Week in Review

Honestly, I don't think alot happened this week, but I feel like such a slacker by not posting anything, even if it is only to tell you how boring we are.

Monday I spent most of the free moments of my day trying to get caught up on a more thorough house cleaning. You know what I mean - something beyond the occasional kitchen-counter-wipe-down. I had spent too much time staring at the dusty baseboards and soap scum build up in the bathrooms and put my mind to it. So by Monday night I had vacuumed, swept, mopped, dusted and scrubbed pretty much every surface and had also caught up on laundry (even putting it away!) and dishes. What I discovered about myself after this was how much freer I felt to hang out and play with the girls, not thinking "I have to do this and this". That feeling that I "must do something" is a constant nag when Ava wants me come color or to sit with her on the couch. So I was very glad to be able to tick off the things in my head that day and then say "Yep, Sarah, nothing left to do - go ahead and play with Ava." I think during the rest of the week I stayed on top of things pretty well and it has given me such a peace of mind. And that being said - now on to packing for everyone for a couple of weeks vacation. That will surely throw off my peaceful feeling.

Wednesday cousins Xander and Julia came over to play for our mommy exchange day. The kids had such a good time taking the cushions off the couch and then divebombing them (I remember when I used to do that!). And I was also able to experience the joys of "why?" Almost 4 year old Xander wanted to know "why?" to EVERYTHING I was doing or saying. Yes, I cracked under pressure and pulled out the big guns - "God says" (why?) "Because" (why?) "Because I said so" (why?) "JUST BECAUSE". Oh boy! Yep, I am really looking forward to that stage. Right now I live in the life stage of constant narration - "Mommy cook dinner. Cheese. Hot dog. Oh boy! Jump and jump Lily. Jack no-no. Run Jack run. Blue Bunny swinging. Ava upside down!" and it goes on and on. I tell you what though, I get the biggest kick out of it each and every day.

Friday we went swimming in the morning at the Bowen's house. Ava is not scared of the water at all, but I am trying to figure out the best swimming method for her (as I can't watch two babies on my own). I went beforehand to Wal-Mart and picked up a swim vest and arm floaties. The swim vest just rose up and tried to strangle her. So we tried a life vest and that just kept her on her back like a dead bug. Then we tried just arm floaties and she doesn't yet know how to keep her head up. So in the end we made a trip to Sports Authority in the hunt for floatie inserts for her (garage sale find) Speedo swimming suit. Apparently you can't buy just the inserts, so after talking with the nice sales guy I decided to try my hand at making my own via a pool noodle. I will tell you how successful it goes on our vacation.

Lily has been a little wishy-washy this week about whether or not she wants to take good naps, but after re-reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child I realized she needed to be going to bed much earlier. So she has been going to bed around 6:30 now and so far so good. She does sometimes wake up after an hour and need her pacifier put back in, but that's not too bad. Still working on getting some good naps in throughout the day, but we keep on keepin' on. She LOVES her Jumperoo though, almost as much as she loves talking:

Elliott has been working late the past couple of weeks as budget season approaches AND there has been some upper management movement, causing a ripple effect down to him. So lots of work anyway, with extra work on top of that. Lovely! He tries to get home in time to see Lily before she heads off to bed and get a little playtime in with Ava. So far, so good. We had tried to get a "date night" in before the coming trip, but all the young women in our area were at church camp or busy. So we ended up spending Saturday "date night" with the kiddos at Red Robin. I have to tell you, I think Elliott and I both were a little taken aback at the number of kids in that restaurant at 5:30pm. WOW! Ava was kept quite entertained by the kids surrounding our table and I was entertained by another patron whose shirt read "Birth Control is for Sissies."

Sunday morning I took advantage of Lily naptime and Sesame Street for Ava to (finally)complete the scrapbook for Ava, which my sister Tracy made for her first birthday. She loves it, especially telling you who all the people in the pictures are ( both Grammy's, PaPa, Aunt Tracy, mommy, daddy, Jack).

We are heading to Utah next week to spend some time in Park City with the Kay clan, minus Elliott due his aforementioned work. I can't wait to get to that cool mountain air, spending time with friends along the way (stopping in Cedar City and various other locations) and our family for almost two weeks. So stay tuned!