Every time I sit down to try to write a blog the thought of all I need to write and record and remember is so overwhelming I just don't even start. It's strange. Anyways going to last week I had a wonderful birthday! To backtrack a little my dad came to visit Thursday during the day which was very nice. I got some housework out of the way in the morning and he came with lunch around 11:30. I think the only thing Tyler loves more than showing off to company is when company brings cheeseburgers or presents. My dad always brings one or both it seems! He always gets the kids meals too which have presents in them. This is an extra special treat because we never get the meals. It was fun to get to visit with him and see him playing with Tyler. I just love watching other people hold and play with and love my kids. It's not just that it's a break for me but also I just love to see that others enjoy them like I do- not as much as me though! That night Gary wanted me to have a break from cooking and we wanted to just relax so we ordered a pizza and just spent the evening at home. I had some overdue books to take to the library so instead of all of us going I convinced Gary to stay with the kids and let me go alone. Oh My it was wonderful! You totally forget how much work two kids are until you don't have them for awhile! I got into the car, moved my seat up (I have to have it almost all the way up adn Gary has to have it almost all the way back), fixed the mirrors and turned to check on the kids and the backseat was empty! I will honestly tell you for a moment I was panicked! I didn't have to make sure the phone was closeby or be sure I had an extra pacifier handy. No one had to be buckled in and we didn't have to make sure the toys were in hands and not on the floor, the milk cup did not have to be in reach... it was just me and my books... and the RADIO!!! The library is literally like a mile and a half away and you bet I turned that music up LOUD! I turned off the annoying air conditioning and opened the window too! I have been toying with the idea of homeschooling pretty much since college so since Tyler's getting to be about that age to start making some decisions I decided to look into it some. The internet has an overwhelming amount of information on the subject and so I thought I'd also check the library. I literally sat in the aisle surrounded by books looking through them deciding which I wanted to bring home for (possible-if-time) reading. It was so nice! Usually I just grab 10-20 books on a topic and get them home and then weed through them... and renew them twice... and then take them all back overdue having only read half of one and a quarter of another. This time I came home with TWO books on the topic, one devotional type book and like 4 novels. I paid my fine, got books and didnt once feel like my arm was coming out of it's socket from holding hands, I didn't have to say "use your inside voice", "no running", "don't touch", "ONE Thomas video", or any of my other favorite overused phrases! Happy early Birthday to me! Unfortunately fast food and pizza in one day completely ruined my system and I was sick all night... but I got to read! Friday morning Grace woke us as usual to eat and Gary headed off to work. I fell back alseep after feeding and while getting myself together after a snooze I heard the machine downstairs- Gary calling to say Happy Birthday. I got myself together, then Tyler and got him settled in front of the babysitter (TV) after breakfast and then got Grace fed again and dressed. I actually got out the DRIVEWAY- not just the door- at 10:03. My goal had been 10 knowing I needed to leave at 10:10 at the absolute latest. Thank goodness I was on time b/c traffic in Alliance is horrid. I completely forgot they've got it down to two lanes while they repave. We got to the pediatricians office for Grace's 4 month appt and didn't have to wait too long considering. Usually they take you back about 15 min. late and then you see the nurse and then wait about another half hour for the doctor meaning you see the Doc a full hour at LEAST from when you walk in. ugh. We were so spoiled by our doctor in Mansfield! There was a family there of twin boys probably around 8 and a young girl, maybe 9-12 months. The mom had the girl and was doing all the paperwork and the dad was entertaining the boys. I think one had autism and he was just the sweetest thing but he was making his poor dad crazy. he was trying to run out the doors which made me wonder, not for the first time, why pediatricians choose to have so many ways in and out. There are two doors to the outside, two windows to the secretarial area (oh yea, he almost broke one!) and two doors to the exam areas. They also of course have the usual fish tank that Dr's have to have- wobbly stand and all. This little boy kept opening the lid on the tank and reaching in to grab the fish, then licking his hand when his dad pulled him off. I had 3 kids plus Tyler under the age of 5 crowding around me trying to play with Grace. This did not make me happy at all but I put on my smile mommy face and DID tell them all to keep their hands off and not get too close. One mom resuced her son when after he almost locked himself into the bathroom (i was right there and don'tworry- i got him out) he almost toppled over into Grace's seat. I smiled sweetly and said thank you to her when she grabbed him. They called me up to the window and as I was answering all the questions about did we still live where we used to live I shut the fish tank lid gently trying to help that dad at least 6 times. A nurse resuced me by opening the door and calling somoene else back- I've never seen a kid run so fast when he's not just hit a baseball! His dad took off after him and decided at that point that they would go outside. How he managed that I have no idea. Later after they were all called back I saw that dad through the windows run through the secretary section.. twice... I said a prayer for those parents. As cute as that boy was and as much as you could see they loved him unconditionally you know that he was a handful! Around that time the rest of the kids were gone or thier mothers had come and gotten them so I was no longer the offical child care person of the waiting room. Finally, they called us back and Gary was almost there by then. Grace was exactly 16 weeks, 24 inches, 13 lbs and 2 oz. We got all our questions answered, she's in great health, growing right on target, in the 50th percentiles for everything and we were referred to a surgeon. I'm freaking out a bit about that. If you keep up with my blogs (and really who has the time?!) you know we found an unidentified bug on Grace late in July. I still think it was a tick and the Dr. we saw then (note: shoudl have asked for our regular Dr!) said don't worry it'll work it's way out but keep the bug in case she gets sick... remember that? Yea- what will indicate she might have something? "A change in behavior." was the answer. No tell me, how on EARTH can you tell when a 3 month old's behavior changes due to illness vs age? Come on! Any future Doc's that might happen upon this- please for the love of pete be a bit more detailed with the crazy-panicky moms! Anyways, the Dr. we saw Friday said that it should have worked it's way out by now and since this is not her are of expertise she'd like us to see a surgeon. As I finish this blog it's Wednesday and I lost the paper. (yea, the receptionist made appts in Nov for both of the kids and gave me a post it with two names and a phone number and didn't say a word. I go "So I just call and say I was referred by Dr. Rhee?" She nodded affirmative and turned back to her computer. Great. This means I get to explain the whole thing again...) I came home and fed Tyler and got him down for his nap and worked on cleaning the house. I got everything I cared to get done and was in the basement doing a load of laundry when the phone rang. It was after two so I figured it was my mom on the porch calling for me to unlock the door (I cannot hear when people knock on that door unless i"m in the living room. I hate that!). It was her- calling to say she was an hour and a half away! I was really surprised but then i realized that this meant I had over an hour that if Grace continued sleeping or at leat behaved I could watch what I wanted on TV. So I did! I watched some of season 3 of Friends. My mom came and while she always lays down to take a nap- I never seem to let her. We chatted till it was way past time to get Tyler up and through a feeding/playtime with Grace. We finally decided where to go for dinner (TGIFridays) and I decided I wanted to spend my birthday shopping spree at Target. I really don't want to buy clothes right now b/c if I lose a few waist inches I have a ton of clothes i've already paid for that would fit so I don't want to spend money until those don't fit. (Here's hoping I can shrink that much!) I decided it woudl be more fun to buy a movie and some girly stuff that I'd never buy for myself and so I did. I got a hair glaze thats supposed to brighten my natural highlights or something, spray gel to make my hair wavy (or keep it wavy?) and mouse. I also got mascara, eye liner, season 6 of Friends ON SALE! and hair clips. Fun fun fun!! My mom left from there and we went home and thankfully the kids went to bed without much trouble and so did I. I was exhausted. That night, for the first time in over a week, Grace slept through the night without having a meltdown. Gary woke up at 6am on Saturday and I fed Grace and made him take her. I also was asleep when he got Tyler up and didn't get up until Tyler came in and jumped on me. Gary wanted to take me to the mall and even though I really didn't need anything from there I agreed. I got up and while he watched the kids I took a nice LONG shower and got ready. I left the house- get this- showered, hair dryed AND STYLED, makeup already on and dressed in an outift I chose and liked- not just picked out of a hamper of 'clothes to be folded'. It was unreal. I almost felt like a person and not just mommy/maid. We went to Wendy's which we love b/c of thier great dollar menu. The rocket scientists there gave me a double combo instead of the cheap meal (and charged us for it b/c Gary didn't want to wait in line another 10 min to try to explain to the worker what he had done wrong) and Gary got his sandwiches and they looked like mini-burgers. They were SO small! We decided we'd much rather them raise the price 10 cents than shrink the burger in half. So, no more Wendy's for us. Tyler also was taken outside for a time out before we ate b./c he was being downright defiant and annoyingly loud. When people stare b/c he's cute- that's fine, when people stare because he's cute and they can hear him in Kentucky- not so fine. I made Gary eat half of my sandwich and we made sure to drink lots of pop. This Wendy's is next to the largest Dollar Tree I've ever seen so I made Gary go in there with me (it was my birthday shopping trip!) and we went up and down every single aisle. I stocked us up on Thomas stickers both for fun and for scrapbooking. They now have these character stickers 100 for a dollar. Cha-ching! We went to the mall and I managed to get a new nursing bra and find a top for 10$ that I liked AND fit. (Gary has this "rule" about not paying more than 10$ for any article of clothing-including shoes. I rarely follow it but it's much easier to get his approval if I try.) I really didn't want to buy any clothes and BBW is a waste of time to me unless it's the annual sale and everything is at least half off so I try not to even go in there so we went home and got the kids down for a nap. This also allowed Grace to stay on schedule which we thought might help her sleep through the night again. It didnt help enough since she was up again. That evening we ended up at Arby's (yuck) and walmart to grocery shop. Gary had found out that he was going to the Browns game Sunday so while in Walmart he looked at the jerseys. He found one but it had a mark on the number and he's very particular that his clothes be perfect- no marks, no holes, no tears etc. From a lifetime of shopping in places where most clothes have at least one of those he checks every item he buys meticulously. He found another jersey that he liked less b/c it was a different guy but i said get it and we can look around town and see if we can find another place that has them. We went all over kingdom come and ended up at another walmart where he did find what he wanted and did the exchange thing. Grace had had it so we rushed home to feed her and it was late so we also got Tyler to bed... after a snack and the usual round of Thomas of course. Sunday Gary left at 9 and there was no way I was even considering going to church. I treated the day like a week-day and of course it didn't go right. It was just one of those days where nothing really goes wrong but neither does anyting go right. We were almost an hour late to small group. Gary was about an hour behind us since they left the game early. Even with field passes (THANKS LIA and FAMILY!) it's not fun to be in Browns stadium losing (by a lot) to the Steelers in the rain. Had Gary paid for the ticket's he would have stayed but since they were a gift and his parents were ready to 'head' so was he. I was glad b/c it meant I had help at small group with the kids! Turns out I didn't really need it since Tyler played iwht all the other kids and Melissa held Grace almost the whole time! I really didn't know what to do with myself after Tyler and I ate- I just sat on the couch and talked to people. Cool! Monday Melissa came over after work to work out- I am sadly sadly sadly out of shape. We visited and had dinner together and she played with Tyler some. (She's one of the women he's in love with you know!) She left a little after 8 and since Gary was falling asleep on the couch watching football and Tyler was crabby I sent them to bed. Grace decided to fuss for two hours. She didn't want to eat, sleep, be rocked, held, be in the swing, in her seat or on the floor. Finally I think exhaustion took over and she was at that point where she'd cry if I moved but she was passed out in my arms. FINALLY I got her into bed and folded some of the mountain of laundry in my room while I waited for it to be midnight so i could wake her to feed her. She needed one more feeding and i do this in hopes that she will sleep till 6- this night she did not. Tuesday Tyler was a pain the you-know-what and after a lot of smart mouthing and crying over every little thing I became teacher-mom. I hate this but it worked out ok. I also made him wait till after lunch to watch any TV. He did fine once I got the tent out and we played in that. After nap (when Grace idd not let me sleep) I put myself together and we went out for a Birthday dinner with the Bush's. I really did not know what I wanted b/c my favorite Mexican restaurant is closed and may never re-open. I also was feeling downright sick b/c I'd eaten out at least once a day for a week and that's just wrong and sick and gross. I settled on another Mexican food- more Tex-Mex but it was good. I also had ice cream so it was another night of not feeling well. Grace was up again too. Gary took her for me after awhile. Sometimes she wakes up and I can get her right back to sleep without getting her out of bed, sometimes it takes 5 minues of holding, and sometimes it's an all out war for over an hour- sometimes, like last night, it was 2. I get about 5 hours of sleep at night and usually fall asleep again after Gary goes to work- today I got up, even though I only got about 4 hours of sleep and I'm determined to take a nap today. I'm also determined to get her on this routine!!!! My dad's coming for dinner and I know he wants to go out and get a steak. I hope we can find a place that has good salads. I am sure my diet has something to do with Grace being up at night. Oh yea, Grace was 16 weeks last Friday! Tuesday she will be 4 months! I had thoughts to share but I can't remember them. Plus you've read enough already. If you've gotten to this point- Kudo's to you! Time to get Tyler up...