Off to G&G's

I was off again on Friday. .no work, no gas continues. There were minimal lines at 5:45 in the morning, so Greg was kind enough to get me some gas before going to work, so I decided to use it up and head to Granny & Granpa's for the weekend. I still got the kids up and took them to school so that I could get us packed and get things done. I had even hoped for a nap, too, but that didn't work out. I asked Dellaina on the way to school if she wanted to go see Granny & Granpa and she immediately shook her head, 'yes' and said, "see my special things." She'd remembered Granny telling her that she'd gotten her a few special things for the next time she came! And she told me, "you take me there."

When I went to pick up the kids, Dellaina was actually taking a nap for the first time all week (other than on Wednesday with me at home) so I had to wake her up. She had fallen and scraped her little cheek up pretty good and she'd forget about it because she couldn't see it, but everyone kept asking her about it (me, Daddy, Granny, Granpa, etc.) We went by Greg's work to tell him "bye" and pick up copies of the neighborhood Newsletter he'd made for me, then I had to drop them back off to people in our neighborhood to distribute them, then we were off. I had hoped to get to town in time to go by the school so Granny could show off her grandbabies, but we just missed it. .especially on a Friday afternoon, folks clear out! We had a good evening regardless. Dellaina was very excited by her special stroller and play pen for her baby dolls that Granny had gotten from a neighbor getting rid of it. It's super fancy and just like the bigger versions for real babies! Granpda got home and was surprised to find us, because I hadn't told them we were coming, until that morning after securing some gas, I'd emailed Granny. Andrea brought Addison down after picking her up from day care. She was completely worn out. The end of the week does that to us all. We drove to Arby's to pick up dinner and brought it back. Wyatt horded in, impatiently on Dellaina & Granpa's ice cream tradition. He would bounce and scream when it was her turn, demanding more!

Wyatt woke up at 6:00 Saturday morning and was screaming for a long time, which woke up Dellaina. He eventually settled back down and we got a smidgen more sleep, but not much. We ate breakfast and headed out the door to Wal-mart (always a grand adventure) and to get a car charger for my cell phone, since it was dead and I'd neglected to pack my charger. I wanted one anyway. We realized when we got home, we'd left the case of Cokes we'd just bought on the bottom of the buggy, so I drove back over hoping to still find it. Sadly, someone had already confiscated some free tailgating supplies, I suppose. At one point, Dellaina was in her highchair eating and Granny said, "damn" about something. Dellaina quickly informed her, "we don't say 'damn'" It was just too amusing. We tried to contain our laughter, but Dellaina looked at me and said, "We don't say 'damn' do we, mama?" I told her we certainly didn't. We wondered where she heard that phrase - had a kid said it at school and a teacher corrected? I should have guessed the source, though.* We took a good nap (Granny took Wyatt for a ride in the stroller and car before he finally gave up the fight!) and missed our chance to visit more with Addison and Andrea. But, I got to go up and help bathe her before they went out to dinner with Blake's family. She is sitting up really well now! It's very exciting. Then, I came back to give Wyatt & Dellaina baths and I managed to scald Wyatt's tender backside! G&G's water heater is set really high and the water gets insanely hot ridiculously fast (not something I'm used to) and I went to turn on the shower sprayer, but hadn't actually turned it on, so it came out of the faucet right down onto Wyatt, who immediately started screaming. Thankfully, it didn't blister and has diminished considerably, but was just like a sunburn for a while. We went to Ryan's (Family Steakhouse) for dinner, which is always a treat for me. Wyatt had food on the floor all around him, but I think he ate a good bit, too. When I went upstairs to tuck Wyatt in, I heard Dellaina fall and scream and knew it was a pretty good lick. I was a little panicked she'd fallen against the rock hearth and came downstairs, still holding Wyatt, who was trying to drink his bottle, to check. Granpa had her in the basket pose in the kitchen under the light where Granny was examining her head. There was a tiny gash just above her eye, below her eyebrow. She'd tripped and fallen against the arm of the little wooden rocking chair. We decided it didn't need stitches. She stopped crying fairly quickly and ate some jello while I contemplated going to buy liquid bandage. We laughed about getting it into her eye and having to go to the ER for that rather than the actual original injury. Then, Granny found some steri-strips in the cabinet and we cut off a little piece and we all felt much better. She was a great patient and has pulled it off herself (thankfully, I didn't want to attempt it!) when we've changed it out. I watched the depressing UGA ass-whopping (other than the fantastic 3rd quarter where I had a glimmer of hope) and filled out invitations for Wyatt's birthday party (just for family) and a Halloween Playdate for neighborhood and day care kids. We're going to get a bounce inflatable and have the kids wear costumes. I think it will be fun. Dellaina is definitely excited. She wore her spider shirt today and is sleeping in her glow-in-the-dark ghost shirt now with plans to wear it to school tomorrow.

They managed to sleep in a tad Sunday morning (nearly 8:00) and we had a good morning. Andrea & Addison eventually came down and we got to play and take a slew of cousin pictures. Checking each other out (would you guess they are 6 months apart?!):

Dellaina didn't want any part of it, until we started snapping and talking and then she couldn't handle not being center of attention, so she starts in with her imaginary injuries.

What's wrong with her? She's supposed to be the Big Girl!

So, that's pretty funny.

give me back my paci!

That's it! I'm outta here!

No, really, I want my paci and I won't down. I'm done.

Sweet girl time. .Dellaina loves to hold hands.

I finally coerced Andrea into starting a blog and helped her get that set up so I can see pictures of Addison and get some updates, hopefully! I'm very excited. Her Daddy calls her "Little Bit" so I think it's a very cute name for the blog! Then, around 1:00, Dellaina & I headed over to Doug & Morgan's house to hang out for a bit. We played piano and guitar and sang and then backed cookies and sat around. Dellaina was missing her nap, but held up well. Other than refusing to smile for pictures. Or frown on command. We went back by G&G's to pick up Wyatt, who had been napping when we left and hit the road by 4:00. They both fell asleep on the ride home and Dellaina actually stayed asleep when we carried her in and laid her in her bed. I tried to go wake her up at 6:30, but could tell it was a lost cause. I got her to sit on the potty and put on a PullUp and then she whined that she didn't want to go back to bed, so I brought her downstairs. But, when her Daddy asked her, she shook her head and he took her back up and laid down. She slept all night long until 8:00 this morning! She needed to catch up from the excitement of the weekend.


It was wonderful to come home to a clean house and Greg had cleaned up the fish tank, replacing the lights and giving it a long overdue scrubbing, replaced the flood light outside on the corner of the house (a project that lasted much longer than he anticipated), replaced the solar panel for the solar lights so they now go on and off properly, put an extra shelf in Wyatt's closet and a few other things. It's nice to leave him to piddle around the house! I was off again today and my projects aren't nearly as noticeable. Going through piles and drawers just doesn't seem as successful, although it makes me feel somewhat accomplished. Or as Greg so astutely noted, "sorting 1 big pile into 10 other smaller piles." I told as long as at least one of those 10 piles was a trash pile, it's something!

*When I told Greg the story about "we don't say 'damn'" he looked a little sheepish and guilty! He admitted that he'd actually said "damn it" at something Wyatt had done and a few minutes later Dellaina pointed her finger at Wyatt and said, "Damn it!" Soooo, he had to explain that he shouldn't have said it and she shouldn't either. Thus, letting Granny somewhat off the hook.

Finito!

Wrapped up the photo game this morning. . well, I had scheduled the final picture to post. I will probably do a recap with outtakes at some point, but just thought I'd share, if you haven't been over to check it out yet or in a while. Everyone should be finishing up by tomorrow, so there should be lots to see. Love to hear your comments, just please remember to do so not signed in to Google where it can link back to this blog.

Thanks!

List

Another list I've been making for a week or so. . .

Wyatt has been learning to say "uh-oh" but in the beginning, he was just getting the "uh" part and couldn't say the "oh" or even make a second sound. But, he's saying it fully now and quite frequently and it's pretty cute.

He has finally picked up on sliding down backwards off of the couch or steps (rather than diving off head first). . a little. By this, I mean, he has done it a few times, even if just by accident and we really encourage him when he does. Dellaina seemed to pick up on this approach fairly quickly. I think it's a guy thing to be so stubborn and prone to injury.

He knows the phrase, "love, love" which is just what I say when we hug on people and he lays his head down on the dogs or people and is so sweet.

He likes to climb into this little pink chair. And stand up. And try to climb up the bookcase. I had gotten him out of the chair and gone to help Dellaina in the bathroom. I step back out to check on him and he's back up in the chair, standing, and putting his foot up on the arm about to step up, reaching up the bookcase! BOYS!

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On the weekends, Dellaina & I have fun cooking and baking. We made some of Megan's banana muffins last weekend, and they were a hit. She also helped Greg with grilling and every night wants to help him make his salad with "stinkie cheese" (feta) which I don't like and she and her daddy love, so she loves to come hold it up to show me and wants me to say, "ewwww, stinkie cheese, yuck!" So she can laugh and tell me how "just me and Daddy, not you!" like it.

Last Saturday night I forgot to put on her PullUp for bed. Her PullUps are dry in the mornings and thankfully that trend didn't change. I don't know when we should just let her sleep in her panties, too, because she's doing great, but we are selfishly just not willing to risk those middle of the night bed wetting accidents yet.

One night she decided she wanted some roller skates. And that "we'll get them at the store, tomorrow, after school" I told her that maybe she'd get them when she turned 3, but she persisted with the more immediate timeline and insisted I "Draw roller skates on the list." She continued to mention it for a few days and ask if I'd drawn roller skates on the list (we use for the store) I noticed Greg had, which I thought was cute.

She insists it's not actually "Shake, Rattle & Roll" but rather, "Shake, Rattle and Whoa!"

All week she has had the formidable "No Nap!" note on her daily report. Yesterday evening it was painfully obvious. She was just off and cranky.

Tuesday she had an accident at school - and it wasn't pee! Ick. But, it wasn't too bad, either, because she still had on the same clothes, they had just changed her underwear. Both of our stomachs have been acting up and so, I think it just came on quickly and it's not very solid, so that's harder to control.

When she gets upset, she starts making up ailments. If I fuss at her for hurting Wyatt or being too rough or doing anything remotely wrong, she starts crying and pointing to some random spot on her body that suddenly, "hurts."

She says "Amo" where is almost sounds like "animal" sometimes for "Elmo" And had corrected her "Lellow" to closer resemble "Yellow" which kind of breaks my heart, because it was really cute. She still practices saying "screen" for the rails on her bed and it's a tricky word for her.

When going to bed, she lay back against her pillows, put her hands back behind her head with her elbows sticking out (like you lay in the grass and watch the clouds) It was quite amusing and when asked where she learned it, she credited "Granny."

We all wore our festive Halloween shirts the other day. Gotta get some use out of them before the holiday! I tried taking pictures of us, but it proved to be quite the challenge. After school, Dellaina was walking across the railroad ties and a black cat - just like the one on her shirt - came up to her. Greg & I were still down by the car in the driveway. . I was following Wyatt and Greg had stepped into the garage when I noticed the cat was really rubbing up against her loving on her, but it was pushing so hard, it was knocking her off balance. I started towards her, trying to tell her just to sit down, but it was too late - the cat knocked her off the wall!! Fortunately, she didn't hit her head on the rock wall below or on the way down and it wasn't a bad fall, but it was scary for us both and she cried. The kitty went on and we tried to explain to her he just wanted to love on her and didn't mean to. We didn't want her to be afraid of cats. Or the wall, so we got her to walk across it again.

Benefits of a gas crisis

I'm not sure how the rest of the state or country is faring, but around here, there's no gas. When there is gas, the cars are lined up and waiting for ridiculous amounts of time. Tuesday, Greg had one of his delivery guys fill up a 5-gallon tank and brought it to my work, because I was running on Empty. I am fortunate enough that I don't have a lot of driving to do or have to go very far at all, so I don't need much to get me by daily or weekly. But, I didn't have enough to go driving around looking for stations that might have some. Last night, my boss called me to say "stay home, save gas" since we don't have any work going on either. So, I'd love to be able to say I got to sleep in, but Wyatt saw to it that I didn't. He was up and at 'em bright and early. And I managed to convince myself I could handle a full day with them at home by myself and I really saved my gas and didn't take them to school. We stayed home. And we had a good day. Despite Hank throwing up (which Greg cleaned up before he left for work) and Wyatt throwing up twice. I got the steam cleaner out and went over all of the spots and then we went outside and enjoyed the AWESOME Fall weather. Wyatt thought he was a squirrel and put every. single. acorn he could find in his mouth. Which, trust me, there are a lot! Dellaina rode her bike and we played with the "bathtub" and threw a little frisbee around. And colored with chalk, played with eggs and blew bubbles. Then, we managed to get a little nap in. Then, Emily & Samuel came up to visit (she doesn't drive much these days, either, so she could use her gas to come see us, hee). Boss and Hank made sure to welcome Samuel to the family properly. We loaded up the kids and went for a walk around the block. Dellaina actually rode her bike! (Emily pushed, but she peddled and did really well) and Wyatt and Samuel rode in our double stroller. I was afraid the evening would seem even longer than usual, but we had a good time. Greg got home fairly early and with the walk already out of the way, I got baths done before he finished working out (mostly because Dellaina had another little accident - but, she was in the bathroom trying to get her pants down, so. . again, it doesn't fully count) so he had time to just sit around with us in the living room while we caught up and played. I'm assuming I'm supposed to go to work in the morning. I'm tempted to say, I still don't have any gas and needed to stay home again, but shouldn't push it.