Seriously Slacking...

So, I have been seriously slacking in the blogging arena. I have some good excuses though:

1. J was gone in Africa for 9 days. I made it. But, barely. The first 4 days I was getting a little cocky with how well I was doing, and then in the last five days I had two days where I was on the verge of tears, mostly from being tired (is it really necessary to wake-up at 4:30 in the morning several days a week?) They started the week with runny noses which caused a lot of night-wakings but they mercifully slept through a couple of nights (even if they weren't in their own beds.) We stayed very busy that week, which was good. Friends were fun, as was the baby pool, sprinklers, splash pads, train rides at the park, sidewalk chalk, museum, library, Costco (twice), church.... Our backyard was used almost every morning and evening and some afternoons in between.

  

    The garage became one of my closest friends. We did not have one in Pasadena, where we lived on the 2nd floor, so being able to drive until the kids fell asleep and then transfer them one by one to their beds at night has been amazing. It has saved us approximately 6 viewings of CARS that week. That was especially good news since our dvd player was currently only showing movies in black and white. Being by the grandparents was awesome, too! They each took us out to dinner and lunch and gave the kids some much needed energy expenditure and attention. My mom also watched the kids for three hours one day so I could go to book club/bible study (this happened to be a tearful day, so that was VERY good!)

      I feel like these times always put a lot of things in perspective for me. For one, they help me to suck it up a bit once I realize that even though these children can be absolutely exasperating, if the worst thing is the fact that I have two beautiful, healthy, energetic toddlers (who require freakishly small amounts of sleep) and love to be with their mama, then I am extremely blessed. Only 3.5 years ago right after our miscarriage, I would have given anything for these two, and now I am so amazingly thankful for them. 

       And secondly, it makes me appreciate J. I am so proud of who he is and I know that these times we are apart are for a very good reason. I totally love what Life In Abundance does. We just miss him so much when he is gone. I don't just miss his help (though I definitely will be happy to have his assistance again!) but I really missed being able to talk with him. We don't get to talk on the phone, skype is super choppy, and internet access is sketchy, so I can't share with him those times I am laughing or crying or giggling at something one of the kids did or about to lose it. That's really the hardest part...so now I am gearing up for the fact that he will be gone a lot more this fall...

2. My second is excuse is that I had a lame week after that, too. I went to the gym without tennis shoes (Can you tell I don't go that often? Don't worry I did the elliptical in flip flops like a true athlete.) I lost my glasses. I got a traffic ticket on my way to the dentist where I had cavities. I went to take care of the ticket and sat in the court room trying to keep 2 2-year olds quiet for 45 minutes (without our snacks which had been confiscated at the metal detector) before they told me the officer had not done his job of turning the ticket in yet and I would have to come back and do it again. Then, I took the kids to a splash pad that had the water turned off where B proceeded to be bitten by 30 ants (literally!) and we were almost hit by a pigeon that fell dead from the sky. I had been thinking lately that I really want to learn to be more patient and to roll with the punches. God seemed to think I really needed to see just how badly I do with that apparently before we can go about correcting it. :)

3. I started cloth diapering again. My motives are not altruistic. Enough said.

4. We had some dear friends come into town fro CA for the weekend so we were very busy with lots of fun! The mommies got to go for a wonderful lunch out and the kids had a ball together. Then we ended the weekend with a family party. We were tired!

Hopefully, now I will be back in the game... :) I think I made up for it with my rambling...