A big day for Zoey!

Today was a day of firsts. Zoey had her first official wild ride in the bouncy seat. Hadley randomly thought it would be fun to kick it over, with Zoey strapped in it. Zoey flipped over and landed on her belly with the seat still strapped to her. She just lifted up her head and looked around. She didn’t seem to mind it one bit. I, on the other hand, was not happy. After a complete meltdown from Hadley, she did finally apologize and give Zoey hugs and kisses.

Zoey also had her first official blow out. It is amazing that we made it almost four months without incidents! She got hosed down and happily played in her bath.

Hadley enjoyed rough housing with me this morning, and I am seriously tired from all the spinning, jumping, running and rolling around. Hadley had a great time and yelled over and over, “I’m having fun at my house!” She said it like this was new or something. But in all honesty, Eric is more of the fun one than I am.

Eric ~
I got home for work and Hadley wanted me to play in her room. She told me to lay down and go to sleep, so I got into her bed.

She then attempted to shut and lock me in. When the lock wouldn’t work, she’d open the door and see me watching her. “What’s wrong?” she’d ask, then come over and tell me to go to sleep. This continued for about 20 minutes.

Hadley and I then ran to WalMart to pick up some groceries and snacks for camp next week. She was pretty good and got a sucker as a treat.

I had to go to softball next, but Hadley wasn’t loney as Jenna, the Schwarz kids, Tawna, Gerry and Ashley all came over to watch Wipeout. I got home right before 8 to see Hadley’s room destroyed and kids everywhere. It looks like it must’ve been a good time.

Chutes and Ladders

This morning we had all kinds of fun in forts, playing with bubbles, legos and Hadley’s game chutes and ladders. Eric brought the game back from the farm and I taught Hadley to play it this morning. She doesn’t quite get the idea yet, but she had fun and it is always good to practice counting.

Since I had so much to do to get caught up from our weekend gone, I let Hadley watch some TV while Zoey slept.
Eric got home for lunch and we all ate, then Hadley wanted to play Eric’s video game with him. Eric has an extra controller that Hadley pushes buttons on while he plays the game. She had fun, and then it was time for naps.

The evening was fairly uneventful. Eric came home to spend time with the girls, and I went to help clean with Jenna. Zoey was a little crabby when I got back, but she settled down and went right to bed. I think she just missed me!

Weekend Wind-down

We had a fabulous weekend of playing and fun at the farm, and on Sunday we spent the day relaxing. Eric and Dondi got up and went to a camera show while the rest of us stayed back and relaxed. We went outside, where Hadley had fun playing with a new friend, the tree frog. We sat outside enjoying the beautiful breeze and the conversation. Hadley did not sit still and went all around the deck following bugs, picking flowers and of course, enjoying the frog. It seemed to enjoy her too, and even sat on her for a while. Hadley also enjoyed visiting her favorite kitty, Greg. The other kitties are “fraidy cats” as Hadley called them, since they were smart enough to run away when they saw her coming.

Eric and Dondi returned home with pizza for us, so we enjoyed lunch and then some naps.

After nap time, we headed outside to enjoy the pool. The weather was perfect, and Hadley enjoyed swimming, floating and even jumping under the water. Grandma remembered a horse she had bought at a garage sale a while back and took it out of the shed for Hadley to ride, so as soon as Hadley was out of the pool she enjoyed a ride on the horse.

Later we went into Fremont for supper and headed home. We enjoyed such a relaxing day with no agenda, and of course spending time with family. We got back really late, so we threw the girls in bed and crashed. It was a great way to end the weekend.

Party time

Today we had a wedding to go to. We spent the morning being lazy, while Hadley helped with chores. (Isn’t that why you have kids?) She helped feed the kitties among other things. She also got up to go for an early morning swim with Grandma and Emily. Dondi filled the pool to the perfect height for Hadley to take a swim, and she could even stand on her knees in the pool.

Her favorite part was “watering Grandma.” She had a watering can that she would fill with water and pour over Grandma’s head and then say “all done.”

The afternoon snuck up on us quickly and we had to hurry to get ready to go to the wedding. We were a little nervous of how the girls would behave during the wedding with no naps, but they never cease to amaze us. Hadley was a complete angel, which I suspect had something to do with her sippy cup and cuddling with Papa.

Since there was time between the wedding and reception we headed to Grandpa and Grandma Schmit’s house to visit for a while. We had a lot of fun visiting, and Hadley had fun playing. Zoey bonded with her Grandma Schmit and really enjoyed the attention she was getting.

We headed to the reception where the girls were excellent. Hadley was obviously tired, because she feel asleep sitting with Grandma even though the music was so loud.

It was time to head home, so we got the girls in bed and Eric and I headed out with Emily and Glenn for a date night at the movies.

Happy Birthday, Lael!

Today was an easy, relaxing day. We played outside, played legos and also did some cleaning. Hadley helped to get packed for the weekend at the farm, so that was interesting.

The morning flew by, and pretty soon it was time for some naps. The three of us laid down to nap and pretty soon Eric was home from work. Since we had a birthday party to go to, we all got up and got dressed in our swimsuits. We headed out to a friends pool to go swimming for Lael’s first birthday. We had tons of fun, and Hadley enjoyed jumping off the the ladder into the pool.

After swimming we headed to Garrett and Jenna’s house for pizza and cake. We had a really good time and Lael loved the glow worm we bought her.

We had to cut our birthday fun short since we still had a two hour drive ahead of us. So we loaded up in the car to head to the farm. We are sure we are going to have a great weekend.

Old friends and some new friends

We had a fantastic weekend. Our friends Tom and Kortney were kind enough to come visit us, and bring their adorable son Jonas, all the way from Alabama. It was so much fun! Not that we did anything spectacular, but just seeing friends again is so great. Hadley and Jonas were instant buddies, and pretty much played together for three days straight.

Zoey also had a bit of a monumental weekend. She rolled over for the first time. And of course I didn’t see it. I had put her on the couch on her back, and I turned around and was talking, then turned back around a short millisecond later, and Zoey was on her stomach! She is just getting too big too fast.

Today we got up and went to mom’s group. The kids all played at a local park and had a fun time. As soon as we got home Emma came over and played with Hadley for a bit. Hadley seemed to be pretty tired from all the fun, so hopefully she will sleep it off in the next couple of days.

My knight in velcro shoes

Last night Eric wanted to take Hadley to some softball games, so despite the fact that she just had her bath, I thought it might be fun for her to go, so she went to the ball fields. Eric said she was an angel, and even held the leash for one of his friends’ dogs. She got a big kick out of that, and had fun sitting by one of our friends while Eric subbed in one of the games. Later, he took her to the park since she had such great behavior.

Today, Hadley has been on a roll. Dawson, Makai, and Lael were over today since Jenna had two appointments in Lincoln. Our house was a bit of a zoo. The kids are having difficulties playing nicely together, since they are 4, 2, 2, and 1.

Needless to say, the morning was spent putting out fires between all the kids. I miss the days when they happily played together and just climbed and crawled all over each other.

Hadley did come up with a new phrase today. She told me, as she was going potty, that “I need privacy please.” I informed her that I am her mommy, and there will not be a day in her life that she has privacy from me. She asked why, so I told her “because I am the mommy, that’s why.” Any other questions stopped.

As if I had not suffered enough, the afternoon came, and took a turn for the worst. First, Zoey woke up. (which in itself was not a bad thing) Moments later Lael woke up. Then a heard a loud bang in Hadley’s room. She wasn’t sleeping and when I went into her room I found her sitting on the floor of her closet. The smell that hit me in that moment was indescribable.

I grabbed Hadley out of her closet, only to find that she had removed her diaper and there was fecal matter everywhere in sight…this does not exclude my beautiful, once-pristine wedding gown. (just so there is no suspense, Hadley is in fact still alive)

Hadley got a bath…and I scrubbed. This scrubbing includes her, the walls in the closet, the floor in the closet and the dress.

Meanwhile, the other four kids were running a muck. There was only one thing to do, and that was call Eric for reinforcements. He rushed home just like my knight in exercise shorts and velcro shoes, and saved the day. If it were not for him, I would still be curled up in the fetal position, crying.

Once everything was cleaned and the kids had settled Jenna and Garrett came to pick up the kids. The kids then all ran into Hadleys room to play a little more before they left. Moments later, Hadley came out of her room walking funny.

Our conversation when something like this:
“I go potty.”

“I see that…where, did you go potty?”

“I go potty on mine bed.”

“of course you did.”

Shakespeare can’t come up with drama like this.

Thankfully, this week is coming to a close. Each day seems to get better when Eric gets home, and I am praying that Hadley has gotten it out of her system. Tonight we are hoping to go to a parade in Henderson, and tomorrow we have friends coming to visit us from Alabama. They have a son who is one, and Jonas is rumored to be just as crazy as Hadley. We will see.

Thank you God

God knew the girls would need to be cute today to make sure I didn’t hold a grudge from yesterday. The girls were up and smiling, and generally in good moods this morning. Zoey didn’t stay up for long before she was down for her first nap. Hadley and I got some housework done, and then we went outside.

Our garden is now a tangled mess, but the veggies and fruits we planted are actually surviving. There are some tomatoes coming in and some green peppers too. Our cantaloupe vine is beautiful, but no fruit yet. And I believe that our cucumber plant is coming back from last season.

Hadley helped to water the plants and also went to catch bugs in the pool. She had all kinds of fun playing with the lightning bugs, which seem to be her favorite. Eventually Zoey woke up, so we had to head back inside.

We decided to load up the stroller and go for a walk, and boy was it muggy out. The girls enjoyed it though.

After lunch, the girls took naps…and so did Eric. Once he was up and left for work again, both of the girls were awake too. Hadley wasted no time and climbed into the window and started to say her prayers. She said “Thank you God for mommy, daddy, friends, cars, houses, horses, Zoey Belle, Dignan, Chloe, and…amen.” She was pretty funny. I told her it was a good prayer and she said “I know.”

Later, Hadley played with her puzzles and read to herself quietly. This was a nice change since she hasn’t been playing by herself much lately. A little bit later we made a trip out to walmart where Hadley was a little out of control. She wanted to walk, which I allowed. This was my first mistake.

She was putting everything in the cart that she could get her hands on. Eventually I got her to just put in stuff that I was handing to her.

Then she started to run through the aisles. This was not ok…and really embarrassing. So I used the stern voice and face, and counted to three and threatened time out. She came back and then I put her in the cart. Luckily she didn’t throw too big of a fit.

Then after just a bit of shopping, I noticed she was quiet. I looked in to see what she was doing, and she was rubbing body wash on her cheeks.

Needless to say, we did not get to complete our shopping excursion.

We are home now, and because it has been such an exhausting week, we are eating frozen pizza for supper. Here’s to hoping the evening goes well…

The apocalypse

Today was not a good day…to say the least. Hadley and Zoey were off to early starts, and that would have been ok, if they had gotten enough sleep. This clearly was not the case. Zoey was very unsettled and was very reactive towards Hadley’s outbursts.

Hadley was in rare form. I cannot count the amount of temper tantrums she threw. They were complete with yelling, stomping feet, biting the air, scratching, kicking, hitting, and of course, crying. It was loud all day long at our house.

There was a brief, shining moment when I got Hadley interested in doing puzzles and she sat and completed four of them without incidents.

Eric came home for lunch and helped get Hadley in her room for nap time. Notice I said in her room, and not down for a nap. That would be wishful thinking.

I was not so lucky. There were no naps in our house. Only the aforementioned tantrums.

Four hours of non-stop wailing. And then, because things weren’t rough enough, it began to rain outside. Beautiful.

There was no relief in sight.

Eric got home and I retreated upstairs for a break. Hadley settled in to watch a movie, and calmed down for Eric. They ate supper and then went for a walk.

I spent time napping, and asking God what I had done to deserve this. Just kidding.

In a moment of Glory, the girls took baths without trouble, and went to bed without problems either. Peace at last.

Early nap time

Last night was a little rough. The girls were up a couple of times, and just seemed to be a little restless. Then they were both up for the day at around 5am. Hadley cuddled for a little bit, and then Eric took her upstairs for a while so I could try to doze as Zoey passed in and out of sleep.

8am came too fast, and Eric was off to work. Hadley was asking to eat popcorn for breakfast, and I was too tired to stop it. Nutrition took a backseat this morning. The morning continued on, and Zoey was back to her normal happy self.

I can’t say the same for Hadley. She was snappy and mean. The hitting returned full force, and she only was making it about 2.5 seconds between complete meltdowns. In between those times, she was in time out.

Usually, I like to stick to our routines. Today, I have decided to throw that out the window. I gave Hadley some milk in a cup, and put her in front of Sesame Street. I knew she would fall asleep. Call me Parent of the Year, but NO ONE was going to survive if everyone didn’t just chill out a bit.

So, it is three hours early, but the girls are down for naps and I am enjoying a little bit of quiet.

Eric has softball again tonight, so we will see if we go, or if we stay back for early bedtime.