A Day in the Life: 'tis the season

So, things here have been... I guess, that is it, they have just been. I would like to say that life here is boring, but that isn't it. But then again, it isn't really exciting either. Fundi has been working (what a good man!) and I have been working and watching all the kids. At night (or in the morning, depending on the shift) when Fundi gets home, we talk about all the things he missed while he was away. That is when I know that I couldn't be the one to go to work. I sometimes even feel jealous if he gets up with Burbles during the night (this doesn't happen often) but I am more thankful for the sleep than jealous. She still isn't doing well with this part of her life. The sleeping part, that is. She likes me to keep her company a couple times a night (always at 10:30 and 3:30 and then from 5:30 on to whenever Captain wakes up or WDW gets here to be watched, whichever comes first). And don't get me wrong, a lot of times I am so short of sleep that I just pick her up, stick a bottle in her mouth, hold her on the chair while I sleep until I wake up and remember that she is in my arms. Then I put her away and go back to bed. If you ask me on a normal day how many times she woke up, though, I don't think that I could tell you. And, I know that Captain is growing (contrary to his need to wear size 12 month clothes, yet) because he is reaching new hights for baby-proofing. He drove me nuts a couple weeks ago running around with all of the utensils from the kitchen drawer. Today he is making me crazy digging in a drawer that I just moved a chair away from. I moved the chair in hopes that he would just forget about the drawer entirely. Instead, he has now learned that he can reach up in there and grab out Burbles' "pretties" and the colors and the coloring books. Geez. Burbles is crawling--the real thing now. She is getting bigger, too. Soon the kids will be the same size.

Haven't had the greatest luck with parties thus far. I think it has a lot to do with the time of year and the weather. For example: I was supposed to have a party this past Saturday. I even scheduled it during the annual Cookie Day just for the convenience of the Hostess. The Hostess and I showed up, but no one else. There was a big snowstorm and then an even bigger ice storm that day and everyone was stayin' home. We will reschedule, but still... Although, I did have a pretty good first month, all in all. I'm not discouraged, just a little frustrated that these great books are available and I feel like I just can't work fast enough. I want to be able to help children learn to read and be able to help parents (and other loving relatives and friends) know that literacy is so important and that children can really benefit from books.

OK, so now I will continue...

The kids have been pretty hilarious lately. All of the funny things that I wish I could record, but I think I will just tell a couple stories here today.

Yesterday morning I was really tired when we all got up. Sister B wasn't coming over with WDW, so we didn't have early duty. Burbles got up and I brought her out to the living room. Captain got up and I brought him out to the living room. They were playing together (as much as this is possible) on the floor and I was laying on the couch waking up. Captain came over, touched my nose, said "Beep, Beep, Poop". ... sure enough.

Yesterday, Fiona was here. I purchased a Dirt Devil Hand Vacuum that I have proudly perched on my counter within reach (I wish I would have had one of these since my baby shower... note to new moms: register for one.). I have put Fiona in charge of vacuuming after every meal under each of the high chairs and her chair. It is her "job". I was reminding her that she had a job to do after breakfast. She said: "My job is to vacuum. Captain's job is to do the dishes. And, Burbles' job is to be a baby and smile." Priceless... (Captain helps me unload the dishes from the dishwasher.) Is this child labor?

I have been busy with the kids and processing orders of books, (If I knew the UPS man's name, we would be on a first-name-basis.) and reading a library book that is due on Friday. I have been so busy, in fact, that I haven't had a chance to read the manual (yes, I am one of those kinds) for my new camera. I LOVE it. It is a Panasonic DMC-TZ3. It has a 10x optical zoom and it is 7.2 megapixels. More than that, it has a three inch monitor. I have taken photos with it and they are gorgeous (see the photos of the kids in sweaters). I'm excited to have a little time to read the manual, get caught up on all of those entries on the computer that I haven't had a chance to do for such a long time, and just hang out. I am excited to get people their orders of books. I have a party tonight, too. I hope that goes well.

Oh, and, in case you don't live near me, you should know that we got LOTS of snow yesterday. It is really pretty out today and nice and sunny. I'll try and get some photos. More than that, I started my day today by shoveling snow for about 20 minutes off our deck and to the garage door. It was nice, light, fluffy, powder that shoveled easily. Lucky me. I thought it would be nice for my sister-in-law J to not have to walk through a bunch of snow to drop off Fiona.

Captain just called me "Anya" He does that sometimes when he wants to get my attention, but isn't he a little young for this? Sometimes he calls Fundi by his real name as well.

Cookie Day 2007: my dad's girlfriend working on her cookies. Captain sure got his fill of sugar that day. He was calling M&Ms "cereal" and he learned to say "cookie". He has that down. He sees them on the counter, first thing in the morning and he wants one. Monday, when we woke up, Captain was checking out what was in the garbage (he does this regularly) and he found a plate that had once contained fudge (from church bakesale) that Fundi had thrown away. I came out of the bathroom and Captain was licking the plate in the living room and then he ran from me when I tried to snatch it from him. Tricky guy.