Week in Review ~ 4/14

Whew!  What a week!  I'm reminding myself that being in the house for the first week, still having tons to unpack, having Avery home all week and under the weather, and having a newborn will drive anyone crazy, so it's ok to feel crazy every now and then.

Sunday was Easter Sunday!  We all slept well in the new house, including Avery who never made a peep all night.  I got Avery up and Ned got the video camera ready so that we could see what the Easter Bunny brought.

Then it was time to hustle and get breakfast, get ready, and get to church with Lolli and Poppa.  Several Easter miracles happened, including us getting out the door on time and both kids staying completely quiet through the whole service.  No nursery always makes me nervous.  Sam had a bottle as soon as we sat down, so that did help.  After church there was an Easter egg hunt.  I hate that our church here does it on a weeknight, because to me it's tradition to do it in your Easter clothes.

We had planned to stop by my parents' quickly because they had something for Avery and Sam.  We decided since it was so close to lunch we would get hot dogs from the local gas station {don't judge}.  Ned and I went to get our large hot dog order and left both kids with Lolli and Poppa.  Because this was an unplanned meal, Avery ate lunch in her underwear since I didn't have a change of clothes.  We wrapped up lunch and headed home for naps.  I went to the grocery store to prepare for our families coming for dinner.  We told them we would host and provide chicken and dessert if everyone brought something.  I scurried to fix dessert and clean up some.  Luckily, Bojangles provided the chicken.  We had a good meal, and it was great to finally be able to all eat at one table.  Avery enjoyed the attention and the visit with Uncle Rob, while Sam was content to hang out.

Ned closed the office on Monday but ended up making his mom help him move things out of the house.  They worked in the morning and again in the afternoon filling up the garage.  I was able to go to the grocery store mid-day and took Avery with me.  She had been a little confused about moving and kept saying that the new house wasn't home.  We stopped by the old house so she could see that we had moved most of our stuff so that Mr. Jim and his family could move back in.  I also reminded her that our new house did not have bushed around the porch with "bobby" bees in them.  That all worked until we came home from the grocery store and didn't turn to go to the old house.  Mimi came back Monday night once Avery was in bed and Sam was happy to sleep in someone's arms.  Ned and I finally moved my clothes and filled my car as best we could.

It was just me and the kids Tuesday, and we spent the day at home.  Avery was home all week because her sitter had taken a few days off.  When I got Sam down in the morning, we went out and "played chalk" in the driveway.  Nothing else major happened other than we all survived the day together.  I cooked on the gas cook top for the first time for dinner, and even though Ned wasn't home I wasn't terribly nervous.  I still kind of feel like I need his turnout gear on when using it.  After dinner we walked to the pond, but no ducks were to be found.  Sammy the dog finally came home after staying at Mimi's for a few nights.  His stomach issues started again during the move, and he had to go back to the doctor Tuesday after causing quite a mess at the in-laws.  We're hoping a quieter neighborhood will be less stressful for him {and in turn, me}.

Wednesday morning was more of the same at home.  I worked on getting some of the dirt off the floors that keeps getting tracked in.  My mom came at lunch time, and we took Avery to Short Pump Town Center in Richmond.  They were having a petting zoo, and I thought it would be fun to take Avery to do something special.  She managed a 10-15 minute nap in the car before waking and getting so excited, thinking that a hotel on the side of I95 was the mall.  We visited the petting zoo, did a little shopping for me, Avery, and Sam, then had dinner at Chik-Fil-A.  We were excited to hear the train running since it usually does not on Wednesday, so we rode that before coming home.  We of course went to the outdoor mall on the coldest day of the week, but we still had a great time.  Avery took another short rest on the way home, waking when we stopped to get dinner for Poppa and Ned.

We were home again on Thursday.  Sam was fussy in the morning and sleeping in shorter periods.  Avery's nose and cough got worse and I debated whether or not to take her to the doctor.  She was also more fragile this week, for lack of a better word, which is how she was the last time she had an ear infection.  Sam took a long mid-day nap, so I was able to work upstairs while Avery played.  She's big into helping, but her idea of help and mine aren't always the same.  Ned had finally gotten the dryer vent hooked up, so I did a ton of laundry.  New machines make it fun for awhile.  Now if we could just get a machine for folding and putting away.

I woke up well-rested Friday as Sam had slept for a 5-hour stretch during the night.  He was again fussy in the morning, but it is all related to sleep.  He needs his sleep, and I either need to figure out how long he can stay awake in the morning or I need to figure out what's bothering him.  He'll sleep for a shorter amount of time in the morning after taking awhile to fall asleep.  He's then up too early to eat and really needs to go back to sleep.  He took another good mid-morning to early-afternoon nap, so Avery and I went back outside to do chalk.  I was told a lot to "chalk with me, Mommy."  I got some unpacking done in between taking care of everybody.  Avery and I discovered that her new Rhyme Time Barney had her most favorite girl Kisha on it, so that provided me a little time to bring things in from the garage.  Hopefully I'll be able to park in there one day!  Ned suggested we all try going out to eat, so we went to the Mexican restaurant for dinner.  I hadn't been since before bed rest, so I decided to be brave.  Sam did well as long as the pacifier was in.  The Mexican restaurant was Avery's first meal out as well, but it didn't seem to have the sleep-inducing effect on Sam as it used to do on her.

Sam had a 6-hour stretch Friday night/Saturday morning, and I'm sure it's because Ned was going to get up with him during the night.  I'll take it however I can get it though.  Because he's been sleeping longer, we've increased bottles to 3 ounces so that he continues to get enough.  We tried that after we saw the pediatrician last week, but the extra caused him to spit up some.  He seemed to be handling it better by the end of this week.  Ned used Mr. Clint's tractor and worked in yard all morning and into the early afternoon.  It's very nice to have your contractor across the street when something breaks or you need to borrow one of his cool toys.  We're hoping to borrow the pool this summer.  The stars aligned after lunch and Avery and Sam napped over 2 hours at the same time.  I finally got our duvet cover out of the package, put it in the dryer to steam out the wrinkles, and got our comforter stuffed inside.  We'd just been sleeping with a blanket on the bed.  We got subs for dinner since I hadn't been able to get to the grocery store, then we took another walk to the pond.  Ned hung Sam's curtain panels in his room so that he can at least start to nap in there.  It's hard to get anything done in your bedroom and bathroom when there is always a little baby sleeping.  Ned also raised the crib mattress after putting it together on the lowest setting last weekend.  He then put all the bedding in, so Sam's room is now ready whenever I am.  I'm ready to get our room back but not ready for trips upstairs in the middle of the night.  Ned is ready to be able to have his fire pager on again in the middle of the night.