spirited…….

Well, Jon had the surgery on Wed.  It went fine.  It was 6 hours up there in the car, which went surprisingly well.  The day of the surgery was o.k.  There were lots of nice people who helped out so much with the children and helping the children wait.  I couldn’t believe it.  They still got tired of the hospital after 6 or 7 hours.  Then, Jon took longer than expected in the recovery room.  He is really not good with pain.

The ride back was terrible.  Jon spent Wed. night in the hospital so we had to leave around 10 am on Thursday.  That was a bad idea with kids.  It took us 9 1/2 hours with 2 screaming children and Jon.  It was a long trip.  I think that he is feeling better today though.  He is actually rejoining the land of the living and venturing out again instead of sitting at home in the recliner like an invalid……

Today we are having a little birthday party for Eve’s first birthday.  We decided to have it a little early since Lexi and the kids and Christy are here.  Jennifer and Brian are coming over too.  It is going to be a lot of fun.  I can’t believe that she is one already.  I guess I better get on her birth story huh?!

I can hardly believe that Eve is going to turn 1.  Not only that, but with everything that is going on, I have barely even thought about it.  I have learned my lesson from Olivia’s birthday though.  I don’t think that we will have a huge party.  We will probably just have a low-key family barbeque…It is just amazing how much personality is wrapped up in that little body.

I guess I am in kind of a melancholy mood this morning because I am feeling kind of guilty for not giving the same attention to Olivia since Eve came along.  I hardly hold her at all anymore.  Eve gets so jealous and screams.

Well, the air conditioner and furnace is in.  They finished it yesterday.  We decided to start finishing all other projects up before we move on so yesterday I painted ceilings.  That really sucks.  The good news is that I have gotten the dining room ceiling finished.  The bad news is, I have the rest of the house to go.  Our bedroom is particularly bad.  You can see that they had painted the ceiling a dark color before because it just has white streaks over the color….

However, we can now go back home!  We have a functioning bathtub and an air conditioner!!!

I am a little torn about my job…..I really like it.  I worked 8-5 yesterday.  I have such conflicting emotions.  I really like working, primarily because I get to be around people and do something productive.  Let me rephrase that, what can be more productive than raising children!  I guess I get to do something that is recognized as productive.  Or maybe, it is just that the results are more visible. 

Anyway, I feel guilty for liking it.  I also miss my children terribly.  Day-before-yesterday, I spent all day at our house working on our bathroom and then I went straight to work.  So, I didn’t really see Olivia all day and I only saw Eve when I took her to work.  Well, the good news is that the bathroom is almost done.  I also get to take Eve with me and I guess I could start taking Olivia too…..

I have been feeling like I have been having a lot of bladder infections lately.  When I test or go to the dr. and have them test, the tests come up negative.  The last time I went to the dr. he said that I he thinks I have interstitial cystitis.  I did some research on the internet and learned that this is one of those things that you can’t really cure and it causes "flare ups" that are caused by food allergies.  After reading that I do remember getting allergy tested when I was little and there were some foods that I was allergic to.  Of course, the food list that they recommend is quite limited.  Off the top of my head the list of no-nos includes stuff like chocolate, tomatoes, tons of fruit except basically pears and blueberries.  I have noticed that one of the biggies is not drinking pop.  I think it is something about the carbonation……

Anyway, I wish I had started the girls on solids a little later since I am prone to food allergies, oh well, I can do things differently with the next one I guess.  If there is a next one!  At least they were breastfed (and Eve still is of course) that will help lower their chances!

Eve has really taken off on the baby signing.  I was starting to get a little discouraged but I think she was concentrating on learning to walk.  I have heard that they can only focus on doing one thing at a time.  Anyway, it is absolutely amazing.  She signs a ton.  I think it is because we are doing so many more signs with her than we have done before.  Her favorite sign is help me.  She walks around all day long patting her chest in the "help" sign.  It is quite cute.

She also signs food and drink and finally, she learned the sign for milk.  I kind of thought that one would have been important enough to learn first but she learned help me first.  Anyway, it is amazing the things that she is learning and to see how she emulates everything she sees.  She has started carrying around this little bitty Cabbage Patch and she gives it kisses and holds it and "mother’s" it. 

Olivia has started singing.  She has just started randomly bursting into song.  It is so funny.  It is also exciting because now we can actually recognize the song and the words!  She also loves to mother her babies.

It is hilarious to hear yourself come out of the mouth of your three-year-old.  The other day I asked Olivia if she was ready to go and she said "not right now, I am nursing my baby".  She said it very matter-of-factly of course!  Her newest favorite expression is "stop that, you’re making me crazy".  I don’t know where she got that one from! 

It is so hard being the older sister.  Eve will pinch or grab her and Olivia will cry and scream "Be gentle Eve, be gentle!".  She LOVES dogs.  She has gotten so gentle and good at playing with my moms dogs.  She loves to hold them.  She has learned to do it very gently.  It really makes me want to get one for her if it wasn’t for the 5 million other things to deal with in life right now!  I just don’t think I could also deal with a dog and potty-training!  Unless….we got one from the pound…..ha ha, let’s run this by Jon.

Well, the 4th of July was wonderful.  I woke up early and had a lovely slow morning while the girls slept.  Then I went to work.  Dad came out with Olivia around 12 and then he ordered pizza.  So mom and Jon came out and we all had lunch together.  That was nice.  Mom and I got a lot done on the house after that.  I put the two tiles back on that had fallen off pounding the trim on (ARGH!!) and we did the rest of the trim and cleaned up the mess.  Then we all went to the movies.  That was fun but I think the start of all of my problems.  We went to the movie at 7:00 without dinner and eating all that popcorn and pop I think launched me into upset tummy.

Anyway, we stopped at Subway for dinner and watched the fireworks from the parking lot.  Olivia loved them this year.  It was the first year that she didn’t cry.  After the first few fireworks, she was more interested in the paper glider she got in her kids meal from Subway than the fireworks though.  Eve got so excited everytime they went off that she started going "OHHHHHH" really loud and would come and sit in my lap.  They were both cute. 

So, I woke up with Eve coughing (she is just getting over a cold) around 6:00 and then realized that popcorn wasn’t sitting so well and then it began.  I have to say that as flu bugs go, this one wasn’t that bad.  I just threw up this morning and then took a long nap (thank goodness for my mom!) .  By this afternoon, I just felt like I had morning sickness.  So, by 8 this evening, I felt fine.  Then, of course, I started thinking this was a lot like morning sickness.  I checked, not pregnant, WHEWWWW!  Huge sighs of relief…

So today was a good day.  We got our Air conditioner ordered.  They are finally going to install it next Wed.  Our car will be done tomorrow, thankfully, better than ever because they fixed EVERYTHING that was wrong with it!  It will be nice to be able to drive with the wipers working just in case it rains on the way to Nebraska for Jon’s surgery!  Also, I hope to grout the tub tomorrow so we will be able to use that bathroom soon!  Maybe, I will even be able to paint and that would truly be exciting!

Work is going well.  It is nice to be able to almost be able to just pick up where I left off 10 years ago.  There wasn’t a lot of training and new things to learn and it is nice to be able to do something you are already fairly proficient at.  I am even figuring out how to work things so that I can get everything done even when Eve needs me.  I have become quite good at cleaning with one arm while holding a baby (there is lots of cleaning involved).  On days like today, when she takes a nap in the bouncy seat out there, I really gets lots done!

Anyway, I hope noone else gets the flu!  We already had the great flu epidemic once this year!!! 

Well, my mom and I feverishly worked on the bathroom last night.  We finally got all the paneling up and some of the trim.  Now, I don’t like it.  It just seems too busy.  There are soo many things going on.  We did a pattern with the tile in the shower and on the floor and then there are the paneling lines and the trim and trim around the bathtub.  It just seems like too much.  So, next time, I think I should patch the holes in the walls instead of just trying to cover them up with trim and paneling.  Of course, things would go more smoothly if someone hadn’t gotten so happy with the saw and just went to town chopping up the walls…..I shouldn’t say that, we had to do that so we could get the old bathtub out and the new one in….Argh!

The good news is that I finally figured out which size AC and furnace we need.  It is amazing that when you have someone come out to give you a quote they each come up with their own method of deciding what you need.  None of these methods are recommended by the HVAC people.  I just want the one that will be the most efficient and use the least amount of energy possible for our house…..I downloaded the Manual J from the internet and figured in all our houses calculations and got a 2 1/2 ton AC unit.  We got quotes for a 3 1/2 ton to a 5 ton.  Don’t ever ask anyone to do a manual J on your house though.  The HVAC webpage recommends it but, man, do people get mad. 

This morning Olivia was rubbing my tummy like she used to do when I was pregnant.  So I started asking her if she remembered when my tummy was really big and Eve was in there.  She said "aha and I went outside with Tara".  That is amazing because when I was in labor with Eve, my good friend Tara was our doula and she had to take O outside becasue she had just waken up from a nap (while I was pushing and couldn’t help her) and she was extremely upset.  Then she started telling me about how Tara came to our house that morning and we went in the car and she got in the bathtub with mommy and Eve.  It was just so cute!  She has never spoken about it before (she hasn’t had the words either).  I am just amazed that she can remember that though because she was only 28 months old and we haven’t seen Tara for almost a year and she still remembers her!

This weekend, we went to Colorado Springs.  I was really not excited about the 7 hour car ride there with the kiddos and a little anxious about leaving with everything here such a mess.  It took us about 9 hours to get there.  The first couple were a little tense and stressful but then, mom and I lapsed into girl-vacation mode.  It really became quite fun.  We visited every Wal-mart between here and there and had quite a lovely time doing so.

Sat. we woke up slowly and went to this place called Pirates Cove.  It is a waterpark for small children.  Olivia had a wonderful time.  We couldn’t get her out of the water to rest.  Eve loved the little jumping sprays of water that came out and the baby wading pool.  Afterwards, we were all beat and had dinner and headed back.  Today, we woke up, went to a lovely coffee shop for the best Belgian Waffle I have ever had and stopped by to visit my Aunt Debbie.  I have to say that after that little weekend away, I am definitely in better spirits and feeling rejuvenated. 

In fact, my mom drove much of the way home and I had a delightful time singing and telling stories and playing in the backseat with the girls.  It leaves me to wish that I would slow down to just sit and play with them more often than I really do.  So now, not only have we had a wonderfully rejuvenating weekend, I am also feeling more connected with my children.  Anyway, I guess the things I have read about are true.  In that, those who are truly successful, take time to "sharpen the ax" when they need to instead of not taking time off and keep sawing away with a dull axe.  I wish I could find that delicate balance and learn to take some time to "sharpen the axe" so that I may be able to work more productively again!