Day 31-

Why do you have to clean before the cleaning people come???? I understand the part about picking up the toys and putting away the laundry, but it always seems to expose all the dirt when everything is put away....of course the final result is obviously much better than leaving the dust bunnies where they were!! But now of course I don't want to use anything or let the kids out of jail (i mean their room) for fear of making a mess. Seems like i've gotten myself into a condundrum...oh well...it looks good and i deserve it for my birthday!
We had a good afternoon, one of the cleaning ladies has a son ainslea's age taht we used to go to playgroups with. So she brings him to play while they do the house. It was fun for ainslea to have someone who could play video games with her and that way we were out of the way. Unfortunately Derek was having trouble putting his sentences together and using "umm alot" and ainslea interupted him to point it out. I tried to just tell her not to interupt him, and then they were looking at something with musical notes, and she couldn't figure out why he didn't know what a eighth note or a sixteenth note was...it was tough to be tactful...so later we talked about how it wasn't nice to point out to others that they are doing something different...unfortunately that made Ainslea incredibly sad and she was crying FOREVER!! I told her i was so proud of how smart she was and she was learning lots of new things. I just wanted her to learn the lesson about not making fun of people, but she's really sensitive to realising she did something to hurt someone else.
Now i'm tired, and going to try to go to bed early...here's to hoping

I think we;re up to Day 30 by now

Its been a whole week without blogging, and thats not because i didn't do anything, but Travis got a 4 day pass to get off of the base, so we were able to talk a bit more than we have been. He had a good time connecting to the internet and going shopping. I think they even did some touristy things too. It was sort of sad to not know ahead of time to make a rational decision about whether to go out to Seattlle to visit him. BUt with everything else to factor in, it didn't make good sense anyway. I'm glad he had fun with his friends, but somewhat disappointed about not being able to see him, when others are able to be with their loved ones.
I had my last two real estate classes on tuesday and thursday. Tuesday and Wedsnesday were half days at school, so not much time to do anything at work. I had a good talk with ainslea and got to spend some quality time with her solo after her half days and hopefully got through to her on wanting to have a little more respect for me, and therefore i would try to give her some more trust to do big girl things.
I had a horrendous time on weds at sears portrait studio, but couldn't bring myself to write about the 2 1/2 hour ordeal when i finally saw their silly smiles all dressed up for the holidays.
Friday we had dinner with Chris, Drew and Kathy which was fun for all of us. I felt bad because i've been so tired of macaroni & cheese that i was happy to have another adult in the house that i made greek burgers and vegetable nests from trader joes because we had an adult guest!!
Saturday we went to help pack packages for the Cape Cares for the troops. What an event!!! It was a little overwhelming emotionally, but what a great feeling knowing how many people are willing to help this wonderful organization. Ainslea got to pack Daddy's package specially for him.
We had dinner with my friend Amanda at her new house on Saturday with her two boys Aidan and Brady and today all we did was rake leaves and watch the patriots trounce the Dolphins 48-28!!!!

Day 24

I ran out of time on my blog from last night, my evening had a nice ending with a visit from an old but dear friend, Dale. We go back to freshman year at Wheaton when both of our families were living in London and we've stayed connected ever since, watched our kids grow up and we take time out to catch up every once in a while. Usually its over margaritas....thank god there's still someone close by to drink with...but this time she came down for a sunday evening pizza and beer which was so thoughtful and a nice change of pace. And although it wasn't an evening without incident...the one time that lorelei doesn't go straight down to sleep...but it was so nice to catch up and take a load off for a while. Its simple things like this that make me truly realise that I'm not alone in this journey. Yes, my kids are here to keep me occupied and will certainly make the days go by faster. But my friends are my lifeline, and I'm lucky to have made so many new ones here on the Cape, but honestly, its those ones that i don't get to see as often who have known me in the glory years and in the pisser moments too that I am truly thankful for. So now that we're all tearing up from this mushy moment...take a minute to replenish your drink and cheers to you!!! And for all of those non-drinkers or pregnant people....i miss you too!

I could go on about my evening where my oldest child punched me with all her might in the stomach, and turned our relaxing afternoon into an evening of constant fighting...but why ruin the sentiments!!!

Not sure what day i'm on anymore....

THis weekend was long, but full of things to do. We went out to dinner with a friend and his daughter to a japanese steakhouse where they cook on the hibachi right in front of you. It was fun, but Lorelei was scared when he lit some cooking oil for a firey effect. When watching it at other tables, he did tone it down a bit for us...but all in all the girls enjoyed it.

Saturday Ainslea went to a friends house for a sleepover and I had some QT with Lorelei at an open house for my condo listing. Not much to do, but she didn't mind climbing around the empty condo. Despite the rain, we had a few visitors, one of whom was Ainslea's first grade teacher...small world!! It was a bit strange getting home saturday afternoon and having it be so quiet. I actually missed the noise and the chaos...which is so funny to me, because i'm always wishing to have more of it, but instead find myself somewhat sad when i get it. But i was able to get a cake made that was due sunday while lorelei had her nap, so then i didn't have to do much saturday night. I always tell myself i'll do big projects, but i never do. Its way more fun to curl up in bed and watch tv. To top it off, it was 65 degrees with windy rain outside, but kept the window open because didn't need the heat on!

Sunday, Lorelei didn't wake up until 830 bless her soul!!! so that was nice to sleep in. We delivered the cake and went to pick ainslea up. I've never been so surprised to see her ready to leave her friends house!!! She said she really missed me, and next time could we have Brandie sleepover at our house. So strange.....but very nice at the same time to be missed. We did a little christmas shopping in hyannis on the way back from Dennis and then had a relatively easy afternoon. Did some swap babysitting for a friend, so the kids played and i cleaned my desk!!

Day 19 & 20

Wednesday went quickly back at work with lots to catch up with. I had to make two sheet cakes for an awards banquet at work and we went to Jim Barrasso's house for dinner. Ainslea had fun playing with Michael. It was nice to get out and not have to cook, plus the conversation was an added benefit.

Thursday was busy at work, we had the banquet and I got paid for the cakes :). We had a good afternoon and I got the kids ready for bed early before he babysitter came. I had to go to my first of 3 continuing education classes which wasn't too bad. The days have just sort of flown by fast with not much to do at home and not much mess created as a result.

The girls are doing well. Yesterday Ainslea did ask if Daddy was going ot be home for christmas, and i had to say no. We had a brief discussion about how he was going to be gone for a year, which did surprise her a little bit. Which only solidifies to me that she didn't really comprehend how long this trip was going to be. She did seem to accept the answer with minimal disappointment, but it won't be the last conversation about this i'm sure.

Lorelei is just a ball of energy every day. She's is more and more conversive and i only wish i knew what she was saying. She's got most of her body parts on her head down. She can point to eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, head and belly button when asked to. Ainslea is still good at playing with her for the most part. Its going to be a long haul, but i think as a team we can do it.

Speaking of teams....the patriots had 1 second on the clock, and Matt Cassel just threw a touchdown pass to randy moss and its 31-30 Jets....1 second left for the extra point to tie!!!! SO much for an early night......gotta love new england sports!!

Day 18

HAPPY VETERANS DAY or as Ainslea keeps saying...Happy Veterinarians Day :)
We are all off from work/school so its another day at home trying to get things done without having them undone by little people. Ainslea has her long time friend Brandie over to play so that will keep her occupied for the day. We went to the doctors office to get Ainsleas flu shot, check out lorelei's diaper rash and I ended up having my flu shot at the pediatricians office too!!!

So now Lorelei is walking around with her sweater and one shoe on, (and completely naked on the bottom doctors orders to dry out) which is quite amusing to watch. If it wasn't considered child porn, i'd post a picture of her riding around on her car!! She is such a treasure. She is doing so much more communication and understanding its amazing to me. We've got a few more words nailed down....cheese, pizza, juice and ok....of course with minor phoenetic differences..but i get it. We''ve also been working on the parts of the body. Head, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, belly button, bum, hands she can point to all of them when i ask her which is which.

I've also decided to post this early because I was told that someone from NPR radio was going to call me at 10am, but now its 11am so I'm assuming they have moved on. That was one of my calls last night, interviewing me as part of their military families dealiing with the current economic crisis. When i turned on the radio, they were talking about women vets, so i'm not sure if the los angeles stations are covering different topics or what, but nevermind, I sound like a congested frog now!!

Also decided to take a break from cleaning, seeing as i just pulled down the entire shelf of cleaning products in the bathroom....CRAP.....its not going to be an easy repair, so i am going to have to wait until little miss helper is taking a nap.

Monday Day 17

Today was not as good of a day. I still sound like a frog so I stayed home from work to try and regroup and get more projects done as the kids went to school. However that plan was significantly shortened when we overslept and the daycare lady was sick so she wanted lorelei picked up early. Even still, i did some more cleaning and made one half of the cake due for work on thursday. Unfortunately part of my day included wanting to mow the lawn instead of having to rake. All the new grass has been growing in nicely and i wanted to mow one last time to pick up the leaves and get ready for winter. And of course, all good things must come to an end, and after half an hour of trying to get the "gosh darn" thing started i gave up and had a complete meltdown!!! I couldnt handle the sense of failure. And its got nothing to do with me having to mow the lawn because i basically did it all summer long, and each time had trouble starting it, so it was to be expected, but it never did start....and now i don't have an alternate muscle to help me. I had planned on Chris being here to help me mow, but that didn't happen either...so now I'm left with two choices, asking for help (not my favorite activity) or paying bobby next door to do it for me. Not something i want to fork over just because i failed....
THe rest of the afternoon just got more trying...i can't speak loudly and i got two phone calls back to back and while i was on the phone it got progressively more and more louder in the background (naturally) so by the time bedtime rolled around...i was completely spent!! Hence the post being late. The one bright spot is that i'm now officially NOT pregnant.... not that i had expected to be, but its just one nice thing that i can count on over the next 12 months. :)