The Parkinsons: Friday Update #35 (8/30/13)

This week was a "normal" week in that nothing particularly terrible happened, (unlike most weeks this summer).

And yet I've felt so melodramatic this week. So content and accomplished! And then so discontent and bereft.

Saturday my mom went to the fabric store and happened to call me while she was there. When I teased her that she was supposed to wait for me so I could get fabric to recover my chairs, she when to go look for fabric for me. Now that we have these smart phones, she texted me photos and I picked out the fabric I liked best. Then she came over and all four of us went to a garage sale and grocery shopping.

Sunday I recovered the cushions for the chairs and started spray painting them, but then of course it rained all week and Ezra never went to bed before dark so I still haven't finished them.

Monday I was so proud of myself for getting so much done around the house (cleaning! organizing! making a great dinner!) while still keeping Ezra occupied with constructive projects and doting on Isaac!

Tuesday was kind of stressful because there were so many things going on that had to go exactly right. The van was at the mechanic and we really needed it by noon. We were painting the new youth room at church with lots of high schoolers (but would there really be lots? not many people had RSVPed).

Seth had two crews out doing jobs, one of which was two hours away in the reception-less Peninsula. And most of all, Seth had to go deal with The Job. Thankfully, everything went well. But I think I had been tense all day and that spilled over to my day Wednesday.

I absolutely love this stage that Ezra is in. He is so curious and competent and understands so much. And yet, because of all of those things, he can make the biggest messes. And of course he always does so while I'm nursing Isaac (no matter what project I set him up with to entertain him while I'm nursing).

Wednesday Ezra got a new cube of butter out of the fridge, unwrapped it and used it to "clean [read: smear all over] the windows". And later in the day when I was changing Isaac up on my bed, Ezra found my fingernail polish remover (up on the kitchen counter, behind the faucet - which means he climbed up there). He unscrewed the lid and was trying to take it outside when I saw him. I made sure Isaac was in the middle of the bed and ran to get the bottle from Ezra. And in those what? 5 seconds? Isaac crawled/rolled off the bed and started screaming. While Ezra was screaming because I'd taken away his new "toy". I tried holding Isaac and ignoring Ezra, but it was only a minute or two before Ezra started getting into something else. So I carried him to his bedroom and closed the doors. He hates time outs, so that made him scream even louder.

Nursing Isaac calmed him down a bit, so once he wasn't screaming anymore I went to get Ezra. But since I hadn't put a new diaper on Ezra during the whole fiasco, he accidentally peed all over the floor during his time out. As Isaac was crying about his rude lunch interruption, I put a new diaper on Ezra and brought them both to bed with me. I turned on a show for Ezra and nursed Isaac until he fell asleep. We just laid there in bed for a half hour cuddling, since moving would make both boys upset again.

Meanwhile, time kept ticking. Seth still wasn't home yet and I still hadn't packed up our things or showered. And I really wanted to go to the (last) concert in the park at Steilacoom. We'd tried several times to go throughout the summer, but something always happened. (Mostly work stuff. And a rainout.)

Of course, instead of taking a good hour plus nap like he needed, Isaac woke up after a quick 30 minute nap. But he did wake up happy. So we went outside to play. And I started feeling sorry for myself and crying. And I was mad at Seth for taking "forever" to get home for our big "Daddy date".

See what I mean? It's ridiculous. And embarrassing.

We hurried to get ready when Seth got home and we still went, even though we were late. The park was packed! so we didn't get very good seats, but it was still fun and I'm really glad we went regardless of my pessimistic and ungrateful attitude beforehand.

Thursday Seth left early for work, but then got home really early, so Ezra went to "Grandpa's house" and Seth and Isaac and I headed to church to work on some touch up/clean up in the youth room at church.

We've been able to spend a lot of two-on-one time with Isaac this last month. We've really tried hard to make our time without Ezra count towards doting on Isaac. My parents have been generous to offer to watch Ezra a few times and we've prioritized our (rare) time with Ezra sleeping to enjoy Isaac as well. So we definitely spent an hour at church talking to Isaac and making him sit up and taking photos/videos of him.

Then we got an emissions test for the van and dinner (I talked Seth into Taco Bell of all things!) and then went to pick up Ezra. He had been running around in a diaper in the rain and mud, but when we arrived he practically jumped into my arms and kissed me and told me he missed me. Aww.

Then I tried to take him across the street to see the huge rainbow, but... instead I stepped on a snake and had the scare of my life (in recent memory). I truly thought I was getting over my phobia, but it's quite clear I am emphatically not. If anything it may even be worse now.

Today Seth works all day (end of the month + end of summer = busy weekend!) so the boys and I get to hang out together. Our big tree has been dropping acorns, so Ezra is pretty interested in them. All morning when we were out there I kept calling them "oaks". I couldn't remember what they were! But when we went out there again this afternoon I finally called them "acorns". Ezra immediately said "oh! acorns! they're seeds for the big giant huge tree!" What!? How does he know this stuff!?

Poor Isaac is getting desperate for food. We were sitting in bed talking and Ezra was eating an apple while I put laundry away and Isaac laid there for 10 minutes staring at the apple.