An Example of How I Waste Time

78 words

Speed test

Tidbits of News

Olivia's dolls all lined up. The line of dolls was so long, a couple of them didn't make the photo.

Let's see. What's been going on in our world this week. Olivia has become even more obsessed with her dolls, if that's possible. All week, she's had them lined up on the floor of her room. Many of them have their own personal blanket tucked underneath the big blanket and many of them are wearing doll cloth diapers. Some are tired, some are sick, some are potty trained, some just pooped in their diaper. She has each doll named. There's, Ellie, Katie, baby Sean, baby Paige, Jennifer's mom, Jae Rin, Jose, Maria, Ming Lee, Dora, Diego, Tyrone and a couple of other ones, who's names I forget. Louisa, our housekeeper, came today and cleaned up her room. Olivia begged me, when I put her down for a nap, to not let Louisa move her stuff any more. That includes dolls and her nightstand.

The girls share a laugh with Olivia's dolls before bed

BATHS

They've both become obsessed with taking baths. Lila just recently got over a fear of baths. So, this was a welcome surprise. However, I have to keep an ear out for running water. They appreciate a bath (or two or three) any time of the day. Lila now throws a tantrum if we don't put her in when she wants and if we take her out before she's ready.

BABYSITTER

I interviewed a babysitter today who I think will work out quite nicely. I'm finding myself at a breaking point. I will lose my sanity if I do not get a break a few hours a week. Day sitters are hard to come by. Our night sitter cleans during the day, every day (Except Sunday's, after church). I don't really want two different people watching my girls. But, what can I do! The girls took right to the woman I interviewed today, which eases my apprehension (She doesn't speak more than a few words of English. The girls didn't seem to mind and I can understand 60-70% of what she's saying). Matt will, hopefully, work out the new sitter's fees this afternoon and she'll start next Tuesday. I plan to use her one morning a week for running errands, doing groceries, going on some "tourist" tours and local artisan and pottery trips with the Spouses' Group here and so on.

CLEAN UP

On another note, I found a different hair stylist (number three since I arrived). He makes house calls. There's an upside and downside to this. The upsides are that he's cheap and I don't have to leave my house. No more text messages from Matt asking where I am and what's taking so long. The downside is that, unless I have him come during naps, I still hear the pitter patter of toddler's feet, sibling fights, and begging for snacks. He is less expensive than elsewhere. Since he did a good job the other day (he cut Liv's hair too), I'll have him come again. Next time for highlights. Every 8-12 weeks, I'm used to getting "cleaned up." Pedicure, lip and eye brow wax and hair (all at once). David doesn't do anything except hair. However, he did recommend a woman who makes house calls for pedicures, waxing and massage. I've left her a message and hope to book her during naps. Of course, I'll book her for a day that the girls won't end up napping well. I'm open to going back to an afternoon at the salon (possibly when our day sitter is here) if none of this works out well.

VACATION

We're planning a trip to Germany (Bavaria) next month. We've booked hourly care for the girls for three full days at the Army post there. We've booked our cabin. Matt's waiting on flight prices to go down before we buy airline tickets (like that will happen...more power to him). We're crazy to be doing this. I dislike traveling with kids. But, having the hourly care option sealed the deal. We'll see how it goes. They can be dropped off at 7:00am but have to be picked up by 5:00. That leaves Matt and I with limited options as to how far away we can venture without them. I think we can find three day trips. If not, we'll cancel a day or two and bring them with us. Why we continue to do this ourselves, is beyond me. It's not like the US dollar is gaining on the Euro (read: better incentive to travel). It'll be our last trip outside of Portugal for about a year (aside from a trip home in August - airline tickets courtesy the U.S. Military) because we're going to be in the poor house if we keep up the frequency of travel.

EXHAUSTION

Aside from all that, I'm exhausted. The girls both had strings of colds for weeks and Olivia is just starting to sleep through the night again. Lila, on the other hand, is up at least once, if not three times. For a few months, a while back, she slept 12-13 hours straight. I was the happiest mother in the world having birthed such wonderful sleepers. How I let Lila return to nursing three times a night is beyond me. It kind of slipped through the cracks. In my exhaustion and delirium of going from Olivia's to Lila's room, I just used my boobs to shut one up (Lila). Now, weeks (or months?) have passed and she's nursing at night like she hasn't since she was a few months old. Olivia was LONG since night weaned at this age (Lila is 17-months). I had a plan with Liv and I stuck to it. Since I know Lila is capable of sleeping through the night, I thought I would just wait it out until she started sleeping through again. Last week, I realized that I can't wait it out any longer. I'm going to have to put my foot down with her. But, that means that she will, in all likelihood, wake Olivia up in the process (read: screaming because she thinks she needs to nurse in order to get back to sleep). That's, at least, three nights (if not two weeks) of both girls being up half the night and only wanting mommy. I've asked Matt to get on board and help. Yeah right! Waking him up in the middle of the night is, well, let's just say, not so easy.

RANDOM

I've squandered a lot of time on the internet over the past couple of days. Mostly blogging and ignoring my kids. However, since I've been online so much, I noticed that, in Entertainment News, Sean Penn and his wife retracted their divorce papers. Good news, I suppose. Oh, and The Office starts up again this week! Once again I can take part in weekly therapy, in it's funniest form!

Okay, it's after five. I have to start dinner and I hear the girls starting the bath water. Here we go again....

Why the Change?

If you look over the blog, you'll notice several changes. Why?

Well, my DH gently brought it to my attention that most readers go to our Buzz blog to get the latest family news. Travel news, pictures, trials and tribulations of life with toddlers, what we're eating (Green Curry with Shrimp is our new favorite dish-see side bar link), what we're reading, and so on. Many do not, generally speaking, care to get "lectures" on what bags I recommend they use at the store or what the latest in breastfeeding research happens to be. Many of our readers are grandparents and relatives who have long since passed the breastfeeding years. And, many of our readers, long ago, made the switch to reusable bags and reusable water bottles. In fact, many may wonder what took us so long to get on board in the first place!

DH also informed me that, often, my tone is preachy and condescending and a family news blog is not the place for some of what I've been posting about. DH, as usual, is right.

Therefore, I've deleted a lot of links from this blog and placed them on my sister blog. If you're interested in topics such as: breastfeeding, natural birth, eco-friendly living, cool infant and toddler finds, cool-mom blog links, my favorite online shopping sites, and don't mind and/or don't think you'll be offended by my thoughts on certain topics I post about, then pop on over to that blog from time to time. Share your thoughts, your favorite links, interesting research you've come across, and your cool finds. You can find the link to the blog in the left sidebar. I've updated the link so that readers on this site can see when it's been updated last.

DH has given me a lot to think about. Even over at my sister blog, I'll do my best to write in a more appropriate tone. One that doesn't come off quite so "lecturing and preachy," as DH likes to say. Certain topics do get me fired up! So, while I'll do my best, sometimes, I imagine, I'll spout off. You'll either laugh, gasp in horror or find you wholeheartedly agree and applaud...but, you'll no longer have to read (or scroll past) about any of it on this blog. Welcome news for those of you simply here for family updates!

Palmela, Portugal

Saturday morning, we got up bright and early and headed to Palmela. Palmela is known for cheese and wine. This weekend was the Festival do Queijo, Pão e Vinho (Festival of Cheese, Bread and Wine). Thinking it would be in the center of town, we punched the city center into our GPS and headed out on the 45-minute drive.

We arrived three hours after we left our house. It was not so easy to find. There were few signs and the last sign we saw, pegged into the ground, was pointed in the wrong direction! Eventually, frustrated and worn out from driving in circles, we detoured the family to the Palmela castle.

At the castle's tourist office, we found GPS coordinates on the festival's flyer(who knew there was a flyer!) and, after touring the castle, we found our way! We passed some wineries along the way that Matt and I would love to visit in the future (without the girls). The festival was small and attended mostly by locals. We sampled cheese and wine and dined on roasted pig sandwiches.

Even though we spent all morning frustrated and angry that we couldn't find the festival, once we got there, ran into some friends and had lots of wine, we couldn't help but have a really good time!

We ended the weekend today by taking the girls to Disney on Ice. While the show was in Portuguese and a bit long for Olivia and Lila, we still really enjoyed ourselves. Olivia only recognized Minnie and Mickey - but, was still enthralled during certain parts.

Matt and I came down with the colds the girls are getting over. So, we're feeling a bit miserable this evening. At least we fought the colds off long enough to enjoy the weekend with the girls. Next weekend, we plan to rest and stay close to home. Hopefully, by then, we'll all have finished a long slew of colds and illnesses!