Amy

About 15 minutes ago Scott whisked Emma off to our bedroom claiming they were going to take a nap. I was thinking, yeah, right, she’ll climb right down and keep on playing. Well, I just walked in there and sure enough! Both of them are asleep in our bed.

About 15 minutes ago Scott whisked Emma off to our bedroom claiming they were going to take a nap. I was thinking, yeah, right, she’ll climb right down and keep on playing. Well, I just walked in there and sure enough! Both of them are asleep in our bed.

Last night I went and helped out in AWANA at the church we’ve been going to here in Columbia. I initially volunteered by talking to the children’s directory but after I did, I almost regretted doing so. Working with the children every week for 1 1/2 hr can be quite rewarding but very tiring, especially after spending all of your other hours with a toddler. Yesterday I actually was looking forward to it though. It was a bit odd at first. Game time was first and as I was standing behind the children on their game line, it was almost surreal. I barely knew only 2 people in the entire gym and the rest of the people were not even familiar faces. I wondered why I was even there. When we got to handbook time and I started working with the children one on one, I remembered what it felt like to work with 8 or 9 year old little girls that adore you. There is something special about that age with girls. They are so willing to please and everything you do is closely watched. They are easy to love. The teacher I am helping out is in our Sunday School class. She is due in a few months and I am helping to take her place. I’ve liked her ever since we started going and I can tell we have the same style of handling the children. Very sweet, but expects a lot out of them. I really liked council time. The guy doing it was very animated and just the fact that I never have to teach it was even better. At the end of the night the other leaders asked how I liked it. I told them how odd it was to go from knowing everyone and their cousin to knowing absolutely no one. It was good to hear that they knew no one when they started either. I guess I figured everyone else knew everyone else. I think this will be really good for me. I’ll feel like I’m more a part of the church like we used to be, I’m doing something that has a good purpose and I get a break every Wednesday night!

Emma has been very clingy lately. She has definitely not been napping well and I think it’s because she doesn’t want me to leave her. She’ll be sound asleep and when I put her down, she is grabbing hold of me like there’s no tomorrow and screaming. It took 3 times for me to put her down/calm her before I could leave her in her crib for a nap today and then she only napped for 30 minutes. Tonight, she was obviously tired so I rocked her for a few minutes and then laid her down. She cried of course but I am trying to start being a little more strict at night. Three nights in a row I’ve let her cry it out after rocking her some. Last night she didn’t cry for more than 30 seconds. Tonight she held out for about 5 minutes. Not bad really.

Last night I went and helped out in AWANA at the church we’ve been going to here in Columbia. I initially volunteered by talking to the children’s directory but after I did, I almost regretted doing so. Working with the children every week for 1 1/2 hr can be quite rewarding but very tiring, especially after spending all of your other hours with a toddler. Yesterday I actually was looking forward to it though. It was a bit odd at first. Game time was first and as I was standing behind the children on their game line, it was almost surreal. I barely knew only 2 people in the entire gym and the rest of the people were not even familiar faces. I wondered why I was even there. When we got to handbook time and I started working with the children one on one, I remembered what it felt like to work with 8 or 9 year old little girls that adore you. There is something special about that age with girls. They are so willing to please and everything you do is closely watched. They are easy to love. The teacher I am helping out is in our Sunday School class. She is due in a few months and I am helping to take her place. I’ve liked her ever since we started going and I can tell we have the same style of handling the children. Very sweet, but expects a lot out of them. I really liked council time. The guy doing it was very animated and just the fact that I never have to teach it was even better. At the end of the night the other leaders asked how I liked it. I told them how odd it was to go from knowing everyone and their cousin to knowing absolutely no one. It was good to hear that they knew no one when they started either. I guess I figured everyone else knew everyone else. I think this will be really good for me. I’ll feel like I’m more a part of the church like we used to be, I’m doing something that has a good purpose and I get a break every Wednesday night!

Emma has been very clingy lately. She has definitely not been napping well and I think it’s because she doesn’t want me to leave her. She’ll be sound asleep and when I put her down, she is grabbing hold of me like there’s no tomorrow and screaming. It took 3 times for me to put her down/calm her before I could leave her in her crib for a nap today and then she only napped for 30 minutes. Tonight, she was obviously tired so I rocked her for a few minutes and then laid her down. She cried of course but I am trying to start being a little more strict at night. Three nights in a row I’ve let her cry it out after rocking her some. Last night she didn’t cry for more than 30 seconds. Tonight she held out for about 5 minutes. Not bad really.

Whoo Hoo! I think I’m back online!

We have been very sick around here. The stomach virus has been passed around from Emma to me then Scott. Emma was sick last Wednesday and Thursday. I was so sick yesterday I couldn’t even sit up straight. Heather came down in the evening once Scott left for work to help with Emma. I didn’t do anything but lay on the couch or bed. The worst of it was I couldn’t go to sleep. My stomach and head were hurting so I couldn’t relax enough to dose off. Heather got me some medicine and then I took some Tylenol and finally went to sleep right before 11 last night.

Scott ended up working last night instead of Thursday night so he now has until Monday night off. We might go home for the day Saturday. Who knows. Knowing us we can’t stay around here doing nothing all weekend.

Whoo Hoo! I think I’m back online!

We have been very sick around here. The stomach virus has been passed around from Emma to me then Scott. Emma was sick last Wednesday and Thursday. I was so sick yesterday I couldn’t even sit up straight. Heather came down in the evening once Scott left for work to help with Emma. I didn’t do anything but lay on the couch or bed. The worst of it was I couldn’t go to sleep. My stomach and head were hurting so I couldn’t relax enough to dose off. Heather got me some medicine and then I took some Tylenol and finally went to sleep right before 11 last night.

Scott ended up working last night instead of Thursday night so he now has until Monday night off. We might go home for the day Saturday. Who knows. Knowing us we can’t stay around here doing nothing all weekend.

I keep postponing posting because the thought of writing about all that was missed while I couldn’t post is overwhelming to me. So, I’m just going to go forward and maybe post a little about the past few weeks as I go.

I can say that the trip up north went well. Everyone got along well. A lot of people showed up for the viewing. The funeral was somewhat boring. The priest just read out of a book. He did say a few words, but they were Nana’s that she wanted to relay to the family. She said she wanted to say that Pap loved all the kids and always wanted to take care of them and that God would take care of them from now on. Pap’s youngest brother also got up to talk and told a few stories about his life with Pap. They were all good memories from his younger days that I had never heard. It was good to hear something good. I kind of made peace with Pap while we were gone. Pap dad 10 minutes after Mom and Dad got to the hospital. For someone to wait for someone else to die, that says a lot about how they feel about that person and for me, it was like an apology for what Pap had put Dad through. And that apology made me have a good last impression of him. So we’re ok.

The bad thing is Nana went in the hospital on Christmas Eve and got out on Sunday afternoon. That Sunday night was the viewing and she only went for 10 minutes before anyone got there. She never showed for the viewing and didn’t come to the funeral on Monday either. My aunt called her on the cell phone and let her listen to the bells at the gravesite but she said it upset her. But believe me, she wasn’t upset because of Pap. Well, maybe a little, but the real issue was her fear of facing the family. That’s really all my parents would tell me. As I’ve gotten older, my mom has let me in on some of the family secrets and my Nana isn’t the rosy cheeked grandmother I always thought she was. Not saying that she isn’t, but also there is other sides to her. She can be a little weird at times. Before Pap passed away, Nana was at the house by herself and she purposely took the phone off the hook. First of all, why wasn’t she at the hospital by Pap on his death bed and two, why in the world would she be at the house without a phone for someone to tell her that her husband had just passed away. Anyway, she has issues. And my grandparents had issues. In less than a week, she had moved out his recliner and put hers downstairs and had thrown out all of Pap’s clothes. She has plans to sell his truck and put in a bathroom. I am really glad for her though. She was oppressed for so many years, especially financially and I do hope good things for her. That she’ll take the last years she has and run with whatever opportunities she has.

So the sippy cup thing isn’t going as well as I had hoped. Scott got her to drink a whole cup of it. She usually only drinks 3 oz for me though. I threw in a bottle two nights ago to see if that’s what it really was and she took the whole thing. I wouldn’t really care, but the dr. said she needed at least 24 oz. a day.

Scott is only working one day this week and I’m back at work this week, so it is going to work out well I think. I love when he is home. I can get so many more things done. Oh and I like his company too

We went to the grocery store today and I’m not sure if I’ve ever bought that much stuff. We had nothing at the house. Our top shelf in the fridge had Egg Nog and a pack of cheese on it. That’s it. We’ve been gone for so long and everything had expired or we had used it before we left. Now, we have nicely stocked cabinets which I didn’t let it go without acknowledging that a lot of people don’t have that and I’m grateful. I’m making tuna patties tonight and it doesn’t sound like much, but I love those things!

I keep postponing posting because the thought of writing about all that was missed while I couldn’t post is overwhelming to me. So, I’m just going to go forward and maybe post a little about the past few weeks as I go.

I can say that the trip up north went well. Everyone got along well. A lot of people showed up for the viewing. The funeral was somewhat boring. The priest just read out of a book. He did say a few words, but they were Nana’s that she wanted to relay to the family. She said she wanted to say that Pap loved all the kids and always wanted to take care of them and that God would take care of them from now on. Pap’s youngest brother also got up to talk and told a few stories about his life with Pap. They were all good memories from his younger days that I had never heard. It was good to hear something good. I kind of made peace with Pap while we were gone. Pap dad 10 minutes after Mom and Dad got to the hospital. For someone to wait for someone else to die, that says a lot about how they feel about that person and for me, it was like an apology for what Pap had put Dad through. And that apology made me have a good last impression of him. So we’re ok.

The bad thing is Nana went in the hospital on Christmas Eve and got out on Sunday afternoon. That Sunday night was the viewing and she only went for 10 minutes before anyone got there. She never showed for the viewing and didn’t come to the funeral on Monday either. My aunt called her on the cell phone and let her listen to the bells at the gravesite but she said it upset her. But believe me, she wasn’t upset because of Pap. Well, maybe a little, but the real issue was her fear of facing the family. That’s really all my parents would tell me. As I’ve gotten older, my mom has let me in on some of the family secrets and my Nana isn’t the rosy cheeked grandmother I always thought she was. Not saying that she isn’t, but also there is other sides to her. She can be a little weird at times. Before Pap passed away, Nana was at the house by herself and she purposely took the phone off the hook. First of all, why wasn’t she at the hospital by Pap on his death bed and two, why in the world would she be at the house without a phone for someone to tell her that her husband had just passed away. Anyway, she has issues. And my grandparents had issues. In less than a week, she had moved out his recliner and put hers downstairs and had thrown out all of Pap’s clothes. She has plans to sell his truck and put in a bathroom. I am really glad for her though. She was oppressed for so many years, especially financially and I do hope good things for her. That she’ll take the last years she has and run with whatever opportunities she has.

So the sippy cup thing isn’t going as well as I had hoped. Scott got her to drink a whole cup of it. She usually only drinks 3 oz for me though. I threw in a bottle two nights ago to see if that’s what it really was and she took the whole thing. I wouldn’t really care, but the dr. said she needed at least 24 oz. a day.

Scott is only working one day this week and I’m back at work this week, so it is going to work out well I think. I love when he is home. I can get so many more things done. Oh and I like his company too

We went to the grocery store today and I’m not sure if I’ve ever bought that much stuff. We had nothing at the house. Our top shelf in the fridge had Egg Nog and a pack of cheese on it. That’s it. We’ve been gone for so long and everything had expired or we had used it before we left. Now, we have nicely stocked cabinets which I didn’t let it go without acknowledging that a lot of people don’t have that and I’m grateful. I’m making tuna patties tonight and it doesn’t sound like much, but I love those things!