Weekend in Review

Friday Paul stayed home because his advisor and officemate (a doctoral student one year ahead of him) weren't going to be on campus. This enabled us to leave at 4:30 for a date. Gabby and Alexis came over to babysit. We had a nice time although we  felt rushed as we tried to run a few errands in addition to having dinner at TGIF. We checked out a place I was thinking of having Nadia's 2nd birthday party with Paul's family, but the mini bowling alley doesn't have many lanes, and the indoor playground isn't open yet so that won't work for this birthday. I do want to take Nadia bowling there sometime, and I want to go miniature golfing there with Paul on a date sometime this summer. We got home about 7:15 so that we could get the kids to bed at a reasonable hour. I finished off my meal for lunch after church today, and I have to say the rice that came with my meal was the BEST rice I have eaten in my entire life. This is saying a lot because I am not a big fan of rice. I prefer pasta or potatoes, but I definitely would like to have this rice again. One of the ingredients that made it so wonderful was pineapple. YUMMMY!

Saturday morning I mowed the lawn. It's definitely getting to be more of a workout since Ian weighs more and the temps are higher. Paul's parents came over around noon and I left about 12:30 to go get my haircut and do a little shopping while Nadia napped and they took care of Ian. We have lived here 1.75 years and yet I still keep going to different hair salons. It's not good because I keep getting a different hairstyle every time. She definitely didn't cut it the way I was wanting her to. I hope I'll like it. I used to get my hair cut every 2 months by the same woman (for 4 years), but I went 5 months this time, and the time before that I went 4 months. Getting a haircut is definitely a luxury these days. I was hoping to REALLY be pampered on Saturday. I have been wanting to use the birthday money my aunt gave me to get a manicure and pedicure. The last time I had either done was in August (2009). At that point I hadn't had a professional manicure in 2.5 years or a professional pedicure in 1.5 years so I haven't gone as long as I have recently without one, but still I have been looking forward to it. I am determined sometime this summer that I will treat myself to that pampering experience! :-)  Around 5:30 Paul's parents and I took the kids to Bonanza as that had worked out well the previous weekend with my mom. It didn't work out as well this time around. I guess you just never know how kids this age are going to do at a sit down restaurant.

Nadia didn't eat as well which was part of the reason I didn't feel it went well, and Ian was fussier, but the most embarassing moment was when Nadia peed while sitting in the high chair. The first 2.5 weeks of potty training I always put a pull-up on over Nadia's underwear whenever we left the house. She never had an accident, so lately I've been just having her wear underwear. She had one accident last week somewhere other than our house, but it was at a playground. No one else was there, and she peed in the mulch so there wasn't any clean-up involved. Yesterday was a different story. Unfortunately she kept saying "pee pee potty" while it was happening. You can't expect a 23 month old to understand that's not something we need to announce to the whole restaurant. Oi vey. As of Friday she had only had one accident over a period of seven days (not counting time spent in her crib). Yesterday she had two accidents outside of her crib - once while on a walk int he neighborhood with PopPop (#2) and then at Bonanza last night (#1). The first 9 days she pooped on the potty every single day. Now it's been about 10 days or so since she's pooped on the potty. Very, Very Frustrating! Today hasn't gone much better in that regard. She stayed dry at church (I've gone back to putting a pull-up on over her underwear when she leaves the house) but then had an accident (#1) in her high chair at home. So we went from one accident in 7 days to 3 accidents (so far) in 2 days. I think the reason she had an accident at the restaurant was that she had been given a sippy cup of milk for the first time in three weeks, and I think she was drinking more and couldn't hold it until bedtime like she often has done lately.

After the kids and I got home (about 6:45pm) I decided to give them both baths. That went fine until I went to brush Nadia's teeth and she had a total meltdown. I have had trouble inspecting her mouth lately for new teeth because when I try to check she usually bites my finger. I did check yesterday and her two bottom canines have broken through so I guess teething has been part of the problem. She wouldn't settle down so I put her down to bed early (7:10) but then she stayed awake (wasn't crying but wasn't sleeping) until 8:20pm! Oi vey!!! I think we need to have a new rule of no sweets during or after dinner to see if sugar is the problem as she's been staying awake later, but generally she's not been sleeping in any more than usual so it just translates to less sleep. Ian is usually easy to put to bed, but it took me 65 minutes to get him down. He just kept fussing. He didn't want to nurse, didn't want a bottle, etc. I was very relieved and exhausted when he finally went down at 8:15pm. He slept until 1am and then after sleeping 2 hours was up again at 3:50. I guess I need to have him CIO more often. I didn't go to bed until 9:30 because I was clipping coupons that Paul's mom gave me.

This morning I went to Sunday School for the first time in several weeks. I joined a class that is doing the Truth Project. I arrived at 9am, which is generally when Sunday School begins, but this class is starting at 8:30. I had Ian with me, and Nadia was in Sunday School (she got promoted early to the preschool class last month as she was bored in the nursery). After Sunday School the teacher offered to try to find someone to watch my kids starting at 8:30. I guess Ian wasn't quiet enough. Sniff, sniff. My days of holding a baby in SS and church are coming to an end sooner than I hoped although it was soon after Nadia turned 6 months old that I started putting her in the nursery. In fact we left church early this morning because Ian was fussy; I thought it was because I didn't bring enough milk, but when we got home he didn't want a bottle. He just wanted to sleep in his crib. Leaving church early worked out well though because Nadia got a nap before Paul left to take her to Harrisburg. I think over the next 11 weeks I'm just going to go to Sunday School since that will be from 8:30-10:00. Being at church from 8:30-12:00 is just too much for my little ones. Once the Truth Project is done I'll probably take a break from Sunday School and just go to church for awhile until Ian is down to one nap a day.

Paul's cousin's graduation party was at 2pm today. We were all invited. I had no desire to take Ian as either he screams the majority of the trip (about 3 hours roundtrip) OR he sleeps too much and that messes up his schedule (which isn't that great to begin with!).  Paul had planned to take Nadia, but based on the troubles we've had with her lately (with potty training as well as other things), Paul changed his mind back and forth as to whether he'd go or not. Similarly, I cancelled my plans to go to the Toyota dealer tomorrow morning (I had an 8:30 appt as they were holding the Prius for us), and I toyed with cancelling our plans to go to Knoebels tomorrow, but since I had invited Gabby and Alexis to join us, it didn't seem right to dash their plans. As badly as I want the potty training to get back on track, the world isn't going to come to an end if we have to wait until Tuesday to ditch the pull-ups again. I knew we'd  be house bound for one week due to potty training, but I didn't think it would last a month. The problem is that she never goes to the bathroom when I initiate her going. Either she tells someone she needs to go or she sits down herself. The problem is that means we can't have her go to the bathroom before we leave the house, and she doesn't give us enough warning when we're out and about to get her on a potty in time. Let me say it again. I hate potty training. My new plan (since the chocolate doesn't seem to be working) is that she'll be able to watch a little tv or a dvd after she uses the potty, but otherwise the tv is staying OFF. She hates it when we give her a shower (and she's had quite a few showers over the past 10 days or so!), but it doesn't seem to be working.