Schedule Change

I had originally thought this would be how the schedule worked but then I always hear "kids are fresher in the mornings and better able to learn."  So I went with the morning school schedule.  But I really just don't think that works best for us.  On Wednesday, we switched to starting school at 3:00.  The kids eat lunch around 1:15, go up for nap/quiet time by 2:00, I feed Colby from 2:00 - 2:30 and then I have 30 minutes for a quick cat nap.  It's only been two days (we don't have a regular school day on Fridays) but I can say that it worked SO much better.  The mornings are much more relaxing and we were able to go to Costco yesterday without having to rush, rush, rush.  The main upside is that we can have school without Brady and Colby (who also takes a long afternoon nap).  It was blissfully quiet.    

We are still doing a few things in the morning like reading books (I try to do at least three library books a day - 15 minutes of reading time) and also Calleigh's reading lesson.  I haven't mentioned it on here before but to learn to read, Calleigh has been doing a book called "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons."  It was recommended by a friend of mine.  I actually had gotten the book a few years ago but we just never got around to doing it.  I finally started it with Calleigh in June and we just finished lesson 69.  It really is remarkably easy and she's reading great.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to teach their kid to read.  Aubree is very interested in it too and I had started the lessons with her but decided it was just too much to be doing both girls so I think I'll start her when Calleigh's finished...if she's still interested.

One of my favorite things about the fall season (although...is it really fall?  Couldn't tell today with the weather in the upper 80's) are the fall festivals.  On Sunday we headed over to one in Apopka with the Isidros (minus a working Tangie) and the Bergherms.  They had a hay ride, maze, and a bunch of bouncy houses. Unfortunately everything cost money and not just a little bit.  The bouncy houses were $10 PER kid.  I made a small gasp when I saw the price and muttered to Duncan that maybe we shouldn't have had so many kids. Fortunately they didn't charge us for Brady or else we certainly would not have participated.  Needless to say, we did not partake of any of the other items that cost money.  

Later in the day, Ricky came over so we could watch the Patriots (4-1) vs. Saints (5-0) game and then later on the Red Sox vs. Tigers in Game 2 of the ALCS.  We started the Patriots game late and when I hit Play, it turned out it hadn't recorded.  I had set it up to on one of the football Sunday Ticket channels without realizing that it was on one of the local channels and thus was blacked out on the Sunday Ticket.  Shoot!  So we missed almost the first half of the game.  We were pleased that the Patriots were winning but then as soon as we started watching they started to stink it up....which included blowing a lead and going behind in the final minutes of the game.  Brady threw an interception with like two minutes left and I was so close to turning the game off but we kept it on.  And what do you know, they scored a touchdown to win the game with five seconds left.  Very exciting!  We did realize that we have to watch what we say though because after Brady threw the interception I said "Come on Brady!!" in disgust and my Brady was like "What?"

Oh, the Red Sox, the Red Sox.  My how things have changed in the last six or seven years.  I recall with fondness the times (decades, really) where I would watch every non-Sabbath game.  And now, I hadn't watched a single game all year until they got to the playoffs.  That's what having kids does to you I guess. No time to watch a 162 game season.  They still have a few players left from the last time I watched fairly diligently in 2007 but the rest of the guys are strangers.  And what's with the beards?  I guess that's a thing. Anywho, the Sox were down 5-1 in the 8th, getting completely dominated and Big Papi hit a grand slam to tie the game and then they won it in the bottom of the 9th.  One could say that this was one of the more exciting days in Boston sports in quite a while.  As I write this, the Sox are playing in Game 6 and are winning 1-0.  If they win tonight, it's on to the World Series.

One of my big activities of the week was preparing for and shopping at the two consignment sales that come to the area twice a year.  Since the baby shop is closed, I decided to sell some of my fall/winter maternity clothes.  At these sales, you set your own prices and tag your own clothes and you get 60% of the sales price.  It's a bit of work preparing everything but hopefully it's worth it.  I don't know that it will be in my case though because I set my prices fairly high.  If you don't, you'll make less money than just donating it to charity and taking the tax write-off.  We'll see how it all pans out.  At any rate, Duncan came home a little early on Tuesday so that I could go drop the clothes off and then I went to the other consignment sale. Colby, of course, accompanied me on both missions and did great in the Baby Bjorn.  

The rest of the week was pretty routine.  Today we had church as usual.  Aubree stayed in her Sabbath School class by herself this time which I was very pleased with.  For lunch, one of Duncan's colleagues, Terry and his wife Sussie, invited us over to their place for lunch.  Their boys are all grown up but they have grandchildren so they had some great toys for the kids.  We had a lovely meal although, as I suspected, when I put the food on Brady's plate he said "Yuck. I don't like this."  I had to keep shushing him.  At least you can excuse a 2-year old for embarressing you.  Calleigh, on the other hand, as soon as she finished eating, loudly asks "Are we going to have dessert?"  I guess these are the risks you take when bringing your children out to social engagements outside of your usual circle of people.  

This evening we went over to Ron and Elaine's for supper.  I had a secondary purpose though too.  The consignment sale was having the 50% sale and since it was pretty close to their house, I was able to leave the kids, including Colby, at their house with Duncan and go by myself.  That worked out quite nicely for me. The visit was nice though too and it was good to see Russ and Saray.  Ron and Elaine had gotten a ride on Jeep and some other toys at a yard sale last week and Brady, especially, was very excited with these acquisitions.  His face just lit up upon seeing them.  

On the Colby front, things are pretty much the same.  If I wake him up before I go to bed (around 11:30) and feed him, he goes until between 4:00 - 5:00 until he eats again.  I'm somewhat impatiently waiting for this to get expanded.  He's still sleeping in the swing.  I'm considering moving him to his crib once Duncan gets the camera set.  I would sleep in the guest room.  But I'm not sure if I want to be in a separate room at this point.  We'll see.  I guess I could also try putting the pack-n-play in the guest room too so at least I'll be sleeping in a bed.  He mostly does fine in the swing other than when he wakes up to eat but sometimes he'll start crying out a little.  As soon as I turn the music back on, he's fine.  Let me just say that the whole music thing really ticks me off.  I specifically got a plug-in swing because I was under the obviously mistaken impression that if you had a plug-in vs. a battery operated swing, the music would stay on continuously. Clearly, I was wrong.  Very annoying since the music is like magic.  I got the bright idea to put his music/noise maker on next to his swing so that the music could just stay on but then this didn't seem like such a grand idea when I realized that it plays the one same lullaby in a continuous loop.  Of course, I'm usually asleep in 3.5 seconds myself so maybe it's not that big of a deal.  

The real problem at night has been Mr. Brady Breton.  I don't know what's up with this kid but he has a had a real problem the last few weeks with waking up during the night or early morning hours.  Sometimes its two or three times a night/morning that I have to go up there.  Usually he settles down once I put his blanket back on or give him a new binky or make sure he has a drink.  But it's waking me up during a time when sleep is very precious.  Between him and feeding Colby, I'm awake nearly every hour.  Alas, this won't go on for ever, I know, so I will just grin and bear it.   

Thursday I finally started my exercise regimen.  I'm doing a program on the Xbox four days a week.  It's intense but at least pretty interesting.  My old program (post Aubree and Brady) was a 12-week routine of doing weights and the treadmill.  Hopefully this will be adequate replacing that.  So yes, I'm sore but it's worth it if I can shed this baby weight. 

Quotes from the kids...Calleigh and I got into a chat somehow about getting married...

Calleigh: "I'm not going to get married because I don't want to have a baby." 

Me: "You can get married and not have a baby, you know.  Some people do that."

Calleigh (incredulously): "But what happens to the baby then?"

Me: "Oh wow.  Look at the nice day outside."

I'm not ready to get into these discussions yet.

I was changing Brady's diaper on his changing table when I started giving him kisses.

Brady: "No, don't kiss me!"

Me: "But you're so cute, I can't help it."
Brady starts to sit up and for a second I thought he was going to kiss me or turn his cheek to let me kiss him but instead, he reached past me, grabbed two clean diapers, and used it to wipe the kiss off his face.  That bugger!

And the Red Sox are going to the World Series!!  Have a great week.