Christmas Decorating

I usually do not get the Christmas stuff out Thanksgiving weekend, but since I have three kiddos I just figured it would take longer this year to get it done. Better use Doug's help while I can! So we re-arranged some stuff in the living room to make room for the tree and other pretties and then got busy!

Sean really loved helping with the tree this year! I definetely think we are going to get glasses at his appt next week. He had to make his Popeye face everytime he tried to loop an ornament on the branch. Poor boy! I also discovered that this is a great fine motor skill task. Anyway, here's a few pictures of us decking the halls.

Moving on to Christmas...

You Are Socks!

Cozy and warm... but easily lost. You make a good puppet.

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

The Real Deal Tag

My friend Sarah at RumTum Crafts is starting this tag and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Here's the tag:

take a picture the way you would normally do to post on your blog, preferably crop it to showcase the subject. Then show us the "real deal"... the nitty gritty daily clutter that we sometimes try to avoid posting. Talk about the messes you cut out in the cropped picture. We'll still love you!!! Then tag at least two people and link back to your post. OK? Sound fun? Can't wait to be invited into every one's real life.

I had to do some digging to find a photo to work with, because I usually edit my photos and trash the original version. LOL Here is one I haven't used, because I didn't like all my crap in the background. The best I could crop it:

Aidan giving the Horns Up and Sean giving Double Thumbs Up.


Here's the original photo.


My clutter exposed.
A. The litter box. In my kitchen. Sorry, I know it's gross but I don't have a better place to put it. I hate litter boxes in bathrooms and we forbid cat access to the basement. At least it's not easy to forget that it needs to be cleaned.

B. Trick or Treat Bucket. The boys still are playing with these daily, so I haven't carried them to the basement storage room. I'm sick of seeing them around the house, though.

C. Our butcher block cart counter. I got this as a gift from my in laws so I could roll it over to the stove & use while cooking. Well, it never gets used for that because it is the dumping ground in our house! Tons of odds and ends and papers from schools, etc. Every now and then I delegate crap to over locations but new crap ends up there shortly.

D. Cat food and water. Again, no other place to keep it. Sean has finally stopped dumping the water and making cat food soup. Won't be long before Ella gets into it.

E. Those pants DO NOT go with that shirt. Ugly combo.

F. Yeah, I bought freezer paper to make those transfer shirts like a month ago.... Never opened.

G. Stacks of Cooking Light magazine, still have the paper mailing cover on them, never been glanced thru. I am all about Cooking Mac & Cheese And You Better Not Complain these days.

Phew! Hope that doesn't tarnish my golden mom image! LOL! I'd like to see The Real Deal at Renee's house and Jennifer E's house! If anyone else would like to play too, please blog it, link to me and leave a comment so I can see what's really going on at your house!

Thanksgiving with Gramma & Grampa

The Pilgrim and the Native American are ready to eat!


Grampa carves the bird.


Gramma puts out veggies faster than Aidan can gobble them up.


The Turkey Day girls!


Daddy and his Ella Bean.


No pictures of Mommy, she was too busy chowing on the feast. And no pictures of Unc Curt, he spent the day in and out of consciousness due to having elbow surgery the day before.

The kids had fun, they ate a little, played a little, and napped a lot. We finally got smarter than Sean and brought a baby gate over so he couldn't excape the loft and make us search the whole building for him. Doug and I enjoyed some relaxing in front of the tv with the family. We've spent Black Friday hanging out at home. No crazy shopping for us!

I am Thankful for...

Jennifer at Life with 4 Kiddos tagged me to write six things about myself. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm going to twist this to say six things I am thankful for. Feel free to do the same on your blog or in the comments here!

1. I am thankful that I have three wonderful kids. They may not always be healthy or happy or obedient, but they do always give love, bring me joy and fill me with a sense of wholeness.

2. I am thankful that I have a husband that tolerates my moodiness, loves me when I have trouble loving myself, works hard to provide for his family, is a talented musician, loves to spend time with each of our children doing activities they love (even if that means watching the same shows a million times or playing video games or walking around soothing a fussy baby) and is a person that makes people laugh.

3. I am thankful that we have parents that support us emotionally, physically and financially. Our children are being raised by their whole family, not just Doug and I. It is a pleasure to see them grow with the love of their grandparents in their lives. We are so blessed!

4. I am thankful that we have the support of and friendship with our siblings. It is wonderful to raise our children with yours and enjoy the friendships they have built with their cousins.

5. I am thankful that we have found a church to belong to again. It was missing in our lives for awhile and we felt it.

6. I am thankful for my friends online, in real life far and near. I have learned so much from each of you!

Happy Thanksgiving friends and family!

A 4 Yr Old, A 4 Mo Old, A Marker and A Mom in the Shower

These are things that will never be combined again.



Big brother's role in all of this was He Who Left Markers Unattended and He Who Tattles on Brother. Thankfully, it was a washable marker and not the Sharpie that Sean used to write all over the dental forms last night.

Be sure to click on these links for two more photos of my angels. Blogger kept flipping them vertically so I had to host them on my PhotoBucket account.

Get Caught Reading!

Now here is a fun contest I'd like to win, errr, I mean that Sean would like to win! Kelly at Where There's a Will is having her second annual Get Caught Reading contest. She has some fabulous prizes that would be a great addition to our bookshelf.

We love to read. With Aidan learning how to read this year in kindergarten, we've been trying to make it more of a priority at home. Sean has several favorite books that he likes us to read to him. Since the Christmas season is approaching, our favorite Christmas book, Are You Grumpy, Santa, will be getting a lot of use again. Sean loves to act out the story as we read it.

First, Santa stubbed his toe. Oochie Ouchie Oh!


Then the shower was too cold! Brrr!


And Mrs. Claus puts him on a diet. Where's my food?


So eventually Santa reaches his limit. I'm a Grumpy Santa Claus!


Well, you'll have to get the book to see how it ends, Sean doesn't want to give any spoilers. ;)

She's 16 weeks old

and look at what she started doing today!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Whenever my kids have rolled over for the first time, I am reminded of my younger sister, Tanya and her first son, Seth. They were living in Alaska (her husband was stationed in Anchorage) when Seth was born. She called me one day and said, "Guess what?! Seth just rolled over!" I replied, "ummm, okay, do you need to go get him or something?"

I was a single college gal and had no idea that rolling over was a developmental milestone! Ha ha ha! She said, "No! It was his first time rolling over! I was just so excited I had to call someone and tell them!"Poor sis! Her excitment was wasted on someone who knew nothing!

Fast foward to Aidan, our first. I remember Doug and I spending tons of time playing o the floor with him, urging him to roll over. I think he finally did right at 4 months also, and then went the other direction a couple weeks later. Boy, were we excited!!! I think I called Tanya first to tell her that I finally got it! Mr. Sean impressed us by rolling over both ways a couple weeks before his brother did. We couldn't believe it! We had prepared ourselves for this to be his first delay.

So yay for Ella! She's moving right along with her brothers. As I recall, the downside to mobility is diapering takes on a new challenge. Tiny tushies on the run.

Keeping Warm and Welcoming Santa

Our weather has taken a turn into winter this week. I discovered on Friday, thanks to the 23 degree weather, that Sean has outgrown his winter coat from last year. I also discovered that we apparently skipped the 3T size for Aidan and went right to 4T, which of course is way too big for Sean. Looks like I will get to do a little coat shopping this week.

Saturday was the city's Christmas Parade, so I was determined to get everyone bundled up to go watch it. The boys wore jeans, long sleeve shirts & sweatshirts under coats, and hats. Ella was dressed in layers, tucked into the Moby Wrap, under as much of my coat as I could stretch around her and I put a blanket on top of her for good measure. It was about 40 degrees out when the parade started, not too bad I thought. Well, apparently the kids didn't think the parade was worth the cold, so after Aidan filled my pocket up with candy and Santa went by, they decided we should leave. Managed to take a few photos before we wimped out.











Ella's obviously been enjoying her wool longies lately.


Aidan and I decided to warm up the house by baking cookies yesterday. He's a singing baker, instead of a singing waiter....


A few updates:

I got a letter excusing me from jury duty!

I never did hear from the original winner of my book giveaway, so if Terri of Believing in Miracles still needs a copy, I'd like to send it to you! Email me, click on my profile and it's listed on that page.

Dear Santa....

I've been doing a lot of Christmas pseudo-shopping lately. Meaning, I have been looking for things to get people but not buying them yet. Of course, that's mainly due to the fact that the money tree in the back yard has lost all of it's leaves. Ha ha ha. So instead of clicking the Buy It Now button, I thought I'd share some goodies I found.

1. For Sean: Tucking In a cute lift-the-flap board book to send him subliminal messages about eating table food.

2. For Ella: Amber Teething Necklace. I've seen these worn by a lot of babies and think they are so pretty! Since Miss E is a drooling gal, I wonder how much longer before this slobber kicks over to teething.

3. For Ella: Hopscotch Jill Baby Legs. Baby Legs are so cute and make diaper changes handy! These will be great on our wood floors when she starts crawling. I also like these sold by our online buddy, Bethany. Pink & Grey Stripes, Black & White Stripes- reliving my high school years, and Jester Jill.

4. For Sean: This is just exactly where he is right now, I Can Do It Myself shirt, size 4T. I saw these shirts last year and wanted one for him, but am too cheap to pay $22 for a shirt. Yet, it is so perfect for him.

5. For Aidan: Some new Spongebob Squarepants PJs and Batman, too. Size 6/7.

6. For Sean: He would LOVE LOVE LOVE to win this set of Singing Wiggles Action Figures.

7. For moi: I think this would be so cool! A Printed, Bound Copy of my Blog.

8. Our king size bed needs a new set of sheets in desert khaki or cream. The queen size bed would look pretty with these pink and white sheets.

9. For Aidan: How fun is this! A wooden Catapult! Homemade Slime Making Kits! And these Thumb Warriors just crack me up!

10. This is a must for my nephews Seth and Adam: Mini Marshmallow Shooters. Heh heh heh!

11. Doug's new favorite weekend shirt? Retro Atari, size XXL!

12. One last item, just to drive Gramma crazy: A Beautiful Pigeon shirt for Ella, size 6-12 mos. Gramma *hates* pigeons and our town has almost as many as NYC. They like to roost on our house and at the office.

Aidan's Birthday Celebration

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Jury Duty, Breastfeeding and Kansas

I got some interesting mail on Friday, a summons to serve as a juror for the month of December. My first thought was "Oh crap! How am I going to get out of this?" At 14 weeks of age, Eleanor has not been given any bottles. I'm not planning on her taking any either, so serving on a jury would be a big problem.

I read through the letter the court sent and began filling out the application. Midway though, it asks the number and ages of your children at home. Next question is "Are you currently breastfeeding?" followed by "If yes, when do you anticipate weaning?"

I actually laughed out loud! At the rate my kids have gone, that could be another 4 years from now! I filled out the rest of the application and then went back to the weaning line. Hmm, what is a reasonable answer?

Well, the World Health Organization recommends

Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months is the optimal way of feeding infants. Thereafter infants should receive complementary foods with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or beyond.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends

Exclusive breastfeeding for approximately the first six months and support for breastfeeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child.

So I decided to enter "August 2010" as our estimated date of weaning. While I would be surprised if Ella self-weaned by then, I do think by 2 she will be fine with me spending a day or so in court on a jury if needed. Now if I had to spend the night away from her, that could be another story!

I decided to look into my rights as a breastfeeding mother in the state of Kansas and was happy to see that it should not pose a problem to get out of jury duty this time. Luckily, Kansas is one of the twelve states in the US that address breastfeeding and jury obligations. According to La Leche League International,

Idaho, Kansas, Oregon and Nebraska provide that jury duty will be postponed until the mother is done nursing the child.

Waah hoo! Go Kansas! Looks like Ella should have no problems keeping her food source close by for now.

Happy 6th Birthday, Aidan!

Mommy and Daddy love you, big boy!

Book Review: Roadmap to Holland

I finished reading Jennifer Graf Gronenberg's Roadmap to Holland a couple of days ago and have been digesting it. There were so many times during the book that I just wanted to pop into my email and ask Jennifer "Why didn't anyone..." or "no, she didn't..." or "I'm so glad that..." Yes, it's that kinda book. One that you respond to and can't wait to read to see how things turn out and how things are resolved.

I knew from reading Jennifer's blog that I would love her writing. Her sense of storytelling always draws me in makes me feel like she either reading my thoughts or that she's my best friend and I am so lucky to be sharing her life. What I didn't know is that she had included so much information about Down syndrome, support for families with Down syndrome and resources available. Nice! A good deal of the book is about her search for information about Down syndrome and how she relished the information as she gained it. It's wonderful to see that her book can be included in the quest future parents will take as they journey to learn about Down syndrome. This isn't to say that the book is so full of information that it isn't an entertaining read. Quite the opposite. Her story unfolds with the bits of technical info embedded in it.

As for her story, I was very interested to hear about how her life with Avery began. Having twins would be a big adjustment for any mother. Having premature twins factors in another challenge and adjustment. Learning that one of them has Down syndrome is something that would just put you in a fog. I have great admiration for her honesty about her feelings as she made these adjustments. So many times we mothers have thoughts that we are not proud of and are afraid to voice. Jennifer stood up to those fears and opened up about them to let mothers know that they are not alone. My heart was with her as she faced her challenges. I got angry when she did and happy when she did. I laughed with joy at little stories of Avery's cleverness. I won't say what happens, but page 159 made me want to throw up! I have never faced anything like that and hope I never do.

Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing your experiences with the rest of us. I sit here longing to walk up that twisty gravel road to your house so I can sit outside talking to you and watch our boys play while we enjoy the view of your lake and mountains.

I am so glad I finally had a chance to read Roadmap to Holland. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you add it to your "to do" list! Put it on your Christmas wish list or treat yourself to it. I still have my copy from the blog give-away. One of the winners hasn't replied to me and didn't leave a way for me to contact her. So if you know Laura of Common Treasures/The Swaffer Family Blog, please tell her to email me! If I don't hear from her in another week, I'd like to choose someone else from the original thread to give the book to.

Sean's Silly Little Rituals

They say children love rituals, and that children with Down syndrome in particular flourish when their day follows a steady pattern. Somehow, Sean has added several little rituals to his day that are very important to him and mostly fun for us.

1. Sean, Aidan and Doug sleep together in one room. Doug has his alarm set to go off twice, once at 7 am and again at 7:09. When the 7 am alarm goes off, Sean sits up in the bed and pats Doug to wake him, saying "Dada. Dada. Mama?" Doug says "Okay, Sean" giving Sean permission to come see me. Sean pitter patters his little flat footed feet into my room where I am sleeping with Ella. I usually feign sleep because I don't want to wake up yet. Sean gently pats my arm and says "Mama? Mama?" I peek an eye at him and he signs milk. I open the covers and give him a snuggle while he has his morning milk. He so gentle and warm and huggable. It's the best way to wake up.

2. After everyone is awake and ready to go downstairs, Sean insists that Daddy carry him down. He's perfectly capable of walking down himself, but every morning he wants Daddy to carry him down.

3. When we get to Sean's school, I try to get a parking space close to the entrance, right by this big tree. It has long sprawling roots. Sean gets out of the van and walks up to the tree, then he carefully steps over each root one by one. After he's navigated the root course, he eventually makes it to the building door. He HAS to push the handicap accessible button to open the door. If anyone tries to hold the door open for us, he won't budge. If anyone dares to push the button for him- look out! He will every get mad and lay down or he will push the door closed so HE can push the button.

4. When Doug goes back to work after lunch, he has a special little goodbye ritual with Sean. Sean opens the door and says "Bye bye dadda" and Doug goes outside. Doug turns around and puts his hand in the door jam. Sean tells him "no no" and points to where the door knob latches. Doug moves his hand to that spot and says "Don't shut the door on my hand!" Sean laughs and swings the door shut. Doug yanks his hand out of the way, but pretends it got hurt. Yelping and fake crying. More laughter from Sean as he peeks out the door at Doug. Then he is fine with daddy leaving, so long as they got to do their goodbye game.

5. This is another one of my favorites. When I was young, I watched The Incredible Shrinking Woman and loved this little song in the movie. It stuck with me and when I had Aidan I would sing it to him when I gave him a bath. I sing it to Sean as well and they both expect it as part of our bathing ritual. It goes like this:

"Ooooooooooooooooh" (Sean raises his foot in the air while I lather up my hands.)
"I wish I was a little bar of soap!" (I wash his foot and leg.)
"Oooooooooooooooh" (Sean gives me his other foot.)
"I wish I was a little bar of soap!" (I wash that leg.")
"I'd rub Seanie's hinnie and make it nice and shineyyyyyyy." (I wash his bottom and tummy while he giggles.)
"Ooooooooooooooh" (I wash his arms and back.)
"I wish I was a little..." (I wash face and neck.)
"bar of soap!" (last part is sung in a deep low voice, in unison, and we are done washing his body.)

The boys don't like it when Daddy gives them a bath because he doesn't sing the Bar of Soap song.

6. Last one, to help motivate the boys to get dressed, I came up with this little game. I hold their shirt up, with the neck opening making a circle/hoop. Then I say "Fire in the Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooole!" and as I say hole they charge at me as fast as they can like bull and put their head in the hole. I've found once the head is in, it's not so hard to get them to put their arms in and then it's done.

I'm going to miss it when my babies get too big for these little games and rituals! What are some of your favorite ones with your children?

Tummy Time

Hey! What's this? A momma, a house, a baby and...


Well, hi there little cutie in the mirror!


Can't.stop.staring. Must.drool.over.gorgeous.baby.

KS La Leche League Conference Review

Sean's been sick with a cold, so I haven't had a chance to blog for a few days.

The KLLL Conference was great! I love spending the day with like-minded mommas. I attended two of Dr. Sears' sessions, one on Vaccines and the other on the Science of Attachment Parenting. He had a third session on Fathering that I missed to go to a session on the Curative Properties of Breastmilk. The day ended with the session I spoke at, Breastfeeding & Employment.

Dr. Sears' talk on vaccines was very informative. I've read about his book and approach to vaccines, but haven't read the whole book yet. So this was a live and fast version of it. He went over the illnesses that the vaccines protect against, the likelihood of your child contracting that illness, what the vaccines contain that may cause harm to your child and why his vaccine schedule is a safer way to protect your child from illness and avoid harmful vaccine reactions.

When Aidan was a baby, I didn't question vaccines at all and he was vaccinated on the standard schedule. He developed Reactive Airway Disease when he was 2 and has had respiratory issues triggered by colds or environmental allergies since then. When researching vaccines, I have come across information that says that sometimes the standard vaccine schedule can cause children to develop RAD and environmental allergies. The standard schedule exposes the developing immune system to so many illnesses at such a rapid rate that the body doesn't always process the vaccine correctly. I felt it was important to keep him on the standard schedule since he was in daycare/preschool and now kindergarten.

When it was time for Sean to begin getting vaccines, I specifically asked my doctor if the schedule should be different for him since as a child with Down syndrome his immune system is weaker and he is more prone to respiratory illnesses. My doctor looked into it and said there wasn't any information from the AAP about changing the schedule for kids with Ds. So again, we followed the standard schedule. Sean has also had respiratory illnesses. Of course, I have no way of knowing if this is due to Ds, the vaccines, or daycare/preschool. It just is what it is.

While pregnant with Ella, I did more research on vaccines and alternative schedules. God willing, I plan on staying home a couple more years, thus avoiding daycare for her. Combined with extended breastfeeding, I hope her immune system has a stronger start and we can avoid serious illness with her. I do still feel more comfortable vaccinating than not, so we are following Dr. Sears' alternative schedule. His website doesn't have a copy of his schedule on it, but he does blog about it. I have a copy on my computer of his schedule, you can email me if you want to see it without buying the book. But you should buy the book or check it out at the library to understand why he organizes the vaccinations this way.

As for his session on AP, it was very well-rounded and gave a lot of research info backing the philosophy that so many parents for centuries have instinctively followed. One thing he said that stuck with me: "the best gift you can give a new parent is a sling or similar baby carrier. It opens the door to the AP philosophy. If you can get a parent to wear their baby, breastfeeding success will go up, they will respond to their baby's needs and respect their baby's cries, they will want to keep their baby close."

Attending a LLL conference is a great opportunity to see lots of babywearing. A hotel employee commented on Ella snoozing in my Moby Wrap. He said, "It's so cool to see so many moms using these! My people in Jamaica have been using them forever." Yep! I'm glad I got mine out to use this weekend, Ella has been loving our pouch sling, but the Moby really helps distribute her weight better and my back appreciates that! Aidan took this photo of us one morning:


The session I spoke at went well. We had a few LLL leaders attend to get advice on how to help working moms at meetings and how to attract more moms that breastfeed and work out of the home. We had some WOH moms attend to get advice on how to get their employers on board with their need to pump at work. One of the other speakers had experience establishing a lactation room at her job site so it was interesting to see how she campaigned for that. I talked about bringing your baby to work programs as well as adjusting to daycare and extended pumping.

I was happy but exhausted by the end of the day. Ella was a wonderful little baby to take along. She did a lot of napping and got a lot of snuggling. The boys had a great day with daddy. He took them to see Madagascar 2 on Friday evening and Saturday the went to hang out with Uncle Curt and Cousin Kenzie. Doug said they got along great and the house wasn't in too bad of a shape when I got home. :)

Look who I get to go see tonight....

Dr Bob Sears! He's talking about The Science of Attachment Parenting tonight and tomorrow morning he will talk about his book, The Vaccine Book.

I'll be attending other sessions at the conference as well. I also will be speaking at one session on Breastfeeding & Employment. I love going to LLL conferences, so I am so excited today!

The New "Do"

It's a lot shorter, but feels good!

Doh!

I listed my email wrong when I announced my blog giveaway winners! So it's fixed now & I'd love to hear from you if you won.

Thanks!

A New Season

and it's good.

Should I Chop It Off?

I have an appointment tomorrow morning for a haircut. I've been averaging about 2 haircuts a year and I am wondering if it's time for a change again. Should I cut it to shoulder length or just trim it up? I hardly ever wear it down, because it's so windy here it flies into a rats nest. So usually it's in a ponytail or bun-ish twist. Neither up do is very flattering. Plus I'm going through post partem hair loss. And I have a baby that likes to work her hands into it and not let go.



But I also have a little bright eyed boy who loves to do this:



He adores momma's hair and would miss it if it was gone. He always asks me to take it down so he can play with it while he falls asleep. Hmmm, what to do?

What a Rough Weekend

Ever take a trip somewhere and end up telling yourself several times that maybe you should of just stayed home? Yeah. Had one of those weekends.

Aidan had been super excited for weeks about spending this past weekend at my mom and dad's house so that he could go Trick or Treating with his cousin Adam. Adam is ten and to a five year old boy, he's about the coolest kid on the planet. Friday evening went okay, we got there early enough that Aidan was able to go T or T-ing shortly after it started. Sean was too excited about being at Nana's house that there was no way he was going to get his costume back on and go. No problem, I have issues with him T or T-ing anyway since he doesn't eat the stuff. Aidan had fun, but got upset when Adam had to go home for the night.

The main reason Doug and I planned to go there this weekend was so that Doug could help my Dad with his deck. We found out Friday evening that the materials they needed were not going to be delivered on Friday like my parents had planned. In fact, they found out that night that the delivery wouldn't even arrive until Nov 6. Great. We drove two hours with three young kids for nothing. Not that we don't enjoy seeing my family, but we were just there two weeks ago and we had to say no to several other invitations this weekend to go there. Sigh.

Saturday, Doug decided that he could work around the missing materials and still make some progress on the deck. My mom and I thought we'd take Ella and Sean to the mall so I could look for school shirts for Aidan. Aidan was eagerly awaiting Adam's return. Then Aidan got attacked by a wasp in my mom's basement. It apparently flew in his shirt and stung him 4 times! Aidan has always been terrified of bugs, especially wasps, so he was hysterical. I mean truly hysterical. We managed to calm him down to quiet sobbing while we held and ice pack to the stings and gave him Benadril. Doug headed downstairs to try to kill the evil wasp. Sean some how got into the garage, where he stepped on another wasp and was stung! I called Poison Control because I didn't think he could have Benadril and wanted tips for treating his sting. He was stung on the top of his toe and it swelled really fast. Got him taken care of and decided that we were not likely going to the mall.

We attempted to take a lunch break and had to go to three places before we could find a place to eat. First place had an hour wait, the second place had a flooded playground. Things just were not looking good for us. I didn't get Sean to take a nap until after 3. My mom's dinner wasn't ready to eat until after 7:30 and Aidan was getting very hard to handle. He does not do well without frequent meals. He had another meltdown when Adam had to go home to sleep. When it was time for bed, he saw another wasp in the room he was supposed to sleep in, so he ended up kicking Papa out of his bed so he could sleep with Nana. He was ready to get in the car and go home at that point.

Sunday, I hoped to make the day go better. I got everyone motivated to get out of the house by 10:30, My mom, sister, Sean, Ella and I headed to the mall. Doug, dad, and older boys got to work on the deck. Ella almost made it all the way to the mall without crying, then I realized the mall wouldn't be open for another hour. Craptastic. She was a screaming, sweating mess by the time I got us to WalMart to waste time. Did I mention she hates riding in the car?

We poked around Wallie World, then decided to get some lunch before going back to the mall. By the time we got to the mall, I was only up to checking a couple places before giving up. Sean needed a nap and Nana was worn out from chasing him. I didn't get any shirts for Aidan, but did get a present for his birthday. We thought Sean would nap on the way home, but Nana was being too entertaining for that. He took another late nap.

Before we could sit down for dinner, Aidan and his cousins had a huge blow up fight and my sister decided it was time for them to leave. It put a big damper on dinner, so we got finished up and left shortly after. Aidan ended up falling asleep in the car. He had a very emotionally exhausting weekend and I think all of us were just glad to get home.

It really bites when you want to have a good time and all goes against you.