Sand box messes & Reminiscing

I think Maia is trying to wean herself out of her naps. Some days I find her fighting me to go down, even 3 hours past the time she normally takes a nap, and other days she goes down perfectly, like today.

Yesterday was one of those days where she would not go down. She "talked" in her bed for an hour before I finally got her out. So instead of sleeping yesterday afternoon, she played.

We have a sand box at this house and the kids love it. Because of the messes that it creates, after they are done playing in it I always immediately take them to the bath. Yesterday was another sand box afternoon.

As soon as they were done in the sandbox, Noah went next door with his new little best friends, Lucas, 5, and Brevin, 4. He is in safe hands with Nikki, so I left him over there and gave Maia her bath.

After her bath she decided she wanted "on the couch" to watch "Bunge-bob" with her "towel" (she strangely loves towels). So I did. I went to clean up a few things in the house and came back 5 minutes later with clothes to put on her and I found her like this:Curled up on the couch . . . naked. It was 5:00 when I found her like this, so needless to say, she didn't sleep long. It was a long night for her last night without a much needed nap (we had mom's group in the morning and she played there, too). Neil did great putting up with her grouchy-ness while I worked.

So I've been reminiscing a lot the last week or so. This weather makes me remember being pregnant. I was very pregnant with both my kids this time of year in 2003 and 2005. Noah was born on the 15th, and Maia on the 18th. I remember going to the pumpkin patch both years very preggo and even shooting weddings, both years, the first weekend in October (38 weeks pregnant and swelling like you wouldn't believe). That was rough. Really rough. Thank God for patient clients and great friends like Mike, Nora & Heather.

Last year I wasn't able to reminisce too much. Grandpa was sick. Very sick. A year ago today he was in the nursing home. It was just last August that he went to the doctor where they found he had an intestinal cancer. So so quickly after that he went down hill.

I'm having a difficult time right now as I think about him a lot right now. I tried to visit him every couple days in the nursing home. Maia and Noah went with me a lot, also. It was hard. But I'm so glad I did it as often as I did.

Anyway, because grandpa was so on my mind every day, I didn't think much about the prior Octobers or even think about my children's birthdays. I was suppose to have a Halloween party last year and 2 kid birthday parties. They all sorta failed. They'll never remember that, and I'm not upset about it. More than anything I wanted to be there for grandpa. I knew I would not have him this year. I knew he wasn't going to make it. I knew I had to get ready for that. All parties and reminiscing could wait.

So this year I reminisce a lot. I remember all of the last 4 Octobers very very well:

4 Octobers ago I was very pregnant with Noah.
3 Octobers ago we celebrated my first child's 1st birthday -- and grandpa was there. I still remember it like yesterday. What a great celebration!
2 Octobers ago, Maia was born.
And last October grandpa died.

On a happy, funny, oh-my-gosh-look-at-Val note, this is what I looked like just 2 years ago:
Yeah, I was big.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Miss you all still as I try to put my life back in order. Hope to be back sooner than later. Happy October!!