Saturday is a special day

Last night I had great plans of our family going to the pool today... But I had crazy dreams again... For the third night in a row. And these crazy dreams make me feel like I'm on drugs and never actually went to sleep. So I woke up completely exhausted and scrapped that plan. I took the kids to the pool on Thursday when I was super exhausted and holy cow I couldn't keep my eyes open even after we'd been there for hours. So today we stayed home and I did cleaning and laundry and general nothingness except quite a bit of holding Elizabeth which makes my heart burst. And Brady got a solid nap which was necessary because of his molars coming in. So it turned out to be the right decision even though it wasn't as fun of a day as what it could have been. But here's some pictures. 

Because every day starts with Brady loving on Elizabeth. 

And taking pictures with my phone. He actually included Elizabeth, Abigail, and myself in this one. How impressive. 

And of course he ditched his clothes. This time for a dress. 

And then for his birthday suit. The boy wishes he could go potty so badly. I told him I'll teach him after we get back from Georgia if he still wants to learn. But for the moment, I told him that downing a sippy of juice and then sitting on this potty while watching strawberry shortcake might help. So he tried that. But then he got bored with sitting there and peed in his diaper within ten minutes or so. ; ) 

He wears hats. Typically ones that are completely weather inappropriate. 

I'm realizing this looks like the Brady show... Whoops. 

He took some pictures of me. Because he takes pictures alllll day long. 

And tried on more hats. 

Abigail and Presley were playing outside when Abigail came in to give me this bouquet she picked for me. As we came downstairs to find a vase for them, I heard her telling Presley, "hey pres, I'm just in here with my mom getting a case. My dad told me not to pick them because we wouldn't have anymore but I showed them to my mom and she was really happy!"  HA. I have an unusually good long term memory and vividly remember the day at I was at a friend's house and we picked a bunch of daffodils for her mom... Her mom was not at all pleased. I'm not a super nice mom, but I want my kid to know that I appreciate her sweet gestures more than the landscaping in my yard. Plus, all the flowers she picked were really pretty. 

I keep telling myself that tomorrow I'll be more structured about Elizabeth's naps but then I just want to hold her. And tomorrow's Sunday so that won't have structure and then Monday through Thursday the kids have swim lessons in the morning so we'll probably be at the pool every day. And eventually we'll be in Atlanta and North Carolina and the farm and Atlanta and back to Colorado. Sorry Elizabeth... Better luck in August maybe? 

When Brady woke up screaming (naturally... Because teeth) then we sent Presley home and all packed up for the library. Between yesterday and today, we returned every book except for three. And most of the CDs too. But today we checked out exactly 50 more items. Mostly books but about five CDs and five movies too. I'm so excited for all the new stuff we have to enjoy. 

And because honey wanted frozen yogurt, we tried out orange leaf for the first time. Gotcha is still my favorite because they have the best flavors and biggest/best selection of toppings, but we have a buy one get one free for 4 ounces at this place with our high school discount cards so that was excuse enough to explore this place. It was a fun environment. More kid friendly than gotcha or swirls, but I don't like that you can't get your own samples... You have to ask the worker to get the samples you want which is annoying... Especially when you're getting sample for yourself and your kids. And the toppings were kind of disappointing... And annoyingly, not labeled so I kept having to ask that same worker what all the toppings were (I try to stay away from peanut butter stuff and mint stuff because it makes your whole thing all taste the same). Also, the spoons aren't worth keeping. So basically, the best part was the seating setup, toy table, and tv running Americas funniest videos. And our discount. Ha. 

Abigail and Presley went to town with their creative play. I survived by locking myself in the guest room with Elizabeth for the three hours they were playing but when we were getting home from the library and frozen yogurt I started to panic. I hate that I care but holy cow I can't handle the mess. I'm open to suggestions and advice about this. From training kids I clean up or ways for me to learn to let it go or organizational stuff or methods to not create a huge mess or whatever you've got... I need help (and therapy). 

Our new CDs are a hit. The kids still live dancing and twirling. 

And of course when we heard Elizabeth wake up...

Too bad I missed the shot of them both with their heads completely inside of the car seat at the same time. 

Other notables from today...

The kids watched strawberry shortcake rockaberry roll or whatever it's called. We actually own that one (when we got a huge stack of hand me down DVDs from two friends in the ward) and I just found out today (although I've had my suspicions) that it's Abigail's very favorite show to watch. She likes all the songs. 

I heated up a three ounce bottle this morning to give Elizabeth when she woke up. I've been trying to give her a bottle about every five days. Not an entire feeding, but at least 3-4 ounces so she gets used to taking a bottle. Last night I realized that it had already been eight days so I decided to do it first thing after waking up. Well, the kid wouldn't take it. It was maybe half an ounce and probably lost of that was what had dropped into her mouth and then dribbled down her cheek. I kept it out and tried again next feeding and she chugged the remaining 2.5 ounces with no problem at all. I'm not sure what her deal is, but she's so hot and miss with bottles so far. Sometimes needs it hit, sometimes can take it room temp. Sometimes puts up a fight, sometimes chugs it right away. Hopefully she'll get better over time with practice. 

Speaking of hopefully... Hopefully she'll also learn to take a binky. My efforts so far have been very unsuccessful. She honestly doesn't need it at all to soothe or fall asleep, but I would like that option for calming her (or quieting her once she's at that noisy stage in a few months)and I really really would like that option for flying. We fly enough that I need to be able to get her to suck on command without taking a feeding. Even with her feeding during takeoff or landing, it's risky because she eats so fast (like 4 minutes per side maybe) and refuses to suck after she's decided she's full. It's giving me flashbacks of my first flight with Abigail and the guy that yelled "can someone shut that baby up?!" from three rows back. That was the moment I decided I should give my kid a binky. So I guess I have to give that guy some thanks because I've loved having Abigail and Brady take binkies.  I'm pretty determined this time around but Elizabeth literally gags and chokes on them when she does anything more than bite it or push it out with her tongue. But I cling to hope with those few times that she's sucked it for ten seconds straight without gagging. ; ) 

Abigail told me tonight that her favorite part of church is the small class after primary (Sunday school) because they get to color. 

My friend amber (the mom of a girl that used to be in my daycare class way back in the day) posted on fb yesterday about how awesome her new neighbors are and how they helped her move into her house since her husband has a knee injury right now and couldn't move any boxes. I thought it was a happy story and clicked "like" because I always love when good people are helping good people. A few hours later I got a fb message from amber. 

I wrote her back and she responded again. It just made me happy.