Of Mice and Girls

Breanne & I just finished creating some fascinating creatures with her KidKnex: a little girl, a queen catepillar and some other created beings she hasn't named yet. This week has been maybe a bit long and I might contribute it to the change in weather. Last week was 50-70 degrees all week and on Tuesday the weather turned to cold and windy. This has kept us inside and all the girls are going a little stir crazy. (Including their mom.)
Last night was a little exciting in more ways than one. Aliya slept for six hours! This was a first. She's also started to be more awake/alert during the day and conciously smiling at her mom and dad. She ate at 2:3oam and by 3am Aliya and I were headed back to sleep. About 5am I was awaked by a very strange "crinkly" noise. I ignored it, but it continued. I thought, it must be the water softener regenerating. But wait, that's finished regenerating by 4am. Now my brain was in full gear....hmmmm, what could it be? I crawled out of bed and cautiously tip-toes out into the hallway, following the sound. It was coming from the bathroom. I thought it might be leaves rustling in the exhaust fan. But that didn't seem quite right...I flipped the light on. What to my wondering eyes should appear, but a mouse. In our bath tub. The noise was caused by the mouse trying escape the tub by climbing up the shower curtain. YUCK! I still have the oogly-googlies thinking about it. I reported to Derrick (whose husband doesn't sleep through everything?) His only words were, "Do I have to deal with this right now?" I looked for the mouse traps myself immediately, but couldn't remember where they were. I guess there were a few cobwebs in my brain at 5am. It took me about an hour to settle myself down and fall back to sleep until Aliya woke up at 6:30am.
This morning I told Madison & Breanne that a mouse took a bath in the tub last night while they were sleeping. Madison says the mouse is a girl (what else would we have in our house?) and that we should name the mouse Zoey. Tonight, we will try "catch" Zoey and her family. I'd rather NOT share my home with a family of mice. Thank you very much!
On a more serious, less gross note. On Tuesday, I start working at church. It's hard to believe that Aliya is 6 weeks old already! I think it will be a good thing for me and the older girls especially and hopefully the transistion for Aliya and myself will be smooth. Since the girls stay at on-site childcare, I will be able to nurse Aliya and therefore see her every 3 hours or so. And if she wants to stay with mom (more likely mom wants her to stay with mom), she can. We've began a 40-day prayer campaign at church and we're praying about our dreams as a church and on a personal level. I think getting back to work will revive my passion/dream of teaching kids about having a relationship with Christ.
Before I leave to get MJ (Madi) from preschool, I'll give you all a heads up on the next American Idols: Madison & Breanne. They're new favorite song is "Today Is The Day" by Lincoln Brewster. When it comes on, they immediatly break from what their doing and start singing and dancing. Two days ago, we added "microphones" to the dance performance. I'll have to snap a picture and post it soon.
One more nugget. Breanne wrote her name this week for the first time! Way to go Breanne!