clean and climbing

I think Slane is slowly getting over her fear of the bath. For quite some time bathtime has been something we all dread. Slane would cry as soon as we took her into the bathroom, and then scream and try to climb out of the tub. Toys didn't help, me attemting to take a bath with her didn't help. Then we tried a shower. We took a shower, sang a silly song about the shower, danced, and played with foam letters that stuck to the side of the shower. Twice now, that has worked. So, we can now have a clean baby without the tears. I hope that trips to the pool and possibly a sprinkler this summer will help even more.

Slane is a climber. Last week she pushed her stroller over to the piano, climbed up on it, climbed up on the piano bench, climbed up on the piano itself, and got a crayon from the top. Then I helped her climb down again. She is good as pushing that stroller over to things so she can climb. I've even heard that she did it in the church nursery a couple of weeks ago...

Slane also likes to go out our front door, down the steps (she is stepping down the steps now, not climbing down), and take the sidewalk to our nearest neighbor (which happens to be a big party house). We do this almost nightly, so I wasn't totally surprised when she insisted on doing it during block party. I didn't necessarily appreciate drunk students proclaiming over a baby at block party, or accusing me of bringing my baby back for block party, but Slane loved watching all of the kids and gave out a lot of high fives.

How do you do it?

I have been struggling lately. I want to know how some moms work full time, have clean houses, make dinners, do laundry, eat well, exercise, and still have time to play with the kids and have some personal time. I feel like I have to do it all, and most of the time I am too exhausted to do that. I know Dan helps, probably more than most dads, but it still seems like I have to do it, and if I don't then I have let the team down. And somewhere in there I would really like the baby belly to go away and my clothes to fit better. I keep thinking if I can just hang on until summer then I will be at parks all day and playing and biking around town...but how do I get that exercise in the winter? When? And still keep up on laundry without forgetting I washed a load two days ago and never got it into the dryer, or have dinner prepared in a timely manner for those of us who need to eat, eat, eat right now.

I want to spend more time with Slane but when I am spending time with her I feel like I should be doing dishes or unloading the dishwasher or cleaning out the fridge or something more useful, when I know the best thing I could be doing is chasing a toddler down the sidewalk or playing ball with her.

I never had intentions of working full time when I had a baby, but it seems like I didn't have a choice, and I couldn't pass up a full time job, even if it is not necessarily the grade level I would rather be teaching.

I feel guilty if I have to stay at work late, and even more guilty if I have a meeting and leave Slane with Q (though I don't think he feels the same guilt). Taking time for myself doesn't seem like an option, and Q often tells me my Sunday nap (which never really catches me up) is my time to myself.

It just seems like by the time I get home, pick up Slane, attempt to start dinner, wait until Q gets home so I can really start dinner, feed everyone, do the dishes, pick up a bit, and maybe, just maybe get a walk in, I'm done. Nothing left. Even if Q helps with some of that (which he often does), there is nothing left.

So, I was just wondering, how do you do it?

bubbles

The last few weeks a lot of opportunities have come our way. We have learned the hard way to take a good look at what we want for now, what we want for later, and what our goals are. But so many of these opportunities seem like bubbles. They are floating, they are pretty, but who knows where they will land and if they will pop in the process. Some of them are very big bubbles, and those are the most exciting, and some are small, and don't last very long. Some might break deals we had made with each other, some may become new deals. And the hardest part, most are not developed enough to even share with others who could offer discernment and advice. They are just bubbles that we get to watch...We are in a good place either way with most of them, but some could offer some significant changes for us. The timing is incredible, it seems that every bubble has started floating in the last couple of weeks, and it is fun too, to see where they all might land if they do land. And if they don't, we are mostly good with that too.

One of those bubbles that has developed and should not pop is the new car we are going to pick up tomorrow. We have known for some time that a tiny 3-door Saturn Coupe and a small not-so-great-in-Winter Toyota Tacoma would not fit us as a family. The fact is, when we bought those cars, 10 and 8 years ago respectively, they served just the purpose we needed then. Who thinks about buying a family car right out of college? Now that our family has grown (and hopefully will continue to grow), we need something that we fit in, and maybe a fourth person as well. So, we gave in, found an interest rate that is great, got a loan, set up a trade-in of the Toyota, and will drive home our Subaru Forester tomorrow. It is blue!

In other news, we are struggling with the sippy cup situation. We know we need to transition Slane to a sippy cup. We already have her on milk, and completely off of formula, but we need to get her off of the bottle. She is strange. She will drink water out of her Avent sippy, but not milk. Some people suggested different kinds of cups. I tried Nuk the other day. It worked great, I bought a second one (those are pricey). Then Slane started throwing things when she is done with them. When a Nuk sippy hits the floor with force, the nipple pops out and milk goes everywhere. We can deal with that at home on a linoleum floor, but when we are out to eat, it is kind of a problem. I bought a Playtex yesterday, and she would't drink out of it. I don't want to buy many different kinds that won't work. What do we do? It is harder because she still does the bottle at daycare. I guess we will have to wait until summer to fight that battle, and then I can be home all day and deal with that.

In other other news, Slane is walking everywhere now, and it is kind of nice to walk in the door at daycare and she walks up and says hello. Speaking of daycare, I love the boys there. They love Slane and Monday actually opened the window of the room they were in and yelled their goodbye's to her out of the window. When she goes in the morning, she gets a big hug from one of the boys who says he loves her. When I pick her up, one boy always says, "Baby mom here, baby mom here!"

Stay tuned, and when the next bubble lands, we'll let you know.

Slane Walk

Slane...she's a-walkin' now.

More pictures:

Slane eating hailstones and black beans for dinner the night of the big storm.

Slane's Easter dress.

Slane and mommy.

Double babies. Slane on the right, Einar on the left.

Slane turns 1!!!

Stop talking already, just show us pictures

We are a bit behind. So, here are pictures starting in January. The next post will have a few more.

Ella, our niece was baptized on Valentine's Day. My mom made this dress.

Slane drives her car through the kitchen.

Q and I traded rooms with Slane. Ema and Epa helped (Epa got nap duty).

Slane is happy about eating.

Slane plays with balloons at the Hope/Calvin game, which Hope won!!

Bye, G'Bye!!!

No, we aren't going anywhere just yet.

Slane and I got to spend a lot of time together during my 5 day weekend "spring break." We explored new places, and we got lots of appointments taken care of. On Thursday, Q took a vacation day and we ran a few errands (like dropping off the $150 our friends and family donated to Mid-Iowa Community Action in Slane's name), picked up coffee, and deposited a few checks and some of Slane's birthday money. Then we headed to Des Moines for lunch with Aunt Brenda and a visit to the Science Center. We played in the toddler area, and watched a cool black hole presentation. We checked out the turtles and snakes and prairie soil samples, and then headed to a mall to pick up some walking shoes for Slane (Pedipeds are our new favorite shoes). We rushed back home and made it to the Maundy Thursday Service, which Slane decided to talk through. Q eventually took her out to the fellowship hall so she didn't disrupt the service.

Friday, we did taxes and got a haircut. Saturday we cleaned out closets. Sunday the whole family came over for Easter and the ladies went to the park to swing and slide and the guys got in a round of disc golf.

Monday, Slane hung out in her stroller while I got a cavity filled, and then she napped and I graded my sixth graders projects that have been waiting for a few weeks. We met Q at the doctor's office for Slane's 1 year wellness check later in the afternoon. She weighed in at 23 pounds and a few ounces, and 30 inches tall. She got a clean bill of health, though we need to feed her more protein and iron.

It was cold and rainy in the afternoon, and we needed an activity. Slane wanted to play upstairs, so I put a movie in and played with her. We watched The Sound of Music. Slane loved the singing (of course), and at end, when the Von Trapp family singers are singing So Long, Farewell for the last time, Slane got the message, and said, "bye, g'bye!?!?!" It always sounds like a question when she says it, but an excited question.

And then, that quickly, my weekend was over and I got to go back to school.