I decided to try putting Anna's hair up this morning. Elli has these teeny tiny little hair elastics that grip pretty well but still slide out without removing too much hair... So I managed to get a microscopic ponytail (or would that be a pigtail since it's so small?) to stay. Then I dug out these velcro bows I've been saving and wrapped it around the elastic.
I was totally shocked when Anna left it alone. She shook her head a lot when I was trying to put it in, but once I was done with her head, she forgot about it. The bow came out when she crawled under Elli's wheelchair. The elastic came out about an hour later when Anna crawled under a kitchen chair. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the experiment went.
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I've decided to apply for the job at Children's. I am going to see if I can find someone to watch the kids on Tuesdays from 8-4. That would allow me to work from 9-3 or so. I was told I could bring Anna, but there's no way. She is far to nosy and needy for that to work!
Tuesday works best because Julie comes to work with Elli on Tuesdays. That would put two people here during lunch, the most intense part of the day. Julie could take care of getting Elli ready for school, while the other person would get food for the younger two. Getting Elli off the bus at 3:45 is easy because Sam and Anna are usually in bed. I might be able to get home in time to get her off the bus too - depends on how long it really takes me to park, ride the shuttle to the hospital, and walk to my office. Parking is at a premium down there, so I know I won't be able to park anywhere near the main hospital building.
I only want to drive down there once a week. I can do the rest of my work from home - check voicemail, respond to email inquiries, etc. The only exception will be the weeks when we have council meetings (once a month). Those weeks I'll have to juggle things around a bit, but once a month, 10 months a year, shouldn't be too difficult.
Plus, if I get to the point where I don't need to work as many as 8 hours per week, I might be able to reduce the hours I work in the office and get home in time to get Elli off the bus.
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I got the front garden beds cleaned up and mostly weeded yesterday afternoon. It was so exciting to see little green shoots appearing under the brown leaves and dead greens from last year. All my day lilies are growing, some of my mums are returning, and of course all the spring bulbs are doing quite well. Some of the trees and shrubs are budding too. I love it!
In the next day or two, I plan to get out there and do the side yard. That's where the biggest number of irises will go. It's the last area I've left to fill in. I have gladiolas along the house that get quite tall, but I need something mid-height to go in front of them.
I planted two butterfly bushes over there last fall. If they survived the winter, they should get to a decent size this year and actually provide some afternoon shade. That side of the house has our bedrooms and is the south-west side, so those rooms are always really warm on summer afternoons. I want some deciduous shade plants there for shade in the summer and warm sun in the winter.
Once I get the side yard in good shape, I need to tackle the back. I have two beds back there, one large and one small, plus I want to dig up a new one between the deck and the fence. I planted morning glories there last summer, and want to add hibiscus this year. Then I have the vegetable garden. That will probably take me at least two days to clean up and prepare, all by itself. I have a lot of weeds to remove, plus the vegetable garden area needs to be tilled.
Every year I resolve to weed at least once a week so they don't get bad and impossible to remove. Maybe this year I'll actually follow through! Scott also wants me to learn how to can so we can have tomatoes all year. We'll see. It sounds like a hot, sweaty job to me, but the idea of fresh-tasting garden tomatoes in December and January sounds fabulous.
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Anna has her third tooth now, and teeth 4 and 5 are very very close to coming through. She actually drank water from a sippee cup today! I was so excited. I've been trying to wean her from the bottle to the sippee, and from formula to milk, and introduce water as another beverage. We're making progress!
Sam is dressing himself completely now. He also understands basic requests like "Can you bring me the wipes please?" which is HUGE. He's a willing little helper most of the time, and that really helps me out a lot. He has started saying "I love you, mommy" which is awesome.
I think he might still be a little ill though, because he hasn't been eating much and he's had two BM accidents in the last 24 hours. He tried to clean up himself, but didn't have much success with that. I usually do ok with yucky stuff, but today I gagged from the smell while rinsing out his underwear. I think we're going to keep the kids home from church tonight and get them to bed. They are really tired and if Sam does have some sort of bug, he shouldn't be around other kids anyway. He's been looking forward to going to church, so I know he'll be really bummed when we tell him he can't go. I need to prepare to deal with that now.
Elli ate quite a few Cheetos for snack after school today! She chewed them up and swallowed them! I was so excited to have something to compliment her on and praise her for. It seems like so much of the time I'm telling how she needs to do something, not praising her for doing it right herself. She was using her teeth to bite off pieces and then crunch them up. She really likes the Cheetos and it's such good practice for her.
