a wedding and a wading, and fun and a falling and a failing

I wasn't sure what to title this post because it is going to be FULL. I've been out of town for a week, and a bunch of fun and funny stuff happened that I have to share with you. (Too bad that potty training isn't in that list. Oh well... someday, someday.)

First, let me get the "failing" out of the way, which seems to be what hubby's new job is doing so far. It is failing to live up to both its absolute potential and to our monthly needs. It's only July 2nd but already we're having a shortfall for the month. There are people who have done what he did in the past, so hopefully he can talk to some of them to get some tips and encouragement. Meanwhile, I think he's going to be on the list to look for something else, again. It's been two years of instability and uncertainty now. I can't even remember what it's like to be normal anymore.

But enough about that, let's get to the fun stuff. We'll start with the wedding. We took a vacation-within-a-vacation to go see my cousin get married. My almost 4 year old nephew was in her wedding as the ring bearer. My sister and mom had been talking up his job for several days beforehand. Sometime between the rehearsal and the ceremony, he made the comment, "my job isn't that hard. All I have to do is carry a pillow." But the funniest things he did were definitely during the ceremony. He and the flower girl walked up to the front fine and got to their places. Then there was a delay while the music got ready for the bride to come down. As soon as my nephew got to his place, he was looking around, and he saw the unity candle tapers sitting about 5 feet away. From his spot, he took a huge deep breath and leaned over and tried to blow them out. It didn't work, and he gave up and continued holding his pillow. The pillow went all over... in his arms, in his hands, on his head... but he stood in his spot for the whole ceremony. At one point, he gave a "thumbs up" to the flower girl across the way. She returned the signal, then he returned it again, and they went back and forth 6 or 7 times. Towards the end, my aunt (mother of the bride) heard him say, "my feet are tired." But he still stood up there and made it through the rest of the time. I think that now he can hire himself out as a professional ring bearer. :)

Next topic is the falling. Lydia had a few gentle falls and some not-so-gentle falls over the week. At home, she still sleeps in a crib. On previous trips to visit my mom, she had set up the pack'n'play for her to sleep in, but for her first afternoon nap upon arrival, we decided to try her just on the trundle bed by itself. She did very well on it. :) But she did not stay on the bed. Here is how she started out that first night:


And here is where I found her the next morning:


And here are another few interesting sleeping positions in which I found her:



After a few days, she did manage to mostly stay on the bed all night. We stayed in a hotel for two nights for the wedding, and she and I shared a bed w/ my mom in the first night, or tried to. Lydia was too wiggly and kicky and so I ended up putting her on some pillows on the floor (which she wiggled off of as well). The next night, mom got brave and slept on the sofa sleeper, so Lydia and I had the bed to ourselves. I had set her down in the middle, and she was already asleep, so I pulled her over to the side a little to give myself some more room. We all went to bed and then I woke up an hour or so later to a THUMP and to Lydia crying. She'd fallen off of the hotel bed. I screamed b/c it was a BIG fall and I didn't know if she was hurt or not. I think she was more scared than anything, though, because it took less than 2 minutes to calm her back down. I put her on the floor for the rest of the night so she wouldn't fall again, and she went right back to sleep.

As for the wading, my mom has a little plastic wading pool that she fills up from the hose so that my nephews can sometimes go swimming after their naps (she watches them during the day while my sisters work). Lydia didn't want to take a nap one day, so we gave her some pool time by herself before the boys woke up. She was excited to put on her swimsuit, and went out to the pool. She stuck one foot barely into the water, then took it right back out again and ran over to me and said, "that's enough."


Mom took her and encouraged her to go down the slide. She didn't want to at first:


But it didn't take her long at all to get into it and start having fun:



Then, all that playing made her thirsty, so she drank the closest water that was available, right out of the pool:


Eventually, she lost her hat in the pool and I gave her a washcloth instead, to play with while her hat was drying off:


Then the fun was really just another couple of backyard pictures. There were a couple of giant croquet-looking mallets that she tried to play golf with, a T-ball set, the old blow-up "hoppity horse" that my sisters and I had when we were little, and a few other random toys.

another year gone

Wow, I started this blog four years ago. Feels like just yesterday. What will this new year bring? Only God knows what He has planned for us.

As for me, I'm in the thick of trying to prepare to teach the 4 and 5 year olds' Bible class next quarter. I don't yet know how I'm going to make it through the next 5 months (2 more months of prep and then 3 months of teaching). But, I made it through the 4th and 5th graders last year, so I will be able to make it through this challenge as well. Then hopefully I can take a short break before teaching again.

Lydia continues to be both a challenge and a joy at the same time. In just a few more days, she'll be 25 months old. Still absolutely NO interest in potty training, but I did finally move her up to the next size of cloth diapers. Her infant-sized ones were just getting too ragged and holey. I still have a big stash of unwashed, undyed, brand new diapers under her crib (from back when I was going to dye them to sell), so I could get some more with little trouble, but it was just "time" to move her up to the next size.

I'm in the middle of doing some decluttering and so far it's going well. I was pretty intense with it earlier this week, so I could finish up the "public areas" of the apartment before DH's family came into town for a few days. Now I have a lot more to do and lots of time in which to do it. I have one remaining play food order and then I need to update my Hyena Cart store, since I've been neglecting it while I sell on a message board instead.

My trip up to see my family last month was great. My nephews (5, 3.5 and 2.5) enjoyed how Lydia has grown. They were surprised that she could talk to them now. lol. I got to try out my sister's Wii Fit, while my family was behind me on the couch, laughing at my futile efforts to hit the soccer balls with my head and to dodge the shoes and the panda bear heads that were being hurtled at me.

It snowed, briefly, our last morning in Amarillo, so I bundled Lydia up and sent her out into the backyard. She still can't say blended consonants (i.e. she says 'nap instead of snap), so she kept calling the snow "sah-now." It was cute to watch her walk around in it.


I also still have to eventually post pictures of her birthday party, but haven't organized those pictures yet. Maybe next week. :p

opening day is decided upon

Yay, I've made a commitment to open my store the Monday after Thanksgiving. I'll have some of the items listed and "previewed" the Monday before, though (which means THIS Monday... eeek! lol). For any of you who aren't familiar w/ Hyena Cart, you can go in and look at items, but if it's a particularly high demand item, then the seller can set a time for the item to go "live" and then after that time it's first come first served. I don't expect right off that my items will be in high demand, but hopefully I'll get a good clientele going. :) It's just hard right now to balance hosuehold stuff, taking care of Lydia, doing my transcription (I'm SO close to getting a bonus this month), and making my wares to sell online. I should be able to get it all done though. I'm really getting excited. I'll be out of town Tuesday through Fridayish, and will try to be working on some more dishcloths or scrubbies or whatever while I'm out of town, also, since I'll be chauffered by my in-laws. Then maybe I can increase my stocking levels just before opening day. :D Oh and definitely check here late Monday for a link and/or pictures.

the birds, not quite hitchcock style

Yesterday Lydia and I went to the Fort Worth Zoo with our local playgroup. It was pretty nice as far as zoos go, but hot and humid, so we didn't stay more than a couple of hours. But, I had to mention my favorite part - the giant walk-in bird cage. Most of the birds in there were parakeets, with a few cockatiels thrown in, and some random ducks down in the moat below. In the "foyer" there was a little booth where you could buy popsicle sticks with some seeds stuck on them, or some cups of nectar. With these treats you could enties the birds to come to you. I found a stray stick on the ground that someone had dropped, and I held it out and birds flew to the stick and nibbled. Then other birds flew to the stick and tried to fight with the original bird for dominance of the stick and the food. And the birds were so pretty, some of the birds had a green that was so green it almost glowed, and then there were yellow, blue, and white ones too. I would say there were well over 100 birds in there.

I'm looking forward to Monday, when my dad and grandmother will be in town visiting. They've just seen Lydia less than 2 months ago, so I wonder if they'll notice a change in her in just that short time.

My sewing projects are moving right along, including all our costumes. Hubby's going to take the 27th off so he can come to the party with us and be the father to go with Lydia's and my mother/daughter pair. I'm also still sewing several of her dress/pinafore sets, although first thing this morning I had to rip out a seam. The directions weren't clear to me when I first sewed that particular seam, and I did it wrong. No biggie, though, now I know for next time. And I also figured out a slightly different way to do the elastic for next time, too, that should hopefully be both easier and a little more secure.

still at the library, and going out of town

Well, I guess my DSL isn't going to be hooked up today after all. Hubby and I were out and about today since it was his day off, and I thought that I would come home to either a missing dial tone (indicating that my line was in the process of "being prepared" for DSL), or a dial tone that was already returned and a working DSL line. Well, the dial tone was working so I optimistically plugged in my DSL line and.... nothing. I'm so bummed. I have SO many pictures that I've taken in the past few weeks, and a few videos, and I have no means to share them. :( Part of the pictures and videos are updates on Lydia's newest "things" and I want to wait and share them when I have a visual aid to go with the stories.

And on Monday morning, early, I'm going out of town for 10 days and won't have internet then, either. But at least I can look forward to coming back home and SURELY it will be hooked up by then. :P And at least today I was able to leave the house while she was napping since her daddy was at home.

Guess I'll write when I get back. I'll be visiting my side of the family. Last time they saw Lydia, she was 3 months old and not doing a whole lot. I think they will be surprised how much she's grown. Not in size, but in abilities. I can hardly wait. :)

visit with the inlaws

I had a good visit with the inlaws this weekend. Felt sorry for my poor MIL though. She's been suffering from frequent UTI's and had one over the weekend... laid her up on Sunday with a 102 degree fever. (39 celcius). She'll have surgery this summer to make some repairs to that area. Hopefully the infections will stop then, too.

I took both the wrap and the pouch, intending to use the pouch on my travelling days since it's quicker and easier to pop her in and out than the wrap, and to practice w/ the wrap while visiting. But I never got around to using the wrap. I did get LOTS of comments on the pouch though. L is a quiet baby who usually just looks around at things. Today on the way back, I stopped for lunch and set my food down on a table, then walked back to get some napkins, passing a guy who was sitting close by. On my way back to the table he said to me that he thought I was pregnant w/ a baby's face printed on my shirt... until he saw L move her head. What a start that must have given him. :P

On that same lunch visit, I was sitting in a back corner so I could feed L a little privately. I was soon joined by another breastfeeding mother (she w/ a 2 month old) who also had a toddler. I was pretty much finished by the time she sat down, but we chatted for a bit. I didn't feel like my 5-hour drive was very long at all after hearing her trip... El Paso, TX to Ohio. She said it was going to have taken her 3 days by the time she gets to her destination.

L's newest "trick" is sucking on her bottom lip. Sometimes she just does that, and sometimes she talks while she's sucking on it. It's a good way for her to blow a bunch of bubbles. :P Over the weekend we visited the church that hubby and I went to when we lived there, and everyone said that she looks like hubby. :P Maybe our next baby will be a little mini-me. But that's a long way off. I'm still enjoying this one and trying to give her all the attention she deserves. :)

My next few months are going to be VERY busy. I have another trip planned towards the end of this month, then in May I'm going camping for a week (in cabins w/ showers and utilities... no tents in the woods for me, thank you very much. lol), then in early June I'm going to Indiana, then in late June back to OK to help out MIL after her surgery. Hopefully I can rest a little in July and then possibly make a trip to my family in August. Hubby's sister is arriving from Japan for a visit in August so I'll be able to coordinate a visit w/ her too around the same time.

So if you don't see a blog from me until after August... that's why. :P