Back to Normal

Things are pretty much back to the normal routine around here.  I finally finished and folded all the kids' laundry from the trip on Wednesday, a mere eight days after returning.  In my defense, it's not like I can do it while they're in bed at night (well, I suppose I could fold it and not put it away but I like to do it in one shot) so during the day you have to make a choice of whether to fold a gigantic load of laundry or spend time doing stuff.  I guess you know which won for awhile!

Monday was a holiday for Duncan so we had the pleasure of his company for the day.  Granted, we did go our separate ways in the morning.  Duncan headed over to the Oviedo Mall to get fitted for some new suits he had bought.  Meanwhile, I loaded up the kids for a trip to the dentist where Calleigh was to get her semi annual checkup and cleaning.  It seemed as if everyone and their uncle was there and I was concerned about a long wait but it was only about 10 minutes or so.  After she left and I was left to entertain Aubree and Brady, I looked around the room at all the adults that were sitting their waiting for their respective children and I would say of about a dozen adults, eight were on their smart phones and two were reading Kindles.  The two that weren't on their smart phones or Kindles were talking about the Kindle Fire that recently came out.  Not a nary magazine was to be seen.  That's the technology age for you.  Anyway, after Calleigh had been gone for a bit, Aubree announces that she had to go potty.  This is never a good sign when we're out and about since she only goes number two on the potty and it is not a speedy endeavor whatsoever.  Sure enough, I ask her about every two minutes "Are you done?"  Nope, she was still working on it.  Of course, I'm imagining that Calleigh is going to be all done and they'll be looking for us and we'll be nowhere to be seen so I keep sticking my head out the door without revealing a two-year old on the pot in all her glory.  Finally, finally after what was definitely at least 8 - 10 minutes, she declares she's done.  At this point, I note that the strap on the baby changing table is broken and since I hadn't brought in a stroller for Brady, down he went on the floor in front of the toilet braced against my legs so that I could wipe Aubree.  I really need to think of these things before I leave the stroller behind.  This is a single bathroom and I was imagining a long line queuing up outside the door for the amount of time this took us.  But no, it's just Calleigh and a hygienist milling around wondering where in the world we went.  The hygienist says to me that Calleigh said she thought we went to the hospital (huh??) and she was about to call me. I was just hoping no one would go in there and think I made that smell.

As far as the actual visit itself, normally we would have gone in the back when she was done and gotten a short report from the dentist himself but obviously that did not happen.  Instead, I was quickly told that she had no cavities and all was well.  I'll take it.  I made her next appointment for July and this time Aubree will be going too!  We'll see how that pans out.  I'll need to make sure she goes potty first.  Ha!

First tub together.  One of Daddy's duties on Monday.

We stopped at the playground after the dentist.  I love how he's looking at something out of the corner of his eye.

We made the girls play outside with their new moon dough.  That stuff is a PAIN to clean up.

Tuesday was a pretty quiet day with our only venture out of the house to Walmart.  It was a very chilly day by Florida standards with the high only in the upper 40's.  Sometimes I have such a tough time getting it through to the girls that it's cold outside because they always dress themselves in sleeveless dresses, skirts, or whatever.  Always dressing up, those two.  I finally convinced them that they needed to wear jeans, a turtleneck, and a sweater because it was cold like at Papa and Gigi's.  Calleigh really wasn't excited about this and declared to me "I like it when it's hot better than when it's cold.  Then we can wear tank tops, shorts, and skirts."  There's no denying that it's a whole easier lot to dress kids for warm weather.  Incidentally, we did turn on the heat for the first time on Monday night which I always find terribly wrong but for the sake of the children, I did it.

Wednesday I finally got around to doing what I've been procrastinating on for a month...get Brady to the hospital for his follow-up blood test.  This was the test to check his "t" cells which had been low in the original blood work.  Since he's been healthy, I haven't been as motivated to get it done.  But off to the hospital we went.  We were in a different area this time (outpatient lab) so it was not the same guy drawing the blood...unfortunately.  The lady was very sweet but she couldn't get it the first time around.  I tried not to look as she moved that needle all around in his left arm to no avail.  The girls just watched it all wide eyed.  Brady, to his credit, although he was crying, wasn't absolutely wailing.  He was fairly composed given the circumstances.  She finally gave up and went to the right arm which is what had been used last time.  Apparently the right arm has a better vein because she finally had success.  Or, maybe she was so desperate to not hear me singing "Jesus Loves Me" one more time that she tried a little harder.  We'll never know.

Thursday morning we were off to the ABC to stock up on some cases of veggie food.  As I posted on Facebook, I was so excited to be walking through to the back food section when I spotted out of the corner of me eye a very familiar looking book.  Yup, there was my brother Shawn Brace's book, Pursued By A Relentless God, right there on the end cap.  That was a pretty neat thing to see.  You can also buy the book on Amazon by clicking here. Thought I would put in that little plug!

After our brief ABC stop, it was on to the playground near downtown Winter Park for some playtime with Jennifer and the four boys.  The weather has fortunately gotten warmer as the week has gone on and it was a great day for some running around which they all did quite happily.  As we watched them I could hear Calleigh talking about taking them to the "royal dungeon."  I had no idea where she had gotten that from so I asked her and she told me "Bruno."

It's baaaaack! There's that darn pink bow headband.

Today would ordinarily be yard sale day but January isn't necessarily an ordinary month for yard sales.  It's definitely the slowest month of the year due to cooler weather and people are probably all tired out from the holidays.  Instead, we did a few errands like checking out the sales at Target (about to be a big one soon but I can't say more) and Walgreens.  Calleigh is obsessed with Honey Nut Cheerios right now and they have them on sale at Walgreens for $1.25 a box which is great.  I got four boxes on Monday and tried to get more today but they were none to be found.  I'll have to try another store Saturday night.

So that's the week in a nutshell...a big nut I guess you could say.  If it were a very brief update it would be a nutshell because a nutshell is so small, right? Anyway, in other news, Brady is still doing very well health wise.  He's doing great sitting up by himself but we still keep a Boppy or pillow around him because he'll occasionally topple over.  I think he's woken up during the night about once or twice this past week but has quickly gone back to sleep.  He even slept until 7:45 this morning which was odd but greatly appreciated.  I'm continuing to feed him solids once a day but he sits in his high chair for each meal and nibbles on his Mum Mums which he loves and as it turns out, so does Calleigh.  She keeps trying to steal them from him. They look like tasteless pieces of board to me but whatever.

In closing, here are a few conversations or comments from the girls:

• Aubree's favorite phrase of the week or month, more like it: "What did you said?"  I don't know how many times I've corrected her to say "What did you say?" but it seems to be going in one ear and out the other.   
• Calleigh insisted on wearing her bathing suit into the bathtub tonight and Aubree says to her "I love your bathing suit!  Where did you get it?"  Of course, Calleigh has worn this bathing suit numerous times but that's just how the girls talk sometimes.  Anyway, Calleigh says "Thanks, I got it from Mommy who got it on the Internet."  I thought this was the perfect opportunity to ask her what that was.  So I ask her "Calleigh, what is the Internet?"  She responds "It's Facebook."  Okay, guess that's true.  "Anything else?"  "Yes, it's where you buy things like presents and stuff."  Also true.  So she wasn't that far off.  I just thought it was interesting to see how they think of things.  
• I was feeding Brady some baby sweet potatoes and Calleigh insisted on having a bite so this was our exchange:

Me:  "If you want a bite, you're going to have to get your own spoon." She goes and gets her spoon                  and takes a bite.  She then goes back into the kitchen and I hear a drawer open and close.
Me:  "Did you put that spoon back in the drawer?  That's not what we do.  That's yucky."
Calleigh:  "No, no, no.  It's okay."  She assures me.  "I sucked everything off it."

Have a Happy Sabbath!

Watching a Disney ocean documentary on the new Apple TV.  They love it!  As you can see, they dressed up for the occasion.  

Aubree takes the van for a spin.