Author: Kathleen

This week I am documenting a week in our lives along with the Ali Edwards community. Here are some photos and words about yesterday, if you’d like to see…

Sunday, again, I did not want to wake up. Liam forced me to get out of bed around 7, but Meredith kept sleeping. Obviously my camera does not do well in low light, but I wanted to show her all cuddled up in my bed.

I made some coffee and we played for a little bit. Liam actually had worn PJ’s but I took them off after changing his diaper.

I needed to start working on some chores since I was still behind from yesterday, so I turned on the TV for him to watch. All morning he kept shoving his diaper down like this. I thought it was cute. :)

The second picture is Liam being my laundry “helper.” He loves to lie down on piles of clothes or blankets on the floor. What I did not take a picture of was him dumping my full cup of coffee out all over him and this clean pile of my clothes just a few minutes later. (Thankfully the coffee wasn’t super hot anymore.) After cleaning that up, Meredith woke up and came to inform me that she had peed all over herself. At least she had made it to the bathroom.

I recovered from the morning’s disaster and made breakfast. On Sundays we have pancakes with our eggs.

Here Meredith was pretending to be the teacher and was reading me books then showing me the pictures. She can’t read, but a few books she almost has memorized so she thinks that’s reading. And if you can’t tell, she doesn’t really like to wear clothes. (Daniel Tiger on the TV in the background. Exercise bike that is currently not in use other than for the kids to climb on it.)

At church we dropped the kids off at their classes. Liam is still in the nursery and we took him first. He was crying so I didn’t take a picture. Meredith recently moved up to the school-aged class. When we got there they were doing songs and she chose the adult she wanted to go stand by. The shoes she is wearing are a few sizes too big and she had me bring some extras in case she wanted to change.

Our church meets in an elementary school but I like the setup. I really enjoyed the songs and sermon, which was about discipleship. Liam was calm when we picked him up after. :)

At home I pulled out my bullet journal and worked on my grocery list after feeding the kids lunch and eating some leftovers myself.

Then I took the kids to the mall and David got a short break. I had a specific pair of shoes in mind that I wanted to get Liam, but I couldn’t find them. All the fall styles are in stores now, and the ones I want are probably more for summer. It’s still going to be hot for awhile here, though. I measured their feet in the shoe store and will order some shoes for them.

Meredith either wanted to push Liam’s stroller or be the “line leader.” When I got Liam out of the stroller for two seconds to measure his feet he ran out of the store into the mall while I was looking at shoes (it was super busy being the day before school starts). I realized it quickly but a store employee had run after him too. Crazy kid. Then we went home and I handed off Liam to David.

I took Meredith to pick up my friend Lauren and then we went shopping. We went to a specific Target that had an Old Navy next to it because I wanted to get a few summery dresses since those are on sale now. Sadly the entire block was without electricity! It was so weird. We ended up driving to another Target and I did get a few things but we were a little more rushed. I ended up buying some things online from Old Navy later, so hopefully something fits.

After dropping Lauren off at home, we met David at his parents’ house for dinner. His grandfather, we call him Pappy, usually comes over there for dinner every Sunday. He is 90 years old and lives in a nursing home close by. He has dementia and had a stroke that affected his language but he still loves playing with the kids and they love him too.

After dinner we just hung out there for awhile. Liam loves phones and David’s dad called me on his phone and I FaceTimed with Liam and he thought it was so cool. He just holds anything that looks like a phone up to his ear and repeats “hello?” over and over. The kids also discovered a rolling pin and that was a huge hit!

From there, David took Liam on his nighttime ride and I brought Meredith home. But Liam wasn’t tired at all, so David had planned to take him to the grocery store. He came home to get him a new shirt, and then his truck died. We couldn’t do anything about it at the time, so he moved Liam to my car and left.

At home we got ready for bed, tidied up, I moved the sheets to the dryer, fed the cats, and Meredith fed her fish. She just came home with it from school one day so we had to go buy food if we didn’t want to kill it. It’s lasted a few weeks now, though! Meredith named it Arianna after one of her friends who doesn’t go to her school anymore. We had to move the fish bowl to the mantel because otherwise the cats get to it. I feel sorry for that fish in that tiny bowl.

Bedtime with Meredith went okay. She stalled quite a bit. I read her four books (lost my temper once) then she asked me to tickle her back. So I turned out the light and did that for awhile. I hummed some lullabies and it was quite lovely. She fell asleep pretty easily.

Once Meredith was asleep I put the fresh sheets on the bed and came to type up this post. I wanted to get it done for sure because I am working in the medical center all next week which is an hour-plus commute and I will be leaving early. Plus, I might be having to take David to work if his truck won’t start. So you might not be hearing from me much this week as it is crazy busy! While I was writing, David brought Liam home and laid him on the bed.

Thoughts on today: not as restful as I usually like a Sunday to be, and I didn’t get to some of the chores I had meant to. But it was full of people I love and the necessities are taken care of. Since we had such a busy weekend, I am not going to plan anything for next weekend and make it a time to catch up, mostly on meal planning and cleaning.

I have so enjoyed documenting this week! I am really looking forward to putting the album together and seeing what others do as well. Hopefully I’ll have it done in a few months. :)

This week I am documenting a week in our lives along with the Ali Edwards community. Here are some photos and words about yesterday, if you’d like to see…

Saturday I really did not want to get out of bed. Both kids had slept with me all night so I woke up to them crawling on me. At a certain point I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I think we got up around 6:30 a.m.

Our plans for the day included going to the bay to fish and play on the beach. We were just going to head out as soon as we had breakfast and packed up, no real rush. While I was making breakfast, Liam found my hand weights and seemed very proud of himself for carrying them around.

Meredith looks for the cats first thing almost every morning. She said, “Does Ziggy need some love?” and held him while watching TV.

Even on Saturday I usually try to get up before the kids to do a Bible study, but things have been crazy lately, especially with the sleep situation, so I didn’t today. But I was missing that encouraging word in the morning, so I read the day’s entry in My Utmost For His Highest while I waited for my coffee to brew.

After breakfast I started making and packing lunches.

Finally we were all ready to go and we packed up the car. The kids played in the puddles a bit before we left. Liam’s one pair of sandals that I can stuff on his fat feet were dirty, so I pulled out a pair of Meredith’s old purple Crocs for him to wear.

We made a stop by a gas station to get some drinks.

On the way to the bay, it suddenly began storming. We weren’t too concerned because according the weather report it wasn’t supposed to last long. But Meredith got very upset, and after talking over our options with her she got fixated on the prospect of an indoor playplace or playground.

 

When we got close, however, none of the fast food places had playlands. But thankfully we found an awesome playground close to the dike and it had stopped raining enough that we could get out. Things were a bit slippery but the kids had a decent time. I forced a family photo so hard, but I’m glad I did it!

We stopped to get bait and then found a place to set up. Please don’t judge our brown sand and water! This was a dike on the bay so not representative of Texas beaches in general. Our primary aim was to fish, but we just needed a place that would be safe for the kids. They were nervous about everything at first, but Liam quickly realized he loved it and Meredith got braver over time.

David caught a few little fish! He was kind of embarrassed by them, but he was fishing in the shallow part to be close to us. Meredith even held one of the fish and threw it back into the water.

For awhile David crossed the road and went to fish in the deeper water. I played in the sand and water with the kids. Meredith began struggling. I could tell she wanted to play and have fun, but she was really bothered by the sand getting on her. Eventually we had to pack up and leave early because she couldn’t calm down. Both kids slept the whole ride back.

At home we woke them up because it was 5 p.m. and there was crying. I tried to get as much stuff unloaded and cleaned up as possible, then I begged David to take over while I showered. Yep, this was only my second shower of the week which is pretty normal for me.

We rarely eat out, but after a long day I asked David to just pick me up some chicken fried rice for dinner. He and the kids played lava while I finished cleaning up.

Obviously they needed baths too.

David took Liam for his nighttime ride and Meredith had quite a few tantrums for me.

She wanted to clip her own nails. She is getting better at it.

After that we read books and went to sleep. Again, I meant to get up but fell asleep in her bed. I moved to my own at midnight and at some point later she joined me. I think I need a different strategy here.

Thoughts on today: I’m so glad we made our family adventure happen even if it wasn’t perfect. Meredith is not going to remember the sand in her swimsuit but she will remember how she floated in the water and touched a fish. There were moments of pure bliss while we were together and I can get caught up on the chores later.

This week I am documenting a week in our lives along with the Ali Edwards community. Here are some photos and words about yesterday, if you’d like to see…

A rough night and not the best morning. I’m feeling a bit discouraged about the whole sleeping situation.

Meredith woke up multiple times during the night; at midnight she began crawling out of bed. I asked her if she had to go potty but she said no and started crying, “I don’t want to go to bed!” I told her it was the middle of the night but if she wanted to go play by herself then she could, but I was going back to sleep. She went back to sleep. Later she woke up crying and speaking random words so I’m guessing that was a bad dream.

At 4 a.m. I woke up and realized my phone had died. I didn’t want to oversleep so I got up to charge it and then went to my bed. Liam soon woke up and I nursed him awhile. Meanwhile the cats were prowling all over me and Ziggy was laying on my face. At 5:30 Liam was quite awake so I got up with him and made coffee.

I like in the photo above how you can see the steam coming out of the kettle.

And I like this one because you can see Liam’s cute PJ’s and how big he is on my hip. I’m wearing a sweater and my joggers because our AC is finally fixed, it cooled off outside, and David turns the temp way down at night. And this is another one of my coffee mugs in rotation, which I got from the Katy Half Marathon.

Right after I made my coffee Meredith woke up crying. The above photo is so blurry but I’m including it because it shows how I was comforting her and Liam is just hanging on to me, not happy about being put down. I got Meredith settled on the couch to watch TV (she likes being wrapped up in blankets these days) and Liam was fine to walk around, watch, and amuse himself. I made everyone breakfast.

Back in my room to get ready. On Fridays I can wear a different color scrubs. I also like to do a quick French braid on Fridays; for some reason little rituals like that make it more of a special day.

David woke up early today and was playing with the kids in our room. Then Liam stole this blanket from Meredith and there was crying, hitting, and kicking. Liam thought it was a game; Meredith did not.

We left the house a little early. Daycare dropoff was easy and I drove to work listening to the Sorta Awesome podcast, another Friday ritual.

Heading in to work. I was working in pre-op that day.

At this point there is a big chunk of time with no photos because I was so stressed at work! Usually pre-op is not that difficult and I don’t mind it, but I happened to get a really complicated patient and I was stuck in the middle trying to coordinate everything. I hated feeling that her surgery (which she needed ASAP) was dependent on me when I didn’t really know who to call or what to do. It eventually got resolved, but I left an hour late.

I went directly to pick up Liam (David had already picked up Meredith) and we met them at my parents’ house. We have dinner there every Friday night and have been doing so for years.

We ate pretty soon and then just hung out. Liam loves “playing” on my dad’s computer with him. Meredith always asks to help throw the ball to Maisie, one of their dogs. (Usually she wants to help take Oliver for a walk too; he is the dog that bit her but she has no hard feelings.) Then it started raining a little and the kids wanted to play in the puddles. In that last photo Liam was posing for a picture and literally saying “cheese!” as best he can.

When we left, David took Liam for his nighttime ride and I brought Meredith home. She almost always asks for a snack for the car ride and my mom gave her some Cheerios in a bag. She was being cute and said she wanted to share them with me. “I’ll give you one at home and one in the morning, okay Mommy? But not now because you’re driving.” She dutifully gave me one at home and placed one on the counter to give me in the morning.

Changed into pajamas and while I was doing that Meredith began intently laying out blankets on the floor of my room. “I’m gonna make a cage Mommy! It’s gonna be really cool.” She wanted me to watch her so I lay on my bed for a few minutes but I was almost falling asleep.

We moved into her room and I waited while she picked out books to read. While we read, David came home with Liam. He popped his head in and told me he had to go to the store. A few minutes later Liam woke up screaming, so Meredith and I just moved into our bed where I nursed him and we all fell asleep. I don’t know when or how I’m going to get these kids into their own beds!!

Thoughts on today: I’m glad that I got to record some normal Friday things, especially dinner at my parents’ house. Work was abnormal, and I had originally intended to go to the gym again but I left late and couldn’t. I’m always SO tired by the end of the week.

We made big plans for the weekend so stay tuned… ;)