The Daily Hailey

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?

Today was worlds apart from yesterday! The kids were happy to get up and have breakfast, and we played and played in the basement. Dekker took me from one activity to the next. We played ball, we raced cars, we tickled Laela (yes, thats an activity), we ate snacks, we lay on our tummies, we read books, we did puzzle, we did whatever he wanted. He fussed a bit here and there, but I would remind him that we weren’t going to whine today, and he would get over it pretty quickly. I was so relieved about that. I still felt exhausted from yesterday. But it went really smoothly.

The kids lasted longer than usual, but I figured it was ok, since Dekker especially had a very long night last night. They went down for a nap around 2:30. Laela only slept until 4:00 but I worked my butt off!!

I tackled the furnace room today. I admit, I have yet to complete a whole room, but I’ve completed tasks anyway. Our furnace room is stacked waaay up and I had no idea what it all was. When the two men came in the other day to help with our clogged pipe, they had no choice but to really move it all around, and it became a much worse mess. So I attacked it at the only place I could really access, and started moving boxes out.

Boxes. Yup. Thats all I found. Over 70 boxes. Ready for the kicker? Empty boxes. All in box form, too. Not flattened, or storing anything. Just an incredible pile of boxes. By incredible, I actually mean infuriating, but I just kept moving. Empty boxes were going to be much easier for me to clean up than heavy ones! I had considered saving some for potential moving boxes down the road, or some smaller one wrap gifts in, but there were just too many and I’m so over having random crap cluttering my home. So I stacked them up for Brady to haul away next chance he gets. Our furnace room is far from done. Its still a mess. But I can get to my freezer again, and that makes me happy. I worked up a good sweat too.

Dekker slept until almost 7:00!!! He was obviously completely exhausted. We had cheated and picked up KFC for supper. Yummy bowls of mashed potatoes, chicken, corn, and gravy. Sooo yummy! And Dekker loves all of those things. So I scooped some into a bowl for him. He was so hungry. But freaked out. Not like, he whined a bit, but had an absolute throwdown. He is more than welcome to cry, but he will now thrashed and kick at the table, which isn’t acceptable in our book. So off to his room to cool off. He cried for a solid ten minutes, no word of a lie. We brought him back out, only to have a repeat of the situation. These are rules he absolutely knows, for those of you thinking we’re cruel. He knows he needs to take a few bites of his food at least, and that kicking and screaming at the table is not permitted. So he had two time out that took up about twenty minutes all in. I finally went in and we had a very tough talk and some punishment. He knew what he had done, and seemed very remorseful. So I asked him what happened now, to which he replied “Detter eat potatoes and corn!” Perfect. Brought him out. And he screamed. And screamed.

So my boy went to bed without supper 🙁 Early bedtime, too. After such a long night, and a huge nap too, I have no idea what tonight will even look like. I feel sick about it, but I don’t know what else I could have done! When he was crying the last time, I even said to him “You can eat this food, or you can go play, but you can’t have other food.” But he was just yelling away. He was beyond reasoning. So he’s in bed. Poor guy. I feel awful. Ugh.

Trying to keep a positive attitude though. It was a successful morning with the kids, and a productive afternoon with the furnace room. Just the evening was rough, and that was really only a rough half hour. Its just a hard thing to shake off, you know? I may take the day away tomorrow, but I’m not sure what I’d busy myself with. Not sure yet.

Once again, I feel the need to say that I love my son more than life!!! We’ll figure all this junk out soon. Maybe an earlier nap, maybe just learning about self control, maybe it’ll just take time. But I’ll be here, hell or high water!

<3 Dekker! Come rub cheeks with me!!

To my dearest Dekker Thomas:

I would be so honoured if you chose to read back through these writings one day. Please know how much I am completely and absolutely in love with you! We have had trying time, but YOU are incredible to me, and are stretching me s a person, making me stronger and stronger. Today was a hard day, but I LOVE YOU exactly the same as always, if not more. I adore you.

Much love, your Mommy <3

It was a long day. Dekker had a pretty solid attitude problem all morning. I tried everything. And he hated everything. I was starting to lose it, and decided I needed to change up our environment. Dekker loves outings. So I quickly did the dishes (don’t want to end my cleaning kick already!) and then got all three of us ready and out the door. I don’t take the kids out on my own too terribly often, since Dekker can get explosive sometimes and its nice to have someone to haul him out of wherever he is screaming at everyone. But I know him, and I know he loves to go out. So we went out. Dekker hit the panic button on our keys for the first time. I was downstairs. He patiently waited for me at the top of the stairs and when I came around the corner, he announced “beep beep.” I laughed it off 🙂 It gave me the opportunity to learn how to use the function.

We wandered a mall, and got some fries, and brought Brady an iced coffee at work. I had a chiropractic appointment booked for 4:45, giving me enough time to do Walmart and Superstore first. We didn’t have a long list at either place.

We hit Walmart first for a few groceries, some file folders, sandals for Dekker, tubs (for $3 each!!), and whatever other trouble we could scare up. And my goodness, did we ever scare something! Dekker, to be more specific. The poor man behind us in line 🙁 I felt awful for him. He simply said “Hey buddy” and the shit hit the fan. I’m sorry, I don’t like to swear on here, but there is no other way to describe it. The world ended. He screamed and screamed and whipped around and flailed and screamed and slapped and cried and screamed and screamed and screamed. And there was nothing I could do. No one was there to haul him out, or to pick him up to comfort him. In the next few moments, employees rushed us from every angle with the goal to help, but just overwhelming him further. Offering stickers, singing songs, asking if someone was hurt, everything. The man behind us apologized over and over. The cashier (I’m assuming) put my bags in the cart. I didn’t see it happen. It was awful.

To speak for myself a little, I was incredibly calm. I didn’t raise my voice at him, I spoke firmly and on his level, into his eyes. And he had just bugged them out at me and continued screaming. As I walked the cart out of the store, I scolded him. I told him how incredibly unacceptable his behaviour was, and how he cannot ever scream like that. I explained that he wasn’t hurt or threatened, and that someone was being polite to speak to him. Because of his behaviour, he would get a time out in the van. And thats the part that ticked me off. He was so relieved. It wasn’t a punishment or a lesson. It was him getting exactly what he wanted. Drove me up the wall.

We all sat in the van for probably the next fifteen minutes in silence. No music, no nothing. Just air conditioning. I hadn’t had the nerve to go near him in a while, so he wasn’t buckled in yet. When I’d hear him shift around and try to slide out of his seat, I’d tell him to sit back. And he would. That was it. Finally, I gave up and buckled him in, and got ready to leave. But then I bawled. The thought of having the same thing happen again at Superstore was just too much to swallow. I called Brady, and he agreed to pack up his stuff a half hour early. I called my chiro clinic and got an earlier appointment.

Chiro was great, and my neck was sooo out of whack, so its good to have that back in order. Dr. Mike really encouraged me to try and get a day away from the fam. He said its very important for stay at home moms to have breaks sometimes. I’m not too choked about “me time” so much as I need “away time.”

Dekker slept on the drive home and went down for another rest upon arrival. Now, he has whined and cried all through supper, and Laela has been crying for the last half hour too. It would appear everyone is completely wiped out, myself and Brady included. Pretty sure both kids are going to bed. Now. (yikes! didn’t publish! Bedtime happened about a half hour early)

So. Apparently today was an epic fail. I’m so disappointed. I was hoping for an outing where we didn’t accomplish a whole lot and just took our time and enjoyed each other company. But instead, I got a hellish fit and a lot of tears. It was incredibly discouraging. And I am tired.

I hope you guy had a better day!

After breakfast, I knew I had to make todays post about my kids and their food. But then I was productive and I have to share that too! Often, in this predicament, I just make it into two posts, but I know I’ll forget everything by tomorrow! And I’m hoping to continue to be productive with my house and it’ll all run together.

The kids slept in a tiny little bit this morning, which was nice. 7:30 ish. But the kids talked and laughed at each other for a while before I felt the urge to go into their room and get them up. They were both happy to be up and at their spots at the table, watching the rain outside the patio doors. I got Dekker his breakfast and Laela some toys, and went to do some dishes. I talked back and forth with Dekker, and he continually requested that I come sit with him. I almost always do, so I would tell him I needed to quickly wash bottles so Laela could have breakfast too, but then I would come. He accepted that, and continued with his cereal. Until he said “Detter wants smooch.” I looked over at him, and he was peeking at me coyly over his glasses. So I made a mischievous face back at him, whipped my towel down and raced towards him. He giggled like crazy, but met me with big pursed lips, results in a LOUD smooch! It also resulted in my face being covered in butter. Worth it.

Dekker asked for a fruit cup afterwards. We discovered we had some in our pantry so Dekker’s been enjoying them once in a while. Turns out the jello ones look exactly like the not-so-jello ones, so Dekker accidentally got jello for breakfast. He was sooo excited, but he was so annoyed with how flimsy it was that he gave up halfway through!! Kind of blew me away, but its not like I was planning on force feeding him breakfast jello.

We went downstairs afterwards so Dekker could play and I could give Laela her bottle. Not only is she getting so much better at holding it herself, but She drank very hungrily at a good pace. Once she was done, I celebrated her and what a great job she had done, and Dekker came running up, passed me a burp pad, and said to her “G’job Laela!” I like that he likes to celebrate her small victories as well.

My last fun food news is about Laela’s progress with solid foods. I’m not sure how much I’ve talked about it on here, but she was sooo no pumped about spoon feeding around six months, so I just left it. She’ll eat eventually, and I didn’t want to stress. But the other day, in giving Dekker a mandarine orange fruit cup, I snagged one orange slice out and broke it into tiny pieces. I snuck one into Laela’s mouth to see what would happen. I knew she wouldn’t choke, since those oranges crush and immediately become juice. She winced a bit at first, with the strong flavor. But when I offered her more, she leaned into it and opened up her mouth. She never once opened her mouth for a spoonful of food before!! So this evening, I sliced a chunk off of a banana and mushed it up pretty good. and she LOVED it! Took it from me on the end of a fork, no sweat. So I cut off another slice ad mushed it considerably less. And she ate that too! I’m so excited! Its finally starting, and you know what, waiting was the best think we could have done. We didn’t have all the tears and fussing and frustration. Instead, we waited until she was good and ready, and now we can confidently get started. I’m pretty pleased with that. Solid food was really hard for us with Dekker, so this is looking like it might not have to be such a challenge.

So. As for organizing, here’s what I’ve got!

Last night, I cleaned out the magazine wrack in our bathroom and threw out over a years supply of several magazines. Then, upon deciding that a magazine wrack next to the toilet gets incredibly dirty, I threw out the wrack. Clean!!

This morning, I did dishes.

I moved the cradle and change table downstairs. That was mildly treacherous…

I tidied up a bunch of yarn laying around our room. Sadly, there is still a bunch downstairs that I have to deal with.

I did probably eight loads of laundry. I just kept finding stuff. I washed old linens for the baby cradle so I could fully pack that up.

I sold (pending pick up on Friday) the first double stroller we bought that we didn’t end up loving. Cha-ching!

I went through our snack cupboard and threw away over half of it. Because a) we don’t need to eat all of that, b) it takes up way too much space, and c) I don’t remember getting most of it.

I tidied up the basement. No, not completely, as I still have two little playful ones, but its better than usual.

I took out the downstairs garbages.

I actually put the laundry away!!  Anyone else think that is just the worst part of doing laundry?

I threw out a ton of stuff! It was garbage day, and our dumpster is almost already full. I threw out tons of gift bags, old boxes from things we’d purchased in the past, candy, shoes that don’t fit or that I never wore, and just general garbage. Its amazing how I could walk into a room and just looking around, I would spot multiple things to throw out.

I currently have Brady doing a couple of jobs too 🙂 He’s finding a place for his old Handyman magazines that he doesn’t want to throw out, spraying spider stuff around our windows and doors, and he said he’d sweep the floor. To me, sweeping the floor after a clean like this is the worst part. Our room is tidier, but its waaay grosser. I hate all the disgusting dust bunnies that have been hiding underneath all my garbage. Its awful. So he’s agreed to do it. Thanks Brady!!

If I can come up with the motivation to keep going, I may try to tackle the bathroom drawers tonight. I recently cleaned my makeup drawer, but the “medicine cabinet” drawer in overflowing and in pretty rough shape. But honestly, I feel like I’ve done enough for the day so I’m not going to beat myself up about it. Maybe this was enough. Whew!

So as I reread this, it really doesn’t sound like lots. But it sure feels like lots! I don’t often spend my days doing housework, so this is a big change for me. It feels big and exciting and I feel better about my house. Or at least I will once its swept.

All I need now is a filing cabinet and some tubs, and I’ll be ready to go! Donations are joyfully accepted.

As I looked around my home today, I became super annoyed with the mess. No, I don’t mean the general disarray that comes with having kids, and being a mom that is more concerned about playing toys and less concerned about mess. However, the mess that is my fault (or the fault of the adults in the house 😉 ) is driving me up the wall. I’m here to ask you guys if you have any kind of decluttering plan you follow? I’ve found a few online that I actually really like, but I like things that have some reviews attached to them from people that I know. Anyone??

I have recently been annoyed with how messy our master bedroom is. Anytime we just need something to be put out of the way, it goes into our bedroom. We also still have Laela’s cradle in there, even though we haven’t had her in it in a couple of months now. And we have the second change table, which we also never use! Well, we don’t change the kids on it, but it holds diaper and wipes for when one kid is napping in their room and the other needs a change. I’m pretty sure we could put that stuff somewhere else and ditch the change table. So I’m annoyed with all the clutter, right? But I can’t carry those things downstairs on my own, so I was thinking I’d just tidy up everything else and ask Brady to carry the furniture downstairs when he gets home.

What did I accomplish? Throwing away all the tags and garbage that accumulated in our walk in closet, and made the bed. And then I felt discouraged and gave up! How lame is that?! I didn’t give up on productivity completely. I saved another couple of months of blog posts. I finished up August 2013. Still sooo much to go, but considering I started blogging in June 2012, its better than nothing! Did you guys know that?! I’ve almost been blogging for TWO YEARS!!! Kind of a crazy thought to me, as its pretty much just routine for me now. I’m glad it is though. It helps somehow.

So. To go back. How do you guys keep your home clutter-free without panicking and tearing out your hair? I want to enjoy my kids and my life, but I also want to enjoy the house that I live in. Ideas??

I hope everyone who was in youth ten-ish years ago is singing Toby Mac. “These are extreeeeeeeeeme, extreme daaaaays! We’re livin’, we’re livin’, we’re living in extreme days days…” Anyone?! Am I the only dorky one here? Probably.

Today was filled with a LOT of emotion, I won’t lie. I know I don’t exactly qualify for the most emotionally steady person, but it was a I was already anticipating nervously, and then more came.

We’ve been having some issues with our basement bathroom the last week or so. The other day, I peed in the toilet and when I flushed, it acted like it was plugged. I didn’t think anything of it, and tried to flush it again a minute or two later. Same story. I told Brady, and when he tried to plunge it, the water came out the drain in our bathroom floor where our sump pump runs. Sooo nasty! We called about it last week, but finally got some help out this morning. Our plumber said it wasn’t him that we needed, but actually the town people. I am completely thankful that they came, because everything is fixed. However, Dekker was scared of them and was losing his mind the whole time they were in our house. Not their fault. However, the smoke smell and the dirty wet boot prints all over my carpet and all through my house are. It was hard for me to swallow. I know they had to make multiple trips to their truck and stuff, and then would be working with nasty toilet stuff, but its just hard to see muddy footprints everywhere I look. Our furnace room was already a wreck, but now its even worse. Thats not their fault at all, as it was us who filled it with boxes. Basically, I’m thankful that they fixed everything, but the clean up for me is looking pretty daunting. I finally got the kids loaded into the van to head to Laela’s eye appointment.

*Fun story about the morning! Dekker called his corn pops amaza-pops!!!

I dropped Dekker off at Grandma Willa’s first. When he saw her, he squealed with excitement, and bolted from the van. He went with her and didn’t look back. What a relief!!! It was great to know he’d be completely happy while we were gone.

We got into Laela’s preliminary testing almost  half hour early, which was great. She did quite well through her tests, and the orthoptist said she looks great! Its hard to know anything for sure, being that she can’t really tell us anything, and also because she’s still little enough that she can’t see as far as maybe you or I could. But she did as well as any other 8.5 month old baby would. We waited a bit longer and got in with Dr. Rubab at our scheduled time. Again, Laela did fairly well, until it was eye drop time. She was piiiiissed! Luckily, she’s still little, and I could just lay her on my lap and hold her hands, and Dr. Rubab could put in the drops. Laela cried and cried, but once we left the exam room she perked up. We had a 30-45 minute wait after her drops went in before we’d see Dr. Rubab again, so we went down to grab a coffee. My little light-sensitive girl was getting tired, but was still fairly content. Just a bit twitchy. Oh! And she clapped her hands together by herself for the first time ever!! She’s such a sweetheart. My little sweetheart, however, was pretty finished by the time we saw Dr. Rubab again. She cooperated for a couple of minutes but wouldn’t have the last and most important test. Again, we had to lay her down and force her eyes open so Dr. Rubab could look behind them.

The little miss has a pretty wicked astigmatism. For a refresher, that means her eyes are shaped more like footballs. The rest of us has small ones. Dekker’s is the biggest at 1.00, then me at 0.75, and Brady at 0.25. You don’t have to know what those numbers mean, but Laela’s is 2.50. Her vision seems fine otherwise, from what we can tell, but if I came in with the same situation, with the same astigmatism of 2.50, I would be given glasses based solely on that. However, because she’s still so little, her eyes can still change shape. So. No glasses! Not today. We’ll go in again in about eight months. Her appointment is on the one year anniversary of Dekker’s eye surgery, haha! Gross, hey? At that point, if her eyes haven’t developed far enough, she will be in glasses.

This was sort of a good news/bad news situation to me. I’m so glad her vision looks good and normal for her age. But I’m sad that her astigmatism is bigger than it should be. As I drove away, I struggled with wishing we hadn’t gone, because then I wouldn’t have to stress about everything for the next eight months. Yet, if we went for our first time in eight months and she came out with glasses, I’d be really disappointed and more caught off guard. At least I know the possibilities. I don’t know. I’m pretty mixed about the whole thing.

Another thing I was planning on dealing with today was Dekker’s glasses. His one year warranty rolls over on Friday and I was hoping to get his frames replaced before then. I called this morning and was given a pretty serious run around, so I was going to go in. I had a friend lined up to come help and everything. But after Laela’s appointment, I was feeling so emotional and upset and just generally off kilter that I knew I would go in, and bawl my eyes out. Today just wasn’t the day for it 🙁 I know I’ll have to drive in again just for that, which is unfortunate and expensive, but it just wasn’t in me today. Instead, I went and picked up an iced coffee and drove home.

I’m so relieved that my house doesn’t smell anymore! No smoke is leftover, nor the stench of all the chemicals that were dumped down the drain. I was nervous about that when I left, but it all seems back to normal, minus the footprints. The toilet even flushes.

I probably should feel more relaxed and happy to be home, but I just feel heavy. And cold. And like I might implode at any moment. So I’m hiding downstairs. The kids were wiped out so they slept in the van. Dekker only for the last fifteen minutes or so, so there’s hope he’ll go back down. He’s in bed, anyway. But Laela was asleep before we were out of the city, so she’s up. I’m sure she’ll have a rest at some point still, but she’ll definitely stagger with Dekker. Thats ok. I love my kids. I’m just feeling pretty overwhelmed.

Just want things to be in order. But doesn’t everybody?

I woke up a lot last night and felt like garbage in the morning, so I opted out of church and stayed home with the littles. We had a completely quiet morning and toys and snacks and cuddles. Dekker is all of a sudden really, really good at drawing! Ok, so not actually great at drawing, but his pictures make sense. Behold!

Himself

and a bus! Can you see them?

When Brady got home from church, I gave him gift. I had given him part of his gift (new board shorts) a while back so he’d have them for Fairmont, but I gave him some BBQ stuff today too. Can’t wait til he gets out there and starts grilling!

We made scalloped potatoes and delicious fish fillets for supper again. I’m sooo happy about the new fish! What do you guys like to do with fish fillets? So far I just fry them up with butter and salt. Anything delicious that I don’t know about? Favorites?

Supper was delicious, but lead into a pretty trying evening with the kids, sending them to bed a half hour early. It would have been more too, if I thought they’d sleep past 7:00am, but them won’t. And tomorrow, I’m nervous about. Laela has her appointment for her eyes, and its a bit weirdly timed. If she doesn’t sleep in the van, she’ll be in quite a state. She’ll also need to eat right around her appointment time, so she may hate life. I’m not sure how it’ll go. But she’s a baby, and the people she will see work with kids all day, so I’m thinking they won’t be too put off. I can only do so much! Once again, Willa has offered to take Dekker for the hour or two that we’ll be at the hospital, so that is completely awesome. We’ll be able to focus solely on Laela 🙂 Thanks again!

I’m so looking forward to this evening. Laela is just finishing off her milk, the bath is run, and there are fresh peaches stinking up our cupboard, and I mean that in the best possible way! Can’t wait!!!

I know my kids are certainly blessed to have Brady as their dad!

Who would have ever thought that the two of us would make such incredible children?! If not for Brady, I wouldn’t be a mother! And we wouldn’t have Dekker and Laela. I love you, hubs.

Sleep deep, all. And to any male readers (if I have any??) the happiest of Fathers Day to you, whether current  fathers, or potential 🙂