Summer Craziness

Well, the school year was crazy and we kept saying we were looking forward to summer. Now summer is here and the reality of summer slapped us in the face last week. Here is Dave's schedule:

May 25-August 21: Full-time Internship (Pullman, WA)
May 18-July 14: Summer School (Outreach)
May 29-June 14: Ntn'l Guard AT (Boise, Moscow, Grangeville)
June 26: Dave's sister's wedding (Boise -- he's the photographer)
July 11-12: Ntn'l Guard Drill (has to make up 17-18 or 24-25)
July 11-17: SMART Orientation (Monterrey, CA)
August 1-2: National Guard Drill
August 22: Our Babies' FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!
August 24: School starts at the U of I

When we sat down and really looked at how much time he is gone and away from internet and computer access for his class and that he has to have it finished completely before he leaves for California on July 11, we realized that he only has five weeks to complete an eight week summer course, and he's working full-time during those weeks and only has the few hours after work to get everything done. Hence the reason we decided that maybe the babies and I needed to disappear for a few weeks to let him focus on his class when he isn't at work or busy doing all of the other things he has going on.

So I packed the babies up and we came down to Arimo, Idaho to stay with my sister and her two kids for -- well, at least a month; maybe longer. Her husband is completiing Basic Training with the National Guard in Georgia this summer, and we didn't see any reason for the two of us to spend the summer alone; so we're spending a good chunk of our summer together. And I'm really excited! We have no agenda, a few wish-list items, and virtually no limitations (besides three infants and a three-year-old)! :-D It's great!

We got some really great news this week. When the babies were born, I misunderstood what we had to do to get them on Dave's insurance. We had two places we had to enroll them in but only got them into one of the two systems. Consequently, everything medical that happened between August and February was uncovered by insurance. NOT GOOD! Anyway, when we caught on to the fact that they were not being covered, we enrolled them immediately but just missed the January deadline and had to wait until the February deadline. Long story short, we petitioned to have them covered from their birth. Our request was denied. Then I petitioned one more time and wrote a personal e-mail to the deciding official and --- HE ACCEPTED IT!!!! So now I know for the future and we don't have to cover the first five months of our babies' medical lives on our own. Medical Coverage: Don't have a child without it! ;-D Writing Skills: They aren't just for Freshman English! :-P Insurance Claims Summaries: Read the fine print and make sure you know what the charges are, what the coded number mean for your coverage, how your deductibles work, etc. If you don't know, find out! It could save you A LOT of money!

Personality

I am beginning to notice some personality differences between my little ones. Two events will illustrate:
1) We have two big toys in our living room: a swing, which obviously swings back and forth; and a exersaucer, which spins around on a disc and also teeters back and forth on that same center point. Yesterday, Isaac decided he was going to stand up while holding onto these two objects. First, the swing. The swing swings back and forth, with the speed and distance depending on how hard you push it, right? Well, his first attempt didn't work out quite the way he wanted. He fell, he cried (more because he was frustrated he didn't get his way than because he was hurt), I went and picked him up and hugged him and moved him away from the swing. He quickly and with an oh-so-determined glint in his eyes moved BACK to the swing and tried to stand up on it again. This time, he swung with the swing and went UNDER the swing, having the swing hit the top of his head as it continued to swing back and forth. Again, he cried. Again, I went over and helped him out and gave him a hug and moved him away from the swing. Again, he quickly and efficiently moved BACK to the swing and tried yet again to stand up. This time he was successful! You should have seen the look of victory on his face. Immediately he noticed the saucer next to the swing. He wanted to walk over and stand next to the saucer and play with the toys. Again, the swing began to swing as he moved. Again he paid attention to the motion and figured out when it was going to go backwards and when it was going to come forward. Carefully he grabbed onto the legs of the swing, one hand still on the moving chair. It worked! He didn't fall over. Then he moved his hand to the saucer. Again -- it worked! Slowly he watched the motion of the chair, and when it was on its way backward, he slowly moved his feet and inched over to the saucer, moving the hand from the chair to the saucer. VICTORY!!! He smiled so widely and was just SO PROUD of himself. That lasted just a minute before he realized he didn't know what to do next, where to go from there. He hesitated just long enough to push the saucer a bit, which made it turn on its disc, and it caught him off guard. He fell -- this time between the saucer and the chair, hitting the seat and causing it to rock, which means it hit his head again. Do you think that deterred him from trying again? Nope. I moved him back from the chair, I folded the chair up as much as it would fold (which I hadn't done earlier because I was afraid it would just topple over on him; but I decided it was sturdy enough folded that it would be better because the seat wouldn't swing and hit him in the head anymore), and I turned to watch him, determined glint and all, go RIGHT BACK FOR THE SWING. Amazing, right? That's Isaac. If he wants to do something, he just does it. If he gets hit while figuring out how to do it, he gets angry, turns that to determination to win, and goes right back to work to do what he set out to accomplish. That applies to everything he has ever done.

2) Abby watches Isaac this whole time. She played a bit with the toys in front of her. She turned and got stuck under the sofa. Then she just sat and watched him. Occasionally she looked at me to see how I reacted to it all; but for the most part, she just took it all in. Then she started to talk through it all. She screamed and cooed and got louder and louder, trying to get my attention, I imagine. I think she finally decided she was through being stuck under the sofa and was going to get out. So she turned and squirmed until she was out. Oh the look of victory on her face! She talked to me some more, played with her toys a little bit, and was really pretty content. Then I put Isaac down for his nap. Abby changed. She started rolling around -- went from the sofa to the swing to the door to the armoir. She tried to climb up the armoir, grabbing ahold of the drawer handles. She rolled over by the suitcase in front of the sliding glass doors. She was all over the place. She played with the empty popcorn box I gave them to play with and the empty oatmeal canister I gave them to play with. And when she got tired and was ready for a nap, she didn't want to stop playing. She yelled at me when I took her to bed. Even though she was exhausted, she was having so much fun playing that she didn't want to stop. That seems to be Abby in a nutshell. She is very observant. She watches and takes in everything. Though she is adventurous, she seems to save her most adventurous times for moments when Isaac isn't around. Sometimes, though, she'll scream to get attention or pitch in to help Isaac accomplish his tasks. And I know she is frustrated at times to see him do things she can't and can't quite figure out how to do yet.

They are both avid learners and observers. Abby sits back and takes her time watching people, watching actions, watching reactions, etc. She figures out all the variables THROUGH WATCHING and observing, not rushing in until she's ready, not wanting to compete for center stage, wanting to explore and experiment on her own timetable, in her own way. I think they call that visual learning. Isaac watches in order to move as soon as he has some idea about what might work (even if he doesn't have it all figured out). As soon as that thing doesn't work, he gets right back on it and tries to solve it again. He takes in all the variables and works his way through each one THROUGH MOVING. This is kinetic learning.

But don't be fooled by the fact that Abby doesn't ALWAYS move right away. You put something in her way that she wants badly enough, and she goes for it with the same die-hard determination you find in Isaac. For example, today she was getting a little tired. She was done playing by herself and wanted some Mommy time. Then she noticed Isaac's pacifier on the floor about three feet away. She worked her way over to it like a seal - rolling on her tummy, back to her toes, moving her hands in front to pull herself forward and reaching with each hand until she could twist and turn and finally get it! Nothing was stopping her! She got frustrated at moments and started to cry, but she knew she could get it and went for it.

And don't be fooled by Isaac's die-hard determination. When he falls and gets hurt, his first inclination is to push me away, looking at the "object" of his frustration and ready to go again. But then I pull him in and try to get his attention, give him a kiss that he isn't necessarily wanting, etc., and there have been moments when that die-hard determined boy actually forgot his goal for a moment to cuddle into Mommy and tell me all about his "hard time." It's very sweet!

I love my children! I'm so excited to watch them develop and grow!

May Day Hayday

We just got back from spending time in Boise for a week and a half. My uncle passed away, like I said before, and we went down for the funeral. It was a lot of fun! I took advantage of the extra hands and spent some time doing some artsy-crafty stuff, which I think I forgot how much I really enjoy doing.

Isaac can now stand up while holding onto anything - furniture, boxes that were meant to be blockades and became his playground, the exersaucer, mom's hands, the armoir, whatever. And he put Abby to good use today to sit up all by himself! What a champ! He is a determined problem solver like no other. And the world is his playground/problem to be solved.

Abby is definitely back in her element here at home. I don't know what it was, but it seems she just wasn't her carefree self while we were in Boise. She didn't like to play by herself and wanted mommy to hold her all the time. But here -- she's all smiles and laughs and chatter and loves to play, play, play! And, p.s., you never saw a child's face light up as much as Abby's did when she saw her daddy had come to pick us up. She was SOOOOOO excited to see him! She LOVES her daddy!

Dave is chipping away at his last school assignments while still trying to keep up with work and prepare for finals next week. We are so excited for the end of the school year, excited that this means we will have him home with us before 11:00 p.m. every night and hopefully get to enjoy some of the moments that happen after 7:00 in the morning. We're looking forward to hiking, camping, biking to daddy's work, running, walking to church, taking pictures, and just getting OUT together as a family.

And that's what life looks like. I thought it would be fun (for me, at least) to jot down our routine - or what I try to make routine in the Chaffee household.
6:00-7:00 -- Babies wake up, which means mom does too, no matter how late I was up waiting for Dave to come home the night before. I feed them their bottles and then put them in their highchairs to snack on cereal while we watch General Conference DVD's together. They love the music; I love that I get some "scripture time" in the first thing.

7:30-8:30 -- Babies take a nap. They usually start getting tired after an hour, but I try to keep them occupied and happy for an hour and a half or so. Isaac will usually sleep for about 45 minutes to an hour. Abby sleeps an hour and a half to two hours. I put Isaac in his room and Abby in my room, which leaves me free to roam the rest of the house, eat some breakfast of my own, maybe take a shower, and work on laundry, dishes, whatever (if there's time -- usually I just get the breakfast and shower part in, if I'm lucky, before Isaac wakes up). Isaac is pretty independent, but that means he requires a LOT of supervised playtime (otherwise I find him into everything that I haven't yet "babyproofed" - and more work for mom is just not my idea of fun right now). So we have some playtime and then some real breakfast.

10:00-11:00 -- Bottle #2, followed by lunch. This is usually cheese and crackers and maybe some whole wheat bread chunks. They love to sit together and eat and talk and laugh. And I love that they are fine-tuning their fine motor skills and, for the most part, self-sustaining. I try to keep them awake for two hours after they wake up, whenever that may have been. This means trying to keep Isaac awake for three hours if he had a shorter nap than Abby, just to keep them on the same "schedule." That takes some energy, creativity, and lots of singing, whistling, dancing, etc. Whatever I can think of, really! So - between noon and 1:00, they go down for their second nap of the day. Again, Abby sleeps longer than Isaac, which means I have a short break for my own lunch and to do a little cleaning or paying bills or taking out the garbage or scrubbing stains out of baby clothes or whatever.

2:00-3:00 -- Bottle #3, followed by some more playtime. If I'm really good, I'll sit them in the swing and saucer and read them a story or two. If I'm really bad, I'll put some Baby Einstein on and let them play to that as their background noise. If the weather is good, this is when we take a walk or meet Dave on campus or whatever. I try to keep them happy and awake until bedtime, around 7:00 in a perfect world. That means playtime, dinner (before they get too tired. This is usually veggies and fruit or yogurt, mixed with Multi-Grain Cereal to add some substance), bathtime, story time (if I can keep their attention that long), a final bottle, and finally bedtime! Whew! Truly, the afternoon is one long marathon! From the time they wake up from their second nap and get bored (or tired) of independent play until the time I want them to go to sleep, I'm pretty much constantly on my feet and trying to keep both of them going until the end!

Abby LOVES bathtime! She gets so excited -- kicks her legs, flaps her arms, laughs, and coos the entire time. Isaac is still just a little skeptical -- until he sees the faucet, shampoo, hair brush, soap, etc. that line the tub, then he's all curiosity and hard to keep IN the tub without being IMMERSED in the water that he doesn't quite understand is there and DANGEROUS! Fun, fun, fun! I usually put Baby Einstein on for one to watch while I bath the other one and then switch. They love the babies on "Baby's First Moves" and also love the music on "Baby's Mozart." Those are probably the two we watch the most. What am I saying, they're pretty much all we watch! We also have "Baby's First Sounds," which is good. But I think the kids on it are a little older, so they don't enjoy it as much right now.

7:00 rolls around, and that is (hopefully) bedtime. The main problem, with VERY few (meaning almost literally one or two) exceptions is that they rarely choose to follow schedule on the same nights. One night, Abby will go down without a problem and sleep through the entire night, waking up at 7:00 the next morning happy as a lark. That same night, Isaac will fight going to bed or pull his pacifier out ten times and scream like his world has come to an end until he finds it again (usually on his own at this point, though sometimes he gets so wound up looking for it that it falls behind the crib or gets lost in his blanket). Sometimes his teeth are bothering him, so he has a hard time soothing himself and wakes up with a yelp (more like a scream that sounds like someone just stabbed him in the back). On the nights that he goes to bed just fine, Abby will wake up screaming and then decide it's playtime. I don't know -- in a perfect world I would be a textbook mom and know how to let them work through everything on their own; but I am learning what things they can work through, what cries to ignore, and when the crying has gone on so long that I need to intervene and hope it isn't too late to calm them down. Some nights, they both play off of each other. One hears the other scream and wakes up screaming as well (I think it's just a pity cry, but it still keeps me hopping!). That's why I started putting Abby to bed on our bed and then moving her to her room when Isaac is asleep and Abby is in a deep enough sleep that Isaac doesn't disturb her. It works -- call it what you will, warn me 'til you're blue in the face. I know it probably isn't ideal, but it works for us. And that buys me peace of mind.

Once they do get to bed, I clean up the house, eat dinner, maybe change the laundry, whatever. On good days, I cook something and divide out the leftovers and pack up Dave's meals for the next day. And then I try to find some time to get online for a few minutes and just veg. Dave often doesn't get home until after 10:00, sometimes later. We have companionship prayer and scripture study together every night, which is the one thing I look forward to all day long. So I try to stay awake and wait for him. When I can't (or when I'm out of town or he thinks he is going to be extra late), I call him or he calls me and we just do it over the phone.

And that is a VERY typical day in the Chaffee household!

People have asked me how I do it all. My answer is simple: "I don't!"