Fun Weekend

Memorial Day weekend didn't disappoint. We had friends and family over, we cooked out, we watched the kids get exceedingly dirty. Sara and I stayed up late chatting, we even took the girls out for dinner one night. It was just lovely all around. I'm going to post a few of the best pictures here, but also you can check out http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116477&id=604927145&l=42b1936dd7 It's a public

link, so even though it's my facebook, you'll still be able to see it.

So Dirty

I remember when we lived at Joanie's and her daughter Karen would come to visit. She told me one day that every day in the summer her kids need a bath. I couldn't imagine how that would be possible. I mean, how dirty can you get?

Well, it's possible. Norah and Hannah must be recordbreakers for children able to get the most dirty in a short amount of time. Tuesday Hannah told me she bumped her eye, so I looked at it and determined it was fine. She played some more and when I noticed her eye next it looked like she had a black eye! So I checked her again, and sure enough it was black.... with dirt. Yuck! They've had a bath every night just to get the dirt off them. Norah is pleased to crawl around and sit in the sand, or shout at the "go go's" and Hannah is just BUSY. She's learned how to pump her legs, so she can swing herself and is SO proud. It's also the first year that she's truly independant enough to play outside alone. She can go out for an hour digging and swinging and whatever and not miss us in the house. It makes me happy that she's ABLE to go out alone where I don't have to worry. She's equally happy when our neighbor gets home from school and yells through the bushes nearly every day "Rory... wanna come play over here, or me play over there"

Nice weather

is finally coming! An extended stretch of 70's and 80's will be joining us here in Massachusetts up until after Memorial Day, which is wonderful. I hate always having to be dressed warmly, or wondering if the girls are dressed warm enough. Also it being nice will hopefully curb Norah's crankiness about not being let down on the ground to play. I know she wants to, and I'm ok with it, but man when the ground is wet/cold I just know misery is around the corner. Though hopefully walking will happen soon and make it a moot point. Still not really happening, but she is able to stand on her own now, though she refuses to.

So in honor of nice weather and Hannah having no school, today we will be going to the park and having a picnic!

Remodeling

So last Monday Steven decided he wanted to see just exactly what was under the paneling in our living room. And when it was determined that the walls underneath were not entirely wrecked, he started pulling it all down as quickly as he could. Then comes the filling in of all the nail holes and other assorted holes. A tedious job, but nowhere near as messy or as loud as physically ripping the paneling off the wall. Then comes Sunday morning. Hannah wakes up coughing. Completely unable to stop coughing, she just coughs every two seconds ALL day, no matter what medicine she has (robitussin, vapor rub, pulmicort, albuterol) and nothing makes a speck of difference. She is miserable, and in turn is making me crazy even though I know she can't help it. So what does Steven decide it's time to do? SAND. Apparently her being unable to stop coughing means he should cover everything sitting still in a fine layer of dust, and then be pissed off when I'M pissed off.

So yeah, for the record, there is a reason I wanted Craig to do all of this, and not Steven. And no the reason is not because Steven won't do a good job.

I keep getting stopped

It's funny actually, but seems like at least every couple days I get stopped by someone who has to tell me they love how I carry (wear) Norah. Sometimes it's when I'm dropping Hannah off at school, sometimes it's at the mall, and a cashier at Walmart asked me where I got my cute backpack. She thought it was even cuter when I turned sideways and she saw what was IN the backpack! Most people think it's very cool, but while it probably IS cool, it's more of a necessary function around here. Hannah IS a good kid, but when we go into stores, she tends to get distracted and wander off. She doesn't mean to, she isn't trying to disappear, but it happens. So in keeping my peace of mind, she rides in the cart. Which means since Norah doesn't walk, she must go somewhere also, since most stores don't feel the need to have carts that seat two. So up in a wrap she goes. I've perfected a few carries, and it depends on how long we'll be shopping as to just how she goes up, but up it is.

It's also funny when older people smile and say "boy I wish they had those when I was having babies". Really? Are people living thousands of years now that they were having babies before there were baby carriers? Women overseas have worn their babies for thousands of years out of function. They still had to work to get food for their families. I'm blessed that I am able to stay home and raise my children, but not everyone is so lucky.

I recently said to someone that I thought since hospitals had the forethought to have Lactation Consultants on staff in their maternity ward to aid in nursing issues, they should also have babywearing consultants and send each new mom home with some form of sling and the knowledge of how to use it correctly. It is so much easier to have your hands free and a calmer baby. Holding your babe in arms is wonderful and bonding, but when their tiny (or even when they're bigger since Norah's favorite new word is "UP UP UP!") it gets tiring and nothing gets done. And maybe by the time my girls are having babies, they will. And if they don't, you'd better believe I will be there to show them how to wear their babies.

Ahhhh peace and quiet

So yesterday Kat dropped her wonderful girlies off on her way to work. So they all had lunch and were well behaved, if loud. They played outside and the little girlies tried to nap for a while. Norah succeeded, Magi, not so much. So Kat said to me that she would take Hannah home with her and bring her back later. So I miraculously went from having 5 crazy girls to only 1. And wow, even for her being one of the loudest, it was quiet. She played, she snacked, she ate dinner. It was lovely. Putting yourself out certainly reaps it's rewards. I never mind watching her girls. They're so good for me, and hey, when she picks them up the adult conversation is nice too.

Also, an update on the house front. We are NOT buying a new house. We decided that the new mortgage would be doable, but probably too much, and we don't want to get into that situation. So we're refinancing our current loan and staying here. Possibly with our taxes next year we'll do some remodeling to make this house more our own. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Last night Steven started pulling down the hideous paneling in our living room. One of the big projects he and I have always talked about would be removing that because it's ugly and because we don't like it. Also of course because it makes the room look even smaller than it really is. And shockingly enough, there is nothing but drywall underneath, so it may be ridiculously easy for us to do that part ourselves!

Mother's Day

So we had a nice weekend, and I'll share some pictures at the bottom of this post. Norah again has some new words, one of which totally cracks me up. One is "up" which is obviously important to her because she insists on being up with me so often. So up it is. The other is "Ow" and is funny because she seems to be a physical comedienne in the making. She takes her cup or toy or whatever she's holding and bangs it into her forehead (sometimes gently, sometimes not) and then says "OW!" and grins. Lather, rinse, repeat. It IS funny, or at least will be until she actually hurts herself. She's been rocking the ponytail lately because I'm sick to death of washing her hair after every meal/snack because she has to rub it in. So the ponytail curbs that some. Donny was here yesterday and commented that she looked like something out of Dr Seuss. Everyone agreed, though apparently the nickname du jour is still "Pebbles"

Some new things

Norah has suddenly busted out with a few new words. In addition to Mama and Dada, we now have Hi, Bye, Fish, Nana (Hannah), and GO GO GO. Said of course with exactly that emphasis. She is either talking about things with wheels, which are go go go's, or she wants to go go go, like inside Hannah's school, moving along when she's riding on my back, or outside when she's the only kiddo left inside. It's really very cute, and I'm always in shock of course because Hannah didn't have that many words until she was nearly two.

She's also getting prepared to think about walking. She will walk behind something she can push, like the shopping cart or the walking toy. She still isn't interested in standing on her own, which of course is a prerequisite for actual walking. She's very quick at crawling, so I wouldn't honestly be surprised if she continues using that as a general means of getting around for a while longer.

More trouble

So Friday we were supposed to have our "leaking" oil tanks replaced. Steven called the guy to confirm he was coming and to find out what time he'd be there. I had plans to take the girls up to see Meema and spend the night there. So Thursday night we get a phone call saying the new tank never showed up. And by Friday morning, it was clear it wasn't happening. So I took the girls up to Meema's anyways because Hannah was so excited to stay there. So needless to say Steven is totally pissed that the guy didn't get it done, and probably can't get it done for a few more weeks. If it even actually needs to be done, which is a whole other story entirely.

So what I learned from that is, people suck when there's a lot of money involved, and sleeping with a four year old isn't a good way to sleep if you want to wake up rested.