One Week Down...

...one week to go! I think we're kind of finally in a groove (sort of). Anna has done much better the last couple of days. The wonderful Kim took the kids for the entire afternoon which meant I got a very long, uninterrupted (mostly) nap! And then we had supper with Stacey & Christian which meant 1) I didn't have to cook and 2) the kids got to play with friends! A great way to end a long, stressful week. I was talking with Stacey tonight and we both agreed that dealing with our sons' disobedience is so much easier than dealing with our normally-very-well-behaved daughters' disobedience. It's just so draining. Especially since I was not expecting Anna's reaction. At all! And not that Jacob is just naughty, but he's a boy and he's always pushed the limits and has never been as quickly compliant as Anna has been. I think just the difference between boys and girls. And honestly, when you have a child who is usually very little trouble in the discipline/behavior area, it's really hard to suddenly deal with a lot of those issues with her. Having a little grace goes a long way with her. I've found that if I simply rock with her every morning before school for as little as 5 minutes, it makes a world of difference. These poor kids are going through a lot of change in their worlds this fall! Starting school, Daddy traveling a lot, a new baby...yikes! And for a girl who hates change as much as I do, that's a lot to throw at Anna and expect her to just handle it with no hiccups. I need to remind myself of that and to try being more positive about this whole thing. Yes, it stinks that he has all this travel and that the first trip is 2 weeks long. Yes, it's really hard being 31-37 weeks pregnant while he's gone. Yes, it's exhausting to be a "single mom" for this season. BUT at least he has a job. At least that job provides enough so that I'm able to stay home with the kids. At least my mom is able to come and help during these times. God is good, all the time...not just when life is going smoothly!
Tomorrow we're going to lay low and just hang out. Definitely take a nap :) Then one more week and Daddy will be home!! Yahoo!! And a couple days before that, Lord willing, Binga will come down for a visit!!! :)

Really?? Only Day 3?!

It's been a looooong 3 days. We all feel like Daddy has been gone for a month (Daddy included)! Anna is having the hardest time, which surprised me. Jacob has become Daddy's little man the last couple months so I figured he would have the hardest time. He's been pretty good. Anna reacts by being very naughty (disobedience, torturing her brother) & sassy :( which makes Mama very tired & grumpy! Which makes it all worse!! So we're working on it. I think she just needs lots & lots of cuddling. We've still got 9 days! As an act of desperation, I got the Moon Sand out for the kids. That stuff is so messy!!! But they really have fun with it. I figured the floor needs swept anyway, why not add some Moon Sand to the mix?! ;)
Onward we go!
Sent from Jennifer's BlackBerry

Migraines: 2 Mommy: 1

Well, Day 2 and Day 3 of the Operation were not so great. Migraines attacked with a vengeance and I was down for the count yesterday. Today was better by far, but still not 100%
Therefore, there are no pictures. I have to say, God has blessed me with possibly the sweetest little girl in the whole world. She kept Jacob from climbing on me when I was resting on the couch yesterday. She told me "I'll take care of him. You just rest." After a quick bath (pretty much in, wash, out) I was about to lose my supper. I told Anna I hurt too bad to read a book, so she said "Don't worry Mommy. I'll read Jacob some books." So as I sat in the chair, they sat on her bed and she read him at least 5 books. And praise God, Jacob went to bed easily! Anna came to my room not long after saying she was thirsty. I took the lid off her cup and she got herself some more water. She climbed up into bed with me at some point b/c when I woke up 4 1/2 hrs. later, she was there. Thankfully the ice pack and sleep helped and today I felt mostly better. It reared its ugly head several times, but not for very long. These are the days when I wish we had a live-in chiropractor and masseuse! But God is good and we all made it through the last two days! Only one more day and Daddy is HOME!!!

Day 1: Survived

Day One of Operation Daddy-Travel:

We did it! :) Aaron is back on the road recruiting for the week, so I'm holding down the fort (or trying!). Today wasn't so bad. Ask me again in a couple days and I might be comatose! ;)

Last night after dessert (popsicles!), Anna was being silly.

Jacob wasn't going to waste one bite of his! (Those blue eyes!! They could just melt me! Oh alright, they do! He is a charmer, that's for sure.)

Tonight, Addie came over for supper (thanks for the company!!). She also brought some laundry over in a plastic tub (college students!). Over the years, I think my kids' favorite things to play with have been our foster kids' laundry "baskets"!! I never know what they might show up. I've seen it all...mesh hampers, plastic baskets, bags, boxes, and now tubs! Jacob loved climbing in and out. He especially loved it when Addie pushed him around in it!

What a poser! She pranced over and said "Take my pit-cher Mommy!" and proceeded to pose! :) I didn't get any of her IN the tub. She was pretending to swim and made the sides fog up with her breath. She was wearing a scuba mask, of course!

Wooo boy, was this one wild after his bath tonight! He flew around squealing and pulling the laundry off the couch with his devilish grin and that gleam in his eye!
Of course, I get them in bed at the perfect time and they conspire against me for a quick, peaceful bedtime!! Over an hour later, they were both finally asleep. Jacob was causing the problems. Anna told me "I can't go to sleep with Jacob whining like that!" Poor girl ;)
Now that my work is done for the evening, I better get to bed!
We miss you Daddy!

Rocky Mountain High

We're spending the next few days in Colorado with Aaron's family. We hit some bad weather about 1/2 way out, but it didn't last long and we still made good time. His parents live up in the mountains and I have to say, God gave me a beautiful view this morning when Jacob woke up too early :) It's very peaceful and serene (except the howling wind that decided to start last night!). They have a gorgeous sunroom, windows all the way around with perfect views of the mountains. Jacob is enthralled in watching Dora (and doing his best to get close enough to touch the screen--I think he's been moved away at least a dozen times!) & Anna is making muffins with Grandma. I'm too tired to go back to the van and get my camera--sorry!! For some reason, Jacob woke up in the middle of night. After a bit of crying and drinking some juice, he puked--several times! He isn't sick. It was weird. Maybe he just had to adjust to the altitude? He's perky and normal this morning. So we had a long night!
Here are some pictures from the other day at home.

The kids were playing in the pantry. Pretty much Anna would shut the door and they would stand there and lick the glass! ha They thought it was fun, anyway. And Jacob would peek through the clear edge there (you can see his little eye peeking). It was really cute.

Some friends stopped in town on their way "home" for Christmas. We hadn't seen them in several years. They just had their first baby in November. Anna was in heaven! She probably sat and held Gracie for 30 minutes. At one point, she asked for her doll and laid it next to Gracie. She actually put her arm around it. It was really precious.

Anna sacked out on the way to town last week. I took her, Jake, and Aly to the movie "The Tale of Despereaux". It was pretty good. There were a lot more scary parts than I thought there would be, but Anna and Jake did pretty good. Kim had told them on the way to town that if they saw a scary part, just close their eyes and remember that God is bigger than anything and it was just pretend. Anna's never been to a theatre, so she sat in awe for a good 10 min. Didn't move an inch! It was hilarious. We had a good time.

It's only just begun...

We've already had two Thanksgiving gatherings--only two more to go! Seriously, it's CRAZY! We went to Colorado to spend time with Aaron's family last weekend, since his brother & family were in from Alaska and won't be back for Christmas. We had fun, except for the kids being and/or getting sick! Jacob got pink eye the day we left, Anna developed a double ear infection while we were there. So we got very little sleep. Oh well!

Anna & cousin John begging turkey off Grandpa before dinner.

My kids are absolutely mesmerized by Grandpa's guitar playing and singing. They love it.

The family pic. At Great-Grandma's house. Last time we had a Wallman family pic was when Anna & John were babies!

The men being goofy (they were the lighting test subjects before we took the real pictures).

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This weekend is my family's Thanksgiving out west. It will be more fun, but hopefully more sleep since the kids are on antibiotics now! Anna is excited to goo see the kitties at Great Grandma Mary's house. I better finish the laundry and re-pack!! And this is just for Thanksgiving! Christmas will be even crazier! But it's well worth it to spend time with family.

We're back and we're still alive

We're back from Colorado. Please don't fall out of your chairs and hurt yourselves, but I don't have any pictures to post yet! I know, I know. What's wrong with me?! I'll tell you what's wrong. It's those stupid batteries! I think I got 2 pictures taken (the first day we were gone, of course) and then the batteries died. Did I take extras or the charger? NO. But hey, I remembered my pillow. Gravy. Anyway, my wonderful cousin (who has an AWESOME camera) is mailing me a CD with the hundreds of wonderful pics she took (maybe not hundreds, but close!). So now you'll just have to read my boring words with no pictures...for now.
We had a great time, even if it was fast and we were on the move! We spent Thursday night and most of the day Friday with the Swiharts in western Kansas. FUN TIMES! :) And they took us to the county fair!!! Anna has a blast...well okay, we all had a blast! It's been a very long time since I've been to a county fair. And the coolest thing was that all the rides were run by the local people...no scary carnies (no offense, but come on!). AND the tickets were a quarter a piece! A QUARTER!!! So thanks for the wonderful time, Swiharts! We loved it.
Friday found us driving to Denver to stay with my cousin and prepare for the big race :) Which consisted of grilling and playing one measly round of cards (I'm not telling who won!) and sending the racers off to bed fairly early (by Stinemetz standards, anyway). They were up before dawn (that should be illegal) and the rest of us left a lot later. We made good time and no kids threw up this time! (Last time we went up Anna got really sick, we think from the quickly changing altitude?). We found a good spot close to the finish line and waited for Uncle Bill and Daddy to round to corner. They finished! :) My hat's off to them...everyone knows (they should anyway!) that I'd never come close to running 13.1 miles!!!!! After cooling down, we headed out to eat with everyone (some college friends came to watch--Thanks guys!) and then back to Ange's for Aaron's famous year-long nap. Jacob enjoyed using their giant lab (a gentle giant) as an obstacle course and Anna had fun playing with Isabel (so sweet of her to play with Anna!) After supper we headed to Grandma J's for the night. It was wonderful to spend time with her (wish it could have been longer!!)--I think the kids did a sufficient job of entertaining her! They were in top form with their silliness. We took her to church Sunday morning and then headed home after lunch. I have to say I didn't enjoy driving the whole way back in one day! It was really nice to break the trip up on our way out (even if it is only 8 hrs all together!)
Okay, that's enough. I'm so tired it's not even funny. So WHY AM I NOT IN BED AT 1AM?!?!?!?!? B/c I am my father's daughter! :) Here's to an uninterrupted sleep and late risers come morning.....HA!