I didn't get much sleep last night, because I was up late talking to Travis about the things in my previous post. Apparently, airing all that out made me feel a lot better because today was a much better day, even though I spent the majority of the day with a crying Audrey on my lap. Her ear infection got worse last night instead of better, so I stayed home with her today. Emily went to daycare for the morning, so I had a nice morning snuggling my baby, which I hadn't realized was so much rarer than when Emily was that small!! I picked her up after lunch, and Audrey slept most of the afternoon, Emily and I snuggled and dozed together, and we spent the rest of the day happy.
Emily made a "bed" for me tonight - blankets and a pillow on the couch. I was rocking Audrey at the time, though, so Emily tucked her dad in. She was soooo sweet. She got him a blanket "case you get cold," turned on the fan "case you get hot," then gave him a big smooch on his forehead. Then she went over and picked out two books, and brought them over to the edge of the couch and read to him. And I got to sit back and just watch, because Audrey was asleep in my lap by then. It was a wonderful moment.
See? I had my wig-out moment, and now I'm back in the game. I love, love, love my family.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Rough week
I've had a tough week. I think everyone else has been a normal up and down, but I seem to have taken all the downs and really sunk with them. Audrey had a sniffley nose last week, which turned into a really nasty cold for me, and then just today her ears filled up and she spent the day with a fever. She was so agreeable that I figured I'd wait and see if she could sleep through it and feel better, but after her nap she was really tugging at her ears so I took her to the doctor. Only her second ear infection of her life, but I sure wish I'd taken her in first thing in the morning, because going during after-work traffic was super sucky. There's an otoscope on its way from Amazon right now - enough of this guessing!
Neither girl has slept well this week, which means I haven't either. Emily has been waking about 5 AM complaining that it's dark, but I think she actually is waking because she's cold, and then is confused by the darkness. Try to get her to wear pants for pj's, though, and what a battle you'll get. Travis tried to take her back to bed on Saturday morning, but she wanted to be in bed with us (which is weird because we never do that) so she howled at the top of her lungs for a few minutes, which meant Audrey woke up and wanted to eat. So, that was a long day. No nap that day due to the excitement of the football game (every other kid at the party napped, but even though I took Emily home to be in her bed, she wouldn't nap. I guess she's done napping - fine, let's just get the new schedule figured out). I am starting to feel angry-tired, like I was a few months ago, because I am constantly sneezing and coughing, and my head aches and my back aches from carrying a cranky baby... poor me! Even Travis woke me up last night because I was breathing loudly (can't let me get any deep sleep) and he wanted to make sure that I was on my side away from him, and I was, but the way he touched me felt like Emily reaching for me, so I woke up to see if everything was okay. It was. It was just a team effort that the entire family is in on, to keep me sleep-deprived.
Emily really doesn't enjoy her days at the new daycare. She still talks lovingly about Ms. Amanda's as though she's sure she'll go back there at some point - this other place is just getting in the way of that. She says she's bored there, which I believe. She's bored at home and we do lots! We tried to go to the Spanish language school today, but apparently the person who was in charge of that decided not to do it this year, and didn't take down the posted 2010-2011 class schedule from the website. In searching for an alternative, I found a childcare center in Waukee that includes yoga and Spanish in with its regular preschool program for older kids, and starts signing with infants as soon as they're ready. I called - they don't take part timers. Gah! Do I keep my kids home and bored with me, or send them away to be enriched by other "random" people? I don't think I can win here - I don't get to be the recipient of their shining, best selves either way.
The most frustrating thing is the verbal instruction. I know Emily can do what I ask her to do - she just chooses to make it difficult for me. I can ask her to do something (go wash your hands, stop chewing on that, let go of your sister, etc.) and she'll continue to do whatever she's doing until I get up, go over and start to force the issue, and then she jumps to do whatever I said just before I get to her. She heard me, she understood and she knew, but she just wanted to make me MAKE her do it. Why?? Can't she just believe me that I need her to do what I asked her? Can't she just trust me that I'm trying to keep her safe and healthy?? especially when my hands are full of screaming baby, or I'm trying to sit down to eat something or (god forbid) I snuck away to the bathroom for a second. You would think she would jump when I should "STOP" at her suddenly, just out of instinct from being shouted at suddenly, but no, she just keeps at it until I actually grab her hands away. I know she's just "testing" and just seeing where boundaries are, but can't she just believe me when I tell her? Or when I remind her of what happened the last time she tested that same boundary? Must everything go in her mouth? I swear, she cries more than Audrey does and chews on more things that Audrey does. But, only for me. For everyone else, she is mature and talkative and charming and all that. I am told she does this just for me because she feels safe around me. I don't know why - all of this, combined with my overtired state, makes me into such a lunatic that you'd think she'd be scared of me.
Audrey's still not crawling. I am really not concerned by this at all - she's doing great things and she's obviously a happy, intelligent, wonderful baby, and Emily was kind of the same way with mobility and she's clearly just fine developmentally. I'm fully aware that my daily life is much easier without having to chase a crawler around. But I CAN NOT WAIT for her to walk, just so I can quit having to explain or make excuses for her lack of mobility to everyone, from close friends to acquaintances to complete strangers. Nobody (or almost nobody) asks me how her fine motor skills are progressing, or if it seems like she's understanding language around her yet, or how she interacts with her toys or her sister, you know, all the ways she's really amazing and I could brag about. Nope - it's "Is she walking yet?" and then "Did you know her hair is kind of red?" Really? No kidding! I can't believe I didn't notice that, considering I'm her mother and I stare at her for hours each day!
Wow, I really hate people, I guess. I do love my girls, though. I really should be using this blog to do the opposite kind of filtering that this post is - all the great stuff without the relatively small amount of crappy stuff. But, like I said, I'm incredibly tired, and I can't seem to fall asleep before 10:00 and I've been wakened repeatedly every night this past week, and I'm sick. this morning I was still in bed at 7:00 and it felt like I'd slept til noon. If I could get some rest, I could be a not-crazy mom. If I could eat a few bites of dinner without having to get up to get ketchup, napkins, the OTHER spoon, more applesauce because I refuse to eat the healthy food that you cooked from scratch, more milk -- no I wanted juice! waaaah! i want juice!!! waaaaaah! meltdown. 20 minutes of screaming. Augh! Leave me alone for just a second. Quit needing me for just a moment and I will be your healthy role model. Don't insist on being carried, don't test every command from me, don't demand my attention constantly, don't suck me dry every instant of every day and I can provide more for you, I promise. I don't know how else to reserve anything for me except to go to work, to send the kids to a less-then-great daycare so I can go to a job that I could take or leave... if leaving didn't mean I'd be trampled by the overwhelming task of mothering 24/7.
How can they be so big and so little at the same time?
Neither girl has slept well this week, which means I haven't either. Emily has been waking about 5 AM complaining that it's dark, but I think she actually is waking because she's cold, and then is confused by the darkness. Try to get her to wear pants for pj's, though, and what a battle you'll get. Travis tried to take her back to bed on Saturday morning, but she wanted to be in bed with us (which is weird because we never do that) so she howled at the top of her lungs for a few minutes, which meant Audrey woke up and wanted to eat. So, that was a long day. No nap that day due to the excitement of the football game (every other kid at the party napped, but even though I took Emily home to be in her bed, she wouldn't nap. I guess she's done napping - fine, let's just get the new schedule figured out). I am starting to feel angry-tired, like I was a few months ago, because I am constantly sneezing and coughing, and my head aches and my back aches from carrying a cranky baby... poor me! Even Travis woke me up last night because I was breathing loudly (can't let me get any deep sleep) and he wanted to make sure that I was on my side away from him, and I was, but the way he touched me felt like Emily reaching for me, so I woke up to see if everything was okay. It was. It was just a team effort that the entire family is in on, to keep me sleep-deprived.
Emily really doesn't enjoy her days at the new daycare. She still talks lovingly about Ms. Amanda's as though she's sure she'll go back there at some point - this other place is just getting in the way of that. She says she's bored there, which I believe. She's bored at home and we do lots! We tried to go to the Spanish language school today, but apparently the person who was in charge of that decided not to do it this year, and didn't take down the posted 2010-2011 class schedule from the website. In searching for an alternative, I found a childcare center in Waukee that includes yoga and Spanish in with its regular preschool program for older kids, and starts signing with infants as soon as they're ready. I called - they don't take part timers. Gah! Do I keep my kids home and bored with me, or send them away to be enriched by other "random" people? I don't think I can win here - I don't get to be the recipient of their shining, best selves either way.
The most frustrating thing is the verbal instruction. I know Emily can do what I ask her to do - she just chooses to make it difficult for me. I can ask her to do something (go wash your hands, stop chewing on that, let go of your sister, etc.) and she'll continue to do whatever she's doing until I get up, go over and start to force the issue, and then she jumps to do whatever I said just before I get to her. She heard me, she understood and she knew, but she just wanted to make me MAKE her do it. Why?? Can't she just believe me that I need her to do what I asked her? Can't she just trust me that I'm trying to keep her safe and healthy?? especially when my hands are full of screaming baby, or I'm trying to sit down to eat something or (god forbid) I snuck away to the bathroom for a second. You would think she would jump when I should "STOP" at her suddenly, just out of instinct from being shouted at suddenly, but no, she just keeps at it until I actually grab her hands away. I know she's just "testing" and just seeing where boundaries are, but can't she just believe me when I tell her? Or when I remind her of what happened the last time she tested that same boundary? Must everything go in her mouth? I swear, she cries more than Audrey does and chews on more things that Audrey does. But, only for me. For everyone else, she is mature and talkative and charming and all that. I am told she does this just for me because she feels safe around me. I don't know why - all of this, combined with my overtired state, makes me into such a lunatic that you'd think she'd be scared of me.
Audrey's still not crawling. I am really not concerned by this at all - she's doing great things and she's obviously a happy, intelligent, wonderful baby, and Emily was kind of the same way with mobility and she's clearly just fine developmentally. I'm fully aware that my daily life is much easier without having to chase a crawler around. But I CAN NOT WAIT for her to walk, just so I can quit having to explain or make excuses for her lack of mobility to everyone, from close friends to acquaintances to complete strangers. Nobody (or almost nobody) asks me how her fine motor skills are progressing, or if it seems like she's understanding language around her yet, or how she interacts with her toys or her sister, you know, all the ways she's really amazing and I could brag about. Nope - it's "Is she walking yet?" and then "Did you know her hair is kind of red?" Really? No kidding! I can't believe I didn't notice that, considering I'm her mother and I stare at her for hours each day!
Wow, I really hate people, I guess. I do love my girls, though. I really should be using this blog to do the opposite kind of filtering that this post is - all the great stuff without the relatively small amount of crappy stuff. But, like I said, I'm incredibly tired, and I can't seem to fall asleep before 10:00 and I've been wakened repeatedly every night this past week, and I'm sick. this morning I was still in bed at 7:00 and it felt like I'd slept til noon. If I could get some rest, I could be a not-crazy mom. If I could eat a few bites of dinner without having to get up to get ketchup, napkins, the OTHER spoon, more applesauce because I refuse to eat the healthy food that you cooked from scratch, more milk -- no I wanted juice! waaaah! i want juice!!! waaaaaah! meltdown. 20 minutes of screaming. Augh! Leave me alone for just a second. Quit needing me for just a moment and I will be your healthy role model. Don't insist on being carried, don't test every command from me, don't demand my attention constantly, don't suck me dry every instant of every day and I can provide more for you, I promise. I don't know how else to reserve anything for me except to go to work, to send the kids to a less-then-great daycare so I can go to a job that I could take or leave... if leaving didn't mean I'd be trampled by the overwhelming task of mothering 24/7.
How can they be so big and so little at the same time?
Monday, September 6, 2010
Incommunicado, with trumpets
It's been a weird weekend. Saturday, I discovered that my phone had been chewed on one too many times, and the moisture in the headset port makes it think the headset is plugged in. I can't be heard or hear the other end, so it's pretty much only good for texting, which I never do anyway. Then, on Sunday, I went to log into my email, to discover that someone had hacked in and sent out some stupid email to all my contacts. I was able to get that figured out, but I'm still working on the phone. I really didn't want to have to buy a new one, but I suppose I'll have to. It's also incentive to finally get a land line. It's really not safe to not have one, considering how easy it would be to have my cell phone end up in the potty or something, and I don't want to be alone with the girls without any phone. So, good times there.
We had a busy week, and we spent Saturday catching up. The girls hadn't slept well all week, and we finally were all rested and happy on Sunday. We had thought about going up to Barnum for the weekend, and maybe doing some biking, go over to Holstein to see my Grandma, visit Patrick, and just relax a bit. But I couldn't get my butt in gear to get things packed or planned or anything on Saturday. I was just absolutely wiped out. Sunday I felt better, but by then it really only made sense for Travis to go visit Pat with his parents, so he drove up and back in the same day while the girls and I just played at home. Today we were much more productive, just getting things done around the house. It's nice to feel a little bit caught up.
Audrey is so very close to crawling. Tonight, I was moving her legs as she was moving her hands forward, and she thought it was hilarious. She's pretty mobile even without it, especially since she can back into a sitting position from her tummy. That helps a TON - she's so much happier being able to do that. We're down to nursing 3 times a day now, so I was pretty happy to say goodbye to nursing bras. She's picked up a bit of a cold, probably from daycare last week, and trying to get a kleenex up to her nose is a real battle, but it's only been a day so I still think it's cute. She's so very expressive, and so beautiful.
Travis took Emily to the ISU football season opener Thursday night, just the two of them. They were both so excited, it was really cute. They both had a great time, and made plans to go to the game where the Little Clone Club members get to go out on the field before the game. And of course, there was the marching band, which Emily LOVED. She was so smitten with it that she wanted to get out my trumpet last night. I handed her a mouthpiece and showed her how to buzz, and she totally got it, right away! She was too shy at first to try it with the trumpet, but when she did, she loved it! Travis got a video, which I'll try to post sometime. We played it again this afternoon, and it sounded only slightly less like a vuvuzela than her first try.
I don't think Emily has been napping at Janet's, so I'm going to ask Janet to check on her after 20 minutes and let her stay awake if she's not sleeping. I feel so bad for my little girl, staying awake in someone else's house for an hour and a half, all by herself!! She's so little, and all alone... :( I guess this daycare is okay overall, but I'm feeling more like it's a temporary thing until I'm ready to leave this job. I don't know exactly what I'm waiting for... it's hard to describe, but the current situation is seeming less and less appealing, and my girls are seeming more and more so. I'll know the final straw when I see it, right?
Oh, and I'm still trying to figure out the the Spanish language classes. I haven't gotten any more info, which is frustrating, but I really hope it works out. It seems like she's going to need another dimension to stretch her incredible mind, especially if she's going to be one of the oldest in her class once she starts school. She's already started counting around the house: uno, tres, quatro, cinco, space. :)
We had a busy week, and we spent Saturday catching up. The girls hadn't slept well all week, and we finally were all rested and happy on Sunday. We had thought about going up to Barnum for the weekend, and maybe doing some biking, go over to Holstein to see my Grandma, visit Patrick, and just relax a bit. But I couldn't get my butt in gear to get things packed or planned or anything on Saturday. I was just absolutely wiped out. Sunday I felt better, but by then it really only made sense for Travis to go visit Pat with his parents, so he drove up and back in the same day while the girls and I just played at home. Today we were much more productive, just getting things done around the house. It's nice to feel a little bit caught up.
Audrey is so very close to crawling. Tonight, I was moving her legs as she was moving her hands forward, and she thought it was hilarious. She's pretty mobile even without it, especially since she can back into a sitting position from her tummy. That helps a TON - she's so much happier being able to do that. We're down to nursing 3 times a day now, so I was pretty happy to say goodbye to nursing bras. She's picked up a bit of a cold, probably from daycare last week, and trying to get a kleenex up to her nose is a real battle, but it's only been a day so I still think it's cute. She's so very expressive, and so beautiful.
Travis took Emily to the ISU football season opener Thursday night, just the two of them. They were both so excited, it was really cute. They both had a great time, and made plans to go to the game where the Little Clone Club members get to go out on the field before the game. And of course, there was the marching band, which Emily LOVED. She was so smitten with it that she wanted to get out my trumpet last night. I handed her a mouthpiece and showed her how to buzz, and she totally got it, right away! She was too shy at first to try it with the trumpet, but when she did, she loved it! Travis got a video, which I'll try to post sometime. We played it again this afternoon, and it sounded only slightly less like a vuvuzela than her first try.
I don't think Emily has been napping at Janet's, so I'm going to ask Janet to check on her after 20 minutes and let her stay awake if she's not sleeping. I feel so bad for my little girl, staying awake in someone else's house for an hour and a half, all by herself!! She's so little, and all alone... :( I guess this daycare is okay overall, but I'm feeling more like it's a temporary thing until I'm ready to leave this job. I don't know exactly what I'm waiting for... it's hard to describe, but the current situation is seeming less and less appealing, and my girls are seeming more and more so. I'll know the final straw when I see it, right?
Oh, and I'm still trying to figure out the the Spanish language classes. I haven't gotten any more info, which is frustrating, but I really hope it works out. It seems like she's going to need another dimension to stretch her incredible mind, especially if she's going to be one of the oldest in her class once she starts school. She's already started counting around the house: uno, tres, quatro, cinco, space. :)
Monday, August 30, 2010
"That" mom
That's right, I'm "that" mom. I'm sorry, I really didn't think I was going to be, but I am so incredibly proud of Emily's crafting skills that I'm posting pictures of what she can do. I've been drawing animal faces and she cuts them out:
Then I sketched out some headless, tailless bunnies for her to paste her cut-outs to. She found some stickers and got carried away with them, too:
That's all her cutting!! She was pretty proud of herself, too, and quite silly, of course.
Emily was singing with me at the piano this morning. She and I sang Brahms' Lullaby together, and it was really quite nice, and then she requested Mary Had a Little Lamb. Of course, I didn't have sheet music for that, so I did my best, but her singing was SO pretty! I loved it. Highlight of my day/week/whatever. Awesome.
Audrey was quite expressive at dinner tonight. She's been doing great at feeding herself bits of things, particularly pears, peaches, and plums. But tonight she didn't like the cooked carrots and bread that I'd put on her tray, or the babyfood I'd processed for her, and she howled at me until I found something she found tolerable. It was ridiculous. But it's still fun to see her coming into her own person. When she does like what she's gotten, she twirls her feet around and her hands, and sings. She can rock on her hands and knees now, but still isn't brave enough to move her hands or knees to get going crawling. She sure wants to, though, and I'm hoping she figures it out soon because her random flopping tends to get her into trouble.
I am thinking I will sign Emily up for Spanish classes. I found a program in Johnston that looks like it'd be fun for her, although I still need to do more investigating on it. I haven't seen a reply from the email I sent asking for more info, so I guess I'll call tomorrow. It could be something fun to get Emily going in another direction before she qualifies for preschool. It's tough to keep her entertained sometimes... and therefore sometimes infuriating at how mature and capable she can be versus how much she likes to just scream when she's unhappy. It's totally in line with a 2-year-old to do that, but I sometimes wish she had chosen a different 2-year-old behavior to hang on to until she turns 3. Then again, most mornings she greets me with a huge smile and tells me that she had sweet dreams.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Keeping up with this and that
This weekend, the girls got to see all their grandparents, and lots of friends. My parents were here on Friday, and Saturday we went to Barnum. Apparently, two nights of being put to bed by Grandma (first my mom, then Trav's) was enough to throw off her ability to put herself to sleep. I didn't think that was too much spoiling, but the past two nights she's had a rough time. Or maybe she's overtired? She's sure not under-tired!! We've all been run ragged by the weekend, and we all slept well last night. I'm hoping another good night tonight will help me get my feet back under me again. And then tomorrow, off to work.
Once again, my work schedule has changed, this time to working Tuesdays and Thursdays, still 10-hour days. I'm getting more frustrated by things at work. You know how the biggest complaint of stay-at-home-moms is that their work is not appreciated by those who benefit? I feel MUCH more appreciated at home than I do at work, which really tells you something. Half of the things I do are necessary as a part of my job responsibilities but are never viewed by anybody else (worthless by definition), another 25% are necessary and should be viewed by anybody else (worthless by other people's inadequacy), and the other 25% is something that I think is necessary but the few people who think it's worthwhile can't reward me for it. I'm suspicious that someone is planning to take some of this latter category and present it as his own work at a conference coming up in a few weeks, but I have yet to confirm that. It's pretty discouraging. It would all seem more tolerable if I were truly happy with my daycare, instead of just okay with it.
I went to the garage sale for the end of Amanda's daycare, and I picked up lots of good stuff. Not just toys - several curriculum books and a book of songplay ideas, a plastic kiddie pool, and a really awesome wall calendar. I got a couple of things for Baby Johannsen, and, okay, some toys too! Emily was so happy to see Emma and Brady, and they were so sweet to her. I know there are some nice kids who could be good friends for Emily at Janet's, but it's so sad to say goodbye to such a good situation.
Audrey is on the verge of crawling, finally able to get her little bottom up in the air and rock a little. She mostly goes backwards, though, and I had to rescue her three times today after getting her legs stuck under the coffee table or couch. Her 9-month pictures last week went really well, and we got some good pictures. She's getting to be pretty persnickety about things, like she really has a preference for one thing or another. And she's getting more and more expressive, which is absolutely beautiful. She's really enjoyed the "new" pool, which is pretty funny considering she always hated it at Amanda's!
We went to the state fair last week, and our whole family had a great time. Emily really enjoyed the experience, even though she's still afraid of cows. She saw tractors, ate a bunch of junk food, and went down the giant slide twice! I'm wishing I could think of some of the charming things she's been saying lately. She's so mature; it's funny to see in such a little person. She's very polite, saying "thank you" easily, like it's just what she does. My mom was marveling at the things she does like her preschoolers would do, like cutting out shapes with scissors, drawing closed shapes, copying letters, and standing on one foot. It was kind of neat to realize just how amazing that all is ... and then to realize that she's not even 3 yet and it's totally normal for her to be loopy and incapable of rationally communicating with me when she's tired, or for whatever reason she chooses.
It's bedtime here. I'll try to blog sometime when I'm in more of a glowing mood, because there are tons of great things to report about my kids but I'm a bit beaten down by the day to relay them all. Look at the updated pictures - they're beautiful!
Once again, my work schedule has changed, this time to working Tuesdays and Thursdays, still 10-hour days. I'm getting more frustrated by things at work. You know how the biggest complaint of stay-at-home-moms is that their work is not appreciated by those who benefit? I feel MUCH more appreciated at home than I do at work, which really tells you something. Half of the things I do are necessary as a part of my job responsibilities but are never viewed by anybody else (worthless by definition), another 25% are necessary and should be viewed by anybody else (worthless by other people's inadequacy), and the other 25% is something that I think is necessary but the few people who think it's worthwhile can't reward me for it. I'm suspicious that someone is planning to take some of this latter category and present it as his own work at a conference coming up in a few weeks, but I have yet to confirm that. It's pretty discouraging. It would all seem more tolerable if I were truly happy with my daycare, instead of just okay with it.
I went to the garage sale for the end of Amanda's daycare, and I picked up lots of good stuff. Not just toys - several curriculum books and a book of songplay ideas, a plastic kiddie pool, and a really awesome wall calendar. I got a couple of things for Baby Johannsen, and, okay, some toys too! Emily was so happy to see Emma and Brady, and they were so sweet to her. I know there are some nice kids who could be good friends for Emily at Janet's, but it's so sad to say goodbye to such a good situation.
Audrey is on the verge of crawling, finally able to get her little bottom up in the air and rock a little. She mostly goes backwards, though, and I had to rescue her three times today after getting her legs stuck under the coffee table or couch. Her 9-month pictures last week went really well, and we got some good pictures. She's getting to be pretty persnickety about things, like she really has a preference for one thing or another. And she's getting more and more expressive, which is absolutely beautiful. She's really enjoyed the "new" pool, which is pretty funny considering she always hated it at Amanda's!
We went to the state fair last week, and our whole family had a great time. Emily really enjoyed the experience, even though she's still afraid of cows. She saw tractors, ate a bunch of junk food, and went down the giant slide twice! I'm wishing I could think of some of the charming things she's been saying lately. She's so mature; it's funny to see in such a little person. She's very polite, saying "thank you" easily, like it's just what she does. My mom was marveling at the things she does like her preschoolers would do, like cutting out shapes with scissors, drawing closed shapes, copying letters, and standing on one foot. It was kind of neat to realize just how amazing that all is ... and then to realize that she's not even 3 yet and it's totally normal for her to be loopy and incapable of rationally communicating with me when she's tired, or for whatever reason she chooses.
It's bedtime here. I'll try to blog sometime when I'm in more of a glowing mood, because there are tons of great things to report about my kids but I'm a bit beaten down by the day to relay them all. Look at the updated pictures - they're beautiful!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Staying afloat
Travis is still out for "dinner" with his new boss, and it's almost 9 PM. It's been a long day without him, so to get out of the house, the girls and I went for a walk tonight in the "dribble" stroller, and boy it's a workout pushing that thing! I came home and found an online calorie calculator, and I basically burned off 3 of the many, many oreos I've had today. I rounded up on the numbers because of how hot it was outside. :) It was still discouraging to see the numbers, but a very fun evening activity. Emily sang the whole way - lovely!
I am sure hoping that one spinach leaf is considered a full serving of vegetables for a toddler, cuz that's all Emily got for veggies today. I'm not doing so well with her healthy eating lately, although she will scarf down a whole peach or pear if you let her... it's not all bad, I guess.
Audrey has mastered clapping, and it is ADORABLE! It also makes it hard to feed her when her hands are flapping in front of her, but it's still fun. Her stats at her 9-month appointment yesterday were impressive: almost 21 lbs (60th percentile), and head size and height (30") both above 95th percentile. She may not look as much like Travis as Emily does, but she seems to have his build! She's still not crawling, although she's wanting to move more and more now. I'm trying to let her work that frustration into some progress instead of just picking her up whenever she howls, but wow, it's a lot of howling. And Emily wants to help her, so she'll go over and lift up her head in an attempt to help her sit up, and then drop it back on the ground when I tell her to stop touching her sister. Gah! Audrey can feed herself pretty well now, though, which is nice. It's so cute to see her use her skinny little fingers, just her thumb and forefinger, to chase around pieces of pear, cheese, or bread. And, I think she's starting to catch on that we're giving her signs for things, associating the signs with the words even if she's not using them back just yet. I am so crazy about this little girl!
We went to Ashby Park today, and Emily showed how she can blow bubbles in the water. She really does great! Even if her nose isn't in the water yet, at least she's not drinking it like she used to. The water was a bit murky today, but I figure if that's the only effect I see from all this rampant flooding, I'll take it. My parents were supposed to come visit today, with Jenny's girls, but couldn't because I-35 was closed at Ames due to high water. Three nights in a row of wicked thunderstorms delivering several inches of rain each night have caused all kinds of problems, even in our neighborhood which is on really high ground. There are streaks of grass in nearly every yard that are pelted down because they've become temporary streams at night. The worst is to the west of our house - a good 3 feet wide all the way through to the street! - and water is just streaming into our sump pit from the rework we had done in the SW corner of the house. But, I'll take it! We have fresh water to drink, a dry basement, and nothing critical has been disrupted, which is more than I can say for a lot of people I know!
I am sure hoping that one spinach leaf is considered a full serving of vegetables for a toddler, cuz that's all Emily got for veggies today. I'm not doing so well with her healthy eating lately, although she will scarf down a whole peach or pear if you let her... it's not all bad, I guess.
Audrey has mastered clapping, and it is ADORABLE! It also makes it hard to feed her when her hands are flapping in front of her, but it's still fun. Her stats at her 9-month appointment yesterday were impressive: almost 21 lbs (60th percentile), and head size and height (30") both above 95th percentile. She may not look as much like Travis as Emily does, but she seems to have his build! She's still not crawling, although she's wanting to move more and more now. I'm trying to let her work that frustration into some progress instead of just picking her up whenever she howls, but wow, it's a lot of howling. And Emily wants to help her, so she'll go over and lift up her head in an attempt to help her sit up, and then drop it back on the ground when I tell her to stop touching her sister. Gah! Audrey can feed herself pretty well now, though, which is nice. It's so cute to see her use her skinny little fingers, just her thumb and forefinger, to chase around pieces of pear, cheese, or bread. And, I think she's starting to catch on that we're giving her signs for things, associating the signs with the words even if she's not using them back just yet. I am so crazy about this little girl!
We went to Ashby Park today, and Emily showed how she can blow bubbles in the water. She really does great! Even if her nose isn't in the water yet, at least she's not drinking it like she used to. The water was a bit murky today, but I figure if that's the only effect I see from all this rampant flooding, I'll take it. My parents were supposed to come visit today, with Jenny's girls, but couldn't because I-35 was closed at Ames due to high water. Three nights in a row of wicked thunderstorms delivering several inches of rain each night have caused all kinds of problems, even in our neighborhood which is on really high ground. There are streaks of grass in nearly every yard that are pelted down because they've become temporary streams at night. The worst is to the west of our house - a good 3 feet wide all the way through to the street! - and water is just streaming into our sump pit from the rework we had done in the SW corner of the house. But, I'll take it! We have fresh water to drink, a dry basement, and nothing critical has been disrupted, which is more than I can say for a lot of people I know!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Applying my "adaptability"
Okay, if I'm so adaptable, how come I'm so displeased with this whole daycare changeover thing? Because it affects my girls, and I'm a real Mama Bear when it comes to that. And no, that's not Mama Grizzly - they're not justifiably protective, they're unjustifiably naive.
They did okay today, though. I went to Janet's last Thursday, and the girls played for about an hour while I was there. I didn't pick up any red flags then, and things today went fine, so it'll be all right. I cried when I dropped the girls off at Amanda's last Friday for their last day, and then again when I picked them up and said goodbye. I'm sure they wondered what the heck was making me so sad, but if they knew, they'd cry too. The hardest part about today was after we got home and Emily saw her swimsuit that had been at Amanda's for her to play outside in. She got REALLY upset and insisted that we take that suit back to Ms. Amanda's so she could go swimmin'. I'm hoping that wearing that suit to Ashby Park on wednesday with her cousins and grandparents will make her feel better about things.
It was really nice that there was only one other kid at Janet's today, a 7-month-old baby, so the girls weren't completely overwhelmed by things. It's in the same neighborhood as Amanda's house, so if they go to the park it's the same park. And I'm working shorter days for a few weeks so they're not faced with 10-hour stretches in a strange place all at once. We'll get it figured out, I think. Staying at home sure is looking like a nicer and nicer option, though.
Of course, this kind of major transition wouldn't be complete without an appliance failure - our stupid dishwasher is flashing a number all the time now, and it's actually the same cost to replace it as it would be to get it fixed, due to the fact that it's on a safety recall anyway for something that could start the house on fire (we haven't been running it overnight or while we're not home since we learned about that!!). So, something else to have to figure out.
Tomorrow is Audrey's 9-mo checkup, and I'm sure they'll say she's growing great and that we shouldn't worry that she's not crawling. She's eating great, has really good fine motor skills, and I'd swear she understands a lot of what we're saying. I've started signing with her a little, and I think that she'll catch on to that pretty quickly here, since she seems to understand the signs even though she doesn't make them back.
And of course, The Haircut! Emily's first! Saturday night, Audrey was exhausted in the bath but Emily had just had a long nap, so we put Audrey to bed and kept Emily up for a while. She was SO excited, but doesn't seem to particularly care how long her hair is anyway so I think the thrill was in the event only. She had a hard time keeping her head still, because she wanted to turn and watch the scissors. I'm also a little worried that my industrious daughter will take scissors to her own hair independently, so I was very careful to tell her it was my job to do it, and with special scissors only. All in all, her hair looks fantastic (just don't look at the uneven ends - I did my best, but like I said, holey wiggly!!!) and it's much easier to brush, dry, and put in pony tails. But she looks so grown-up now!! Where did my little baby go?
All in all, I am tremendously proud of my daughters for handling this whole change as well as they have so far, keeping in mind that the transition will undoubtedly last a few weeks or more. As others we talked to predicted, they're doing better than their parents. Travis and I both have had bouts of "I can't make this better for them!!" We're supposed to be all-powerful and all-knowing, and yet I feel completely powerless (and stupid, but that's kind of an ongoing thing with parenthood, I think!). I suppose this is just the beginning.
They did okay today, though. I went to Janet's last Thursday, and the girls played for about an hour while I was there. I didn't pick up any red flags then, and things today went fine, so it'll be all right. I cried when I dropped the girls off at Amanda's last Friday for their last day, and then again when I picked them up and said goodbye. I'm sure they wondered what the heck was making me so sad, but if they knew, they'd cry too. The hardest part about today was after we got home and Emily saw her swimsuit that had been at Amanda's for her to play outside in. She got REALLY upset and insisted that we take that suit back to Ms. Amanda's so she could go swimmin'. I'm hoping that wearing that suit to Ashby Park on wednesday with her cousins and grandparents will make her feel better about things.
It was really nice that there was only one other kid at Janet's today, a 7-month-old baby, so the girls weren't completely overwhelmed by things. It's in the same neighborhood as Amanda's house, so if they go to the park it's the same park. And I'm working shorter days for a few weeks so they're not faced with 10-hour stretches in a strange place all at once. We'll get it figured out, I think. Staying at home sure is looking like a nicer and nicer option, though.
Of course, this kind of major transition wouldn't be complete without an appliance failure - our stupid dishwasher is flashing a number all the time now, and it's actually the same cost to replace it as it would be to get it fixed, due to the fact that it's on a safety recall anyway for something that could start the house on fire (we haven't been running it overnight or while we're not home since we learned about that!!). So, something else to have to figure out.
Tomorrow is Audrey's 9-mo checkup, and I'm sure they'll say she's growing great and that we shouldn't worry that she's not crawling. She's eating great, has really good fine motor skills, and I'd swear she understands a lot of what we're saying. I've started signing with her a little, and I think that she'll catch on to that pretty quickly here, since she seems to understand the signs even though she doesn't make them back.
And of course, The Haircut! Emily's first! Saturday night, Audrey was exhausted in the bath but Emily had just had a long nap, so we put Audrey to bed and kept Emily up for a while. She was SO excited, but doesn't seem to particularly care how long her hair is anyway so I think the thrill was in the event only. She had a hard time keeping her head still, because she wanted to turn and watch the scissors. I'm also a little worried that my industrious daughter will take scissors to her own hair independently, so I was very careful to tell her it was my job to do it, and with special scissors only. All in all, her hair looks fantastic (just don't look at the uneven ends - I did my best, but like I said, holey wiggly!!!) and it's much easier to brush, dry, and put in pony tails. But she looks so grown-up now!! Where did my little baby go?
All in all, I am tremendously proud of my daughters for handling this whole change as well as they have so far, keeping in mind that the transition will undoubtedly last a few weeks or more. As others we talked to predicted, they're doing better than their parents. Travis and I both have had bouts of "I can't make this better for them!!" We're supposed to be all-powerful and all-knowing, and yet I feel completely powerless (and stupid, but that's kind of an ongoing thing with parenthood, I think!). I suppose this is just the beginning.
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