"Nothing days"

While sitting here trying to figure out what to write, I think to myself, today we did nothing, so how is that interesting? But, then I realize that these "nothing days" will be gone soon, so I may as well write down what we did so I can look back and fondly remember days when we had very little that we had to do.

The kids slept relatively well last night. Bradley woke up once and, as usual, wanted me to come in his room, pick him up and hold him for a few minutes. So, I did. He usually cries and calls "MA" and then is very content to be held and swayed for a couple of minutes until I lay him back down. I know this is silly and it obviously interrupts both of our sleep cycles, but it's a hard habit to break. He's a very sweet little boy who is in the habit of needing a hug and a warm body during the middle of the night. Both kids got up around 7:15, we got up, got juice and a pre-breakfast snack of pretzels and turned on the tv. Then, we let Dixie out of the garage, made Nick a sandwich for lunch and changed Bradley's diaper. We made cinnamon toast and frozen waffles with grapes for breakfast, which the kids ate in the den while I took a shower. After I was dressed, we started some laundry and tried to use the dryer, but it was officially old, after 31 years of service. She was "goldie" our harvest gold dryer given to us by Joe and Deborah when we got married. They had bought her brand new, and she had dried many a load, but it was time to let her go this evening. She's currently in our garage, awaiting her final resting place. Nick came home with the cheapest dryer he could find at Lowe's. Wow! It sure was nice to have a quiet, quick dryer! Anyway, once we figured out we couldn't do much laundry, we went outside. We went to the backyard to swing, slide, run and play. Bradley found a puddle on one of the plastic slides and he stomped and made a mess until there was no more water. It was funny watching him enjoy making such a mess. Rachel darted in and out of the playhouses with a full dialogue between her and "baby sister" and "apple dumplin". (They are her imaginary playmates who accompany us many places!) We came inside at a little before noon, stripped off ALL our clothes (which were playclothes that are deemed "get as dirty as possible"), washed up, put on clean, comfy clothes, got fresh juice and watched Teletubbies while I made lunch. Rachel wanted a turkey, cheese and mayo sandwich with apples and chips. Bradley didn't say, but he got a peanut butter sandwich with apples and chips. They ate and played and then it was time for Bradley's nap. Around 1:20, I changed Bradley's diaper, got him a fresh juice and wrapped him up in his favorite fuzzy blanket, with Bay of course, and rocked him for a couple of minutes. He never falls asleep during the rocking, but it's fun and we both love it, so we just rock for a few minutes and then I lay him down in his crib. He puts himself to sleep in 5-10 minutes. He usually talks and makes noises part of that time. He'll usually nap for 2 hours and while he's asleep, Rachel and I play and then rest. Today, she wanted to go upstairs to play, so we built a house of legos for the one lego character that we have: Mr. Lego. It's really cute building legos with Rachel, because her objective is always to make a really high, unstable tower that falls down constantly. I try to stabilize the tower as we go and build a little house for Mr. Lego and Rachel loves it for a few minutes and then tears it down as quickly as she can. Then, Rachel decided she wanted to play a game on the computer, so I set it up for her and came downstairs to do fold some laundry. After about an hour, Rachel came downstairs and wanted to do crafts, so we got out her watercolor paints, papers, glue, beads, fuzzy puff balls, markers, etc...and she goes to town. Her usual objective is to glue as many things as she can to one piece of paper. I love watching her do crafts, because I know how much I enjoy doing it and how therapeutic it is and it looks like she enjoys it just as much. Bradley was still sleeping well, so at 3:40, we woke him up. He's got a little cold, so I guess his little body is fighting it off. He woke up in a good mood, so we got some more juice, a snack of animal crackers and fruity snacks and watched some tv. Rachel ate the same snack with him and we just relaxed for a little while. Then, Bradley realized that the gate to the upstairs was down, and wanted to "go" immediately. So, we went upstairs to play until daddy got home with the dryer. Once Nick was home, he set up the new dryer (to Rachel's amazement and fascination) and I made dinner. Dinner was pitiful...grits, ramen noodles, deli ham and chocolate milk for Rachel and grits, ramen noodles, peanut butter crackers and juice for Bradley. (By the way, I can't get Bradley to drink milk right now...so all he gets is watered down apple juice.) After dinner, the kids played and waited for daddy to finish his supper so he could play with them. They played "monster" where Nick chases them around and they run around screaming. Both kids love this game! I finished the dishes and cleaned the nasty kitchen. At 7:05, we went into Rachel's bathroom, where both kids brushed their teeth and I put vaseline coated cotton balls in Bradley's ears (to prevent water from getting into his tubes). Then, both kids got in the tub and had a nice relaxing, fun bath. They really love taking a bath and playing with the tub toys. Bradley still holds his soap, but has now added a sponge that he loves to hold. Rachel had one of her rubber crocodiles that is usually an out of the tub toy, in the tub, and she was having a blast flopping him around. Every time I give the kids a bath, I think, wow, how nice and relaxing to take a bath each evening...I wish I could take one too! I guess that's one of the perks of being a kid...nightly baths! At 7:30, we get the kids dressed and each takes a kid to their room to read a book and go to bed. Tonight was my night to read to Rachel, so we read: The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Dr. Seuss's Tooth Book. Both are very cute and easy reads. Nick read to Bradley tonight and he read Thomas the Train's Go Train, Go! Bradley loves this one right now, so he was very excited.

Anyway, that's the long summary of our "nothing day". It isn't a special event or anything particularly interesting, but it's fun having a "nothing day" every once in awhile. Tomorrow, we'll probably go somewhere and do something...just to break things up! :)