The End of Cloud Nine

Since the birth of our little one nearly 3 weeks ago I have been really very happy. Sure I have had "moments" and been frustrated and so on. But I have been living in the bliss of a wonderful birth experience and been just plain happy.

BUT lately the sleepless nights are catching up with me and I am starting to get cranky, irritable and frustrated. It is hard when you want to sleep in the mornings for a bit longer and the baby starts making all sorts of noises- hiccups, gruntings, etc. I wish he would just eat and let me sleep. . . oh well.

I realized today that I MUST take a nap. I haven't been napping much because I have wanted to paint and do other things. And besides on cloud nine one has so much blissful energy.

So if you wonder where I have disappeared to I may be napping and trying to stay afloat in my new role as a mom of 3 little ones.

The house is a mess and never quite clean- but there is always just one more diaper to change and mouth to feed and so I am learning to juggle these things. . .

Real life has set in and cloud nine may be past- but I am still so incredibly blessed.

Our Easter

We had a quiet Easter. 

My husband had 5 days off- NICE. 

Friday we baked a ton of crackers- I will share that recipe sometime. This was the unleavened bread for the Bible Study. I also made banana cream pie and coconut cream pie to share at our family gathering. We had lunch with a bunch of relatives. In the evening the kids and I attended the Bible study my husband led for the youth.

Saturday we colored eggs naturally- the popular way to do it here.We used curry powder to make yellow ones. You need to let the boiled eggs soak in the solution for several hours. We used beet juice with vinegar for the red ones and natural tea leaves (not sure which ones my husband used) for the green ones. Sorry- but I don't have a picture of the finished eggs. After we boiled them we drew designs on them with a candle- worked wonderfully since the eggs were hot.

I baked Latvian ham/bacon rolls-piragi. I will have to include that recipe on another day. But they were delicious and we ate far too many. With my "leftover" dough I made a delicious sweet bread braid- with lots of yummy toppings and fillings. 

Sunday the kids searched for their eggs so they could eat them for breakfast. They enjoyed egg wars with Teti (Daddy in Latvian). And then were so into peeling their eggs- my kids LOVE hard boiled eggs. 

Then the kids went with Teti to church. It is too hard for me to sit for those hours- so I stayed home. 

The afternoon was spent walking a bit and spending time with a friend visiting Latvia for the holidays. 

How did you spend your Easter?

Party Time

Since Saturday we have been celebrating my husband's birthday. We didn't intend to start that day. But D had seen me wrap Teti's gift and kept asking "Where is Teti's game?" I would say, "Shh, be quiet, that is a secret." But after about 6 times of this- it could no longer be kept a secret and I was tired of trying. So we gave him the gift early and enjoyed playing it.

Sunday the youth had a surprise party for him after church (he is the youth leader). I was happy he was SO surprised- he doesn't think he has ever had a surprise party before.

Sunday afternoon his sister came with two of her kids. We made 8 pizzas! We were expecting more company and celebrated all evening. But no one ate much so we froze a lot of pizza. That will be good after our baby is born :)

Monday we ate out for lunch. Picked glasses out for D and celebrated with ice cream. In the evening we had more guests.

Today we went to Riga. Went to a museum, ate out and then Jani's godmother came.

Whew! We have done a lot of partying lately. It has been good. But I am plum tuckered out.

My tummy seems to be getting more crampy lately. I can feel it getting ready for the BIG DAY! I can't wait to have this baby out and in my arms.

Toddlers ????

As a Mom with two very active toddlers, ages 3 1/2 and 22 months I am sometimes so short on patience. 

• How do you get them to eat, and not asked to be fed or just dream away and not eat? Our older boy is worse about this than the younger child. 

• How do you get them to be quiet at nap time? Especially the older so that the younger can sleep? I feel ready to pull my hair out some days on this and finally just put the older in a different room so that he can be noisy and she can sleep. Maybe he does not need naps anymore. But I need them now (at 33 weeks) pregnant. OH HELP! 
  

• How do we teach our children to pray? And to want to pray? We show them by example, but our older doesn't want to even try to pray aloud? Why? (Dad- Mom, were we like this?)

The wisdom and patience required of parents is beyond anything I could have imagined. I can only marvel at the great job my parents did in raising us. Thank you!

Two Ravenous Mice

Tomorrow we are having a Valentine's Day/Birthday Party at our house.

Today was baking and cooking day and I was baking up a storm. In the morning my kids played very nicely together and stayed out of the kitchen. A huge blessing when they are 3 and 1!

After nap time where they both did not sleep they were in a different mood and wanted to be in the middle of everything I was doing. Which at that point was finishing decorating the birthday cake. I felt like I was combating two overbearing, hungry mice. They wanted to taste and snitch and help everywhere. A was eating sprinkles off the pan, D was trying to help decorate the cake and lick the spoon which didn't yet need to be licked.

Ugh. . . working with kids in the kitchen CAN be fun when it is intended for their pleasure. But when it is for a party and everything needs to be nice and as perfect as possible;  and one is already tired and stressed. . .well that is another story. In the end all ended well and we finished the cake and cleaned the kitchen.

I am so pleased with the cookie pops I made for the girls when the go home. They look lovely. . . more to follow when this party will have passed and pictures will have been taken.

The Perfect Valentine

Whenever I hear about people sharing their most romantic Valentine's memories or experiences I always think my husband's tops them all. (I know I am a bit prejudice).

Our first Valentine's Day together- when we had been seeing each other for several months happened to be one very snowy day.

When my English lessons had finished for the evening he wanted to take me somewhere. He drove to the only local park and parked at the bottom of the big hill where there is a long stairway to reach the rest of the park. He then had me wait in the car for what seemed like a VERY long time- maybe it was- I think it was at least 45 minutes.

FINALLY he came and had me join him for a walk and WOW was it ever worth the wait.

He had run all over the park with its fresh blanket of snow and put candles everywhere. The paths were lighted with candles. . . just for me. It was the most romantic thing. I felt like I was walking in my very own fairytale or romantic movie.

When we reached the frozen pond he had written "I love you" you in the snow- this was the first time he "told" me he loved me and it was very special.

I will never forget that lovely evening and will always know he is a very romantic man despite what our sometimes overly busy lives allow.

This is now 6 year ago, before we were married and had 2 1/2 kids. But we still try to make time for each other. We celebrated V-day early this year because our nanny's birthday is that day and we didn't want to have her work on her birthday. We went out to a very nice Italian restaurant and my husband surprised me with a sweet card and a vintage style perfume bottle similar to this one. I have always thought it would be fun to have one.

What about you ? What are you doing to do this year to make Valentine's day special?