Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The Quest for Didi

Do you see the pink thing Violet is holding in her hand? That would be her Didi (What we think is Violet's attempt at saying Baby). Violet LOOOOOVES her Didi. If you see Violet these days, you see Didi. She loves her so much that we decided we needed to find a back-up Didi. At least one. My investigation took me to the internet. Manhattan Baby is what the tag on Didi says, so I checked them out. No more Didis. I learned recently that it was purchased at Marshalls. Last winter. I wasn't too optimistic that there would be anymore there this winter. So we continued to scour the internet. We looked at ebay. There recently was an auction for the blue equivalent of Didi that ended at $61.00. Some desparate parents obviously thought it was worth it. We didn't want to get to that point. We saw a ".pl" (polish maybe?) website that carried Didi. Duncan said no way. We also found one on a ".uk" website for 6.99 in pounds. We decided we'd buy several and sell a couple on ebay to pay for our shipping charges. (There's obviously a demand for them, right?) That seemed like a good idea. We then got a call from our friends that bought the original Didi. (We had shared our plight with them.) They had returned to Marshalls and found a Didi in the clearance bin for $2.00!!! That was the best option of all. So now we can all rest easy. We have a back-up Didi in the wings and we know there are some more in England and Poland should we need them in the future. I hope not.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Will Travel With Children--AT NIGHT!!!

That's right, folks.
Traveling at night is the new way to go for the Salada family.
Last Tuesday, after Duncan got home from work, we left for Thanksgiving in Erie, PA. That's a seven hour trip, for those of you that don't know. Seven hours of driving, that is. In addition to seven hours, you've got stops for eating, diaper changes, nursing, leg stretching, etc. Those of you with kids know how it goes. Well leaving after a dinner at home allowed us to head out and not stop until it was p.j. time. We got gas, coffee, put the girls in their snuggly pajamas and were back on the road. [Possible future post preview: The bathroom at Sheetz, somewhere around Frederick, was the scene of what, I think, is the first time I wondered if people thought I was abusing my child. Perhaps I was, if that's what you call putting on a p.j. top with a too-small neckline that caused Amelie to FREAK OUT. Man those bathrooms echo.] We stopped one more time on the turnpike when Amelie woke up and was super squirmy and wanted to be out of the carseat for a few minutes. After that, it was smooth sailing all the way to Erie. I had to pee like crazy, somewhere around Grove City, but was convinced to hold it until we got to my in-laws...to prevent premature waking and consequential screaming the rest of the way to Gramma's house.
Total trip time: UNDER 7 hours.
Something we haven't managed since we were sans children. Awesome.
The result?

A (very wise) decision to leave Saturday night instead of Sunday morning. Fortunately, we were given an identical experience. We even took 270 and the beltway which shaves off a bit more time, since the chance for major traffic at midnight was pretty slim. We were quite pleased with this discovery. When possible, this is the way we will be traveling long distances. The bonus?
Lots of time just to talk to my sweet husband with out being constantly interrupted.
Another bonus?
Worshipping with our church family, on a day we previously thought we wouldn't formally worship at all.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Two Reasons for ThankFULLness

These are two of my recent favorite photos of the girls. Sorry the one of Violet is blurry. It was on our way the the aquarium this past Saturday and I couldn't resist. Amelie is reading her recent favorite: Curious George. (He's a fave of Mommy and Daddy, too!)

With Thanksgiving

It's kind of funny that I'm sitting down to write this post, after a day full of grumbling and frustration on my part. Appropriate, I suppose. As we approach the day in which our nation encourages us to stop and thank our great God for the many, many undeserved blessing He has poured upon us, I feel compelled to share some of the things for which I am thankful.
1. my sweet husband that is beyond patient and ever so encouraging
2. my two beautiful daughters that delight and amaze me daily
3. our church which continues to be an amazing blessing to our family
4. extended families that are supportive, loving, and fun to be around
5. our home, cars, clothes, food, heat/air conditioning, toys, and all of the "stuff" we don't need but are given anyway
6. health insurance
7. Duncan's job, the hours he works (and doesn't have to work)
8. our back yard
9. coffee
10. friends all over the world that are as close as next door and as far away as Africa

If you haven't yet, I encourage you to take some time to think about what you are thankful for and to consider Who it is that you should thank for all of the blessings in your life.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Yikes!

Yeah, so this is where we often go to hang out! What gives?

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Never done. Ever.

I've been under the delusion since I've been a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) for these past 2 and half plus years that, at some point, I'd be done. That the laundry would be done. That the dishes would be done. That the cleaning would be done. I've been learning over these last several months that, as long as we live here and are home the better part of each day, it will never be done! You see, I can do laundry, fold it, put it away, and then there's more. The same thing happens with the dishes. As soon as I clean something, we continue to use it and it gets dirty again--sometimes within a matter of hours. I've had moments of frustration, moments of giving up, moments of a cleaning frenzy, etc. So, I've been focusing on trying to be content with my life's situation; whatever that is. Piles of laundry. Piles of dishes. Piles of toys. Piles of papers. However, contentment with these things doesn't mean there shouldn't be progress in lessening these piles: even though when I'm done with the task, there may be even more than before I began!! Contentment also means that it is my calling, currently, to care for my home on a regular basis. That means being more disciplined about my "free" time. (She says as she sits at the computer and posts on her blog.) All this to say, I'm working on not being discontent simply because my home isn't perfectly in order. I'm working on it because, I'm slowly learning, it never will be. So, either I continue this attitude of discontent, each and every day or I cheerfully work toward the status of "order," recognizing that, even though progress can be made, the ultimate goal is impossible, if we're to live and play and learn and enjoy one another. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and work toward order. How's that for a "to do" list?

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Halloween

So, I never imagined that Amelie or any of my children would go trick-or-treating. I'm not opposed to it, I don't think, I just don't like it myself. However, I said if Amelie expressed an interest, that we'd let her do it. During lunch, yesterday, I was explaining to Amelie what would happen, come 6:00. She (my child who has always HATED costumes) said, "But I can wear a costume." "Your horsey or your lion, you mean (two costumes that were given to her by Duncan's aunt)?" "No, I could wear my ballerina costume(a hand-me-down from her cousin Katie Rose)." "Oh, that's a good idea," I say, skeptical as to whether or not it will actually happen. Well, Amelie surprised me once again. Not only did she willingly put on her ballerina costume, she also wore the fairy wings she was given by Katie that she had never been willing to try on. Then, she went trick-or-treating with William the black kitty cat. (That's him in the Elmo costume as well...long story.)
By the way, I completely updated our photo web site for those of you that check it. I'm sorry it had been so long--I think I've focused on this blog so much that I didn't realize I hadn't even made a category for October!! I'll try to be better about that in the near future. As always, if you care to look at our photo website, you need a username and password (that is the same for everyone), so let me know if you need it.