July 19

I have been failing at this blog lately. VBS has been consuming every ounce of time and energy. I do enjoy it, but it frustrates me and stresses me out too. After all the planning and setup, you want to see everything flow perfectly during the actual event. Things are going well, but we've still had some hiccups this week. And that really frustrates the perfectionist in me.

Anyway, I'll try to post some VBS pictures later this week. I don't have any ready yet tonight.

The big news of the day is that our big girl came back home! Audrey spent the last 4 days or so at Mimi and Papaw's house. I forgot how much that girl talks! She came in and started talking and I don't think she ever stopped. It's kind of fun that she is able to tell me what she did while she was gone. Here are a few samples of things she told me about Mimi and Papaw's house:

When asked about Chuck E Cheese: "I eat pizza. I play games. I put coins in. Tickets come out."

When asked about the Winnie the Pooh movie: "Eeyore lost his tail. Kanga find it. Pooh looking for honey. Pooh LOVES honey!"

When asked what food she ate: "Breakfast!! I had toast and yogurt. And jelly. And cinnamon sugar. At Chuck E Cheese, I eat cotton candy. Blue cotton candy." (to Isla) "I eat blue cotton candy baby Isla." (to her new Buzz Lightyear toy from Mimi and Papaw) "I eat blue cotton candy Buzz."

Soon after she was home she got upset about something and started crying: "I want my Mimi and Papaw!"

One last story: tonight, Audrey was helping me make tacos for dinner. She likes to put the cheese on her taco. Usually she takes a big handful for her mouth as well and half of it ends up on the floor. As I watched the cheese fall on the floor, I said, "Too bad Maggie isn't here anymore to clean up all the food we drop."

On hearing this, Audrey got another big handful of cheese, climbed down off her stool, and set the pile of cheese in the middle of the kitchen floor. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, "I leave that for Maggie."

I explained to her again that Maggie doesn't live here anymore. She insisted in a very serious voice, "Maggie come back to my house to eat that cheese. I leave it there now and Maggie come eat it."

By this point, I am cracking up. Audrey hasn't really seemed to be too bothered about Maggie being gone. But she was set on the idea that Maggie needed to come back just to eat the cheese she set in the middle of the floor. Oh she is a funny girl! Life is never dull with her around!

July 15

Yesterday, we sent Audrey to Daniel's parents house to visit for a few days. She was SO excited to go to Mimi and Papaw's house. She constantly talked about all the things she was going to do with Mimi and Papaw. "We go to movie theater, see Winnie the Pooh. We go to fair and see animals. We fly a kite. We play with toys."

She also was very concerned that Mimi and Papaw would not have all the necessities that she uses in daily life. She kept asking:

"Mimi and Papaw have food?"
"Mimi and Papaw have TV?"
"Mimi and Papaw have potty?"
"Mimi and Papaw have table?"
"Mimi and Papaw have toys?"

You get the idea! We are hoping she has a fun time at Mimi and Papaw's. So far, it sounds like she is doing good. Except for a 3 am wake up call, followed by her being awake for an hour and a half. She never, ever, ever does that. She was probably 6 months old the last time she woke up in the middle of the night and wouldn't go back to sleep! Hopefully she will adjust to sleeping in a new place and won't wake Mimi and Papaw up again tonight!


Audrey is visiting them now, so that Daniel and I can have a little extra time to get ready for Big Block Bash (a big block party at church tomorrow night) and VBS (which starts on Monday). So far, I am not quite as stressed out as last year. I feel like I have recruited more help this year. So as long as they all show up to work tomorrow, we should be in good shape.

The picture above is just one of the shops in our Nazareth Marketplace this year. I can't really take any credit for it though. A volunteer named Connie brings in all of her own stuff to set up her shop, so that everything is coordinated and looks good. The rest of our shops aren't quite as pretty, as we are working with a lot of random stuff. But in the end, it should all come together to create a fun experience for the kids.

July 14

Isla is 6 weeks old this week. We were playing outside tonight, so I thought I would take advantage of the natural light and get a few pictures of her. She is so much more relaxed outside, and she fell asleep as soon as I laid her down. I tried to wake her up to get a picture with her eyes open, but I didn't have any luck!
She is fattening up quite nicely. Someday, she won't be too excited about me talking about her getting fat, but for now it is a good thing! Her cheeks are now nice and plump, her belly is nice and round, and she is starting to get some rolls on her arms and legs. She looks much more like a normal baby now, rather than a tiny fragile little baby. We haven't had her weighed in about 3 weeks, but I'm guessing she is getting close to 8 1/2 pounds by now.
Her favorite activity (besides eating and sleeping) is staring. She will stare intently at our faces, and it appears that she is very seriously studying us and trying to decide what she thinks of us. It is very cute. She is a bit stingy with her smiles. We get some half smiles and a few real smiles occasionally. I am looking forward to the day when the smiles start flowing a little more freely.

She is getting stronger too. She has more control of her neck and can hold her head up for brief periods of time. We are working on tummy time and getting her to lift her head up when laying on her stomach. She will lift it up for just a second or so, before giving up and getting mad at us for making her work so hard! =)
She is starting to get into the rhythm of a schedule. I say that with caution, because things are subject to change frequently with a baby. At night, she will wake up once or twice to eat, then generally she will go right back to sleep. She is a very restless sleeper though, and often grunts and squirms in her sleep for what seems like the whole night. Sometimes we get her up because she is making so much noise, but really she is sleeping and we end up waking her up. She has had some issues with gas, so that might be part of her restless sleeping problem. The doctor says it takes about 3 months for babies' digestive systems to mature. I'm hoping as she gets older, she will start to sleep more soundly and generally be more content.
As soon as we came back inside tonight (and out of the good light), then she decided to wake up and open her eyes!

July 13

I am terrified to try to cut Audrey's hair. So when it is time for a cut, even just a trim, I take her to my hairdresser Jenni. For $10, it is worth having an expert do it for me! Plus, Audrey loves to go see Jenni! I think today was her 3rd haircut.

Today after Jenni cut Audrey's hair, she put it in braids. She looked so cute and grown up in her braids.
One reason that Audrey likes to go see Jenni: she gets a sucker at the end of the visit!
Before we left this morning, Audrey kept telling me all the things she wanted to tell Jenni.

"I eat yogurt and toast for breakfast. I tell Jenni that."

"I tell Jenni about my new van."

"I tell Jenni about my baby sister.'

"I tell Jenni about Scheels."

But then when we got there, she was super shy and didn't talk much without a lot of prompting. Silly girl!

For the rest of the day after the haircut, Audrey kept randomly bringing up different things about Jenni and her haircut experience. Such as:

"Jenni hold my hand." (Jenni did hold Audrey's hand as we were walking back to Jenni's station)

"Jenni help me sit in big chair. I can't do it myself."

"Jenni give me sucker."

"Jenni cut my hair again next week."

July 12

Isla is 6 weeks old today. I have a post ready to go in my head, but I don't have the focus/energy to write it tonight...so stay tuned for that coming soon!

VBS starts on Monday. I'm heading up our Marketplace again this year (see last July's posts for lots of stories about what this entails). I'm kind of starting to stress out about it, as I underestimated how difficult it would be to get anything accomplished with two little ones around!

July 11

Isla had a better day today, which meant a better day for me too! It's funny how things change from day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute. Last night I was feeling completely overwhelmed, but tonight I feel much more capable of handling two kids and life in general. We shall see what tomorrow brings!

On a different topic, my friend Lindsey has inspired me to start eating a little healthier around here. She is working on eating more real foods and less processed foods with her family, so I thought we might try to do the same. I'm not going super crazy with it, but I am trying to make more things from scratch and be more aware of what is in the food that I am serving/eating.

Last week, I made whole wheat zucchini chocolate chip muffins and whole grain waffles. Both were delicious, and we now have a good supply in the freezer to eat for breakfast and snacks.

Tonight, I made homemade chicken nuggets. From a fat/calorie standpoint, these really aren't a healthy meal. But when you compare them to frozen, bagged chicken nuggets, they are much better for you. Since chicken nuggets have become a staple in Audrey's diet, I decided it wouldn't hurt to make some with fresher ingredients.

I used this recipe. The only thing I changed was the frying part. I did cook them in a some extra virgin olive oil on the stovetop, but only for a second or two on each side...just to help them get a little crispy. Then I baked them in the oven at 400 for about 10 minutes on each side. Not sure if that made them any healthier, but it did make it easier to know for sure when they were cooked all the way.

Most importantly, they tasted really good! I thought Audrey might reject them, as the taste and texture were a bit different than the frozen kind. But she ate them all up! I now have at least 6-7 servings in the freezer that she kind have for lunches in the coming weeks.

July 10

Here is Audrey painting with water outside in the driveway. I saw this idea a long time ago, and I have been meaning to do it with Audrey. It's so easy and cheap and not messy! Just a paintbrush and a bucket of water, and Audrey was all set to play for a long time. When it was time to go in, Audrey said, "We do this again next week."
We brought Isla's bouncy seat out so she could hang out with us too. This little girl loves to be outside! She is so fussy when you set her down by herself inside, but set her down outside and she is totally content. I think the fresh air and warm temps help her to relax.
It's tempting to leave this post as is and make you think that we are all happy and having fun all day long. But that would not be the truth. To be honest, there were several moments today and in the past few weeks, where I have really questioned my ability to be a mom, specifically a stay at home mom.

I've said before that the newborn stage is frustrating to me, and that is still true. Isla continues to be fussy. And I just don't know how to deal with it or how to make it better. What is wrong with her? I want someone to tell me why she is upset, so that I can fix it and make it better for her. But there is no one to tell me what to do, and so we are just left guessing and trying to figure things out. Then, once we think we have things figured out, she changes and does something different, so we start all over again. I get frustrated/angry/stressed out when she is crying and unpredictable.

(Even though I know that crying and being unpredictable is exactly what she should be doing as a newborn. I think I want her to be this incredibly unusual baby who is just happy and content all the time...wouldn't that be nice?? But then, she probably wouldn't need me, and that would be kind of sad too, wouldn't it?)

Then you add a two year old into the mix. Audrey's crazy mood swings and whining and constant talking, along with a crying newborn, is just about enough to push me over the edge sometimes. Honestly, Audrey is really doing a good job with being a big sister and being around Isla; I'm really proud of her. But she is still two, and she still acts very much like a normal two year old. There was one point tonight when I was alone with them, and they were both crying. It was all I could do to not join right in with them.

I don't have any answers tonight, just lots of rambling. I know these days are short and that they will be over all too soon. Before I know it, the girls will grow up and get more independent. Then I know I will wish that I could have my little babies back with me. I remind myself of this about 500 times a day to help me remember to enjoy this time and not stress out about it!!!