Whew! Guys, I earned my bed/blog/YouTube time today!! I feel like I occasionally earn it by just being allowed to lay in bed, or because I’m building a human and chasing two all day long. But today, I really earned it!

I’ve been hit by the nesting bug, which doesn’t happen too terribly often, and I want to take advantage of it! However, most of the jobs that need doing around our house are a bit too big for one person to tackle. Yesterday, I was feeling the same way, but decided I should take Monday as a low key day, and reassess everything the next day. Well, thats today, and I NEEDED to get something done. So I continued yesterdays trend of a tidy kitchen and did the breakfast and lunch dishes. Which took all of four minutes maximum. Then what? Now that we’re training Dekker on tidying up the basement every evening, the upstairs looks like a total pigsty. I could do that, but the kids were napping upstairs, and them hearing me “playing” with their toys likely wouldn’t help them sleep. It had to be downstairs.

So I tackled our pile of recycle stuff in the furnace room. If you remember, I began (and never finished 🙁 ) a HUGE house purge a while back. It screeched to a halt when my morning sickness entered, and I’ve never picked back up on it. The furnace room is in shambles again, which is really sad. That was a HUGE job. Whats good is that a ton of the mess is removed and thrown away. There is waaay less stuff in there, but its still a huge mess than impossible to move around. Under the work bench is where we keep our recycling. Bags and bags and bags of recycling. Five and a half YEARS worth of recycling. Thats right. We have never ONCE taken in our recycling. So you can imagine what a daunting job this was. But its been nagging at me for a while, and to avoid becoming someone who nervously eats their own eyebrows, I decided to at least start. That was my goal. If a job seemed too ominous, I’d at least start, and try. It doesn’t hurt to try right?

Well, that enormous pile is OVER! In my entrance, I have four large black garbage bags of plastic bottles and cans to bring in to SARCAN. Downstairs, I have all of our glass bottles separated into beer/alcohol bottles, and then non-alcoholic bottles like Jones or Nestea. I’m not hauling all that glass upstairs myself! Two more garbage bags outside of our front door full of lids, bottles that were waaay too icky to make someone handle, grocery bags that held recycling in the past, and any random garbage within an arms reach. And two diapers from this morning, haha! SO MUCH GARBAGE!!! And so much success. I still have to do my research and find out if glass jars from things like pasta sauce give a return, or where to leave those. And is it better to bring beer bottles to SARCAN or to a liquor store? Either way, my back is pissed about sitting on a concrete floor for quite so long but I feel pretty awesome actually.

The point of this post is to say how interesting our recycling is! I know probably no one else will get a kick out of this, but I just scanned through our entire marriage in a way!

The recycling towards the back, so the oldest stuff, was from earlier in our life together. It consisted of the occasional 2L pop bottle, which was usually something weird that we haven’t had since, or lemonade. There were big 1.5L water bottles that we always used to buy for trips. Our cans consisted of V8, which I used to drink when I worked in the city, and club soda for the ridiculous amount of italian sodas we used to make. There were numerous massive pickle jars, as well as completely different milk jugs from what we drink now!! I had completely forgotten that we drank milk with a different fat content when we first got together. A silly thing, but a memory I had lost until today.

In the middle stuff, there were LOTS more water bottles, littler ones, that I’m pretty sure we used to buy by the case when Dekker started drinking formula and we took bottled water everywhere we went. That stage was pretty much just those bottles and Coke cans, because thats Bradys favorite. The 2L pop bottles phased out, as well as the club soda. I saw the occasional juice bottle.

Now, the recent past, our recycling has changed. We’ve completely stopped holding onto the milk jugs, for one thing. Not because they’re not important to recycle, but because we had SO much recycling and not enough space, and this family burns through milk. I dont know about you guys, but we buy three 4L jugs of milk at a time and if we’re lucky, they last a week. We like milk around here. So, no milk jugs. Lots more cans of pop. And considerably more alcohol. Now, lets clarify this. I have not a single thing against people who drink regularly. Beer-a-day people, go hard! No issue here! BUT seeing these things made me really, really happy because it means that, in our recent past, we have entertained waaay more than we have in the last five years!!! We rarely have alcohol in the house unless we have people over. I mean, we have a little cupboard with a few things in it, and likely a few beer in the basement fridge, but they take a very long time to disappear. Its not something we count on. But we like to have something special in the house for when we have guests. Seeing the beer bottles reminds me of all the people we’ve had over in the last year or so. We’ve had more overnight guests since Laela was born than all the years leading up to that. And we’ve finally started having people over for dinner, or the weekend, or what have you, and to me, this silly little thing represents that. I really liked seeing how we’ve grown into adults who can entertain and run our household.

Now that I’ve had my realization, I am so over my huge pile of bags of bags of recycling. Once Brady is home, I’m getting all that glass out of my basement, and swapping out a pile of garbage bags for a Rubbermaid garbage can. We’ll still recycle our stuff, but with considerably smaller amounts at a time.

Sigh. Success, and a sore back. Time for YouTube and recipe hunting.

I know that, compared to a lot of you, our life probably sounds fairly mundane and boring. We don’t do too much, really. Its something I’ve learned is necessary for me. If I have one thing I have to do each day, I feel busy. So going out every day is NOT my ideal. Its fun for a time, but it tires me out pretty quick. I’m just not that person who can run an incredibly busy life.

I feel like our family has been going and going for a few days now, and I was really looking forward to today being a quiet day at home. And thankfully, I got it! We had a few bumps along the road, as is to be expected. The kids aren’t used to lots of going out either, so they were pretty tired through most of the day. And Laela is working on FOUR molars now! That one ridiculous one is popped partway through but still isn’t all the way out, and the others are just starting to make bumps in the gums. Yet I can see the bright white of the eye teeth coming as well. So the kids were a bit hands on. But it was the best day for it, really. We spent time in our jammies, cuddling, eating snacks, and just enjoying not having to be anywhere.

As far as I know, tomorrow is another day of the same. I do really need to accomplish a few things around the house, but decided to give myself a free day today before I sort of have to try to be a grown up tomorrow. I did clean up the kitchen today though, and I even hand washed the few huge things that often sit beside the sink for days and days. So thats something, but a pretty small something. Wish me luck! Hopefully I’ll be more motivated tomorrow 🙂

Oh! One more thing! What do you guys do when you start to plan for Christmas? I know it still feels early for some of you, but it doesn’t to me! Do you go shopping with a list, already knowing what you’re going to buy for everyone? Or do you just wing it? I’m trying to decide just how organized I want to be going into the season 🙂

I have regularly laughed at my kids’ hair, and for valid reasons! Dekker has these super strong cowlicks right in this hairline, forcing a big tuft of hair straight down the centre of his forehead and the rest falling naturally around his ears. He’s recently developed his own version of the Bieber hair flip, though, so at least we know which way he likes his hair to lay. He also has some crazy waves in what seems to be the top layer of his hair, and the bottom layer is straight. He as incredibly unpredictable hair. I LOVE it long, but once again, just a couple of weeks ago, he was mistaken for a girl. AGAIN! Ugh. I’m not 100% sure what to do about that. I’m thinking we’ll take him in for a cut soon, and get his bangs fixed and the rest touched up a bit, but still leave it long. Even looking through pictures of hairstyles for kids, Dekker picks out the long hairstyles on boys. So he agreed. But all joking and funny hair aside, my mom captured him sooo well today, I can’t resist sharing!

Isn’t he gorgeous?? And a huge goofball? I love this kid to pieces.

And then there is my little Laela Bean. She has seemingly way less hair than Dekker did at her age, and its bugged me a bit in the past. Not like bugged bugged me, but I’ve wished she had a bit more for me to play with. However, what I’ve been noticing is that its thickening up like crazy!! And as I think I’m mentioned before, I’m pretty sure its trying to curl a bit, which is why it maybe doesn’t seem to be lengthening too fast. But today, she rocked her first ever ponytail!!

Does anyone from my family see my grandma Voth in her? There is SO much Voth in this little girl!

So her ponytail is obviously far from perfect, BUT not only am I a novice. A little baldy from church tried to steal Laelas ponytail straight off her head this morning so it got a bit mangled, but I’m sure it won’t be the last time someone attacks her with hair envy.

*sigh* Look at those rosy cheeks. If you were closer, you could have felt her warm ears too. She is teething HARD! As you’ll see in the next picture if you actually click so you can zoom in a bit…

Look at all the white bumps on those gums! The eye teeth haven’t come to the surface yet but they are sure working their way up! And both of the first molars on the bottom are just about there. One is through in a few different spots, and the other hasn’t quite broken the surface yet. But they’re close, and she is a CHAMP! Just drinking lots of cold milk and chewing. I adore this little girl.

Unbelievable hair. Unbelievable kids.

Last night was such a huge success, we decided to go out again today. Ok, not to the full extent at all, but we didn’t get to see Auntie Jerry, and thats just not right. We got the kids ready in the morning, and kind of hesitated while putting them back in their costumes. We didn’t know how it would go over with everyone else, and if people would be kind of standoffish, or polite, because they’re kids and should be able to wear costumes every day if they want. So we packed extra clothes, and decided to change them out of their costumes as soon as we were done at Bath and Body.

Funny thing was, once on the road, we discovered that there were two other places we needed to hit, and it only made sense to go there first. One, I just ducked into and bought one thing, but the other place was Walmart. Even if we just needed one thing, Dekker LOVES Walmart. He recognizes it from a distance and gets excited about it. We had a short list, but a list nonetheless, so we put our strawberry into the cart and our fireman hopped on the back of the cart, as firemen do, and we were off! Already in the parking lot, SO MANY SMILES from people walking to and from their vehicles. Immediately, both Brady and I felt relieved. No judgment!

We did our shop and paid for our stuff with very little fussing from the cart. Everyone who looked our way either had a smile or a kind word. One guys mistook Laela for a ladybug but I let it go, since ladybugs are adorable too. As we were leaving, I saw an opportunity that I COULD NOT pass up! I snatched Dekker from the cart and rushed him over to a photo opportunity that I couldn’t ignore. Traffic stopped. People smiled and waited patiently. And Dekker was thrilled!

Like he was this happy!

The sun was clearly burning his eyes but he was so pumped! He talked about it for the rest of the walk to the van, and then was devastated that he couldn’t go back and drive in the firetruck. I’m sure he’ll get his chance one of these days. But this was a serious highlight of today.

We visited auntie at work next, but both kids were pretty tired and cranky at that point so we didn’t stay long. Also because Jerilee was at work, haha! Something we should maybe respect more often. Oops! But we visited, and Dekker told her what he was dressed as, and Laela too, and then really wanted to eat. So we hit the food court, where the boys got burgers and fries, and Laela and I shared some asian food. Its particularly delicious these days for me. She thought so too. Big win across the board. Oh and smoothies. Because smoothies are a very special treat.

We hit a small town marketplace on the way home but left without making any purchases 🙁 Too bad. Just didn’t have what I was looking for, I guess. And then home for naps, laps, and food. Laela is walking like mad, so our house is officially a really, really active and noisy one! But its wonderful. Its such a funny dynamic. One kid spills something, so I’m crouched down wiping it up, and suddenly I have tiny little hands on my shoulder, and one of the two is leaning over me, observing the work being done. Or one chasing the other. I could watch that all day. My kids are hysterical.

Tomorrow is another day away, this time our usual routine of church, and then spending time with my parents. I feel like we’ve just been going and going, but luckily, it feels like home there too. Should be yet another good day 🙂

This was the year of the firecat and the strawberry for our family, and it was a very good year for Halloween!

In all honesty, Dekker has rarely been given the opportunity to anticipate anything. He’s always either gotten really excited about it, and then been devastated that its not happening immediately, or he gets scared and dreads it. But for this holiday, we gave him lots of notice, taught him to say “trick or treat,” told him the general routine he’d go through at each house, and that people would give him treats. And my gosh, he has been positively itching for Halloween to come!

We also had a belated birthday supper for Brady this evening with my parents, since they’ve been gone so much since the day, and even sitting at the table eating birthday cake, Dekker was asking if he could “go Halloween now?” He was ready.

So the second the cake was eaten, we got the kids into their costumes and did a dry run with grandma and grandpa. We helped Dekker remember the order of things – knocking on the door, saying “trick or treat,” getting the candy, family picture (not that we had that happen at too many places, but definitely at grandmas, and a few others 😉 ), then a “thank you” and a “happy Halloween” and he could go. So we did the routine and headed out!

And our kids ROCKED! Dekker LOVED trick or treating! He knocked on every door that we went to, and without much hesitation at all, he just walked right into people’s entrances and picked candy from their bowl. It was super adorable, and luckily, we only went to houses of people that we knew so they were patient with him and the rest of us. Not to say that he was rude at all!! He would take one candy unless offered more, and said lots of thank yous. We also made a point of making him talk to everyone, so we asked him to share at each house what he and Laela were dressed as. As his ice cream pail slowly filled with treats, he really got into it! He would go through his little routine quicker and ask to find the next house. He was thrilled! For the cautious boy that we know and love, he floor us and most of the people we saw tonight! I can’t count how many houses we visited, and how many quiet but excited comments I got about how great he was doing and how he seemed so comfortable! Its almost like his costume made him into his own kind of superhero. It was pretty unbelievable, and I couldn’t have been prouder.

Laela was a trooper too. Obviously, it was easier for her, but she smiled and was very patient. When she was obviously and justifiably wiped out, she was just perched in my arms and cuddled. No fussing or squirming. Just calm. The kids were out TWO HOURS past their bedtime!!! They have both been in bed for about fifteen minutes now and are both out cold. What a fantastic evening we had!

Many thanks to those of you who we saw this evening. I know you gave candy to many kids, but we felt so cared for by everyone we saw, and visited, and who took time for us! We were given candy, home baking, and even coffee in to-go cups WITH handmade cup covers!!! We felt encouraged and welcomed and loved all over town! I try not to name the town on here too much, just in case of creepers, haha, but you guys know who you are and where you live. You have such a soft spot in my heart. Please know how hard we are working as a family to find our way there to live. You all live in a very, very special place.

Happy Halloween from our house to yours! Can’t wait to have our arms even fuller next time around!!!

My plan for today was to go to the city, get my hair done, and go home. I ran every errand in the book yesterday and was going to do as few other errands as possible today. But as so often happened, plans change, and they changed for the waaay better!

I had my hair appointment at 9:30 this morning, and its aaaaall different! Its back to blonde, and its a longer style than I’ve purposefully had in a while. Very grown up 😉 I like it a lot. Its a nice change. It doesn’t meet Dekkers ponytail criteria but I’m sure we’ll get there eventually. After my appointment, I decided to go for a “treat” and go to the south Value Village location. I haven’t gone in a while and my last VV shop was a big success.

Today was good too! Not my best, but fun. I found Brady a couple of work shirts, a rocking/ugly/wonderful pair of sandals for next summer, and the BEST find was some dishes to match my moms set!!! Thats always such a big win. I’ve found her big plates once in the past but I found four soup bowls today, which is actually pretty awesome! So I picked up some coffees on the way and went to drop them off to my mom.

After I accidentally kept staying for a couple of hours, we decided to run a few errands together. We called our husbands and confirmed that we were going to the city to look at Fabricland while the 50% off sale was on. My mom sews these big beautiful receiving blankets for all the new grandbabies, so we went to find flannel, and actually found more than we thought! There was a lot of Christmas themed stuff, which wasn’t so much what we were going for, but there was lots of cute chevron and plaids and really nice thick material. Yay for baby Jim being in a blanket that can actually be wrapped around his inevitable massive bulk!

We decided to hit up Superstore for a few groceries for her afterwards. We’re going to be over tomorrow for Halloween, and since we were gone and then they were gone, Bradys birthday sort of got missed, so we’re adding that to the mix. Therefore, special food was purchased, as well as bedtime snacks for Brady and I. Yum. Chocolate covered raisins.

And then, of course, it was too late to go home and not have eaten!! So we ducked into a nearby restaurant for supper. I don’t remember the last time my mom and I went on a date without husbands or my kids! We spend lots of time together with everyone, but not often just the two of us, so that was delightful. We just caught up. We talked about the baby and about plans for Christmas, and the upcoming year. I love her. (Ya, you, crazy mama!)

We finally decided that it was time to head home, which was kind of sad, but we’ll see each other tomorrow, so my withdrawal shouldn’t last too long. Its been a wonderful day, but also strange, in the way that Dekker and Laela weren’t up when I left in the morning, and they were in bed before I got home. Weird!! That happens so rarely, but I really loved today, and will see their beautiful faces much too early tomorrow morning, I’m sure. That will also be a good day. Trick or treating!!!

We never actually get everywhere that we’re trying to go in a day, but today, it worked! Granted, our list of places was shorter than usual, but our actual shopping list was not. Still, we celebrate our success! We celebrate by putting our incredibly overtired children to bed early, because they hate the world and are slowly making us hate it too. It doesn’t help that Laela is cutting her very first molar. Some of it has actually broken through but those stinkin’ things have to break through the gums in like four different spots! Poor babies. Cutting teeth is hard. Everyone is laying in bed now. The kids in their room, and us in ours. I’m blogging (obviously) and Brady is playing games on his iPad. Eventually Brady and I will surface and make something for supper, but not yet. First, we rest our feet and look over our pictures from today. Our beautiful kids attracted a ton of attention. Can’t blame them.

After the way yesterday ended, we didn’t have high expectations to actually make it to the city at all. I have a hair appointment tomorrow morning, so we thought I’d likely run most of the errands on my own after that, but the kids were super chipper this morning and we couldn’t resist taking them out. We had mostly long grocery lists to take care of, and thats not always buckets of fun with two kids, but with two of us, one can often take a kid out or defuse a situation, or worst case scenario, just wait in the car with both littles while the other accomplished the task. We’ve done a lot of that in the past. Hardly at all today, though. Just in the really quick stores. We started at Carters to look for mini gloves for Laela. We got some little ones for Dekker last year for just a  few bucks, and they fit Laela decently well, so we thought we’d get her some too. Believe it or not, all they had were the little ones with all five fingers separate!!! Can you imagine trying to get a one year old to cooperate long enough to get all the fingers in the right place, only to have her pull them off immediately?! Brutal. Not a chance. So we ran across to Walmart and found the right ones for sixty cents. No joke. We also picked up about half of our grocery list, some tubs for packing up clothes that don’t fit the kids anymore, and our first Christmasy decoration of the year!!! (I’m planning on keeping track of details and amounts so I can tell you guys at the end of the season what we all bought and how much our yearly savings plan helped 🙂 ) Dekker was a bit upset as we were leaving because we didn’t stop for fries, which we often do. But the promise of french fries was coming, so he held on and kept a pretty cool head about the whole thing.

We did a quick stop in at Old Navy so I could look at their maternity clothes. I’m really in need of a good maternity hoodie, and without sounding super cheap, I’d love to not spend $100 on one from Thyme. The American Old Navy website has them for around $25, but the Canadian website doesn’t have a maternity section!!! I can’t be the only person annoyed with that. It wouldn’t be a bit deal, but the cheaper brands like Walmart and Target don’t fit me. Its Thyme or Old Navy. Anyone going to the states anytime soon and wanna help me out?

Old Navy was a bust, so we headed for lunch. Just to a nearby Wendys, but Dekker was so excited. I ordered all of our food while Brady got the kids settled, and someone even carried one of our trays over to our table so I didn’t have to make two trips. Dekker happily ate his fries and burger, and drank his milk before getting his Scooby-Doo toy. Laela didn’t eat much, I think because her teeth were bugging her, but Brady had given her some milk in the car while I was pestering the Old Navy staff.

Kinda gnarly how much she liked to suck on the table though…

Our next spot to hit was Superstore. Laela was a bit sleepy, but she perked up…

Now, Superstore is always a long visit, and it can go one of two ways for Dekker. See, he remembers things now. He knows that, at the bakery section, he gets a cookie. And with the order of the store, that comes at the end. So, he either anticipates it, and gets really excited, and enjoys it at the end, or he mixes up the sections and cries from about the deli on. Today was a good day 🙂 He talked about his cookie pretty much the entire time, but he was more so just reminding us. We assured him that we remembered. We got pretty much EVERYTHING on our Superstore/Walmart list, plus a few really good deals, like hangers and stemless wine glasses. We took our time all through the store, and once we got to the bakery, Dekker told us he was ready for his cookie now. We headed over to the counter and luckily, we weren’t the only people who had kids waiting patiently for cookies. Someone came out and gave us all cookies and Dekker used his manners, which I’m always happy about. And the exciting part was…Laela got a cookie too!!! And let me tell you, that was one happy cart load of kids!! They both had their own treat, it was a super yummy treat, and best of all, it was distracting! They sat in the cart like perfect angels and ate their cookies while we waited in line and unloaded everything.

 If thats not a happy cookie face, I don’t know what is.

Because we’re suckers for punishment, we decided we hadn’t bought enough groceries yet and went to Costco still. It was actually a great shop though! We are so stocked up! We bought each of the kids some new sleepers for winter (including baby JIm!) and even took advantage of the HUGE deal on formula and bought a few cans. Laela is switching to milk right now, but formula keeps forever, and this way we have a bunch on hand for when the baby comes. Good to be prepared when things are on sale, right? We bought a new coconut oil and then stocked up on our regular stuff. When we were going through the line, the cashier was really chatty with the kids and Dekker responded beautifully. It was so sweet to see them interact. She teased him about buying so many apples and he just giggled at her and admitted that he really likes apples.

We grabbed coffees and headed home. We made a quick stop by Grandma’s house to bring her a bag of apples (ambrosia apples are hard to find, but they’re delicious!) and she provided him and Laela each with a new toy car, which was an obvious win. The cherry on top of a great day!

Upon arriving home, Brady and I began the task of getting our stuff put away and organized. I don’t think we’ve had quite this huge of a grocery shop to put away all at once in a long time. I DO have to say that it felt like less hassle today though. We used the tubs we bought for storage at Walmart for packing up groceries, as well as the Superstore green bins we have in our van at all times. And Costco uses boxes. So we didn’t have all the tearing bags to mess with, and fewer trips to and from the van. It was MUCH easier clean up! But the clean up did reveal just how out of control our house is. We both began to feel overwhelmed and went into crazy mode. Its ok now though. We’ve done enough work for the day. Brady is so tired, and I’m super sore. I began to feel my pelvis hurt and shift like it tends to do in my pregnancies, and my back is quite tired as well. So we did enough, and now its time to quit.

We accomplished SO MUCH! And it felt pretty amazing. Now, we will soak, eat, and sleep. And tomorrow, I will get my hair done! We’ve been so busy recently, I haven’t had a chance to get your input this time around, and I’m scrambling a bit! Geez, why aren’t you all here in my home right now? Probably because that would be super overwhelming. Good call. Stay home, guys.

Today felt like a bit of a strange day. The kids were GREAT in the morning! Ate well, played well, etc. They went down to nap better than usual, which was a wonderful change from our normal. Laela woke up after a solid 2.5-3 hour sleep, and it was her who woke Dekker, rather than the usual other way around. And then the real fun began.

Brady went to get the kids up, and Dekker told him that he felt a bit sick. Now, Dekker has never said that to us. The only reason he actually knows the phrase is because unfortunately, we used it a lot in my first trimester. His mommy often felt “a bit sick,” so he picked up on it. I was actually relieved to hear that he had told Brady, since that would seem like we FINALLY wouldn’t be guessing anymore! But we’re still guessing.

Mr. Dekker refuses to tell us what kind of sick he feels. So he and I cuddled in bed a bit while Laela had her bottle and Brady heated up supper. That seemed really comfy for him, and of course, I loved it too. We had mac and cheese for supper, which he devoured. He was back to his energetic self, and even told me he felt better. He played well all evening. He was very active and giggly and seemed 100%. Until it was bedtime. Well, then he felt sick again. Sigh. So I have no idea!!! is he actually sick? Or just learning that he could maybe get out of something if he was? I absolutely don’t want to overlook sickness in my children, but he seemed quite irritable and mostly just a bear. So we told him he could have a good sleep and probably feel better in the morning. After checking on him fifteen minutes after, he insists that he feels sick.

All of that, and Laela is really struggling to get to bed tonight. She had a molar that is working super hard to poke through, and I think she’s feeling that in a pretty big way. So she’s crying periodically, and Dekker is sooo frustrated. With her, and his illness, whatever that may be.

Its just felt like a really odd day. I’m relieved that Brady will be home tomorrow. We’re really hoping for an errand day to finally get some big stuff done, but I may either be on my own, or we may leave it for another day. I’m getting my hair done on Thursday morning, so I could always finish some tasks then. We’ll see how the kids feel. Hopefully tomorrow is better than today!

It seems like I’m learning more and more every day about having two kids, and being fair. For example, Dekker is a great helper, and brings his dishes to the kitchen after he eats. Yes, they are plastic. He used to bring his dishes, and then come get Laela’s yogurt cup and spoon next. Now, he happily brings his dishes to the kitchen, but says Laela should bring hers. Huh. Obviously, when Laela is old enough, she will absolutely be in charge of her dishes, so it won’t always be his job at all! Yet, its nice to help out whether it seems fair or not. Like I said, we’re always figuring.

Our big one is learning about sharing. So far, our method has just been that we don’t steal toys from each other. Neither kid is the kid who picks their toy and holds it all day long. They swap around constantly, so within a few minutes, the other kid would be able to play with the toy. So currently, if Dekker wants a toy that Laela has, he can’t have it until she’s done. Its been a long time coming but Dekker has come to terms with it. He’s also starting to slowly work in trading her for another toy. Since she is often still holding onto furniture while she’s standing, if Dekker gives her a “new” toy, she’ll have to drop the first one, and then its fair game apparently, haha! Good system, Dekker. Today, he tried a new method that I couldn’t resist sharing on here with you guys.

Deks was building something with Duplo when he noticed that Laela had a block, and he wanted it. He went up to her and made a bit of a whiny sound, and asked me if he could have it. I told him that Laela had it right now, and he could have it when she finished, like always. (Keep in mind, we have a tub of Duplo in our basement.) He was bummed, but then perked up and put his hand out. He said “Dekker just wait til Laela gives it.” A VERY good move on his part! Laela’s great with giving me toys that she’s not supposed to have, and in situations like that. I never have to actually take anything from her. Obviously, Dekker has observed this. So he sat patiently with his hand out, right next to her little hand with the block in it. She slowly switched the Duplo to her other hand and gave Dekker a hearty high five. I burst out laughing, and so did Dekker. Once the laughter had died down, he said “No Laela, the toy for Dekker?” in the adorable little high voice he uses when he talks to her. Once again, a high five. This went on, and seemed to become less and less funny, but more and more funny to me, and to Laela, who responded more to my laughter than to Dekker’s rising temperature. Finally Dekker took the block, put it in the appropriate hand, and put his hand under her hand. She finally gave in, and he took off with it. She followed him on foot, which seemed to throw him for a bit of a loop, but he giggled the whole time. Both kids were happy, and I certainly didn’t intervene. It was a fabulous interaction to watch! One of those when I had a “Oh cmon, Dekker, lay off”moment, but Laela held her own and didn’t give him what he wanted until she had finished having her fun with him. They have a fabulous dynamic.

I can’t wait to see the chaos that will ensue with a third kid in the mix! Jim and I are having some one on one time now as the two crazies get some sleep. I’m loving that his kicks are getting bigger, and I’m LOVING that I can know that he is, in fact, a he 🙂 I simply can’t wait to meet my little boy!

Wait, yes, I can wait!!! Probably it would be pretty bleak if he were born today. We’ll keep his little buns cooking a bit longer 🙂

So after our wonderful day of events yesterday, we ended up somehow losing a whole schwack of pictures, duplicating a ton, and mixing everything up. Brady worked furiously to fix the problem, and I worked just as hard and staying level. by 1:30am, we gave up for the night. It was during my pee break shortly after that when I had my breakdown. I bawled my unreasonable eyes out over the loss of my last ten days of pictures. I needed those pictures!

But I didn’t. Brady got me back to bed and rubbed my feet a bit while we watched Netflix. Finally, around 2:15am, my body gave up and let me sleep. I slept hard until I woke up to pee around 6:00. I went back to sleep but had bad dreams until I woke up really early, in time to get to church in time for practice. Not my best night. But I wore a cute dress and felt relatively put together, and like I didn’t look like a zombie. Somehow, that helped a little.

Brady and I practiced and everything went smoothly, so we went to my parents place. They had the kids, and had fed them breakfast and were playing toys. We hung out there until it was time for church. The morning service went really well, actually. The music went smoothly, especially considering that we needed a couple of extra songs and had only found out that morning! Thank the Lord for a husband who can just pick something instrumentally on his guitar and it can bring people to worship.

After church, Brady and I once again handed the kids off and headed to meet with our small group for lunch and our session. We ate unbelievable pulled pork on a bun and cold veggies for lunch. I could have eaten seven buns, but I didn’t. Self discipline, folks. We headed upstairs for our video and discussion afterwards, and from there, we went our separate ways.

Our kids were both asleep upon our arrival at my parents, and so was my dad. So Brady and I visited with my mom and made some plans for later in the week. Eventually everyone woke up and we had pancakes and bacon for supper, which was amazing. Our whole family loves pancakes, and Dekker was so polite and pleasant to eat beside. I always love him, but he was loving the food and was just super adorable about it. We then decided that, for a special treat, we’d go outside for dessert, make a little fire, and roast marshmallows. This was a HUGE win! Dekker raced around the backyard, got rides in the wagon, swung on swings, and ate lots of treats. The rest of us huddled by the fire, except whichever one was running around with him. Laela ate two whole graham crackers, and would likely have gone for more, but we called it quits. I fully expected a serious meltdown when we had to leave, but grandma and grandpa held Dekkers hands and ran like the wind with him to the van. They got him all buckled in and he happily waved and shouted his “bye byes” at them as we drove away. It always helps when grandma races the van 😉

We got home after their bedtimes, and Laela just finished her bottle up now, to bed she goes! Dekkers already tucked in but is definitely up waiting for her to join him. I love that boy. There are still a few things to do before bedtime tonight, but I feel weirdly refreshed. Yes, I’m tired. My body is tired. But today was busy and great and exactly what I needed. Seems like I might sleep really well!! I hope the same for the rest of you 🙂 The sleep, not the mad fatigue…