5 Days without Daddy: Day 5

With the excitement of Brandon's return last Friday I forgot to post our Day 5 recap... I hope I can remember everything!

No swim lessons on Friday so we were able to sleep in a little later and not rush around quite as much.
We met Ms. Amy at the Y at 11:30. I've worked my way up to 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. Not too bad considering we've only been working at it for 1 week (and last summer I only made it up to 20 minutes... my heart wasn't in it last year!).

After a good workout we ran over to Target.

Chandler was SO GOOD last week I felt like she deserved a small reward. She LOVES her Polly Pocket Disney Princesses and Sleeping Beauty's head popped off several months ago. She has been asking for a replacement for sometime, but we had not bought one yet.
I've been looking for a set that had Prince Phillip in it as well as Sleeping Beauty. I was beginning to think they didn't make them... I had seen sets with Cinderella & Prince Charming and sets with Belle & the Beast, but they were the only ones.

Last Sunday I happened upon the toys aisle... without kids in tow... I guess I was on cruise control :)
THERE IT WAS... Sleeping Beauty, Prince Phillip, the horse with the carriage... the whole set. AND THEY ONLY HAD ONE!!
So what did I do?

I left it on the shelf and hoped and prayed that it would be there the next time Chandler did something worthy of a reward! :)
I know, I know... the whole way out of the store I kept thinking, "Go back and get it!! You've looked for months and finally found it!" I convinced myself to walk away empty handed.

So, we walk into Target... Chandler thought I was there to look at shoes. :)

I looked at shoes and then we wandered over to the toy department. I walked passed the Disney Princess aisle and took a peek to see if it was there....

IT WAS!

I stopped the cart and told Chandler about how proud I was of her. She was so very well behaved the whole time Brandon was gone. She helped with Riley. She helped with the puppies (for the brief time that we had them!). She was really working hard in her swim lessons. She had a great attitude all week (well 90% of the time, but she is only 5 years old!).

I told her I was going to get her a prize to reward her....

Her response...
"Thanks mom! Can I get the dancing Hamster??"

We walked down the princess aisle. I picked up the Sleeping Beauty set and she went nuts!!!
"MOM YOU FOUND IT! MOM I LOVE IT! MOM THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!"

We headed home and she played with it for the rest of the day (and all Saturday morning, and all Sunday afternoon, and all day today... you get the picture!). Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip even took a trip to Wal-mart Friday night.

Brandon arrived home around 6:00 Friday night. All three of us were excited to see him.

Unfortunately, we had lots to do to get ready for the party on Saturday!
We ate dinner. Brandon cut the grass. The girls and I went to Wal-mart. BUSY, BUSY, BUSY.

Saturday after the softball party we took the girls to see Kung Fu Panda. There were lots of funny parts and only 1 or 2 things that I would have changed (they said stupid and sucks), but Chandler really enjoyed it and is now asking to rent it on DVD... I guess we need to try to explain the movie process... movie theatre, long wait, DVD.

This week it's back to the routine.
Swim lessons for Chandler and work for Brandon.
Vacation Bible School starts tonight so I'll be at the church working in the nursery (with Riley) while Chandler participates in VBS and Brandon plays softball. :)

Some day soon things will slow down. Hopefully!

5 Days without Daddy: Day 4

No pictures again today. I lost my camera. I remember picking it up last night in the mad dash to get to church on time, but I haven't seen it since.
Maybe I'll get a new one... (please Brandon??)

I mentioned already about how terribly I slept last night. That started the day out on a GREAT note... please note the sarcasm! :)

Swim lesson at the Y. We were running late, but the other little boy in Chandler's group never even showed up so Chan got lots of one on one attention.
*She practiced floating on her back. She's ALMOST got it. She just needs to relax a tiny bit more.
*She jumped into the pool through a hulla-hoop. Yes, much like a circus act. :)
*She did the "backstroke" (or the pre-school version of it).
**Highlight of the lesson... the dreaded PVC pipe.
The teacher holds a PVC pipe vertical in the water touching the bottom of the pool (in the shallow end). The "swimmers" (if you can really call them that yet) take off the lifesaving swim bubble, grab a hold of the PVC pipe, take a deep breath and pull themselves down using the pipe. Now, Chandler is terrified of going under water so I was glad the teacher introduced this on the day that the other boy was absent. That ensured that Chandler had plenty of time to work up her courage. To my surprise it didn't take long. She would basically only go down till the top of her head was just barely under the water and then pop right back up (the whole thing lasted less than a second), but she did it SIX TIMES!!! I was SO proud of her.

We headed home after the lesson. Riley was cranky and Chandler got lots of sun at the pool this week so we took today off. :)

I forgot to mention yesterday that we are were puppy sitting. My friend Amy Beth is out of town for a few days and she entrusted us with her little puppies, Snuggles & Cuddles. We were supposed to have them with us from yesterday (Wednesday) till Monday. Unfortunately, it seems that Riley has a dog/pet allergy.
She was fine yesterday afternoon, last night and this morning, but just before nap time she started getting watery eyes, a light pink rash and sneezed anytime Snuggles got close to her face. I called Amy Beth and she was very understanding. She made arrangements for the little guys to be boarded so we loaded them up and took them to the kennel. Needless to say my girls were pretty upset with me. I was talking to my mom on the phone and telling her that I thought Chandler might be upset with me when Chandler confirmed with, "Yes mom. I am very upset with you."

After a tearful goodbye to Snuggles & Cuddles we headed over to McDonald's for a "pick me up" or a "throw up" which ever accurately describes your relationship with the big Mc D. :)
Chandler felt much better after some chicken, apple slices, and playground time.

We then hit Hobby Lobby and the dollar store for goodies for Brandon's Softball Team Party at our house on Saturday. Yes ladies. I know what you are thinking... "Her husband left her for a whole entire week and there is a party at their house on Saturday?!?!? The day after he returns home from having abandoned her?!?!? People are going to come into her house and she had NO HELP preparing for their arrival?!?!?"
Yes.

In Brandon's defense, I picked the date of the party. I just had no idea (and neither did he at the time) that he would be gone.
I've done a little cleaning here and there... remember I scrubbed the bathroom floor on Tuesday night. :)

The girls are now snug in their beds dreaming about how only the meanest mom in the entire world would take two adorable puppies away after only one day having told them that they would be around for 5 days.

BRANDON COMES HOME TOMORROW!!!

5 Days without Daddy: Day 3

No pictures today. Sorry!

I slept good Tuesday night. Went to sleep at midnight after scrubbing the bathroom floor. I think I slept most of the night. I tossed and turned some, but nothing too bad.

We got up Wednesday morning and headed out about 9:45. We made it to the Y with just a few minutes to spare.
Chandler had her lesson... apparently they did something new, but I was chatting with a friend from church and missed it. I guess Chandler will not be giving me a thumbs up for being a good watcher!

After the lesson she joined Riley in the nursery so Amy and I could work out.

While I was waiting for Amy, the friend I had been chatting with during the swim lesson grabbed me for a "pre workout warm up".
HA! We did 5 minutes on a stair machine... the machine had actual steps that moved on a conveyor belt of sorts... IT ALMOST KILLED ME!

Amy arrived and we did our 25 minutes on the elliptical machine, free weights and a few machines.

After working out we all headed out to the pool. THANK GOODNESS FOR MS. AMY!! :)

We had lunch poolside, Chandler swam her little heart out, Amy and I wrangled with Riley, and we chatted with a few other moms.

After about an hour and a half we headed home and Ms. Amy went to pick up their dog at the groomers.

At home, Riley crashed, Chandler had a snack and watched a movie, and I worked on getting all of our pool stuff washed and put away... a daunting task.

About 5:30 we started getting ready for church.
I had to meet a new nursery worker so she could fill out her employment paperwork at 6:00, teach the Cherub Choir at 6:30, and teach a summer class on scrapbooking at 7:00. I REALLY MISSED BRANDON TONIGHT!

I remembered at 5:30 that I forgot something I would need for my scrapbook class. We RAN (pretty much literally) into Wal-mart, grabbed what I needed and headed back out. I called the girl I was supposed to meet and told left a message to tell her I was running a few minutes late. The message on her phone was really odd so I began questioning if I had the right number.

We arrive at the church at 6:04. She was patiently waiting on my. I apologized and told her I called her. She opened her purse... she didn't even have her phone with her. I confirmed her number... sure enough, it was wrong.
We did a nursery walk through. We talked pay and scheduling and then I was off to sing and dance with my pre-schoolers.

Cherub Choir was a bit rough tonight. I was lacking the extra energy that pre-schoolers require and the majority of my 2-5 year olds were too tired to care if I was up there doing motions and trying to get them to participate! I had seen several of them at the pool today so I knew they were worn out!
I tried to end early, without being too early so I could set up for my scrapbook class. I normally end at 6:58 so I cut it off at 6:55 and tried to give myself 3 extra minutes to get organized. It didn't help!

I got the the room and set out my stuff. Apparently there was a curriculum thief so I didn't have a Bible story/lesson waiting in my room. Instead we did a meet and greet. More for me than the kids... I work in the nursery and preschool so I'm not familiar with the elementary aged kids.

I had a scrapbook layout for our first class all planned out. In my mind we finished it (or atleast got REALLY close) on the first night.
I never even thought about the possibility that I would have some kids in my class who can't write (they can write, just not very well)! That makes creating a scrapbook layout a little bit harder! :)

I did have a few girls (who will be in the 6th grade in the fall) who seemed to really enjoy the task and took their time to really give it their best.
We only got through step 1. We only have 4 lessons so we are really going to have to work hard!

Class was over at 8:00. I had some kids who didn't get picked up until 8:20 so I was chatting with them and packing my stuff. Then I realized, "OH! I haven't picked up Riley and the nursery workers are probably waiting on me!!"
Ms. Amy to the rescue! She got Riley while I finished loading all of my supplies. Then we both realized that neither one of us had picked up Chandler!
Amy got Chandler and I started heading to the car with all of my stuff.
We met in the hallway. Riley spotted Pastor Jonathan and really wanted to get to him. Further proof that she misses her daddy.

After loading everything in the car the girls got to play on the playground for a little while.

Riley cried when I took her from Amy.

I NEVER WANT TO BE A SINGLE PARENT! However, it has made me realize how much Brandon and I do to "tag team" the girls. I've become pretty dependent on that.

We came home and none of us were very sleepy yet. Chandler wanted a snack and a movie so we all sat down and watched "The Incredibles". After a few minutes, both girls were ready for bed.

I slept pretty bad last night. Mainly because Max, our normally sweet little neighbor dog, sat on OUR FRONT PORCH and barked at something for over 45 minutes. I finally turned on my computer and searched for our neighbor's phone number.
Yes, I called my neighbors who have a 3 year old daughter at 12:45 at night. It was either that or carry Max across the street at 12:45 and pound on their door until they answered. I thought calling was a better idea.

So here we are... Thursday. Brandon gets home tomorrow night!

5 Days without Daddy: Day 2

2 days down. 3 to go!

I slept pretty good last night. Unfortunately I didn't fall asleep until 1:00am. Once I got to sleep I think I only stirred a few times... Even when Brandon is here I don't sleep through the night, but at least I don't have to wake up every few hours devising an escape plan should someone break into our house or the kitchen spontaneously com bust in the middle of the night. :)

I woke this morning with a KILLER headache. The kind that you just know won't be affected by a few Tylenol. I slept as late as I possibly could then had to DRAG myself to the shower in order to get Chandler to her 10:00 swim lesson on time.

We made it to the Y with a few minutes to spare.

Riley isn't very good at sitting through the swim lesson so after she ate her banana I took her to the nursery.

Swim Lesson Recap:
She did AMAZING!
She's still having trouble "laxing" enough to float on her back. I noticed today that she will FIGHT to keep her ears out of the water. If you know how to float on your back you know you have to get your ears below the water to successfully float. I think she's fighting because of SO MANY ear infections her first year of life and the swimmer's ear she developed during swim lessons last year. NOTE TO SELF: Talk to her swim teacher before the lesson starts tomorrow.

Biggest accomplishment of the session:
She jumped off of the diver's block 3 times! Last year the distance between the diver's block and the water's surface made her really nervous... this year, no problem! I did notice that she hesitated slightly before her 1st jump. She said something to her teacher (I couldn't hear because I was sitting behind the observation glass at the shallow end of the pool). The teacher responded and then she jumped. Of course there was a guy in the water to help catch the kids who were nervous about jumping into the deep end of the pool!

Conversation at the end of the lesson:
C: "Mom! Did you see me jump in the deep water?"
J: "Yeah Chan! You did GREAT! I was so proud of you."
C: "It was a little scary, but my teacher said the boy would catch me."
J: "Yep and he did catch you."
C: "Well, not really. I went under water a little, but he touched my arms."
J: "Well, that just means that you didn't really need him to catch you. You did it all by yourself."
C: "Yeah, but I still want him to try to catch me. I'm going to tell my teacher that at the next swim lesson."

When Chandler's lesson was over, she and I head to the outdoor pool. I left Riley in the nursery. I still had my headache and I wasn't up for chasing both of them!

She found a friend with a "surfboard".

And some friends who wanted to play "Tag! You're it!"

After about 30 minutes, one of our friends showed up with her 2 little girls. One is Chandler's age and the other is Riley's age.
I had planned to leave after about an hour outside, but they were playing so well together (and it was nice to talk to another mommy of 2 girls the same age as my girls) that I hated to drag Chandler away. Instead I went inside and brought Riley out for a swim.
She did really well. She didn't wander quite as much as on Saturday, but I didn't get to sit very much!

Riley trying to figure out a CapriSun. :) She just kept squeezing it all over herself.

"I may be juice soaked, but I'm still cute!"

Notice her red arm band? All kids 14 years old and under MUST wear an arm band to be allowed in the pool.
My friend with the 2 girls and I thought it was silly for Riley and her baby to wear arm bands considering the arm bands are to notify the lifeguards of each child's swimming ability.
Do you know any 13 month olds or 15 month olds who can swim?

We had lunch at home and then we all crashed for a good nap. I don't think Chandler actually slept, but she did lay down on the sofa with me while I dozed in and out.

Other than my headache which I still had at dinner time, the day was pretty uneventful UNTIL just before 7:00...

Chandler has a HORRIBLE habit of NOT FLUSHING THE TOILET! I don't understand why it's so hard, but she can't do it! I've reminded her time and time again that she MUST flush the toilet especially now that Riley can walk (I bet you can see where I'm going with this...).

Just before 7:00 Chandler was having a snack and watching a movie (I know, surprise, surprise!). Riley was wandering back and forth from her room to the living room. I could hear her little feet slapping across the hardwood and then the kitchen and then the sound of her hand dragging along the wall in the hallway on her way to her room.
A few minutes go by and I hear her laughing... no big deal.
I go check on her and she is in the bathroom with 2 HANDFULS OF PEE PEE SOAKED TOILET PAPER! I would like to tell you that I caught her just as she committed this horrendous act, but NO. She had already smeared pee pee soaked toilet paper all over the floor, the toilet and the tile walls. UGH! **Did I mention that I STILL have my headache?

So, my kids went to bed PROMPTLY at 8:00 with a stern warning to not even THINK about getting out of bed or calling me for anything other than vomit! :)
Ok, not really, but they did go to bed at 8 and I did tell Chandler that I didn't want her getting up.

I soaked up the water on the floor with the towels from their baths (yes, I washed all of the nasty pee pee toilet paper off of her!) and tossed everything that could be machine washed in the washer.

As soon as I wrap up this blog I'm off to scrub the bathroom floor. I planned to do it on Friday, but apparently Riley had other plans for me! :)

I know, at least it wasn't poopy toilet paper!

5 Days without Daddy: Day 1

Brandon is in Dallas. He left this morning at some hour way before the sun rose. His flight left Chattanooga at 6:00am. UGH!

So here we are.... 5 Days without Daddy.

How are the girls handling it? Chandler was so distraught this morning that she completely forgot that swim lessons started today. Pretty much all I heard from the time she woke up until we were getting her swim suit on was, "Mommy, I miss daddy so, so, so, so much." and "Mommy, I really, really, really miss my daddy."

Putting her suit on reminded her and she seemed ok THEN just as we walked out the door...

C: "Mommy?"
J: "Yes Chan?"
C: "I really, really, really miss my daddy."
J: "I know Chan. Me too."
C: "Daddy is missing my swim lessons."
J: "I know baby, but he will be back before your lessons next week."
C: "Can he come and watch?"
J: "I don't know Chan. We'll just have to wait until he gets back and ask."
C: "Mommy?"
J: "Yes, Chan?"
C: "Can you take lots and lots of pictures and send them to daddy so he can see me being a good swimmer?"
J: "Of course."

These pictures are especially for daddy...

I apologize for the quality... does anyone know how to successfully take photos in an indoor pool area???

Chandler's little head barely above the water!
They put her in the "most advanced group"... I think it was basically because she had taken lessons before and she was very comfortable in the water.

Workin' hard!

You may notice she is not wearing her "swim bubble" from last year. I sent her with it on, but they switched her to another one that had less flotation boards on it. The one she wore last year had 4 and it is for beginners. Today she wore one with only 2... she has advanced since last June. :)
I asked her teacher if I should take 2 off of her's and she said, "No, only take 1 off. She was a little panicky in the water."
OF COURSE SHE WAS!! She has only been in the pool once this year and then you take away half of her flotation safety belt!!

Waiting patiently for her turn... we have come a LONG way since last summer!

Trying to swim on her back.
She knows how to swim on her back, but the teacher was trying to get her to do the proper arm motions... she has trouble with doing the full circle rotations for some reason.

This was our conversation after the lesson...

J: "Chan! You did a great job! I saw you out there in the deep end swimming without any help from your teacher."
C: "No mom. I didn't do a good job. My teacher told me I have to lax."
J: "Lax?"
C: "Yeah, she said I'm going to sink to the bottom if I don't lax."
J: "OH! Relax."
C: "Yeah, relax."
J: "Chan. She didn't say you were going to sink. She said, 'You aren't going to sink, but you have to relax.'"
C: "Oh! But I didn't do very good."
J: "Well, you still have 7 more lessons to practice relaxing."
C: "Ok."

After lessons Amy and I worked out while the girls played in the nursery.
Chandler's class made "Chia Heads". I need to figure out what in the world I'm supposed to do with that thing!

After working out we had lunch with Pastor Jonathan and Ms. Amy. Chandler rode to Chick-fil-A with Ms. Amy. Amy told me that Chandler told her she really, really, really misses her daddy. :(

After lunch we came home and laxed. :)
Riley napped. I sort of napped. Chandler watched a movie.

I had a meeting at the church tonight with the Children's Leadership Team. The girls went with me... meeting and my kids DO NOT MIX! :)

How is Riley handling Brandon being gone? I didn't think it was fazing her, but it is.
At lunch and at the meeting tonight she wanted Jonathan to hold her. I felt so bad... there he was trying to do his devotion to start the meeting and Riley is wiggling all over his lap, slapping the table, and making all kinds of crazy noises!

Now it's 10:30 and I'm going to go lay in my bed an stare at the ceiling....
Please pray that I will be able to get some sleep over the next 4 nights. I really don't sleep well when Brandon is gone.

We miss you daddy!