Mental Video Camera

I sometimes wish I had a Mental Video Camera where I could capture everything that I saw! Today was one of those days.

On the drive home after picking both girls up from school and daycare, I looked in my rearview mirror at a stop light to see why they were so quiet and I saw them reaching for each other. Now the way their carseats are installed right now, there is a gap between them and Cadence is still rear facing so I couldn't see her, just her arm. Delaney is seated behind me, so I only saw her arm as well. But when I looked in that mirror and saw the 2 of them trying so hard to hold hands, it just melted my heart!

I will forever have that imagine recorded in my mind, but I only wish I could play it back for others to see as well.

When it rains it pours!

Friday, I was thinking that this weekend would be a nice relaxing calm weekend where we had nothing specific planned.

But, then I got hit with the news that Virgil had been laid off and my head has just been spinning all weekend. ok... so that's pretty normal feelings, but when you add that to Cadence throwing up Friday night, then getting a fat lip in the morning and then Delaney throwing up all last night and I woke up feeling pretty crappy... sigh... I'm just exhausted! So much for my easy going weekend.

But I'm hangin in there... I know that something really good is going to come of this! It's just been a tough weekend!

Blessing in Disguise?

Well, our prayers have finally been answered! Unfortunately, not the way we had hoped!

Virgil was laid off today and surprisingly, he's in a much better mood tonight than he has been in a long time! As he put it, he's not dreading Monday for once! His work situation was a miserable experience for him and he'd been looking for a new job since before I was laid off in February last year!

Yes, things are going to get rough for a little while, especially with the economy the way it is... but really, something good is going to come out of this! God will prevail! The hardest part is that he only got a 2 wk severance and we had pretty much used up our savings when I was laid off last year and was out of work for 7 months! So we really don't have that much to fall back on.

Starting Monday, Virgil will be a stay at home Dad to save money on daycare/preschool expenses until he is able to start working again! Delaney will still go to preschool on a part-time basis, like she did when I was out last summer. I know he's really going to enjoy that time since he had said his time home while on Paid Family Leave was so much better than going to work in the job he couldn't stand! He's also going to have much more focused time to find a new job.

hmmm... speaking of... I wonder if he could finish off his PFL since Cadence isn't a year old yet? It would pay better than unemployment! Either way, I know we'll be ok. God has always taken care of us! However, all your prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Please pray that the right position come quickly and that it's close to home and pays him what he's really worth!

3 yr old Drama Queen

How on earth did I raise such a Drama Queen... oh wait, I better not say that out loud... err... I mean "Princess!"

That girl has so much attitude, it makes the preteen girls on the Disney Channel look dull!!!

Just so you have an inkling of an idea of what I'm talking about, here is my conversation with her this morning:

(Showing her 2 pairs of panties): Delaney, which ones do you want to wear today? Elmo or Butterflies?
Delaney: I don't want those, I want Princesses.
Me: Delaney, all your Princesses are in the laundry, so you can't wear them.
Delaney: (Rolling her eyes) Then buy me more Princesses Mommy!

Example #2 - Conversation while doing her homework

Delaney: Ok, I'm done
Me: Oh, you forgot to color the letters
Delaney: I don't want to color the letters
Me: But your h/w instructions say you need to color the letters. How about if you color each one different?
Delaney: (growling) I SAAAAID I don't want to color them!
Me: Ok... then Ms. Sherida won't give you a prize for finishing your h/w
Delaney: Oh... ok, which color should I use?

Those are just from the last 24 hrs!!! What am I going to do with that girl!

Great Idea!

When Delaney wants something, she no longer uses the standard method of asking for things "I want to watch TV" or "I want a special treat!"

No... instead she has decided to be super cute and make her demands irresistable by saying "Mommy, I've got a Great Idea!"

Forcing me to respond with "What's your Great Idea?"

And this is where she proceeds to turn on her super cuteness in an effort to get me to have a hard time saying No: "My Great Idea is, we sit on the living room floor and watch a tv show and have a picnic with special treats!"

Math

Delaney is trying to learn some Math. She was watching Math Circus by Leap Frog and when it was over she asked me "What does 1 and 1 make?" I tried to get her to tell me by asking her and her answer... "1 and 1 make 11!" Well... I guess she's sort of right...

All I want for Christmas is a healthy family!

At the beginning of last week, Cadence came down with a bad cold. Just 1 week after starting daycare, so it was sort of expected. By the end of last week, she had pretty much lost her voice and you couldn't even hear her when she cried.

I took her into the Dr. on Thur and sure enough, she had croup. So we had to give her breathing treatments on the nebulizer before bed each night. By this time, Delaney was fighting off the same bad cold and had a sore throat. Between the 2 of them not sleeping well, Virgil and I were getting very little sleep.

Once Friday rolled around, I was thinking the weekend would help us to recover, but it didn't. By the end of the weekend, Delaney was fine, but Cadence was still sick and Virgil and I had come down with the bad cold. Our lack of sleep has made it even harder for us to fight it off too.

We finally were able to send Cadence back to daycare on Tuesday... sigh... what a relief. Until... I got a call from Delaney's school at 4pm that she had just thrown up. So I left work early and headed for her school and called Virgil to have him pick up Cadence so I could get Delaney straight home. By the time I got there, she had thrown up again and she was sitting in a chair in the restroom hovering over the toilet crying. I tried to cuddle her to make her feel better, but also had to get her into her carseat so I could get her home. So I buckled her up, handed her a plastic bag in case she had to throw up again, and headed home. She didn't make it home... she threw up all over the car. Not a drop in the plastic bag... sigh... It took me over an hour to clean it up in the pouring rain. I had to take her carseat completely apart and get it all cleaned up too. Did I mention how exhausted I was by this time?

So Tues night, we didn't get much sleep... Along comes Wed morning. Both girls wake up with fevers. We already knew Virgil would have to stay home with Delaney, but now Cadence had to stay home too. Thank goodness, by the end of the day, their fevers were gone and Delaney was back to herself. Cadence was still fighting the cold.

So now it's Thur, and Cadence has her 6 mo. check up. I take her in, returning the nebulizer, and her weight has dropped and she's got a double ear infection. My poor baby... she's been through so much!

At this point, with just 5 days til Christmas, all I really want for Christmas is for my family to not be sick and to get a decent nights sleep again! Did I mention that I'm exhausted?