Everything Good Must Come to an End

I don't know if the planets were all perfectly aligned, or if God was feeling especially gracious, or if I was dreaming.... but I recently had a period of about a week where everything went abnormally well.  This was the easiest seven days I've had since becoming a stay-at-home-mom, and here's why:

-- Wesley slept anywhere from 9-11 hours straight for seven nights in a row

-- Adalynn had VBS for five nights, giving us a little break and allowing her a chance to get out of the house and have some fun outside of her normal routine

-- We had free babysitting TWICE!  (Thank you to Denise who watched Wesley one night and to Jenny and Emma who took Adalynn to the pool one day)

-- I finally lost a few pounds

-- Adalynn started to (gasp) eat snacks on occasion and (double gasp) tried a few new foods that she (major triple gasp) actually liked and will now add to her short list of "acceptable" foods

-- I had two free hours to read a book one night and another two free hours to visit a friend on a different night

-- Wesley spit up and drooled slightly less than normal, resulting in only two loads of his laundry instead of the usual three loads for the week

-- Adalynn slept in an extra half hour one day and was willing to take a nap twice last week

-- Wesley's demeanor was much more pleasant after getting his first tooth in

And while that brief period of time was fabulous, we are now back to normal with having the kids 24/7, and with Wesley getting up in the middle of the night, and with Adalynn copping an attitude, and with Wesley's fussiness as we prepare for tooth #2 and yet another load of laundry.  And I'm sure if I get on the scale tomorrow, I'll discover I've gained back some of those pesky pounds.  But that's all right because I had a blissful week and no one can take that away from me! 

5 Months

I want to give a thumbs-up and kudos to all the stay-at-home moms out there --- especially those who actually enjoy being home with their kids.  Don't get me wrong - I love my kiddos, and I realize that they won't be young forever so I'm grateful to have the opportunity to be with them now while I can.  But I have to admit, staying at home with the kids is much more difficult than I ever dreamed it would be.  With this job there are no sick days, personal time, lunch breaks, or even the luxury of being able to drive to and from work by yourself and be able to listen to your own music in the car.  I'm thinking of getting a part-time job just so I can get a break!

But why would I want a break from this face?

Wesley is now five months old.  You would think he would be in that adorable happy-go-lucky phase, but even today he still had a screaming fit that lasted for 1.5 hours with nothing able to console him.  I never thought a little dude would be so dang fussy and demanding.  He was supposed to be easy like his father!  No such luck.  Anyway, one of the reasons he's a cranky-pants is because he's still sick with a cold (so is Adalynn now too).  Another reason is because he just doesn't seem to care about his bottles that much anymore so he probably always has hunger pains.  He gets to the point of starving but then will only take a few ounces before deciding that's enough -- but still proceeds to be irritable and hungry.  He literally drools over our food so between his interest in our food and disinterest in his own bottle, it appeared it was time to start baby food.  We started rice cereal a few weeks back, and he's okay with that.  He had his first veggie (peas) on Sunday, and he is totally on board with that idea.  Of course, he doesn't get too much solids yet since he's still so young, but he definitely seems to prefer it over his bottles already. 

Chowing down on rice cereal

As for physical development, he's still a rolling fool.  We're working on sitting up, and he can do so for a few seconds if he is propped just right and holding onto his feet.  But if he starts to reach for something, he topples over.  He'd rather be standing than sitting so the best way to do that is to put him in the exersaucer, but he has this crazy love/hate relationship with the flower attached to the exersaucer so it usually results in a meltdown.  I have a permanent headache with all the screaming (Wesley) and whining (Addy) that goes on in this house on a daily basis. 

Loving the flower.....

Strangling the flower....

On the bright side, Wesley is so dang cute (just ask Adalynn - she says that about 50 times a day).  His hair is now coming back in the form of the softest fuzz imaginable.  His eyes have turned into the darkest shade of hazel I've ever seen.  I'm not sure if they will stay that way or not, but they're pretty cool.  His conehed is completely gone.  Wes has the funniest expressions and makes the goofiest sounds, which makes him so endearing.  He's so squeezable!

Jackie Chan, eat your heart out!!

Suffocating Heat and Suffocating Colds

What started off as a pretty fun summer came to an abrupt halt not too long after I last posted.  First of all, it’s been too dang hot to take the kids outside at all.  Even if Adalynn could cool off at one of the sprinkler parks, Wesley cannot so we haven’t been outdoors in quite a while thanks to these 95-100 degree days.  Yesterday was supposed to “cool off” to 86 degrees so Addy and I ventured outside yesterday morning so she could ride her bike, but it was already over 90 at that point and we barely lasted an hour out there.  I’m running out of fun things to do indoors, and Adalynn is definitely getting bored.  (Well, I’m sure I could come up with more things but the poor girl gets the shaft since Wesley still requires so much attention so I can’t solely focus on fun activities for just her).  At least we could still go to Mom’s group at the church….. but I’m guessing that is where I came down with this nasty cold I’ve had for a week now.  Despite all my hand-washing and sanitizing, my little buddy is now sick as well and thanks to his drool DNA all over this house, I’m sure it won’t be long before Adalynn gets it too.  So there was no Mom’s group for us this week.  What a bummer of events. 

Before all this, we celebrated a fun Independence Day and hosted parties on both July 3^rd and the 4^th.  Adalynn got to see fireworks both nights and was incredibly thrilled.  I tried to get a cute picture of my patriotic pair, and the results are quite amusing - especially considering Wesley really was in a good mood (I swear!) during the photo shoot despite what you’re about to see……

 When the bottom lip wasn’t sticking out, he had the “deer in the headlights” look…..

And of course the one time he does smile, big sis has given up and practically fallen asleep….

Please pray for the sick bugs to exit our house very soon and for some decent weather –we seriously could use a park day!