Today was a really good day. I slept in a little bit and we had pancakes for lunch. We did a bit of laundry and the kids played well. Brady bathed them and they went down for a nap just before 1:30pm. It was an incredibly smooth day.

So, apparently we felt like poking the bear, and we decided to spend the evening in the city, running errands. I’m not sure if I’ve talked in detail about this before, but Brady and I made a conscious decision a while back to give Dekker a break from crowds and places we knew made him nervous. I fully believe that kids need to learn, even if they need to be uncomfortable sometimes, so we pushed him on things like that for a good long while, but his volume only went up, and his level of panic escalated with eat outing. So we stopped. I didn’t go anywhere without leaving him with my mom, or taking someone with me to sit in the van with him. I’ve worried that I sound like I don’t like him, or don’t want to deal with him. That is absolutely not the case. We weighed our options and just felt led to give him that rest. For a few months, he wasn’t put in any group situation, minus church. And today, we had plans to go to a number of places.

So when the littles woke up, we got them all excited with the promise of a trip and french fries. We all got put together and ready, and guys, they are just he cutest little things.

I almost didn’t dress them so cute, since they attract enough attention as it is, and today was going to be something of a “first day back” experience. But they’re adorable no matter what, so we went with it.

We started at Walmart. Did you know Walmart carts aren’t made for two little kids to sit in? Only one. That is Dekkers safe spot. Always. But Laela isn’t in a bucket anymore, and the reality is she needs to sit in there. Dekker was a bit put off to begin with, and asked to sit, but we said we’d hold hands instead. So we all held hands in a row, which was cute. We had no real deadline, so we doddled to the back and found Laela some new socks, as hers are super tiny now. Dekker diligently took them from me and put them in the cart. From then on, he helped. He pushed the cart (as much as he could) and he participated in picking things. He even chose Laela a pair of shoes off of a shelf and put them in the cart. Unfortunately, she doesn’t need size eight shoes anytime soon, but they were cute, so it counts. We purchased the seventh season of Big Bang Theory, as well as Little Rascals, which was only $5. Aaand we got his Halloween costume! So it was a big win. We lined up in the express line, and as soon as there were people in front of and behind us, he got a bit twitchy. He started to get nervous, and asked to be held. I got down on the ground with him and we talked about waiting in the line, like everyone else, and when the line was all done, we were going to go out for supper. This would sooth him for a solid ten seconds before he’d ask again. So it became more of a mantra. After the twentieth time of comforting him, the girl behind us piped up with “You guys are so cute.” I thanked her, and explained that he is usually pretty scared of new people, and we were making a point to keep him calm and encouraged. She was really great and understanding, and gave Dekker some space while engaging Laela. Laela kind of just started her down, but as the kind stranger pointed out herself, the lip ring and long blue hair often got her the same reaction. We visited the rest of the time we were in line, and Dekker was totally calm! From there, we went to buy our stuff, and I’ll admit, my breath caught in my throat as the cashier ran through our two bags of apples and said “Oh boy, you must really like apples, huh?” to Dekker. He backed up a bit and leaned into Bradys leg, but didn’t even make his whiny “warning sound.” I bent down a bit and asked him if he liked apples, and he put on his beautiful, charmer smile and said “yaaaaa…” I was so thrilled!!! Right then and there, I praised him up and told him he did sooo well being friendly. “Thanks!” he said. He seemed pretty pleased with himself. On the way out, he grabbed both my and Bradys hands, and shouted “Run run run!” We raced out to the van, got inside, and peeled out of the parking lot, as Dekker was more than ready for fries.

Before fries, however, I stopped off at a house to pick up new iPhone cases for Brady and I off of a kijiji deal. They are Lifeproof, but are definite knock-offs. I’m personally not put off by that though. The real ones are super expensive, and while these ones are a bit less durable than those ones, they’re still better than a basic plastic case that cracks when dropped on carpet. Our kids don’t play with our phones either, so the risk is minimal. I got a pink one and Brady got blue. They’re cute.

We went for supper afterwards. We all had our long-anticipated fries, and the rest of our meals. Dekker has only recently discovered ketchup. I’ve never had an issue with him having dip, but he’s never needed it. He finally asked to taste it the other day, and he likes it. So he was thrilled that they had ketchup at the restaurant. He ate more than his share of fries, and Laela enjoyed some as well. Once we were getting to the end of the food, Jerilee got off work, and I convinced her to come visit us before going home. I ordered us a communal ice cream to eat while we waited. And I have to say, that did the trick. Dekker was a riot after that. I’m confident the sugar played a huge role, but he was officially brave. He would wander from the table, make eye contact with strangers, talk out loud, play games, and likely, be that kid in the restaurant that people roll their eyes at and say “Why don’t parents control their kids?” I was sooo happy he was happy! And no, he wasn’t bouncing off the walls or disturbing people. Otherwise yes, we would have calmed him down. We’re not animals. But he was so happy his Auntie Jerry was there, and that he could tell her stories about his day. He had such a good day, and was eager to share.

We made one more stop before we left, and it was totally fruitless. I just ran in, and ran out empty handed. Unimportant. We drove home after that, and Dekker requested some music. He played with the toy from his kids meal and listened to some Pitch Perfect while Laela dozed beside him. When we got home, I went to get him from his spot. He came out of the van and I just went down on my knees and hugged him. I told him how proud I was of how friendly he had been to everyone, and how patient he was when he was waiting for his food. He had just been a really fun person to hang out with that day. He gave me a long hug and a big kiss. We looked at the stars a little bit together before he said “Ready to have a diaper change and a sleep” and headed for the house. Unbelievable.

We timed everything a little bit badly, getting home so late, so we tucked Dekker in before feeding Laela some milk. She sucked it back and was more than ready to go to sleep. She was SUCH a little peach this evening as well, not once making a fuss or a scene. Just being the cute little eye candy in her hoodie and pink pants. The only noise she made was a slightly screechy “Mamamama!” when she wanted another taste of ice cream. I loved that.

So again, I say, today was pretty wonderful. I’m not saying I’m ready to take the kids out on errands myself just yet, since this was our first successful outing in a very, very long time, but this gives me hope. Hope that we’ll be able to go again, just me and the kids. I love those kids!

If you haven’t figured it out yet, my son is a cautious one. He is incredibly sensitive, and comes by it honestly. If you haven’t figured me out yet, I am also hyper sensitive. Ask my siblings. They’ll vouch.

Today, Grandma Willa came over for the morning to play with the kids while I got my kitchen cleaned up and kept the kids alive. Dekker knows her well and doesn’t play strange or anything, which is always a treat. Laela, who is a bit hesitant of new people, went right to her, and even did her little party tricks to show off. It was a fun household.

Over lunch, there was a fly buzzing around the table, and Dekker was super unimpressed. I know, I know, it sounds like a tiny thing. But he gets really worked up about it. He gets all squirmy in his chair and won’t eat anything as long as he can see it landed somewhere. It kept landing on the table, and walking in his general direction, and he was getting worked up. I’ve showed him multiple times how to shoo it away, but he’s always just gotten more upset. However, somehow, Grandma Willa had the magic words today. By the end of lunch, he was waving his hands around, shooing away bugs that weren’t there, as if it were a game. A very good game.

While the kids napped and Brady drove home, I lay in bed and rested. Eventually the kids woke up and Brady went to retrieve them. Dekker often comes into our room and cuddles with me in the bed a bit. But I like having the fan on, and Dekker adamantly does not. He asks sooo politely for us to turn it off, but the fan is nice, and we know it isn’t a threatening thing. So today, I said that I reeeaaally wanted to see him, so maybe he could just run run run reeeaaally fast past it and come over anyway. He immediately lit up and raced over. We celebrated with lots of high fives at going past the fan all by himself!! How big and brave is he?! We sat in bed together, visiting and playing toys. And all of a sudden, the fly was around him. Around his face. He made a whiny sound, but just briefly. I watched him freeze, saw the wheels in his head turning, and he reached out those beautiful, smooth little arms and waved them around. He giggled, and looked over at me to make sure I was watching. I celebrated like crazy, and called Brady in to show him, so Dekker felt super accomplished, which he definitely did. He actually got upset moments later because the bug flew away. “See another bug, please?” I couldn’t resist laughing. He got bored of being bug-free, so he left the bed, walked hesitantly towards the fan, then smiled and raced past it! Outside of our room, I heard him tell Brady “Dekker run past fan by his self!”

So, I know these are small victories, and you may very well laugh at me in your mind, but please show support instead! The fact that he didn’t just break down and kick his feet is a really big deal. He is learning, and its sooo wonderful to see the transformations!

I know I brag on here a lot about my wonderful kids, but I just have to do it a little bit more!! One cutesy story for each and I’ll be done.

Dekker first. We were watching some tv this morning, and an ad came on that Dekker hates. Its an ad for a shoe website, and in the commercial, a man is in a dark place, talking to a camera, telling men not to let their women find out about this website because they’ll be overrun with shoes. Whatever. Its pretty lame, but its spooky for Dekker, I think, with the dark and the man with the crazy eyes, and the staticky picture. He doesn’t like it. He used to scream when it came on. Since then I’ve made it into a big joke while it plays. Not that his fear is a joke, but I make sure he knows its about shoes and its sooo funny. So lately, he’s opted to come sit with me and simply look away until its over. This morning, when it came on, he came and climbed up onto the recliner with me and lay his head on my chest. Instead of sitting beside me, he was turned into my completely. We were a mess of sweat pants and soft skin. His soft hair tickled my chest, and I kissed his forehead until the ad was over. He wasn’t quick to move once it was, and we just sat completely cuddled into each other. Very quietly, in his perfect little Dekker-voice, he said “Dekker and mommy are soup snakes.” Now, no one who hasn’t seen The Office (American version) would understand this, but it was a slip of the tongue once when a man was trying to say “soul mates.” I just melted. I am more than happy to be soup snakes with Dekker for the rest of our lives. It was sooo comfy and soft and cuddly, and as most parents know, those moments become fewer and farther between as the years go by.

We had pancakes for supper, which both kids were thrilled about. Laela is getting really good at eating solid food as it is, but she certainly had no complaints with yummy (and easy to eat) pancakes. If I took too long to give her a bite, she’s screech “mumumumum!” She was full of smiles and, honestly, seemed totally amped on all the sugar that came with supper. After supper, we cleared the table and she sat in her high chair for a minute or two before she kind of lost it and just burst out crying. I was a whole two steps away from her, but I made a beeline for her and scooped her up. As soon as I had her, she lay her head on my shoulder and just stayed put. Brady talked to her a little bit, and she gave some pretty little smiles, but was just at such peace cuddling with me.

I found a great comfort in my kids today. I know some parents require that from their kids in a way that I find almost unhealthy. I know I’m here to raise my kids and to support them and comfort them, but inadvertently, I found such solace in them today. In between what sounds like Laela’s first words “Oooooh baby” (not even kidding!) and Dekker being an absolute riot at bedtime, giggling and cuddling and being totally pleasant, I am feeling rich in love.

Now that the littles are tucked in and quiet, I can now enjoy some time with the love of my life that is my husband. I am sooo wonderfully overcome by my family today. I love this bunch, and can’t believe that we’re growing!!

Do you know that feeling that you get when you dream so much that it feels like you got no rest whatsoever? Crappy, hey? I slept great last night, but around 6:00am, Brady accidentally dropped a full travel mug on our hard kitchen floor. I jolted awake and went to check out the situation. Luckily, nothing had spilled (thank you, Contigo) but it sure woke me with a start. Good news for me was I successfully fell back to sleep in decent time, but I dreamed a lot, and felt waaay more groggy than usual when I woke up. I was going to make this whole post about that dream, since it involved me, Jerilee, a double wedding, and lots and lots of nervous diarrhea, but I figured no one wanted to actually hear about that. So, anyway, that was the case, and I was pretty much a zombie upon waking up.

Elvira left for home this morning, so my groggy self somehow found my way into the kitchen to turn on the Keurig and feed my children. The Keurig side of our water cooler quit last night, which was a total bummer, so Brady had brought up our old countertop machine to use this morning. Good thing we didn’t chuck that! Of course, when I actually tried to make a coffee, it sat and grunted and groaned but didn’t brew. This was the whole reason we got the water cooler with the Keurig side!!! Luckily, I jimmied the little machine back to life and was able to make coffee for both myself and my mother in law. We drank coffee and ate cereal (fancy, I know) before Elvira gave hugs to the kidlets and myself, and headed out on the road. I’m glad she could come before *shudder* the snow flies.

Quick fun fact! After Elvira left, I went to make Laela a bottle using our water dispenser and discovered that it wasn’t just the Keurig that wasn’t working, but the hot water all together! I told Brady, he reset a little switch, and we’re back in business 🙂 I win! Me so handy.

The kids and I went downstairs to play and, in all honesty, all three of us were just wiped for some reason. Maybe they lulled earlier this morning too with the travel mug crash, but they looked just finished, and it wasn’t even lunch time. So we turned on the tv and were lazy buttheads all day. It was great. We had apples and party mix for lunch, and everyone went down for their nap a half hour early. It was a nice, low key, accomplished not a blessed thing kind of day.

Brady finished work at a good time, ran a few errands, and came home with a pumpkin spice latte for me. Something thats a bummer for me is that coffee gives me a bit of a tummy ache when I’m pregnant :/ However, those things are worth a bit of that! We drank our coffees and watched some Netflix until the kids woke up, and then we all had supper together.

The kids are now tucked away, the bath is run, and I’m looking forward to relaxing and hopefully falling asleep earlier than usual. I’ve been so wide awake these last couple of nights, but I feel tired now, and I hope it carries over.

I decided to do a photo post today, since I’ve been a slacker with putting pictures on my laptop for a while now, and its time to catch you guys up! Especially these last couple of days, we’ve had some good outdoorsy pictures that need to be shared. Other than that, our days have been really relaxed with not tons to report. We had ham today. It was delicious. With corn on the cob from the garden, once again. But thats really it for news, haha! So, for pictures! This post will be late because, as often happens when I slack and do long photo posts, the pictures take forever to load. I digress.

Behold the gorgeous Dekker Thomas in the waiting room at his ophthalmologists. Cool as a cucumber.

And the ever-beautiful Laela Hazel, munching on fresh garden produce. Or being a snowman. However you want to look at it.

All nice and fresh and clean!!! Sooo thankful Brady was willing to bathe them both. Dekker’s tolerance for baths is slowing increasing, and he is mostly upset if Laela cries. But if he kicks around and scares her, he notices, stops, and apologizes to her. He’s learning!!

Baseball stuff!!!!! (Anyone having a “Liar Liar” moment with me?)

Wagon rides are right up there with baseball.

Sugar pie honey bun, as photogenic as ever.

Who knew a cape could be made into a dress?!?! Dekker did!

Dekker and Grandma hanging out in the garden

Rocking the double stroller. Dekker got out and ran a bit too, but he likes to ride. This was Laela’s first time riding forward facing, having always been rear facing in her bucket seat. She LOVED this, and squealed and cooed and giggled throughout the entire walk. It was super adorable.

This girl doesn’t have to be smiling huge to be stunning. She just shocks me.

My big strong helper, working hard to push his sister in the stroller (off the road)

Thats the end for today! I do wish Dekker was a bit more cooperative with posing for pictures but alas, he is not. But he’s still the same beautiful little boy he’s always been, just getting older and more busy as time moves on. I adore these kids. They are completely unbelievable. I can’t believe there will soon be a third amazing child given to us to cherish and drool over. How blessed are we?!?!

I know I said I was going to do it the other day, but today, I finally got to making beef stew. I put it in this morning. It consisted of potatoes and carrots from our garden, plus canned corn and some fresh mushrooms from the grocery store. It stunk our house up in the best possible way all day long. Loved it!

Elvira and I spent the better part of the day in with the kids. We kept a low profile and just visited and played and snacked and enjoyed the quiet. When the littles went down for a rest in the afternoon, she went to visit with her sister who lives nearby. She arrived in time to help me make biscuits and for Brady to get home so we could all eat together. Dekker fought his supper hard for the first time in a while, but we all came out of it alive and had a good evening. Our upstairs heated up incredibly towards the end of the day so we spent some time downstairs in the cooler temperatures.

Being that we’re all feeling like old farts, we’re already separated for the night! We have a bath running and I believe Elvira is calling her hubby to check in on him. Time for some dessert and Netflix before bedtime!

Today was birthday party day! And by “birthday party day” I mean Elvira brought presents and we all got some! The highlight was Dekkers new baseball bat, ball, and glove. He dragged it all over the house, impatiently waiting for the rest of us to finish opening our presents before we could all get dressed and go outside to play. I have some beautiful pictures from today but they’re not on the laptop yet and frankly, I just don’t want to do it right now, so we’ll do pictures another day. But Dekker raced around the yard playing with baseball with a little bit of trucks mixed in, and Laela sat on the deck in her puffy vest and chewed on her shoe laces pretty much the entire time. Both were pretty adorable. We went in after a bit and had some lunch and eventually the kids went down for a nap. The rest of us got drinks and sat downstairs for a visit while the kids slept.

I was going to make a delicious baked creamy spaghetti for supper but we flip flopped last minute and had baked talapia and corn on the cob instead. Fresh, from our very own garden corn on the cob! And it was delicious. As in comparable to farmers market corn. Yum!!! So that worked out well, and we spent the rest of the evening in the living room, playing guitar, singing with Dekker, and watching Laela show off for us. She is such a crowd pleaser, and will madly shake her head while we all laugh at her until she physically falls over. Its adorable, and she’s such a clutz, and we just love her to bits. What a clown.

After the kids hit the sack, we pulled out a cherry cream cheese cake that I made on saturday and had dessert and coffee in the living room. It was quiet and dim, and felt really cozy, in my opinion anyway. Hopefully we can all be comfy cozy for a couple of days. Well, not Brady. He goes back to work tomorrow, which feels insane and unfair. I swear, today was Saturday. But it wasn’t, and Monday is looming. But Elvira and I will have some good solid relaxing time with the kids, and not do a whole heck of a lot. I love restful days, as I’ve been feeling overwhelmed recently, and need a bit of downtime.

Sleep deep, everyone. Stay warm!

Some of you may have seen my morose Facebook status earlier about my husband working this morning. I know, I’m incredibly spoiled to be in a situation where, more often than not, Brady works Monday to Friday, home for supper, every week. Not everyone is so lucky. But it was sad this morning, and even the kids knew! I didn’t think Dekker could differentiate between days of the week, and I’m still not convinced he can, but he made so many comments about liking daddy, and having fun playing with daddy, and wanting to see daddy soon. He knew. When Brady did arrive home around noon, Dekker threw out a big “Hi daddy!!!” but Laela surprised us all by put her head down and making a beeline for him! She was so focused that she almost crawled right through his legs. Brady caught her and picked her up before she went too far, but it was adorable to see how much she missed him. What a good daddy he must be.

Bradys mom was making the drive out today, so once lunch was over, we got on the house. We never go too crazy with cleaning, as I personally feel phoney when I do that kind of thing. My house is lived in. There are toys and dust and Cheerios. But you’re more than welcome to it! So some tidying and cleaning was done, but nothing crazy. We definitely took a load off while the kids napped, and watched a bit of tv in bed.

Once the kids woke up, we had supper and then baked a bit before bedtime. Dekker loved standing on a chair and being part of the process. It wasn’t really a good recipe for him to help with, unfortunately. No dough to play with or anything, but we still talked about each step and he played with the dishes that Brady was washing, and then rewashing, and then rewashing. But it was fun. Laela made her way all around the house, hanging out in the kitchen, going to her room, our room, and settled into the living room, playing toys on her own. It was pretty awesome and felt comfy and homey.

Elvira arrived shortly after the kids were down for the night. We had a bit of a visit, but we were all bushed and ready for bed. Since we’re obviously creatures of habit, Brady and I are running a tub before we call it a night, but tomorrow will be a great, super chill, relaxed day. I’m really looking forward to a jammie day for everyone, with the smell of slow cooking stew all through the house. I guess I can adapt to this fall weather…

Today is not the day for blogging. For really no reason at all, I’m feeling incredibly overwhelmed today. I haven’t done anything crazy at all, and as I type this, I’m laying in bed. I’ve never been one to “nap while the kids nap,” as everyone claims is the golden rule. I’ve already replied to that with “If I nap during the day, I don’t sleep at night.” This is very true, but as I’ve changed the dreaded word “NAP” in our house to “rest,” I’ve discovered that is exactly what I need to do. So when the kids rest, I rest. And its amazing. I joked to my doctor that I was laying down when I know I should be getting stuff done and she shut me down hard on that. She agreed that if I can get both to sleep at once, I need to take advantage of that downtime and put my feet up.

So I am. And as I am, I’m listing pages upon pages of things I have to do. Things I could very well be doing right now, but that I’m most definitely not doing now. So much to do over the next few weeks. Besides just getting my house in order, I never completed the massive purge we started a few months ago. We need to harvest our garden and till it in preparation for the cold. We wanted to paint before it was too cold to open the windows!! I think that idea is a lost cause :/ I haven’t even booked my 20 week ultrasound and I’m just about 16 weeks!! Could I leave anything else more to the last minute?? I want to cancel our home phone, pull out money for our weekly savings this week, buy Laela new jeans that aren’t flood pants, activate my new credit card, put away the last bundle of clothes that the kids outgrew, apply for the kids SIN cards, and I dunno, about a hundred other things. Sigh. Writing this post is not helping.

So. I have a beautiful new planner that I’m going to do my best to try and start scheduling some stuff into. I mean, I know if I weren’t so scattered, I could accomplish most of that last paragraph in one day. But I know I won’t. So I need to space it out, and do something small more often, rather than a bunch of stuff at once. Shoot. Should have bought a pretty pen for my planner.

Thats all I’ll whine about today. In other, more positive news, my back probably feels better than it has in a while! And do you know what I think has helped? Having to be out and about the last two days, running to appointments and whatnot. Turns out being active might be the answer, even though my body is begging me to relax. Who wins this one? Bum or baby?

I had a prenatal appointment today. It hasn’t been that long, since I went in a couple of weeks ago after my faint. Unfortunately, it was the day after that where I fell down the stairs. In going in today, I was curious what she’d say about that, among other things.

We got to the city unnaturally early, so we drove through the one Starbucks drive-thru and Dekker and I had a very special date. He got an apple juice, I got a pumpkin spice latte, and we each got a big cookie. He waited patiently for me to drive us to the doctors office before I pulled him out of his car seat and gave him his treat. I called it a cookie date, and he loved it. We took pictures and even shared some tastes of cookie with Laela. We waited and snacked until Brady showed up, and then went in.

My doctor ran about a half hour behind today, but that was fine. Dekker was pretty adamant that he didn’t want to go to the doctors office today. He had said the same thing yesterday, yet he told us many times yesterday and today “Dekker having fun at Dr Wubabs office.” So I was hoping he’d be ok with today. Dr. Guselle running a bit behind gave him time to acclimate. Laela was happy there, as usual, drumming on the step stool. When she did finally come into the room, we told her about my fall, and she told me what I already knew. Appropriate pain meds, ice, and suffering. The end. As I suspected. Not a huge deal. She’s fine with me seeing my chiropractor, so I’ll continue on that route and hope everything heals up soon. Other than that, I was pretty question-free. My blood pressure was suuuper low again, but my normal just seems to be around 90/60, so I guess its nothing to be shocked about anymore.

We heard the heartbeat of our incredibly elusive baby once again. It swam like crazy and avoided the doppler like the plague, but we got a couple of different readings that were both good and strong, so we’ll take them happily. She made a joke about getting two readings and saying we already had a scan that said it was just one baby, so not to worry. I told her I had two girlfriends who didn’t find out about their twin pregnancies until past twenty weeks, and she was a bit baffled by that. She assured me that was quite unheard of, and I assured her that I wasn’t choked either way 🙂 BUT that I figured I’d probably be quite a bit bigger already if I were carrying two! Pretty sure I’m not, but I’d definitely take two if they were offered to me!

We’ve been home for a while, getting the kids lunch and taking a load off. Laela is finally sleeping but Dekker is squirming around in his bed. I want to go in and tell him to stay quiet, but I fear waking the finally sleeping baby girl! I guess I’ll just hope for the best! They’re in bed, I’m in bed, and can’t complain.

Yay for day blogging!