State of the Family #12

A little behind. . . things have really not been that busy I have just been productive and other things and just haven't sat down to type! Now to try and remember 2 weeks worth of stuff, that could prove challenging!
Miss Thumb Sucker has been on a upward slide the last couple weeks which is fabulous for all involved. I decided to start letting her 'cry it out' at night and see how miserable it would be. To my surprise it was not bad at all. The first night she woke at 1230 and I let her cry. She didn't even really cry! It was more of an intermittent cry/whine type of thing. After 12 minutes she was back asleep. When she woke back up at 330 I decided not to push my luck and fed her. Then she slept for another 3 1/2 hours til 7 am! I gave her a week of not feeding her before 3 am then pushed it again and now I won't feed her until 5 am. The first night or two she would wake up 2 times before 5, but the last few nights she has only woken up once and both times she 'cried' for less than a minute! Hear the Hallelujah chorus in the background! Why didn't I do this sooner? She has also started this cheesy smile thing that cracks me up. She tips her head back, scrunches her nose and eyes and cheeses it up. I will have to try and get a picture of it, it is adorable! Her first 4th of July also surprised me. She wasn't phased at all by the noise and rather enjoyed watching all the lights.
Miss Firecracker got to experience her namesake for this 4th of July! She really enjoyed all of the fireworks and doing sparklers and all the sort. She claims she didn't like the noise, but for the most part it didn't seem to bother her much. She is proving to be quite the girly-girl/tomboy mix though. As she loves to keep up with her brother and is not afraid of getting the least bit dirty and playing with the boys, but she LOVED her festive pony tail holder I got for her for the 4th and wanted to wear it all weekend. She also insisted on having her toes painted after she realized her last 'pedi' job was wearing off. On a more concerning note, she has been to the dr. 2 times in the last 4 weeks for her ears, both to turn up with another ear infection. I pray we are not on the route back to another set of tubes. I am just hoping we can hold out long enough for her to outgrow it now that she is almost 2 1/2.
Noisy Man is a pyro at heart just like his father. He was all over the fireworks and firecrackers and would have totally been out there with a punk had we let him. He is going to be one of those boys that is going to have to be held with tight reigns over fireworks seasons in years to come or he will end up in the ER due to some experimental thing he tried with the explosive contraptions! I fear for my child, I tell you! Also to my sleep deprived amazement, after the late nights required by summer's hours, darkness and fireworks, my normally up by 645 am little boy has slept until almost 8 am (2 times even after 8) every day this week! (Again, insert Hallelujah chorus here). I just about don't know what to do with myself with all this sleep! Our garden has now started producing 'pickable' produce and Noisy Man is out there daily scoping out the hopefuls. He is not-so-patiently awaiting the 'reddening' of the tomatoes however, which I am afraid he might have another week or so to wait. He is loving the zucchini, squash and cucumbers. Get this! We went to a friend's birthday party the other night and the boy turned down ice cream cake to finish off the sauteed veggies we had brought from our garden! He is a gem I tell you!
Like I said, Noisy Man gets his pyro tendencies from his father. Daddy was like a 12-yr-old boy with the fireworks we had. Which really wasn't that many, but he was having a blast nonetheless. I was pretty much playing parent by myself while there were fireworks going on. Which is fine by me since fireworks really aren't my thing. Daddy has also been enjoying an evening out with friends every week for a while now to go shoot skeet at the gun club. Last week he didn't get home until after 11 pm (btw, if I had been out this late, I would have been in trouble!), but this week he was home by 915! I asked him if all the other guys got in trouble for the lateness of the week before and his reply was, "No, they forgot their beer this week, so they all went home." Too funny. No beer and guys won't stick around to chat and 'shoot' the breeze (sorry couldn't resist that one!). Thankfully, my man is not one for the stuff and would chat with you whenever! I am a lucky woman I tell you!
Like I said before. I don't know what to do with myself with all this sleep going on! I have only had to take a nap once this week. It is amazing how much you can get done during nap time when you don't have to sleep yourself to keep your sanity! I have steam cleaned my floors, caught up on laundry (yes, once again insert Hallelujah chorus), and kept the sink in my kitchen pretty much dish free all week! No small task for the mother of 3 small children and 2 other daycare kids 3 days a week! I have however caught myself up in a book and wasted a couple hours stuck in that. . . It is why I try not to pick them up in the first place. I am terrible at being able to put them down once I get into them. I LOVE to read and really miss the time to do it, but motherly duties call and I don't have enough self discipline to pick washing dishes and folding laundry over reading a great book. I also have that problem with my computer, but that is a subject for a therapy session I haven't been brave enough to schedule yet! ;) My other accomplishment this last week was the 5K I ran in West Point with a friend up there. I ran it in 27 minutes and 26 seconds!! That is just over a 9 minute mile if you didn't stop to do the math! I was thrilled! And that was in the rain to boot!
Here's to hoping next time I don't have to make up for 2 weeks and make this so long that no one has the time to read it!!