Sometimes I think I did it right

Before we had Norah, in fact before we'd even decided to have another child, we talked about the impact on Hannah. Of being a big sister, of having a "friend", a companion, an accomplice. Someone to spend time with and enjoy. And while it's been nearly two years since Norah arrived, it's been mixed reviews so far on having a little sister. Hannah is fantastic at being a big sister. She loves Norah, plays with her, snuggles her, and fights with her. And since Norah is nearly full on into the terrible two's, the fighting is more prevalent than it has been previously.

BUT, there are times when I know we chose right. And that no matter how things are most of the time, they do love each other, and will hold each other up when it comes down to it. Saturday morning Steven got up with them, and when he brought Norah out into the living room, she instantly started to cry when she realized I wasn't awake yet. Shrieking "MAMA" over and over, he took her back in their room to change her diaper. When I came downstairs a few minutes later, Steven was on the loveseat, Gary in the chair, and the two girls cuddled up sweetly on the couch. Steven said that Norah didn't want him, she wanted Hannah. And Hannah kindly obliged her by cudding her nicely. Times like that make me sure that having two was the right decision.

Living for the Weekends

At the moment, I spend a lot of time living for the weekends. I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I definitely look forward to whatever things we have planned on weekends. Even if it's really nothing, or just errands. Hannah adores school, and all of the weekday things we have going on, but there's nothing I like better than a good long weekend. Even more so in the spring and summer when it's nice and we can go out and do things. Norah will be old enough this year to do things like picnics and parks without a nap, and maybe a few trips down to the beach. I think she'll love it.

We had our taxes done on Sunday, and as of last night our state return had already been direct deposited into our checking account. We originally had plans for our taxes to do our wall/stove remodel, but that may have to be put on the back burner due to some unforseen things involving what we're actually getting back. Craig is working on a materials list and we're going to see in a few days how much it might actually run us, and if we can afford it.

Mimi is home from the hospital as of Sunday, but is doing her two crazy weeks at the clinic, so she's there four days out of seven for two weeks. Tomorrow is the last day this week, so we'll see how healthy everyone is here and see if we can get over to visit them.

Good weekend anyways!

So even though Hannah and I were so awfully sick on Thursday afternoon/evening, there was a highlight. Zach came up Thursday night to spend the weekend! It was supposed to be a surprise for Hannah, and she was going to be allowed to stay up until he got there, but she and I felt so awful that neither of us made it, even though it was only 8:15 when he did get here. But he got up and hung out with the girls bright and early Friday morning. Hannah was SO excited when she got up and saw his truck outside in our driveway. Then of course, Auntie Sara came down after work on Friday and they both spent the whole weekend here. Thankfully we all felt better on Saturday and we went out to Savers and Red Robin (Thank you new bank for giving us free money for signing up!). Then yesterday we all just hung around, though Steven did run out to have our taxes done. They stayed until about 5, and then had to hit the road again.

The girls love both of them so much, I'm going to be so sad when they BOTH live in Delaware all the time and Sara can't come down after work to spend a weekend. The girls will be sad too, but Steven and I are already talking about planning a trip down there when he gets his vacation in August.

More sickies

Hannah had it yesterday as well as me, and at this point I figure it's only time before Steven has it also. She and I were both miserable last night, and she's basically doing much better this morning. I am too, but not to the point she is. She bounced downstairs this morning telling me how much better she felt. Me not so much. I was super weak and not at all happy to be awake at 6am, after spending most of the rest of the night awake also.

Hannah is quite the talker in her sleep. I heard her singing "deep and wide" and then telling someone that she "didn't like them when they were a pig" Whatever that means. Crazy kid.

Norah is basically herself, so I'm hopeful that by tomorrow night or Sunday we'll all be much better.

Sick sick sick

Poor Norah, she's not feeling good. Yesterday morning she was sitting on my lap when she suddenly threw up. She didn't eat much the rest of the day, and managed to throw up again in the afternoon. Chicken noodle soup (homemade from scratch I might add) for dinner stayed down, as did a few sips of juice. But she was a puddle and went to bed at 7:15 after spending the previous half hour falling asleep on me. I guess she slept decently, and woke up moderately happy asking for juice. I'm hoping it was just a 24 hour bug, she seems better this morning. And even ate some cantaloupe, which is good since it's food and very wet.

It's too bad since we were going to try to have dinner with Kat tonight after Mimi has her counts done. I guess we'll plan for another night.

We were all hoping...

It's been nearly six months since Mimi was diagnosed with Leukemia. Six agonizing months for her family I'm sure. I love her too, as do the girls. They're like a whole extension of our own family. The doctors have told Kat a couple of times now "If Mimi is going to lose her hair, it will happen now" And up until now, it hadn't happened. I remember the haircut weekend vividly back in August. My sweet girl saying she wanted to cut her hair so Mimi wouldn't be sad when Hannah still had long hair. I wanted to cry at her empathy. And up until now, it looked like all three of their adorable bob haircuts had been for no reason. Mimi is doing well, shocking all the doctors by not reacting to certain medicines certain ways. And having all her hair. Except that it's starting to fall out. And she really is just as adorable as I knew she would be. But man, Hannah can be so blunt, it's almost like she doesn't get it, and I know she doesn't. So today after we got home, I sat her down and chatted with her about Mimi, and how some of the medicine she gets at the clinic makes her feel sick, and that some of it is making her hair start to fall out. And that it IS definitely making her better, but that one time we visit them, Mimi will probably have very little to none. It's a sad prospect, but I don't want Hannah's shock to make it worse than it has to be. I'm hoping she remembers our talk about being extra kind, and she told me a few ways she knows how to do that. I hope that when the time comes, it's not forgotten.

Back and Forth

It's amazing, just as I think she's turned a corner into sleeping better, she goes back to sleeping poorly. I'm not sure what it is this time, could be the nagging cough, or that she's almost two, or that it's been cloudy.... I don't have a clue. She's been up the last few nights needing me, and then up early in the morning too. I don't mind the needing me, but at least give us a break and sleep past 5:30!

We're all tired when she wakes up early, and since she never sleeps in more than a day at a time, we never really catch up, though she seems to. I guess the good news is that someday she'll be a teenager and I won't have to care about whether or not she wakes up at night. Because she won't ever want me then.