We've been through a lot this year...Beck turned two years old in April and two months later Kinsey was born. After my maternity leave ended, we made the decision that I would quit La Madeleine to stay home with the kids and I would watch Marcus and two other kids to make extra money.
That's when Bishop Playhouse was created. Three weeks after I started watching Marcus, Abraham started coming full time (sort of...he usually shows up around lunch time). Towards the middle of October was when Ashlyn started coming and she was supposed to be here 7:30am-3:00pm but her dad decided that he couldn't pick her up everyday so she was here until almost 6pm depending on when her mom could get here. Ashlyn was my trouble child...she did not listen to me and thought time out was a joke! Her mom gave me permission to spank her but I can't do that since I'm listed with the state. Luckily, her mom decided to move to Grapevine after being here for two months because I was very close to kicking her out of Bishop Playhouse.
I have many "stories" that I'd like to share since my mom and Nanny have both told me to write them down...Enjoy!
- Abraham's parents bring a diaper bag everyday filled with diapers, wipes and baby powder. After he arrived, I was changing Ashlyn's diaper and noticed a disturbance around the corner. I knew to check it out, but at the same time I got a phone call from a lady trying to sell me trash bags to help the blind while I was changing Ashlyn. I quickly got the pull-up on her then quickly checked on Beck and Abraham. Abraham got into his diaper bag, pulled out the baby powder, sat down and started shaking the container of powder...he was covered with powder! It was in his hair, all over his face, on my carpet and a thick layer of it was in his lap!!! In a frantic voice started saying, "no, no no!" then told the lady on the phone I had to go and hung up. I picked up Abraham and carried him to the front yard. I brushed him off the best I could and so much powder was flying around that Beck started coughing. All the while, Ashlyn was running around my front yard wearing a pull-up because I didn't have time to put her pants back on! I'm sure that was a sight to see!
- After letting the kids play in our side yard, we walked to the back door and nobody wanted to go inside. I heard on the monitor that Kinsey woke up from her nap and was crying. I turned my back for a second to grab Kinsey and I saw Beck with the water hose spraying Abraham and Ashlyn! That's when I said, "Oh my gosh, what am I going to do!" It was 4:00pm and they were soaking wet!!! The kids thought it was so funny...they were laughing and having a great time! I had to strip them down and put their pants, socks and shoes in the dryer. Luckily, all of their stuff dried by the time the parents picked them up.
- I really enjoy taking the kids to the park, but it's hard when I have four kids. The days I only have three kids (Monday and Friday), I load them up in two strollers (side by side and the single stroller) and head to the park. My neighbors probably think I'm nuts because I push the side by side stroller with one hand and pull the single stroller with my other hand behind me. Beck is the only one that can handle going backwards so he's always in the single stroller. I've noticed people smiling at me as they drive by and I know what they are thinking...this lady is on a mission!
- Before the weather got too cold, Brent would set up the big bounce house outside and let the kids jump/slide before their parents came in hopes of releasing some energy. They sure enjoyed it and I can't wait to get it back out again!
- I like to do fun things for the kids on special occassions. For example, I decorated cupcakes for Halloween/Christmas and made a delicious Thanksgiving lunch. The Thanksgiving lunch consisted of turkey, corn and dressing. While sitting at the kids table, Beck told me he wanted cinnamon crackers and I told him he had to eat the turkey then he could have a cracker. To my surprise, he ate all of the turkey so I gave him a cracker. Ashlyn wanted a cracker so I did the same thing with her but she got mad, kicked the kids table and the plates went flying and landed upside down on the floor! Beck put his hands on his face and said, "Oh no, my corn!" I had to take a deep breath because I was so mad at Ashlyn but laughed at Beck's dramatic response to the corn he never would have eaten anyway!
I was lucky to spend four months with the kids and I'm really excited to spend ALL of 2011 with the kids! I'm learning how to make each day memorable and hope it's a fun learning experience for the kids. Wes and Kath gave the Bishop Playhouse the Your Baby Can Read! program for Christmas which will be a true test with all of my kiddos.
At the Movies...My maternity leave kicked in before I had Kinsey so I took Beck to his first movie in June. Pops and Kiki took Beck to see Toy Story 3 when he stayed a week with them after Kinsey was born. Then in December, we had four VIP tickets to a new movie theater in Frisco to see any movie, free drinks and free popcorn. We got there at 6pm and they had a tent set up with tamales, taquitos, tacos, chips, salsa, chicken on a stick, etc. Kinsey was good for the first 30 minutes of the movie then she wanted to "talk" so I took her shopping then we went home. Brent and Beck enjoyed watching Tangled but it was the 3D version and Beck did not want to wear the glasses so the clarity was not there for him. It was good bonding time for the boys and Brent's first time to take Beck to see a movie!
We enjoyed seeing Beck progress this year...he went from barely talking to saying complete sentences and singing Christmas songs! He's such a sweet boy! He tells us, "thank you" when we do things for him and he'll say, "pretty please" when he wants something really bad such as juicy treats.
Little Miss Kinsey went from being a high maintenance baby to a super easy baby. She only gets fussy when she's hungry or tired. We struggled getting her on a bottle but like Brent said, "We broke her like a wild stallion!" She drank breast milk for the first six months of her life then it was half formula and half breast milk. We are working on getting her to eat cereal. She only wakes up once during the night and after Christmas she quit getting milk in the middle of the night. The nights are getting so much better and I love getting sleep!!! After she was born I thought sleep was over rated but not anymore.
On New Year's Eve, Wendy watched the kids so that Brent and I could see a remake of a John Wayne western movie called True Grit. Certainly not my kind of movie but I sure enjoyed spending time with Brent especially since we don't get much alone time. Don't get me wrong, we love our kids dearly and enjoy every minute with them but every parent needs a break every now and then.
We look forward to seeing what 2011 brings to our little family It will be fun to watch Kinsey learn how to crawl, eat food, walk, talk and hopefully she will be a little swimmer. It's our goal to get in our pool every weekend during the summer of 2011 in hopes of turning Beck into a swimming machine.
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