Barton's Blog: October 2010

Friday, October 15, 2010

Ramblings of a Crazy Lady

I feel like this title could not be any more true. I think I have been so busy...and well I always feel somewhat-ly crazy. And if you've ever *really* talked to me you know that rambling is something I am very talented at. So I guess here it goes. We will start off with my darlings, Raid & Pait. I had blogged awhile back, in my "Gem State" blog, I believe that PJ and I were on a first name basis. Now she has taught Raid to call me "Sasha" through out the day and only "Momma" when they are tired, need me, or are crying. I mean, it has always been a dream of mine to open the car door, to retrieve my children from their carseats and be greeted with a round of "Sasha's", just like most people would greet me. Blah, I guess the only impressive thing about this is that there are people who have known me my whole life and refuse to say my name right(Thanks Mom for giving me a Russian name..with a weird pronunciation ;). The girls' personalities continue to grow. They now know exactly what they want. If I am sitting somewhere they want to sit they will try to push me out of that spot. Or they are starting to fight over toys with more gusto. But on a more helpful note, if they fall or sister hits or bites they will hold what hurts. So it kind of takes the guesswork out of it. We are working hard on minding mom and dad...Some days are successful-others aren't. Pait is becoming more interested in clothes. She plays with them and tries to put them on. She was wearing one of Bobby's Famous S&S cut off shirts the other day. She got her head through the right hole and one of her arms through the right hole too. She was pretty proud of herself. They are starting to pay more attention to men. If there is a guy in the room they will watch everything he is doing. Sometimes they will smile and laugh, others they will just give him the most serious stare down. Raid will cuddle most guys she knows. (Daddy, Grandpa Bob, Papa, Uncle Bubba-they call Trev Bubba, and Mr. Heston). There are a couple of Grandma and Grandpa's male employees that they play with, just as long as they don't hold them. The Mister Appliance man was here today working on our washer and they both just stood at the laundry room door watching everything he did. I have babysat several little girls over the last 10 years who are terrified of men, so I guess I'm just saying I am relieved that men don't make them break into blood curling screams of fear. One of Bobby's good friends just had a baby. So we stopped by last night to take them some dinner and meet Mr. Tripp. Paiten was pretty fascinated with him. She wouldn't touch him, which was probably for the best. But she sat there smiling at him and would look up like "Mom do you see this baby?". Raiden looked at him for a little bit, but was not really impressed. She stared at him with her serious face then scrambled to get down and play. Both girls are getting somewhere between 4-6 teeth. They won't let me look in their mouths unless they are crying, and they hate being held like babies...So it's been a little challenging getting a good count of broken through teeth that aren't in the front. If anyone has any good tips to get the girls to stop biting I am very interested in hearing them. Please. :)

Bobby has been very busy with work. Which is such a blessing, I cannot imagine trying to live off the hours he was getting last year at this time. It's so crazy the ups and downs the natural gas and oil field has...But after all the previous ones through out the years it's pretty expected. He has also been getting in as much hunting as possible. He has spotted many trophy deer-excited doesn't even touch how happy he is about this. Thrilled, maybe that will work. We had a good weekend while the girls were away. We caught up on time with our friends, spent the day lounging, watching movies, went out for Chinese, and did some deer scouting together. It was really nice to recharge and connect. Of course, we missed the girls and were elated to get them back. I am pretty sure a little break to catch up on sleep and adult time, every once in awhile, helps us be better parents though. I have been up to the usual. I did get to eat lunch with a friend while Bobby watched the girls one afternoon. I enjoyed that and the girls had an awesome time with Bobby. Then one morning Trev's best friend(Heston) and his mom(Vicki) stopped by on their way to Weatherford. It really made my day to have visitors. Raid attacked Heston as he came in and wouldn't let him put her down. Pait did the same to Vick. Then Tuesday we went to Sarah's volleyball banquet with the Barton's. It was alot of fun and the girls did really good. I always get so nervous when we go out to public places, around alot of people, with two 13 month olds it is so hard to know what to expect. I want so badly for them to be well behaved. I have been trying to organize my life. After eight, or so, years of watching Andi write everything in her planner and even having her suggest it to me a few times, I am finally keeping one. I always regret not taking her advice sooner! I am even color coding it...Who is this person?!?! It really helps me remember things alot easier. I can just glance and know by seeing blue, pink, orange or yellow if there is a bill due or if I have plans, etc.. I am also trying to keep a to-do list. It has not been near as helpful as the planner, but in my attempt to be more organized I will stick to it. Having T-$ in Weatherford has been great. He runs on errands with us about once a week. It's much easier to have him sit in the car with R & P while I run in places. Uncle Trev & company even babysat the girls last night during a trip to the store. They did pretty good...Now if only they would start changing diapers! One last thing. I completely lied about the 31 day real food challenge. Bobby went grocery shopping and bought DiGirno pizza, macaroni and cheese, things of that nature. I didn't feel we could be successful with things like this in the house. I was really excited about this too! But we are trying to make small steps to feeling good about feeding the girls what we eat every meal. Because that is not always the case. About once a month we somehow wind up with all fried foods on our plate. Example: Fried pheasant, fried okra or squash, homemade chicken strips, and always fried chicken biscuits. I can't even imagine what any of those meals would do to the girls, so I always end up making them something completely different. Anyways, for now we will continue with baby steps and do the challenge at a later date. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! :)

Friday, October 1, 2010

Hey Man, Life's Alright

Man, it has been a long couple weeks around here. Even though we are finally making it through the fog, I still feel as though I am running on fumes. Between fevers(maybe related to teething?!?) and the girls unwillingness to sleep through the night or take naps life has been hectic. But we've made it...I ~~think~~ hope. Even though there are times when Raid and Pait push me to the edge of my patience and make me operate on amounts of sleep that I thought I had outgrown...I love being a mom. But it is insane to me how much sleep I need now. Since high school I've gone to bed at around midnight(much to my mom's dismay). There are many times that I've called it a night after watching the sunrise. So I thought just maybe I would have the upper hand on the girls' sleepless nights. But it turns out I am getting old...or something along those lines. Despite our rough patch the girls are the most fun they have ever been. Oh, and onery too. They are lil' giggle boxes now. Raid has this funny, almost forced laugh. She scrunches up her nose and influcuates, sort of like she knows it's cute. Paiten has this sweet, sincere laugh. When she laughs her big eyes come to a squinting position and she has a huge grin on her face. They love spending time together and playing. If they are in one of their cribs playing I am bound to hear an abundant amont of laughter. I will peek in to see what all the giggling is about. It could be they are holding hands, hugging, giving each other kisses, racing from one end of the crib to the other, or forehead to forehead rubbing their heads together. That last one is the newest of them all. I love seeing how close they are.They are still learning new words, but they chatter back in fourth all day long. I think they understand that in a conversation one person talks and then the other. Paiten will sit and chatter on, in a mix of real words and jibberish, using different tones, head shaking/nodding, and hand gestures. As soon as she stops Raid usually counters with an, "OOOOHHH..."that's full of concern and continues on for awhile. Or if Bobby and I are in deep conversation they will both talk the whole time one of us is talking and stop as soon as we do. Paiten has been saying "Rad-en" at least once a day. After a couple play dates with Hadley, or Haddy as I call her, Raid has said "Had-d" a few times. Paiten says "thank-you" all day long. So now we are working on "please" and "your welcome". Raid says "that" alot. As I am typing they are playing on their 4-wheelers. Paiten has known how to operate hers for a few weeks now. She will climb on it a million ways and push the button to go. The funniest is when she climbs on it backwards and pushes the button with her elbow, which in turn sends her around the room in circles. Before Raiden had it figured it our she would give her rides, either sitting on it right or with Raid laying across it on her stomach in the back(like a saddlebag). Raiden is now a 4 wheeling expert. She stands up on the step sides and runs over anything in her way. Raid is our climber. Everytime I think I have everything baby-proofed she proves me wrong. She has used her push toys and table toy to climb on the elevated ledge to the fireplace(approx. 2 ft?). This weekend. she was playing by the computer nook and climbed up on the chair, from the chair on top of the desk! Laughing the whole time, she was so proud, and as soon as she was on the chair Pait hopped up there too. So now we are having to move the chair from the desk when not in use.They both also love to climb into their wagon and sit and play. It keeps them pretty entertained. With fall setting in we are working on wearing clothes and shoes-everyday. The don't mind clothes that don't cover the legs or arms, but they don't know what to think about jeans. It slows their walking down a bit. They aren't very tall babies so maybe as soon as their legs are as long as thier jeans it will get better. We have been working on clothes for a week or two now. If they don't have something covering their diaper they will rip them off(Paiten ecspecially). I thought I was being clever by putting their diapers on backwards, but i doesn't actually help at all. At first they would help each other take them off, but now they can undo their own backwards diapers. Bobby has been spending alot of quality time with them lately too. They get so excited to see him. I love it! They want to cuddle him or bring him books from him to read to them. He has been helping with bathtime more too....and it will never be the same. They have known how to splash, but he taught them how to make a huge mess whilst doing so. I am soaked everytime bathtime is over now. I mentioned that we've got the girls together with Haddy to play on a couple occasions. That's been fun. We've been working with them on sharing with each other...It's uhm, been going-just not very well. The girls don't like to share their toys and she doesn't want to share hers. None the less they still have lots of fun. All three of them give each other lots of kisses and hugs. They also like to push each other down and pull each others hair. They are rotten, but are pretty tough. There are usually no tears shed. We keep thinking that eventually they will catch on they are going to get in trouble when they are mean to each other*fingers crossed*. We watched Haddy here the other day and I'd like to thank my mad nap giving skills for them all napping at the same time, but that would be a lie. I think they just wear each other out. I'm really excited they are starting to understand and carry out a few instructions. If they are getting into something they aren't supposed to I can tell they know it(most of the time). So usually we tell them "no, come here". As soon as they come we redirect their attention to an approved activity. It doesn't work all the time but more and more everyday. If one of them steal a toy from sister they will give it back after being told, sometimes. It's not 100%(it probably never will be)but it's a great start!

Bobby has been pretty busy with work, which has been nice. Any spare time he has though has gone to spending time with us or, of course, preparing for huntin season. Today I lost Bobby to his true love. Haha, but I'm kind of serious. He has been scoping out the hunting lease, setting up and making last minute adjustments to stands, making food plots, sighting in his bow, and anticipating gear shopping. He is pretty hardcore when it comes to this time of year. That's alright though, it's sort of cute. He has also been working on fixing the "death trap" a.k.a. the Jeep. It has a pretty serious death wobble that I'm hoping he can fix soon. He's pretty determined so I don't doubt that he can.

I haven't been up to anything, that's really out of the ordinary-keeping up with Raiden and Paiten, spending time with Bobby, and wanting to kill my pain in the ass dogs. We did have Andi over for dinner the other night! That was the highlight of my week. I love getting to catch up and have some adult conversation.

We are also anticipating the girls' monthly visit to Nana & Papa's. Raid and Pait always enjoy it, as do my folks. Bobby and I are planning on actually going on a date night. Should be fun. But we've got to go meet Nana & Granny(great grandma) for lunch soon...so I'm gonna wrap this up. Hope ya'll have a great weekend. :)

Pait