The Week Behind: Birthday Week for Three!

Saturday:  Since we agreed to return to eating our bigger meal later in the day, I did only minor prep work yesterday.

Today for lunch I boiled eggs for egg salad sandwiches.  While boiling eggs for that, I added extra to the pot and boiled 1 for potato salad and more for deviled eggs.

As I prepared potatoes tonight I cut up extra for tomorrow's potato salad.  I covered them with water and put int he fridge.



I have to share this easy recipe for Brussels Sprouts.  I saw it on Jessica O'Donohue's You tube 'What's for Dinner' last week.  It is super simple.  Cut washed sprouts in half and roast in 350F oven until tender.  Drizzle honey and balsamic vinegar over the cooked sprouts then put back in the oven for a few minutes.  The sweet and sour combination is so delicious on the sprouts.

Tonight's dinner: Roast Beef, Roasted Potatoes, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Peach Cobbler

Sunday:  We took off trash on our way to church this morning.

Stopped at the grocery to pick up Fried Chicken, Pickle Relish, soda and a newspaper.  That was all we bought today and really all that we needed.   We've found that a 1-liter soda is more than enough for us to use before it goes flat and so inexpensive that it costs far less than a standard 20-ounce bottle.

Home to have dinner with Katie, Chad and Taylor and Caleb.  We had 'Gramma's Chicken' as Taylor calls the store bought deli  chicken, potato salad and deviled eggs.  We had peach cobbler for dessert.

That time with Taylor flew past and I felt I'd barely had a chance to see her.   Right now is a short season when Littlest Boy wants to eat every two hours and Katie is pushed to tend to him.  I know that one day I will be able to see more of Taylor once again.  I'm very grateful that Katie makes sure she gets to see us when she's visiting.

Littlest Boy stayed with Gramma while mommy took Taylor back to her daddy.  He is so funny.  He really does appear to nod or shake his head appropriately in response to things said to him.  And that smile of his is enough to melt icebergs.  He slept about an hour in his little chair and then he squirmed and wriggled and arched himself at me until I picked him up and once he had settled himself where he wanted to be, he went back to sleep for another hour and half.  Gramma don't mind being the best sleeping spot in the house...

 He is teething...we ordered an amber teething necklace for him this evening.  I thought this strange when Bess put one on Josh but I can say sincerely that after three grands have had them they work mighty well at helping relieve some of the pain and prevents a good bit of the drooling.

Washed a full load of dishes this evening while Bubby was taking the first half of his nap.

Monday:  Made pancakes from scratch this morning.  They were so good.  I had leftovers and I put them in freezer with waxed paper between each pancake for easy separation.

Isaac arrived before we'd done more than feed ourselves and make the bed.   He was happy to be here and played with everything.  I was amused when I started to open one of the wood boxes he likes to play with and always has trouble opening.  He pushed my hand away and told me "No...." and proceeded to open it himself.  Well...I guess that little boy is getting to be a big one rather fast.

Lunch looked like something from nursery school...back in my day, I might add.   Chicken vienna sausages, box mac and cheese and canned pineapple.

Sam took a can of pineapple juice home to help clear up the boys and his cold.

Bess announced we should have Millie with us within two days...Yay!

We went to buy car tags this afternoon.  While out we carried off trash, mailed off some items, picked up our mail and stopped at a builder's supply to get an item.

Home again, we set up the new foundation in the guest room.

Made meatloaves and put them both in the oven.  One will go right into the freezer, one will be for our supper.  One is just a two serving sized portion and that's the one I am serving today.  Sam will be on paid family leave for 8 weeks whenever baby girl arrives but I've put a small number of entrees in the freezer for their use over the first couple of weeks until they get a routine established at hom.



Friday:  The week is lost to me...  I've had Isaac since a bit after noon on Wednesday...Never got a change to even think of blogging from Tuesday evening onward (I went to sleep!) and good thing as it turns out...

So basically the week went like this.  Tuesday was John's last official work day.  The crew gave him a breakfast.  He was so not expecting me that he didn't recognize me when he went past me...lol.  I'd hurried down and was able to help Debbie flip pancakes.  It was very low key, not emotional and so nice.  John was pleased with a send-off that wasn't a party.

Ran home again and Bess came by about lunch time to have tea with me.  She drank raspberry leaf tea and we chatted for three hours and then she walked back home.

I rushed through my work, sat down to watch Washington Square as I folded the laundry I'd done earlier and napped then rushed through another bit of work and received a call that we might have a baby within a couple of hours.  I went to sleep waiting and finally took myself off to bed, figuring that with a packed bag, clothes folded at foot of bed on the trunk and my phone turned up I'd know soon enough if little girl was ready to meet the world.  I was shocked to wake the next morning at 7:30 and saw no missed call and no messages.

John came in from work Wednesday morning.  He had a hard time with the 'last leaving' part.  He so hates goodbyes that some of our children refused to leave if he stood and watched because they would cry with him and then cry half way back home, lol.   Big breakfast, cleaning up house and then a message that they were ready to go to Macon to deliver.

Isaac came in and kept us on our toys until Josh came in on bus and then we hurried through another evening with only a message that they were going out to eat as they'd been told to come back in a few hours.  Fed the boys, dressed them for bed and listened to the torrential rain and storms rage outdoors.

We got the boys settled finally, after a spate of tears.  A phone call to parents settled them right down and they went right off to sleep in the guest bed...which is the perfect height for rambunctious little boys with that new foundation under the mattress.

About 11:57 I got a message that little girl had arrived.  She weighed in at 8 pounds 6.3 ounces and was 20 inches long.  She has a head full of hair and came with her own set of chubby rolls about chin and thighs already.  I finally went to sleep a bit after 1 a.m.

Isaac came into the room crying at 3 a.m.   No doubt the result of another heavy shower of rain that sounded pretty awful.  I gave up my spot in the bed after having him push into me multiple times and reawakening me.  I had the easy end...He put his feet on John and apparently kicked him repeatedly, lol.   I went out to the living room and curled up in my chair with my head on the armrest and slept until my alarm went off at 6a.m.

When I told John that Millie was born on his birthday he chuckled in satisfaction.  He said it made up for never having one of the children named after him, lol.

Josh off to school, a long long day with Isaac and torrential rains and at this point I was at 'just barely function' mode.  Flash flood warnings repeatedly went off on our phones, tornado warnings, thunderstorm warnings.   John picked up Josh and said he had to hold on to him to keep him from just sliding downhill all the way home when he got off the bus.  We made it through another long evening which included me grilling Josh on spelling words that I noted later was dated January 13...Gramma's brain was well and truly addled.  Yes it was.   Bath for the boys which I hoped would settle them but not so.  They were regular jack in the boxes for the next two and a half hours after getting in bed.  I  was shocked when we finally heard silence from the room.  Josh's last words to me were the reminder that we'd not had any of my birthday cake...No, no, we didn't.  I never even thought about it!

Crawled off to bed, went right to sleep and woke this morning when  little hands and knees were crawling up my legs and hips to get into our bed.  Settled in, and alarm went off immediately...sigh.  Oldest boy was sitting at the bedroom door looking into the room waiting on us to get up, lol.   John said wearily, "No wonder their parents are tired all the time!"  Indeed.

The usual rush to get Josh ready and fed and off to bus stop at 6:45a.m. which is an unGodly hour in my opinion to have to put any little boy on the bus.  Alternative was a 35 minute round trip and fighting school traffic.    Bus it is...

Home to occupy Isaac as much as we could between the two of us.  John tends to retreat to his television when things start to get hairy around here...This morning Isaac embraced Grampa's presence and stayed in the living room with him.  I retreated to my little chair in the kitchen and enjoyed my freedom to do nothing.  Not that I had nothing to do but it's impossible to do much with a little boy who alternately wants to be held and run free.

We're waiting on Mama and baby to be discharged.  Isaac's asked three times when he could go home.  I ask it myself every now and then, too, lol.

Fun conversation with Sam yesterday as he stopped here on his way back to the hospital after a shower and change at home.  He said "How did you guys do it with five kids?'  "We thought it was fun..." his dad replied and I agreed, but John added, "...but remember we had four  much OLDER kids and just two who needed full time care so it wasn't quite the task you face everyday."

How was YOUR week?