the days of the week

oh, it's so sad. natty doesn't nurse anymore, but she requests to see my boob once in awhile. when i lift up my shirt, she squeals like she's seeing a long lost friend, and then she closes her eyes, sticks her thumb in her mouth and cuddles up against it. this weaning business hasn't been easy. she'll wake up in the middle of the night and cry in frustration because she's lost the thing that would help her sleep. but, she has been eating more and drinking a ton more milk, which is what i was going for.

i wish she hadn't been biting at every nursing session, and i wish she'd have taken the hint and dropped her feedings gradually so that only her bedtime feedings were left. i would totally have not had a problem nursing her at night for another year. ah well. 'twas not meant to be.

and 4 does seem to be a magic number for noah. i was told that he would mellow out at 4. i wouldn't say he's mellowed out exactly, but he's definitely developing some impulse control (thank the Lord!) and just starting to care more about others. now it's natty that's the problem when we go out to restaurants to eat or to the park. she WON'T sit in a high chair ("no! no!" she says in her itty bitty voice with a firm shake of the head), and she WON'T eat off of her own plate because the same thing on yours looks so much better. she WILL squeal and wiggle until you just have to let her down onto the ground, and which point she's off and running.

i know, typical one year old stuff. what did i expect right? yeah, but even if you know something is coming, doesn't make it easier as it's happening.

now my week looks like this:

monday: get up, have breakfast together, get noah dressed and off to school, dress natty and play for a bit, put her down for a nap, leave her in the care of my ummah as i head out for my 3 hours of ME time (usually to shop, read magazines at a book store, have lunch with a friend or watch a movie), get back and take a ready to go natty out into the yard or to a park to play so my ummah can have HER me time, pick up noah, play, help get dinner on the table, feed, give baths, get jammies on, brush teeth, get on the computer while they play with toys, read books (two each), say prayers, sleep (them), tv (for me), a couple hundred rounds of bejeweled blitz, sleep (for me.)

tuesday: same thing, except this is my parent's day off so it's more of an adventure day. we'll all spend part of the morning cleaning and organizing the house together. then i'll tag along to the jewelry district in downtown LA, or an outlet, or Korea town. there's is usually a yummy lunch and lots of help with natty. i get back in time to pick up noah and dinner, bath, play, books, prayer, sleep, tv, bejeweled blitz, sleep is the same.

wednesday: mom and dad work all day, so it's pretty quiet. i usually get errands done, grocery shop and cook on this day. i'll cook some banchan (korean side dishes), make something yummy for dinner, and cook up some things for the kids to snack on (cupcakes, cookies, fried rice, chicken long rice...), then off to pick up noah and dinner, bath, play, books, prayer, sleep, tv, BB, sleep.

thursday: i've gotten most of my pressing things done yesterday, but i usually have some things i've got to get done during natty's nap like, pay bills, rotate toys in toy room, sort through kids clothes that are getting too small, wash the car, write social emails....stuff like that. my mom might get home earlier if business isn't that brisk. she'll take over and finish off the dinner i started while i keep the kids entertained.

friday: knowing that noah will be home for the two days during the weekend, i feel a bit of pressure to get done things that i might not be able to do with two kids in tow. this is the day i tend to buy gifts to wrap and hide before noah gets home, tidy up the patio and yard to prep for weekend use, make purchases that take lots of thought and time (clothes shopping, electronic purchases) and i try to get in a decent amount of online time because when i'm alone with noah and nat, i've found that it's best to just focus on them and not even try to join cyber world.

saturday: is "no hakgyo (school) day!" as noah says. we usually laze around in the morning and i let noah watch some tv. hey, that was my favorite part of saturday mornings. we'll usually wander out into the yard/patio at some point to check on our garden and the kids play while i read or play with them. we might have playmates over at this point. i serve lunch around 12, and try to get them down to a nap around 1. after our siesta, i usually take them for some sort of outing. when it was cooler, we went to the park a lot. but now that it's baking outside during that time of day, we go anywhere there's air conditioning. this may include your house. but it's mostly target or barnes and nobles. weekends are busy for my parents, so i usually figure out dinner. because i'm out, i usually buy something quicker. then, dinner and the rest is the same.

sunday: church day. get up, get breakfast, get gussied up and head out to church. i usually grab lunch on the way home after church and we eat in front of a dvd kid movie before all crashing together for a nap. but last week, we went over to the church friends house where young families like ours gathered together for lunch. it was fun. we might make that more of a regular thing. whether we're at someone's house or our own, sunday afternoon play is usually more peaceful. we've gotten the wild, yelling kind of play out of the way the day before, and all the joyful praising at church has helped to make us ready for gentler fun. then, dinner and the same.

and then it starts all over again. seriously, if you know what day of the week it is, you'll know what i'm up to.