"what are you feeling?"

Hadley woke up this morning right at 7am as I predicted. She was in a good mood, so I didn’t mind it. She participated in her usual morning routine of asking for apple juice, cereal and discussing how the events unfolded from the previous night. In the middle of her morning talk, she stopped and looked at me. She was very focused and slightly tilted her head to the side, furrowed her brow and said “what are you feeling?” I laughed really hard. The whole time I was laughing she kept her same straight face…waiting for my answer.

I told her I felt happy and proud of her. She then appeared to give this some thought and she said, “Yes…because I am not naughty.” And then as quickly as the deep thoughts came, they left. Her next question was, “can I watch meet the robins?”

I fear I will never understand what goes through that head of hers. I know…I know…Just wait until she is 16.

As for Zoey, she is still smiling away and happy as ever. No teeth yet. We have discovered she does not much care for green beens, but loves applesauce and bananas. Hopefully it is not just a vegetable thing.

She missed me so much

Today Hadley had Ethan and Finn over again. The day did not go as smooth as the one before. But it turned out fine. Hadley tried out kicking…and by that I mean she kicked her friends, got timeout and then got spanked when she tried it from timeout. She cried a lot, and said, “I don’t like to kick!” I really think she may not try it again, I made a pretty strong statement about kicking. Or I could be spitting in the face of fate and she will try again soon. Time will tell.

The afternoon was blissful. The girls slept from 1:00pm until 4:45pm. I also caught up on much needed sleep, and it was really nice.

On Thursday nights I have been doing a ladies bible study. I got back home and it was close to 10pm. Eric and I were sitting on the couch talking and all of a sudden Hadley’s door swung open and she came running out of her room and gave me a big hug. She said, “mommy’s home, I missed you so much!” I was baffled at the fact that she was awake, and because she missed me so much, I let her sit with us and cuddle for a while.

This was one of those rare moments that she actually wanted me and not Eric, so I savored it. We will see how much I savor the decision in the morning when she is still awake by 7am.

I don't feel very well

This morning Ethan and Finn came over to play with the girls for a while since their parents had to attend chapel for the College. They had fun coloring and playing all kinds of games together. Hadley was sad when they left. Zoey loved that all three of them gave her attention at the same time.

At one point Hadley went and sat at the steps to the basement. When I asked her to move she said, “no!” So I told her she had to the count of three to move up the steps or she would sit in time out. So then I counted to one, and her response was “mommy, I don’t feel very well.” She said it with this tone of “if I don’t feel very well then there is nothing you can do to make me move, or sit in time out.”
She’s entertaining to say the least.

The girls both took long naps today, and I really needed the rest, so I was extremely excited about that.
Tonight at church was an Ice Cream Social to welcome the college kids back. Hadley enjoyed having some treats after her class. Her class has gotten considerably bigger since the one year olds moved up. Everyone keeps asking if she is in the right class because she is a head taller than all the other kids.

She loves the class and is meeting all kinds of new friends. Zoey still hangs out with us in class, but we rarely ever hold her because one of the other men in our class always grabs her from us. She is a little cuddle bug and adores the attention Larry gives her. We don’t mind it either!

Social Butterflies

We were up and moving early this morning, and that was ok because we had a play date to go to. Hadley has a new friend from bible class named Clara. She asked Hadley over to play since her big sister just started Kindergarten. The girls had a great time playing and Zoey even got to know Brody a little better, who is just two weeks younger than she is.

As we were leaving Hadley went to give Clara a hug, but then at the last second pushed her away. While we were in the car Hadley burst into tears. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, “I pushed Clara and I forgot to say I am sorry!” She carried on for a couple of blocks and eventually calmed down. Later on at home, this same thing happened again. I assured her we would see Clara later and she could apologize then.

A lot of people do not understand why I chose to stay home with our girls. I have heard my fair share of people preaching that it won’t give them good social skills when they only interact with me. I disagree with this because of all the people Hadley sees that are her own age. I also think that she is developing her conscience right now, and I am seeing that in the remorse she has for doing things the wrong way. Who can guarantee that she would learn these same things if someone else watched her all day?

Hadley took a few hours to settle in for her nap, and eventually slept for about a half an hour. She has been seeking out weird places to sleep lately and I think that has something to do with her difficult time napping. I secretly fear that she is getting too old for naps, or maybe that she is just not going to take the 2-3 hour naps that I am used to.

Our friends just got back from their cruise and so we went over to visit them this evening and see all of their pictures. They traveled to the Bahamas and it made us all jealous! Hadley had a lot of fun playing with Dawson, Makai and Lael. Lael is off and walking so Hadley has taken much more of an interest in her lately.

Hadley and Zoey were very tired and we left and headed straight home to put the girls to bed.

I was just resting

Today Zoey slept in until 7am. It was very nice to not get up with her in the night. The girls had a pretty normal day. Hadley mostly entertained herself with putting things into baskets and bags, carrying them around the house for a while and then emptying them out again. We also did some coloring and art work.

Eric came home early for lunch and headed back before it was time for Hadley to take her nap. As I was preparing her to lay down, she was looking exceptionally tired. We went into her bedroom to tuck her in and she came up with every excuse as to what she needed and why she needed to be out of her bed. After a while she gave up and stayed in her room. Shortly after though, she came out of her room and told me “I wasn’t really sleeping, I was just resting.”

Zoey took an extra long nap, so at least one of the girls got the sleep they needed.

Eric came home and took the girls outside while he grilled. After supper he took Hadley outside to play for a while. She has been becoming more “independent” lately and thinks that it is ok for her to go outside by herself. Eric is going to install a lock on the door where she can’t reach it so she can’t go outside without us. We are trying to give her independence over appropriate things, but going outside by herself is not one of them.

Hopefully the girls will go to bed early tonight because I am exhausted from Hadley’s lack of sleep.

Can you leave?

Lindsey let me sleep in today, since I let her sleep in yesterday. That was great.

Church is later, now that the summer is over, so that means tired hungry girls sitting quietly. Or Hadley sitting for awhile and then getting rambunctious fast.

We got home and had some lunch. Hadley did not want to take a nap, but Grandma and Papa were coming over this afternoon, so we forced her to stay in her room. When they arrived, we went in to wake he up and she was passed out on her little couch surrounded by books. I don’t think she really slept, but what can you do?

Grandma and Papa weren’t planning on staying long, but Hadley wanted it even shorter. She was showing Grandma her new favorite movie, Meet the Robinsons (or Meet the Robins, as she calls it) and she asked if she could watch it. I told her that she could as soon as Grandma and Papa left. Hadley responded by saying to Grandma, “Can you leave?”

After a bit longer, Grandma and Papa hit the road and after hugs and kisses, Hadley enjoyed her movie while Linds caught up on a nap.

Tonight, Lindsey had a girls’ night out with friends, so Gerry and I took the girls to McDonalds. Zoey Belle was losing her mind the entire way there and back. As soon as we got home, I layed her on the floor and she was cool. I think she just hates her car seat.

Hadley only took about 6 attempts to get in bed. First, she wanted milk. Then to go to the bathroom. Then for me to fix her toy that she was playing with. Then I heard he kicking the wall. I went into her room and she immediately sat up. “Sorry, Daddy, I didn’t mean to kick the wall. I won’t do it. Sorry, Daddy.” How can I do anything to this kid?

Zoey Belle was looking tired, so I put her in her crib. She didn’t want a bottle of pacifier, so I left her lay. She looked around the room for bit and then fell asleep on her own.

Every time that Lindsey is gone, I definitely get a greater appreciation for the time and effort she puts in with the kids. I only had them for a couple of hours and they wear me out. She has them all day, everyday and sometimes I’m gone at night, too. She’s a super-mom in my book.

Visitors

Today went by really fast for us. Hadley woke up and went to get donuts with Eric, just like they always do on Saturday mornings. When they got back Emma came over to play one last time. They are moving to Texas tomorrow, so it was the last time the girls will see each other for a while. It was time for naps when Emma left and as soon as the girls were up from naps, Emily and Glenn came over for supper. We spent the evening relaxing with them and just catching up.

When it was time for bed, Hadley stayed up and played in her room. We heard her talking and moving around, but we weren’t sure what she was doing. When Eric went to check on her she was curled up on her shelf to her bed giggling hysterically. Who knows what got into her, but she sure thought it was funny.

No news is good news

Today was a fairly uneventful day. It is nice to have those every once in a while. We are all happy that it is Friday because we love the weekends with Eric so much.

Zoey finally slept for a nine hour period last night. She fell asleep on Eric and Eric bragged about being the master of sleep habits…I told him he has a new job around here. My plan is for him to get the girls to sleep for hours at a time while I relax and read my magazines.

Other than that, there is nothing too new. We are having Emily and Glenn over tomorrow and Dondi and Julie will be coming to visit on Sunday with Grandpa and Grandma Schmit. It should be a pretty fun weekend.

Sharing

Today Hadley had Ethan over to play. It turned out to be an interesting morning, because the two of them usually only see each other at church. They both had troubles sharing, but Hadley was getting the hang of verbally communicating with Ethan by the time he was heading out. She did a good job of telling him when she was not done with a toy yet, and then giving it to him when she was done.

It is good that she is getting used to sharing with other people besides just Dawson and Makai. I am also proud of how well she is doing verbalizing how she feels. She did tell me at one point, “I feel sad…I don’t want to share.”

Hadley also learned to start out her sentences by saying, “ok, the thing is…” Which is actually pretty funny, because that is word for word what Eric says.

Zoey is still not feeling great with her teeth so she has been taking little catnaps. Her sleeping at night is pretty restless and is waking up often. I have been really tired from being up so much in the night, but I am sure it will pass soon. (at least that is what I tell myself to make it through the day 🙂

For lunch we ventured out and got Wendy’s. We got a taste of what it would be like to move to a big city because due to all the road construction it took us approximately 35 minutes just to grab some food to eat. I do not think we are missing much by living in a small town.

Hadley started to fall asleep in the car, and decided that this was enough of a nap for her so she stayed up for the rest of the day. It actually wasn’t too bad, because she was fairly well behaved. Mid afternoon she asked to watch “Meet the Robinson’s” and I needed the down time, so we just relaxed. Eric came home and took Hadley out to play and got some pretty cute pictures of her.

Not that that is difficult these days.

locking doors

Well, it is fitting that for the majority of this morning, Hadley was going around with her set of keys locking and unlocking all the doors. Mid-morning we decided to go outside and draw with the sidewalk chalk. After a little while, we were going to go inside for Hadley to get shoes on and figured out that our screen door had locked behind us. It has done this a few times, but Eric can usually jerk it open after a couple tries. Well, I had not brought my phone outside, and I also did not have on shoes. So, we just had to make the most of it and play outside for a while. (over an hour.) We did not bring any toys with us, so we had to be creative. We took turns with the girls in the swing, and by the end of it, I was working up a good sweat. And then Hadley had an accident, but to her credit, there really was nowhere for her to go except in her shorts. Shortly after this, the tantrums started. I threatened to take everything short of her life if she did not cooperate with me, and eventually she complied.

When Eric finally got home he opened the door with minimal effort. I was slightly irritated.

After eating lunch everyone settled in for naps, including me. We all woke up a couple hours later and decided to take it easy for the afternoon. Eric had come home from work not feeling well, so I allowed Hadley to put in Cinderella and cuddle with him quietly on the couch.

After supper Eric and Gerry took the girls to get Ice Cream. Hadley and Zoey had a really good time with the guys.