happy coincidences

I love happy coincidences.

We were looking for a new bike trailer and voila! I found one at a garage sale the next day. That one had rust, so I didn't buy it and voila! I found another, cheaper one at the next garage sale in much better condition.

I was looking for some Brain Quest cards on eBay and craigslist and decided I didn't need them that badly and voila! I found some at a garage sale the next day.

I have been trying to find the time to get to a thrift store to look for bigger long pants for Laura. I also looked at all the aforementioned garage sales with no luck and voila! Michelle gave me a bag of clothes for Adam that Odin had outgrown and 2 of his old pairs fit Laura . (thanks Michelle!)

Mama

He knows who feeds him at 3am!

Kids playing with the chair

Bike ride

We went to church Saturday night and took a short bike ride to a playground this morning. The weather couldn't be more perfect in the low 80s and only a few clouds. It was a great morning. Now Jim is at work studying for a professional test he will take in October and the kids are asleep. What a nice day!

Sculpture garden

The kids and I visited the Minneapolis sculpture garden in front of the Walker Art Center on Monday. You know, the one with the huge cherry on the spoon? The weather was perfect and we had a great time.

"I'm nervous on this bridge over the highway, but I think its really cool, too."

Neat 2 way mirror

Again, nervous but having fun.

Proof that Adam was here too.

Laura-isms #2

"This butter smells gross!" (she must have been switched at birth)

"These grapes are in season! And there's no chemicals on them!", "L is for Local" (mwhaaa-aaa-aaaah...I have brainwashed to child to be a tree-hugger.)

And I want to make a note of some of her pretend names in case I haven't before. Angelina Averbina is a favorite, as well as Princess and Everyana. Her pretend dog names are usually Cheesy, Spot, Jill, or Henry.

sweeping

Sweeping the floor with a baby crawling around should be an olympic sport. Pretty funny to have them crawling after you as fast as they can while you try to weave around and keep them out of your dirt and away from your broom. They can be distracted by whizzing refrigerator magnets by them occasionally, though.

Sweeping is a necessary evil - might as well make it fun!

Ella's playgroup

We recently attended a playgroup at a friend's house and Laura had a great time!

Things making me happy today

My daughter's pink pink pink shoes

.

My new french press and excellent coffee, courtesy of my loving husband (who probably likes me caffeinated better than not).

My son eating peas and drinking from a sippy cup. Love those toes!

Using my Grandma's Grandma's sugar container from the late 1800s.

Phlox from my garden

most welcome help

Here's a surprise: Parenting is hard. Write that one down in your journal, its important to remember. I am aware that I often make it tougher than it has to be and I definitely whine about it more than other moms I know. People keep assuring me its because sleep deprivation is an actual form of torture, so I'm starting the day off with a serious disadvantage, but that's all going to change soon (right Adam?). Anyway, my Mom stayed on a few days after the baptism to help get me back in working order and to play pretend with Laura for 72 hours straight. Her visit made us feel like this:

We loved it so much, we cajoled her into coming back in a couple of weeks to help while Jim's out of town for a week. Here she is working her magic, teaching Laura to play Slap Jack and wrangling Adam at the same time:
Love you Mom!

Congratulations Adam!

We finally got our act together and baptized Adam. Yea Adam! We had lots of family in this past weekend and everything went spectacularly. Except for the lack of pictures. I was just too preoccupied with many other things to take many pictures. Here are a few my Dad took at the actual baptism. Adam did great, except for wanting to go face first into the water instead of laying his head back. Thank you to Bob and Kate for agreeing to be his Godparents! We are so glad! Thank you to all who made the special trip. I know it is a long way for such a quick visit, but it meant a lot to us that you made it.

Elusive sleep

So, for some time now, I have been avoiding writing about the topic of Adam's sleep habits (or rather, lack of). I think I'm actually tired of complaining about it. Can that be? Is that possible? So now I'm going to move on to complain about complaining too much. Sounds about right...

Anywhoosits, since I have a little good news to report, I'll bring up the subject so that I can reread this some afternoon next week when I am falling apart and make myself feel better that there might be another good day in the future. The latest is that every once in a while, we all sleep a little bit! Yea! Last night was a good night. Adam slept in his bed in his room, Jim and I in our own bed. I know that Americans are in the minority of cultures that value this sleep arrangement but I am what I am and I discovered that I need to sleep in my own bed without a small leach attached to my side all night. And he went to bed at 6:30, which gave me a glorious 3 hours of non-baby awake time. He nursed at 9:30 and 3:30 and woke up at 7am this morning. THIS, I can handle. Lets keep it up!

I have to give him somewhat of a break here and there though, because it looks like he's got 3 teeth about to break through and that has to be painful. I'm trying to limit my use of Tylenol, but really that's about the only way to give him a peaceful rest. Hopefully those will be in soon and we can stop drugging the child.

Jill's visit

Laura has told me that she has 3 friends: Odin, the big girl at the Blast that helped her when she was scared, and Jill. Jill is Jim's parents' dog and the nicest, calmest dog I have ever met. We requested that they bring her up when they visited last weekend and Laura was a happy happy girl. I compared Jill to the Carl books about the rottweiler that babysits. I really don't like those books, but I'm a big fan of this babysitter! Laura just followed her around and pretty much did whatever Jill did for hours on end. They were a happy pair. It turns out that poor Jill was a bit stressed out by the end of the weekend though, so I might have to rein Laura in a bit next time.