adjustment

This has been a hard month here with lots of adjusting.  We had a great trip to Topsail island but then I've been mostly on day shift since then which has resulted in a big change in how our family runs.  I wasn't expecting it to be as big of a deal as it has been.  This was the first time that Wesley has had the kids all weekend by himself in ??? ever maybe?  I'm gone from 6:30 am-7:45 or later pm both days.  He's done great but it's been a struggle I think for all of us.  Luckily there was a cookout at his bro/SIL's house last night so they were able to blow off some steam!  I'm starting to get in the groove of dayshift more but will be glad to go back to nights when Robert starts school.  I can't believe he is going to Kindergarten in less than a month!  wow.  But first we have a week away to look forward to.

I'll try to post more about the kids tomorrow but first I have to put in a quote from today.  An elderly patient passed away and as she was dying her son said "she was a great mom, she did so much for us".  What a great reminder.  No one mentions a career, assets etc when someone dies.  That's not what it's all about. 

Mary's story

A. Kavitha asked Mary to tell her a story
"Once upon a time there was a witch and a good guy and a good witch.  The witch came into the castle and washed the guy's hair but it was glue and stuck the guy's hair to his hand and then the good witch washed the glue out."

Catawampus

The other day I told Mary her hair was all catawampus and that's why it was taking me so long to comb it out.  She repeated it several times (cat-y-woompus) and that was that.  This morning I was combing her hair and she had this huge matted area so I asked her what had happened to her hair, she looked at me and said "its just cat-y-wooooooooompus today mom.  Oh, right!  lol.  Nothing like a 3 year old who can say catawampus!

lake froid

I dreamed last night that we were at lake munkamba with a group from national geographic and I decided to take them to lake froid (sp?) to see the clear waters and amazing fish.  We got there and it was much smaller than I remembered.  And the fish were all the same, big cartoonish looking things that came in yellow and orange.  AND if you flushed the toilet all the water left the lake.  Very strange.  I wonder how lake froid came into my mind last night.  Who knows.

mommy you only work Fridays!

Robert especially does not want me to go to work in the evenings.  So the last few days he's started barricading me in with his arms and legs in the doorway and proclaiming, "mommy, you can't go to work tonight, you can go to work Friday".  Sigh.  I thought we'd be over this by 5!

It's hard to be a working mom.

Mary on the other hand seems fine with it.  And today she proclaimed she was going to work.  She got her purse and packed some play food (lol!) in it, got in her pink car and drove to work.  Once there she "fixed some peoples legs that got stuck in doors".  Then she came home.  I love that when she pretends to go to work she gives me a kiss and says "bye, love you, see you in the morning!".  Mommies work nights in her mind!

isms

I keep meaning to blog the kids' words before I forget them:

Robert's:
wii-flixs-netflix on the wii
constructions-what lego sets come with

Mary's
Papioka (tapioca)-let me tell you she is in love with the stuff!
hibiscuits (hibiscus)-we gave them to the grandmother's for mother's day!

camping!

We had a great time camping at Lake Reidsville this past weekend!  I had a full 7 nights off (even though I only took 2 vacation days!) and it was bliss.  The weather was a little rainy but overall not bad and I was assertive and got to go running thurs/fri/sat-just 2 miles each time but it was great.  It was nice to have some "me" time in the mix.  Overall the kids were good.  Mary only napped one day but that was fine with me, she did nap some in the car here and there though.  I got some reading in here and there, mostly in the evenings after the kids were in bed and before I went to sleep. Wesley generally came back to camp long after I was asleep.  Robert found a friend and they rode bikes and played and then by the end of the weekend he learned to ride!  It was so awesome to see him riding on his own without training wheels or anything!  We picked up a tag reader for Robert while we were there (it is really awesome!) and a leapster for Mary so now they each have a tag reader (Mary has the tag jr) and a leapster (Mary has a leapster 2 but they use the same game cartridges).  We looked to buy him a bike but couldn't find just the right one so we'll have to look again now that we're back.  He's currently riding Mary's 12 or 14 inch bike, lol.

Watching Robert learn to ride was awe inspiring.  It was like watching his first steps, or the first time I heard pee tinkle in the potty.  That's my boy-my not so much of a baby-making another stride towards being a big boy.  He was SO proud of himself-his eyes were just glowing and his dimple was so deep.  And Mary was so  proud of him too.  She pulled her camping chair to the edge and claped and cheered for him.  But she was NOT interested in ridding herself, no ma'am.  "I'm too scared!".  I can't wait to see Robert learn to read, I guess that will be the next milestone around here!

This afternoon was actually sunny and we went out to check the garden.  Everything is up, and I thinned several plants and we picked both types of lettuce and spinach.  Oh and the broccoli!  Wow, fresh broccoli is awesome.  So tender and yummy!

mental blogs

I swear I blog in my head several times a week which really gets me nowhere since I don't get them on.. well whatever.  It's not paper.  e-ink?  If I had actually blogged this week I would have told:

-a crazy story of what I walked home into the other morning.  Mary and Robert were playing in the living room (Wesley was still in bed).  They had blankets out and the little folding couch.  They were taking turns playing "daddy" and "baby".  So first Robert was "daddy", Mary laid down on the folding couch and Robert tucked her in and she whimpered like a baby.  Then Robert laid down on the big couch pretending to sleep.  Then he decided it was time to switch roles so they did.  After that they got out a ton of play food and Mary had a bunch of fruits and veggies in the play collander and she was rinsing them under the faucet.

-how much fun wii zumba is.  I love it!  But the best part was being totally irresponsible and driving to walmart at 9:30 just to buy a game!  So much fun.

-The kids did nursery rhymes last week at school so they have their papers home-including a handprint spider from little miss muffet.  So Mary decides to act it out, she gets out a bowl and a spoon from the play kitchen and sits down at her little table and proceeds to recite this (she even started over for me so I could get all this on video!!).  When the spider comes out Robert got the spider and chased her all over the house with it.  Hilarious!

-Today after school we played outside in the remaining dirt pile.  So much fun.  Robert had his toy excavator and Mary had one of the big dump trucks.  We were moving dirt!

-I've been working really hard to eat better and exercise etc.  Lost 5 lbs in a week which was bizare.  Then I've gained one back somehow.  Sigh.  So I guess I'll see where I am at the end of this week.  My clothes fit much better so that is a good sign!  I've been doing 30 day shred again so I do that thurs-fri-sat-sun and that will complete level 1.  I've been running mon/wed and otherwise doing shred.  I've advanced running this week to hills and then today I did outdoor running/walking.  I think I'll try downloading one of the couch to 5K podcasts onto an MP3 player and use it.  I can do 30 min of straight running on a flat treadmill but not outside!  I had a hard time doing 3/4 mile without walking a minute!