Highlights from the week

Well after getting the worst parent award I allowed my oldest child to continue to cause herself bodily harm. Sariah was throwing a full fledged temper tantrum about taking a nap this week and busted her lip in the process. It is still big and purple. That was on Tuesday, I think, but the next night she woke up in the middle of the night calling my name and I went into her room and laid with her in the bottom bunk on the bunk beds in her room. She and I then slept the rest of the night like that (though I didn't sleep well). When I woke up she wasn't in the bed with me. Me being as delirious as one, who isn't used to getting up at 6am might be, tore through my house looking for her. I didn't want to call her name out cause I wanted Chloe to sleep so I whispered Sariah where are you. I thought she'd be awake playing with toys or feeding herself (yes, I let my kids feed themselves and Sariah is quite good at raiding the pantry and eating whatever tickles her fancy). When I couldn't find her I started to panic. At this point Ken kept telling me (at least this is what I remember, though it may not be accurate since I was still half asleep) to lie in our bed and not to go back to the nursery. Well I'm thinking why would I lie down and who cares if I'm in the nursery (yes, I looked here first since Sariah loves going into the nursery to wake her sleeping sister). Ken kept talking to me and I kept staring at him like what are you saying and why are you talking to me. I'm sure he was confused as I tore apart every bed in the house. I look up at him and got on my tip toes (I'm short he's very tall) and said just help me find Sariah. He then responded something to the effect of her being in her bed and I said no I was sleeping in her bed and she wasn't there. I'm now running down the stairs and looking behind the couches. All the while thinking about “without a trace” the TV show and how would I explain how I lost my 2 yr old in the middle of the night and then I thought are the doors locked and did any one break into the house and steal my baby (and by the way yes I also check to see if Chloe was in her bed, which may have been the reason Ken was telling me something about not laying in the bed in the nursery). Well for some reason I calmed down and felt I should look in her room and not until I got back upstairs did the feeling to look under her bed come. I did both (went into her room and look under her bed) and that is when I finally started breathing and felt much better because that is where she was and continued to sleep for a couple of hours. I think I also may have laughed at myself too. Not sure I didn't go back to sleep because I was wide awake after the longest 5 minutes of my life. Every time this kind of thing happens I tell the kids it took too long and hard to get you guys here in the first place to lose you or let you die now. And it did, nine and a half months is a long time. And I don't want to ever see anything bad happen to them. If I could have snapped my fingers and our next baby would be here I totally would. I love be pregnant and I love them being little so I don't know if that would really be a better way of getting children.

Well in other news of the week. Sariah announced she is a big girl and can do everything by herself. I love it and love that she is being the independent little girl I knew she was going to be. She has been trying to use the potty. She's picking out all of her own clothes. She's sleeping in her very own big girl bed and she doesn't even want me to help her go to sleep. She's picked out her meals and even made chicken rolls for dinner this week. It’s incredibly easy and I love watching her make it and tell me how I need to pat out the dough and wrap the dough around the chicken and then pinch closed the edges. She is so adorable. She also invited over a few friends to come over and swim in our pool. Which they did and I realize just how social Sariah is and how much I love having her friends over.

That brings me to my next announcement; I'm going to do a preschool/playgroup thing. (So any two year olds who want to learn and hopefully have fun is more than welcome to join us) I want for Sariah to get a chance to socialize with other kids and adults and want her to learn as she goes. She loves learning and is a little sponge. I've taking this opportunity to teach her the alphabet and numbers. Now that she has that down she is learning all of the sounds that go with them. Next is writing them but since she doesn't have the fine motor skills we'll wait on that one. She is also wants to further her communications so I got her a sign language dictionary. I am hoping that while she is still learning to enunciate she can continue communicate with her hands. While at the library we saw a little Spanish girl at the library and I told her that she says hola for hello. She pronounced it lola which was really cute. Sariah loves to say hello to everybody and introduce herself and her little sister. Maybe next I can teach her hello in all the major languages.

Chloe has now started standing on her own, though she hasn't made the first step we're confident its just around the corner. This is a huge change for us since Sariah started cruising around 10 months and walking at 14 months. She cruises quite well, she can make it around the room a few times with the help of furniture and her trusty walker. She's also eating quite a bit more these days and putting on those pounds. I'm looking forward to the next doctor appointment to see how much weight she's officially gained. So when Ken came home from the ER last week he told me that Sariah was 35 lbs and anyone who has seen her knows she couldn't be 35 if she had rocks in her pockets, she was socking wet and had steel tip boots on. So I laughed and asked how did they get the scale up to make it say that. Ken then told me he and Sariah got on the scale and Ken told them his weight (mind you Ken may not have weighed himself since he was on the track team in high school, that was over 10 years ago or maybe ever before then). I weighed Sariah at home and it read 20 lbs (at the hospital today she weighed 22.3 lbs) and Chloe was 15 (She's also more maybe a few pounds more). Well that scale isn't accurate now I don't feel that great about what it said about my weight. I want to get Wii Fit so I'll know exactly how much I weigh and so I can try out yoga.

Well the report on me and how I'm doing . . . . . .To sum it up . . . . . . . I'm tired, stressed, over worked under paid and I can't seem to get anything done. Since Chloe has been weaned I have felt like a teenager again (by the way this isn't good). I can't sleep at night again but for about 30 minutes in the late after noon I get super tired and if I succumb to the need for sleep, then I won't be able to sleep that night. Then when I do sleep I been sleep through everything, which isn't good when you have babies. Sariah gets up when she wants and has been coming and getting in our bed until I get up. And Chloe gets up who know when and just lays there and unless I’m awake I don’t hear her. Luckily for Chloe, Ken gets up at 6am and hears her and feeds her. Oh well, what's a girl to do. I'm sure when I get pregnant again that'll all change. Ken says I keep changing and what I want keeps changing and my needs keep changing. He's right, I don't even know myself what I want or need. I've been putting my needs second, which I thought would be good right, well I was wrong. When I'm not happy and taken care of then the kids aren't happy (though their immediate needs are usually are taken of).

How’s Ken doing you ask. Well we've been so busy I'm not sure. This past week and up coming week is full and while I've only got one thing on my list pack . . . . . and clean up the house, so make it two things. He's got to pack what he wants and work a full week and do a huge list of other things (like removing a few pine trees in our yard, he’s actually not doing the removing but he’s in charge of that project). We're not moving just going to a family reunion (though I pulled out and dusted off our luggage and it’ll look and feel like we’re moving with all the luggage we’ve got). The trip will be fun, though I'm not sure the flight will be with two small babies and a motion sensitive husband. I'm not happy with the airlines either. Tickets are insanely expensive, take this seemingly simple (and should be cheap) trip to UT. It costs 500 per person, including Sariah. And that doesn’t include somewhere to stay and something to eat. So flying alone is 1500 bucks and it’ll cost us another 500 for all the planed activities, place to stay and food while we are there. Do you know what I can do with that money? Well, I'll tell you I could take the kids to Disney World, or go to the Bahamas, or Mexico or Hawaii, or I could go camping up in the beautiful mountains, I could buy every video game I've ever wanted, I could shop until I couldn't take it any more and I'd still have money left over. Now as I've contemplated these options I've wondered when or if I'd ever get to go to any of these trips. Or (as I suspect) will prices continue to rise and we'll never make it out of our tiny little town. Since this is our only vacation for the year I'll be making the most of it, seeing everything and hopefully doing everything I'd ever want to do (in UT). Ohh whoops was this paragraph supposed to be about Ken and his highlights for the week. Well he's worked double over time (I think, what it double over time and if it involves getting paid more, it isn't happening. Just one of the perks of self employment, you work your butt off and don't get paid a dime more. Maybe it'll pay for itself some how, some where) and as you can imagine (If you know him) he's starting to get sick again. While I'm dreaming of all the fun we'll have on our only trip for the year he maybe getting strep throat. I'm crossing my fingers his sore throat doesn't make a turn for the worse. Since Ken and I have been married he has gotten sick at almost every trip we've been on well there have been a few short road trips that he hasn’t gotten sick during or immediately afterwards. Taking care of two babies, a sick husband in a place where other people have to be and where I have to go by someone else’s' rules isn't what I had in mind for my dream vacation to UT. (man I am bad. I think I’ve gotten back to me and my feelings, well I suppose it is the way it should be, that is to say he should write down his feelings in a blog. Though he isn’t that type of guy so I don’t suppose we’ll be hearing his feelings across the world wide web anytime soon). Going back to Ken, he’s fine and seems to be home more these days and we enjoy the time we do have with him. He’s also doing a lot of projects lately, and for that I’m really thankful for all that he does for us.

I'd like to clarify the double over time; this is a clip from the official government minimum wage and overtime law website. (by the way just for your info minimum wage was 5.15 in 2006 and then raised to5.85 in 2007 and now to 6.55 2008 and will be raised again to 7.25 in 2009 and its even higher in some states)

"In January of 2000, new overtime regulations went into effect for the state of (insert your state here). Hourly workers working more than 8 hours in a work day must be paid mandatory overtime pay for all hours over 8 hours. Additionally, workers working more than 12 hours must be paid double time. Workers working 7 days straight in a single work week must be paid overtime for their first 8 hours on the 7th day, and double time after 8 hours. "

I wonder if that applies to me. I'm thinking I need to start getting paid (with the rising cost of food, gas and airline tickets). How many double overtimes can one person have in a week when they never leave work(or work never leaves you). Maybe I could even print my own money since nobody is really going to pay me for what I do every day. I'll even deduct naptimes where I don't do diddly squat. A girl can fanaticize can't she? Well I should clear things up before I sign off, I love my kids and wouldn’t trade them for some fancy high paying job. I love what I do and I love being a part of their life. I love teaching them and seeing the results of hours of explaining and showing them something and then seeing them finally get it. I just love the freedom from staying home and I’m grateful my little girls love to go on adventures with me.

That's all the highlights for this week, until next time.