Travis and I have spent the weekend wondering what it will take to get Emily to actually stop doing something with verbal instruction alone. She cannot STOP if we tell her to. There were several instances this weekend where I told her to stop and she wouldn't; everything from getting something out of the pantry that she thought would be helpful, to dragging Audrey across the floor because she didn't want her to be where she was. If she's in the middle of an activity, it takes actual physical interaction to get her to stop, not just the threat of physical interaction, she must be forcibly stopped. No kind of verbal communication will do - I can use any language at any decibel level and any tone of voice, and she only hears that she should stop when she's done. It's infuriating, it's annoying, it's actually dangerous, and it's driving me NUTS, almost more than the constant Why's!! What do I do?! She's almost 3 1/2 now; is that really too much to expect of her?? Tomorrow we're going to try some Simon Says kinds of things, just for practice following directions like hop on one foot, STOP, spin in circles, STOP, things like that. I figure that'll be fun, or at least harmless if it doesn't help.
I managed to catch some kind of nasty bug this weekend. Friday, I was knocked on my back by it; my throat hurt so much I could hardly swallow, but not because it was red or raw, but rather because the glands in my neck were so swollen. I had such a bad fever that I was ridiculously bundled up all weekend, multiple layers of pants and socks, and wearing a blanket around the house like an invalid. This morning, though, I felt human again. The seemingly insurmountable list of things to do that I had realized the night before was actually quite do-able, and I had most of it done by 10:30. (I guess I never did get the fridge cleaned out, but hey, who really wants to do that anyway? :) ) Things really do fall apart around here when I'm out of service, which actually was probably part of the behavior issues we had this weekend. If I'm not bringing my A game, Emily knows it. I swept up probably 2 Cups of crumbs and food off the dining room floor this morning - yuck!! And I really didn't feel like eating, so supper last night was particularly awful; Trav said it was in the bottom five meals I've ever made (though I don't know if that counts things like tuna casserole that he abhorrs. it might; it was pretty awful.). It probably would've been better if I could have stood up, but I was really incapable of anything except staggering from the couch to wherever Emily happened to be assaulting Audrey. Therefore, dinner was total crap, and Emily pitched a fit because she didn't want to eat it. Trav was a good sport and told her there was nothing else, so she should just suck it up and eat it (like he was doing, but didn't say!). Today, I'm feeling good enough that I can look back at that and laugh. :)
Audrey is busy these days proving that 1 really is wonderful. She's got the understanding to be cooperative, but not the self-will to make things difficult. Putting her to bed tonight was the kind of thing that most parents dream about, where she happily participatee in or initiated each step for bedtime, then gave me a super-sweet hug and indicated she was ready for her crib so I laid her down, kissed her, and left, and that was it. Amazing! Never will happen again, but I figured I'd document it so I don't wonder later it was a dream. She toddles around so adorably, and reading her a book is a hilarious passtime. The Spot books with the creatures hidden behind flaps are her favorite. She lifts the flap, points and shrieks, "DEH DAAAA!!!" Dinnertime is a complete disaster, but that's just that she's messy, not difficult about eating. And of course, she's gorgeous, even with her Justin Bieber hair in her eyes. She had my sister really laughing the other day, playing a game making faces at each other, sticking out tongues. Seriously, how could you not love this kid?!
Emily and I did several pages of her preschool workbook today. It's a hand-me-down from Megan, so maybe 1/3 of the pages are already done, and I didn't know if Emily would be ready to do any of it yet. We did several pages, and she was really getting the hang of circling the right answer, or drawing lines to connect like items. It's funny how that's a test-taking skill that a person has to learn. It took her 5 minutes to master, though, so, and in theory this book is supposed to cover everything to prepare a kid for Kindergarten, so I think I'll take my time stretching out its content for the next 18 months (ha!). Then again, she fell out of her chair at supper tonight while trying to reach something for Audrey. She fell really hard onto the floor, and it was one of those moments where you think, "What?? How did such a bright kid do something so dumb?" Happens a lot here. She'll go from singing beautiful songs with lovely pitch, to climbing the walls. Sometimes I look at her and realize she's kind of in an ugly duckling phase, with all this potential and beauty just waiting to break through the struggles that are a part of being 3. I love her so much!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Oh right, I have a blog!
sorry - long time since I've had a chance to blog. This whole working-in-the-evenings is really taking up the time that I usually unwind with a computer keeping my lap warm. And now that it's FINALLY spring, I might not even want to do that!!
I really like St. Patrick's day, much more than I did when I was a kid. I think I live in the climate where it really does signal the start of spring, of things actually turning green and the likelihood of more snow coming dropping to nearly zero. And now with daylight savings time starting so much earlier, it just feels like I'm coming out of hibernation. I suppose if I still got to play 2.5 hours of basketball every day I might not feel the same, so that's probably another difference from my youth. Anyway, I'm pretty happy now that the season is changing! And so are my girls. Emily played outside on Friday for THREE hours, and Audrey for a full hour. We bought a swingset, and although we only have the tower part assembled, Emily is a big fan. Audrey likes her little plastic slide, and they both love the sandbox. Today, while they were out there, I was sketching out plans to install a real, improved sandbox. I always like to have a little project on deck so Travis will feel good about finishing the current one, which for the past month has been the basement. It didnt' seem like it would be that big of a deal - paint and carpet - but it was a lot of work! Two coats of two colors, plus trim, and then removing the old carpet, scraping off the old glue, and preparing the floor for the carpet tiles. Travis laid the tiles today, and it didn't take all that long and it looks AMAZING. Love it! Pictures on FB. The girls loved being down there, screeching, running, rolling, giggling, more screeching, more running. they'll probably be disappointed when we fill that room back up with a bed and a couch and other stuff.
In other news, we spent last week visiting family because Travis was on a business trip to Atlanta. I spent 3 days in Rockford, then compressed my workweek to Thurs/Fri and Grandma Sullivan came to watch the girls. The whole week could not have gone better - as much of a vacation as I could have without Trav around, I think. It was really good to be back in Rockford, too. Every time I'm there, I wish I could get there more often. I even went into town this time, to see school's band concert. Emily and I only stayed for the elementary and middle school bands, but she really loved seeing kids playing instruments, and recognized a couple of the songs they played. It was totally bizarre to be back in that building again, but kind of fun to sneak in late to the concert and then leave early and not have to confront any "locals". :)
As always, the girls are saying and doing all kinds of things to keep me on my toes and laughing, and I wish I could document them in such a way that would do it justice. Audrey is really figuring things out, now, and she's pretend-playing with Emily in just about every activity - pushing trucks around, singing, and especially dolls. She decided that the baby should drink out of the bottle, but that she should also have a turn with the bottle, putting it up her nose. (?!) Emily wanted to play my trumpet, so I got it out for her to make her elephant noises with, and then Audrey wanted a turn, too. She put the entire mouthpiece in her mouth and sang a tiny little note, and then gave me the prettiest, most-satisfied smile!! She will give the funniest face if you ask her for her Pretty Smile, and of course she still Baddywacks on command. She is starting to get some words together, but she's doing it under the radar, as much as she can. I think it's like with walking - she doesn't want to just try things out, she'll let us know when it's perfect.
Okay, I would love to write more but I'm exhausted. Nightynight!
I really like St. Patrick's day, much more than I did when I was a kid. I think I live in the climate where it really does signal the start of spring, of things actually turning green and the likelihood of more snow coming dropping to nearly zero. And now with daylight savings time starting so much earlier, it just feels like I'm coming out of hibernation. I suppose if I still got to play 2.5 hours of basketball every day I might not feel the same, so that's probably another difference from my youth. Anyway, I'm pretty happy now that the season is changing! And so are my girls. Emily played outside on Friday for THREE hours, and Audrey for a full hour. We bought a swingset, and although we only have the tower part assembled, Emily is a big fan. Audrey likes her little plastic slide, and they both love the sandbox. Today, while they were out there, I was sketching out plans to install a real, improved sandbox. I always like to have a little project on deck so Travis will feel good about finishing the current one, which for the past month has been the basement. It didnt' seem like it would be that big of a deal - paint and carpet - but it was a lot of work! Two coats of two colors, plus trim, and then removing the old carpet, scraping off the old glue, and preparing the floor for the carpet tiles. Travis laid the tiles today, and it didn't take all that long and it looks AMAZING. Love it! Pictures on FB. The girls loved being down there, screeching, running, rolling, giggling, more screeching, more running. they'll probably be disappointed when we fill that room back up with a bed and a couch and other stuff.
In other news, we spent last week visiting family because Travis was on a business trip to Atlanta. I spent 3 days in Rockford, then compressed my workweek to Thurs/Fri and Grandma Sullivan came to watch the girls. The whole week could not have gone better - as much of a vacation as I could have without Trav around, I think. It was really good to be back in Rockford, too. Every time I'm there, I wish I could get there more often. I even went into town this time, to see school's band concert. Emily and I only stayed for the elementary and middle school bands, but she really loved seeing kids playing instruments, and recognized a couple of the songs they played. It was totally bizarre to be back in that building again, but kind of fun to sneak in late to the concert and then leave early and not have to confront any "locals". :)
As always, the girls are saying and doing all kinds of things to keep me on my toes and laughing, and I wish I could document them in such a way that would do it justice. Audrey is really figuring things out, now, and she's pretend-playing with Emily in just about every activity - pushing trucks around, singing, and especially dolls. She decided that the baby should drink out of the bottle, but that she should also have a turn with the bottle, putting it up her nose. (?!) Emily wanted to play my trumpet, so I got it out for her to make her elephant noises with, and then Audrey wanted a turn, too. She put the entire mouthpiece in her mouth and sang a tiny little note, and then gave me the prettiest, most-satisfied smile!! She will give the funniest face if you ask her for her Pretty Smile, and of course she still Baddywacks on command. She is starting to get some words together, but she's doing it under the radar, as much as she can. I think it's like with walking - she doesn't want to just try things out, she'll let us know when it's perfect.
Okay, I would love to write more but I'm exhausted. Nightynight!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Going Ballistic
Lately, Audrey has been throwing the most incredible tantrums. It's the weirdest thing, from someone who is normally so chill and happy. She got ahold of my phone tonight, and when I realized it and took it away, she screamed frantically for HALF AN HOUR. I'm not kidding: 6:05 to 6:35. Travis left, picked up Chinese food, and came back, and she was still screaming. Top of her lungs, freaking out, inconsolable, LOUD screaming. I felt so bad for her, but I was also annoyed because I had missed her while I was at work today and she was wasting the evening away being obnoxious. She finally settled down a little on her own, enough that when I offered her a drink and a hug, she finally accepted. She's done that several other times lately, and it's really, really crazy. I rocked her for a long, long time at bedtime tonight, just because it felt good to hold her while she wasn't insane. Poor thing.
She was actually quite fine when she had blood drawn last week at her 15-mo checkup. She had been measuring low in hemoglobin levels the past two times, so I wanted them to look for root cause instead of just having me give her iron supplements. I absolutely hate doing that. I always had to take iron when I was a kid, and it tastes bad and makes it hard to poop. Most of all, I hate being told that I'm not feeding my daughter the right things, because honestly Audrey eats a way better diet than Emily and Emily's hemoglobin is just fine. So they took a bigger blood sample to do more tests this time, from her arm instead of just a finger prick. It was a horrible experience but Audrey calmed down right away, without a 30-minute freakout, and fell asleep in the car on the way home. But the blood tests came back - low hemoglobin, and an actual low iron level. Honestly, Audrey's favorite foods are raisins, beans, eggs, and hamburger, all of which are in the top-ten list of highest iron levels. I also sneak spinach into everything I can, and substitute whole wheat flour for some of the white flour in muffins, waffles, and pancakes. There's no way she's not getting enough iron!! It's really annoying to me, especially since I had the same "problem" growing up, and nobody ever bothered to diagnose it further and I turned out fine. So did my mom, and her dad. What's the big deal??
Okay, on to other topics. Emily's learning to tell time, starting with learning that she should stay in bed in the morning until her clock says 7, not 6. She will now run into our room in the morning, saying, "It says 7! It's MORNING-TIME!!" It's a great way to start the day, let me tell you!
Emily has had so many deliciously clever things to say lately. Travis was most impressed by her when he was talking to her on the phone last week (he was in North Carolina for a few days). She had asked him something, and he answered, but she knew he wasn't answering the right question, so she told him that wasn't it, and clarified her question. If you think about it, that's some serious word-wrangling for someone so new with the language!! The other night she was really upset because she didn't believe me that I'd already given her a vitamin for the day, and I was able to talk her down by just telling her she was super hungry and I'd take care of her by giving her some yummy supper. I couldn't believe that that worked, but it was way easier and more productive than trying anything iron-fisted. When she needs to go to the corner these days, I haven't been calling it Time-Out or treating it as a punishment. If she's losing control of herself, I'll put her in the corner and tell her when she's ready to do what I ask, she can come play with us again. Usually I'll come give her a big hug and a pat on the back, telling her "You can do it, kiddo." And it works way better than demanding apologies and making her feel small. We're talking maybe once a week, tops, that things get like that, and there's usually a root cause of too much sugar or a late bedtime or something.
Speaking of too much sugar - my little valentines were certainly recipients of a lot of treats this year! I didn't even open the bag of heart-shaped marshmallows because we were inundated as it was! Emily had her very first Fun-Dip, a highly coveted treat of my youth. It took her two days to finish it. :) I'm hoping she forgets that she had a second one to save for later, and I'll pull it out and surprise her sometime. I think she was actually getting tired of begging for candy after supper every night. We usually do have some sort of treat afterwards, but sometimes that treat is something like an extra biscuit or more canned peaches. I'm such a sneaky mom!
I'm not working tonight. I've been doing 2+ hours every night, and it's nice to take a night off once in a while, especially since I worked all day today!! I've finished planning the next two weeks of work, and it's an insane workload. I've got lots of support from the people who've asked me to do these things, but still, it's pretty daunting.
She was actually quite fine when she had blood drawn last week at her 15-mo checkup. She had been measuring low in hemoglobin levels the past two times, so I wanted them to look for root cause instead of just having me give her iron supplements. I absolutely hate doing that. I always had to take iron when I was a kid, and it tastes bad and makes it hard to poop. Most of all, I hate being told that I'm not feeding my daughter the right things, because honestly Audrey eats a way better diet than Emily and Emily's hemoglobin is just fine. So they took a bigger blood sample to do more tests this time, from her arm instead of just a finger prick. It was a horrible experience but Audrey calmed down right away, without a 30-minute freakout, and fell asleep in the car on the way home. But the blood tests came back - low hemoglobin, and an actual low iron level. Honestly, Audrey's favorite foods are raisins, beans, eggs, and hamburger, all of which are in the top-ten list of highest iron levels. I also sneak spinach into everything I can, and substitute whole wheat flour for some of the white flour in muffins, waffles, and pancakes. There's no way she's not getting enough iron!! It's really annoying to me, especially since I had the same "problem" growing up, and nobody ever bothered to diagnose it further and I turned out fine. So did my mom, and her dad. What's the big deal??
Okay, on to other topics. Emily's learning to tell time, starting with learning that she should stay in bed in the morning until her clock says 7, not 6. She will now run into our room in the morning, saying, "It says 7! It's MORNING-TIME!!" It's a great way to start the day, let me tell you!
Emily has had so many deliciously clever things to say lately. Travis was most impressed by her when he was talking to her on the phone last week (he was in North Carolina for a few days). She had asked him something, and he answered, but she knew he wasn't answering the right question, so she told him that wasn't it, and clarified her question. If you think about it, that's some serious word-wrangling for someone so new with the language!! The other night she was really upset because she didn't believe me that I'd already given her a vitamin for the day, and I was able to talk her down by just telling her she was super hungry and I'd take care of her by giving her some yummy supper. I couldn't believe that that worked, but it was way easier and more productive than trying anything iron-fisted. When she needs to go to the corner these days, I haven't been calling it Time-Out or treating it as a punishment. If she's losing control of herself, I'll put her in the corner and tell her when she's ready to do what I ask, she can come play with us again. Usually I'll come give her a big hug and a pat on the back, telling her "You can do it, kiddo." And it works way better than demanding apologies and making her feel small. We're talking maybe once a week, tops, that things get like that, and there's usually a root cause of too much sugar or a late bedtime or something.
Speaking of too much sugar - my little valentines were certainly recipients of a lot of treats this year! I didn't even open the bag of heart-shaped marshmallows because we were inundated as it was! Emily had her very first Fun-Dip, a highly coveted treat of my youth. It took her two days to finish it. :) I'm hoping she forgets that she had a second one to save for later, and I'll pull it out and surprise her sometime. I think she was actually getting tired of begging for candy after supper every night. We usually do have some sort of treat afterwards, but sometimes that treat is something like an extra biscuit or more canned peaches. I'm such a sneaky mom!
I'm not working tonight. I've been doing 2+ hours every night, and it's nice to take a night off once in a while, especially since I worked all day today!! I've finished planning the next two weeks of work, and it's an insane workload. I've got lots of support from the people who've asked me to do these things, but still, it's pretty daunting.
Monday, February 21, 2011
12 week countdown
HR approved my hours-per-week increase, so I basically gave myself a raise. :) I wasn't able to bring the girls to daycare another day per week since Audrey has a MWF buddy in her room, and they don't have a place for her. It's no biggie - I'll get my hours in by working 1-2 hrs a couple of nights each week after the girls are in bed. My workload has been so incredible that I start to get a little anxious just making a list of everything. But it'll get worked out soon enough, I keep telling myself, over and over and over... and in 12 weeks I'll be out of vacation and Jonna will be back, so I'll bump it back down to 20/week. Just in time for summer!
We're finally healthy here! I guess it was less than 2 weeks, but it sure is nice to be functioning again. I took the girls to Target one morning last week, and it didn't seem like it was that hard of a task, so I was laughing at how I wasn't able to muster the energy to do even that much a week before. We went to a women's basketball game while he wasn't feeling well, and he was really having a tough time making it through the day. I pointed out to him that he was as tired as I was back when Audrey was a newborn, and he had told me to just suck it up and be happy and go party with friends, and then I would feel better no matter how tired I was. I asked him if he felt better because I told him to suck it up and go do something social, and he agreed that it wasn't so simple. It was nice that he could understand how I felt, even if it was a year later. Before the game, I was getting the girls ready for a nap/rest, and all of a sudden I couldn't find Travis when I needed help with a blowout diaper. He had wandered off to sleep on their porch. I would never, never wander away from my kids when I was sick without first making sure that the person who would be with them was ready - no matter how sick I get. But I guess that's what alpha-moms get; I've trained him to be a beta-dad!! It's not really his fault, and he'd be a willing subject for me to fix that.
I sure am glad that my family has such nice easy names for Emily to use when learning to read. She loves it when we write her name and others on the magna-doodle and she sounds them out. I mean really, these are great names: Jenny, Julie, Sarah, Megan, Dave, Dan, Dad, Nancy, Sally, and of course Mom. The tougher ones are Audrey (what're the u and e for?) and Kristin (that's a lot of consonants). She especially likes it when I write her friend Lily's name underneath hers and she can compare how they look alike and how they sound alike. Fun stuff!
I'm really not sure what to do with myself right now. Both girls have been asleep for the past hour and a half. I biked in the basement, I folded laundry, I facebooked, I blogged... now what? Maybe I'll just move freely about the housefor a while -- just because I can!!!
We're finally healthy here! I guess it was less than 2 weeks, but it sure is nice to be functioning again. I took the girls to Target one morning last week, and it didn't seem like it was that hard of a task, so I was laughing at how I wasn't able to muster the energy to do even that much a week before. We went to a women's basketball game while he wasn't feeling well, and he was really having a tough time making it through the day. I pointed out to him that he was as tired as I was back when Audrey was a newborn, and he had told me to just suck it up and be happy and go party with friends, and then I would feel better no matter how tired I was. I asked him if he felt better because I told him to suck it up and go do something social, and he agreed that it wasn't so simple. It was nice that he could understand how I felt, even if it was a year later. Before the game, I was getting the girls ready for a nap/rest, and all of a sudden I couldn't find Travis when I needed help with a blowout diaper. He had wandered off to sleep on their porch. I would never, never wander away from my kids when I was sick without first making sure that the person who would be with them was ready - no matter how sick I get. But I guess that's what alpha-moms get; I've trained him to be a beta-dad!! It's not really his fault, and he'd be a willing subject for me to fix that.
I sure am glad that my family has such nice easy names for Emily to use when learning to read. She loves it when we write her name and others on the magna-doodle and she sounds them out. I mean really, these are great names: Jenny, Julie, Sarah, Megan, Dave, Dan, Dad, Nancy, Sally, and of course Mom. The tougher ones are Audrey (what're the u and e for?) and Kristin (that's a lot of consonants). She especially likes it when I write her friend Lily's name underneath hers and she can compare how they look alike and how they sound alike. Fun stuff!
I'm really not sure what to do with myself right now. Both girls have been asleep for the past hour and a half. I biked in the basement, I folded laundry, I facebooked, I blogged... now what? Maybe I'll just move freely about the housefor a while -- just because I can!!!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Reproduction overload
So, congratulations are in order for several people. My cousin became a dad on Feb 8 when his son Jonathan Cole was born (named after his maternal grandparents, Johnsons and Coulsons - isn't that cool?) on Feb 8. My brother-in-law's sister became a mom when her daughter Liadan Elizabeth was born on Feb 9, and my co-worker left work yesterday to try delay labor since she was only 33 weeks along, but that apparently didn't work because Marshall and Miles were born this morning! Wow, babies!!
I started with a little sore throat on Wednesday, but I had a lot of work to do before I went to work on Thursday, so I stayed up late getting things figured out. Then I didn't sleep well, and got up early, and I felt HORRIBLE. My throat, even my neck, was incredibly sore. Tylenol helped a little, so I got through the workday, but Travis was feeling crummy and so was Audrey so the two of them stayed home and snuggled all day together. Emily has been skating through this all just fine. I think she napped yesterday at daycare, and she got about 30 min this afternoon on the couch here, so that can't hurt! I could barely function today, so poor Emily didn't have much to do since I just wanted to sit and Audrey just wanted a lap to be on.
Emily has decided to start working hard on her lower-case letters. She likes to take the cards from her Brown Bear game, that have a Purple Cat or a Red Bird, etc., written on them, and she says the words, then reads off the letters, and sounds out the word. She likes to dive into this kind of heavy-learning activity right after supper. She plays all day, but after we eat, then it's homework time. She gets all academic dives into problem solving mode. It seems to me that her brain might be tired at that point, and she might do better with studying during the day and playing at night, but really, what do I know about the developing brain?? It may be harder work for her to play than it is to do the kind of learning that seems like work to me. So, whatever, kiddo. I love to see all of it.
So, now that my coworker is officially on maternity leave, I'm wondering if I should tell HR to up my hours during her leave. I'm going to have a crazy workload and not only will I be working more than 20 hours a week anyway, I've got 4 days of vacation that I'll never be able to take! But if I have to pay for a whole extra day of daycare, I'd need to work at least 23 hours to come out ahead financially, at which point I might as well do 3 8- or 9-hour days. And suddenly I realize: YUCK. I mean, 3 whole days? at work??? bleh! But on the other hand, if I'm doing that work, I want to be paid for it and compensated for my unused vacation. Ugh. What do I do?
First thing's first - get rid of whatever this is I've got. I feel like my head is improperly attached to my neck, and staying conscious is a struggle. It's hard to convince my bright, perky, lovely girl to go to bed at 8:30 so I can go to bed soon after! This morning, I got Audrey dressed and brought her into Emily's room, where I laid out some clothes for her to put on. Then I saw her bed, and couldn't help myself - I climbed in, pulled up the covers, and didn't move for probably 20 minutes. The girls thought it was hilarious, so I was able to get a nice little rest in before I had to get moving again. It's pretty pathetic here these days!
I started with a little sore throat on Wednesday, but I had a lot of work to do before I went to work on Thursday, so I stayed up late getting things figured out. Then I didn't sleep well, and got up early, and I felt HORRIBLE. My throat, even my neck, was incredibly sore. Tylenol helped a little, so I got through the workday, but Travis was feeling crummy and so was Audrey so the two of them stayed home and snuggled all day together. Emily has been skating through this all just fine. I think she napped yesterday at daycare, and she got about 30 min this afternoon on the couch here, so that can't hurt! I could barely function today, so poor Emily didn't have much to do since I just wanted to sit and Audrey just wanted a lap to be on.
Emily has decided to start working hard on her lower-case letters. She likes to take the cards from her Brown Bear game, that have a Purple Cat or a Red Bird, etc., written on them, and she says the words, then reads off the letters, and sounds out the word. She likes to dive into this kind of heavy-learning activity right after supper. She plays all day, but after we eat, then it's homework time. She gets all academic dives into problem solving mode. It seems to me that her brain might be tired at that point, and she might do better with studying during the day and playing at night, but really, what do I know about the developing brain?? It may be harder work for her to play than it is to do the kind of learning that seems like work to me. So, whatever, kiddo. I love to see all of it.
So, now that my coworker is officially on maternity leave, I'm wondering if I should tell HR to up my hours during her leave. I'm going to have a crazy workload and not only will I be working more than 20 hours a week anyway, I've got 4 days of vacation that I'll never be able to take! But if I have to pay for a whole extra day of daycare, I'd need to work at least 23 hours to come out ahead financially, at which point I might as well do 3 8- or 9-hour days. And suddenly I realize: YUCK. I mean, 3 whole days? at work??? bleh! But on the other hand, if I'm doing that work, I want to be paid for it and compensated for my unused vacation. Ugh. What do I do?
First thing's first - get rid of whatever this is I've got. I feel like my head is improperly attached to my neck, and staying conscious is a struggle. It's hard to convince my bright, perky, lovely girl to go to bed at 8:30 so I can go to bed soon after! This morning, I got Audrey dressed and brought her into Emily's room, where I laid out some clothes for her to put on. Then I saw her bed, and couldn't help myself - I climbed in, pulled up the covers, and didn't move for probably 20 minutes. The girls thought it was hilarious, so I was able to get a nice little rest in before I had to get moving again. It's pretty pathetic here these days!
Monday, February 7, 2011
So excited about this baby!
No, not my baby - my little niece or nephew! This weekend was the baby shower for Kerri, and it was so much fun! Everything went great, and everyone had a good time. The only hitch was that Mommo didn't feel up to coming because her knees were hurting her, but she experienced it vicariously through Jenny's pictures and a few scraps of leftover food. Kerri's (and my) friends are so fun and clever, and had the most thoughtful gifts for her. This is one highly anticipated little person, I tell you.
After the shower, our family went to a Super Bowl party at another friend's house. There were quite a few other kids there, and Emily had a great time with them. At one point, four little kids were standing on barstools (assisted, of course) singing the ABC's at the tops of their lungs - so cute! It was also funny to see my enormous Audrey crawling next to a little girl who's 3 months younger, at least 3 inches shorter, and toddling around like crazy. Audrey's almost as fast as her, though, so I can see why she's not frustrated enough to try walking as a primary mode of transportation.
And of course, Saturday was BRR ride. It was 25 miles of wintertime joy on a bike! We stopped 5 times for beers and/or food, and it took us 5 hours. It wasn't really warm, but certainly the best day we've have recently. If you saw the size of the baked potato I had for lunch, there's no way that I had a net calorie burn on the day; it wasn't really about the exercise. All in all, very fun! Emily and Audrey stayed home with Grandma Sullivan, and I was really pleasantly surprised to see Audrey waving goodbye happily to me as I left. She might finally be starting to outgrow her intense cling-to-mom stage! A little, anyway. Emily and Grandma made the decorations for the cupcakes for Kerri's shower, and they turned out beautiful! It was such a help, too, not just in having the work done, but knowing that I could take the time away from shower prep to have a little fun.
It was a really great weekend. Today was all catch-up, and fortunately my girls were good sports about me working like crazy all day. They seem to be most happy when there's stuff going on, even if it's just me bustling about the house, so it worked out well. Compared to the past few days, tomorrow is looking like it'll be a day off for me - all I ahve to do is go to work!
After the shower, our family went to a Super Bowl party at another friend's house. There were quite a few other kids there, and Emily had a great time with them. At one point, four little kids were standing on barstools (assisted, of course) singing the ABC's at the tops of their lungs - so cute! It was also funny to see my enormous Audrey crawling next to a little girl who's 3 months younger, at least 3 inches shorter, and toddling around like crazy. Audrey's almost as fast as her, though, so I can see why she's not frustrated enough to try walking as a primary mode of transportation.
And of course, Saturday was BRR ride. It was 25 miles of wintertime joy on a bike! We stopped 5 times for beers and/or food, and it took us 5 hours. It wasn't really warm, but certainly the best day we've have recently. If you saw the size of the baked potato I had for lunch, there's no way that I had a net calorie burn on the day; it wasn't really about the exercise. All in all, very fun! Emily and Audrey stayed home with Grandma Sullivan, and I was really pleasantly surprised to see Audrey waving goodbye happily to me as I left. She might finally be starting to outgrow her intense cling-to-mom stage! A little, anyway. Emily and Grandma made the decorations for the cupcakes for Kerri's shower, and they turned out beautiful! It was such a help, too, not just in having the work done, but knowing that I could take the time away from shower prep to have a little fun.
It was a really great weekend. Today was all catch-up, and fortunately my girls were good sports about me working like crazy all day. They seem to be most happy when there's stuff going on, even if it's just me bustling about the house, so it worked out well. Compared to the past few days, tomorrow is looking like it'll be a day off for me - all I ahve to do is go to work!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Sparkles
Audrey has had a hard time kicking this last round of colds that came through our house. Last week she was sent home from daycare with goopy eyes, although they were just the result of her head draining. All this week she's been waking up with her entire nose crusted up with boogers, and her eyelashes too, and fighting a low-grade fever. Yesterday, she spent the entire day on my lap, dozing, wanting to get down and play but then realizing she just couldn't, and then coming back for her blanket on my lap. It was pretty snuggley, so I really did enjoy a lot of it, but Emily was bored and Audrey was pretty miserable so it was a tough day. Last night, at 2 AM, she was up howling, and I was awake with her for probably 45 minutes while I debated giving her tylenol and then waited for it to kick in. I was thinking that Travis would probably have to stay home with her, take her to the doctor and then to Walgreen's, rock her in the chair all day while waiting for antibiotics to work. But at 7 AM, she had no fever and no crusty boogers. I optimistically got her dressed, and thought maybe she'd be all right for the morning with another dose of tylenol. Ugh, yes, I was that Mom. I was pretty disgusted with myself, too. Fortunately for me, though, she seems to have come out of it. She was her sparkley wonderful little self when I walked in the door tonight after work. Travis picked her up at normal time and she had had a good day after all!! The difference is just SO striking - her eyes are bright and she looks perky and happy. I'm so glad to have my little wiggleworm back! When I put her plate of tuna casserole in front of her tonight, she did a little penguin wiggle and dove right in. Love that girl!
Things have been super crazy at work for me. My co-worker, who is also part-time, will be starting her maternity leave here pretty soon. She's having twin boys, so it'll probably happen sooner than I am ready for. Fortunately, we had another person start in our group this week, so that will help the workload situation, but it's funny that one brand-new full time person isn't going to be able to fully take on yet the workload of a super-capable, bright, and dedicated part-time person. AND, I have a new manager. I think this will be all right, since I've made a great impression on him already and he thinks highly of me and the work I do, but without that it'd probably be not so great. He didn't really want to manage people, but he really did want to know what was going on in our group. I thought it would've made more sense for us to just have team meetings, but they made this arrangement, so, whatever. He travels a ton and seems confident in what our group is already doing, so I'll mostly just ignore him, like I tend to do with my managers. :) Oh, and he said they're trying to get a person in Zweibruecken, Germany to do our same job for the European division of IVS. Travis is pretty sure I should put my name in, but I'm chicken. This may sound like a specific and strange reason, but as much as I want to do something like that, I don't want to do it now because my grandparents are still alive and I very much want my children to get to know them. If I took them to Europe for 2 years and it happened to be the last 2 years of their lives, I really would be devastated. I've got many years to figure this out, and they're all in their 90's, so I think this is the right call for now. They'd probably take me for that job in 5 years anyway! I have had a couple of highly-visible successes lately that make me feel good, and today I realized my workload would be impressive for a full-time employee, so I can feel good about the job I'm doing there, too. Cool.
Can you believe this - it's been more than a month since Audrey took her first real steps, and she still only crawls! Walking is like a party trick to her, like twirling or somersaults would be to the rest of us. It totally cracks her up and sometimes is useful if she's sure she can make it from the couch to the table or something, but other than that she has no interest. What a funny girl. Her vocabulary is starting to grow, though, and I think it's more that I'm just doing a better job of listening for things. I think her "meh, meh" for her sippy cup is actually an attempt at "milk" more than her standard "maMAA". And I'm trying to teach her "up" so she doesn't just howl at my feet when she wants to be held. Her "nye-nye" for bedtime is ADORABLE, as is her "Nighttime, Daytime" which I think I've already blogged about. And she gives the best hugs - have I mentioned?? She snuggles her head onto my shoulder and pats her little hands on my back (or as far as she can reach). She will crawl to the door of the garage as soon as she hears the garage door open for either me or Dad coming home. She's just great.
And of course, my little Emily is busy doing things, too. She's been figuring out how letters can sound together to make words. She was working on a page that said dogs were saying, "RUFF, RUFF, RUFF," and she studied and studied that for probably 15 minutes. She has been a great helper to me too, getting ready for Kerri's baby shower this weekend. We made chocolate turtles on Monday afternoon, and she came shopping with me last night to pick up a few more things we needed. Tomorrow, we're going to make the cupcakes, and I might ask her to help decorate them with the sprinkles we bought (nothing thrills her like colored sugar!) when Grandma Sullivan watches her and Audrey on Saturday. Travis and I are going to do the BRR ride - a 24-mile bike ride in Perry that's more like a Ragbrai reunion. We're crazy, but the weather actually looks pretty decent, so it'll be a fun way to spend the day. Then we celebrate Baby Johannsen, and maybe hit up a super bowl party, and call it a weekend. whew! I was over at Dan and Kerri's last weekend, and spent a whole day helping them paint their upstairs and get it ready to be a nursery. So exciting! Baby season is beginning!
Things have been super crazy at work for me. My co-worker, who is also part-time, will be starting her maternity leave here pretty soon. She's having twin boys, so it'll probably happen sooner than I am ready for. Fortunately, we had another person start in our group this week, so that will help the workload situation, but it's funny that one brand-new full time person isn't going to be able to fully take on yet the workload of a super-capable, bright, and dedicated part-time person. AND, I have a new manager. I think this will be all right, since I've made a great impression on him already and he thinks highly of me and the work I do, but without that it'd probably be not so great. He didn't really want to manage people, but he really did want to know what was going on in our group. I thought it would've made more sense for us to just have team meetings, but they made this arrangement, so, whatever. He travels a ton and seems confident in what our group is already doing, so I'll mostly just ignore him, like I tend to do with my managers. :) Oh, and he said they're trying to get a person in Zweibruecken, Germany to do our same job for the European division of IVS. Travis is pretty sure I should put my name in, but I'm chicken. This may sound like a specific and strange reason, but as much as I want to do something like that, I don't want to do it now because my grandparents are still alive and I very much want my children to get to know them. If I took them to Europe for 2 years and it happened to be the last 2 years of their lives, I really would be devastated. I've got many years to figure this out, and they're all in their 90's, so I think this is the right call for now. They'd probably take me for that job in 5 years anyway! I have had a couple of highly-visible successes lately that make me feel good, and today I realized my workload would be impressive for a full-time employee, so I can feel good about the job I'm doing there, too. Cool.
Can you believe this - it's been more than a month since Audrey took her first real steps, and she still only crawls! Walking is like a party trick to her, like twirling or somersaults would be to the rest of us. It totally cracks her up and sometimes is useful if she's sure she can make it from the couch to the table or something, but other than that she has no interest. What a funny girl. Her vocabulary is starting to grow, though, and I think it's more that I'm just doing a better job of listening for things. I think her "meh, meh" for her sippy cup is actually an attempt at "milk" more than her standard "maMAA". And I'm trying to teach her "up" so she doesn't just howl at my feet when she wants to be held. Her "nye-nye" for bedtime is ADORABLE, as is her "Nighttime, Daytime" which I think I've already blogged about. And she gives the best hugs - have I mentioned?? She snuggles her head onto my shoulder and pats her little hands on my back (or as far as she can reach). She will crawl to the door of the garage as soon as she hears the garage door open for either me or Dad coming home. She's just great.
And of course, my little Emily is busy doing things, too. She's been figuring out how letters can sound together to make words. She was working on a page that said dogs were saying, "RUFF, RUFF, RUFF," and she studied and studied that for probably 15 minutes. She has been a great helper to me too, getting ready for Kerri's baby shower this weekend. We made chocolate turtles on Monday afternoon, and she came shopping with me last night to pick up a few more things we needed. Tomorrow, we're going to make the cupcakes, and I might ask her to help decorate them with the sprinkles we bought (nothing thrills her like colored sugar!) when Grandma Sullivan watches her and Audrey on Saturday. Travis and I are going to do the BRR ride - a 24-mile bike ride in Perry that's more like a Ragbrai reunion. We're crazy, but the weather actually looks pretty decent, so it'll be a fun way to spend the day. Then we celebrate Baby Johannsen, and maybe hit up a super bowl party, and call it a weekend. whew! I was over at Dan and Kerri's last weekend, and spent a whole day helping them paint their upstairs and get it ready to be a nursery. So exciting! Baby season is beginning!
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