The Couch is Gone!

 We woke up early Monday morning because we have decided to go to bed earlier.  Lucy was due at 9:30 so we set our alarms for 8.  I got a phone call about something this morning but I don't remember what.  It was before my alarm though, so I was up.  Emily slept one six hour stretch and then two hour stretches from then on.  This doesn't sound so bad except we hadn't gone to bed till about halfway through that six hour stretch.  That means Katelyn got between 2 and 3 hr sleep cycles.  Going to bed early made no difference for her last night :(  Eventually I got in the shower while Katelyn fed Emily.  She was totally awake and kicking and smiling...really all and all a pleasant morning baby.  When I got out, Haley was waking up and immediately wanted to use the potty.  She has been really wanting to use the little potty in the living room more than the Dora potty seat.  Her diaper really didn't feel too big so I was pretty excited because I thought maybe she had held it through the night and woken up really having to pee.  When I pulled it off I could smell urine though, and it was a little wet so I guess we won't be able to celebrate that yet after all.  Then I got dressed as Katelyn showered.  Emily just lay in our bed all happy.  When Haley saw her, she wanted to be in there too.  Haley pulled the covers up on top of them and told me to turn off the lights.  They looked like two little grandmas snuggled up in bed, not that there's anything wrong with that!  I was just making Haley a waffle for breakfast when Amanda showed up with Lucy.  Usually she packs a lunch and Lucy immediately devours it as soon as they show up (around 9-9:30).  This time I offered her a waffle and she didn't even want one.  I had a bowl of cereal and Amanda stayed to talk to Katelyn for a while.  Then Amanda left and Lucy and Haley played with babies.  They like putting them to sleep.  I took out the trash and visited our next door neighbor, Ray, while Katelyn cleaned and the girls played who knows what aka made a mess.  I am impressed with Katelyn for not getting super frustrated with them.  Monday is her cleaning day and I know it is a huge inconvenience to have extra kids making big messes.  She always says "I have to hold on to a clean house with open hands."  When I got home they were getting fussy and ready to eat lunch so we heated up some chicken and they ate strawberries, string cheese, and some chips.   At one point, Lucy had finished eating her strawberries and since she is big and hungry, she was asking Haley for some of hers.  Haley is usually extremely generous if you ask for something.  At one point during potty training I'm pretty sure she would ask for two M&Ms so she could share one.  Anyway, I found myself intervening on behalf of my child (who really should eat more) and then realized I was telling her basically not to share...oops!  My bad.  They shared eventually anyway.  Then I went out to get the oil changed in both cars and Katelyn cleaned a bit and put the kids to bed.  When I got back, they were all asleep so I kept working on taxes (I had taken the laptop to the Pennzoil shop).  Eventually Amanda showed up with Evelyn and dropped her off.  Evelyn played nicely while Katelyn read and I did taxes.  Then Haley woke up so we went to get her.  After they played for a while, Lucy woke up.  They really get excited as more kids wake up.  It all starts with Evelyn asking "can I go get her?"  Finally, the last to wake up was Emily.  They like playing with her as if she is a doll.  Evelyn had been giving medical attention to some of the babies.  She wouldn't be on my list of recommended physicians as every patient, no matter what their ailment, concluded their treatment with a scribbling on their face with a pen followed promptly by a vaccination to the forehead.  Can you imagine? A shot right in to the top of your face?  Maybe she wants to be a brain surgeon? When Emily came out and Evelyn asked to play doctor with her, I said "ok" planning to watch her but mommy quickly said "no" and I'm pretty sure she didn't even witness those "treatments".  While they were playing, we got a text from some guys who had expressed interest in our couch on craigslist.  They showed up and turned out to be LeTourneau students.  I asked them if they were engineering by chance and they said yes.  Then I asked if they had Dr. Caldwell at all, which they affirmed.  Then I said "well, these are his kids!"  That broke the ice and they actually gave us $50.  I thought when they sat on that couch that they would be like "OOOOOOOHHHHHH no this is not what we wanted."  Instead they were like "Yeah, man this is great!"  Even the kid that sad on the broken part, the one that is the reason we are getting rid of it...I couldn't believe it.  Anyway, we are just glad it went to a good home, I mean dorm room.  Its only down hill from here for that thing and I say that knowing full well that it was the couch all the Stoltzfus kids slept on when they were sick and throwing up.  It is kind of weird with a blank spot in the den now. After the sale, the kids just played a while longer till Amanda got back to pick them up.  After they left, we got dinner ready.  Katelyn had Bible study at 7 and I had a slot at the "gimnasio" as Haley says.  Katelyn got a phone call saying nobody pretty much could make it to the study so they were cancelling.  That was cool because we all got to go to the gym together! (now you know what gimnasio means)  We dropped them off and ran 3 miles outside.  The weather was perfect: high 60's.  Warm but breezy so your sweat dried as you ran but didn't make you cold.  When we picked the girls up, the ladies said they had both been good.  Emily was going crazy in a bouncer seat apparently and Haley had made a friend.  At least she didn't really want to leave right when she saw us.  Then we came home and Katelyn put Emily to bed while I tried to feed Haley some cheese.  That was a fail.  We figured she needs a before bed snack, especially if she doesn't have a good dinner.  The problem is that she usually plays till bedtime so she doesn't wind down and realize she's hungry till lights are out and she's been dozing off a while.  Either that or she's so tired before bed she is too mad to eat.  Finally Katelyn got her calmed down and she ate a tasty cake.

Haleyism:  Haley likes me to pretend to give her medicine in the syringe from her doctor set.  She is done with her antibiotics now so its all a big joke.  I say "NO, HALEY, OPEN YOUR MOUTH, HALEY, STOP, HALEY PLEASE TAKE YOUR MEDICINE, HALEY, SWALLOW IT!" and she laaaaaaughs.

Emilyism:  Emily likes the johnny jump up, at least from what we can tell...

Emily thinks she is eating corn on the cob.

Neither one was quite ready for this picture.

Now they were ready.

Emily eating sweet potatoes.

Haley, Lucy, and Evelyn dancing

I doubt if they did this during product testing...