Friday, April 17, 2009

My Brain is Has Turned to Mush

This has been a relatively boring week here as we continue to settle in to our new routine with a new baby in the house, so here are some thoughts...

--Harper continues to be the Best Baby Ever.  She has been letting me sleep 6-7 consecutive hours at night, and is pretty sweet during the day, too.  I didn't sleep this well before she was born.

--Brandon has been reunited with his grill after a long absence.  He has cooked 3 of the last 4 dinners, and we have been rejoicing in the wonderment that is grilled chicken.  The weather has been beautiful (until today's much needed rain), and the boys have been having a great time playing in the backyard before dinner while Daddy cooks, and then after dinner until it gets dark.  And by "playing" in the backyard, I mean "peeing" in the backyard.  Every time I look out the kitchen window, one of those boys has his pants down.  But not Brandon.  I think the grill is too hot. ;)

--I got Dane's birth certificate today.  He is 5 years old, and now I finally have a birth certificate for him.  Why now, you ask?  Oh, because I'm going next week to SIGN HIM UP FOR KINDERGARTEN.  Holy cow.  I can't believe he is going to kindergarten next year.

--Have you seen Susan Boyle on youtube?  Have you??

--It has taken me no less than entire week to almost finish my to-do list, which was only supposed to take me a day and a half to do.  My brain has turned to mush, and I seem incapable of forming an intelligent thought.  I think I will need to go back to work in some capacity to remedy this, but the combination of HE IS GOING TO KINDERGARTEN in the fall and the knowledge that this is our last baby and she'll never be this little again, etc., etc., will make it very hard for me to go back to work.  So I think I will probably stay on maternity leave until the money just completely runs out, leaving me with no choice in the matter.  We'll see if I change my mind when the hospital bills start rollin' in.

--Monday will mark Dane's first day as a member of one of the local neighborhood's swim teams.  After our less-than-impressive experience with YMCA swim lessons last year, we've decided that this is the most efficient way for him to learn how to swim.  For the cost of a 2-week lesson at the YMCA, Dane will have 5 practices a week offered with optional weekly swim meets for the next 3 months.  We do not actually plan to go to swim practice 5 times a week, but we will probably take him 3 times a week until school gets out, then we'll see.  We will not  be a family whose schedules and lives are overwhelmed by a 5 year old's activity schedule, but I do want him to learn how to swim this year.  

--Guilt has motivated me to take more pictures of Harper.  Unfortunately, I have no idea how to take good pictures without the flash, so these are a bit blurry.  (And as you can see, she is enjoying her loaner swing and bouncy seat from her cousin Joel!)




11 comments:

John said...

You need lots of light for a really good picture w/ no flash. Since you're obviously not talking about that we make sure that we're as steady as humanly possible... we'll usually brace both of our arms against something, leaning on something if we can and holding them close to our body so we don't move much.
Also, when you look inside the viewer you'll see two numbers inside (probably... if it didn't change with my model) one has a decimal a decimal, and the other isn't... if the one that doesn't have a decimal is lower than about 25 or 30 you should probably just forget about it completely.

I'm sure that helped with your mushy brain problem.

Anonymous said...

In addition to what John was saying, whoever he is, check the ISO on your camera, you can go to 800 to get better results inside. BE SURE to set it back to a lower number when you go outside.
Harper has your yawn. With 7 hours of sleep every night, I guess you don't need it anyway.

Anonymous said...

BTW.. Upon further examination of the pictures you didn't have a camera movement problem except in one of them. The woman I live with said "awwww" when she saw the pictures, and she thought the bow looked familiar.

Adrienne said...

No photography advice to offer, but I have to say this: that little yawn is precious!

Francie S. said...

I have a comment and a question...

1. Harper is beautiful and I so enjoy hearing about everything going on with your family.

2. How many giant bows do you have for her? :)

Mandy said...

Um, Harper may just have an entire drawer in her dresser dedicated to hair bows. And several of them are giant. :)

Andrea said...

I love baby yawn pictures!! And I'm jealous of your grilled chicken.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't EVERY little girl have an entire drawer in her dresser devoted to hair bows of various sizes? If not, they SHOULD!!

Adorable pictures Mandy! She is so beautiful! Can you believe how dainty she is? That was the biggest surprise to me after having a baby girl after 2 boys. They are just built differently...

:) Sheila

Kristi said...

She is so stinkin cute! Can't wait to see her at Joe's Bday party!!

Deb said...

I see Mandy in the second picture! She is as cute as the boys are handsome!

Jack S. said...

Two thoughts....

1. I sure hope your dad doesn't read this. He might pass out from the fact that his daughter doesn't know how to operate a camera!

2. In your blog you said... "We will not be a family whose schedules and lives are overwhelmed by a 5 year old's activity schedule,...." Will this still the be the case with a 15 year old's activity schedule?!?! ;)

3. Ok I know I said two, but I wanted to throw in a positive comment.... ;)
Glad to see that life is starting to get back to "normal". Hope your brain solidifies soon!