Regrets

Have you ever wanted to go back in time and change something? We have some wire shelving that used to be in one of our closets except that it's been just propped up on its end in our garage for months now. It's maybe around six feet long or so and it sits right next to the door that leads into the house. I've wanted to move it for a while because I'm forever bumping into it with all the stuff I'm usually carrying, but I never did move it. Tonight, DD rushed past it and knocked it down. I didn't see exactly what happened because I was carrying the baby at the time and worrying about how to get everyone out of the back seat of the van. The shelving got knocked down and DD was crying, so I knew that she had been hit somewhere. I wasn't prepared for what I saw next.

DD had about a 4-inch gash on her right calf and it was bleeding profusely. I have a hard time with bleeding soft tissue injuries on anyone, but especially on my own children and DH was not home at the time. I cleaned her up, trying not to focus on the bleeding. She was sobbing the whole time and all I wanted to do was hug her, but I wanted to stop the bleeding as soon as possible. Thankfully, it stopped bleeding while I was giving her a bath. I was applying a bandage on it just as DH got home. I felt so bad that I hadn't removed that shelving earlier! You can bet that it's been moved now. Poor DD! :-(

I really need to focus on some good memories right now. Just yesterday, I let DD have some fun with my camera. Even though there is a 2.5 inch screen on the back, DD would still close one eye and look at the screen as if looking through a tiny viewfinder. I really wished that I could have gotten a photo of HER getting a photo of me. This photo is me telling her to back up so she wouldn't cut off my head in the photo. I was also laughing so hard because of her one-eyed picture-taking technique. I have to laugh when I look at this photo now, and I really need to end with this fun memory to make myself feel better about tonight's events.

Malls Are Not Baby-Friendly

I never realized how "handicap-unfriendly" malls were until I had to go there with a stroller. The first time this happened, I was with DS#1 when he was a newborn. Today, I experienced this again with DS#3. There was an elevator in the parking garage, but there were stairs just to get INTO the mall FROM the parking garage. Once in the mall, there were ramps and elevators, but the elevator was not conveniently located. Since there were a few of us, one person carried DS#3 in his car seat, and one person folded up the stroller and we all took the escalator.

When it came time to nurse, I've had to do this mostly in bathrooms. I prefer not to nurse out in the open, mostly because my children jump around a bit when they nurse and they are messy--all not conducive to privacy. Very few bathrooms have somewhere comfortable to sit. I've had to sit on the commode before, and not only is that not comfortable, but it's dirty and so clinical, for the lack of a better term.

I was playing around with my camera this weekend, so I got this adorable photo of the little man. I think he's worth all the trouble he causes, don't you? :)

Rain, Rain Go Away

The rain let up a bit today, and DH took the older boys and our friends to Sea World today. I stayed home with DD and DS#3 so we could go to DD's Tball game. She was SO tired that by the time the game rolled around at 9:30AM, she was sobbing. She sobbed before during and after batting. She sobbed as she ran the bases. She even sobbed when she was in the infield with her team. The coach had to stay by her just to get her to stay out there. In a way, I felt like a cruel parent, but in another way, I just wanted her to learn how to cope with life when she's tired. It's her own fault, after all, if she doesn't go to sleep when we want her to. We left after the standard two innings (for PreK Tball), and she fell asleep in the car on the way home. She was in much better spirits later in the day.

Luckily, DS#3 behaved when DD was misbehaving. He just doesn't sleep well during the day, however. The three of us went to the mall for lunch (after DS and I had a little nap) and DD and I even had some Haagen-Dazs ice cream (my real motivation for going to the mall). DS was awake the whole time. I had to keep the stroller moving or he got upset, but he was quiet most of the time.

Tonight we had "Tortilla-encrusted Tilapia" from Costco (YUM!) and some Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory (double YUM!) after every one had some chill-out time after a tiring day. To the left is a photo of DS#3 after dinner. DH decided to prop him up on the couch. We joked about wanting to take a similar photo of our much bigger DS#1 to compare sizes with, but we didn't think we had a onesie big enough to fit him. ;-)

Below is a photo of DH, DS#3 and our friends relaxing out on our deck tonight. I hope everyone else is having a great holiday weekend! :-)

Appreciation

I'd forgotten how beautiful babies are when they're nursing. Even at 2:30AM this morning I was noticing this. I've also noticed that DS#3 seems to get much more relaxed when he nurses versus when he was fed with a bottle. Maybe it's only because he is getting "older", but he doesn't stay awake any more after eating in the middle of the night. We'll see what he's like at night the next time I have to be on call and away from him. Because we had so many problems getting to this point, I willingly get up at night to feed him. I don't complain too much when he twists his head around while he's nursing because he is straining to produce a bowel movement--well, okay, maybe a little. ;-) I think this was God's way to make me appreciate what I have.

Speaking of appreciating what I have, DD's godfather and his family arrived yesterday for a visit. He just celebrated his 40th birthday and he is treating himself by coming to visit us. What a great friend! He lives in the small town that we used to live in before we moved here. That move was not good financially for us, but we've never regretted it. We were able to get more family time than we have ever had before, or since. We also were able to meet and make friends with the most amazing people. DD's godfather and his family are some of those good friends.

One more thing that I realized yesterday. Someone at work asked me if it was difficult going back to work. While it was difficult leaving my new baby, I realized that being at work itself wasn't difficult. I love my job, and the people I work with. Working definitely isn't difficult, it's just that I have to be away from my favorite activity of being with my family.

It's going be rainy and stormy here all weekend. I hope we can still do some fun activities for our guests...

Back to Work

Today was my first day back to work after taking my maternity leave. I thought I had informed the appropriate people that I was taking six weeks off from when I had the baby. I guess no one sat down and figured it out that I would be back today. I told the staffing person at work the exact day, but I didn't tell my contracting company the exact day. There was a guy who replaced me while I was gone. He was still there today until I got a call from my contracting company saying that only one of us was supposed to be there. I was really tempted to just go home, but I decided that, after two weeks of unpaid leave, I wanted to start getting paid again, so the other guy went home. Other than that, things went fairly smoothly today. The important part for me was that the day went by fairly quickly. I couldn't wait to be back home. Of course, right now the baby is screaming probably because he is tired. Gotta go!

The Switch Turned On

I never expected it to be like a switch just turning on. Three weeks ago, when the lactation consultant told me that all babies learn how to nurse by two months of age, I was hopeful but unsure. She told me not to even try "for a while". I didn't know exactly what that meant, but my apprehension about the whole experience made me afraid to try too soon. So, I haven't even tried for probably a couple of weeks or so. Today, on my last day of maternity leave, I had to try. I had to know what was ahead of me--more lonely pumping, or some cuddly nursing time.

Today, when I first tried to get DS#3 to nurse, he cried like he had before. I was afraid that this was him refusing just like the many other times before. Suddenly, however, he just latched on and kept going. I can't even describe how I felt--relieved, excited, exhausted. It felt right but I didn't want to believe it was actually true, since one other time before, he appeared to be nursing correctly, but in the end, he actually didn't get much. He acted satisfied, though. The next time he got hungry, I was afraid again that it had been a one-time thing, but he latched right away. He has nursed several times since then, and seems satisfied. He hasn't had anything else to eat, so I have to believe that he's actually doing this nursing thing correctly now. Of course, DH has to say, "Why didn't he learn this earlier? I could've gotten more sleep!" I guess I'll get less sleep now, but I'll be happy AND sleep-deprived. :)

Here's a photo of the little guy smiling at me.

Rubbing Kisses

When DS#1 was younger, he went through this phase where he would wipe my kisses off his cheek. I used to ask him, "Are you wiping my kisses off or rubbing them in?" After asking him this a few times, he would always answer, "Rubbing them in." He has always been a little sweetie. I carried this on with my next boy, who used to be so cuddly but now runs away from such signs of affection. DS#2 usually doesn't say anything when I ask him this question. Instead, he just smiles at me like he wants to appease me but in truth, he really wants to say "Wipe them off." I recently started this with my DD, who hasn't really been the type to wipe off my kisses anyway. Today, we had a little conversation when we were having ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery, that went something like this:

I kissed her hand. She says, "Don't kiss my hand!" She then proceeds to wipe off her hand.
I kissed her cheek. She looks at me and states emphatically, "I'm going to rub it in!"
She then turns back to eating her ice cream and says, "That way it will last forever."
She also says, "You can give me two kisses on my cheek every day, and I'll rub them in!"

Earlier in the day, we had several little "arguments" from what she should wear (she always wants to wear a dress, even when playing outside!) to how she wanted her hair done to how she shouldn't stick DS#3's pacifier in his mouth when he's already sleeping, etc. This just made my day a whole lot better! :)

Spring Concert

My DD and DS#2 had their school spring concert today. DS#1 had his a few weeks ago and I missed it because of kid duty. This is a small school and ALL the kids sing in the various "choirs". Their music teachers do an incredible job with all the kids--even the ones that don't sing so well. :) Today, DD was in the PreK/Kinder "choirs" that had their concert at 10AM, and DS#2 was in the 1st and 2nd grade "choirs" that had their concert at 1PM. This meant a lot of driving back and forth for DH and me--once again a reason why it would be more convenient if DS#3 would learn how to nurse, but enough of that...

I took some short videos of both of them with my camera. The videos aren't great, but they will remind me how the kids sing. DD was really into the singing and hand motions, except when she got distracted and kept her hands in the same position as she continued singing the words. DS was barely moving his mouth, but I could see that he was paying close attention and singing all the words. His music teacher actually came up to DH and I after the first concert and told us what a great job DS does. All I could think of, at the time, was "Are you talking about MY child?" :)

We picked them both up from school after the last concert. Most of the kids in their classes were getting picked up early, too, so there wasn't going to be much learning going on anyway. We left DS#1 at school until the normal time since he didn't have a concert. I picked him up after school and we both went to karate class.

It's times like these that make me want to live closer to the school. Oh well, it's not worth having to move again, so we're staying put for a while!

Mama's Treasures

I've been meaning to post about my Mother's Day treasures. When we picked up the kids from school last Friday, they each presented me with things they had made at school. DS#1 gave me a handmade card with a pop-up heart inside (which he said he figured out how to do himself). The front was unadorned except for the "To" and "From". Inside on the pop-up heart was a poem that he wrote himself:

"Clouds are grey,
So is the floor.
You're the best mama
I could ever ask for.

The clock is messed up,
Some of my classmates are too;
But one thing's for sure-
I love you!"

I started cracking up so hard after reading just the first two lines that I couldn't go on reading for several minutes! "Clouds are grey" is not a line you'd expect on a Mother's Day card, and the "so is the floor" isn't a very warm sentiment either.

DS#2 gave me a small sheet of paper that his teacher must have given everyone in the class, with premade lines for the date, greeting, and closing, and premade artwork that he colored in. First of all, the "Dear" was heavily pencilled in, and so was the "Mama" that he had previously written in on that line. This seems so typical of DS#2 who tends to avoid those types of affectionate terms. Next came his poem with mispellings included:

"I'm from America, their from Peru. Papa's the best parent and you are to! Happy Mother's Day!"

I laughed hard at that one, too. I mean--Peru?!! Also, there can only be one "best" parent, right? I guess Papa is the one! *WINK*

DD, being in PreK, had minimal writing on her gift. She gave me a cute little flower pot with a wooden pot, felt grass, and foam flower pieces for the flower. There was a small wooden clip attached to the flower with the handwritten note, "I love you Mom" which I'm sure was dictated by the teacher. Still, it is precious to me because DD wrote the note herself, and probably glued the flower together all by herself, too.

DD seems to have inherited my love for crafts. She actually "scrapped" her first photos this past week. She used some extra photos and some paper scraps and ribbon that had given her. I scanned the pages to keep, but I might go ahead and buy her an album to put these pages in so we can both enjoy the "evolution" of her scrapping later on. I'm so happy to have someone to scrap with!

Last but certainly not least, DS#3 is still a little young to be giving me little treasures. Right now he's a treasure himself. :) We had an outing yesterday, just the two of us. I wanted to go shopping at Ann Taylor (I had some things to return, actually) and I suddenly felt the urge to eat at PF Chang's. DH had to do something at the kids' school, so it was just DS#3 and me. I felt a little awkward eating by myself, but I had my favorite dish, Szechuan From the Sea with Shrimp and Scallops, and it really hit the spot. DS slept through the entire meal, thank goodness, but he woke up just as I ate the last bite. He then started crying at the top of his lungs and I quickly asked for the bill. I tried pushing the stroller back and forth, but finally had to pick him up and carry him, which calmed him down almost immediately, and he once again, fell asleep. The visit to Ann Taylor was uneventful, and we went home after that.

So, I have four little treasures. I don't always feel this way about them, but they're all angels to me right now. Of course, they're all asleep right now. They're always angels when they're asleep, aren't they? *WINK*

One more week

I can't believe that my maternity leave is almost over already. I don't feel ready at all. Sure, each time I go through this, the maternity leave goes by so fast, and I never seem ready to go back to work. It's just that for the past five weeks, daily life for me has been so hectic that I wonder how DH will be able to handle it alone when I go back to work. DS#3 is getting into more of a pattern, but babies always seem to throw you a curve ball once in a while, don't they? The other three kids will be out of school soon, too, and they will most certainly add to the chaos. DH and I keep telling ourselves that we enjoy the chaos--are we crazy, or what?!!

Happy Mother's Day!

We went out of town to visit my family this weekend. We wanted to be there for my nephew's First Communion and we also wanted to give my Mom her baby fix. :) Speaking of the baby, we were relieved that he did okay traveling in the car. We had to stop a couple of times on the way there, but he slept the whole way back. DD was a horrible car traveler, so this is a welcome change. To the right is a photo of him during one of the stops. He really seemed to enjoy being outside and having the wind blowing through his partially bald head. He's got some cute fuzz on the front and more hair on the sides and back.
I have to shout out a big thank you to my Mom. My mom stayed up with the baby on Friday night. According to DH, I was "toast" and didn't even wake up when he came in to put the baby in bed. My Mom fed him at 5AM so I barely had to wake up, too. She also makes sure we have all our favorites to eat when we're there. The kids had their mango, fruit salad, donuts, etc. I got my soup. DH got some beef. DS#3 got some TLC. She and my Dad also baby-sat so DH and I could go out to dinner on Saturday night.

I have to also shout out a big thank you to my two sisters, who were very generous in entertaining my other three children. Both of them took all six kids to the bookstore and bought them books. My youngest sister took five kids (including her own two) to her neighborhood pool, bathed my DD, then drove them all back to my Mom and Dad's, where we were staying.

Today my Mom got to choose the restaurant we ate lunch at. Even though there were four of us moms involved, I considered her the "Supreme Mom". :) Below is a photo of all of us today. I love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day to everyone else, including my two sisters and my DH's Mom!

New Car

We got a new car today! DH and I had been talking about getting a new car for a while. Our Toyota Sienna has over 100,000 miles on it and recently there have been problems with the brakes and other things. After all, reliability is our #1 priority. This week, DH went to the dealership to get the back latch fixed. It broke about a month ago, so we couldn't even open the back door at all--very inconvenient for our active family. The repair guy told him that it wasn't worth fixing if we were going to end up trading the car in. This made us think of getting a new car a little sooner. While he was there at the dealership, DH started looking at the new Siennas and the Sequoia. We know a few people, including my sister, who own Honda Odysseys, so DH looked at those, too.

We liked how there was an option for an eighth seat in the Odyssey. This has been a concern lately, since we are now a family of six, which only leaves one extra seat. Whenever one set of grandparents comes to visit, we have to take two cars to go anywhere. With everything else about equal, this eighth seat plus how the Odyssey is a few thousand less than the Sienna tipped the scales in favor of the Odyssey. So, we brought home our new Odyssey today!

I just have to add that DH did all the shopping on this one. In the past, we would go to the car dealership together to look at cars. Usually we decided on a particular make and model before we even went to the dealership, however. This time, we were doing some comparison shopping. DH made this process very easy on me. He did the legwork, he test-drove the vehicles, and he negotiated with the salesman. All I had to do was go in and sign papers with him. He even picked my favorite color--red! We finished up at the dealership just in time to pick up the kids from school. They were so excited! They're even more excited that we're taking the new car on a road trip tomorrow to visit my family for my nephew's First Communion.

I'll take a photo of the new car tomorrow. :)

Here it is!

One month old

Just a quick post--I've been busy doing some assignments for the Scrapaddict.com design team that I'm on. Tomorrow I'll post some of the LOs I got done.

DS#3 is now one month old. He seems to cluster feed every night, and he still stays awake at 2AM. Last night he was asleep for a while, but when I started going upstairs at around 2AM suddenly his eyes were WIDE open! I was so tired already, so luckily, he let me put him in the bouncy chair and he seemed content there. I fell asleep and I didn't wake up until I heard DS#2 get up before 6AM. He still gets fussy at night, too. Often, he only sleeps for a few minutes at a time during the day, although when he sleeps, he doesn't wake up easily. Today he slept a lot, however. I must have worn him out yesterday.

I have to go feed the little man. I'll post more tomorrow.

Birth Announcement Photo

I think I finally have my birth announcement photo. Of course the landscape orientation doesn't go with my planned design, but I'll make do. Can you see DH covered with a sheet? DH reluctantly agreed to get under the sheet so I could get some photos. Some day I'll actually know how to change the various settings on my camera, but for now, I used the automatic portrait setting for this.

Crafty Mom Steps In

Today I spent a couple of hours helping DS#1 with an assignment for school. The assignment was to compare the timeline in the Chronicles of Narnia books with real world time and put this on a poster board. When I saw him writing on that poster board with a pencil, that crafty side of me gasped--I knew he could do better than that. ;-)

The truth be told, I knew that he was just starting with pencil and that he would eventually go over it with a dark pen, or at least I hoped he would have done that. So, I made some gentle suggestions, like using some colored cardstock and some diecut letters for his title, and using cardstock strips for his timeline. Yesterday, I had already suggested that he sketch out how he wanted his poster to look. He had planned on including pictures from the books in his timeline. Although I knew that he was a good artist and that he had planned on drawing these pictures himself, I suggested that he look on the Internet for suitable photos that he could just print out. I also eventually suggested that instead of hand-writing in his labels for the timeline, he could print them out from the computer to make it look more "professional". He liked all of these suggestions and I helped him with the various steps. I plan on taking a photo of him with his poster tomorrow morning.

All along I was wondering if I should be putting in all of this work to "help" him with this project. After all, he was cutting into my scrapping time! ;-) He was grateful for my help and told me so, but I just wondered if I was doing "too much". Of course, if it was me doing this, I would have gone all out and used colored poster board and done a big title, etc. He made all the choices and I just helped him. That's okay, right?

One side note--we took about three hours to do this and during all of that time DS#2 was waiting for DS#1 to finish his project so they could play a game. Poor thing--they never got to play since we took so long.

Smiles and Baseball Bats

Isn't this the most adorable baby ever? DS#3 has started to occasionally reward DH and I with smiles. Last night, we even took a short video of him smiling with some coaxing from me. As I was touching the corners of his mouth with the bottle nipple, he would turn up that particular corner. Once in a while he would have both corners of his mouth turned up into a smile. He has also started to "talk", that is, a noise that isn't a cry or a burp occasionally comes from his mouth.Often, this is accompanied by a smile. DS#3 still has good nights and bad nights. DH is a little bummed that I'm not doing all the feedings right now but he's been wonderful in allowing me time to sleep. DS also seems to be finished with his growth spurt because he hasn't been eating quite as much--now he eats closer to every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. He can still sleep in long stretches, but instead of just being awake at night, he fusses more at night--not necessarily a good trade-off.

This weekend we only had one game to go to--can you believe it? DS#2 had a baseball game tonight. Poor thing tries so hard; he also really loves to practice with his Papa. He struck out twice tonight, although he had some pretty long throws (throwing the ball in from the outfield). DH says that DS#2 is doing everything right (as far as the right stance, swing, etc.) but that it just hasn't "clicked" for him yet. I wish I could just magically give him super baseball powers. :(

My Sisters

I'm the oldest in my family, and I have two younger sisters. I've been running these journaling challenges over at Scrapaddict.com, and the one for this week involves how alike or different I am from my siblings. I've always gotten along well with my sisters, but as we spend more time together, the more the little things start annoying us. Over time I've realized that this is because we all are pretty alike, although we're also very different.

My older younger sister has always been more "girly". She has always taken the time and effort to look nice even if she has to spend more money. I'm more about comfortable "mommy" clothes, as she has put it. We've always both been very shy and quiet. As we've gotten older, though, through various circumstances, she's been "forced" to be more outgoing. I'm afraid that I've relied on my DH many times to be the outgoing one while I retreat into my comfort zone. For some reason, when it comes to being in the kitchen, we both like to be in control, so this can lead to some arguments. She is much better with children than I am because she doesn't mind getting down on their level and playing with them, no matter what game it may be. Ironically, I have more children, but I really admire her for the quality time she spends with her daughter and with my children when she comes to visit. I'm much more comfortable rough-housing with the kids, but she can do all the "girly" stuff with the girls, too. Most of all, she has always been so generous with her time and with her money. She is always checking on my parents and taking care of them. She used to take care of me when I was still going to school and she was already working. She even bought me shoes when I wore holes in my favorite pair.

My youngest sister used to be like a stranger to me. Although we spent lots of time together in high school, she tended to keep to herself. I would have to describe her as quiet but not shy, although she can be shy, too. Now, I feel like we have more in common--kids in sports activities, scrapbooking (a mutual obsession), and similar lifestyles. She has always been more thrifty than my other sister and me. She used to be more self-centered. Now, she is much more generous with her time and money. She drove three hours with my parents just to go to my son's First Communion and Confirmation, then drove back so she could go to her son's baseball game. She has done the same just so she could accompany me to a crop at my local scrapbook store. She still knows the best places to get a great gift for less, but the difference is that she gives gifts to my kids "just because".

I think I've gone on and on enough here. I should probably edit the above better, but the bottom line is that I love my sisters very much. I'm so happy that we can be as close as we are, both in our relationships with each other and in the physical distance that separates us. :)

Three Weeks

My little guy is three weeks today! He is awake much more often--so much so that he "tells" us when he's hungry now. He is also more alert in between feedings and naps. He's also been going through a growth spurt, we think, because he's been eating as often as every 1 1/2 to 2 hours! He did, however, let us sleep again last night. He also seems to have "mellowed" out somewhat. DH was able to bathe him and even change his diaper without him wailing at the top of his lungs. He is holding his head up more and for longer periods. His hand movements seem a little bit more controlled. He clasped his hands together last night and we wanted to take a picture so we could tell our pastor that he was already praying--but he stopped doing that before we could grab the camera. I finally got a photo showing his little dimples on both sides. Isn't he the most beautiful baby? I'm not biased at all, of course. ;-)

One final note about nursing--the lactation consultant told us yesterday that he is having trouble sucking correctly, even using the bottle nipple. She said that this usually works itself out by about eight weeks and that I shouldn't try too hard to get him to latch on until then. I have mixed feelings about this. I still feel like I need to do something more pro-active about this, but at the same time, I'm relieved that she told me to just relax and not worry about it for a while. I don't want to bore all of you, so I won't be mentioning it again until something changes--except for maybe complaining that pumping sucks!

Jalapeno Cheesecake

I know that sounds like a bizarre combination, but Jalapeno Cheesecake is one of my very favorite desserts! A good friend of mine found the recipe in a magazine. She made her own modifications, but basically it's a cheesecake mixture with a subtle "kick" to it, wrapped up in an egg roll wrapper, fried, and then covered in cinnamon sugar. We were over at her house tonight and she made these and served them with Dulce de Leche ice cream. They were to die for! I figured that I don't have these every day, so I had two helpings. Of course, I couldn't refuse when she sent some home with me, too.

Slower Pace

The kids were off from school today for the Battle of Flowers. DH and I had planned on going to IHOP this morning, but those plans were thrown for a loop when DS#3 stayed awake again at 2AM last night. DH had let me sleep, so he was exhausted this morning and really needed to "sleep in". By 8:30AM, the kids and I were so hungry that I couldn't wait any longer.

The service at IHOP was horrible. It took us about 45 minutes to get our food, and two parties that sat down half an hour after we did got their food about five minutes after we did. Since DH used to work at a restaurant in high school and his sister used to be a waitress, he usually empathasizes with the wait staff, but today, he was so mad that he left less than 10% for a tip. Still, I got my favorite blueberry pancakes and my tummy was happy. Of course, it was so late by the time we ate that none of us ate any official lunch today.

It was such a nice day, despite being overcast that we all took a walk in the neighborhood when we got home. The boys wanted to go exploring in one of the greenbelts near our house, so DH went with them and Grandma, DD, DS#3 and I took a shorter route. Despite the cooler temperature, DD started complaining about being hot after about two blocks, so we didn't go very far. DS#3 got to try out the stroller and was asleep the whole time. I got very sleepy after our walk so DS#3 and I took a little nap when we got home while DD and Grandma played outside. That nap did wonders for me.

This evening, I took DD to a birthday party with her PreK friends. I got to hang out with adults, which was great. I chatted with one lady whose baby boy is now six weeks old, and another lady who is due tomorrow. I also got to chat with some good friends of mine that took care of my kids when I was in the hospital. I haven't felt too social lately, but I had fun tonight.

We only have two games this weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday plus we're going to hang out at our friends' house (and pool) tomorrow for a barbecue. This weekend is at a much slower pace than last weekend. Thank goodness!