What I Learned This Week

Another week of life, another week of learning.

• I should trust my instincts. When I went to The Muffin's preschool in May to enroll her, I got an uneasy feeling. I decided it was anxiety about Baby Ellie's impending arrival, the big move and sending my baby away to preschool. When I went for our parent-teacher conference in September, I felt sick and like I'd made a horrible mistake sending her to this particular school. I thought I was making a great choice because Cousin Callie & Mr. Beans both attended this preschool. There is nothing really wrong with this school, but I'm not at all fond of her teacher. On the day that she had a substitute I was reminded of how I wanted her teacher to be. The substitute made an impression on The Muffin too because she's still talking about her two weeks later. I'm hoping and praying that the preschool she'll be attending next September will exceed my expectations.
  
• We need to go on dates more often. It was nice to eat lunch without trying to figure out what to order so that Muff will have something to eat or worry if the baby is going to behave. We were able to take our time doing the things we wanted to do. Although I was a little rushed when I was shopping, Big Daddy took his time looking at and test driving the car that he was interested in.
• I'm looking forward to my yearly exam. It helps that I'm going to see my extra-special midwife, get to see my two mommy friends and that I should be able to see Ms. A's new baby...also known as Muff's future sister-in-law and Ellie's future BFF. I can't wait to take Ellie & The Muffin to meet he new baby and let Muff spend a little time with her future husband, Christopher.
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I'm really missing my mommy friends since Ms. A is about to become a mommy of two. I so wanted our kids to grow up close to each other.
  
• I can totally handle these two crazy girls of mine. I've decided to throw caution to the wind more often and drag both Muffin and Ellie places for no good reason. Recycling center, library, Wal.mart for no reason...we're there! I love it!!
• The housework can wait, but my girls cannot. Right now the whole house is clean. It will not last. The hardwood floors will be dirty before bedtime, there will be more laundry to wash and dust will start to settle on everything. The house will not fall down if I decide not to clean everything again tomorrow. It will all wait, but Muff and Ellie will not. They are growing so fast.
  
• I can live without coffee, but I don't want to. For some reason I went two consecutive days without any coffee. I didn't have withdrawals or anything, but I like my life better with coffee in it.
• I need a good, reasonably priced age-defying moisturizer. Isn't that self explanatory?
• I love mascara. I may stray and try others, but this one is always the one I go back to and love. I really love the product and the price. I'm really frugal and "beauty" products just aren't worth spending a lot of money on since I'm a SAHM.
• Baking soda is my friend. Okay, so I didn't actually learn that this week, but I was reminded of how wonderful baking soda is. I brush my teeth with it, occasionally exfoliate with it, clean my shower with it and use it to do countless other things.
• Good jeans are great. I finally think I've found a pair of jeans that stay where they are supposed to. They have just enough stretch to hold their shape, but they don't get bigger and bigger and show too much skin when I bend down.
• The library rocks! Movies, books and Storytime make The Muffin happy!

Jump over to Musings of A Housewife to read more "What I Learned This Week" posts.

From The Mouth of The Muffin & an update on last night

The Muffin- (looking at the calendar) Wow, Sharley's birthday is really soon.

The Mommy- We need to get her a present. What do you think she would like to have?

The Muffin- Maybe a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The Mommy- Do you think she would like that?

The Muffin- Yeah...or maybe some new play dough. She really likes play dough!

I know exactly where she gets her sense for buying gifts from...her Daddy.


In other news...
Baby Ellie and I slept much better last night. I did lots of research on sleep stuff yesterday and last night. I'm doing a combination of sleep training and night weaning, but not using the crying it out method. I sort of Ferberized The Muffin at seven months old and that helped tremendously...at least for a while. In the end, we'll do what works best for us. And by us, I mean me and Baby Ellie. There's really not anyone else that's involved in this. I can assure you that Ellie will not go without food when she needs it, but she needs sleep too. She slept later and seemed happier today. I'm going to pray that tonight goes well too.

Here we go again

I could blame it on the time change last weekend, but I'm starting to wonder if it's my fault. Baby Ellie has started waking up very often during the night. I went through this with her big sister and I can't go through it again! Okay...I can, but I don't want to. I'm tired and irritable and I need more sleep. Of course, I've been researching sleep issues today and I know I'm not alone. I did this same research when Maggie was about this age and I know some of the things to do.

Please pray for me and Baby Ellie...seriously. After the sermon at church today, I've decided that I should pray about this.

And a little weekend update...
Baby Ellie and The Muffin had a great time staying with Nana & Pawpaw while Big Daddy and I spent a little time away. We looked at that car, had lunch at P.anera and then went to T.arget and Old N.avy. I skipped Star.bucks...sadly. I still have shopping to do, but Muff is taken care of.
Today, we went to church, had lunch with my family and then had Cousin Callie most of the afternoon. The weather was great so we spent time outside swinging, drawing with sidewalk chalk and riding bikes/walking.
The week ahead is looking good! The Muffin & Cousin Callie will be out of school, so I'll have three girls for half of the day. On Thursday, I'll be leaving Ellie & Maggie so that I can go to my yearly Ob/Gyn appointment. I'm SO excited about that. I'll be driving to Sanford, seeing my favorite midwife Peggy and then going to the hospital to see my sweet mommy friend, A and her new baby daughter. The baby will be arriving by c-section on Tuesday or Thursday. To top it all off, I should be going to visit A with our other mommy friend K. I'm terribly excited about seeing them, but I'll miss my two girls at home.

Baby Ellie at 5 months

Baby Ellie, today you are 5 months old!

I cannot believe it has been five months ago since midwife Peggy helped me push you out into the world. I cannot believe that it has been five months since you made The Muffin a big sister and me and Daddy the parents of two little girls.

Your sister remembers when you were "squished" in my belly. She remembers me being in labor with you and she tells me that I was being "too loud when the little girl was saying be quiet". (She remembers the picture of a little girl dressed as a nurse that starts the "quiet zone" at the doors leading to the birthing center) She remembers the day that you were born and is still so excited to see you every morning when she wakes up and she still loves you so very much.

Now, what are you up to??
You sit a little bit by yourself, but you always reach for something and fall over.
You reach for everything.
You love your keys and your little baby.
You still wake up two or three times during the night to eat.
You only take two naps during the day, and you sometimes fight sleep.
You like to squeal (wonder who taught you that?) and laugh and smile, which delights your sister.
You get so excited when someone comes over to pick you up.
After several attempts, you like to eat rice cereal and you love bananas.
You roll from back to front.

We love you Baby Ellie!

YUMMY!!

Well...the birthday cake was yummy! It didn't matter that it was in several pieces by party time. My sister said it was the best cake she'd ever had and of course, The Muffin loved it. And, I'm quite the coffee maker too, so maybe one day I can be a professional barista! Big Daddy enjoyed his birthday dinner too. He requested a certain kind of chicken and King's Hawaiian rolls. I fixed (turkey) bacon wrapped asparagus and baked beans to go with it.

We are finalizing our date plans for Saturday. Big Daddy has to decide where he wants to eat for lunch. I think he is thinking of upgrading the gift that he usually buys for himself. For several years he has purchased a new gun on his special day. This year, we are going to look at cars. There's a Lexus that he wants to look at and test drive. Does anyone remember what he bought me for my birthday???

And in other news...
The Muffin's request to try "that yummy chocolate candy", also known as Ferrero Rocher, was granted. Let's just say I'm a Rocher lover and was tickled when The Muffin asked to try it after she saw the commercial. (I think she subconsciously remembers buying the treat for Gammy Gladys at Christmas before.) She picked the traditional hazelnut as opposed to the Roudnoir. We'll try that next time!





I think she liked it!

Unfortunately, I share her love for chocolate.

Big Daddy's Birthday

Big Daddy decided to go to the gym last night, so The Muffin and I decided to go ahead and bake his cake. She was so excited and was impressed with how the cake "grew and grew and grew" while it was in the oven. It was a pretty cake...until I took it out of the pan.That is one of the layers in three pieces! And the other one is in two pieces!

I greased and floured the pans, I swear. I've only made a layer cake three times and each time this has happened. I think I need silicone baking pans. They are supposedly fool proof. I slapped on tons of chocolate icing and we'll be eating the cake tonight with my family. I'm sure it will taste yummy.

The Muffin wanted to know if we would be playing games and getting our faces painted. I think Cousin Callie's birthday party made an impression on her!

Normal

Both girls were up at a little after 6:00 this morning. That's a full two hours earlier than what I was starting to get used to. We took advantage of having a long morning today and decided to go to Wal.mart for no reason at all.

We have always lived in a town without T.arget or an indoor mall. Sadly, Wal.mart has always been the place that we would go just to kill time and hang out. We are a little closer to both a T.arget and a mall, but I didn't feel like spending any extra time in the car. Since having Baby Ellie, our "for no reason" shopping trips have been non-existent. Baby Ellie slept in her car seat while The Muffin and I looked at Christmas decorations and toys. A good time was had by all!

We managed a little trip out yesterday afternoon. We went to City Hall to pay the water bill and then walked to the library. The cashier at City Hall thought I was brave for making the effort to pay the bill in person. I told her that we were also going to the library, but I left out the part about Baby Ellie fighting sleep and crying for quite a while before I put her in the sling. By the time we walked into the library, Ellie was asleep. I wore her facing me for the first time yesterday. She had her little head on my chest and had a very nice nap.

Making little trips out with both girls makes me feel a little more normal. It's not as easy as it was when it was just me & Muf, but it's not that hard. I always find myself struggling to get out the door, but once we're in the car, it all gets a lot easier. More than anything, I know it feels more like normal for The Muffin and that is great!

Now, I'm off to hang diapers out to dry. Both girls are asleep for the first time in a long time and I think I need a cup of coffee.

What I Learned This Week

Here's my list...hop on over to Musings of a Housewife for more.

• I really need to lose at least 15 pounds. We started looking at pictures from our first family of three beach trip and Big Daddy said, "Wow, you looked skinny!". He didn't mean it in a bad way, but ughhh.
• We really need to find the right church here. Going to our old church for just one Sunday totally reminded us of what it feels like to be in the right place.
• Changing the time by one hour messes up our schedules by at least two hours. I did not "gain" an hour...I really lost two.
• Watching Big Daddy and The Muffin recycle together is so sweet.
• I like it when Ellie grabs my nose.
• Ellie likes Gammy Gladys just as much as her sister does.
• Baby Ellie doesn't like naps anymore. She's taking that cue from her big sister.
• I can't get enough coffee.
• I need to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
• The Muffin really enjoys cooking.
• Baby Ellie is just not interested in baby food yet.
  

Pictures from the weekend

Maggie and Cousin Callie went trick or treating. Callie was a "Hollywood Starlet" and Maggie a ballerina.

Ellie stayed at home since she doesn't eat candy.


On Sunday we traveled back to Sanford to go to "our old church". Maggie was happy to see Ms. Bell and Big Daddy and I were thrilled to be back at his church.
After church, we drove around town, had lunch and then visited with Gammy Gladys. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the girls with Gladys, but they were tickled to see their Gammy!!

Maybe Tomorrow

We had a fun and exciting Halloween weekend, but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to write all about it and share my pictures. Ellie decided to wake up at 3:00 and not go back to sleep until it was time for me to start getting ready for church.

So...I've been up since 3 am and I'm ready for a shower and hopefully a good night's sleep.