It's 12:30 AM...

and guess who's wide eyed and bushy tailed?

Well, it certainly isn't me. I'm awake, but not bushy tailed. (He's grinning at me.) Since I'm up anyway, we'll rock and I'll blog.

Oh good, a big yawn. Let's see if he conks out before the end of this post.

Jonathan just got back in from Chicago about an hour ago. Since he's missed out on the doings of the small people for the past two days, I'll write about that.

The weather was beautiful Thursday so we played outside for a bit. With the assistance of the neighbor kids, Matthew dug some pretty impressive fox holes in the garden. Then we ran some booorinnng errands and also went to the library. That evening Matthew was invited to a friend's Halloween party. Melissa, however, was not. Her feelings were pretty crunched. From her perspective, why wouldn't Matthew's friends want her at the party too? To ease the disappointment, we had a girl's night after Matthew left. I made strawberry smoothies, we put a picnic blanket in the living room, and watched Powder Puff girls. Melissa was quite pleased with the idea of a picnic in the living room.

Matthew came home at eight and both kids went to bed nicely. I tackled the neglected housework after they were in bed, fully intending to go to bed early myself. But time flies when you're having fun (haha) and I didn't get settled in till around midnight. Oops.

After a series of short naps, it was time to get up again. I was pretty tired so I declared it pajama morning, turned on a video, and dozed with Isaac for another hour until eight thirty. Both kids announce that they are hungry for eggs. Very well. I make eggs. Matthew eats his, Melissa doesn't. We goof off in pajamas for a while longer and then it really is time to do something.

Since it is Friday, it is room cleaning day. For some reason they decided to clean rooms all day rather than pick up for 15-30 minutes and be done with it. I can only conclude that secretly Matthew and Melissa like cleaning their rooms and so make it last for as long as possible. While they putter around, I wash and fold all the laundry in the house (and yet the dirty clothes hamper has filled again!), strip and make beds, do dishes, make and feed kids lunch (Matthew eats his, Melissa doesn't), and clean my room. This is broken up considerably with feeding and playing with Isaac. A friend of Matthew's comes over in the afternoon and wants to play with him. Ahh! Now Matthew has motivation! His room was promptly cleaned in 15 minutes and he played with his buddy while Melissa napped.

I threw in the towel for room cleaning today with Melissa. I will just have to sit in her room and direct her efforts tomorrow.

While I cooked dinner, Matthew entertained Isaac. I overheard him chattering away in the other room. He explained in great detail all the things he wanted to teach Isaac when he got bigger. He also described Isaac's birthday to him. "Did you know you were in Mommy's tummy? You kicked and kicked. I was there when you were born! When you get bigger you can be at your brother's birthday too. We'll have lots and lots of brothers!" (Oh really?) Matthew is quite smitten with his baby brother. He's exceptionally gentle and really seems to enjoy playing and spending time with him. I think Matthew has a special bond with Isaac.

And so we ate dinner (Matthew ate his, and surprisingly Melissa decided to eat hers). Then it was story time and off to bed. They didn't go to bed quite so well tonight. Grr. I was productive though, I packed away my maternity clothes. Au revoir baggy ol' clothes! See ya later panel pants!

Isaac is now asleep and the mundane doings hashed out in excruciating detail. It's off to bed for me!