Mommy Time

Marc is working in a small town for the next week as part of the fellowship so I am bracing for my days ahead. Actually, if they all go as smoothly as the past two have gone then I will be just fine. I think Eli and Hailey for their respective ages do very well. I mean they have to be good in order for me to feel brave enough to take them both out to eat by MYSELF, right?

We started our day off this morning playing in our "backyard" for a few hours which is actually the daycare playground on the property where we now live. It was a beautiful morning and so refreshing after the 106 degree day yesterday. I know Wichita has seen some hot days this summer, but yesterday was the hottest day we have had since we have been back in town. I had to sit outside the car for 10 minutes with it running before the kids car seats were cool enough to put them in them. It was HOT. So, today was wonderful. Hailey can now climb stairs so I even let her climb up the slide a few times and then I would come around and help her slide down. She was loving it.

I took her 10 month picture today (a little late). I can't believe her birthday is less than two months away. I still have no idea what we are going to do for her party... my brain is constantly thinking trains and cars these days.

Hailey is now cruising furniture pretty well. She will often let go of things and stay standing for a minute or two before she sits down. I think she will be taking some steps in the next few weeks. She has been eating table food only for about a month now. It is great to have everyone eating the same food now at dinnertime. I feel like I am getting to eat my meal now when everyone else does instead of spoon feeding Hailey. She is getting more hair. When she gets sweaty she has a few curls that form in the back. :) She still doesn't seem to have enough hair for a barrette bow but it won't be long. She is SO attached to me at the moment. I can hardly step out of the room without her going crazy. I hope that gets better soon.

After the kids woke up from the longest nap of their lives (3 1/2 hours) I took them to Bradly Fair to walk around in the stroller and see the ducks. I immediately thought back to THIS post last year when I shared pictures from the same spot one month before Hailey was born. It's so fun to see how much Eli has changed over the past year and how much our lives have changed with the addition of Hailey!

After we walked around for a bit I decided to take the kids to dinner. I was assessing their behavior as we were strolling because I knew I would need full cooperation if I was going to take them into a restaurant by myself to sit down and eat a meal. We went to Jason's Deli and had a great dinner. I let Eli sit by me in the booth and put Hailey in a high chair. It worked out well and I enjoyed a stress-free meal. At the end of our meal a mom stood up a few tables over and yelled, "Someone help her!" I quickly realized that her middle school aged daughter was choking. Before I could even get up to help the manager, who was standing very near, came over and gave her three Heimlich thrusts and she was all better. It was crazy to see that in action but I was glad she was ok. They actually stayed and finished their meal.

Tonight, I let Eli stay up a little later after I put Hailey to sleep and we played trains. Eli stayed with my parents last weekend when we went to Memphis and they bought him a cute Thomas travel train set. He has had so much fun playing with it this past week and he always comes up to me when I am cooking or doing dishes and says, "Mommy come play trains?" It is hard to turn down a request as sweet as that. I bought him a few extra trains a few days ago that go with his set as a motivation/reward if he goes #2 in the potty but so far we have had no luck. The only time we got him to fully go #2 in the potty was when I bribed him with a new Diego DVD. He has been doing great staying dry other than that and it is SO nice putting underwear on him now before he goes to school instead of a diaper. Yay!