Our Tuesday

I never did bring Autumn to bed with me last night. I got pretty tired myself and didn't even make it all the way through my recording of Dancing with the Stars...and then just hearing Autumn coughing and coughing so much, I just knew she needs to be getting her best rest...and her very own bed is the place to do that. I was thinking I might think about it again tonight but she's being all coughy still so I dunno...

Anyway, boy, did we get a late start today. I woke up around 7:15 to a quiet house. When I got out of the shower, Dalton was up and in my bed. No sign of the other two yet. I got ready, packed E's lunch, all that and finally woke Easton up at 8:00! Usually we leave for school around 8:05 to get him there for 8:15 but today we left a bit later and had him there for 8:26. Luckily, despite being woken up and semi-rushed he was in good spirits.

We got him dropped off at school and the little two and I headed to get some gas, then to breakfast at Atlanta Bread:


I bought a chocolate croissant to go for Easton to have tomorrow since he couldn't join us. He doesn't know about it yet. :)

After our breakfast we headed to JoAnn's for some ribbons...Autumn's in need of quite a few new bows to go with her fall wardrobe. However, I didn't have any of those things/colors with me so I just did a best guess for a few things and we left for gymnastics.

I don't have any pictures from today's gymnastics but I did take some last week and Autumn looked the same and Dalton's wearing the same pants. :) I went to the Mother's of Multiples sale (or maybe it's Twins and More, I dunno) with my friend Baby John's mom (he's 5 but it's how the blog knows him best, am I right?). Anyway, I found this cute little blue leotard with an attached skirt for $2 and had to have it. Kaiya handed down the matching blue sweat pants and now Autumn wears this to gymnastics every Tuesday. Here she was three Tuesdays ago when Jason got to take her because I was home with pukey Dalton:




And here she was last week when I took pictures because I thought it was the last session but really we had two weeks to go! Ha ha ha!








We get so many compliments on that little number. <3 And here's my sweet Diddlebug in his class last week too:
I took other pictures of him but he's so far away across the gym that they're all pretty poor quality...just didn't want you think I was neglecting him. :)

And here's a short video of Autumn last week. They asked her if she wanted to "fly like Tinkerbell" and apparently she did and didn't want to stop!

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Then we headed to the potty just like this so we could go to the mall:


I needed to pick up a few things from my favorite store (The Container Store) and we browsed a few other places picking up a few clearance items for Miss Miss for next summer, trying on some boots for myself, that sort of thing...then the kids got to play for a bit:




We saw one of the kids from my 2 year old class at church. That was fun. Her mom was like, "Oh...hey..." looking all confused so I threw in a question about church right away so she'd know where she knew me from and how I knew Evie by her nickname. :)

We came home for Autumn's nap and I chatted with J in Scotland a bit and looked at some of the pictures being posted on their band's Facebook page:

J's second from the left, if you can't tell. But Easton knew right away.

Finally it was time to go get E from school...we had to go do what it said on our Disney countdown calendar:

(See how I cut off the top there so you have no idea how many "days" are above in our counting down so you scary stalkers looming about still have no idea when we'll be gone?) ;)

Anyway, today's Mickey Head said basically that the boys needed to go get haircuts. So here they are before:


They're doing a Scooby and Shaggy thing so Dalton (Shaggy) is "holding" Scoob. Zoinks!

And here they are after:


We came straight home to try a voice call over the internet with Jason and it worked! The kids were so happy to hear his voice!


This one made me laugh:

Dalton and Autumn are actually far enough apart that she's not hitting him but it's just happened to look like it...quite the coincidence.

After catching up for a bit the boys started being all, "Dad? When are you going to go to bed?" (it was around midnight in the UK) because they were wanting to go play the Wii. I helped them get set up for a sec and left Autumn to chat with her Daddy:

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She watched Mickey Mouse next to me while I finished talking with J through headphones and once we wrapped it up and the boys were done playing Wii they said they wanted Noodles for dinner. I think the noodle idea was from their Wii game because even though I double checked with Dalton (who doesn't like noodles too much), he still tried to change his mind at the last second (we were in the car trying to leave) and he flipped out about wanting a sandwich instead. I didn't let him and had to talk him through his unusual-for-him freak out. It wasn't pretty there for awhile for me or for him. Sigh. Then we got to Noodles and we were all inside and ordered when I realized I'd left Autumn's dinner in the car. She doesn't like Noodles. Oops. Boy, it sure wouldn've been nice to have another grown-up to run back out to the car. Easton sweetly offered to go but I don't let him run through parking lots just yet. ;) So we got our food, Dalton cried that "these aren't noodles!" when his buttered noodles and parmesan showed up. So I switched my bowl of macaroni for his dinner and we did our best. It really wasn't too bad once we got going. Autumn was fine to wait till we got back home for her dinner. Easton ran out of the apple juice he brought from home and went up to "order" a cup for water all on his own. He was so proud and wanted to make sure we told his Daddy...so here he is, Dad, with his cup:


We came home, the kids ate a little dessert while Autumn had her yogurt and then it was time for baths and bed. While Easton was waiting up with me I made the huge mistake of trying the "free for 48 hours" Jib Jab they're offering: "Night of the Living Dead". Big mistake. Huge. We watched just a bit and he was freaked out so I turned it right off and we watched funny things to try to distract him but it's like he wasn't even seeing the new stuff I was showing him--he just kept seeing the scary zombies breaking into the house still. So we prayed and sang "Jesus Loves Me" and recited Bible verses together like we've taught him to do when he's feeling afraid. It worked a bit and I told him (because it was my fault) that I'd leave his bedroom door open if he'd be brave and fall asleep and he didn't give me any grief, bless his heart. Often when he's been exposed to something scary he'll try and try not to let you leave his room...or he'll call you back numerous times...so this actually went pretty well.

And now the day is done and I've got to catch up on Dancing if I've got it in me. :) Toodles!

We Made It Through Another Day

Still no video chatting working out for us so that's been a bummer. I was afraid of something like this happening. We'll try something else tomorrow.

But, again, since J's not home...here was our day:

Easton got to sleep in Jason's spot last night:

He's great to share a bed with minus his occasional snoring but really that just makes it more like Jason's here. ;)

Autumn coughed and coughed in the night. She had me waking up a lot to listen and then I'd try to figure out what time of day it was in Scotland. Eventually around 7 a.m. I got up. The kids were all still sound asleep...Dalton woke up just before 7:30 and got dressed. Easton still wasn't quite up when I got out of the shower and we're supposed to have Dalton at school for 8. Eventually we got everyone dressed and pottied and out the door into the cold, rainy morning (like Scotland!). Dalton ate a bagel in the car (he usually eats in the car) and we made it to his class at 8:02...he was only the 7th kid there (of 20 or so). I thought we were way late but I guess not. Minus Easton screaming at me in the parking lot which Jason has already heard all about, it went okay.

We headed to pick Easton up a quick drive through breakfast and got him to school at 8:29 (he's supposed to be inside by 8:30). Whew!

Autumn and I went to Walmart where we saw two moms from Dalton's school shopping together. Little Miss and I brought the groceries home, she ate some more breakfast, watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and got dressed for the day before heading to Target...where we saw the SAME TWO MOMS from Dalton's preschool only they weren't with one another this time and didn't know the other was there till I told them and they called each other to check. That part was pretty funny.

From Target we headed to pick up Dalton and Emery from school. We came home, had a little lunch and stuff and then invited Emery and her little brother Cooper over to play for a short while during Autumn's nap.


They were here for about 50 minutes and tore the place up. Dalton actually had no part in it as he was busy with Em's iPod:


They were upstairs for most of the time and made this mess:

Nothing was out when they arrived.

Now, I don't mind a mess sometimes...but it's like they weren't even playing with any of it. And neither was my kid. It's like they just got it out to get it out.

Em said, "I was thinking maybe we could go play in the basement after we clean this up." I said, "Sure...that sounds good"...only they didn't clean anything up...and instead went down and did this:


Plus they woke up Autumn and broke one of Dalton's guitar strings. I'm not inviting them back for awhile. :)

It's okay, it was time for them to leave to go pick up their big brother and we had to leave shortly after that to go get Easton.

He said he'd had a good day at school but later asked how long he'll have to go there and why can't he switch to a different school. I asked if something was bothering him...apparently this school is making him do too much work right now...and the words are too tiny to read. And he has to write SO MUCH. Dude can be so lazy.

But he had this fun Scooby and Shaggy picture in his backpack:


We rushed home so I could IM with Jason some more before it got to be too late in Scotland. Then we took a few "what we looked like today" pictures:




And pretty soon we headed out to meet Mallory's family for some dinner at their Chickfila.


This pose was cuter but I focused on the flowers behind them by accident:


Dalton:


McKenna and Autumn:

Autumn just loves Kenna. I think it's rather mutual. When Autumn did a good job at swimming that first time, Holly (Mal and McKenna's mom) texted me a picture of McKenna giving Autumn a big thumbs up. :) Autumn was very excited we'd be seeing Kenna tonight.

We had the kids sit at a booth and Holly, Keith, and I sat at the booth behind them. Then they all went to play for quite a long time and I chatted with some adults which was nice as my adult interaction time is significantly less with J gone.

We left Chickfila around 7:30 so the two little ones were getting pretty tired but we got home and got them into bed pretty quickly. Easton stayed up for a little ice cream which he decided he didn't like and had a Pop Tart instead which then made his tummy hurt. :(

Now here I am telling you all about our day, waiting to watch a little Dancing with the Stars and maybe some House when I'm done. I have plans to bring a sleeping Autumn into my bed tonight...no way would she have fallen asleep easily in there but hopefully she'll do okay if she's already asleep. Time will tell...but if she keeps up so much coughing I may just leave her in there. Yowsa!

The First Day

As many of you know, Jason has gone to Scotland for a mission trip. This is the longest I've ever been apart from him, let alone being away from his small peoples.

We headed to the airport around dinnertime yesterday stopping at the McAllister's near the airport for an early meal. Then we made the short drive to the British Airways drop off. :(

I got a few texts from him before he boarded the plane at DIA but then he had his nine and a half hour flight to London's Heathrow (where there was no free WiFi for his 3 hour layover) and then another flight up to Scotland. After being detained and questions by customs for 45 minutes, they headed for a meal with the pastor over there and finally got checked into their hotel. It was about 10 p.m. his time (3 p.m. here) before we were finally able to touch base. So far the video chatting we'd practiced hasn't worked out so it was just instant messaging for now which the kids aren't too excited about.

But, if you know the S family at all, you know how cheap we can be. So Jason's phone is off so he doesn't incur any international roaming charges. Hopefully something will work out for a video chat tomorrow.

And since he (and you) couldn't see us today, here is what we did:

Dalton slept in Jason's spot last night. The kids (or, the boys at least) will be taking turns now and then. Once everyone was up, we lazed around for a bit watching a couple of shows and baking muffins for breakfast.

Then, we headed "up the hill" to Jessica and Janna's house in the mountains to celebrate Caise's 1st birthday. Can you believe he's one already? (And going to be a big brother in May!) His party was originally scheduled for last weekend but there was a death in their family and it had to be rescheduled and sadly, not everyone could make it. Caise came down with a fever and my crew has been sick (yes again) as well but darn it, we were going (with Jess's blessing).

Caise loves music so Easton wore his shirt with the drum kit on it and Dalton wore one with a bunch of guitars. We shared a yummy lunch and cupcakes and probably germs as well. I didn't take any pictures at the party. Oops.

We came home letting Autumn nap in the car on the drive back down. We had a little bit of quiet time so I could IM with Jason and then we went to rent "The Lion King" for a movie night. The kids had never seen it before and there is a Lion King show at the Animal Kingdom so I wanted to make sure they saw it before our upcoming Animal Kingdom trip.

We rushed home to try video chatting with Jason before he headed to bed himself but it didn't work out so we had a quick little IM chat where Easton would read what Jason was typing and often would tell me what to say next. Autumn and Dalton paid no attention at all and layed next to us on the bed "reading" books.

After that we headed out for a quick walk. It's been beautiful here lately. Perfect fall weather with fall colors and fall smells, it's a shame Jason is missing it (his favorite season) as it's likely to be winter (weather) by the time he gets back.

Easton had the idea to head to Sonic for a slush instead of just a walk around the neighborhood so that's what we did. He asked to bring his scooter so I put the other two in the double jogger:


See the pretty fall colors?


It was a treat fianlly getting to watch Eastie on his scooter. We bought it for him towards the beginning of school and while he could manage just fine the day we brought it home, he wasn't "good" just yet. And he usually leaves it at school so we never see him ride it...till today! He's much improved! He even does tricks!

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We got our grape slush and I divided it into 3 other cups because of all the darn germs going around our casa. Grrr. But the kids were happy!




We made our way home and the kids (Easton) were more rowdy than they were before scootering to Sonic. Go figure. I herded them outside to the trampoline to burn off some more energy while I made our dinner to go with Lion King:

Raar!

We did the movie which they all enjoyed and then a super quick bath before depositing them all in their beds. Actually, I've got Easton in J's spot tonight and he's snoozing away...Autumn's hacking away and breathing noisily in her room and Dalton's in the boys room. He had cough medicine and eczema medicine tonight because both those ailments kept him up till after 9:00 last night, poor fella.

Hope for a great night for everyone tonight and hope I can get Dalton to school on time in the morning! Usually Jason takes him but I think we're going to manage okay. 27 hours down, 238 to go!

Jason's doing a blog of his travels, by the way, let me know if you're interested in the link.

Thanks for the Mammaries!

Autumn is weaned. October 5th was the last time.

I know many might think 25 months is a little old to be nursing...but we didn't (Jason and I). Not the way we do things. It was only ever at home, in the rocking chair and for the last few months, it had only been at bedtime. We are not the type to let the kid walk around lifting my shirt all willy nilly for a few sucks whenever the mood struck...but in the privacy of our home away from all the people who do think it's bizarre to nurse a 2 year old, it was okay with us. And Autumn didn't "need" it...if I was away or not feeling well she went to bed just fine without milk.

And now we're done.

I'm done.

Forever.

Easton nursed until 17 months. I stopped with him because I was pregnant with Dalton and I was too high risk to feel comfortable breastfeeding while pregnant. Dalton nursed until 19 months exactly. I stopped with him because we'd tried to get pregnant the month before and since we didn't succeed the first try (we had with both boys), I decided to wean...and I got pregnant with Pearl right after weaning Dalton. But with Autumn there was no reason to "need" to stop so I wasn't sure when we would. Recently, I decided to stop automatically getting into nursing position at bedtime. I'd hold her differently but she'd still ask and I'd oblige. However, the night of the 6th she didn't ask for milk. She asked me to sing instead. I didn't necessarily think she was done. But the next night: same thing. And again and again and here we are now and we're not going back.

It's weird, this is the first time since getting pregnant with Easton over 7 years ago that my body is 100% my own. It's always been, "Are you pregnant or planning to become pregnant?" "Yes." Or, "Are you breastfeeding?" "Yes." Now I can throw caution to the wind and not have the doctors check Dr. Hale's "Medications and Milk" book. Or have the pharmacist look up which "risk category" the meds I need are. I don't need to check KellyMom.com to decide "is this safe?" All that is over and that feels kinda weird. It's been my mind set for so long...the entire length of our marriage, even!

Breastfeeding is something I was good at. It was one of my favorite parts of my job in the hospital: before I had any of my own I loved helping new moms figure out how to provide for their dependent little beings now that they were on the outside. I was looking forward to sharing that bond with my own baby one day.

Sure, I didn't have the easiest time staying pregnant, but once that was over, my body knew what to do. I got lucky. Even with a preemie who spent a month in the NICU, I was able to provide what he needed and then some. We had to throw away literally gallons of milk that teeny Eastie could never get around to drinking. I still remember sitting in the rocking chair next to my mom...Jason was down at Children's Hospital visiting Easton and my nurse friend brought me a pump to get things started. Definitely not the first feeding experience I'd imagined when helping other new moms all those times. I remember that they were able to give him my milk for his very first NG tube feeding. I remember waking up to an alarm instead of a crying, hungry baby to pump at home while our baby was being cared for somewhere else. :( I'd pack up a little cooler with the bottles I'd pumped (like a little lunch box!) and bring them to the hospital for him when he was ready to finally start eating. And sure, it took some time to get Easton used to the whole nursing thing, just like it does with pretty much every preemie, but we got it!

With Dalton it was nice to be able to nurse him immediately out of recovery like "normal". Autumn too. Not one of my babes ever had a drop of formula in their lives...having had a preemie, that's something I'm pretty proud of, for some reason.

Jason and I would have been fine if Autumn had continued to nurse through the winter. It certainly seemed to keep her healthier! Most of you know from Facebook that a tummy bug recently ran through our house striking everyone (to some degree) except Autumn! She's the one you'd think would have been the most succeptible! I was glad she hung on to that last bit of nursing through that week, if that's indeed what got her through it unscathed. Once everyone was healthy and the threat seemed to have passed is when she stopped asking. Interesting.

When I have to go back to work one day...sometimes I think I might love to be a lactation consultant. Clearly, breastfeeding is something I have a passion for.

Farewell to the end of that era and hello to a body that is all mine (and staying mine!) once again.