Guys!!! There is still sooo much to get done around here and I’m starting to feel considerably less pumped about it. This is going to be a problem. I was going to list on tonight post what is still left, but in a crazy rant to Brady, I realized there is WAY too much to actually write down. I love lists, but as of about two weeks ago when the great house purge began, I decided to not list, since I knew that would overwhelm me. So no lists. But sooo much!

I had a rough night and the kids were pretty irritable this morning as well, so we didn’t do much. I put all the cloth diapers that Dekker wore last time he broke out in yeast into the wash to strip them. Yes, I used bleach. Don’t judge me! I did a bleach and rinse, detergent and rinse, and then three full wash cycles without soap, so basically six rinses. I think they’ll be ok now!

Dekker was pretty lazy today…

But thats my favorite kind of lazy 🙂 We watched a bit of tv and had lunch and Dekker finally ventured away from me to check out the new set up of our basement. Its much more open and he can really run around.

When the kids finally went down for a nap, I sorted through a ton of papers that were in a pile from when they were born. It was fun to go through it and see how different their lives have been already! Dekker’s hospital stuff was peppered with info on nursing, while Laela’s had basic info on formula feeding, since I had decided to bottle feed before she was even born. Dekker’s vision info had somehow slipped into the pile, while Laela’s contained more about jaundice and all the fun dangers that it carries. Of course, after I finished that huge stack of papers and got them separated and in order and put away, I found TONS more. Sigh. So that was a bummer.

I was so relieved when the diapers were done, only to be pushed down again by realizing that Dekker wore a couple of the diapers we had bought for Laela when we were in a pinch, and we don’t know which ones. Which means we have another day or two of stripping diapers ahead of us. Another sigh.

I don’t mean to be a downer, even thought I really, really sound like one. I’m just starting to lose my gusto, and it feels like everything I tried to accomplish today flopped. I even overcooked the ham for supper.

Luckily, surprisingly, Dekker was super excited for ham! He asked and asked until we’d give him more. And then something set him off and he got really angry, and just started screaming. We tried to relax him, but he was thrashing and furious. Sometimes, even if we know whats bothering him, he works himself into such a frenzy, he needs to cool off alone. So I walked with him to his room and said I’d get him when he calmed down.

Over twenty minutes later, we tucked him in for the night 🙁 I was so sad. He slept sooo much this afternoon, but he was clearly in no shape to be with us for the evening. It wasn’t much earlier than usual, but he pretty much got up, ate, screamed for a half hour, and went back to bed. It was awful. However, every once in a while, he seems relieved by a punishment. Its like he knows he can’t be around people sometimes. So once he accepted that it was bedtime, he was smiling through his tear stained face and making jokes, giving big kisses, saying he loved me, and that he was happy. And he went down fine.

Hopefully we’ll get a bit done still here this evening before we go to bed. I need to get this motivation back! Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Before I even talk about today, Laela popped a new tooth overnight!!! Tooth #7 is here, to the right of the two bottom ones. The left one is not far off.

We decided to hit up the city today, but the kids woke early and were tired early. We put Laela down for her first nap and hoped for the best, but Dekker was incredibly tired much sooner than usual, so as soon as she was up, Dekker had to go down. Therefore, we only ended up leaving around 3:00pm. I rocked my bed head, because why not, right?

It was actually perfect, though. Our only place that we had to get to by a reasonable time was Costco, and we made it easily. Brady and Dekker ran in and got a few things while Laela and I listened to Frozen and hung out in the car.

After that, we did Walmart for a couple more groceries and one of those rolly storage tubs that goes under a bed. We plan to fill it with extra wipes, diapers, etc. and put it under Laela’s crib. I’m actually pretty pumped about that thing. Wish we got two. Maybe we still will. We got some cereal on sale, and the stuff to make my delicious cherry cream cheese square dessert.Do you remember when I first made it and said it looked awful and was a total flop? Oh my gosh, it is sooo good! And gooey and horrendous looking, but really yummy. Its time to make it again.

Our only other planned stop was the Broadway Cafe for milkshakes, and it was closed today :/ So we went home. Sadly, no fries for Dekker, as he screamed at too many people. Boo for all of us. Brady and I were really disappointed too.

On the drive home, Brady punched himself in the nuts. Well, in the nut. The right one. I laughed.

Turns out that our evening was great anyway. We had delicious stroganoff for supper, While Dekker wailed his way through the first minute or two of the meal, I snuck a bite into his mouth. He liked it, and ate a decent amount more. Yay for force feeding your children!

After playing upstairs in the sun while Brady cleaned the Keurig and I took a bunch of pictures, both kids are not officially down for the night. Time for a soak, as well as some popcorn and BC cherries. Best. Snack. Ever.

We worked our butts off for another full day today, and again, accomplished a lot! I think we got more “done” last weekend, considering all the boxes we sorted through and the huge progress we made in our furnace room, but that left our house a complete mess of boxes and garbage bags, which drove me crazy. Today, we got on some of that.

We worked mostly in the basement again, which wasn’t my goal, but it worked out anyway. I was hoping for a bit more progress in the living room, but we might tackle some of that tomorrow. But back to the topic of today, we threw out a big wicker chest thing that held blankets that we hadn’t seen in years, so most of those got chucked too. We also ditched an oversized coffee table and, a dvd stand thing, an organ that didn’t work, and a few other pieces of furniture and bags of garbage.

Another whole van load!

We (Brady) rearranged the whole basement, which I would try to explain in detail but since most of you haven’t seen my house, it wouldn’t make any sense. Basically, one half of the basement now holds all the big toys and the other half is the seating and the tv. Everything used to all pour together, and likely it still will, but not to the same extent.

I also washed bedding. TONS of bedding. All kinds of spare sheets we found, and blanket covers on extra blankets that I can’t remember washing, so thats not a great sign. I washed TONS. I brought the Christmas decorations down from the front closet and put them in tubs before tucking them away in a spare bedroom closet. I folded and tubbed the last of the baby girls clothes that are in storage. This is sleepers only!

Insane, I know. But they’re sooo cute!

We also each bathed a baby, which was probably more work than the whole rest of the day. Well, the one Brady took, anyway. Mine was easy. I’m thinking that instead of trying to shield her from pouring the water over her head, and being super gentle and careful with it, I’m just going to dump it and maybe then it won’t be so devastating when she’s a bit older. It shook her up a bit but didn’t upset her to an unbelievable point. I dunno. Is that cruel?

After baths, Dekker was traumatized apparently, and wanted to sit downstairs on the big teddys lap and read a movie cover, while Laela had some nudist time in the sun.

I did dishes while Brady grilled some fish. We stole a recipe from my mother in law, nd my gosh, Elvira, it was delicious! We can’t wait to make it again. And again. And again.

Even Dekker loved it!

Brady did a touch more arranging in the basement before taking a load off and sitting down with the kids and I. We’re skipping church tomorrow, and we’re going to go make a trip to Saskatoon just to be together for some family time. On the list is Costco, Walmart, and Broadway Cafe for milkshakes! Yum!! Of course, we’re adding a few house organization things to our list, but for the most part, tomorrow will be schedule-free and low pressure. I can’t wait!!!

So the kids are tucked away, Laela actually waved at me when she left the room with Brady, I am full to the brim from the yummiest supper we’ve had in a long time, and so ready for a not-too-hot bath.

Feeling accomplished.

Happy birthday, The Daily Hailey!!! I cannot believe I’ve been at this for two whole years! How long have you guys been around? Anyone read every post that I ever wrote? I honestly kind of doubt it, haha! How does anyone keep up with something like this every single day?! I certainly don’t expect it! But I’ve enjoyed these two years and hope to keep at it 🙂

Laela woke us this morning at 4:30, just bawling her big blue eyes out. She’s working pretty hard on a couple new teeth that I fully expect to make their appearance any day now, and I figure that was the problem. I got her up and fed her, and she went back down nicely, which I didn’t expect. However, as I did expect, I didn’t get back down. I tried desperately, but dozed in and out for about a half hour. It was lame and I was exhausted. But its all good. The kids slept in a bit longer than usual so thats something anyway.

We took it pretty easy today, since we’re planning on doing lots more house stuff tomorrow. Brady will make a few runs to the dump and we’ll hopefully finish up a lot of the sorting and move into rearranging and organizing. I’m looking forward to that, since our whole house still looks a mess. There are tubs and boxes everywhere, and its time to get them to where they belong, now that we know whats inside of them.

One cute anecdote from the day and then I’m onto getting myself some supper!

We’re working with Dekker currently on learning to listen to us and obey the first time we ask, rather than the hundredth. Ok, an obvious exaggeration, but if we get what we’re asking for on the third to fifth attempt, its a GOOD day! We ask him to repeast the rule “listen to mommy and dad.” So today at bedtime, Brady grabbed Dekker’s blanket and asked him to come. Dekker immediately crouched down and started whining. I reminded him how important it is to do things the first time mommy or dad ask, and asked him to tell me the rule. He put on a bit of a blank face, and since its a relatively new “rule” I gave him a hint. “The rule about listening…” I said. He confidently recited “No listening.” I had to leave the room, I couldn’t help but laugh. Brady got him to bed without much issue at all after that. I just thought that was adorable 🙂 I love my kids.

The poor sore achy one spent the evening chewing on a wipe (go figure) and is now having her nighttime bottle. Hopefully she gets a fully nights sleep tonight!

 

Thanks again, guys, for being here and reading along with me. Cheers! *clink*

After struggling pretty hard over the last week or two, I’ve been very happy to have had a few really positive days recently 🙂 Hopefully you’re all less bored when I’m upbeat than when I just lament the whole time. Haha, clearly, this positivity is all for you!

The kids were adorable over breakfast and played well in the basement like always. I was a bit nervous about how our schedule would work out, though, because we had to make a city trip in the afternoon, right during nap time. I put Laela down for her first nap a bit early and she did great. Their joint nap was quite a bit more bumpy. As soon as I left the room, Dekker got up and started jumping on his bed. He doesn’t usually make that much for a ruckus unless he’s woken up and is ready to get up. Not right when he goes down ever. So I put him back down and he didn’t get up again. Laela, on the other hand, shimmied her way all around her crib for over an hour, so she had less than an hour of sleep before we had to get up and dressed and be out the door.

We successfully made it to Dr. Mike’s on time for my treatment. Brady met me there and sat with the kids in the van while I went in. I played in the waiting room with a little baby boy named George (one of the coolest kids I’ve ever met) before heading into an exam room. There was a super obvious dusty bum print on the chair so I didn’t sit there and immediately showed Dr. Mike so he wouldn’t think it was mine. I swear, guys, it wasn’t. I was nervous for the treatment for probably the first time ever, because of my neck hurting so badly. I told him I was scared so he was really careful to tell me what was happening and that I didn’t need to be, and he fixed it! I’m not like 100% just yet, but feeling considerably better. I could actually shoulder check on the drive home, so that counts for something. Yay for being able to turn my own head!

After chiro, we drove to the mall and Brady dropped Laela and I off. She and I did a bit of shopping while Brady took Dekker to go get his new glasses. I’m pretty sure I explained it before, but he’s getting the same glasses exactly, just replaced under warranty, because we can. The little girl and I hit up Bath and Body Works for 3 wick candles, and then headed to Starbucks. They had a really good offer up for only a few hours, and to make a long story short, there was sort of a debacle getting there. I left the Target location empty handed and hit up the Co-op location instead, and ended up with a free drink! No, its not like I complained and she gave me free stuff to shut me up. We chatted and I was completely happily ordering a drink when she gave me a voucher for a free shaken tea! So I tried the blackberry green tea. Yummy. Light and refreshing.

We met the boys shortly after. When I opened up the van to put Laela in her spot, Brady asked Dekker to tell me what he had done at the glasses place. Head down. “Detter screamed.” The whole time. I’m so sorry for Brady that he had to do that, because its awful, but I am completely and utterly thankful that it didn’t have to be me this time. That aside, the glasses look fresh and new and seem to fit him way better. We ditched the arms that wrap around so severely, and went with the normal arms just bent a little, and they stay on great. On the drive home, Dekker told me numerous times “Glasses comfy!” He’s never really talked about them like that before. At most, he would say “ya” when asked if he liked his glasses. But today, for the first time that we know of, they were comfy. That made me feel warm and fuzzy.

We were going to eat in the city, but since Dekker screamed and acted up so much, he forfeited his (and our) right to french fries. So we came home and had eggs and toast, which was delicious and Dekker actually gobbled it up. The kids went down hard but they’re quiet now anyway. So ready for a bath and some Netflix. Even after a really good day, I can still use the comfort of a bubble bath. Anyone else?

Jerilee came over to spend the day with me and the kids. It was actually perfect, because my neck is funky and she has a squidgy eye infection (sorry, dear) so we were sickies together. It feels like its been months since we got together, so we had a lot of catching up to do! We talked ourselves silly before just sitting and watching the Duggars with Dekker. He loves them. He wants to show Josie all of his toys. Its adorable.

Poor Laela struggled pretty hard today. She didn’t sit on her own very much at all, which is a big change from her usually fairly independent way. Instead, she cried and wined and squealed. I worked with her all day, but she was really struggling. I finally sort of pinned her down and can see that she’s working on a couple more teeth. Two bottoms, around her little front ones. That paired with not having a good poop in two days (sorry sweetie, don’t hate me for sharing this when you’re older!) was enough to really upset her. Poor munchkin. Through all of the drama though, Brady came home and all of us has cucumber salad, perogies and wings for supper. I LOVE that meal sooo much! We watched Frozen while we ate, and once we got the kids down, we had ice cream cake for dessert. Thanks for your delicious contribution, Jerilee! Yum! I can still taste it, and not in the “oh, I burped” kind of way. It was such a good day for food.

Sadly, after all of the goodness today, my neck is still iffy, and I can’t look very far left without weird twinges and stabbing pains. So back to Dr. Mikes we go! I saw him just a week ago, but this is incredibly painful and needs to be fixed. Then Brady is going to drop me and Laela off at the mall so I can go get my fill of Bath and Body candles while the semi-annual sale is on (3 wick candles are sooo cheap) while he and Dekker go and pick up little Ds new glasses!! They’re the same, but new frames and lenses on warranty 🙂 I was originally turned down about it, but all has been fixed and they agreed to order him a new pair. So he’ll get those fitted tomorrow while I’m shopping, so thats awesome all around.

Today was good, and tomorrow will be good, and I’m feeling optimistic that my funk is over. For now, anyway. Ice cream cake tends to have that effect on me.

My mom came over for the majority of the day, which was sooo great! We haven’t had a solid day together in a long while, so this was a nice, much needed visit. We caught up on all our recent happenings, I showed her everything we’ve changed about our house, and I told her what I still want to change. She played with the kids and we watched some TLC. There were almost no tantrums or time outs! It was the perfect morning. The kids went to bed around 2:00 and then she did a HUGE job with me!

We attacked the dishes. We’ve had a boil water advisory on since Saturday, and our dishes have been piling and piling. To me, they seems unbelievably impossible. I didn’t even know where to start. But she is such a good motivator, and got me all set up, boiling up a huge pot of water. About an hour and a half later, the dishes were done, dried, and put away!! She left fairly quickly afterwards, and about one hour after that, the stupid advisory was lifted. So while I’m partially miffed at all of that, its still very nice to have it done, and it was extra nice to get a visit in as well.

Brady actually left work and was home at a good time today, which was lovely. We had plans for him to haul stuff away to the dump but I just wanted him to be home instead, since he’s so rarely home so “early.” So we had pizza for supper and played toys.

Unfortunately, sometime in the last hour, I did something funny to my back and can’t really turn my head one way :/ Hopefully a shoulder rub and a bath with epsom salts will do the trick!

And a snack. A snack always helps.

Sleep deep, all!

 

As the title might suggest, today was thoroughly great! Not one time out for Dekker, which is a pretty big accomplishment actually! He didn’t want his diaper changed in the morning, so I made a song out of it and he played along!! If you’re happy and you know it, change your bum!! We played toys and ready books and watched the Duggars 🙂 Dekker loves “19 Kids and Counting.” In the intro, it reads out all the kids names, and he always incorporates himself after Joseph, and then laughs hysterically. He really likes Josie, and gets frustrated during the ads. “More Josie show! Josie, come back! Detter likes Josie,” followed quickly behind with “Detter likes Aynty Jerry. We all had a good lunch (you know when you eat soup and you can physically feel how warm your tummy is?? Ya…) and I put the kids down at 2:00 for their nap. They both seemed decently awake but with Dekker needing so much sleep these days, I didn’t think it would hurt him to go down nice and early so he wouldn’t sleep so late into the evening.

While the kids slept, I did some work around the house. First, I went through our junk drawer. It is now so light that it tries to come out at you when you pull it out because its sooo light! It used to be filled with tons of stuff that belongs downstairs on the workbench and now its not much more than a few pens, tape, scissors, and post its. Best of all, it went way quicker than I thought it would! I also started the process of sorting through the many boxes of baby clothes in our furnace room. They’re all stored in diaper boxes, but completely haphazardly, without any particular sizes together or anything. Now we have some tubs and I had the time, so I got on that. It was a bigger job than I expected, so its tidied up for now, and hopefully I’ll finish it up tomorrow. So some success there. Not tons, but a bit. Hopefully Brady will get home with enough time tomorrow so bring some more stuff to the dump for me, and then we’ll really have some space downstairs!! Can’t wait 🙂

I made my delicious and super guilty pleasure supper of cheesy chicken and rice tonight. I know for a fact that Dekker loves that meal, but of course, he screamed and screamed. We told him he could eat with us right then, or he could choose a time out for his screaming. He chose the table. And he cried and cried and cried. I snuck a couple of bites into his mouth while it was hanging wide open, and he would slowly chew them between shrieks. And then, after we left him alone for a few moments, he pulled it together, and ate! Not lots, but no more complaining, and no more asking for something else. He probably ate like five bites on his own. So no, not a full meal at all, but he did it completely on his own without whining, and even told me it was yummy. And he didn’t ask for food at all for the rest of the evening. So I’m going to call that pretty successful!!! And I’m sooo thankful that his volume doesn’t work Laela up very often. She just sat across the table from him, watching, and chewing her stuffed toys ears. So she’s basically adorable.

We played toys downstairs in the evening. We found a few sheets of stickers in our current purge, and Dekker saw them in a box of stuff to go upstairs. He held them up like they were gold, and squealed in delight “Oooooh, STICKERS!!!” Then he flopped down on his stomach to stare at them. He positioned himself in front of Laela, who was sitting on the floor. She leaned forward, her face right up to his bum, and screamed at him. Or his bum. However you want to see it. You probably had to be there, but it was hysterical 🙂

Dekker was pretty sad when I told him it was bedtime, but I distracted him with tickles and when we were over by the stairs, he asked me to hold hands with him. So we held hands, and he was cute and happy through diaper changes. Lots of hugs and kisses later, he’s in bed and we’re just finishing up with Laela. My bath is already run, and filled with a scented bath salt thing I found among all the stuff I’d forgotten about, so it smells amazing in here. And I believe theres an iced coffee waiting for me in the fridge. As long as the sky doesn’t crumble in on me right away here, I’m going to chalk today up to a 10/10.

I really hate making jokes about mental illnesses, so I mean absolutely no disrespect, but if I were to call any day “bipolar,” it would be today.

We began the day with the BEST night we’ve had since Laela was born. No wake ups in the night, and they were still asleep when I woke at 8:00am. Both kids started stirring soon afterwards, but it was quite wonderful.

After the best night even came probably one of the worst mornings. Dekker was thoroughly unhappy to be at church and after three or so time outs, he and Brady spent the rest of the service in the van. Yes, we could have all left, but that was exactly what Dekker wanted. He wanted to go to grandmas. Which I understand! I wanted to go to my moms too! But we came to church, and we were going to stay. So it was rough. Laela was tired through church, but adorable and very playful. She wasn’t loud or obnoxiously crying, but she played on the floor and growled and smiled at people. It was endearing.

Right after church, we went to my parents and fed Dekker s0me lunch before the rest of us ate, and put him to bed. He was acting up so badly, and he obviously needed to sleep. So he cried and cried but fell asleep fairly quickly. Laela also went down fairly quickly. Just in time for the steaks to be ready! We had a delicious and massive lunch of mashed potatoes, steak, and hot veggies. YUM!

My mom and I left for the city in the afternoon and did a quick grocery shop, threw all of our cardboard into a recycle bin, picked up coffee, and a big jug of water so we can actually make bottles and brush our teeth while this ridiculous boil water advisory is on. We drove along the river in the rain and got in some good visits. I feel like I haven’t talked to her in weeks. It was good.

The evening went much smoother. Dekker has slept a solid three hours, and Laela took two naps, so everyone was in better spirits. We left at a good time without any whining, but lots of buh-byes and loves. Now, Deks is in bed and Laela is having her bottle. The bath is run and I’m trying to think about a snack.

Oh! Snack!! Guys, I lost a bit more baby weight!! I’m not sure I’ve talked much about it on here, and I probably shouldn’t, but just a little bit of a success story first. At two weeks postpartum, I weighed myself and was decently happy with where I was at. I’ve been at that same amount since then, which feels less and less like a number I’m happy with. Happy news, I’m now down five pounds from that!!! I technically still have eleven pounds to go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight, but would actually be happy with only losing three more. I’d love to lose it all but I’m not sure its a great idea. Hard to know :/ Doesn’t really matter. I’m just feeling encouraged and happy that I’m making some of the right choices.

The end! Today was confusing and all over the place, but it turned out to be a relatively seamless day. I’m pretty happy with the turnout.

 

Would you believe that I picked working?!?!

This week felt very long to me. I talked with Brady last night and he suggested I take Saturday away and go to the city. We’re not rolling in cash and the weather was crappy, so I was hesitant. Its not like I could shop, or go walk by the river. My best Jerilee was at work and my mom had just returned from a trip. Whats a girl to do?! And then Brady lovingly said “Just go buy like $50 worth of makeup or something!” That juuust about sent me into the city last night! I LOVE trying new products, and that would have been enough to buy me a couple new lipsticks from places other than the grocery store! I haven’t bought a Mac lipstick is a very long time. What a treat that would have been 🙂 Makeup and Starbucks.

And then, I stayed home. I know, I couldn’t believe it myself! The kids slept in a bit longer than usual and we all had breakfast together.

We immediately headed downstairs afterwards. The weather was cold and wet, like I know it was for most of you. Our upstairs was freezing, and we try to keep it that way since it tends to heat up really hot really quickly. Once we got downstairs, Dekker started playing toys and I asked Brady to haul out a few boxes from the furnace room for me to start going through. Since I pulled all the empty ones out the other day, it was time to deal with all the full ones. The area underneath our stairs was full to the brim with all the boxes we moved with but never really did anything with. Brady joined in and we really got in the groove. It was actually really fun going back through old pictures from when we were dating, all of our wedding stuff, childhood toys, and lets be honest – tons of random crap.

I found my old jewelry box and little trinkets that I am now putting away for Laela. I have little sparkly stones, some jewelry, and other treasures of mine. We found some really fun toys that Dekker will love once he’s a bit older too. We have a big box of things we’re storing specifically for the kids, one smaller box with things we’re saving for sentimental reasons (letters Brady and I wrote each other back in the day, pictures, gifts, etc.) and then one big box of stuff we’re storing just to store. Yup. One. It is incredible!!

We’re not done. The shelves in our furnace room are still really full, but that will be a considerably less gruelling job. When I go into the room, it still looks awful from the entrance…

but its in way better shape!

I know, this part is still messy, but that pile was WAY bigger and much higher before! Those of you who have witnessed our furnace room know what I’m talking about!

This is another way to look at the progress we made today! My gosh, hey?

We were so thankful to the guy at the dump! He charged us a really amazing price to get rid of all of this trash. I am amazed that Brady could fit it all into his van, and even happier than $15 later, it was out of his van!

Our basement is still a mess. We have one box of things we are taking out of storage and adding to our life/house, and they still need to be dispersed, and there is of course still work to be done in other areas of our house, but it was an incredibly productive morning/afternoon.

The kids woke up shortly after 4:00pm and came for diaper changes on our bed.

Isn’t she gorgeous?

It obviously wasn’t supper time yet so we played/sorted a bit more before having breakfast for supper. It was a delicious day for it, and its a meal that Dekker likes, so that made is taste sooo much better!

Unfortunately, today we had a couple of decently power outages in town that included our plant. Because of those, we are now under a boil water advisory. Its not the end all and be all, but its a huge hassle and makes me grumpy. The notice this time (this has happened before ) said we shouldn’t even wash our dishes! Fighting against the grumpies currently. After such a good day, I can get over the water.

What did you guys accomplish on your Saturday?