Adventures at Cubbies

I have been sporadically taking Abby to Awanas since last November-ish.  I found out about the program here in town from my friend who is taking her girls.  I have been meaning to find ways to get Abby, and Leigh too, out and about more so they can have some social interaction, so I thought that this would be a great opportunity.  As long as Abby wasn't too shy to handle it.

The first time I took her, it was a complete flop.  Her friend (really her only friend) Kylie wasn't able to make it because she was sick, but I was taking her older sister, Joy.  But Joy was in a different class from Abby.  That didn't go over well at all.  Abby threw a HUGE fit, screaming as loud as she could, and it lasted for at least a half an hour, if not longer.  I took her home, but the fit followed.  That was a discouraging introduction to Awanas.

The next week Kylie was there, and it seemed to go fine.  Abby isn't the best on listening, especially to things that she hasn't been told to do before, like stand and wait in a line.  But Kylie took her by the hand and led her where she needed to go.  I stayed long enough to see her settled fine, and then I left.  When I came back at the end of the evening, she wasn't even sitting by Kylie.  That seemed very encouraging to me. 

She didn't make it again in December, so we had to wait until the New Year for the next time.  That one went over fine again.  We missed last week because Abby cut her lip just before it was time to go.  But we went last night.  She was excited to get there and basically left me in the dust.  I couldn't get her to sign in, but that's fine.  They know she's there.  I walked outside with my friend and we stood on the church steps chatting for quite awhile when one of the other kids dads came out.  He asked if either of us were Abby's mom, and when I said yes he told me that she was very upset and crying for Mama.  So off I went inside.

Turns out she had fallen down the stairs.  I comforted her.  Once she was calmed down, she wanted to go sit in the circle with the other kids, but she wanted me with her.  So I went and we sang some songs and saw the puppet show.  She was still quite clingy, but improving bit by bit.  Then it was craft time.  They made some finger puppets, which she liked for a few minutes.  Then she saw some other kids playing and went off without me to play with them.  She gave me a wave, which I took as a good sign.  I had some errands that I had wanted to run while she was there, so I left, though not before leaving my cell number just in case.

Sure enough, a few blocks away I get a call that Abby is upset again.  So I went back and just ended up taking her home.  There wasn't that long left anyways.  She hadn't fallen again or anything, she just noticed I was gone.  I definitely should have stayed, but sometimes I can feel so tossed, not knowing what the right decision is.

I hope that this won't affect her again, that I can take her next week and she won't be scarred from the experience this week.  But I can always stay I guess. 

Back on the Dieting Wagon

I have been on and off of the dieting wagon for the past...well probably since I have had my first daughter, 3 1/2 years ago, but mostly since October.  I have to honestly say that before that I think I was just waiting for the pounds to drop off by themselves.  Lame, I know.  I don't seem to have an kind of stick-to-it-iveness.  I quit the Atkins diet because it was costing me too much in meat.  I am now just plain counting my calories, while trying to make sure that I eat the good calories and don't waste my calories on the bad (but oh-so-good-tasting) foods.

I have been doing the calorie counting for at least a month now, but haven't lost weight because I will count every food for about 3 days, and then I stop.  Then I start again after a few more days.  Back and forth, back and forth!  So maddening!  Sometimes I feel like it mirrors my relationship with God.  I will keep focussed on Him for a few days and then stop.  Back and forth, back and forth.  Hopefully I can stop both of these issues! 

I feel like I have been given a refreshing from God, so hopefully I keep with it, and don't get discouraged again.  We'll see.

The Season

Crunch time!  Christmas is just a week and a few days away!  And I'm not too far behind...okay, so maybe I am.  I have only baked one batch of cookies, and those are slowly being eaten so I will most likely have to make more for my gift tins.  Not to mention the other kinds of cookies that I need to make, as well as fudge.  I did mail off our parcel of presents for family, but I have a few straggling cards that were waiting for addresses that I am just preparing today.  So I hope they still make it!

And yet, when I think of it, I don't really think that we are huge "celebrators" of this season.  We have no family down here, really just our one family of friends that we have dinner with.  Though this year we are more involved with a local church body so we have a Christmas Eve service to not just attend but participate in.  And Mark has a work Christmas party now too.  And after Christmas there is a party I'm sort of helping get together, though not at my house.  Hmmm, maybe I am a celebrator.

I have grand visions of what our Christmasses will look like, but they aren't there yet.  I suppose it takes time to organize our thoughts and ideas and implement them.  At least for me it does.  I didn't even do a tree this year!  Well, that's not so different since I haven't done a tree since we've been married.  At first my hubby and I went through a stage where we were against having trees, but now we don't care.  I just didn't want to be constantly fighting with Leigh about it, trying to keep her away.  I hung garlands across the living room wall.  It looks alright, just not great.  I wish it looked great.

Buying gifts was also a stress for me.  I love giving people gifts, especially if it has special meaning or thought behind it.  It doesn't have to be expensive, I'm fine with inexpensive finds (unlike my hubby who is slow to start, but once he's started he is SPENDING).  But I have a hard time actually deciding what to get for others.  Some are easy, like my sister-in-laws, I found things right away for them, but all the men I had to buy for, I couldn't decide, so I just gave them money.  And the annoying thing about money is that I had to give more than I likely would have spent.  But it's done for this year, so I have until next year to figure it out again.

I would actually like to maybe make our gifts for others.  A couple years ago I did scrapbooks of our oldest daughter's first year for all the grandparents and those were a hit.  I would like to do something like that again.

Picture Perfect Family (Or A Close Approximation of One)

My parents (Mom and Step-Dad) were here visiting this past week, so I haven't been online much at all.  It seems like I have two extremes, on all the time, or not on at all.  Maybe I'll find a happy, moderate medium someday.  They left just this morning, so the girls have been a little puzzled; they can't figure out why Grandma and Grandpa aren't around.  They keep calling for them, and Abby keeps going "Where's Gramma?"  It's cute, though a little sad too.

All of my husband and my's family live up North where we had originally lived as well.  So I was hoping that I would have all my Christmas cards and gifts ready to sent up with them so I wouldn't have to send them all by mail.  And I would have had my cards ready, except I forgot to print out some family pictures to put into them.  So now everything is going to be sent up by parcel.  I can only hope and pray they make it there safely.

My best girlfriend is actually a photographer, so we had her take some family pictures of us in a cherry orchard this fall.  It is a beautiful backdrop to some beautiful people (yes I think that my family, not necessarily myself included, is beautiful).  But my girls didn't want to stand or sit still for any pictures, so we don't have many pictures with them smiling.  Actually, I think it would be acurate to say that we don't have any at all.  There are some where their expressions are just neutral, so those are the ones that are getting sent out. 

I am sure that our families will appreciate the pictures and not grumble about the lack of big, super-cute smiles.  But I sure feel like grumbling about it.  Why can't we get just one picture with the kids smiling?  They are happy kids, and they look so darn cute when they smile.  But I think that everyone has this issue, or at least I hope they do.  If it's just me I may have to hide in my closet and cry.