A Relaxing Evening

Last night was just a nice evening at home. 

I beat Omar and the kids home last night by about 20 minutes.  So I got all my chores done: started laundry, put the kids' clothes away, got the oven preheating for dinner, and picked up around the house.  When Omar and the kids got home, they spent some time in the living room while I got dinner on the table.  I peeked in and saw Joy lying on the floor with Omar leaning over her.  She was stroking his face and beard and chatting at him.  So so sweet.

For the first time last night, all 4 of us sat down to eat dinner together at the table.  It was just leftover pasta and garlic bread, but it was so nice to sit as a family and talk about our days.  William told us that he played on the playground and went down the slide.  Joy seemed to get a kick out of sitting with us at the table: she was very smiley and chatty.

After dinner, we all hung out in the living room and played for a little bit.  When Joy started getting fussy, I took her upstairs and gave her a bath and got her ready for bed.  I sat in the rocker, and she nursed for about 10 minutes, then just stared at me.  I sat her up and got a good burp, then rocked her for another 5 minutes, and she just stared at me the whole time.  So I layed her down, and she picked her head up and watched me leave.  I changed the laundry over, and 5 minutes later, I went back in and she was sound asleep.

When I came out of Joy's room, Omar had William in the bath.  I went downstairs and cleaned up the kitchen, then went back up to give William kisses good night before heading out for a quick trip to the pharmacy to pick up some refills on our prescriptions.

When I came home, I started working out on the Wii Fit until Omar came downstairs.  Then I let him take the Wii Fit, and I did some sit up and core exercises on our balance ball.  Afterwards, we cooled down on the couch together and watched some TV, and ate some chips and spinach dip.  Our late night snacks are probably our most unhealthy habit, but it's just relaxing to sit together and share some food and watch a show.  At one point, William started crying, and Omar went up to check on him and found he had hit his head on the bedrail and his head was hanging off the bed.  Poor boy.  I'm sure Omar gave him some hugs and kisses before putting him back to bed.

So we went upstairs and put laundry away, read for a few minutes, and went to bed.  I'm hoping that since we have less going on in our lives now, these nice family evenings will happen more often.

Joy-ful Worship

Omar led worship at Crossroad Church today.  Since we only had the Honda to drive, and we were concerned about fitting kids and equipment, William went to church with Grandma and Grandpa, and we just took Joy with us.

Joy had a wonderful time.  We walked around a little before service started, and she smiled and giggled at everyone she met.  I took her upstairs to the "cry room" for the service.  She seemed to really enjoy the view, looking out over everyone's heads.  And she loved the worship!  It was half an hour past when I expected her to be hungry, and she was just bouncing up and down on my lap singing along.  I'm pretty sure she recognized Daddy's voice, and when he started praying, she got really excited and prayed right along with him!  When the pastor got up to speak, she finally lost interest in the service and decided she was ready to eat.  Such sweet, innocent enjoyment of worship.  I hope she never loses that spirit.


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On a side note, I am grateful that we have found a wonderful babysitter in Katy.  I was worried about some one being able to juggle both kids, but she seems to do it with grace.  William has already gotten attached to her.  The first night she watched them, he woke up in the morning and asked, "Where's Katy?" Tonight, we got home right after he went to bed, and I went in to check on him, and he said, "Katy bye-bye?" and wanted her to come back and say good-bye to him. 

Then he tried to get out of bed and tell me, "I don't sleep no more!"

The Terrible Two's

William is at a very difficult age right now.  I have a feeling this is where a lot of parents give in and start letting their kids run the show, because it is exhausting to just keep fighting.  For instance, this morning when I dropped him off at daycare, William was so whiney.  He wanted cereal, and I told him he had to ask nicely.  He knows that means saying please, so he walked over to Miss Christy, and snapped/growled a please at her.  I stepped in before she could say anything and told him that was not asking nicely.  Then he tried to avoid the issue by saying he was tired, and followed me around whining at me while I put Joy's things away.  Finally, I told him I wasn't enjoying his whining, and I left the room, and he burst into tears (I went next door to the toddler room to put his things away).  When I came back in, I sat down and made him look me in the eye and quit crying, told him that he can't whine to get his way, and made him say sorry.  Then I cuddled him on my lap for a minute and sent him back over to Miss Christy to ask nicely for cereal.  This is a typical scenario for William now, and it is so tiring, and even when it ends with him doing what he was supposed to, I still feel so defeated when it's over.  We're also dealing with the back talking issue, now.  It seems to be a difficult concept for him to grasp: it's ok for us to tell him no, but he can't do that to us.

Lucky, he is still an absolutely adorable kid and it is so much fun watching him try new things.  Yesterday, I was pushing him in one of the bucket swings at the playground, and he said, "No mommy, don't help.  I push!"  And then proceeded to hit the front of the swing with his hand in an effort to "push" himself.

I love my boy.  And I have a feeling that if we can endure and get through this phase, we're going to have one of the sweetest, most polite little boys ever.

Disneyland

Omar and I went to Disneyland yesterday to celebrate our 4th anniversary.  We had a great time.  We rode some rides and walked around a lot and ate food.  There was no wait for Pirates of the Carribean, and only a 10 minute wait for Indiana Jones.  We had to wait a bit for the Mattahorn, and the longest line was 45 minutes for Tower of Terror.  It was my first time riding Tower of Terror, and I loved it!  If the line wasn't so long, I would have done it again. We did not take the kids; they stayed with Grandma.  We bought them souvenirs, though.  Joy got a princess dress, and William got a Lightening McQueen t-shirt and jacket.  Since I didn't have Joy with me for the day, I had to take the breastpump.  It worked really well.  We rented a locker on Main Street to store the pump, and two times during the day, I retrieved it and walked around the corner to the Baby Care Center.  It's really nice; they have a large changing area, high chairs, and even a small kitchen with sink and microwave.  They also have a private nursing area with big wing back chairs, and in the corner of that is a little cubicle with chair, table, and electrical outlet for pumping.

Despite the wonderful facilities, I'm glad we didn't take the kids.  For one, it's good for our marriage to get away on our own for a bit now and then.  For the other, they are too young for Disneyland.  We get a lot of people wondering why we haven't taken William to Disneyland, so let me explain.  There's no doubt that William would have a great time, and even Joy would probably be entertained by the decorations and colors and so much going on.  But we saw so many examples yesterday of why we don't take the kids:  parents trying to juggle strollers, diaper bags, backpacks, and food; one parent going on a ride while the other had to wait on a bench with the baby; and most importantly, kids that quickly got too tired and whiney and crying.  Right now, the kids require too much stuff to go anywhere, and they don't have the endurance to last long.

But, we discussed it a lot yesterday, and we decided that we will probably take William for his 3rd birthday this year.  Just William.  He'll probably enjoy having Mommy and Daddy all to himself just as much as he enjoys Disneyland.  It'll be so much fun; everything we did yesterday, I wondered what William will think of it.  Next year, they are opening Radiator Springs in California Adventure, and we'll definitely have to take William to that.

Oh, and he has to have a chocolate covered frozen banana.