramps. At 10:30pm Mr. Sloth asked me, "This baby is going to come at 3am isn't it?" "Yep." I said. I just had a feeling. So we decided to go to bed early (for us) so that we'd at least have some rest. Mr. Sloth, has an understandable yet exaggerated fear of "catching a baby" or worse having the baby in the car. But we both agreed he could get a new car if I gave birth in the old Saturn. So I promised that the first real contraction I had we would go to the hospital. Around midnight I woke up with a contraction but fell back asleep, around 12:15am I had another one, a bit stronger. I quietly got out of bed and started getting ready letting Mr. Sloth sleep as long as possible. Mr. Sloth and his "spidysense" caught on fast and nervously asked me if everything was O.K. I told him we should probably go. We called our friend to come over. I had to leave a message, but she called right back. Apparently in her sleepy state thought what everyone thinks when someone calls at 12:30am.."Who the heck is calling me??" We finished gathering our stuff while she walked over. I went in to say good-bye to the kiddos even though they were sleeping. It surprised and embarrassed me how hard it was to say good-bye to sleeping children. I guess I just knew how hard the next few days would be for them and I felt particularly bad for Happy. He had NO IDEA what was about to happen and as he slept peacefully his reign and 'baby' would be stripped away and his routine would be turned upside down. So with tears in my eyes I decided it was time to go get a new family. Besides contractions seemed a bit closer.
I remember the ride to the hospital being much more pleasant than the last two babies. Our plan was to leave earlier this time so I'd be sure to make it in the water birth room and just in case I went faster than expected. (Apparently leaving at contractions 4 minutes apart in a snowstorm two hours before Happy was born was cutting it close for him) The weather was great outside and traffic was clear. Mr. Sloth called the hospital on the way to let them know we were coming. He told them my contractions were 10 minutes apart, but they seemed to be picking up. As we stood in the lobby waiting for our escort upstairs we also noticed that they seemed a bit closer, but nothing too strong. We got in our room and got settled. The nurse finally checked me 5 cm, only one since Thursday. It looked like I had done it, I was in labor but not too far along. They started getting the water birth room ready and said they'd check me in a half an hour and then I could get in the tub. That was around 1:30am. We worked on some paper work between contractions. Then they decided they'd start moving furniture over to the waterbirth room and I could get in but baby had other plans. Just as everyone left the room my body just started pushing. At first I didn't believe it, but after another push Mr. Sloth called people back and everyone else believed it. Then there was a scurry as they moved all the furniture back into my room and called for the on-call OB. A few minutes later, at 2:17am "Pax" entered the world. 9 lbs 3 oz, 21 inches. Thankfully, my doctor didn't wait like she said she was going to do but came right away making it just in time to catch the baby. Even though I didn't get my waterbirth I'm more than happy with my two hour labor. I went from a few contractions to pushing, skipping that whole seriously painful part. If the rest of my babies could be like that I would be a happy girl.
In case you are wondering about the name "Pax". It of course means peace in Latin (Catholics and their Latin). He's such a peaceful little guy. Easily pleased and easily soothed.
So there you have it people the birth story. My apologies for the delay. I had 80% written when things went downhill around here. Life goes on I guess.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Tick Toc
I honestly don't have much to say but it's been almost two weeks. I guess I'm just waiting for something exciting to talk about, like a new baby. I don't even have many pictures because I have the camera packed away "just in case".
My due date was Monday and wouldn't you know it I woke up feeling the same way I felt the day I had Happy. We actually thought we might have a baby on their due date for once. Learning from history and slightly playing Murphy's Law.I hadn't tied up some loose ends that first time moms would have done months ago. I hadn't printed out a birth plan or packed clothes to come home in, cosmetic bag, etc. Before Mr. Sloth left for work (yep he worked on Labor Day) we realized that we needed to find the car seat base and I needed to wash the car seat cover. Sure enough we couldn't find the base. "Oh, well!", I thought, "It's a minor price to pay to have Murphy's Law work in your favor."
Mr. Sloth found the base in the trunk of his car at lunch (Don't ask, we don't even know why it was there.) By naptime I had finished packing my bag, the car seat was clean and ready to go and the house was spotless. By the end of nap time contractions had stopped.
It's like a superstitions tradition doesn't even work anymore.
The rest of the week has been off and on, but since I was a little more prepared this time around and I'm progressing more than usual I'm a little more ok with being past due this time around. Plus I have a cold. I wake up most days thinking "I am in no condition to have a baby today". The other problem is the children between the usual "Mom at the end of pregnancy" shenanigans and the hot close to summer the kids are a little out of sorts. I've resorted to TV and sugar just too many times and their routines and our meal plans are kaput. Plus Demand is getting very impatient waiting for this baby.
So we wait and hope we can keep the other kids happy and the house somewhat livable.
Tick-Toc, Little One.
My due date was Monday and wouldn't you know it I woke up feeling the same way I felt the day I had Happy. We actually thought we might have a baby on their due date for once. Learning from history and slightly playing Murphy's Law.I hadn't tied up some loose ends that first time moms would have done months ago. I hadn't printed out a birth plan or packed clothes to come home in, cosmetic bag, etc. Before Mr. Sloth left for work (yep he worked on Labor Day) we realized that we needed to find the car seat base and I needed to wash the car seat cover. Sure enough we couldn't find the base. "Oh, well!", I thought, "It's a minor price to pay to have Murphy's Law work in your favor."
Mr. Sloth found the base in the trunk of his car at lunch (Don't ask, we don't even know why it was there.) By naptime I had finished packing my bag, the car seat was clean and ready to go and the house was spotless. By the end of nap time contractions had stopped.
It's like a superstitions tradition doesn't even work anymore.
The rest of the week has been off and on, but since I was a little more prepared this time around and I'm progressing more than usual I'm a little more ok with being past due this time around. Plus I have a cold. I wake up most days thinking "I am in no condition to have a baby today". The other problem is the children between the usual "Mom at the end of pregnancy" shenanigans and the hot close to summer the kids are a little out of sorts. I've resorted to TV and sugar just too many times and their routines and our meal plans are kaput. Plus Demand is getting very impatient waiting for this baby.
So we wait and hope we can keep the other kids happy and the house somewhat livable.
Tick-Toc, Little One.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Better Than Planned
As I mentioned in my last post we're trying to do as much as we can during this last week of summer and yesterday was no exception. I spent the morning cooking and avoiding the question "Where are we going today?" while getting some mad cleaning & organizing done.
I was cleaning of course for sanity and because we're having a new baby. I was cooking because we were scheduled to drop off a meal for another family with a new baby. And I was avoiding the question, "Where are we going today?" because I was planning on taking the kids to the pool after nap time but I've made the mistake too many times of spilling the beans only to have plans change. And yesterday plans changed. Every mother knows that the best way to get a child to take a long nap is to make plans for after nap time. Mr. Sloth was grilling a turkey but I was in charge of the side dishes, so I dragged my body out of bed at nap time to finish making mashed potatoes and stuffing. Demand soon stumbled downstairs all sleepy eyed (and haired) and then I told her we were heading to the pool as soon as Happy woke up. I spent the next half hour loading the van, changing our clothes, and packing snacks.
tic, tock, tick, tock.
Mr. Sloth came home and made the prediction that Happy would sleep until 4pm...and he was right. Happy ALWAYS wakes up between 3pm and 3:04pm, but yesterday he was up a bit earlier and probably led to a longer nap. So plans changed. Instead of taking the kids to the pool after naps so Mr. Sloth could finish grilling and deliver the food, the kids and I delivered the food while Mr. Sloth grilled chicken for us and then right after dinner we ALL went to the pool. It ended up being a great plan except that it was a bit cooler than expected. The kids didn't mind, they dove right in water while Mr. Sloth and I only went in as far as we had to. The real challenge is Happy. While he LOVES the water he's a little too adventurous. He just wants to be UNDER water. He's a riot to watch, you just have to be RIGHT NEXT to him constantly because he's always going under...on purpose. It's always better to go somewhere with Mr. Sloth so we were glad that plans had changed...at least the kids and I thought so.
Both kids having good naps we were able to stay until 7:30pm when we decided it was just too cold and time to head home. I was a bit sad. It was a perfect night and so much fun to watch the kids but I know that it was probably the last time for our little family at the outdoor pool for the season. Next year Demand will be older and Happy will be 2 and we'll have a crawler...it just won't be the same. So sad :(
Since Happy napped late I was able to get all the dinner dishes cleaned before we even ate and I had already cleaned the rest of the house that day so we came home to a very clean and welcoming house. I stuck around admiring the cleanliness of it all while Mr. Sloth put the kids to bed and then I ran to the store for milk and three other items. (Yep, I came home with a whole car full of groceries.)
I hope to post pictures of the clean house so I can look back and remember them some day. Our next goal for the week is to head to the fair tomorrow. I have about 36 hours to NOT have the baby after that it's fair game.
I was cleaning of course for sanity and because we're having a new baby. I was cooking because we were scheduled to drop off a meal for another family with a new baby. And I was avoiding the question, "Where are we going today?" because I was planning on taking the kids to the pool after nap time but I've made the mistake too many times of spilling the beans only to have plans change. And yesterday plans changed. Every mother knows that the best way to get a child to take a long nap is to make plans for after nap time. Mr. Sloth was grilling a turkey but I was in charge of the side dishes, so I dragged my body out of bed at nap time to finish making mashed potatoes and stuffing. Demand soon stumbled downstairs all sleepy eyed (and haired) and then I told her we were heading to the pool as soon as Happy woke up. I spent the next half hour loading the van, changing our clothes, and packing snacks.
tic, tock, tick, tock.
Mr. Sloth came home and made the prediction that Happy would sleep until 4pm...and he was right. Happy ALWAYS wakes up between 3pm and 3:04pm, but yesterday he was up a bit earlier and probably led to a longer nap. So plans changed. Instead of taking the kids to the pool after naps so Mr. Sloth could finish grilling and deliver the food, the kids and I delivered the food while Mr. Sloth grilled chicken for us and then right after dinner we ALL went to the pool. It ended up being a great plan except that it was a bit cooler than expected. The kids didn't mind, they dove right in water while Mr. Sloth and I only went in as far as we had to. The real challenge is Happy. While he LOVES the water he's a little too adventurous. He just wants to be UNDER water. He's a riot to watch, you just have to be RIGHT NEXT to him constantly because he's always going under...on purpose. It's always better to go somewhere with Mr. Sloth so we were glad that plans had changed...at least the kids and I thought so.
Both kids having good naps we were able to stay until 7:30pm when we decided it was just too cold and time to head home. I was a bit sad. It was a perfect night and so much fun to watch the kids but I know that it was probably the last time for our little family at the outdoor pool for the season. Next year Demand will be older and Happy will be 2 and we'll have a crawler...it just won't be the same. So sad :(
Since Happy napped late I was able to get all the dinner dishes cleaned before we even ate and I had already cleaned the rest of the house that day so we came home to a very clean and welcoming house. I stuck around admiring the cleanliness of it all while Mr. Sloth put the kids to bed and then I ran to the store for milk and three other items. (Yep, I came home with a whole car full of groceries.)
I hope to post pictures of the clean house so I can look back and remember them some day. Our next goal for the week is to head to the fair tomorrow. I have about 36 hours to NOT have the baby after that it's fair game.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The Plan
Not only is the summer wrapping up but our time before baby arrives is coming to an end as well. "Up here" summer officially ends on Labor Day with most schools starting the next day. Labor Day happens to be the last day of the State Fair and of course, my due date.
So you may have guessed that things are getting busy and summer and fall schedules are starting to mesh together. This is our last week before our due date so I'm trying to get anything done that's best done without three children, I also want to enjoy the last week of summer with the kids, but at the same time I'm anxious to get rolling with homeschooling too. I'm trying to be conscious of the fact the in a few months it will be cold and we'll be stuck inside...plenty of time for school, for now we play.
Of course are week is already packed. Monday we are scheduled to drop off a meal for friends who just had a baby and Mr. Sloth is grilling a Turkey. To make life easier for us all I'll be taking the kids to the pool in the afternoon so Mr. Sloth can grill and work at home alone...and our house will stay clean. If I spend the morning cleaning and making the side dishes we should just have to come home to a clean house and dinner ready to eat. It sounds like a great plan anyway...
Tuesday is supposed to be rainy which is perfect. The kids and friends of ours are going to the mall for no good reason. We just haven't been in a while and it's a good place to get some pre-labor walking done. Gotta be in shape! And again it will be nice to have the kids a meal out of the home and keep the dining room/kitchen somewhat clean.
Wednesday or Thursday we are heading to the State Fair. Demand is REALLY excited and even though I'm probably going to go past my due date I'm afraid of having the baby before we go to the State Fair. Demand and I would both be disappointed. (Mr. Sloth would probably take her on his own though) So my only real go is to not go into labor before arriving at the State Fair. I can start laboring there, that's just fine. Walking and eating is great for that. Oh, I can't wait!!
Friday: As to start getting into a new fall schedule I'm trying to keep Fridays open as a free day for field trips or play dates. Fridays are great for that. I do have book club that night though, so that's exciting.
My other real goal for the week, other than NOT to have the baby before State Fair is to have the carpets and couch steam cleaned. I find them rather embarrassing right now and would REALLY feel ready for baby to come if they were done. As far as the house goes, the garage and downstairs bathroom are done and I *kinda* started working on the playroom. Mommy didn't get much time to work on it this weekend though, but who didn't see that coming?? I'm proud of myself for finding a way to rearrange some furniture and use some pre-existing shelving to give us more shelving and better storage without having to buy more. Next big step is to pain the tiny wall to match the adjacent one and then hang the shelves up. Other than having the carpets cleaned that's all the room really needs.
The last week I've been working on putting together a new fall schedule and getting as much prepared in advance for home schooling that we can before baby arrives. We've already done 7 weeks of her preschool program and around 3-4 lessons each of her reading and math so we're not doing horrible. I've been playing around a lot with what times to do certain activities and I think I found a schedule that works for us. I'm looking at a three day school week of Mon/Wed/Thurs, Demand has Good Shepard on Tuesday afternoons and Fridays we leave free.
So on school days here's my tentative schedule (assuming baby is completely cooperative and in agreement of course).
6:30am: I get up and dressed and such and start breakfast. Chances are Demand will be up for hours already as we don't know what time she actually wakes up.
7-8am Children release from crib/ upstairs and breakfast is served. I've decided to do and faith formation, mostly "Who am I?" over breakfast as meals are always a great time to teach the faith. For example.....Mass. I've started doing this the last few days and it's working fabulously. Demand can do her workbook pages or crafts later in the day but stories,Q&A , etc works great while the kids are eating. Demand loves it when I read saint stories or Bible stories during meals anyways. After breakfast will be quick downstairs clean up.
8-9am Upstairs dress kids, brush teeth, do hair and make beds. We pretty much do this already so that shouldn't take too much adjusting, we'll just have another baby to work with. And finally start laundry. I have a great new system for doing laundry, but I'll share that some other day.
9-10am Schooling--Little Saints Preschool Program. It definitely doesn't take an hour I'm just assuming we'll need some wiggle room and I'll most likely have to nurse the baby, change a diaper, stop a fight, you get the idea.
10/ 10:30am- 11am. Snack time then chores, playtime, etc.
11:30am make/eat lunch, clean up, playtime
1pm -Nap time for Happy and most likely baby. Demand and I will either work on MathUSee, Little Stories for Little Folks, other supplemental things like Bob Books, general reading, board games, computer games, preschool workbooks, or just plain old resting time.
3pm- Happy usually wakes up at 3pm-3:04pm sharp. Then it's snack time and playtime giving me time to get more housework done and start dinner. I'd also like to have the kids do more cooking during this time if possible. Both kids love to cook (What kid doesn't?) Cooking is definitely on our list of things to incorporate into home schooling.
Basically we're doing the preschool program while Happy is awake because he follows along with most of it as far as the songs, books, games go, and of course he'll be learning too. I decided that trying to do Math and Reading while Happy is awake just doesn't work for our family right now and since Demand is doing Kindergarten Math and Reading she needs more concentration. Next year he'll have a playmate and that should help entertain him if need be.
So that's our plan and it's just that a plan for now. Not knowing the baby and his/her plans yet anything could change so we're ready to be flexible, but we need to start with some plan of action.
So that's the plan for the next week, and then some. Now if we only knew when baby was joining our family...
So you may have guessed that things are getting busy and summer and fall schedules are starting to mesh together. This is our last week before our due date so I'm trying to get anything done that's best done without three children, I also want to enjoy the last week of summer with the kids, but at the same time I'm anxious to get rolling with homeschooling too. I'm trying to be conscious of the fact the in a few months it will be cold and we'll be stuck inside...plenty of time for school, for now we play.
Of course are week is already packed. Monday we are scheduled to drop off a meal for friends who just had a baby and Mr. Sloth is grilling a Turkey. To make life easier for us all I'll be taking the kids to the pool in the afternoon so Mr. Sloth can grill and work at home alone...and our house will stay clean. If I spend the morning cleaning and making the side dishes we should just have to come home to a clean house and dinner ready to eat. It sounds like a great plan anyway...
Tuesday is supposed to be rainy which is perfect. The kids and friends of ours are going to the mall for no good reason. We just haven't been in a while and it's a good place to get some pre-labor walking done. Gotta be in shape! And again it will be nice to have the kids a meal out of the home and keep the dining room/kitchen somewhat clean.
Wednesday or Thursday we are heading to the State Fair. Demand is REALLY excited and even though I'm probably going to go past my due date I'm afraid of having the baby before we go to the State Fair. Demand and I would both be disappointed. (Mr. Sloth would probably take her on his own though) So my only real go is to not go into labor before arriving at the State Fair. I can start laboring there, that's just fine. Walking and eating is great for that. Oh, I can't wait!!
Friday: As to start getting into a new fall schedule I'm trying to keep Fridays open as a free day for field trips or play dates. Fridays are great for that. I do have book club that night though, so that's exciting.
My other real goal for the week, other than NOT to have the baby before State Fair is to have the carpets and couch steam cleaned. I find them rather embarrassing right now and would REALLY feel ready for baby to come if they were done. As far as the house goes, the garage and downstairs bathroom are done and I *kinda* started working on the playroom. Mommy didn't get much time to work on it this weekend though, but who didn't see that coming?? I'm proud of myself for finding a way to rearrange some furniture and use some pre-existing shelving to give us more shelving and better storage without having to buy more. Next big step is to pain the tiny wall to match the adjacent one and then hang the shelves up. Other than having the carpets cleaned that's all the room really needs.
The last week I've been working on putting together a new fall schedule and getting as much prepared in advance for home schooling that we can before baby arrives. We've already done 7 weeks of her preschool program and around 3-4 lessons each of her reading and math so we're not doing horrible. I've been playing around a lot with what times to do certain activities and I think I found a schedule that works for us. I'm looking at a three day school week of Mon/Wed/Thurs, Demand has Good Shepard on Tuesday afternoons and Fridays we leave free.
So on school days here's my tentative schedule (assuming baby is completely cooperative and in agreement of course).
6:30am: I get up and dressed and such and start breakfast. Chances are Demand will be up for hours already as we don't know what time she actually wakes up.
7-8am Children release from crib/ upstairs and breakfast is served. I've decided to do and faith formation, mostly "Who am I?" over breakfast as meals are always a great time to teach the faith. For example.....Mass. I've started doing this the last few days and it's working fabulously. Demand can do her workbook pages or crafts later in the day but stories,Q&A , etc works great while the kids are eating. Demand loves it when I read saint stories or Bible stories during meals anyways. After breakfast will be quick downstairs clean up.
8-9am Upstairs dress kids, brush teeth, do hair and make beds. We pretty much do this already so that shouldn't take too much adjusting, we'll just have another baby to work with. And finally start laundry. I have a great new system for doing laundry, but I'll share that some other day.
9-10am Schooling--Little Saints Preschool Program. It definitely doesn't take an hour I'm just assuming we'll need some wiggle room and I'll most likely have to nurse the baby, change a diaper, stop a fight, you get the idea.
10/ 10:30am- 11am. Snack time then chores, playtime, etc.
11:30am make/eat lunch, clean up, playtime
1pm -Nap time for Happy and most likely baby. Demand and I will either work on MathUSee, Little Stories for Little Folks, other supplemental things like Bob Books, general reading, board games, computer games, preschool workbooks, or just plain old resting time.
3pm- Happy usually wakes up at 3pm-3:04pm sharp. Then it's snack time and playtime giving me time to get more housework done and start dinner. I'd also like to have the kids do more cooking during this time if possible. Both kids love to cook (What kid doesn't?) Cooking is definitely on our list of things to incorporate into home schooling.
Basically we're doing the preschool program while Happy is awake because he follows along with most of it as far as the songs, books, games go, and of course he'll be learning too. I decided that trying to do Math and Reading while Happy is awake just doesn't work for our family right now and since Demand is doing Kindergarten Math and Reading she needs more concentration. Next year he'll have a playmate and that should help entertain him if need be.
So that's our plan and it's just that a plan for now. Not knowing the baby and his/her plans yet anything could change so we're ready to be flexible, but we need to start with some plan of action.
So that's the plan for the next week, and then some. Now if we only knew when baby was joining our family...
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Feasting
It's been a big week for Feast Days and fun around the Sloth home.
First we had the Feast of the Assumption on Sunday. Since Demand is at a great learning age I'm trying to celebrate two feasts days a month to teach her about the saints. Of course some feast days are bigger than others, but this month we have two really big ones. My original plans didn't seem so grand at first but I saw that look in Mr. Sloth's eye and knew I needed to scale back.
We tried to use the colors white and blue as much as possible and explain to Demand that white is for Mary's purity and blue is the color of heaven.
We started with breakfast. First we had powdered doughnuts (clouds) and blueberry bread. Afterward the kids and I colored pictures of Mary being Assumed into Heaven...we colored some additional pictures as well.
Next we got dressed for Mass and everyone tried to wear blue. I was a little slacking as my options are limited these days. During lunch (which was just random things from our refrigerator) we drank blue Powerade just to keep up the theme. Before dinner Demand helped me decorate the dining room and make paper flowers. I had bought some real flowers too but we disappointed that they didn't have white or blue. So we made paper lilies (a purity flower) and hung blue and white streamers and the pictures we had colored and then Demand helped me make cloud dessert. For dinner we had Chipotle because we found out that kids eat free on Sundays in August so we're taking advantage of it in our late pregnancy state.
The cloud dessert was a hit and oh so easy! Oh, and I forgot to mention that we let Demand and Happy borrow The Rosary for Kids (by Demands request) from Church since it talked about Mary's Assumption. It was a fun day and Demand was really excited to hear that HER feast day was Wednesday...
We've been hunting for baseball tickets for sometime now and two day ago friend offered us theirs. Great timing! We'd promised Demand back in the Spring that we would take her at some point and with baby coming and playoffs approaching we were running out of time. It was a perfect night for it too. Absolutely gorgeous weather. As excited as Demand was she wanted to leave during the 5th inning. "No way!", I thought. I don't get out much, I'm not leaving now and during a good game. We stuck it out until the middle of the eighth when there was a good chance we'd win. Sure enough just as we left the parking garage the game was tied up and went into extra innings. We listened to the radio on the way home and found out we won by a home run in the 10th inning. Sounds like fun, wish we could have been there but Miss "I'm so tired" was too busy chatting away in the backseat.
Next it was Demand's feast day! We had a busy day planned so the simple activities we had planned were for dinner time only. The kids and I started the day at a much needed trip to the chiropractors then it was home for lunch. Shortly after lunch I put Happy down for a nap (That kid loves his naps!) I let Demand stay up since I had to pre-make all the food for her celebration and of course she wanted to help. First we started with dessert. Years ago I saw a "Duggar" recipe for a homemade ice cream cake and since the recipe looked easy and Demand loves ice cream I thought it was the best time to try it. The recipe was SUPER easy and great for kids to do. Demand could do all the steps on her own. Demands attention span was done after making the cake so I made dinner while she worked on some preschool activities at the dining room table. For dinner I just made cold pasta dish with penne, chicken, grape tomatoes, cubed mozarella, pine nuts, and fresh basil. The basil was the reason for the dish. We learned that the Mountain on which St. Helen found the cross had a lot of basil growing on it so basil is traditionally eaten on her feast day.
With dinner ready and in the fridge (and Happy now awake) we made the after dinner game. I thought that since St. Helen is most known for finding the true cross that we could play a game of find the cross. Demand and Happy "helped" me make 9 crosses for the game. (No reason for the number nine, I just didn't feel like making any more.)
Next we all piled into the van for our family dentist appointment. Since Happy didn't need to see the dentist yet I dropped him off at a friends to make life easier. Happy was just fine since his babysitter has a baby, a 2 year old boy, boy toys, a dog, a cat, cable and a car he can ride in.... yep, he did just fine. It was Demand's first real appointment so I was a bit nervous for her. I went first and it was perfect timing that Mr. Sloth showed up just as I finished. He stayed with her for their turns while I picked up Happy.
What do you do after the dentists? Go home and eat sugar of course!! Demand had no interest in eating dinner. Surprise, surprise, but choked it down for some ice cream cake. Turns out the cake isn't' as overwhelming as it seems. It was quite tasty actually. After dessert we played a few rounds of "Find the Cross" both kids had fun even if Happy had no idea what was going on.
So that was our week of feasting. I was nervous at the doctors this morning when for just a second it said I had gained seven pounds in one week. I did not however, whew!
Here's the recipe for the ice cream cake, it can also be found on the Duggar Website.
LAYERED ICE CREAM CAKE
Makes a 9”x 13” Pan
24 Ice cream sandwiches
8 oz. Cool Whip™
1 Hershey’s™ chocolate syrup bottle
1 Smuckers™ caramel syrup bottle
2 king size Butterfinger™ candy bars chopped up
1st layer -12 ice cream sandwiches
2nd – half of whipped cream
3rd - half of Butterfinger™ bars, Squeeze 1/2 of caramel &
chocolate over that.
4th - rest of ice cream sandwiches
5th – Cool Whip™
6th - rest of Butterfinger™, caramel & chocolate
You can freeze this and eat as desired! Yummy! Yummy!
First we had the Feast of the Assumption on Sunday. Since Demand is at a great learning age I'm trying to celebrate two feasts days a month to teach her about the saints. Of course some feast days are bigger than others, but this month we have two really big ones. My original plans didn't seem so grand at first but I saw that look in Mr. Sloth's eye and knew I needed to scale back.
We tried to use the colors white and blue as much as possible and explain to Demand that white is for Mary's purity and blue is the color of heaven.
We started with breakfast. First we had powdered doughnuts (clouds) and blueberry bread. Afterward the kids and I colored pictures of Mary being Assumed into Heaven...we colored some additional pictures as well.
Next we got dressed for Mass and everyone tried to wear blue. I was a little slacking as my options are limited these days. During lunch (which was just random things from our refrigerator) we drank blue Powerade just to keep up the theme. Before dinner Demand helped me decorate the dining room and make paper flowers. I had bought some real flowers too but we disappointed that they didn't have white or blue. So we made paper lilies (a purity flower) and hung blue and white streamers and the pictures we had colored and then Demand helped me make cloud dessert. For dinner we had Chipotle because we found out that kids eat free on Sundays in August so we're taking advantage of it in our late pregnancy state.
The cloud dessert was a hit and oh so easy! Oh, and I forgot to mention that we let Demand and Happy borrow The Rosary for Kids (by Demands request) from Church since it talked about Mary's Assumption. It was a fun day and Demand was really excited to hear that HER feast day was Wednesday...
We've been hunting for baseball tickets for sometime now and two day ago friend offered us theirs. Great timing! We'd promised Demand back in the Spring that we would take her at some point and with baby coming and playoffs approaching we were running out of time. It was a perfect night for it too. Absolutely gorgeous weather. As excited as Demand was she wanted to leave during the 5th inning. "No way!", I thought. I don't get out much, I'm not leaving now and during a good game. We stuck it out until the middle of the eighth when there was a good chance we'd win. Sure enough just as we left the parking garage the game was tied up and went into extra innings. We listened to the radio on the way home and found out we won by a home run in the 10th inning. Sounds like fun, wish we could have been there but Miss "I'm so tired" was too busy chatting away in the backseat.
Next it was Demand's feast day! We had a busy day planned so the simple activities we had planned were for dinner time only. The kids and I started the day at a much needed trip to the chiropractors then it was home for lunch. Shortly after lunch I put Happy down for a nap (That kid loves his naps!) I let Demand stay up since I had to pre-make all the food for her celebration and of course she wanted to help. First we started with dessert. Years ago I saw a "Duggar" recipe for a homemade ice cream cake and since the recipe looked easy and Demand loves ice cream I thought it was the best time to try it. The recipe was SUPER easy and great for kids to do. Demand could do all the steps on her own. Demands attention span was done after making the cake so I made dinner while she worked on some preschool activities at the dining room table. For dinner I just made cold pasta dish with penne, chicken, grape tomatoes, cubed mozarella, pine nuts, and fresh basil. The basil was the reason for the dish. We learned that the Mountain on which St. Helen found the cross had a lot of basil growing on it so basil is traditionally eaten on her feast day.
With dinner ready and in the fridge (and Happy now awake) we made the after dinner game. I thought that since St. Helen is most known for finding the true cross that we could play a game of find the cross. Demand and Happy "helped" me make 9 crosses for the game. (No reason for the number nine, I just didn't feel like making any more.)
Next we all piled into the van for our family dentist appointment. Since Happy didn't need to see the dentist yet I dropped him off at a friends to make life easier. Happy was just fine since his babysitter has a baby, a 2 year old boy, boy toys, a dog, a cat, cable and a car he can ride in.... yep, he did just fine. It was Demand's first real appointment so I was a bit nervous for her. I went first and it was perfect timing that Mr. Sloth showed up just as I finished. He stayed with her for their turns while I picked up Happy.
What do you do after the dentists? Go home and eat sugar of course!! Demand had no interest in eating dinner. Surprise, surprise, but choked it down for some ice cream cake. Turns out the cake isn't' as overwhelming as it seems. It was quite tasty actually. After dessert we played a few rounds of "Find the Cross" both kids had fun even if Happy had no idea what was going on.
So that was our week of feasting. I was nervous at the doctors this morning when for just a second it said I had gained seven pounds in one week. I did not however, whew!
Here's the recipe for the ice cream cake, it can also be found on the Duggar Website.
LAYERED ICE CREAM CAKE
Makes a 9”x 13” Pan
24 Ice cream sandwiches
8 oz. Cool Whip™
1 Hershey’s™ chocolate syrup bottle
1 Smuckers™ caramel syrup bottle
2 king size Butterfinger™ candy bars chopped up
1st layer -12 ice cream sandwiches
2nd – half of whipped cream
3rd - half of Butterfinger™ bars, Squeeze 1/2 of caramel &
chocolate over that.
4th - rest of ice cream sandwiches
5th – Cool Whip™
6th - rest of Butterfinger™, caramel & chocolate
You can freeze this and eat as desired! Yummy! Yummy!
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