The Domestication of Charlotte

I don't know what's wrong with me this pregnancy. I've had nesting so bad, I feel like Martha Stewart. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am not a domestic goddess. Sure, I clean (when necessary), I cook (and I actually sometimes enjoy that), but the finer art of domesticity, namely becoming an organized, highly functioning housewife, has never been my forte. I don't organize, anything really. Until recently. I just bought a bunch of storage bins for toys and things on the shelves so they're not just randomly thrown places. That was step one on my journey to domestication.

Step two has begun. I feel an need to create. What I consider a good time is reading a book, all day long. I don't craft, I don't scrapbook. So I decided to sew. Now, my mom tried to teach me to sew when I was a youth. In fact, I was in 4H. So picture me, a scatterbrained, left-handed girl, trying to sew. I cut out all of the patterns crookedly (I'm really bad at cutting), and then I sewed the dresses together crookedly. So usually, my mom would take over because she knew I just was not interested, and I also just do not have the skill for anything that requires an ounce of dexterity.

But, I thought to myself, "I made a quilt. I can make my kids' Halloween costumes." The quilt I made was so easy in comparison. I can't even begin to tell you. It was just sewing together strips, in straight lines. Even clumsy Charlotte could do that.

Things have been going wrong, very wrong, in my effort to make a Halloween costume. I should have taken it as a bad sign when I started to get panicky about picking fabric out in JoAnn's. However, I continued, and started making Dottie's princess dress with this, my old nemesis:
This is my mom's old sewing machine. It is very tricky to thread. It took me a full day to learn just how to thread the thing. I will list my other challenges in this venture, since you'd be bored in hearing the whole story:

• Cutting chiffonlike fabric is impossible. So crooked.
• Darts. What the heck are they? Those things that go up the "breasts" of a dress or shirt. I finally learned from a Youtube video. Another full day gone.
• Making a casing on a sleeve. Two full days gone.
• Sewing elastic in a sleeve. Another full day gone.
• Basting takes me forever.
• So much unpicking. Wow. At least a full day wasted.
  
• I'm really scared about putting in the zipper. I think I'll be watching Youtube again.
  
• My mom is ready to kill me because I call her every five minutes for help.

This is me, pretending I'm enjoying what I'm doing.

This is what I've got so far.

HOWEVER, I do think it's worth it. I may even make Elliot's tiger costume after this. Last night, I pinned on Dottie's dress to fit it for the zipper, and she couldn't stop talking about being a fairy princess. She didn't want to take it off. That alone made it all worth it. Plus I'm becoming a domestic goddess in the process.

Surviving the first week of school

Surviving the first week was met with relatively little pain. The 6:15 wake-up time is rough, I'll admit. It's just cruel to rouse my Sleeping Beauty when she clearly needs the sleep.

Joe has been gone for this week at a conference, so on Wednesday night, I had to bring both kids to Mutual for the Young Women. It's basically youth group, except just for the girls ages 12-18. It starts at 7 and goes to 8:30. Since the kids' bedtime is 7, it was an evening of me chasing them down the halls of the church.

The next morning, I decided to let Dottie sleep in until 6:30 since she was so tired. I got everything ready for her to go, and simply slipped her clothes on her and gave her a bag of cereal (I still don't trust her with eating cereal and milk - it usually ends up all over the floor). We made it; we were ready with time to spare.

However, I neglected to have Dottie use the bathroom before heading out. As we were waiting for the bus, she started to do a dance. I sent her in the house (the bus stop is right outside of our house), and told her I'd tell the bus driver to wait if she was still inside. She ran in, and just as she was approaching the door, the bus came. Dottie started screaming hysterically. She still went potty, but left her book bag and cereal inside. She was still screaming when she came out. I got the bus driver to wait, and quickly ran in and grabbed her book bag and cereal. She was still pretty upset when she got on the bus, and I worried it would ruin her day.

When she came home, she was fortunately in good spirits. She still mentioned the bus that morning, and I reassured her that if she missed the bus, I would take her to school. So, the next morning, Dottie tells me that she would prefer if I took her everyday, instead of her riding the bus. Being the non-lenient parent that I am, I let her know that I would only take her if she missed the bus.

So, yesterday morning, I could see her anxiety levels building as the bus approached. I knew she was in fight-or-flight mode. So, when the bus driver opened the doors, she cut all of the other kids waiting in line and got on first. She must have thought she had a 2-second window to make it. Or something.

But that's really the most drama we've had all week. She's happy, although tired. That didn't prevent her from still waking up at 6:15 on a Saturday. I'm already ready for it to be summer ...

While Dottie's been gone, Elliot and I have been mastering the art of potty training. As you may remember, it's been a long road. I think we started maybe in February? But we've had so many trip interruptions, this is the first opportunity I've had to be consistent about it. We're using the same method that I did with Dottie: lots of sugar-free koolaid, and gummy caterpillar rewards.

As you can see from the picture, he's a self-starter. I'm glad in my pregnant state I don't need to be lifting him off and on, off and on. He climbs like a little monkey on to the potty, like so. I tried to get as tasteful a picture as possible, but I thought my mom especially would enjoy how he climbs up there. Yes, we do potty training "in the nude." Not me, just him.

Bunk Bed!

On Wednesday, the day I got back from Colorado, Joe and I went out and bought a bunk bed.

Why? A few reasons. I realized that I need Elliot out of a crib and into a bed. He doesn't sleep well in a crib anymore, and then he wants to sleep in my bed. So the hope is he will sleep better in his own bed, as long as he knows Dottie is nearby. He doesn't like to sleep alone. The second reason is we need to get ready for the baby, so I say, the sooner the better in moving him out of the crib.

Friday night, Joe and I stayed up until 1 am putting together this beauty of a bunk bed. We made a few mistakes, but nothing major. That's why it took so long.

We decided to go with matching bedware instead of choose-your-own-cartoon. I like it.

And here's the kids posing with the new bed:

So how's it going with sleep and all? Not too bad. I think it was a worse adjustment for Dottie when she moved into a bed. Elliot hasn't fallen out of the bed yet, but he has come into our bed once a night. That's really nothing new. But I think I'm going to start bribing him to stay in bed.

Plus, he really needs to start sleeping better. My Dottie starts school tomorrow! AAH! This means getting on the bus at 6:50!

Last hurrah of the summer

I had one last fun trip to round out my summer o' trips. I visited Em, Craig, and Baby Ryan (who's not so much of a baby anymore) in Colorado. It was partly business, partly pleasure. I had four crowns put in my mouth. Craig's a dentist, so he did the job. So I stayed with the kids for two weeks. Here are pictures:
The kids blowing bubbles at the Boulder County Fair.
I also visited some friends in Colorado Springs while we were there. I wasn't smart enough to think of taking pictures of all of them, but here are some pictures with friends:
My mom and Carolyn also visited briefly. I don't know why I don't have a picture of you, Carolyn? My mom was driving back from Utah after attending her high school class reunion, and Carrie was also getting dental work. Can you tell our family gets a lot of work done by Craig?
While I went to the dentist, Em would take the kids to some squirty fountains in a fun shopping plaza near Craig's office. We also went there with my friend, Nicole, and her kids:


Thank you, Em and Craig, for letting us come and visit! It was lots of fun! And it was so good to see you again, friends! I am partly sad that this was my last "get away" before putting Dottie in school, but at the same time, I really need to settle down in San Antonio. I've basically been a nomad since moving here, with our frequent and long trips here and there. It'll be good for us to start making a home.

National Cheesecake Day

Dear Friends,

Friday is a very important day, National Cheesecake Day. In order to celebrate, Cheesecake Factory is making their cheesecakes 50% off. I don't think I need to stress how exciting this is. If you don't understand, maybe we can't be friends.

Charlotte

Read This Post

It's really good:

http://blog.cjanerun.com/2010/07/i-want-lot-of-children.html

Then, we'll talk.

Whirlwind

It's done: the last one's married. Jared and Tabitha got hitched in D.C. right during the heatwave. We were hot, but they were hotter. Aren't they a good-looking couple?

Tabitha comes from a family of 11 kids. Although that is a large number, Tabitha is definitely treasured by her parents. She is a special girl with a lot to offer. My brother is lucky to have such a sweet, smart, talented girl.

I'm glad my brother has found someone who fits him perfectly. Jared is somewhat reserved in personality when you first meet him, but on further acquaintance, you realize he has a screw loose. I warned Tabitha in particular about his potty humor, but she says she's already been exposed to that side of him. Well, if she still loves him for that, then I say they're a match made in heaven.

My children were sweltering. They played outside during the ceremony.

Elliot and his twin, Uncle Bryan. Their baby pictures are literally identical.

Dottie tempting Elliot into some mischief.

Married! Escaping into a flurry of bubbles.


Now, I call this post "whirlwind" because the trip was really a whirlwind of activity. I was gone for 13 days and there were no days that I just sat still. This was hard for me because I'm pregnant, and sleep deprivation doesn't sit well with me right now.

But it was all worth it. I took hardly any pictures, because my camera was dying, and I forgot at all of the important junctures of the trip. We had a Weed family reunion with all of my dad's extended family on Lake Seneca in NY. Then, we had a joint reception with fabulous Italian food for the three couples. This was followed by entertaining extended family who were visiting, as well as several trips to various PA and NY sites. The end of my trip was a final reception for Jared and Tabitha in Tabitha's hometown, playing at the Discovery Center and Mt. Pisgah, and of course, seeing the new Twilight movie, Eclipse, with my mom and sister.

All I got pictures of were from the Discovery Center. Oh, Elliot got lost there. That was exciting. Dottie got lost the last time we went there. There's a maze part in the middle where it's really hard to keep track of your kids. It's kind of a kidnapper's dream come true. But, we found Elliot. He got on to an elevator and rode up to the office floor of the Discovery Center. We heard a little voice crying, "Help Me, Mommy!" It took us awhile to figure out where he was.

Inside the Three Bears' cottage.

I like the crazed look in Dottie's eyes.

So this is the last Weed family hurrah for sometime. It makes me kinda sad. I guess now that we're all married off, we'll just have to start having reunions like a normal family.