Midnight Musings

- I am a pretty hard sleeper and don't wake up for much besides my children. It also doesn't hurt that I am half deaf and when I put my good ear in my pillow I can't hear anything at all. Sometimes I wake up because of a weird dream or a loud sound. Tonight the rain on our roof woke me up and I just couldn't go back to sleep. So instead of using my wakefulness to clean my house, it is a disaster at the moment, I am blogging and catching up on the long posts of friends and family that my children don't let me read when they are awake. I also have to admit that I am a little antsy with it being Halloween in a new house. You never know what kind of 'visitors' you may get in the middle of the night.

- Last night Michael took us trick or treating. He was a little frustrated with trying to keep track of the children and make so many stops. I guess that is why the moms are usually the ones to take the kids trick-or-treating while the dads help eat the candy. Thanks for being such a good sport, Michael.

- For the first time in our married life we had a plethora of trick-or-treators at our house. Thankfully, they were all done coming by 9 p.m. because the children in our development are still fairly young. It was fun to be able to give back so to speak after being on the receiving end for the last few years. It was a little strange not to spend Halloween trick-or-treating in my Aunt Joyce's neighborhood after spending the three of the last four Halloweens at her house. The one Halloween we spent at home we didn't get many trick-or-treators so we opted to spend time with family the next year instead of staying home.

- I have the majority of the Christmas shopping done and I have a mental list of the last few things that I need to pick up. This does not mean that I have all of my Christmas projects done. That list is a little long and I am trying to pace myself, meaning not waiting until the week of to finish everything, so that everything will be done in plenty of time. I feel like homemade gifts are more meaningful and personal whether or not they are pricey and I love to come up with something to make for loved ones. The other exciting thing about this is that somethings I had on back order came in and will be here before Thanksgiving for which I am grateful.

- My elbow has been broken for 30 days now and is healing. I can straighten and bend my arm 3/4 of the way in both directions which is a ton better than having it locked up at a right angle. I can also rotate my wrist at least 2/3 of the way which means using my hand gets easier every day. Each day I do a little celebration when I can do something more with my hand though I am still wearing a sling to avoid overusing my arm and lifting. I will post some pictures of my not so gruesome arm at a later date.

- I am a list maker. If I wrote all of the lists my brain comes up with, I could probably wallpaper my whole house, including the ceiling. Sometimes I write the lists down to keep better track of things. Sometimes I lose those lists and have to make new ones. Sometimes I don't write down lists so that I can keep secrets, like what I am giving everyone for Christmas, though I keep my mental list so thar I remember who I am giving what and who I still need to get something for. Most of the time I don't write my lists down because I don't have a big enough piece of paper or I forget I was looking for a piece of paper to write on. Distractions, distractions....

- We took our children to the doctor this week for Bekah's checkup and flu shots. Bekah has gained three pounds in the last year, meaning she is now 24 pounds (50th percentile for her weight) whereas she weighed a whopping 21 pounds at her six month appointment last year. She is also 33 inches tall (86th percentile for height) and 'very well behaved for an 18 month old' as the doctor put it. Benjamin was very brave when he got his flu shot and wore his Veggie Tales sticker for three days afterwards.

- Benjamin is doing a great job of watching out for Mom's 'ouchy arm' as he puts it. Though he has determined that is not hurting me as much lately because he will come up and touch my arm softly with one finger to see if he gets a reaction. Since he usually touches me above my sling it doesn't hurt. He gives great 'careful' hugs and asks for reassurance that he didn't hurt me if he feels he has hugged me a little too tight. I miss being able to hold my children and hug them with two arms. I will be glad when I can bend over and effortlessly pick up Bekah when she reaches up to me and hope she won't stop reaching in the meantime. I also look forward to recieving one of Benjamin's power hugs where he runs straight at you into a half tackle hug.

- Michael's paternal grandparents became engaged on Halloween and his Grandma always tells us that she got her goblin and he got his witch. They were such a cute couple and we miss Grandpa a ton!

- I think I have run out of coherent things to type about so I am going to attempt to go back to bed and get some more sleep.