Days 3 & 4: "A measure of normalicy"

Yesterday, we tried to enforce nap time, to keep things normal. This didn't work all that well, since the girls didn't actually take a nap. Adam and Noel took the naps they were supposed to.

Several times during the day, I thought it was Saturday. Then I remembered it was still Friday, and realized there was a bonus day in the week suddenly. It may have also factored into my not going into work, and not doing any from home as well... I also spent several periods of time thinking about painting either the back room or the kitchen. I decided against it.


Friday night there was a ward activity - a potluck dinner. We got there about 20 minutes late, all the tables were full, and much of the food was gone. We set up a new table, and the kids went through and got food. I held the baby until I realized that she was leaking through her pants again. (We discovered this week that the new kind of diapers we bought last week have containment issues. Noel went through three outfits yesterday...) After the dinner, they had a miniature golf course that the young men built. The kids scattered to go play. After a while, Noel was ready for another diaper change, but we didn't have any more diapers in the backpack. Since we already used the backup outfit, I figured it was time to bail.

Several breakdowns happened at this point, I think mainly do to sleepy children. Emma was upset because Mary took off with her friends and ditched her. Lily was very upset because Ruth ended up with a balloon, and Lily didn't. Sad times.

I thought about tired children for a while, and decided that they needed a darker place to sleep, both during the day, and at night. Tara had some thicker fabric that someone gave her years ago, we found it a couple of weeks ago, and was likely going to be given away at some point. I made blackout curtains, and put them up in the girls room today.




This afternoon, all the girls but Kate went in and laid down in their room for about an hour and a half for naptime. I don't think they actually slept, but they stayed in their rooms. Win for me. Tonight when I came home, you couldn't see their lights were on in their room, either. Win again.

At this point, I think things have calmed down just a little around here. Noel has been slobbering like a maniac lately. I just gave her a frog stuffed animal, and she is busy attacking it, trying to somehow get it into her mouth. I think she is either starting to teeth, or she likes the taste of fabric. I fully expect 'bad cop' to have to show at some point, but it looks like that will not happen today.

Tara made it to France, sounds like her flight went pretty well.