Anyway, this past weekend has been good in some ways and bad in other ways. Gene left on Friday to go speak at a D-Now event in Georgia. He loves doing this. God has certainly given him a passion for preaching and he has a gift for getting the message across to young people...actually to young and old alike. Taking these speaking engagements is also a great way for him to make some extra money, but I am left by myself to handle the girls. (Insert frown here)
On Friday, I felt a little sad, knowing that I wouldn't see him for a couple of days. Thankfully, I have no time to sit around and moan and groan about his absence. The entire day is based on Reagan's and Gracen's schedules, and it went by in a blink. I took Reagan to preschool, came home and played with Gracen, and then finally got her down for a nap. Within an hour or so, I had to wake Gracen up (UGH!) and go pick up Reagan. We went to the Movie Gallery to pick out her choice for the weekly Family Movie Night (minus Daddy). We couldn't make up our minds, so we checked out several...Up, Toy Story, and Alvin & the Chipmunks. I figured we had nothing but time, so why not? We came home, ate lunch, and played outside for a little while. I included several pictures at the bottom of this post of our yard time. Gracen took an afternoon nap and then Jacob, my nephew came over to play. Around 4:30, Gran, my niece Abby, and her friend Riley came to join the yard fun. I was glad for the company and all the kids had a really good time.
We went in for supper, which meant messing up the kitchen and cleaning up the kitchen all while watching two kids. Next was bath time, which is a complete chore by myself. I can certainly bathe both girls by myself, but I prefer not too. The hardest part is not the actual bath, but drying them, and dressing them, and drying Reagan's hair, etc. after they get out of the bathtub. Gracen is usually crying because she didn't want to get out of the tub, and Reagan is hollering that she is cold the whole time I am taking care of Gracen. When I finish with Gracen and put her down, she starts crying, for who knows what reason. Give me a break, I mean I am only one person.
By this time, it was 7:00 and Reagan and I haven't even started the movie and quite frankly, at this point, I had lost my enthusiasm for it. But, a promise is a promise, so I started the process of getting Gracen to sleep, which is normally pretty easy, but oh my goodness, the girl completely lost her mind Friday night. As soon as I tried to lay her down, she starting screaming bloody murder. This is highly unusual. Gracen is the kind of baby that you rock for 5 minutes, kiss goodnight, and lay down awake and walk away. I was not prepared for this scene and was too tired to want to deal with it. I rocked her for about 15 minutes and she fell asleep in my arms, but as soon as I stood up, she started screaming again. I put her in her bed and let her cry for 20 minutes, which was excruciating. I went back in and as soon as I picked her up she stopped crying so I knew she wasn't really hurting. I did give her teething tablets and eventually Motrin, just to be sure. This horrible cycle continued until 10:00. Reagan basically watched the movie by herself, Gracen finally gave up the ghost, as did Reagan, and I finally fell asleep not wanting to see either of my girls for a really long time. I am very serious!
On Saturday, Reagan was invited to go to a softball game. She was leaving at 9:00 and would be back around 11:00. This was perfect because this is Gracen's normal nap time. My plan was to take a shower and pick up a little bit while Reagan was gone. Well....Gracen repeated Friday night's performance and would not sleep. UGH! My dream of a nice hot, peaceful shower went out the window. I basically got ready, while listening to screams, and stopping to rock Gracen periodically. I also clearly picked up nothing. Reagan came home and we all ate lunch. Reagan had a birthday party to go to at 2:00, and I decided to go to Belk before the party. I figured Gracen wasn't going to take a nap, and I needed to get out of the house, with or without the girls. We shopped for about an hour and both girls were wonderful....thank you Lord. (I think God knew I might have left one there in the store had they acted up.)
We were at the birthday party from 2:00 until 4:00 and had a great time hanging out with many friends. I love watching Reagan interact with her little buddies and Gracen was very good despite her lack of sleep. When we got home, I tried to coax Gracen into taking an afternoon nap and was met with the same resistance. I cooked spaghetti while listening to an incredibly cranky 4 year old, who was tired from a long day, and a whiny, sleep deprived 10 month old, who was beginning to sound like nails on a chalkboard. We ate, I cleaned the kitchen, bathed the girls, and was determined to get them both to sleep early. Gracen refused to go down and cried from 7:00 until 9:30, with me rocking her throughout. Gene called around 9:00 and I wanted to cuss him out...not that I would. I did sit next to Gracen's monitor though so he could enjoy the crying too.
On Sunday, I was thrilled to go to church and drop those kids off in nursery......Praise the Lord for the church nursery. I had already made up my mind that Gracen could just cry through it if she needed too, and I also decided that if they needed extra help in the nursery, I was "unavailable". Sorry to admit that, but I was done with children by this point.
Gene came home from Georgia just in time for worship and met me in the sanctuary. I got to hear some amazing worship music and an awesome message on trials and storms preached by Bro. Tim. I will have to share some commentary from that sermon tomorrow. My spirit definitely needed both the music and the Word. Gene and I (and the girls) went and ate lunch together and went to Wal-Mart. We told Gene goodbye again in the Wal-Mart parking lot and he headed to Auburn to take the youth to a concert. He will be home around 11:00....meaning none of us will see him before bedtime.
On Monday, he works from 8:00 a.m. until 8:30 p.m., so the girls won't see him tomorrow either. His schedule is unrelenting sometimes. Hopefully, he will be home for dinner on Tuesday night, but at this point, I am scared to hold my breath.
I started this post by saying that the weekend was good and bad. Good because I got to spend a lot of good quality time with my girls. Too much quality time with Gracen actually. Bad because I missed my husband and I am really starting to feel like a single mom, like I am in this daily parenting thing alone and that is certainly not what I signed up for.
On a positive note, check out these precious girls.
Here is Reagan climbing the tree in our front yard. She LOVES this! She is in this tree every single day.
Oh...what a cutie! (Not so cute when she is screaming at the top of her lungs.)
Reagan loves Gracen's toys just as much as Gracen does.
Here is Gracen with her little "Granny walker". She holds onto this thing and gets it! She will bend down to pick something up and holds onto the walker with one hand. She knows she will fall flat on her face if she lets go. Reminds me of an old lady with a walker....hope that is not offensive to anyone. 
I love that little tushy!
Here is Reagan helping her walk. She is turning around and swatting her away. Miss independence already.
Here is Reagan on her playground.
We love being outside. You guys will probably be tired of all the outdoor pictures by the time fall comes back around.
*(No children were injured during the course of this weekend....Ha!)
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