the day is getting better. yesterday was great. i took the kids to sam's club and whole foods and they did wonderfully. they both napped well and by 7 o'clock dinner was done, the kitchen was clean and the kiddos were back in bed. but then the night went downhill.

we're trying to get to israel next summer for the umjc conference, but the money is a little tight. i called our airline connection (we have rewards through our credit card) and it seems the few carriers they have that do go to tel aviv are already booked. what? yeah, that's what tom said too. that's just the way it goes. my helpful but booked assistant suggested using our points to at least get to new york. that might help with some of the cost. i thought this was a great idea.

i fell asleep around 9:30 from exhaustion (vacation will do that) and woke up at 10:30pm for cass's last feeding. it was a fitful night as our littlest tried to scream her way to my bosom. the trip to colorado and sharing a room really messed her up. after getting up several times to remind her that we were playing according to a new set of rules, i decided 6am was the last straw. i nursed her, laid her back down, and then laid in bed, listening to wyatt cry. i got up around 6:30 and found mr. magoo's pj's and bed wet. totally wet. ick. so before the sun made it's full appearance i had him in the tub. it's been downhill since.

cass has been fussy all day. wyatt spent more of the morning whining than laughing. he took a nap but she refused to. then when she did finally fall asleep he was up. and at least in a somewhat better mood. i tried to leave him alone for most of the afternoon, and with a surprise visit from gigi things got a little better. but now that he's in bed for nap #2 she's up fussing again.

while checking my email amidst a moment of trying to ignore the drama around me, i stumbled upon more drama about a friend and the mess she's in. it hurts to see the people around you hurting and not know how to make a difference. argh!

to top it all off my sister informed me that the cute video of wyatt and abbie in the tub together has gotten more than twice the hits as any other video i've posted. creepy people out there are being, well, creepy. no more tub video.

also, that great advice to use our airline points to get to jfk isn't really helpful, because the total for the trip doesn't include air to new york. will we go...God only knows.

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but i forgot to mention why this day is getting better. today in the mail came our first installment of ihop's limited edition cd. yay! and not only that but it also has a second disk with the best of limited edition! two cd's for the price of one. what a gift from the lord.

also, while having people over a lot wears me out, tonight is one of those nights when comfortable people are coming to hang out. i'm looking forward to a "lite night" as some call it. since they're comfortable people maybe i can get away with wearing my comfortable clothes, like say, my new lounge pants from rachel...

we're back from vacation, and trying to recuperate. wyatt's having a tough time getting back in the swing of things; i laid him down at 8:30 last night and he didn't get up until 1 this afternoon. and then after being up for two hours he went back to sleep, waking up for a few more hours and then going to bed at 9. we'll see what tomorrow brings. i wish i could sleep that much, but alas, lil' cassie and tom need to eat and someone has to do the laundry.

check out youtube.com/user/beahblake for some videos of the trip. that's cousin abbie being a brave little girl on the alpine slide and the rock wall and the trampoline. wyatt mostly kicked the ball and threw rocks. it was a good time, but we're glad to be home.

i'm trying to pacify those who want just a little something. i don't want to disappoint you and then lose my readership. it's cool here, about 70' or so and for the mountains that's warm. but still glorious. we've been out on the playground and kicking the ball and eating. wyatt is learning a lot of words, and figuring out how to open and close sliding doors and especially how to share.

it's an adventure when the three franz girls get together. rachel got here today and we're waiting for the crazy to officially start. saturday night we played hearts and it got a little out of control, ending with my parents rolling their eyes, sarah laughing hysterically and me laying on the floor trying to imitate michael scott dancing on the booze cruise. i guess you had to be there.

i'll post some pictures for you all soon, if there are any post-worthy ones. on a side note, as food is a hot topic, i made gnocchi for the family last night and it was a wonderful success. dad was especially impressed and said he's going to give it a try himself. try out the gnoocchi recipe i told you about. you won't be disappointed. just make sure you make the gnocchi bake like susan does, otherwise it's a little boring.

i tried several times to just post the videos here, but it keeps giving me errors and even when it didn't i had two youtube tv screens of the same thing. "it's the same thing!" so go to youtube (youtube.com/user/beahblake)(because now it's not letting me link you there -- the things i do for you!) and check it out for yourself. there are a couple of new videos. happy vacation to me. happy school/work/heat to you.

we've had a breakthrough. cassidy is getting used to the crib with her fun blanket and little dolly and laughing bear. and no pacifier. there are times when she fights for more than 5 minutes, but usually it's a little fuss and then out. she's going in the way of her awesome brother and playing in her crib when she wakes up. it's a much easier transition than crying. i like it and propose all children wake up in such a manner.

as a sidenote, we're going to colorado for a week on friday, so i can't promise anything spectacular. in the meantime, here are some photos from fillthewell. it was a lot of fun. maybe you should space out how many photos you look at so you can come back in a few days and see another one that you haven't seen. then you'll feel like i posted something new...

this is tom and wyatt with their rockstar buddy sam.

this is jessica and maasen. aren't they some of the prettiest girls in town?

and here's auntie lauren and her little son noah. he's growing so much, he smiles and coos now. i love having a nephew across the street. and a sister too.

here's wyatt with big cousin harrison. wyatt was drinking decaf, don't worry.

take care of yourselves and i'll try to keep you updated on the 70' weather.

1:42 am
cassidy is crying.
and crying. and then stopping. and then crying.
tonight is the first night, sans pac, that she's woken up in the middle of the night. so she's crying.

2:1o am
i go in and rub her back, try to "shhh" her back to sleep. i leave the room, her cries echoing in the hallway.

2:11 am
still crying. then stopping. then crying some more.

2:50 am
she's having it all out now. one last wail...

2:53 am
quiet.

3:03 am
still quiet. i get in bed, the dishwasher is unloaded and the kitchen is clean.

3:15 am
lots of thoughts racing in my head and i decide to get up and turn on the computer.

3:35 am
write some e-mails, blog, stomach is starting to growl. all i want is to be sound asleep.
like tom.
like wyatt.
like cassidy.

things i'm loving right now:
-wyatt leaning into me as i clean off his hands from lunch
-stacking blocks as tall as wyatt
-listening to "whad'ya know"
-two sleeping babes with their special blankets in their cribs
-making time to read
-keeping the house picked up
-the thought of being in colorado in a week

things i'm not loving right now:
-cass's next sleepytime adventure
-i'm hungry
-reading elie wiesel's _night_ and realizing he lost his faith in God because of hitler

slowly, slowly, she's learning that her crib is nice without the pacifier. tip #1, make sure she's good and tired when you put her in there. she'll have less energy to cry about it if she's pooped out.
and yes, she did open her eyes when the flash went off, but she fell back asleep. glorious!

after months of putting it off and then a couple failed attempts, i have resigned myself to breaking cassidy of her pacifier addiction. it's an ugly situation and i'm not sure how the rest of the family will handlle it, but so far no casualties. at 6am i fed her and then tried to give her the pacifier. repeatedly. she did not want it. i wanted her to sleep, so i tried one more time and then gave up. i let her cry. i crawled back into bed. (mind you i had already fed cassidy and made tom's lunch at this point) i listened to her cry. waiting for wyatt to cry. she cried and then stopped. and then started crying again. and then stopped. then cried. i told myself, two more cries and i'll get out of bed. one...two. i got up and decided to be productive. oh no! not another productive day!

appropriately, as i listened to my daughter scream out for her beloved pac (soft c, pronounced "pass" and definitely not a binky) i turned on pedro the lion. david bazan's ep 'whole' seemed the most appropriate album. he wails about addiction on it, and quite wonderfully. after sitting on the sunporch where it was a little bit nice, and asking God for his grace to handle today and whatever happens, i entered the house welcomed by silence. no david bazan screaming "almost there" and no cass screaming about her missing pac. even wyatt was peacefully sleeping. or reading silently. i spent the morning reading 'copernicus and the jews' (daniel gruber) and then took a 5 minute nap.

now for round two...

i went into wyatt's room last night to change his diaper (i forgot to put a big one on him before bed) and found him like this. he was breathing, but thanks to the blanket didn't flinch when i took the picture.

today i did some hebrew action. actually, i put hebrew thought into action. one of the fundamental concepts of hebrew thought is obedience first, understanding later, maybe. God gave us instructions on how to live life, not as suggestions or things for us to explain to eachother, but to do them. DO. yes, this makes sense. but still, our little brains want to understand something before we do it. and in most instances that's wisdom. however, knowing that God is good and his ways are good is enough of a reason do anything he tells us to do.

so this morning i got up at 5 to feed cassidy. then again at 7 (i'm trying to feed her more right now because i don't think she's getting enough to eat. although currently she's going on a 5 hour stretch. you figure her out) and continued with the morning. i made tom's lunch and tried to soothe cassidy. i emptied the dishwasher and thought, ooh, wyatt's still quiet. i'll put cass in her exersaucer and take a little nap while he's still quiet. so i put her in and slide into bed. as i pulled the blanket up, more like yanked, i hit the cup on my nightstand and water went everywhere. and then i heard him. wyatt's waking up.

i cleaned up the water and then decided, this is useless. i headed downstairs to do laundry and realized, this is good. i'll get lots of stuff done this morning. even though i'd much rather be in bed right now, i will feel satisfied getting these things done. and i am satisfied. no nap but i have clean bathrooms, clean clothes, clean counters and qualtiy time with paul and lauren. just a quick lunch before cassidy decides she is really hungry and then on with the rest of the day.

and that's a simplified version of hebrew action. there are so many bad slogans coming to mind: just do it, why ask why, etc. this little scenario may not prove helpful to you, but it's God's way of showing me what action does...it gets things done.

cassie sines wins the award for best commenter! congratulations, cassie. i consider myself a giver of words of encouragement, but it feels great to receive them as well. here's a link that will put you to all the videos; this is so easy. http://youtube.com/user/beahblake

also, don't forget fillthewell.org. the benefit is tomorrow night at 6 and there are bands and food and humanitarian reasons. it's at paradigm, which is right across from antioch family worship center, antioch and I-35.

sound the alert...there should be a new video of cassidy on youtube by the time you all check this. i don't have the link, but if you go to the other videos it should show up. just a friday morning treat. shabbat shalom.

hooray! susan has officially started her own blog. this girl is funny and smart and cute. wow. even though it's still in its infancy it's a great little place and this first post is definitely worth reading. welcome, susan. i'm glad you're here...

arrowsofhope.blogspot.com

more! more! more! they cry. so i will give you more. here's video taken just this afternoon of the little pro practicing his moves with his papa. he's rocking it up! we're thinking wyatt will be a public school soccer star. it would be great if his games were on thursday nights and not fridays...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=funMsXDt_98

also, i just want to make it public that i love my husband. i watched "the holiday" last night with the girls. jude law plays this great dad of two girls and jack black is this loser-in-a-cute-way artist guy and i realized i have the best man --he's a combo package. dorky but funny, cool but kind. he loves the kids and me and everybody else. and he's really really ridiculously good looking.