A Snapshot

What's on the top of my to-do list (this month)?
--Need to check out a piano my Aunt has for sale on an Estate she bought. The sale is Sunday morning.
--Work on PTO slide show
--Help brother, Kevin, with my Dad's slide show for his 70th birthday
--Get ready for Door County trip at the end of month
--Work on scrapbooking!!!


What have I accomplished?
--I uploaded some digital pictures of my dad and gave them to my brother for his slide show
--Had in-laws over for dinner
--Got Ben and Mary started on their summer schedule of Parent's Day Out (had my first one Wednesday and it was awesome!)
--Finally scheduled Sam's initial Ortho visit
--Scheduled two Chuck E Cheese fundraiser nights for school
--Received a "Child Identification Kit" in the mail from our Insurance Agent. Of course he gave me two instead of four...but I made it work and so far have gotten fingerprints of Sam and Abby and need to do Ben and Mary. I'm not a very good "preventative measures" person because I'm not a huge worrier, but this fell in my lap so I thought I would do it. I had to fill out height, weight, identifying marks (moles, etc), an updated picture, address, phone number, doctor, etc. I'll keep it in our fire proof safe
--Got a babysitter for a date night Saturday night
--Got a babysitter for Saturday to help our friends move (the ones that lost their children in the car accident)


What's bugging me?
--When will Ben be ready to go poop in the potty chair?? I'm sick of changing poops for two kids when I should only be doing one and even SHE is on her way out the door. I think when Mary turns three, I will step up the potty training. She hasn't seem interested thus far, but I usually wait until they are three and put them in underpants. Have some accidents until they realize this is it and then it's all done in about two weeks....or so it was with Sam and Abby. Ben has proven to be a challenge on the poop end. I'm not a pusher, so I've held back and let him go. I might try to step things up with him when I train her. He might need a greater push to do things. Sometimes I dream about that magical place where there are no diapers, no wipes, no need for a diaper bag. I know it's coming soon. I know it's almost within my grasp. When that happens I will put Mary in a big girl's bed to match Abby's. And...the other day we were in the car and Mary was marveling over Abby's earrings and said, "I want earrings like Abby". So I, like a good mother who is always looking for an incentive, said, "When you start wearing underpants and going potty and poop in the potty chair, I'll let you get your ears pierced."

Did I just make that decision? Well, her cousin has her's pierced and she is only 10 months old! It's the Italian tradition! Why not?? It's really like I'm swapping the bottom for the ears...I'll take the ears. For the record, Ben turned four in May and Mary will be three in November.


What's my latest obsession?
--I've been thinking about my Australia trip! It's only a year and a half away. I'm planning on the plane ticket being around $2000. Theresa and I are thinking that February will have the best airfares because it's just past the tourist season. I drew up a tentative plan just to see what it would look like:

2/4/09 (Wednesday): Leave St. Louis 6:50pm reach LA at 9:05pm (just over 4 hrs)
Fly out of LA 11:15pm for an overnight flight lasting about 18 hrs
Arrive in Melbourne 9:30am on 2/6/09 (lose a whole day--time change)
Total travel time to get there: 24 hours

2/6-2/17/09 (Fri-Tues...11 days)--Time spent with Theresa
2/18/09 (Wed)--12:20pm--leave Melbourne...reach LA 7:30am same day.
Confusing, I know! But it's really about a 16 hour flight coming home!

Fly out of LA 9:50am and arrive in Dallas 2:50pm. (under 4 hours)
Fly out of Dallas at 4:15pm and arrive in St. Louis at 5:55pm.
Total travel time to get home: 24 hours

I like this flight plan because the layovers are not too long. Since I got the Capital One card in 2005, I've earned enough miles to give me $400 towards my ticket. We've been planning this for 2 years!! It's finally feeling like it's not so far away.



What's been making me happy?
--This summer has gone really well. MUCH better than last summer and that makes me so happy. There are definitely some things I am working on with the younger kids...being more firm as we transition to a time that I am expecting more from them. Some habits are hard to break. This is a hard process and causes more fits, but will be worth it in the long run.
--Swim Team. Love it, love it, love it
--Time with my sisters as they are off work this summer
--Swimming at the neighborhood pool
--Camping