I Know I Didn't Raise Him This Way

I know that I did not raise Samuel this way :) He has been getting up at 5 or 5:30 every morning since we came back home. I cannot do anything to get him back to sleep. I have tried moving the bedtime back a bit more to see if that helps, and it doesn't. I'm at a loss. I really dread the mornings even more now. I wish I could find some way to make him sleep just a little later.

Other than that, things are going fine. I biked the kids to school yesterday, and we had a good time with that. Most of the moms walk their kids to school, but it is a bit too far I think for us. Most of them live pretty close. While we live fairly close, we'd still have to leave pretty early to get there and back.

The weather has cooled down for at least a few days. I hope that means our AC will stay caught up when it decides to warm up again. For the first time this morning, our living room/dining room was cooler than 75. That doesn't seem too bad for some, but when the sun is coming in and the concrete walls start to absorb that heat, it gets a little warm.

We are looking at planning a night/day out without the kids again soon. I have been thinking I want to do the Saturday this time. That will give us a lot of time to get downtown and see what is going on down there. We can also look in some of the shops we haven't been able to yet. There are a lot of neat places down there, and I want to get down and see what is going on. I wouldn't mind a currywerst either.

A Big First

So yesterday was a big first in our house. Yesterday was Genevieve's first day of preschool! She goes in the afternoons every day of the week. I was only going to put her in 3 days a week at most, but when they told me the options that were open (2 day in the morning or 5 day in the afternoon), I just went for all week and didn't look back. She was excited to get to use her Dora "Packpack" for school. We usually use that one for travel because of the wheels. Her Auntie Sarah bought it for her right before we moved to Germany, and it has been so handy for travel. When I got the list saying she needed a backpack, we just thought we'd use this one instead of buying a new one. It works out well, and we already know she loves it.

When I dropped her off yesterday, you could tell she was thinking about having to do something new. She looked unsure, but that quickly changed as the teacher pulled out the activities for table time.

It was great getting time alone with Samuel while she was gone yesterday. I got some cleaning done, and I got to watch a show and was not interrupted. It seemed like the few hours went by so quickly though. A few is better than none though.

When I went to pick her up, she was a little sad. The teacher said she had done great. Come to find out, she had hit her head with the shaker in a song, and she was trying to tell me about that. At bed time my husband and I asked her what she learned at school. It was so cute to watch her try to act out all the animals they had learned about. She even tried to be a cactus.

I think she had a great time, and I can't wait for her to get into her routine and really enjoy it.

Appointments, Migraines, and Scans..Oh My!

So what does one week off of blogging get me? Only about 4 migraines, a trip to the doctor, and a scheduled CT Scan. Sounds like a wonderful week. It has been full of many events despite my issues.

This week (on one of my better feeling days) we went over to Mannheim and bought a bike cart for our bikes. I really have been wanting to exercise more and get into shape. I guess I have made it to that time in life where I really am serious to make a lifestyle change. I want to get healthy, and I want to stay that way. I have always had issues with weight, and I'm ready to be done having issues. So we bought this bike cart for the bikes to help out. I decided that I would be the one to pull it most of the time because if my husband has the van at work, I can use it to get me and the kids around. This week was my test run.

We put it on the bike on Friday. My husband needed to go down and get his hair cut so I came up with the bright idea to take the bikes. As he got his hair cut we went all around post. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, and it seemed to be something I could easily do on my own. It is going to be a good way to get Genevieve back and forth to school.

The rest of the week was spent cleaning up around the house, doing laundry, and trying to keep things as quiet as they could be with a 3 year old and a 17 month old. I guess this week was just pretty darn boring.

All Over The Place Tonight

So the last week has been slow on the blogging front. The most time I spent at the computer this past week was just spent on checking my email and Facebook. I have had the worst headache this week. After about 5 days, I went into the doctor. I was given some meds to take, and they seem to help a little. It isn't as bad as it use to be.

Needless to say, these headaches have put a stop to my working out. I was working out one hour a day about every day or every other day. I had been doing good, and I was starting to feel like I wasn't dying every time I started to work out. Now it has almost been a week, and I am just dreading getting back into it. However, I think I will use this time to start something new. I never thought I would want to run out in public, but I think I might start. We also got a bike cart so I can go for a bike ride with the kids. I will probably do this most days. Genevieve starts school on Tuesday, and I am going to use that or walk her to school most days. That will help get me out and about more again.

While we were out today, I think we finally found a new dining room table and chairs. I had really fallen in love with a set, but I wasn't happy with the quality. The top was very nice, but the legs and base were not made of real wood. It looked like it would damage real easy. With us moving a lot, that isn't a good thing. However, when we were there today we found a really nice oak table and chairs. It was cheaper than the other table, and it looked like it held more people even. There is no telling if we are going to buy it or not, but it was nice to find something that I liked just as much and even more than that first table.

One more thing. I hate to admit when my husband is right, but I must. We don't have AC in our place over here. Before we left for the month, things were fine. We have fans in the rooms, and we could open the windows. Recently we noticed how warm it was getting in our place. Before the family upstairs moved, they sold us their portable AC units for a really good deal. We didn't realize how good of a deal until we noticed how much they were new or even used. I thought we were fine with just the fans, but he insisted that we bring them up. I told him he would have to find someone else (and he did...Thank you Travis) to bring them upstairs. We set them up, and he was right (don't tell him I said that)! The place does feel much better now.

So a pretty boring blog tonight, but there you have it :)

Da, Kah, 'ere we go, and Uh Oh

All things that Samuel "said" today at his evaluation for his speech delay. It was an hour of a wonderful woman evaluating Samuel today. We have these Ages and Stages Questionnaires we fill out every time we go to the doctor for a well child exam. They just use that to make sure a child is where they should be. When we went in about 6 weeks ago, Samuel was very delayed on speech and gross motor skills. The lady was very in awe that he was delayed in gross motor. I told her at that time he had not started to walk yet, and things like that. She said from watching him today he has wonderful fine and gross motor skills.

She did say he was delayed in his speech. They are going to do an extensive evaluation in the next couple of weeks to see just how delayed he is. If it is a significant delay, they will give us the choice to sign him up for therapy in home or to give it more time. We will just have to wait and see.

Confessions of a Lazy Mom

Do you ever have those days that you just don't feel like doing anything? I have them a lot. I don't know if it is because I have not got a full nights sleep in about 3 years, getting up early with the kids all the time, or just because I hate cleaning just about everything. If you read my blog at all, one thing you will know is that I can't stand laundry and dishes. They are NEVER done. It doesn't matter how much I work in a day, we are always using dishes to eat, drink, and cook with, and we all can't go naked for days at a time so there is no laundry to do. Wouldn't it be nice though?!

I have done a good share of housework today and over the past week. I have pretty much kept up with things since getting home from our trip to the states. However, as I type this I can't help but think how inadequate my work seems to be. I don't do all I could and can do. I just can't bring myself to clean all dang day. I can't.

I don't know if this friend reads my blog or not, but if you do, this is totally a compliment. I have a friend here who is super cleaner. She mops, sweeps, cleans, etc every day. She tells me that she has to run at least 3 loads of dishes a day, and she is always picking up everything all day long. She cooks from scratch most of the time, and she puts me to shame in both areas. I just can't be like that though.

Sometimes I find myself making things look better so it looks like I have done a lot. It usually doesn't fly all the time. However, on some days it does. I have learned that if I make the bed, it makes the bedroom look a lot better. I also have found that if I do the dishes and clean the sink and counters really good, the kitchen seems to look much better too. I tend to use my Roomba a lot. It is easy because I just push the button and it does the vacuuming for me. I would be in trouble without my Roomba. I also enlisted the help of my microfiber mop. You just put water on the pad and go. I don't have to get a big bucket and water ready. It also drys really quickly so I'm not having to worry about the kids going through the wet floors.

So there you have it. I am a lazy mom. I hate housework, I love nap time, and I can't wait for my one hour of peace when my husband comes home. I started to work out for an hour a day just to get some time alone. I don't like working out, but that hour is awesome. I will work out to get my hour. Sometimes I wonder if this makes me a bad mom. I wonder if I should love being with my kids all the time and taking care of everyone's needs. I couldn't imagine having a job outside the home. I love the flexibility of being here with the kids. I love having the mom and kid's groups I can attend. I love all these things. Some days I just long to go back to work just to get some time away.

I know most of this is because of recent events. My wonderful, calm son has turned into a yelling chimp. There are times he will just start to screem and cry for nothing. We are at that time too where he isn't talking so he gets frustrated with me (and I with him). He has started to pinch me and everyone else when he doen't know how to get what he wants/needs across. It has brought me to tears many times. I just don't understand his needs, and I can't fix it. Isn't that something that most moms have trouble dealing with? I sure hope so because it sure bothers me when I can't fix or give my child what they need. We have a screening tomorrow with a specialist tomorrow who is going to evaulate him for speech delay. He really isn't saying much, and I worry that he is delayed. It is a nice program that does everything in home. If he were to qualify for speech thearpy, they will come to our home and do it.

I don't know if this was confusing since I'm pretty much rambling. I have just been feeling bad about my mom skills recently. I feel like I'm not good enough, and I can't give my children what they need in the day. It's been a rollercoaster of feelings, and I hate that I feel this way. I guess I just needed to get it out, and I hope this makes me feel a bit better about things.

What Does 20 Nuggets, 1 Car Seat, and 2 Toddlers Get You?

It gets you a relatively good (as good as 10 hours can be in a plane with two toddlers) plane trip home. As I sit typing this, I can't believe my month home has come and gone. It was a whirl wind trip back home (only planned about 3 weeks before we left), and it seemed like it went just as quick. Funny how time sometimes seems to go so quickly and other times it seems to go so slow.

After we made it in from our very LONG plane ride into Kansas, we settled in just fine. The kids did really good with the jet lag. We were all so tired from being up the whole trip, that we all just went to sleep and pretty much after the first night slept all night. We enjoyed Easter at home with Mom and Dad, and taking it easy watching movies.

That next week the kids and I spent time being home. We went to church on Wednesday, played outside, and just had fun at home. Right after that we went to my in-law's house. We stayed for a few days and made it back home in time for a Mother Daughter Banquet. It was a lot of fun. Genevieve had a good time, and it was nice to have both my Mom and my husband's Mom there.

Opahoma (Oklahoma) came next. We went down for the snake derby they have there every year. This event use to be for my Grams and her sisters to get together every year. They would all come in, and they would celebrate their birthdays and catch up. Later this time became a time for the sisters and the women of their families (daughters, daughter-in-laws) to get together as well. Even with Grams passing away, they still meet every year for this event.

It was a little bitter sweet to be down there again. I haven't been down there since we went to Grams' funeral. Since then all the houses have been sold. We drove by to see them, and they have really fixed them up. That was what kind of got to me. They look great, but it isn't Grams' home anymore. It's been 7 years (in October) since she passed away, and most days it seems like so much longer. On a few days it seems like it couldn't have been that long ago.

At first Genevieve didn't want to go to Opahoma (her word). I asked her why, and she said, "Momma, we can't go to Opahoma. They have snakes!" I made sure she stayed away from the snake cages at the derby so she wouldn't have to worry about Oklahoma and the snakes that are there.

In my last days home, I made a trip out to Hays to see my best friend from High School, Lacy. We met up there before our move, and I didn't know when I'd see her again. We coordinated one of her days off and made the trip there. It was a nice lunch with a walk around a few stores. The time went so fast, and it was hard to believe it was time to leave again.

Our trip back to Germany went pretty good. We flew in and out of Wichita. I asked the man at the counter for a Gate Pass so Dad could help me back to the gate. We hung out outside the security area until about 40 mins before the flight. We made it back to the gate just in time to board the plane. I was told later on the phone that as we were headed back, Samuel started to wave at Dad as we went down the hall to the plane.

When we made it to DFW, I was very happy to see that we did not need to change terminals. We just walked down the termial and found a McDonalds. I asked them to give me their biggest order of nuggest they had (20 pieces). We made it down to the USO, and we sat in the room long enough for me to call my husband and let him know we had made it okay, and that everything was still running on time. The lady at the USO gave us a couple of bottles of juice and water. We also picked up some snacks that were there before heading to the gate.

We weren't at the gate long before someone from the airline came over to see if we were flying to Frankfurt. She let me know they were going to board families with small children, and that I could go to the ticket counter now. We gathered up all our stuff and headed that way. A really nice German man helped me pick up the car seat with Samuel in it to get it down the isles. He placed it in the seat and made sure everything was fine before leaving to help with his own family. The kids took a nap long enough for me to eat dinner and have a little quiet before they were up and ready to go. After they were up, there were many people on the plane that helped me out. They would hold Samuel, play with Genevieve, watch them when either I or Genevieve had to use the bathroom, etc. Samuel really liked the male flight attendant, Eddie. Eddie would take Samuel around the airplane and let him "help" with things. Even though the kids got restless at the end of the flight, it was much better than the flight there. That many hours alone with the kids make for a long day.

It was great to get home, and we were all happy to see Daddy. We have all pretty much adjusted to the time change again. Now that I am home again I can start to blog a bit more again. :p