Sometimes Sundays are hard. It seems like the wrong thing to say in reference to the Lord's Day, but for me it's true. First, aside from when we're in Maryland, I'm sitting by myself in the pew after I come down from the choir loft. For more than 12 of the past 28 months I was holding a baby in my arms. I didn't feel alone then. I think that's another reason I miss holding a baby during church. Second, being at church from 9am-12pm really wreaks havoc on their schedules. Although I'm able to keep Ian awake until at least 12:30pm when he's at home, many times a nursery worker lets him sleep for 30 minutes during the service which means I then have to keep him up for more than 7 hours straight. This leads to a VERY cranky boy. Today I did let him take a 10 minute nap around 2pm as I couldn't take the crying any more, but we still had another battle at 6pm when he desperately wanted to go to sleep whereas last night I had no trouble keeping him up until 7:15pm. Since Nadia usually goes down for her nap around 12pm, she tends to fall asleep as soon as we get in the car after church. It's then hard to get her to eat lunch when we get home (sometimes I don't even try), and then it takes her a long time to fall back asleep. Normally it's not that big of a deal, but it was a problem today because we went to a "Fall Fest" at church this afternoon. Nadia enjoyed it, so I'm sure she's glad I woke her up, but it meant that instead of her usual 2-3 hour nap she only had a 30 minute nap. Nadia had her face painted, decorated a sugar cookie, ate her first Smore after I roasted a few marshmallows over the fire, and spent a lot of time jumping on an inflatable the church had rented. We would have stayed longer but the wind made it feel MUCH cooler than the 52 degrees my car said it was outside. I realize that if their afternoon naps started later, it wouldn't be such a problem. There's nothing I can do about it now because we leave between 2:40-2:50pm for the babysitter's house (depending on which babysitter they're going to) 3 days a week. Since Nadia sometimes naps for 3 hours, I need to get her down by 12pm at the latest. Once my trips to campus cease in May, I plan to shift their nap times later so that coming home from church at noon won't be such a problem.
Sometimes the comments people make really hurt. A few days ago when I told someone that Ian had recently had surgery, she asked if it had been on his face. My heart hurt so badly when she said that. I know she didn't mean any harm. I imagine she probably felt badly when I said it was urological. It took me back to the days when I was in middle and high school in reference to things I heard people say to or about my brother. Those comments back then hurt a lot also. I felt badly for Ian that someone might think he looks like he needs surgery for his face. I hope this doesn't become a frequent incident. I'm going to need a thicker skin around my heart if it does as my instinct was to burst into tears. Thankfully I handled it well at the moment, but I have to say every time I think about it, my heart aches for my sweet little boy. I guess I shouldn't be so shocked as after I finished my orthodontic work in high school a surgeon suggested that I have surgery on my cheekbone. He said the insurance would pay for it because my cheekbone doesn't protect my eyes the way it's supposed to. He said I should wear glasses rather than contacts to protect my eyeballs.I wasn't interested in any more surgeries, and frankly I can't see myself agreeing to have any surgery done on Ian's cheekbone either.
Time changes also can be hard with little ones. Next Sunday our clocks go back an hour. Paul used to celebrate this time change every fall. It was just about as exciting as a holiday for him, lol. I am thinking that starting tomorrow we should start pushing their bedtimes back a few minutes each night and also make them stay in bed a little later in the morning. Right now I won't get Ian until 5:30am. He's usually up long before then. I won't get Nadia before 6:00am. If I don't gradually try to adjust their internal clocks, I fear I will be getting up at 4:30am every day starting next Sunday.
Ian can't wear too many of Nadia's hand-me-downs, but this evening he did wear a black turtleneck and Steeler jacket that she wore last year. Aren't they the two cutest little Steeler fans? The photos of Nadia were taken on the day we won our 6th Superbowl. The Steelers are playing this evening, and their next two games are also at night. This is great for my dad because it means he'll get to see three games in a row on tv in MD. It's not good for me because the games are on past my bedtime, which means I'll miss most of tonight's game as well as the next two games. Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll find out that we won!
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