Wow, it's been a while since I posted. I've been focused on keeping the girls busy during the day and taking it easy as soon as they go to bed. Good thing we have a great library in this county... I've been reading tons in the evenings... and in the middle of the night when I have long stretches of not being able to sleep. I'm at 26 weeks now though, so time is flying! And pretty soon it will be a cute baby that keeps me up at night and not just pregnancy insomia. Even though I've been unusually tired, I've felt lucky that we've been able to do some fun family things, and the girls and I have been able to do lots of fun things together so I don't think it's affected them much, except Cora knows she can now watch a show when Violet naps, because I'm resting too! Thanks to a loving, helpful husband, putting most of my hobbies on hold, and diet Dr. Pepper, we are all doing pretty well.
Anyway, here's what we've been up to the last 3 weeks...
-- We bought a
table! At least, we ordered one. We've been looking (and looking and looking and looking) for a kitchen table since we moved in 5 months ago, and couldn't find anything that met all of our specifications-- dark color, dining height, rectangular, inset base, solid wood, style we liked, seats 8-10 with a leaf. A long list! We finally found one, but it's on backorder until Christmas. Once it gets here, we'll have to look for some different chairs... the chairs with this were unjustifiably expensive to be used by little kids. The dining area is really the focal point of our main living space, so I'm excited to get it filled in. Kevin is just grateful he doesn't have to go look at more furniture stores... at least for a little while!
-- Jen, Keri and I had a craft night and made
these from
this fun website. It was great to find a craft store that sold all the pieces you need for a craft together in a package... and for good prices too.
--We did our second order from
this food co-op. I volunteered during the food handout time. I'm really enjoying getting the cheaper, more local, more fresh food with lots of variety.
--Mom and I went to the
General Relief Society meeting. We had terrific seats! It was a great meeting. Kevin, Dad, and the girls hung out at the apartment and watched BYU football.
--Speaking of football.... we've been watching the games, and even got to attend the last one, thanks to free tickets. It really wasn't as cold as we were expecting, and it was a lot of fun. Thanks Jen!
--We've had some fun family dinners with cousins and puppies.... Cora and Violet especially love these family times and count down the minutes until the get togethers. We're on box #2 now, and Cora and Violet have significantly expanded their box activities since Kissie and Pata showed them how much fun it is to tip the box over while they are inside it!
--As of today, we are officially fenced. It's so great to know the girls can play in the backyard with minimal supervision and not fall off the retaining wall! I'll be picking up some window well covers tomorrow, then we'll really be set. We didn't think we'd be able to do a fence for a while, but a landscaping company that did some other work for us put it in, using the materials from a great company we previously got a bid from, but for much less.
--We got to watch
General Conference ... well, most of it anyway. It's a whole different ballgame with little kids, but I feel we were fairly successful. And it's on the dvr, so we'll make up the misses.
--Violet and I both got little
MRSA infections that are just about cleared up now. Not very much fun, but at least I got us into a doctor early since I knew what to watch out for (from my bout 2 years ago). Part of the treatment was for Violet to take a bath 3-4 times a day for 4 days. She and Cora had a lot of fun with all the extra swim time.
--We've had some fun playgroups-- the Tracy Aviary (free! for UEA weekend) last week, and Gardner Village today. The girls, especially Cora, and me! love getting together with our Stansbury friends, it's a real treat, especially since we haven't really made friends around here yet. (Hopefully we'll get to that soon, it's just seemed a little overwhelming so far, especially with our huge ward and not being able to talk to people before and after Sacrament meeting while I'm doing organ prelude and postlude. Now that Violet is in nursery, I can actually try to meet people before and after RS though!)
--Cora FINALLY stayed in her bed all night long for 4 nights and got to go to a movie with Kevin. They saw Ice Age 3 in the dollar theater. Kevin said she did a great job staying quiet and still! Now I hope it will be a better motivator for her to continue the trend... I've been having so many sleeping issues myself, she really needs to stay in bed! Violet didn't get to go, but she had to be in the picture. We had a fun mommy-daughter night at home together instead.
--I'm volunteering for
Pioneer Theatre again this year with Emily. This is my 5th year, and even more fun because Emily and I can now carpool! We saw A Chorus Line tonight, not my favorite, but kind of fun, and there are some great shows lined up the rest of the year. While I was gone tonight, Kevin and the girls went to Wheeler Farm for a work dinner and autumn party.
--We all started swim lessons this week... 3 times a week for three weeks. Cora has her pre-level 2 class, and Violet and I are in a Mommy and Me class. It's a lot of fun, and the girls are having a great time. I really wanted to do it before the baby is born, otherwise Violet won't be able to do any swim classes until she is 3, and I knew she'd love it so much. Luckily I found a rec center not too far away that offers both classes at the same time. It ends up being quite the affair to get everyone changed and ready, drive there, have the lessons, drive back, and get all three of us changed and ready for the day. We are all ready for a nap by the end of that routine! Hopefully I can get Kevin or my mom to come to a lesson so we can get some pictures.
-- Violet's got herself a new cheesey smile... words can not describe! She and Cora both deserve posts of their own to document their current statuses and accomplishments. Soon, I hope!
We went to see cows-- Texas Longhorn-- with Emily and Rhett on Saturday. Rhett and his friends were busy measuring and inoculating the cows.... which Cora thought was especially interesting, given all the shots our family has been through the last month (flu, swine flu, rhogam, and regular immunizations!). We even got to watch the guys chase down one of the cows that escaped with the jeep. The girls thought the horns were cool, and Violet especially liked the rocks (good thing we keep Purell in the car!) and we got to see a lot before the rain started-- perfect timing!
