Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Changes

Life since January has been such a hectic whirlwind.

Ken lost his job when the oil price crashed in January.
E got to stay home with him from time to time, which was great for her to be able to reconnect with her Daddy.

I upped my hours at work, thanks to a wonderful boss who didn't even bat an eyelash when I asked. So that we could have insurance while Ken was unemployed.
Only Fridays and E stayed home with daddy most of them.

I went back to more than full time (in front of kids, teaching from  745-415, with a 45 minute lunch break, plus planning and grading at home for 4 different classes, one of which I've never taught before) because my school needed help when a teammate had to go out on medical leave.
E got put in daycare full time, for the first time ever.  She loves her school but it was a rough transition.

Ken got a new job in March(?) which is at minimum an hour drive away.  Changing all of our schedules around so he can work modified hours and not have to fight traffic quite as badly.

And through it all E has been potty training.

And now, we are preparing ourselves, our house and E for the arrival of a new baby come October.

"the only thing that is constant is change" - Heraclitus

Terrific days

Daytime E is so amazing.

She gives the best snuggly hugs.  They are few and far between because she is always on the move but in those moments when she wants to snuggle it's awesome.

She is so incredibly brilliant.  She counts up to 30.  We'll be in the check out line and she'll spout off " that's a 9" while looking up at the lane number.  she'll sight count 2, 3, 4 of things.

She's obsessed with her birthday.  "My party is soon!  For my birthday!  I'm gonna be 3!  I already had 2 birthdays!  In December.  December 15th."

She loves letters. "I see the ABCDs! More ABCDs!"  "look mama, a H.  H for store!"  She has a little letter tablet that she plays with frequently.  If you spell out certain words it tells you what you spelled.  She lights up so happily.  "mama I spell cat!"
She's even caught onto the fact that mommy and daddy spell things that we don't want her to understand, usually things she'll get excited about.
"we are going to the P.I.S.!!!"
Me: What does PIS spell?
E: ZOO!
(though now she knows how to spell zoo and cat and her name)

She plays pretend, though she doesn't let others play with her very well yet.  She especially loves her duplo people, her little people house, train and castle, and her dress up felt board dollies.  And her baby dolls.

She's so loving.  She's so excited to become a big sister in October.  She talks to the baby. "I'm eating yogurt baby!"  "I love you baby!" "you play with me baby?" "tickle, tickle baby!"  She gives the baby (my belly) snuggles and kisses unprompted.  She vacillates daily about if she thinks it will be a boy or girl.

She notices, everything.  She constantly shows me things I'm missing.  Snakes in the grass on the nature trail, frogs clinging to the sides of buildings.  tiny details in the backgrounds of pictures that my eye just glances over without a second thought.

I miss her terribly, being back to work full time currently.  I'm so excited for summer when I'll get to spend more time with her and revel in the wonderful-ness that is my little girl.

Terrible nights

Please let the nighttime screaming stop.

First it was night terrors, inconsolable, incoherent bursts of screaming and thrashing that lasted about 1-5 minutes and then she would fall right back asleep.

Those finally went away and then it was the water bottle.  I need more water. Screaming because the bottle leaked all over the bed and now she's wet and cold.  Then we took the water bottle away because it was causing so many problems and she spent several weeks screaming to have it back.  We replaced it with water in a cup with a straw, that we had to give to her every time she cried for water.  we hoped the lack of bottle spilling and removing the temptation to use it for sucking tendencies would make the water issue go away.  It got a little better, though she still routinely woke at 11 and 4 for water.

Then it was I don't like my bed.  I want to sleep with mommy/daddy. We had a mattress on the floor in her room because of all the 11&4 wake ups, it was just easier for us to sleep in there and give her water.  So we introduced the big girl bed.  She was so excited. She slept through the night for 2 nights in a row.  She could get her own water.  She could sleep on the floor if she wanted to.  She loved it

Then it was back to the water issue, despite being able to get it herself she would still scream for it.

And now she doesn't like the big girl bed, she still screams for water and if she happens to pee in her pull-up she has a nuclear melt down.

I don't think I've had more than 3 uninterrupted nights of sleep since before she was born.

Please let the nighttime screaming stop, preferably before October.