post-Christmas and a new year

Tuesday, Dec 30th, I was able to carpool with some of Beth's girlfriends to her mother's funeral. I had to get Amanda to the daycare as soon as it opened at 6am, and then rush across town to join the "carpool" at 6:30am. The funeral was in a little town about 2 1/2 hours from Omaha, and we picked up another gal in Lincoln. I had known these ladies from way back, so it was a nice ride of chatting, and I had brought along some cross-stitch to work on. It was actually relaxing to have someone else drive and be able to work on my cross-stitch. The funeral was nice and we were able to visit with Beth for awhile at the luncheon. We got home in the early afternoon, so I didn't have to activate the "just in case we break down and I can't get back for daycare closing time" plan that I had arranged with another daycare mom.

The next day, after working a short morning, I picked Lynnette up at the airport for a slightly longer visit this time, Dec 31 - Jan 6. After she helped me move the church poinsettias from the sanctuary to the narthex and water them, we met my cousin Lloyd and his friend Betty for lunch, and then picked up Amanda from daycare and headed to our house. Lynnette took Amanda for a chilly walk/ride to the park, with Amanda showing her skill on her balance bike, while I packed for the next 4-5 days, which I hadn't even started doing. We got on the road about 4pm, in time to arrive home for supper. We enjoyed the ride, singing along with some of the fun songs I have in the car for Amanda (which she calls "my music"). As we neared Norfolk, we couldn't help exclaiming over the beautiful sunset, and we even called Mom & Dad (and sister Barb in Lincoln) to see if they had noticed.

As we neared the farm, it got more and more vibrant. It's very hilly in our part of northeast Nebraska, and as we came over one hill, it seemed to have gotten so much more gorgeous, Lynnette & I did a unison "Oooh!" Amanda thought that was pretty funny, although she had been enjoying all the colors with us.

Side note: Amanda loves looking at the moon, and if she can't find it, she will ask where it is and then exclaim so excitedly over it when we find it. "My moon, my moon!" I also point out the sunrises or sunsets when we're in the car together, and she enjoys oohing at the pretty purples and pinks. This sunset was a brilliant orange/red.

We had a wonderful supper (thanks, Mom) and I think we played some cards. I had made it clear to Lynnette & Mom that if we came up for New Year's Eve, I was not even going to try to stay up until midnight. Lynnette was feeling about the same, so sometime between 9-10 we headed to bed.

I had done pretty well packing, but found out that I had forgotten pullups - fairly important since I gave up trying to night-train Amanda earlier in the year. I figure we'll work on that this spring. Mom helped me rig something for Amanda, and we padded the bed, and Amanda & I hit the hay. I woke up a bit after midnight and took Amanda for a potty-run and popped my head in to wish a happy new year to Mom, who was the only one to actually stay up for it.

The next morning we went over to visit brother Mike, his wife Cheryl, and their family. Some Christmas gifts were exchanged and we had a fun visit, looking at what the kids had gotten for Christmas and catching up. This is Amanda snuggling with Cheryl and Shayla.

A little later, Amanda & I accompanied Mike out to move the horses from their stable to graze in the field. Mike let Amanda sit on Winter's back, and she got to meet Shadow fairly up close and personally.

Speaking of up close & personal!

Later, Aaron & Shayla walked down the hill and joined us for some family cards while we watched the Huskers WIN their bowl game! And we also celebrated Dad's birthday (New Year's Baby, 77 yrs young). Sorry, Mom, I don't have a pic of you for this blog, but I'll get you when I come up in February to celebrate your birthday (and I won't mention how young you are).

That night, we ate supper at Culver's in Norfolk with my friends Bryan & Jana, and we got to see pictures of the house they're building. After supper (and after stopping at Walmart for some pull-ups), we went to visit Chuck & Wendy, who lived up the hill when I was a kid, renting the other place from Mom & Dad (where Mike & Cheryl live). I babysat their three kids, and they are definitely close family friends. We had a really nice visit, and since Chuck & Wendy are now grandparents, they had a stash of toys to keep Amanda a little bit busy (and Lynnette assisted the rest of the time - thanks Lynnette!). It was such a great weekend back home.

The next day we maybe played some more cards, had another great dinner (lunch) by Mom, and then headed toward Lincoln, stopping to visit my aunt & uncle in Humphrey. It was a short visit, as I wanted to get to Lincoln before the capitol closed at 5pm. I needed to get our post-placement visit "apostilled" (officially certified by the secretary of state's notary office). We got there in good time, but the office gal looked at the document and pointed out that my social worker hadn't had it notarized, so there was nothing they could do with it. Augh! Really brought back memories of thousands of moments like that while trying to get the paperwork in order for the adoption. Such frustration! I had cried on the shoulders of the gals in that office a couple of times, and they did what they could to help me, so it was nice, this time, to at least be able to say, "Well, anyway, I'd like you to meet Amanda! This is the little girl you helped me bring home."

From there, we visited niece Amber's apt, solidified plans for a Mexican supper, stopped by Barb's house to see her dogs and cats, picked up Cindy and went to the restaurant. It was just what I was craving, margaritas, and got the 50th birthday celebration weekend off to a fun start (although Patty wasn't able to join us until just after supper).

This wasn't the only time alcohol was involved for the celebrating, but I won't elaborate further. =)

Amanda & I headed home to sleep in our beds, and in the morning, she went to stay with my friend Patty while I headed for a "sisters" weekend at Cindy's. The boys (husband Keith, son Brandon) made themselves pretty scarce and we had fun playing games, watching movies and reminiscing. Sunday, Cindy hosted an open house for other family members (Lynnette was probably a co-hostess, and maybe others too - all I know is that I didn't do much)

I had gone back to Omaha to pick up Amanda at lunchtime, so she could be part of the family celebration. It ended up that my friend Patty's family had their Christmas that weekend, and Patty said it was no problem having Amanda be a part of it. Well, when I picked her up, she came loaded with presents! Patty's sister-in-law had given her a doll that talked and had a crib/stroller/high chair (she had bought a bunch for really cheap last year? something like that) and the kids had given her a couple of "old" purses and a bunch of fun stuff. I think she was a hit with Patty's family, and I think everyone enjoyed her at our birthday family open house. I know she had a great time the whole weekend!

After the open house, I stuck around to play games with Cindy, Amber & Lynnette, and Uncle Keith sort of spearheaded watching Amanda. (thank, Keith!) I overstayed, though, and Amanda reached her limit of behavior control. I should have laid her down instead of putting it off until she "expired". But, she laid down while I gathered our stuff (remembering everything except my laptop power cord, which is one reason I didn't blog until January 13th. Cindy was nice enough to drop off the cord on Jan 11th when she & Brandon came to Omaha for soccer). We headed home and in the morning, began a regular week of work and daycare (finally back to a regular week!) Thanks to Amber for getting up at o'dark thirty to drive Lynnette from Lincoln to the Omaha airport so I didn't have to add that to Tuesday's morning schedule. She's in college, so she probably has all kinds of nap-time opportunities (although she keeps very busy). Anyway, thanks Amber! (she doesn't read my blog, but I'll just type it for the record).

Saturday, January 10th we had snow, so Amanda & I took our sled for a run. In the morning, I just pulled her and we walked down to the family eyecare place to visit our friend Linda, whom we haven't seen since Halloween (hooray for Amanda not being so tough on her glasses anymore!). After her nap, we walked the other direction to the hill that's just a block and a half away. We had a blast, especially after I figured out how to steer (NOT with my feet in the front (snow in the face in a major way) but with my hands as rudders in the back). We were out there for an hour or two and had a great time.

Sunday, Amanda had her first lesson of the new swimming lesson session. I switched to Sunday night (from Saturday morning) so it would be easier to go out of town, and I think I like the time better. Gets the nightly bath out of the way, with the post-lesson shower!

Friday night, the 16th, the community pool had a swimming event for kids. What a madhouse! First, lots of waiting around while different age groups went in the water to pick a bobber, which each kid exchanged for a plastic fish, then wait for announcements, then finally in the pool (everyone at once via one set of stairs - everything else is orderly with waiting, but when it comes time to get in the pool, everyone at once? Yeah, good idea). The pool was so crowded, I didn't enjoy it much, but Amanda did. She jumped in to me from the side a lot, and I helped her climb on the blow-up submarine that was in the center of the pool and usually swarmed with kids. One time, she jumped at me just as I was turning to get set to catch her, and she landed right on my head/face/chest. Umph! Boy did that hurt - my neck did not appreciate it. I put her back on the side and just stood there while she said sorry over and over. Soon after, we headed for the locker room (after having to go potty every 20 minutes it seemed) and then the fun of a packed locker room and no hot water in the showers. We got some cookies in the gym, but they were just boughten blah cookies, and then we were supposed to exchange the plastic fish for a real goldfish (no thanks! Amanda, look at the fish! Ok, now let's go home - say bye to the fish!) Home to take a hot shower and put us both to bed.

Saturday, we walked to the school/park an she got to swing a little, and when we got back, I showed her how to make a snowman. The snow wasn't deep enough to prevent having lots of leaves in our snowman, but we still had fun. The only hat I could come up with was a pink thing I'd gotten from my 40th celebration, so I guess we made a snow woman.

Amanda wanted to knock it down as soon as we finished it, but I made her wait overnight (I thought it was cute, and I wanted the neighbors to be able to see it). When we got home from church Sunday, I told her it would probably melt, since it was sort of sunny, and she again asked to knock it down. Oh, all right. Wouldn't you know - the bottom ball is still around in my front yard! I should have made her keep it up. After her nap, it was nice enough out that I washed my car while Amanda played with her sidewalk chalk and used her sand pail in the snow. After we came in, I told Amanda she should just have an early bath and then could play the rest of the night. As I was getting her out of the bath at 5pm, I remembered the new Sunday swimming lessons at 5:30. Yikes! Better than remembering at 6pm, but what a bad idea the early bath was! Get her dried off, fed, bundled up, and then to the pool and back in the water. Oh well, it will take awhile to get in the habit (no problem today).

This Saturday (yesterday), my church had free ice skating at a local rink, and we had a great time. I used an old red scarf on Amanda as a harness at first, to keep her on her feet and save me from having to bend down all the time, but quickly found it wasn't needed. She did great and didn't even want me to help her. We could invite friends, and several of our friends came. Amanda loved skating with her church friends and our invited friends. It was great for me - made sure whoever it was wanted to stay with her for awhile and took a few fast spins around the rink myself, which was fun. Then we went out to eat with one family, and then home. Earlier in the day, we had walked to the park to swing, and then found a little ice so we did a trial run at ice skating. I had bought her skates at Goodwill, so we walked back to the house to get them, then back to the park to try out the ice. Anyway, 9 hours later, it was too long of a day and too much fun and excitement, and she lost control of her behavior in the car. She said, "Darn it" and then repeated it several times, even after I reminded her that it's not a nice word and I don't like it. I shut off her music and said, "No problem," and she just got nasty naughty, calling me names and throwing her mittens at me from the back seat.

I just said "No problem" a few times and sung a song to myself that she didn't know, and when we got home she got a little old-fashioned discipline and straight to bed. I know it was over excitement and tiredness, but...still need consequences.

Pictures from today (after church - her hair was less frizzy at church, but oh well). We had some snow last night (more expected tonight) and I took the outside pic to show you the CUTE coat Amanda got from cousin Shayla! A little big for her, but we love it, and use it just as a church coat like Shayla did (more important in a farm setting, but still a good idea even for us town folks)

This pic is to show off a 99 cent dress from Goodwill - I thought it was so cute and such a great deal, I had to tell you all about it.

When we got home from church, my nieghbor Mike was just finishing snow-blowing my driveway (such a nice guy). He said there was no football on TV so what else was he going to do today, so I said, "Take her sledding?" - half joking, but maybe seeing a way out of having to do all the hill climbing myself. He looked at me to see if I was joking, considered it, and said "I could do that." (He really does love playing with her - spins her around when we visit, chases her around the yard, etc.) I called him when Amanda woke up from her nap - well, after Amanda & I finished a lengthy discussion trying to figure out why she got up from her nap, stood there and then peed her pants. At first she said she wet her pants in bed, but the bed wasn't wet. Then she said she sat on the edge of the bed - same problem. Then she said she stood there and did it on purpose. Then she said it was an accident. We had a talk about accident vs. on purpose, and I think she's solid on it, and she stuck with the accident story. *sigh* She had lied to me earlier in the day about whether she'd wiped herself after peeing (she always forgets or is just in a hurry to get back to playing). I'm really trying to get her to understand about lying, but it's so hard to figure out if she is or not.

Anyway, Mike joined us for sledding (same hill just a block or so away) and we had a few fun runs. Mike didn't agree to go down with her until after I did a run with her, and then he went down with her while I filmed from the bottom (the only perspective I didn't get from our first sledding day). Amanda went a couple times on her own (and Mike went down and walked her back up-yea!) and then we walked back, visited Mike's dogs in his back yard for a bit, had supper, went to swimming lesson #3 of the new session, and home to play for a bit and to bed.

Pretty fun winter month, so far! =)

PostScript: Blogger is really making me mad! I put in paragraph breaks and when I save it, they disappear. With each picture I add, Blogger adds 8-20 carriage returns before EACH PARAGRAPH. I have to delete tons of blank lines every time I add a picture. The picures won't stay lined up with the text, and what I see on my edit screen is not what I see when I push the publish button. I've spent the last two hours just fixing the editing of the finished product and it is making me SO IRRITATED! But hey, you guys are worth it (and yes, it's mainly a diary for me & Amanda). I'm quitting! It is what it is. (And I'm never trying this right-justified picture with words to the side of it format again! What a nightmare!)