Birthday

The highlight of the last week was my 38th birthday...if one can count getting older a highlight.  Saturday night Ron and Elaine came over to babysit while Duncan and I joined Russ and Saray at Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine in Winter Park.  We both had gift cards which made it all the nicer.  This was the first time I had been there and while I found the appetizer really good (which was Lavas bread with a bunch of dips like Humus, etc), the lentil soup and falafel I thought were just okay.  But no matter, it was a nice time out with those guys since we haven't seen them without kids in tow since they moved here several years ago (or ever, for that matter).  

The real excitement for me, however, was on Sunday, my actual birthday, when I spent a good portion of the day alone.  I always feel bad writing that, as if I don't like spending time with my family or something.  I left the house about 9:15 and started my Goodwill circuit over on Curry Ford Road.  For whatever reason there are many more Goodwills on the east side of town than over here on the west side.  I begrudgingly pumped a few nights beforehand so that Duncan could give Colby a bottle mid-morning and then another one mid-afternoon.  The plan was for me to meet them at Ron and Elaine's for lunch so I could nurse him.  I did NOT want to bring a pump with me and since Ron and Elaine are over in the general area, I figured that would work out.  Which it did although I was not too happy when I had to leave the new (and very large and nicely organized) Goodwill in the Waterford Lakes area to get to their house for 1:30.  I would have had longer there but I made a big rookie mistake.  I knew there was a new Goodwill near Waterford Lakes but instead of looking it up ahead of time, I just told Siri to direct me to the Goodwill at Waterford Lakes.  What did she do?  Take me to the administration office of the Waterford Lakes shopping center.  By the time I figured out that I had been led astray, I had wasted a good fifteen minutes.  So disgusted with myself.  But mostly at Siri and when I told her so she informed me that she was doing her best.  Not good enough missy!

I did find some great deals including dresses for myself, shirts for Duncan and stuff for the kids.  I also found some stuff I'm going to try and sell at the consignment sale coming up in March.  I found some items for less than $1 (like Gymboree and Gap) stuff that I think I can make a profit on if I re-sell it at the sale.  We shall see.  

I was wondering what Duncan would be doing for supper.  My mind was put to rest when I got a call from the front gate that Papa John's was trying to get in for a delivery. Mystery solved!  I got home about 6:30 and I was ecstatic to find my house clean, jazz music playing in the background, Duncan's special soup he makes (which I love) on the counter along with my favorite mix of salty and sweet kettle corn.  Ricky and Ana arrived shortly thereafter with a cake.  It was a lovely conclusion to a great day.  Oh, actually the best conclusion was that I got an incredibly sappy card from Duncan (which made me cry, of course) and also a special coupon.  I am one very blessed lady, for sure.  

There hasn't been much else in terms of excitement since then...just trying to get over this little cold.  I happened to stumble across some article that was helping people determine if they had a cold or the flu.  I don't have question on it but I noticed they had a list of things to do to help cure a cold and the first thing was "get plenty of rest." Hahahahahaha.  I figure I'll have this thing until March.  I did attempt an early bed time last night (10:00) but I was awoken by various children four times over the next six or seven hours and really don't feel like it was of any quality.  But you know, it is what it is.  So far only Calleigh has gotten a few sniffles herself but hopefully we can keep it away from the other guys.

Colby did hit a milestone today, finally.  This seems a little slow but he finally rolled over at the ripe age of five months.  I was sitting on the living room floor reading a book to the kids and I look over and see Colby on his belly.  So yes, he rolled over since I figure that's the only way to get from your stomach to your back without assistance.  As for his sleeping. not much changed.  I'll tell you what also hasn't changed is the poop blowouts.  Seriously, this kid has wrecked more outfits than all three of the others combined.  I have probably tried at least seven or eight different brands of diapers in various sizes and STILL, we have a poop blow out practically every day.  And that yellow baby poop is hard to get out.  I read somewhere where someone said they would put it through the washing machine and then let it dry out in the sun and the sun bleaches it out.  I probably have like 25 items that I need to do this with so I hope it works.  On the positive, at least I don't have another kid that I need to pass these clothes on to so there's that.  If any one has a magic formula for these kind of stains, please let me know.

I forgot to mention this in my last post which is hard to believe because I was so excited about it.  Brady ate a vegetable!!  This was indeed a significant event.  If Colby is the worst when it comes to stuff coming out, Brady is the worst at putting stuff in.  Definitely my worst eater of the bunch.  He ate vegetables just fine when he was like fifteen or sixteen months old but since then, it's been a no go.  He won't touch them.  Oh, I serve them every meal but they go untouched.  Occasionally he would eat cucumbers but that's it.  Well, I've been trying different things and I discovered these carrots that are cut like potato chips.  So I got them and low and behold, he ate them.  I was astounded!  Can we cut any other veggies in the same shape I wonder? 

After that, I was feeling inspired.  If I could just get him to try something, I know he would like it.  But he won't even try.  Well, I was finally getting sick of having to give him something different than the rest of us so when we had Indian food one evening, I told him that he needed to take at least three bites of his lentils and rice (not spicy and the girls both like it).  He adamantly refused.  Now, I may be in the minority here but I'm just not one to force kids to eat stuff.  I don't want to get in an epic battle with a kid and tell him he can't leave the table until he eats his peas.  For the girls, since they're older, I do say they have to take a certain number of bites so they can at least see if they like it but after that, they don't have to continue.  Calleigh hates broccoli and I don't make her eat it.  But she will gobble up corn, lima beans, peas, carrots, etc so I really don't see the point in forcing stuff she doesn't like.  At any rate, back to Brady. I say I don't force kids to eat but I thought maybe I needed to here since he just won't try new stuff. But he would not take a bite no matter what we did or said including that he couldn't have anything else and would go to bed without supper. In the end, he never had supper.  Oddly enough, it didn't phase him in the least.  He never said he was hungry when I put him in his crib or anything and he hadn't even had a snack in the afternoon. But I'm left thinking that I didn't do the right thing.  I don't know.  Food/mealtimes is really one of my least favorite things about kids. 

This is longer than I wanted to be on here so let me just get to a couple of things the kids said.

Calleigh: "Dad, can we ride bikes tomorrow?"
Duncan: "No, I have to go to work."

Calleigh: "I wish you were a preacher."

Duncan:"Why?

Calleigh:  "Because they don't do much work."

I have no idea where she got this idea from because as a PK, I can say first hand it isn't true.

We were doing school discussing how Adam and Eve's children had to marry their brothers and sisters since there wasn't any one else.

Calleigh:"When I grow up I'm going to marry Bruno.  No wait!  I'm going to marry Elijah because I'm in love with him!!

This is the first time I've heard her use the words "in love with." Scary.  Also, never heard of this Elijah character but apparently he's in her Sabbath School class.  May have to check him out.

Tuesday evening Allen and Braelyn came over so that that Allen and Duncan could talk bikes.  Later, Brady was praying before bed.

Brady:"Thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Colby and Calleigh and Aubree and Mommy and Daddy and Daddy and Mommy and..." Pause. "What's Braelyn's dad's name?"

Me: "Allen."

Brady:"Thank you that Allen put my helmet on."

I just thought it was funny that he couldn't remember Allen's name but he said "Braelyn's dad" so perfectly.

Okay, I'm off to bed to get in a few zzzz's before someone wakes up.