Can A Mom Get A Break Around Here?

And lately the answer has been no. But that's okay - like I told Grandma Jennie, there will be plenty of time to rest when I'm dead. Or when they grow up and move out. Then I'll probably wish I was back to the craziness and exhaustion that has defined my last few days. In fact, as I am typing this, my children are both confined in Olivia's exersaucer and jumper (yes... Abby climbed into the exersaucer again and she can't get out. I am leaving her there for now. It is safer).

So... our craziness started Saturday. We took the girls to Mackinac City for the day with the intention of getting Abby some winter appropriate shoes of some sort and we heard that the Hush Puppies store was having a sale. It was a great sale, so great that they were all out of Abby's size. But we had a good time being tourists and checking out the other stores. Sunday was also busy - we attended the birthday party of Abby's friend Autumn and tried to get cleaned up a ready for a busy week. And I committed myself to helping our friend Andrea with two extra emergency foster kids (she already has 2 adopted foster kids and another that she has permanently and will be adopting). So yes... I willingly put myself into a situation where there would be 7 kids and 2 adults with all the kids under 5 and two of whom didn't speak English. It was a hard day to begin with, then my friend Kimberlee called to tell me that the doctor thought her water had broken and she needed someone to take her two little boys so she could go get that checked out. So... 9 kids, under 5, two who can't communicate with Andrea and I. Yep... I'm tired. Still. Luckily, Kimberlee's water hadn't broken, so we are still waiting for that baby to arrive in a few weeks. And the Spanish speaking foster kids were moved to a Spanish speaking foster home near the school where the little boy attends. But boy, did that day wipe me out.

Olivia hasn't helped matters any. She has reverted to newborn sleeping habits at night. She is up at least once, and some nights twice. And if I don't nurse her, she is not going back to sleep. We tried Monday night to get her back to sleep without nursing. After 1 hour I gave in and fed her. After 2 hours she finally was sleeping soundly enough for me to lay her down. Grr..... Some days I wonder why she can't get with the program. It wouldn't be so frustrating to be up in the middle of the night every night had she not slept for 11 hour stretches just a few months ago (for like 9 weeks). I know she can do it. I don't know how to get her back into the sleeping habit without depriving the rest of us of a lot of sleep. The Ferber (cry it out) Method does not work for this child. So yeah... I definitely have 2 strong willed children. This could be a long, long 18 years.

And all of that only brings me to Tuesday, when my willingness to watch Kimberlee's kids for a dentist appointment and house viewing turned into another 5ish hours of extra children. They had a lot of fun. Maize, maybe, did not. I am happy to have them around to entertain Abby, but it makes resting or getting anything done impossible. Abby loves having "her boys" Rian and Huron over. She even thinks they are her brothers. So, we'll keep them around. Then she can have 2 "brothers" without me having to have 2 more kids.

Now onto Thursday and Friday and then Trick or Treating. And maybe by December my life won't be so crazy busy. Or Olivia can sleep through the night. Or something...

Almost Swinging

Our swing set is just 3 boards and 4 stakes away from being totally finished. Steve has done an amazing job putting it together - it looks great. Abby has already been enjoying lots of rides down the slide and will be swinging away as soon as we have the stakes in and the swings up. It is going to be a whole lot of fun to play in our backyard this summer. Now we just need to get a play date schedule set up.

Abby and I also did some sewing today and made a blanket for our friends Andrea and Kevin - they brought home a brand new foster child on Sunday and he needed some manly blankets since their previous foster babies have been girls. We got the little guy set up with a Tigger blanket and can't wait for him and Olivia to get big enough to play together. Now each of Abby's best friends will have little brothers Olivia's age. I have a feeling our little girl may have to be a bit more of a tomboy than her older sister if she is going to have playmates her own age.

Olivia is still growing like a weed, or maybe I should say like the running bamboo that is taking over my backyard. She is now wearing size 3 to 6 months and we've had to put away all her newborn and 0 to 3 month sized clothing. She wore blue jeans for the first time yesterday. It was so fun to dress her more like her big sister.

More Melting

It was 55 degrees outside today - not really what you'd expect for a Sault Ste. Marie early-March afternoon. We love it! Not that we got to spend any time outside today. We were too busy with playgroup and Time Out For Moms. One went great, the other not as planned, but Abby had fun at both.

We had lots and lots of kids at playgroup this morning and Abby had a great time creating a gorilla and playing with play-doh. Then we went to Time Out For Moms, a thing our church does for moms. Somehow everyone else, except for one mom who is pretty new to the church, decided not to show up. I'm glad we went and had lunch with Jane, but I felt pretty bad that it was just the two of us. I hope she doesn't give up on other church related functions because of today's turnout. On the bright side, I invited all the moms from our playgroup to join us for Time Out For Moms and about 8 of them did. So Abby still had lots of little friends to play with at the lunch date.

Abby took her daddy for a "run" around the block yesterday. Abby's new thing is half-running and then telling Steve or I to run too. He thought it was so funny, since she hadn't done that trick for him yet. They had a great time playing while I was out for a meeting. And Abby even went to bed on her own, in her own bed, without Steve or I sitting with her until she was asleep. She still woke me up at 3 a.m. to turn her music back on, but I figure it was a decent trade off for not having to fight to get her to sleep.

Week In Review

We have had a busy week and are looking forward to the holidays next week and some much needed downtime. We've had lots of playing, partying, and cooking this week.

On Monday Abby had a play date with her friend A.J., including some yummy lunch. Abby and A.J. are starting to really get into playing with each other, which as a mom is so much fun to watch. They have the funniest conversations with each other while they are playing - most of it isn't understandable to me, but they sure seem to know what they are saying to each other.

On Wednesday we hosted Steve's office Christmas party. Abby had fun with the assistants and other dentists and even got to help open a present. She was mostly shy, like normal in big groups, but she did let some of the assistants pick her up and did give a few tours to her new friends. And she got to eat some goodies, like cheese and crackers and cheesecake. And we ended up with two animated goodies and lots of packing peanuts (she only tried to eat two of them).

To round out our busy week we went to the Christmas party for the crisis pregnancy center (CareNet Pregnancy Center of the EUP). Abby had fun playing with her friend Sophia from church. Sophia is almost three and enjoyed greatly playing with "Little Abby". It cracked me up since we have another friend who has a baby named Abby and so we are used to calling our girl "big Abby" and their daughter "little Abby". The reversal of nicknames was fun for a while. And Abby was on her best behavior - she really impressed the other ladies at the party. And we were semi-successful on our first cheesecake (it was softer than I would have liked, but since it wasn't baked it had a different texture than many baked cheesecakes). It tasted wonderful though, so that makes us for a multitude of little shortcomings. The next time I try this recipe I am going to put it in a baking dish instead of trying it with a springform pan.

We're Back - For Now

We made it back from Grandma Lorraine and Grandpa Harley's house and our visit to Ann Arbor. We had a great time catching up with all our family and friends. We also got to do some shopping, which is Abigail's favorite activity. She really enjoys looking at all the lights, racks, and other fancy, shiny, new things. And since we had shopping on our agenda, Abby got to pick out some new things for this winter and for next summer. We got everything that was on our list, so it was mission accomplished all around.

Abby really had a good time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We got to play with Grandma and Grandpa and also Grandpa Scott. Grandma Lorraine taught Abby how to roll from her back to her stomach, so now Abby can roll each way. It was a great time.

We also got to see all our old Ann Arbor friends and meet 4 new friends. Abby got to hang out with baby Paige at the pool (and her big sister Ava and also Lachan and Jade). She also met Sarah, Luke, and Tatum. It was really nice to get to see so many new babies! Now Abby and I are getting things back in order since we brought lots and lots of bags in that hadn't been here before. Have a happy Monday!