We've been to the park at least 10 times this week. It's all Gwen wants to do. It's quite all right with me because the weather has been absolutely beautiful and I love the chance to get out of the house. Jonathan has been feeling well enough to come along too. He should be 100% or near enough to that by Monday to start working on his job search again since every other job offer has fallen through, except for working for the census which doesn't start until April and only lasts 6 weeks. Oh well, at least he didn't have to ask for time off for his surgery or anything. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise, but I sure would love for him to get job to help pay for all these huge medical bills we've racked up over the last 4 weeks.
Yesterday (Friday), we went to Wheeler Farm. If you get the chance, you should go soon because they have TONS of cute little black and white lambs that are super fun to watch. They also have baby cows. Quite a few other families with kids Gwen's size were there. Gwen is not at all shy around other kids her size and she would go up to them and grab their hand and say "hi, friend" and then drag them after her all over the farm. Usually, the other kid would keep looking back at their parent for help but would be too polite or shocked to do anything but follow her.
Today we went to the Gateway mall in downtown. Firstly, I HATE this mall. I hate it every time that we go but Jonathan loves it because it reminds him of the outdoor malls in California. Okay, outdoor malls make sense in Southern California but not here. I hate that you have to pay for parking, I hate that it's always either too cold or too hot, but they have super fun things like Discovery Gateway (aka the Children's Museum) and the Clark Planetarium so I give in a couple times a year and go to this mall.
As soon as we parked at the mall, Jonathan and I discovered that we both thought the other one had grabbed the diaper bag. This meant that we were all the way downtown without diapers, wipes, my wallet, and the million other essentials in that bag. You'd think that at least one store in a mall with, oh, I don't know, 40 stores would sell at least diapers, but nope, not a one. Well, we decided to brave the no extra diaper situation until nap time - 2 1/2 hours away. We started with lunch and Gwen wanted "chicken butts". That's her new favorite ever since eating them with her cousin Noah on the day Emily was born. A few days ago I was asking her what she wanted for lunch - her current favorite was pizza and that's what I was making so I thought I'd ask her what she wanted and look like super mom when I magically had it all ready. Well, Gwen responds with "want chicken butts" instead and I'm stumped. I have no idea what she means until she explains, "Noah eats chicken butts." I start to think, when did Gwen last eat with Noah? Oh, that's right, when she went with Noah and Aunt Laura to Chick-fil-A and had chicken nuggets, okay got it, chicken nuggets = chicken butts. Now she wants them for every meal.
After lunch and checking the diapers - Emily's getting soggy but not poopy and she's out cold, Gwen is still dry, we decide not to go to the Discovery Gateway, which was our original plan, and head to the Clark Planetarium since we've never actually been to it. Gwen actually had fun looking at all the different things there until she paused in her play and got The Face. You parents know the one I'm talking about. The one that means you have to find the nearest bathroom for a stinky diaper change. Remember, we don't have any extra diapers, but also remember, Gwen was very nearly completely potty trained 4 weeks ago until the baby was born and she decided that it was funner to wear diapers. So, we remove the offensive diaper and clean Gwen off as much as possible - my deepest apologies to the employee who has to change the garbage in that bathroom because it was particularly stinky and I usually put those ones in a sealed baggy. We explained to Gwen that she couldn't go peepee in her pants until we made it home. That's when Emily woke up screaming. Breastfeeding is not very conducive to going out in public since some people are sensitive to the whole issue. I'm more relaxed about doing it since I found this awesome lightweight drape that keeps everything completely covered. If you have issues with that, then that's more your problem than mine. Guess where I keep that awesome drape though? Yup, in the diaper bag, at home. Without it I was stuck feeding her in the bathroom. Totally gross, but you do what you have to, I guess.
After we got all the kids loaded into the car and drove around their totally confusing parking structure for 20 minutes we realized that neither of us had any cash to pay for parking. Emily started screaming again and Gwen wanted chocolate and/or to get out of the car. Jonathan went to find an ATM and I kept driving around the parking structure with the screaming, whiny kids. It was a blast. Okay, it made me want to cry, but I'm super tough, right? Instead, I cranked the radio and muttered about how mush I hate this mall. Well, Jonathan found two ATMs that wouldn't take our debit card and I found a dollar in cash in the car - which was the amount we needed to pay so we could leave that wonderful parking lot.
Well back to the original purpose of this post, which was to say that it really has been a fun couple of days and you have to take the bad with the good. I think at times that I miss my job and can't wait to go back, but I will miss having these weeks with my family as we get used to and hopefully better at being a family of four. Okay, now here's some pictures, because what would a post from me be without them?
During our Park City shopping trip we got matching shirts for the girls and decided to do photo shoot yesterday in them to mark Emily's first month and because they looked so cute. Taking pictures of both of them was harder than I ever thought possible.
See what I mean? It's hard to get them both looking decent but they're both super cute anyway.
Emily has started to look a little different since her birth. She's loosing her cute red hair and really looks like a little old man sometimes.
Jonathan's mom loves to do puzzles and I think Gwen has inherited this trait. We now own at least a dozen puzzles and do them each a couple times a day. It's the first thing she does in the morning and usually the last thing she does before bed. She's good at them too. We've had to start buying the harder ones like this 25 piece one without the scene under it like some of her other ones have.
Emily will eat just about anything when she's hungry.
Our future weather gal. Actually, her favorite part was just being on the TV. Watch out for her on American Idol in 16 years or so.
She's so photogenic. I could take her picture all day.
2 comments:
I think the paying for parking, especially if you have a validation card, but still have to pay no matter what is L-A-M-E! I hardly go there because all their stores are so expensive and upscale. But I do have a fantasy of going there just with Glen all dolled up in nice clothes, pretending we can afford the $350 shoes I am trying on. Oh, only in my dreams. Love ya!
Another beauty: Since my tonsillectomy, I haven't actually looked in the cash pocket of my wallet in a couple weeks; last I knew Krista told me she pulled out a Five to pay Heidi. So today, I opened it to find a Single... whoops...!
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