Little surprises

Love this weather.

We've had some great weather this weekend which has prompted our family to be outside. So I took the kiddos to park this afternoon to enjoy some sun and the amazing weather
Cheers!

So tired

Ana looks as tired as I feel.

Sunday stroll/ride to donuts

Twinkle twinkle little star

Ana sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star all day and all night. Sometimes only I can tell what she's singing and other times it's perfectly clear. Did you know that the song never ends? She sings it in round form and just keeps singing it over and over and over. I think last week on the way to school we sang it 20 times :). It is really really cute to hear so I thought I should share. If I get a better version I'll share that, too.

Beautiful day

We had an amazing day today. The sun was shining and about 70 degrees. I decide to take the kiddos to the park and let them enjoy the day.

We did come home and finished out the day in the front yard.

When daddy is away

Do you ever just want to throw your hands in the air and walk away?
When I'm out of town and I call home at the end of my day I'm usually
told, "oh we had a wonderful evening. Our fantastic, well behaved children
ate all their vegetables and all of their dinner. Later, we had tea and crumpets and a long discussion on the meaning of life. Then, the little angels quietly
bathed themselves, put on their pajamas and went straight to bed at
7:30." Or something like that. When Robert calls home the
conversation is more of a, "I'm sorry Robert I can't hear you over the
chainsaw noise. Aiden is currently trying to saw his sister in half.
I know it's midnight, but someone gave them speed for dinner and
they've been non-stop since 5:30 this morning."

So.... I'm not sure what happens or why it happens, but our children
are CRAZY when Robert is out of town. When he's in town I usually
don't have any trouble getting them ready in the morning and off to
school. When I do have trouble, I send them to him and he helps, but
it's NEVER as bad as when he's away.

Let me tell you a few stories.

Wednesday morning Aiden woke up at 5:00am and asked if a friend could
come over tonight. To which I said, it's 5:00am I don't know that
you'll be alive tonight if you don't let me sleep another hour. So,
he turned over and went back to sleep. Score! 6:30 he wakes up and
immediately demands oatmeal. We discuss the correct way to ask for
things and have a pleasant time of getting ready. He gets dressed and
sits down to watch a little Oswald before school. Princess wakes up
at 7:00 all smiles and butterflies. Then, I ask her what she would
like for breakfast. I am told NO. Hummmm ok. I then go to get her
clothes, brush, diaper, wipes, all the items to get her ready for
school. I then chase her around the house brushing her hair as we run
around corners and through rooms (we're practicing for the mother
daughter field day events). I get her hair brushed and somehow into a
ponytail. Then, it's time for diaper and clothes changing. This is
not a running event, although she thinks it should be; however, there
is a lot of tripping and falling when we practice. So, I have to hold
her down with my left elbow as I try to put a diaper on a rolling,
screaming, crying, yelling, biting child. (this should also be in the
mother daughter field day). I manage to get a diaper and her pants on
and then she's making throw up/gagging sounds because she's been
screaming and crying so much I let her go. She runs to Nana's room
and climbs in bed. I try to finish getting her ready and to no avail
end up gathering all her clothing, shoes and jacket. I was able to
get Aiden and our things into the car and then I went back into the
house, picked her up crying/screaming/biting my arm and carried her to
the car and fought to get her buckled in her carseat. We then drive
to school with Aiden yelling that he wants to be dropped off first and
Ana crying/screaming because she's so mad that I've put her little
princess self into a peasants carseat. (or whatever she was too mad
about). It's 30 degrees outside and I carry her in diaper and pants
only to school. Her teacher had a surprised look on her face gave a
little giggle and then said, "I'm only laughing because I've been
there. You're not alone and you did a great thing to just bring her
in instead of fighting her all morning." She's such a good teacher,
God bless her because she helped me finish dressing Ana and then asked
Ana to give me a kiss. So sweet. CRAZINESS!!

Wednesday night: I signed up for a parenting class at Aiden's school
and had been debating all afternoon if I should go or if I should just
stay home and work on being a better parent. After picking up the
kids, picking up dinner and then spending 2 hours at home with them I
decided that the class was the way to go. They have childcare
available, so the plan was to take both kids. Aiden definitely wanted
to go. When I asked Ana she said, "no, I stay with nana." I then
started to get her into pajamas, she wanted to take a bath, so I
started bath water and then planned on leaving her and having Nana
take over. Hard thing was every time I'd leave the bathroom she would
start crying. Now that she was in the bathtub and wet I was not going
to take her with me, so she had to stay. I tried to leave several
times, but just felt too guilty. Nana would have had trouble getting
her out of the bath and dressed so I wrestled with her until she was
ready for bed. Then, running out the door with Aiden I put him and my
purse in the car and realized I had forgotten my phone. I ran in and
grabbed it. I come back out to the garage to find Robert's son
standing as if he were peeing in my garage. No, not out to the
driveway, actually in my garage. HE PEED IN MY GARAGE!!!! WTH! All
I could think was why why why do things like this only happen to me.
He then started giggling. I told him I didn't care if he would have
peed out in the driveway, but not ever ever again in my garage. He
continued to giggle. Goodness.

So, this morning (Thursday) was somewhat of a better morning. Aiden
helped me get things together and Ana went to school without shoes and
socks on, but at least she was dressed. Hopefully, this evening will
be carefree and after our tea and crumpets our little angels and I
will read a book, say our prayers and then quietly go to bed. (Hey, I
can only hope right!?!)

Sarah Rosales
Sent from my iPhone.

Family Dinner

We had a lovely family dinner at Chigs which is a bar/restaurant literally a block from our house.  The kiddos had a good time and it was a good ending to a great weekend.  Here are some photos!

Ana's follow up Neuro appt

Ana had her follow up appt with her neurologist this afternoon. She has not had another seizure since September. She was sick around Christmas and we immediately gave her Advil before he could even get a fever. The neurologist said she still has a 50% chance to have another seizure between now and the time she's 6 years old. We'll keep our fingers crossed and be prepared if another one does happen. Developmentally, it hasn't slowed her down at all. She needs to go back once a year for another 2 years, just to check on her development.

Busy Week

I visited my team in Chicago this week and had a very busy week.  Very little excitement happened on the work front.  On the home front last week, it was pretty much the same.  I was definitely ready to come home.  It's nice to travel but I enjoy being at home.  Unfortunately, my travel is not finished for the month of January I have two more trips.

I believe we got Ana the ok to enroll in LCCS next fall, which is exciting!  Aiden has really done well at LCCS and I can't wait to see how Ana does.  Plus that means I can drop off and pick up at one location rather than 2.  They are letting her in but will have to keep her back either in 3 yr old or 4 yr old class for one extra year, and we are fine with that.

The house still hasnt sold nor has been seen by everyone.  I know we just have to be patient and our new house is out there but it is frustrating when you want to move.  Meanwhile, Sarah is doing an outstanding job cleaning and "slimming" our house so we have little to move and little clutter.  I think mom is just as excited, although she is a little more serene about it.  Truth be told, I am definitely pumped to have a bigger house and make my wifey happy.

My job is going well right now...I am working with a new director who is finding his groove and he is actually using my knowledge and allowing me to help him while he transition into this new role.  Sarah's job is going well, she has some trips planned in Feb so she'll be gone for a bit.

All is well in the Rosales household for now...stay tuned.

Later blog buddies, Robert