I got to go with four friends to get a pedicure today! Zachary watched the kids for me and I got to relax and talk and socialize! He sent me this picture of Malia, which made me so happy to see she felt well enough to share a smile.
Liam and Malia spent quite a while playing with each other from opposite sides of the pack 'n' play wall- Liam would run up and give her a toy and then run away and repeat. Malia was trying to play peek-a-boo but is still a little short.
Liam tried to drink from Zachary's water bottle so he ended up eating lunch without his shirt- there are worse things.
Aaaaaand we're sick again. Poor Malia woke up with lots of yucky stuff in her eyes- Liam never had this happen but when Malia gets sick, she has stuff come out of her eyes! Poor little thing.
I'll get to my reflection after I share some cute pictures- here's Malia eating her breakfast. She used to hate bananas but I thought it'd be worth trying and sure enough, she ate a whole banana!
Then we went to Liam's speech and PT appointments. His ST's last day is Thursday and we are so upset about it because she is so awesome and Liam does more for her than he will do for anyone! So just in case something crazy happened Thursday, I went ahead and got a picture.
Joey obviously had a very stressful day:
And here's a funny story. I was carrying a box downstairs from my latest Amazon delivery. It was a big box so I put it to one side and reached out for the banister- well this is what the banister did in return:
Because I was carrying a large box, I wasn't able to catch myself and I fell down the stairs, bumping my head on each stair on the way down. I'm definitely going to have a bruise on my lower back as well. The good news is that it didn't fall on one of my children and that Zachary was able to tighten it so it should cause us any more problems!
And that brings me to my reflection.
I was looking for something on safari on my phone the other day and I noticed two bookmarks I had saved. One is called "An Apology to My Firstborn Child" and the other is called "An Apology to my New Baby: A Toddler Rules Our House." And they are right next to each other. The surface level message of this is I found two articles that I found amusing or interesting and saved them so I could read them again or share them with someone later. The deeper message here is I, like I'm pretty sure all other moms are, am too hard on myself! So later, when I heard this song (which I've blogged about before), I smiled thinking of my two bookmarks apologizing to the two people I dedicate myself to 24/7. The lyric I took away from it is this: "You are God, you are God, of all else I'm letting go." Such a good lesson for me to learn and to work on every day- let go of the guilt that each kid doesn't get the same amount of attention each day; I love them both more than words can say so it'll all even out. Let go of the to-do lists; If I dust today, great, if I don't, it'll still be there tomorrow. God is God and in the grand scheme of things, that's enough!
Monday is CDC day! I took Liam this morning and then took Malia to Babies in Bloom at the library. A girl sitting near her had an identical doll to one Malia has so obviously, she thought it was hers and didn't like that I didn't let her play with it. That resulted in us having to leave the room but I found some cool magazines and we got home a little earlier than we had planned which allowed me to get more stuff done! I then had to take Malia to the CDC so I could go to my therapy appointment alone this time since last week didn't work out so well. As I was leaving, this was on our doorstep: Liam's new tablet!
I dropped Malia off without any incidents! And then I went to my appointment. I brought several magazines so I didn't notice it was 17 minutes past my appointment- I texted my therapist but didn't hear back from her so after 40 minutes I left and went back to the library to kill time. She texted me and reminded me she told me last week she had to cancel today's appointment. Oops. So then I picked the kids up and we headed home. Liam was a little sluggish and fell asleep in the playroom. I woke him up to go to the gym but he was not excited about it- which was weird. I dropped both kids off in the kids club and went to my core class which I haven't been to in weeks! Zachary got to the gym a few minutes later and as I was setting up, I looked up at the window beside me and he was creepily staring at me trying to freak me out- we got a good laugh out of it. About ten minutes later, as I was doing some intense squats, I felt him staring at me again but this time it was because he needed the keys- Liam had thrown up in the kids club. So we headed home and boy was he in a mood. He was pushing, throwing, kicking, yelling- it was a rough evening. He did love the tablet though!
These are the only pictures I got today...
I made my favorite breakfast this morning- funfetti pancakes- and then we headed to the gym and then to Target. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to visit Target on weekdays so I don't have to go on weekends very often because we went today (Sunday) and it was a madhouse!
Anyway- this weekend... week... month... summer... has been challenging. Liam experienced what we thought were the terrible twos but now, looking back, I don't think it was the typical terrible twos- I think it was more of him having the thoughts and wanting to say what another child his age would want to say but not having the ability to say it. I think that we are now getting into the typical terrible twos which is featuring pushing, the insistence of no to everything, the temper tantrums, etc. So I've been thinking and reading and researching what in the world I can do to make our lives better- but that's not what I want to write about. I've been listening to sermons online and the one today spoke to me so I'm going to summarize.
Eaglets are the most difficult baby birds to teach to fly. Apparently this makes sense because their nests are the highest. To teach her babies to fly, the momma bird does some things she probably doesn't like doing but has to do because if she doesn't- those birds are never going to learn to fly. First, she makes the nest uncomfortable so they'll actually move around. Then she flaps her wings around to create a lot of wind and movement- the baby birds get scared so they climb on her back to escape it. She then leaves the nest and drops them! This seems a little harsh but she's there to catch them and she continues doing this until, one time, when she's waiting to catch them, they get it and fly on their own! So this is an illustration of how God teaches us to trust Him. He may make our comfy little situations a little less comfy. And then we might get hit upside the head with his wing and we just want to escape to safety, to comfort. So sometimes, he drops us- we free fall. But he's there to catch us. Now we, as humans, are not going to get out of the nest ourselves. We're not going to volunteer to be dropped. So sometimes God orchestrates circumstances in our lives to force us to lean on Him. It's our only option. I've felt this before when Liam was in the NICU and then again when he had seizures and then again when we found out he probably had NF. I felt this again when Malia had her seizures. With each of this situations I've been a little quicker and a little quicker still to trust. My friend Amy took her daughter, Evie, to Dr. Modi last week and one of his suggestions that he gives all parents of one year olds is to make sure they're getting plenty of socialization. Amy assured Dr. Modi that Evie is a social butterfly and mentioned that her best friend is Malia. Dr. Modi told her all about how strong he sees Zachary and me as a couple- that we are so calm. The last word in the world- well that may be an exaggeration- that I would use to describe myself would be calm. My therapist took one look at me and diagnosed me with generalized anxiety disorder; I'm a textbook case. But I have cast my cares concerning Liam's health issues on the Lord and he sustains me. I know that casting my cares doesn't mean they'll be dealt with in the way I want them to be- I've let that go. If I could apply that to every area of my life, I'd be set. But it's always good to have goals right?!
Malia's best friend, Evie, turned one this week and her party was today! We played a little outside, a little inside and ate yummy food! We didn't stay too long because Liam was having a rough time- we really thought he'd enjoy having free reign of the backyard but for some reason, he wasn't too happy. We still had a good time though!
I got this really cute outfit for Malia yesterday- the skirt is a little big but the shirt says "Shine like a Star" and I just think it's too cute.
We had leftover spaghetti for lunch- can you tell?!
I canceled all of Liam's therapy appointments this week because I didn't know if he would be feeling up to them so I was super excited today when we got to go somewhere- I'd been having a little cabin fever. Zachary asked us to come out to a parade and I gladly said yes! I asked my friend Amy if she and Evie were coming too and they met us there so I got to talk to her a little bit but as the actual parade neared, the kids got restless so Zachary walked Liam to a playground and I followed with Malia. After we let them get some energy out we thought maybe they'd watch the parade...
But after a few minutes we decided it was time for me to take the kids home- it was nice to get out but we didn't last too long. The good part was Zachary got home a little after nine so I did put the kids down but he got home soon after. Liam was still awake when he got home so Zachary went in to say good night and found that he'd been having a little too much fun with a peekaboo book from the library:
I realize these last several posts have been Malia heavy but Liam hasn't been in the mood to be photographed so I've been letting him be. Here's Miss Sassy Pants.
So most mornings, if I wake up before the kids, I scroll through facebook really quickly just to see what's going on in the world. I am aware that facebook is not necessarily the news but I "like" several news sources which all post important updates so I get to see friends' updates and actual news stories at the same time! Anyway- I saw this post and it could not have been seen at a more appropriate time.
Last night, we headed to bed around 11:30. We watched some Jimmy Fallon and turned off the television. Seconds after we turned it off, Malia started hollering. I went in to check on her and she was fine. I turned off the light. Screams. I decided to let her cry it out. I go back in our room and Zachary looks at me with the most tired look you can imagine and just said "I have to get sleep tonight." Also, Liam is sleeping in the room next to her and is still not feeling well so I decided it's for the greater good of the family if I make her happy. I rocked her, read to her, sang to her- tried everything- she was fine if I was with her but if I thought about leaving, she could sense it and I could tell this wasn't going to work in my (or anyone else's favor), so we headed down to the playroom where the mattress my brother slept on a few weeks ago is still conveniently out. I tried to get her to lay on the mattress in the dark with me but that wasn't going to happen so after about thirty minutes of trying, I gave in and let her play around. I turned on the tv and watched an episode of my soap opera- The Young and the Restless. When the episode was over I grew determined to make this girl go to sleep as it was 2:30 in the morning. I have no idea how long it took- hours for sure- but eventually, she went to sleep. Not long after, Zachary came downstairs to leave so I took her upstairs and she thankfully went back to sleep. So when I read this a few hours later it made me laugh. And yawn.
I had today so beautifully planned out. I was finally feeling better so I dropped Liam off at the CDC as I do every Monday and then Malia and I did a little shopping. I got Liam this really cool Mickey Mouse Busy Book- there's a story but in the back of the book there are 12 little figurines and a playmat with the clubhouse and different things he can recognize from the TV show. Then I was going to drop Malia off at the CDC at 1:00 so I could go to my therapy appointment at 1:30 by myself and have a little reading time before my therapist took me back. So I go inside to drop Malia off and she's turned one since the last time we were there so she was going to a new room. The receptionist asked if we had shoes for her- which I didn't- and so I was informed that the new room she's in requires the kids to wear shoes. So Malia came with me to my therapy appointment. I sent this picture to Zachary asking him to come over if he was able- the office is two minutes away from the Academy. He tried his best to get there in time but it wasn't meant to be.
Here's Liam playing with his new figurines and playmat!
And then it hit him. Now he's got whatever it is I had. Which means lots of snuggle time. I would never wish for my kids to be sick but if they have to be sick, I don't hate the snuggles are a side effect!
There was a small break in the hot, hot temperatures so we took advantage and walked to the playground! Liam was too busy moving around on the slides for me to get any pictures of him but Miss Malia was content in her swing which provided me with the opportunity to get a few pictures.
Zachary had to go in early today to cover his chief who wanted to spend time with his family before they left for a week. We had a playdate planned and for some reason I wasn't feeling well. I thought about cancelling but when I don't feel well, I'd rather do something to distract myself than to sit around and do nothing so we went to the playdate and then I went to yoga. In yoga, I nearly left class because I just felt so weird- I was achy and nauseous- it was so weird. So when we got home, Liam made a big mess with dinner and so I asked him to help me clean it up and added "Mommy doesn't feel good." Well he proceeded to clean other areas of the house too- such a sweetheart.
Then we had story/singing time in Liam's room and Malia climbed up on the bed all by herself! She's so talented.
Zachary's working nights this week so we took advantage of this and after dropping Liam off at the CDC, we headed to The Breakfast Shoppe where Zachary got his "whole nine yards" and I got one of the specials- strawberry cream cheese stuffed french toast- oh my goodness- so good.
Last night, Zachary had to/got to go to a baseball game- while it was fun, he didn't get home until after midnight so on Saturday morning, we had a bit of a slow start. This may be the first time this has ever happened so I had to get a picture. The two cats were with us as well.
We all laid in bed for 15 minutes or so and watched "Ickey Ouse" until I remembered Joey had to be groomed and we needed to leave in 20 minutes which is about how long it takes to change diapers and get everyone dressed.
Tonight we went for walk and while Liam pretty frequently rubs Malia's back or kisses her on the head when we ask him to, it's not very often that Malia is the affectionate one. She was tonight! At first she was using Liam to sit up but then she actually put her arm around him and gave him a little hug. Liam wasn't sure what to do with that but eventually tried to hold her hand. She was over it by then and let him know it but there for a moment, they were the sweetest of siblings.
Malia was eating her snack and I just thought she looked so cute so I had to take a picture- her shirt says "Hello Sunshine" and how appropriate is that?
Then I wanted to show Matt something Liam did the other night- I wanted to see if he'd do it again, and sure enough he did. Last Thursday in yoga, one of my two favorite instructors, Jenn, had us practice headstands and gave me some cues no other teacher has so I decided to practice at home the next night. I was trying my new tips in the playroom while the kids were playing- I thought they'd be distracted but it was the funniest thing to them. Liam came up to me and started kissing all over my face. It was so funny and I have no idea what made him do that but sure enough, he did it again today. Now I know how to get a kiss- just stand on my head!
Then I asked Matt to get a picture of me and the babies- I'd been wanting him to get a picture of us with Zachary but we kept forgetting.
Matt left us right after lunch but Zachary got home soon after and we headed to the Academy to watch some of his plebes in a wrestling event.
Zachary sold me on going by telling me the place would be huge with not too many people but it would be loud and there would be stairs.
On the way home we saw two deer- one was a baby- so pretty!
So we did our nighttime routine- baths, stories, everything- and then it was time to watch some tv. Tonight was a big night in the television world. There was the Republican debate and it was Jon Stewart's last episode as the host of The Daily Show. We found a drinking game for watching the Republican debate which was the only way I was going to make it through.
Surprisingly, we didn't get to drink that much- they weren't as predictable as Rolling Stone thought they'd be. We made it through half and then decided to watch Big Brother which, when it was over, it was perfect timing for me to watch The Daily Show live- which I haven't done since high school- thanks DVR! But I thought it was appropriate to watch this one live- I've been watching the show for so long (10 years) but not as long as he's been on (almost 17 years).
Matthew took this first picture- he then took a video just to document how rough of a start to the day we had. I got up a little early just to make pancakes for everyone. Here's what Liam thought of my lovingly prepared blueberry pancakes.
Malia wasn't crazy about them either.
We headed to the grocery store and by the time we put the groceries away and had lunch it was (mercifully) time for naps for the kids. Unfortunately for Joey it was also time for him to head to the vet. He's been having a lot of hairballs lately so we've decided to get him shaved this weekend but in order to do that, he has to have a couple of shots updated. Sorry Jojo!
