Missing Daddy...

We've been missing daddy lately.... Brian's been quite busy with his tennis teams, and late this past Saturday night, he got back from a week in Orlando, Florida where his teams went 11-1 over spring break.



We started the week without daddy by going to my parent's house in Northfield. The extra help with Olivia and Grace was much appreciated. Olivia did especially well, enjoying the time with her "ba-pa" and "gamma." Grace, well, she flashed some extra-cute smiles, but as for sleeping, not much was had by either her or me! We came home Monday morning, and I gave both girls A's for the car ride home. Tuesday was a rough day with Grace only taking a few cat-naps and mom running on little sleep.

Wednesday my mother-in-law, Pat, and I headed up to Rochester for an appointment with my dermatologist. Olivia got to hang out with her "ba-pa" in the morning too which I know she loved. Grace did a good job while we were at Mayo (of course she slept just fine for Grandma!), and I was happy not to come home with any stitches this time (although I go back April 9th for some of those)! Wednesday afternoon Beth, Max, and Mya came for a visit. They were a great addition to a long week! All day Thursday after they left Olivia kept saying "Where Matz (Max), where My (Mya), and where Bet (Beth)?" Saturday went well too with a visit from Auntie Tara. Of course, Olivia also asked "Where Tara?" after her afternoon nap! For those of you who know Olivia, you know that these words were accompanied by her signature "where" hand gesture and wide-eyed look!

I can happily report that we had some good nights in the later half of the week both in terms of getting the girls to bed and Grace sleeping for some longer chunks of time! It's pretty crazy around here at bedtime! I'm still trying to figure out who to put to bed first and when. Grace's bedtime has been moving closer to 7 o'clock which is great, but Olivia, poor girl, what's she supposed to do while I'm rocking Grace? After having me tell her we had to be quiet about a billion times, sweet thing that she is, she got her silky, and rested her head on the footstool of the rocker while I finished settling Grace in the night! Practice can only make things easier I'm hoping!

It was pretty clear to me that Olivia missed her daddy! She started off the week asking "Where daddy?" and later that changed to "Daddy work." Every time we went outside or even just looked out the window, she would point out "Daddy truck." The sweetest moment was when she woke up from her nap on Saturday. I think she must have been dreaming because she was still lying down when I went in to get her, and she said in a rather sad little voice, "Daddy work." Olivia missed Brian's play style too. She frequently wanted me to get down and "roar," chase, and tackle her like Brian does.

Brian got home just in time Saturday night.... His welcome home was getting to sleep in Olivia's room for a few hours since she had a bit of the croup and then getting to hold Grace for a couple more as she just decided she wanted to hang out for a while in the middle of the night! Needless to say, I was glad he was home! And, by the way, I did let him catch up on a few extra z's with a nap on Sunday!