Sloppy

At 5am Mr. Sloths phone alarm went off. (Yes, we Sloths don't believe in things like actual alarm clocks anymore) He was trying out a new ring. We had discussed previously in the week that I should be the one to pick out the sound since I'm the one who actually hears the alarm. At 5am I was cognitive enough to come up with the sentence, "That is obnoxious". Thankfully though, the alarm was just for him and I went back to sleep.

At 7:05am I heard Happy screaming in his crib, assuming Demand had been up for hours I let him go for a few minutes hoping he'd work things out. He did not. I came in the room and he was screaming and Demand was laying bed also wondering why her brother was screaming.

So that was the beginning to our day. I had no plans for the so I made the decision to not have plans for the day. In fact I would take the day slowly and make cleaning my only goal. To be quite honest I never changed out of my pajamas all day. There are a number of reasons though, one, I didn't feel like it, two, only three shirts fit me now anyway, and three my only plan for the day was cleaning. I made the mistake of turning on the "Today Show" while having a leisurely morning drinking coffee and cleaning up downstairs. Choosing to not watch that show a few months ago was a good decision. That's all I'm going to say.

I was pretty slow to dress the children. Demand was only running around in a tank top and underwear so I did dress her, but Happy was wearing footed pjs so I let him roam a bit. It wasn't until I noticed him tugging on his clothes that I realized he wanted real clothes on. He was really excited when I showed him clothes. He grabbed his shirt and sat down to be dressed. The kids played happily almost all day while I cleaned and organized random rooms. I did notice that with no schedule to the day the morning goes by pretty slow.

Before I forget I gave myself a random goal to use as much from our freezer, pantry, and refrigerator as possible this week. (AKA no extra grocery trips) It's getting more tricky and it's only Tuesday so we'll see if we can make it to Friday. Right now we are out of fruit and tortilla chips which is the equivalent to being out of toilet paper and heated water. Sorry, we are not completely out of fruit; we have two apples and I found a big can of peaches in the pantry (plus tons of frozen fruit), but my kids really like fruit. So lunch was leftovers and a mish-mash of food. After lunch we have our new tradition of having to sooth Happy because he cries when Mr. Sloth leave to go back to work (Who doesn't!).Thankfully though books heal all wounds around here. Happy's vocabulary has really grown this week. He now can now say fish (shh-shh), truck (guck), and uh-oh. Last week he started telling us or admitting when he....filled his pants. If you ask him if he pooed he bends himself in half looking at his diaper and then stands up and says "I poo, I poo". Don't be fooled though he still has no intention of having his diaper changed. He bolts out of the room if you accuse him of such stinkiness.

Happy woke up from his nap a bit early and Demand was still sleeping (and I wanted to be) so I took him downstairs for cuddles on the couch with Curious George. Happy is so cudddly when he wakes up I just can't pass it up. As we were laying there our friend stopped by to see what we were up to. She has a one year old little girl. Happy wasn't interested in playing right away he was very content cuddling and watching his show. We had a casual kiddie-pool party playdate a block down the street scheduled for later in the afternoon but first I thought I would make dinner.

Sloppy Joes! To round off my day of sloppiness. I made the actual sloppy joes before heading down the street for our playdate. Once I saw Mr. Sloth's car in the driveway we headed home. It was then that I realized I hadn't really planned dinner. I came up with some sides on the spot. Leftover canned peaches from lunch and pickles. I found half a bag of french fries in the freezer and realized I could deep fry them in 8 minutes. I have owned a deep fryer for 7 years now and it has never dawned on me to do this. It was yummy! I had more than my fill of food. So that was our sloppy day. Here are some pictures from last nights dinner. It was also yummy.

Yesterday's Menu

Chicken with 40 cloves
cheddar biscuits
chive mashed potatoes
salad
wine




Before



During




After




Tomorrows menu

Breakfast: probably cereal the kids like cereal. I am always wiling to make pancakes or french toast though.

Lunch: This will get interesting. Grilled cheese perhaps? We have mashed potatoes perhaps I can make potato pancakes (not that I've actually made these before) I'm sure no one will go hungry though.

Dinner: left overs. Finders keepers!


Friday night we are having veggie Papa Murphy's since I have book club later. Quick fix, and no clean up, plus their veggie pizza is super yummy!

Ok, enough about food, I'm hungry.

The List

You know it's funny I had a nice neat list of things to do today and there was nothing on the list that said "put up with whiny, fussy children". Do they even read my lists???

I came downstairs this morning and the from the moment Happy saw me it was nothing but fussiness. Now Demand was a different case. I had planned out some home school stuff for us after our morning chores but she kept refusing to clean saying she just wants to play. I decided to let her play however playing turned into whining and complaining about Happy. Grrrr! It got so bad it started to feel like I was breathing in a steam room. (I don't like steam rooms) We did end up doing some school work which she loved. Today our lesson was on smelling and tasting. She had fun. Poor Mr. Sloth probably had the worst lunch hour as the kids were still fussy and I was signed out. I took a ten minute-cool down nap and then tried to ignore the whining. It was quite clear an early nap was in order. Around 2:30pm everyone was up and a bit happier. We are now convinced that Happy is getting yet another tooth now that we look back at the past few days of symptoms, doesn't explain Demand's behavior though.

So that was the morning. Overall our day was actually productive. During the morning I made the first step in arranging this baby's Baptism and I also made Dentist appointments, both have been on my to do list for a long time. After the much needed naps, I strapped the kids into the van with snacks and some milk and we were off to run errands and head to the gym. We first stopped at Office Max where I inevitably grabbed a cart with a broken seat belt. I spent half of the trip trying to keep Happy in the cart. There was a poor man behind us in line with only one item and then after we left I realized I was blocking him from his car with my many car doors. He was very nice and said it wasn't a bother and that I had cute kids. I doubt how much he knows comments like that can lift a mom up some days. Next stop was Michael's. As a part of our downstairs bathroom remodel I wanted to frame a print of a hand-drawn map of Assisi that Obscure bought us during our trip. First off, let me just say that Demand found this map the other day and took the wrapping off and started coloring on the wrapping. We are so lucky she didn't see the black and white map and think it needed color as well. Anyway, I knew custom framing was expensive so I was waiting for a Michael's coupon before having it done. I knew framing was expensive, but I had no idea how expensive. Without the coupon it would have been $340. That's a lot of money for something to look at while you wash your hands. Thankfully the coupon was for 60% off. At first she told me it was going to be $160. I said, "Great, now how can we get that lower". So I guess I am an official adult because I just paid $149 for something that is going to hang in my powder room.

By the time we were done at Michael's it was too late to head to the gym which is frustrating because the gym is only a few blocks from Michael's. I called Mr. Sloth to let him know he could work late if he wanted as Dinner wouldn't be ready until 5:30pm. I decided to save my nerves and have the kids watch the VeggieTales they got from Church this week while I made dinner. At some point I read on one of the blogs that it was the Feast of St. Anne and Joachim and that St. Anne is associated with the colors green and red so many people celebrate her feast with watermelon themed dishes. Shower of Roses did a Watermelon Pie. I had no intention to start celebrating feast days until August but since I had been meaning to make this drink anyway and had all the ingredients I thought I would give a try.

We had taco salad for dinner (it was only a salad because I failed to pick up and taco shells or tortillas) so the red of the tomatoes and the green of the lettuce and green onions was festive. Next, and this is where it gets dorky, I found a picture of St. Anne on the computer and put my computer in the center of the dining room table. Now that's a technologically advanced Catholic home for you. When I tried explained St. Anne to Demand she laughed when I mentioned she was Jesus' grandmother. I'm sure it's never dawned on her that Jesus had a grandmother. After dinner I made the watermelon drinks. I really had no idea if I would like them or even Demand but we both loved them. Mr. Sloth kept it monastic with his beer but did enjoy the taste he had.




Mmmm! The Sloths could eat tacos for dinner everynight.




Classy, huh?



Watermelon Slushies


After drinks I gave the kids haircuts. Happy desperately needed one and I just pretended to give Demand one because she loves getting her hair cut. I then, for some reason, agreed to clean the kitchen instead of putting the kids to bed. Perhaps I need to look at the kitchen before making such agreements from now on.

Tomorrow I had big plans to take the kids to the pool but my pool buddy can't make it and it looks like it might storm and since we have to drive a half an hour to get there I'm not going to risk getting the kids excited. Demand asked if we could do more homeschooling tomorrow which we can and maybe we'll head to the gym in the morning as well.

Aside from the framed map, which will take two weeks apparently, I just have to hang the towel ring in the powder room and we'll be all done. Mr. Sloth hung the toilet paper holder tonight. Next I can start working on the play room!!

For dinner tomorrow I'm making one of Ina Garten's recipes. "Chicken with 40 cloves" I've been wanting to make this dish since we bought our Le Creuset pan a few months ago. So it's going to be Chicken, mashed potatoes with chives (I've grown them I have to use them in something) salad and cheddar biscuits for dinner tomorrow. That is if Mr. Sloth remembers to stop at the liquor store before lunch and pick up dry white wine and cognac. I have not reached the point where I am desperate enough to drag my children through the liquor store just yet even if they do know us by name.

So even though the children tried to plot against me and my list today. The list and I conquered, I got everything done on the list. Yay for me.

Finding Balance

This week the Sloths are starting to find some new balance to life. From Sunday celebrations, to the home, to preparing for the arrival of the new little sloth and even to a new/first school year.

First, let me explain Sundays. A few weeks ago Mr. Sloth and I hit a wall one Sunday afternoon. I believe my real breakdown was when after a day of whiny kids at Mass, whiny kids all day and short naps, I was trying to make a taco dinner (on the Fourth of July) and I had 6 people in the kitchen with me. (Two of whom were less than cordial.) I had had it! I was done, sick of Sundays! What were we doing wrong? Isn't this supposed to be a day of rest?? Mr. Sloth agreed; our Sundays were miserable from the moment we woke up. We had a messy home, we were living on top of each other whiny kids and felt anything but rested. I went to my good ole home school group for answers. As it turns out we aren't the only family with this struggle, but the good news is we found some suggestions that work and/or are least worth trying. Many explained that Sundays with little ones are always going to be work and it's just where we are in our lives right now. So here are some of our new changes.

Since the messy house bothers us so much and we live in a cramped space we can't just let it go, but we don't have to clean all day. If we clean Saturday night and once or twice on Sundays there shouldn't be too much work.

Secondly, even though we love to cook, cooking makes a mess so we need to simplify (Sadly).

Third, we need to just relax and have fun, mess or no mess.

A few weeks ago was our first attempt at a new approach to Sundays. As usual I had everyones clothes ready for Church the night before. I prepared a french toast bake the night before and it ready to put in the oven by morning. We're not fans of casseroles but if it gives us some peace it might be worth it. We also decided that while many families go very formal on Sundays this exhausted young family is going very informal on Sundays. Disposable everything; cups, plates, silverware... I had also prepared a crock pot meal (again we don't usually like them but we're desperate for peace) of beef-stroganoff before we left for Mass so it would be done for dinner.

The next step was relaxation. Our problem is that both Mr. Sloth and myself want to rest but the children make this nearly impossible and they are, for some reason, always whiny and clingy on Sundays. So how could we entertain the children and relax???? You may have guessed; Television. We decided to get a special movie for the kids and make popcorn this way Mr. Sloth and myself could at least rest on the couch for the afternoon.

For the most part our plans worked. The kids loved the novelty of movie and popcorn with Mom and Dad and we loved the rest and ease of everything. It was definitely a much better Sunday over all even though the food was just so-so, but I'm working on that...

Today was another attempt at a happy-restful Sunday. Without doing much preparation and considering I hadn't prepped clothes the night before and Mr. Sloth and I both slept in... things went pretty well. We've started to ween Happy off of his Masstime nap while trying the technique of not letting a child touch the floor of the Church until they are two or three years old, and he's getting much more tolerable. Before if he was awake he was running, but now Mr. Sloth holds him the whole time and today was the first day he didn't fuss. Keeping him awake is crucial to our restful Sundays because if he naps at Church he doesn't nap later which means WE don't nap later. Demand wasn't her best at Church today but we are trying new things with her as well. I've been telling her she can kneel, sit, or stand (at any time) but she can't hang on us or lay down, if she does then she has to lay down when we get home. We're also trying to curb the unnecessary trips to the bathroom. For the first time in years she cried at Mass when I told her she couldn't lay down. When she did anyway she received 10 minutes in bed when we got home from Church.

Over breakfast I had the idea of just having the kids out at the pool for the afternoon and make it a fun pool party. Dressed for Church and kids in the van I was filling a kiddie pool so it would be warm after lunch. Home from Church we all changed clothes and Demand had her ten minutes in bed before we had leftovers for lunch then after a quick clean up Demand and I made popsicles from her cookbook and then it was out to the pool...for some of us. Demand kept insisting that it was too hot out so instead of hearing her whine we let her play inside. I sat reading in the shade with my feet in the now warm water while Happy played with the water. Mr. Sloth tossed the football around with Sidekick before remembering he was older now and out of shape and that it was much warmer than he realized.

At last it was nap time.(Turns out we were right, Demand was tired) Wouldn't you know it, I wasn't particularly tired. After a short nap I woke up, but the kids were still asleep and Mr. Sloth was watching baseball. After a loverly plate of nachos I headed back out to the pool for more reading and sunshine. Don't fall off your chair but I read an entire book this weekend! Me! Mrs. Sloth! I'll explain but first let me finish our Sunday....

I had a great time in the sun finishing my book and flipping through an Ina Garten cook book and getting wonderful ideas for the next few weeks. Mmmmmm! When the kids woke up it was clean up time and then off to Grandmas for Mr. Sloth's birthday celebration. By the time we left the house the downstairs was spotless, a rarity for a Sunday. Dinner and ice cream cake at Grandmas helped keep our home peaceful as well of course.

So my book. I read "The Well-Ordered Home" this weekend. Granted it is small in size and only 120 pages but I devoured every word. It has helped inspire my grand plan for August. In the car yesterday I referred to August as "Garage" month. Mr. Sloth wasn't as excited as I was. Back in May Mr. Sloth bought lumber for a number of projects one of which was re-shelving the garage. It has yet to be started. I thought with summer ending and baby coming, August would be the best time to get this project done. Hopefully he agrees. So that's just the garage, using tips from this book I hope to purge each room in the home or at least the top few. I also want to continue to purge clothing (something I started this week) and start reorganizing our storage space since we're most likely in this house until next Spring. Purging clothes is the first step in reorganizing our bedroom since we'll have a new little roommate in a few weeks. It dawned on me recently that Obscure is storing our newborn clothes at his home for the moment but I have no where to put them until we reorganize our bedroom. I hope to finish redecorating the downstairs bathroom this week before finally starting in on the playroom. I moved furniture around a week ago but there are still some storage issues to work out before the start of a school year.

Speaking of school year. I realized today that Demand's fall schedule is booking fast. She has Good Shepard (preschool CCD meets Montessori) on Tuesdays and most home school field trips happen on Fridays so that leaves three days a week and we'd like her to take one more extra curricular activity such as ballet or swimming or gymnastics. As for me I have decided to not teach CCD this year and Thursday morning Bible Study was canceled but I'm more than ok with that. I'll try and plan home school stuff while Mr. Sloth teaches CCD and a number of us are doing the Bible Time-line Study starting in August. Since I've already done the study it will just be a refresher but honestly I think I could do the study every year and learn something new each time.

So like I said we're trying to find balance in Slothville. Balance of time, balance of possessions and balance of work vs. rest.

A Surprising Turnout

Today didn't start out well, at least the first five hours past midnight. I went to bed early last night thinking I could get up earlier (and because I was tired) but I had a hard time falling asleep. At some point around 1am I had a dream that involved a doorbell and I woke up suddenly. Mr. Sloth and I spent the next fifteen minutes trying to figure out if it was a real doorbell. Then I couldn't get back to sleep because when I woke with a jolt it woke up baby and now baby was kicking the life out of me. It took a long while to fall asleep, but it wasn't for long. Mr. Sloth then had a dream which made him half scream in his sleep again waking us both...I mean the three of us. After the kicking stopped again and I was almost asleep Demand started screaming in her sleep. (Unfortunately a common occurrence.) Mr. Sloth got her back to sleep but within the hour I heard the pitter-patter of her feet in our room. Sure enough it was her and she was scared. After I put her back to bed and finally got back to sleep I stayed asleep until 7:50am. I met Mr. Sloth in the kitchen thinking he would be at Mass by now. Turns out he was going to let me sleep in but now that I was up he decided to catch Mass afterall.

So that's how the day started. I am much pleased with how it turned out.

After an understandably leisurely start to the morning the slothlings and I were dressed and ready for the day by 9am. After I was unable to set up a playdate for the morning I decided to take the kids to the library but we had an hour to kill until they opened. For the most part they were self entertained while I did some laundry. I then had the idea to work on sorting and consolidating the art boxes in preparation for the school year. I let the kids play with some of the supplies they hadn't seen in a while. It was great entertainment while I did some sorting and cleaned the playroom a bit. They had so much fun Demand didn't want to go to the library! I practically had to force her in the van.

We got to the library just as it opened and there were plenty of other children there. It's nice that it's such a child friendly library. It was "Art Attack Friday" and it was a project that Demand could do. Demand started in on the project and with a deep breath I let Happy out of the stroller. He was really good he stayed close and played with appropriate things...for a while. With Happy in sight I snuck away to the reserve shelf to pick up a book that was waiting for me. (The whole reason we were there to start with) For about one minute I couldn't find Demand. This is very unlike Demand. She wasn't in the reading house or by the kids books or by the crafts. VERY unlike her. Finally she popped out from behind a giant decoration. The reading house was too crowded and she wanted to read on her own.

About that time Happy decided to test his limits. Mr. Sloth and I are cracking down more and more on his running about. I guessed it was the best time to start training him how to act in the library. He ran all the way across the library so into the stroller he went. At first I thought I could just put him in unstrapped but when he jumped out mid-ride (impressive actually) I decided straps were necessary. So there he sat the rest of the visit. He could still read books and play with toys so he was happy. Demand helped me check out as always. Our library has self check out like at a grocery store and Demand is really getting good at scanning the books. 23 books!! Only four of them were mine.

Since it was nice outside, I had moderate energy and it was fifteen minutes before lunchtime I decided to take the kids to the toddler park on the way home. It's a great park because everything is low; no big drop offs and Happy can do everything on his own. Plus it's mostly fenced in so I wouldn't have to chase him. They played for about twenty minutes and then we headed home to meet Daddy for lunch. After lunch I put music on for the kids while they cleaned the living room and I cleaned the kitchen. After the kitchen and living room were moderately acceptable I finally sat down on the couch to read the kids some new library books. They had been begging since we got home. We read for a half an hour before heading up to nap time.

I was truly hoping that the kids would sleep well since it was such a bad night for me and they did! Two whole hours!! Since I was still a little groggy when we all woke up I treated the kids to Curious George while I snuggled with Happy on the couch. I just have to keep cuddling with him while he's still the baby in the family.

That brings us to the present. Mr. Sloth will be home in an hour to grill up some Salmon. Surely I can keep things peaceful for one hour, right?

Mr. Sloth is heading out tonight for a birthday gathering with friends. Obscure and Mr. Sloth were born three days apart at the same hospital so they often celebrate their birthdays together. I'm invited of course I just have the slothling situation and the non-drinking situation. I'll catch you next year guys! That's OK I have new books from the library to work on as well as some home school stuff to prepare for next week. I'll most likely end up watching Netflix in bed while munching but that will be fun too.

A Normal Day

I can't imagine having mentioned this before but two weekends ago Mr. Sloth and I found our dream home, a half block away from our Church. It was built by a doctor in 1936, basically a mansion in it's day. Honestly, this home was built with us in mind. The good news is it's $200,000 less than we thought it would be, but the bad news is that it's $100,000 more than we are looking for. Never the less we are praying about it as God does like to work miracles. Besides we weren't looking for the house it would put in front of us (on the way to Church no less) and even though it's in a town where homes are snatched up fast we are apparently the only ones interested so far. We thought it would be fun to see it again yesterday after Mass as they were having another open house. We decided to walk there and took the back way. I kid you not we had to walk around three swarms of bees to get there. THREE! They were so numerous that we had to cross the street each time. Truth be told I'm afraid of bees. It's just one of those injuries that I don't want to have to deal with. Regardless of my fear I tried to convince Mr. Sloth that it was St. Rita telling us to get the house. He was thinking the opposite. Of course after seeing the home a second time I liked it even more. This week I am going to try and forget about the house so I don't waste my time dreaming.

The house has made for a nice distraction though. Tomorrow is the funeral for Mr. Sloth's father. The siblings have all retreated for a bit. The ones from out of town are busy regathering with their families before the funeral tomorrow so I tried to make today as normal as possible. That however has not been the case. Today has been rather challenging and not in the least bit productive. I'm dealing with some last trimester issues but Happy doesn't understand that. All I wanted to do was sit down and all he wanted to do was run to the neighbors house and after retrieving him from there he ran up and over our hill towards the street. I was done so we came inside until nap time. I made the mistake of trying to use the bathroom as he used those two minutes to find a pencil and draw on our hallway walls. It took all I had not to be mad at him as I've never told him otherwise. The little guy was so proud of himself.

Thankfully though he is still asleep from nap time and it's almost 4pm. This is definitely a blessing. In the few minutes here and there that I have energy I've been able to fold a bit of laundry and pick up a few things but my time is limited. I truly don't blame the flies in my kitchen, if I were a fly, I'd be in my kitchen too. I was able to get some groceries today which was definitely productive but I forgot to put the frozen spinach away which was counter productive.

Oh, well. I have to let go I guess. It's the price we pay for growing another adorable little slothling.

33 weeks today!



It's about as comfortable as it looks.



I'm running out of sports balls to describe my growing belly.

Out of the Loop

Most days I am convinced that the only people who read my blog are Mr. Sloth's relatives and of course my parents, however I do have to remember that there are others out there. In that case you wouldn't know that Mr. Sloth's father passed away this week. He had a death you can only plan on having, but not actually expect. It was a holy death and he was surrounded by friends and family for his last few days. Mr. Sloth has had siblings in town since last Sunday and some will be here until a day or two after the funeral which is Tuesday. There are eighteen grandchildren ages 13 down to unborn (our little sloth-ling) so as you can imagine we make our presence known...or at least heard.

So that is what the Sloths have been up to and that's what we'll be up to for the next few days.

What a difference a day makes!

Two days ago was rough. The children cried and hung on me all day and while I had done a great job of getting ahead in housework the day before all evidence was gone. Demand refused to clean anything and the only one to nap was Happy and it was only for an hour. I was a wreck. This was all after a horrid Sunday, which is another story to be shared later this week. So Monday evening after the long rough day I was getting clothes ready for Tuesday and stumbled into prayer time with Mr. Sloth and slothlings. Mr. Sloth said, "What are you thankful for, Momma?" I usually try to come up with something noble as an example for the kids but in reality sunk in and I said, "I'm thankful for warm baths and root beer floats." I had no idea! While Mr. Sloth finished putting the children to sleep I took a most lovely bath. I really felt as though I had washed the day away. I did spent a good amount of the evening cleaning up the mess of the day but for the most part I relaxed with Mr. Sloth had my root beer float and watch a documentary.

Yesterday was great! Months ago I debated keeping my gym membership as I never seemed to us it, but I kept telling myself I wanted it for the summer to take the kids to the really nice outdoor pool. Our neighbor and friend has a membership too so she came along with her one year old. It was so much fun and such a welcomed change of pace. As I sat comfortably waist high in the gradual entry pool playing in the fountain with Happy I realized it would be a better day. After a surprisingly delicious lunch there we drove the twenty minutes home for naptime. Happy was already asleep but transferred well to his crib. I convinced Demand to read her Tag books in my bed with the headphones and she obliged eventually exchanging her headphones for a pillow as well. Happy woke up cheerful at 3pm and played with babydolls until Demand woke up at 3:30pm. She was a bit crabby for a while which rubbed off on Happy but we pushed through. I was able to improv a decent dinner play with kids outside. I even got some cuddle time with Happy which is getting harder and harder with my growing tummy. Wow, what a difference a day makes!

I was also introduced to some fantastic Catholic websites yesterday that have really grabbed my interest. Some are for cooking/crafts, some are for schooling home or CCD, and others are just for entertainment. Either way they have my attention. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. I was introduced to them when I asked some friends for ideas to celebrate feast days with children. It was the feast of St. Maria Goretti and I had made the mistake of reading a story from a 1950's childrens book and not a more modern version. Let's just say the 1950's version doesn't spare any details and while Demand thankfully didn't seem too horrified about the death of this poor little girl, I learned my lesson about not reading stories first even if they are Catholic and made for children.

Ok, here is another attempt at adding the links Catholic Icing, Catholic Toolbox, Catholic Cuisine