cleaning day

I think I’m starting to clean in spurts.  I don’t like that, by the way, but with two little ones at home with me all the time, I have to clean when I have a couple of minutes.  I usually clean a little while they are strapped into their seats for a snack, or even better, for lunch.  A couple of days ago, I decided that I just had to sweep and mop the kitchen and dining area.   The little ladies happily munched and watched while I did just that, as quickly as possible knowing that at any second they would declare themselves to be done and want to get down and “help”.  We all know what THAT means . . . my quick little cleaning job will now take three times as long.

And that’s what happened.

However, Rose it getting to be “mommy’s little helper” where she actually LIKES to help me do things, and though her ability to help is quite limited now, it does keep her busy for awhile.  This, of course, means that Pendo thinks she would like to help, too.  Her attention span isn’t as long yet, but what harm can it do to give her a wet paper towel, point her in the direction of the fridge or dishwasher doors, and let her go at it?

(Yes, I realize the girls are both in their diapers.  That’s what happens around here a lot.  They do wear  pants or skirts if we go outside . . . usually.)

So this little cleaning adventure really worked.  The girls were happy “helping mommy” and I was able to meet my cleaning goal for the day without having to clean while they were napping.

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finally!

Thanks for everybody’s opinion on the paint color.  Now that I think about it, I really doubt anyone would publicly say that they didn’t like it at the risk of hurting my feelings, so it probably wasn’t a fair question.  We DID decide to keep it.  Every day it grows on me a little bit more, and we are really happy with how it turned out.  I’ll just be a bit more cautious when we choose a color for our room, something in the blue family.  We also have to repaint all the trim and the doors white.  A big job, but worth it in the end since I’ve never really cared for the color of our room, and I’d really like for it to be a relaxing haven instead of the dump zone it has become since we moved back into our house.

As for the “guess the picture” post, one of  you was right!  It is chalk on the screen door.  The little girls just CANNOT keep the chalk on the chalkboard easel, no matter how many times we’ve practiced.  G and I decided that it isn’t something that we want to enforce right now, so everything gets colored . . . the trikes, the picnic table, the deck, the grill cover, the chairs, the steps, the sidewalk . . . even the screen door.  I really took the picture to see it I could actually focus the camera enough on that particular section, and it worked.  And, yes, that is our Amani ya Juu diaper bag in the background.  That was an unexpected perk to the picture.

Last weekend, Kait and I finally were able to go to the library by ourselves.  We both ADORE the library, and it’s a much nicer experience if the little ones stay home with Daddy.  Kait has been wanting her own library card for almost two years, and now that she’s seven . . . .

she filled out the application,

got her very own card,

and checked out a LOT of books which she spent the next two days reading through and is ready for more.  The next time we go I think we’ll have to take the little girls along.  Thank goodness you don’t have to whisper in the children’s section.  If that were the case, we would have to wait a couple of years to venture back to that delightful place.

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can you guess . . .

. . . .what this is?

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new paint

We did it.

What do you think?

We’ve made our decision about whether or not we’re going to keep it, but I want to hear what you think before I tell you.

Also, I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally want to paint our bedroom, too.  It’s been nice, neutral tan for four years, and I’m ready for a change.  It won’t be this bright (at least I don’t think so!), and we might even start on it this week.

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everybody out of the pool

Rose has recently had some evaluations from two physical therapists.  Because of her extreme prematurity (being born three months early), one of her doctor’s requested that she be evaluated to see if she needs continued physical therapy.  She had physical therapy from birth right up  until we went to Kenya to adopt Pendo.  Anyway, after seeing two different therapists, it looks as if she is a little delayed in some of her gross motor skills, but they just gave us recommendations about how we can help her from home.  She does not need to continue with regular physical therapy right now.  One of the recommendations is that Rose participate in some swimming classes and added time in a pool as well as some other classes for children her age to encourage these delayed large motor skills.  After some research, we decided one of the best things we could do to help her would be to become members of the local recreation center.  They offer many classes and opportunities that she can benefit from, and along with that, we can all use the pool and the rest of the facilities, too.  It’s a win/win for all of us.

Since we decided to join, we gave the pool a try this afternoon.  We ate dinner early, changed the girls into their cute little matching bathing suits, dug out the beach towels and cover ups, and headed out.  The girls were sooooooooooooooo excited to be going swimming.  We had the pool to ourselves!  We splashed, played, practiced blowing bubbles in the water, and the kids went down a slide.  A couple more families came to join us in the pool and right then IT happened.   Pendo had just gone down the slide and had swallowed some water when her head very briefly went under the water.  She got choked, and according to G, spewed her entire dinner all over him and into the pool water.  YIKES AND DISGUSTING!!  I saw the chunks floating around and just had to laugh.  We notified the life guard, and she told us we all had to get out of the pool.  She called for help, and we just had to apologize and laugh and laugh.  The other families were very gracious about it, and the life guard says this happens more often than you’d think when a kid gets choked by swallowing too much water.  What a way to start off our new membership!  At least the life guard has a good story to tell her friends, but I don’t think we’ll feed the kids right before we go swimming next time.

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alice, is that you?

The other day Pendo and Rose were playing with the dollhouse, just giggling up a storm, so I had to get out the camera and try to capture the joy.  These pictures just make me think about Alice in Wonderland.

In other news, we were able to enjoy a visit with my parents last weekend.  It was good to see them,

and G’s dad is stopping by to see us today and go to Grandparent’s Day at school with Kait in the middle of a work-related trip in our area.  The girls love seeing the grandparents, and we love having an extra pair of hands around to entertain the girls.

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a bit of redecorating

Ahhh . . . my FAVORITE time of year!

I LOVE spring.

We didn’t experience spring last year since we went to Kenya right before it came, so I’m doubly enjoying it this year.  What’s not to love?

Chilly mornings and warm afternoons,

tulips that are take-your-breath-away gorgeous,

Bleeding Heart in all it’s glory,

and still more spring flowers yet to fully bloom.

Of course I’m really, really, really wanting to get out into our little flower beds, but this time of year also inspires me to do that deep cleaning.  You know, the stuff you totally forget about in the winter . . .clean windows, dusty basement corners, cobwebs from long-forgotten spiders, that space behind and under the fridge that you’d rather not even think about.  Well, it’s spring, and it’s time to clean!!  Except that I’m not able to yet.  Ahem . . . since TWO of our children are ages two and almost two, they aren’t on board with their mommy spending lots of time chasing dust bunnies right out of the house.  That’s rather dull to them.  They’d much rather read books with mommy or play blocks with mommy or play with the doll house with mommy or ride on mommy’s back or play outside while mommy pushes them on their much-too-big trikes just so they can be outside.  The common denominator in all of this is that mommy HAS to be hands-on involved with e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g that they want to do.  That leaves little time (or energy) left for cleaning or playing in the flower beds.  Oh well.

Maybe we can do that other thing that spring inspires me to do . . . redecorate little things here and there.

I wanted to repaint the girls’ bedroom to coordinate with their new Amani ya Juu quilts that we bought in Kenya.  After asking a friend for her professional designer opinion, she liked the color that I had chosen as my favorite, too.   Yesterday G and I had about an hour and a half to work on it, so we put up the painter’s tape and painted the edges of the room.

Oh. My.

I don’t think I like it at all.

It looks a lot different on the wall than it did on that little paint swatch you get at the store.

We haven’t painted the whole walls yet, but I hope to finish it this week.  Not sure if I’m going to keep it, so I’m keeping the painter’s tape up for a few days while I get used to it.  Maybe it will be a lot better when it’s all painted?

Since mommy has redecorating on her mind, it seems like Rose also wanted to help spice things up around here.  She found my black eyeliner . .  .

and added some stripes to the couch.

For the record, Kait NEVER did that.  She never colored on furniture or walls or clothes or herself, so I guess we are due for some redecorating from a two-year-old.  It DID come off the couch with some soap, water, and elbow grease.

After we finish painting the girls’ room, I’ll post a picture and see what you think.  I need some second and third and fourth opinions with my bold color choice.

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“i working”

Here’s the scene.

A couple of days ago, I was cleaning the bathroom.  Pendo had just woken up from her morning nap (can you BELIEVE that she still takes a short morning nap at 21 months?!?  That’s about to end, though).  She was happy just singing in her crib, so I thought I’d take advantage of this moment of quiet contentment to finish cleaning the sinks really quickly.  I sang to her through the wall, and Rose was happily working on something.  I didn’t know what she was doing, so I asked her.  “Whatcha’ doin’ Rose?”  She replied, “I working, mama.”  OK.  I quickly peeked into the hallway between scrubs and swipes of my cleaning cloth.  She was unpacking one of Kait’s purses that had been left on the floor where she could get to it easily.  Hmmmm . . . that’s not the BEST thing that she could be doing, but I figured she couldn’t get into too much trouble as long as she didn’t find any coins and put them in her mouth.  I let her keep “working” cheerfully while I cleaned as fast as I could.  As I wiped the mirror I was vaguely aware that now Rose was taking things out of Kait’s purse and putting them in Pendo’s bed.  ‘Well,’ I thought, ‘this isn’t the best thing for her to do either, but I’m almost finished and what could she find that could cause trouble?’

About 20 seconds later, Rose brought me a half-eaten piece of gum.  “What’s this, mama?” she asked.  Oh!

I went in to check on Pendo, and sure enough, I found her swallowing the other half of that piece of gum.

She smiled sweetly and said, “Yummy!  Gum . . . Kait . . . yummy!”

I quickly grabbed the other four pieces of gum that were laying in her crib and wondered yet again if the old myth is true.  Does it really take seven years for gum to digest?  I think Mythbusters figured it out, but I don’t remember their results.  Do you know?

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flying solo

I was on my own with all three girls for about three days this week.  This was the first time the G has traveled without us for that long since we’ve had three kiddos.

This three-day trip was good practice for when G goes back to Kenya for about 2 1/2 weeks this summer.  I don’t know how single parents do this all the time.  It is sooooooo tiring, and the kids were actually better than they usually are.  I think I’m going to have help when G’s gone a lot longer this summer, so that will make a big difference.   I’m SO VERY thankful that G is a “hands on” dad and helps a lot with the girls when he is home.   It makes all the difference in enjoying the little ones rather than just surviving this difficult stage of life.

This week we were able to introduce Rose to scrambled eggs

and REAL cookies with real butter and eggs and chocolate chips!!

It’s so fun to be able to let Rose experience some foods she has never had.  Don’t worry, though, I’m not going to write about every single little thing that she eats, but we are so thankful that it appears that it is safe for her to eat pretty much anything.  We haven’t tried cheese just yet, but I can’t wait until she can have pizza WITH cheese!!

Here’s a new picture of Pendo.  I ended up having to redo all of her braids because the little clasps on the ends were dropping out several times a day.  I really need to find the time to go get some better supplies to work with, but she looks really cute with her new bright beads.

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rosebud

Our little Rose has had a big change recently.

After working hard dragging around her “suitcase” for a good part of each day,

she now is recharging her batteries in her big girl bed!!

**please notice the quilt we brought home from Amani ya Juu in Kenya! http://www.amaniafrica.org/

We just got Kait and Rose a new bunk bed last week, and both girls really love it.  Rose has done a really great job adjusting from sleeping in her pack and play to having a cozy bed of her own.

Pendo really likes to play in the new big girl bed, so it might not be too long before she graduates from her crib.  Maybe we’ll try potty training first, though.  Can’t handle too many training situations at once.

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