This week is finally coming to an end.  It has gotten a little bit better, but we're still working on lots of things.

I thought I should brag on my Ainsley a little since it feels like all I do is write about how hard of a time I'm having with her.  She finished up her first round of swimming lessons on Wednesday and she passed with flying colors.  They had told me that they usually have children take pre-beginner I two or three times before they let them go on, but her little report card said she had mastered every skill in that level and that she could move on to the next!  I was very proud of her.  She's enjoying them so much and obviously is doing well at it, so I signed her up for the next class.  They don't start until after we get back from visiting my family in Chicago the first week of August.

Lorelei is really getting into everything now.  She took a lot longer than Ainsley did getting mobile, but she's making up for it by really exploring now.  Nothing is safe.

This weekend will be busy.  Our church's men's softball team is in the championship game on Saturday, so I must go cheer on my hubby.  Our Vacation Bible School begins on Sunday evening and runs through Wednesday evening.  I am helping teach first grade and have some things to get ready for that.  It will be Ainsley's first year being able to actually participate in VBS.  She's very excited, although mostly about seeing her daddy as a cowboy.  (He's been typecast as the bad guy in every one of our VBS skits since we moved here.)

Please pray as I have invited my ex-sister-in-law (I guess that's what you'd call her) and her two boys to come with us to Bible School on the first night.  That's the only night they can make it.  She's not saved (a non-practicing Catholic) and the boys, who are 5 and 3, have never really been in church or had any exposure to the Bible.  Please pray that they will actually come (they're supposed to come to dinner at my house, too) and that they will be open to what they hear.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

I'm having another hard week with my three year old.  It seems we will make some progress on some things and then take some giant steps backward.  I am battling discouragement.  I was crying on the phone to my husband yesterday and he said that it wasn't my fault.  I literally shouted at him, "Yes, it's my fault.  It's always the mother's fault."

Isn't that how we feel sometimes?  We have such mommy guilt that we assume that our children's behavior is always a direct result of us.  Yes, sometimes it is, but the problem is most assuredly her heart.  I can try to change her behavior all I want, but I truly believe that until Jesus gets a hold of her heart most of my work will be for naught.   That doesn't mean that I am giving up; she still needs to learn to obey and respond sweetly.  I am just going to try not to blame myself for every bout of bad behavior.  Did you notice the word try in that last sentence?  I certainly need some prayer.

Anyway, I was needing a little quiet time, so I went out by myself last night.  I ran a few errands and then decided to go to Barnes and Noble.  I thought that would be relaxing.  I was wrong, that store was very overwhelming and made me feel a bit embarrassed.  You see, I used to be quite the avid reader.  I loved reading difficult classic literature and trying to figure it out.  I read "Wuthering Heights" and "Crime and Punishment" for fun in high school.  I know, I am a nerd.  But as I stood there in that store I realized that it had been a long time since I read anything for fun.  I am certainly not counting the countless readings of "Goodnight Moon," "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," or "The Cat and the Hat."  I am also not counting any devotionals, child-training or other such books.  I'm talking about a book that's fun and light... nothing that makes me have to think too much, but is relaxing to just sit and read.

So my question in all of this is, does anyone have any suggestions for a book for someone who needs unwinding?

Back to my story, I wandered around that store for nearly an hour, picking up various books and putting them down.  I ended up just picking up a Real Simple magazine and going to Panera.  I sat in the corner reading my over-priced magazine, sipping my over-priced drink and eating an over-priced sandwich.  Bliss.

My little Lorelei is not nearly so little.  She had her nine month appointment today.  NINE MONTHS!  I can't believe it.  It seems like just yesterday I was bringing her home.  You must let me share the facts and figures now... as there are grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles who read this blog as well.  She is a whopping 20 pounds, 6 ounces.  I knew she was getting quite heavy!  And she's 29 1/4 inches long.  She's one big girl.  And perfectly healthy girl, too, praise the Lord.  She didn't even flinch when she got her shot today... not even one sounded came out of her.

That's sidewalk chalk on her face.

I got several inches of Ainsley's hair cut off last week, and now she looks like such a grown up girl.  Where did my baby go? 

This is my grandma with Lorelei.  I'm so glad we finally got a chance to go visit my grandparents down in South Carolina.  We had a wonderful time with them and with my aunt, uncle and cousins who live there as well.  It had been exactly four years since we had been back there.  Josh and I went to college there, lived there our first 3 and a half years of marriage, got our first jobs out of college there, and bought our first house there.

It was a surreal experience, in a way, going back. It was strange in a way that I can't really explain.  That part of our lives is over.  We will never go back to it.  We spent our entire time there childless; four years later we come back with two children in tow.  It's amazing to see what God accomplished in four years in our lives.

We went by our old house.  It still looked adorably cute.  Whoever had bought it had the time and money to really make the landscaping beautiful.  It was nice to see that it was well taken care of.

We visited the TV station where I had my first job.  When I called to say I was in town and was coming by for a visit, the news director offered me my job back for that night!  I laughed and told him I was little out of practice.  (I haven't produced a newscast in two years.)  I was offered my job back by just about everyone working there.  It was nice to hear, and I must confess that seeing my old friends there and seeing the newscasts made me want to do it again.  I did love working there.  I don't feel that way when I watch the newscasts from the station where I worked here in Hartford. 

We also visited one of Josh's childhood friends, Josh's brother and one of his college roommates.   We had a very nice and relaxing time.

I think one of the highlights was on our drive back home.  We stopped in New Jersey at the Six Flags (we really love those season passes; they work at all the Six Flags across the nation).  They have a drive-through safari that someone had told us was really neat.  And it was!  It took us about an hour to drive through the thing.  Every jungle animal you could have imagined was in this place and most could walk right up to your car.

Yup.  That's an ostrich right outside our car.  It came up and pecked at our van.  Ainsley laughed.  Lorelei cried.

The giraffes would just stand in the middle of the road.  I think they enjoyed blocking traffic.

Thankfully, the elephants could not come right up to your car, but they were still pretty close.

This was at the end of the safari.  It was a nice place to let Ainsley run around a bit and get Lorelei out of her car seat until it was back in the car for the rest of the ride home.

I won't bore you with the MANY more pictures of animals we have.  We really enjoyed this stop.

Sesame Place is in Langhorne, PA, about 20 miles outside of Philadelphia.  Let me start by saying that we probably went to this amusement park on its busiest weekend of the year.  With that being said, it was crowded, especially on Saturday.    The park is comprised of mostly water rides, with a few dry rides as well.  There is one roller coaster that goes pretty fast for a kid coaster.  Ainsley and I rode it twice (Josh was a bit tall for it).

The park is clean for the most part.  Since it is geared for the younger set, there are strollers everywhere, and I mean everywhere.  There were parts of the park that you couldn't even walk through because there were strollers parked in the way.  The characters walk the streets, but lines immediately form around them, and you must wait in line to get a chance to meet them and have your child's picture taken with them.  Elmo and Big Bird also have a building where you can wait in line to meet either of them.  A photographer takes a picture of this, but you can also take your own.  You can view the picture taken by the employee, and purchase if you like, but it is a whopping $16.00 to do so.

The characters will also sign autographs if asked.  Ainsley was able to ride the roller coaster (you have to be at least three) and all of the other dry rides, but we were disappointed that she was too short to ride nearly all of the water rides.  There are several pools and sprinkler areas along with the lazy river that she was able to ride, but we had hoped she would be able to ride more.

We went to one show, and that was enough.  It was hot and it was a little long for Ainsley's attention span.  Lorelei began screaming as soon as the characters came out on stage.  The music was way too loud, also.  You couldn't even understand what they were saying.  We ended up leaving before the show was over.

We had brought the girls' own life jackets since we did not know they had them at the park.  When we went to ride the lazy river, we were told they could not use their own life jackets (even though Ainsley had already worn hers on other rides).  I spent the entire time in the lazy river trying to get Lorelei to stop chewing on the communal life jacket.  Gross!

I had one huge gripe as a nursing mother.  The process to get into the nursing room was frustrating.  For a place you would expect to have a lot of people with young babies, I was not impressed with the way they treated us breastfeeding mommies.  There were two nursing rooms in the park.  They were just cinder-block cells, really.  They were small, with a sink, a changing table and a chair, and they weren't very clean.  They were locked.  In order to enter, you had to go back to the Welcome Center at the front of the park, wait in line to tell someone that you needed the nursing room, walk back to the nursing room and wait for someone to come unlock the door.  Now this was frustrating enough for me and I have a nine month old, but can you imagine trying to do this with a screaming newborn?  I understand why they locked the rooms, but I thought it could have been done differently.

All in all, we enjoyed it for the most part.  However, I don't believe we'll go back.  Ainsley really loved the parade which happens every day and the fireworks, which were special for that weekend.   It was not cheap, of course, but no amusement park is.  However, a two-day ticket is just as much as a one-day ticket, so that was a nice deal.  They do allow you to park twice, but pay once.  In other words, you can go for awhile, put the kids down for a nap, and then go back to the park without paying for parking twice.  The food is expensive, as it is in most amusement parks, but there are lots of restaurants right around the park for you to run out to if you'd like to avoid the $8 hamburger.   They do allow you to bring in small coolers, and they have nice picnic areas as well.

Thank you all for your very kind comments and thoughtful advice.  I really do appreciate it.  I feel embarrassed that I was complaining about a day that wasn't THAT bad, but like I said I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.  I prayed, rested and re-charged while the girls were napping.  God is our refuge and strength.  I felt so much better after that.  Josh came home and helped me out a lot.  I finished the church bulletins and the VBS flyers, both things I had to get done before we left.  We got all of the clothes packed and a lot of other things ready to go as well.  We are going to places that have no baby or children items or toys, so we have to pack A LOT.  I still have to get a few things ready to go, make a run to the store and get some more things clean in the house... then I will feel ready to go.

I thought it would be fun today to post some things about me that some of you may not know.  I have made many new friends on xanga, so here's some interesting (and some not so interesting) facts about me... 

1.  I have lived in Michigan, Minnesota, several places in Illinois, Virginia, South Carolina and Connecticut.
2.  I have never had a cup of coffee.  I just know I wouldn't like it.  My husband doesn't drink it either, but we do have a coffee pot in our house... for guests.
3.  I was engaged at 19 and married at 20.  We will celebrate our 8th anniversary this year.
4.  My husband is 6'7" tall.  I am 5'3".
5.  I hate to drink milk.
6.  I enjoy playing sports although it's been a long time since I've played them. 
7.  I love newswriting, (was a journalism major in college) but hate creative writing.  Give me some facts, I can write you a story.  I can not make up a story on my own.  The worst grade I got in college was in Creative Writing.
8.  I color my hair.  I have lots of gray already.  (Thanks mom )
9.  I have a bit of an obsession with names.  I love learning about them, their derivation, their meanings, etc.  By the way, Ainsley is Scottish and means meadow.  Lorelei is German and means alluring.  (It's actually from a German poem that isn't so nice.)
10.  My great-grandfather was in Al Capone's gang in Chicago.  It's true.  (This one needs more explanation, but I'll save it for a future blog.  That will keep you reading, right??)

As for our trip... we will be going to Pennsylvania tomorrow to hit Sesame Place.  It's an amusement park for the kiddos with all the Sesame Street characters.  We'll be heading to Josh's brother's house in Virginia on Sunday, but just for the night. We will then be going to Greenville, South Carolina.  My grandparents live there, we went to college there and we lived there until 2003.  We haven't been back since we moved four years ago.  It's time for a trip to the south.  We'll be heading back to Josh's brother's house on Thursday for a few days, and then back home. 

Please pray for our safety and sanity.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

I'll start by saying that by 11:15 a.m. my kids were already down for their afternoon nap.  I usually don't lay them down until 12:30 at least.  It's been one of those days.

Ainsley has been up early all week long.  By early I mean before six... every day.  I am tired!  I don't know what to do with that child.  We have put heavy, dark curtains in her room to shut out the light, (the baby thrives on this and sleeps very late) but it hasn't deterred Ainsley from her early morning wake up calls.  I put her back to bed, but she never stays there long.  I can't gate her in the room any more, for fear of what she will do to the baby.  We have tried adjusting bed times, nap times, no nap, etc., but this child insists on getting up way too early for my sensibilities.

Anyway, today she slept until 5:56 a.m.  That's later than any other day this week.  But if you consider that she did not go to bed until 10:00 p.m. last night, you know it's not going to be a good day.  She's been feisty, whiney, crying a lot, disobedient... you get the idea.  She threw a fit this morning and woke up her sister who had just fallen asleep for her morning nap.  There was no going back.  Lorelei was up just minutes after putting her down. UGH!  Not long after that, Ainsley needed another "session," I wasn't thinking and took her into her room, leaving the baby alone in our room on the bed.  Hello, Cathi... she's quite mobile now!  A few minutes later... THUNK!  My poor, poor baby had fallen off my bed onto our hardwood floors.  I can't tell you how horrible I felt.  Lorelei and I just sat together and sobbed for a long time after that.  L's fine, I think.  She has quite the fat lip, but she wasn't bleeding anywhere.  I felt like (ok, still feel like) such a horrible, horrible mother.

We leave on Saturday for an 8 day road trip, so I am trying to get laundry done, packing started, the house clean. I feel a bit overwhelmed.  Not to mention, that I have a touch of a stomach bug that my girls have had the last few weeks. 

I'm starting to feel like this is one big complaining session, but I think I needed to write it all down... so I can look back and remember that not all days were this bad... and there will be some that are worse... and this one won't seem so bad any more.

AAHHH!  Pray for me today.  I need it.

God did not give me any sisters.  He chose a brother for me instead.  My husband has all brothers, too.  So this sister relationship is new to us.  We know there will be fights and squabbles and days when they don't talk to each other, they're girls.  But right now we are enjoying watching them get to know each other.  They have a bond with each other they will have with no one else.

A few days ago we were riding in the car and the girls just started giggling.  We turned to see what they were up to... and it was nothing.  They were just looking at each other and laughing hysterically.  Josh and I just shrugged... and smiled.

For there is no friend like a sister
In calm or stormy weather;
To cheer one on the tedious way,
To fetch one if one goes astray,
To lift one if one totters down,
To strengthen whilst one stands.
 Christina Rossetti

For those of you who have sisters, what is the best part about it? 

For those of you who are raising sisters, what do you want to instill in your girls about their very special relationship?