Ken: Give that lad to the burp-master!
*takes the baby to burp him*
E: Daddy, you are the burp-master
Ken: yes!
E:...and Tank is the spit-up master!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
E: Daddy can we have a cat? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?
Ken: no, cats make me sick.
Later, playing with her lego family.
E: oh, we need the cat. but the cat will make the daddy sick. That's okay, we don't need a daddy.
*picks up the daddy figurine and tosses him across the room*
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Welcome M3 - aka Tank
E was born at 39 weeks 2 days. I went into labor on my own.
Her little brother decided he was nice and comfy just where he was. At 37 weeks I was 3 cm dilated. "it could be tonight, it could be weeks" the doctor said and then she offered to strip my membranes to try to induce labor. Nothing happened.
At 39 weeks I had a cold, the whole family did, there was a horrible storm inbound and Oma was still 3 days out of being there to take care of E. It would have been a horrible weekend and I was already 4-4.5 cm dilated. The doctor mentioned she really didn't want me going past 40 weeks because the baby was already seeming large. She mentioned that maybe we should do an induction if nothing happened. Of course we figured Tank would try to be dramatic and make his appearance then, probably at the height of the flooding and rain, just to keep this interesting on the 45 minute drive to the hospital.
I started freaking out. What if it was flooded? Where would E go? Who would take her? Would we have to take her to the hospital with us? Would Ken have to miss the birth? I think at one point we had 5 friends on standby to come up/ take E. Shelby drove up Saturday when the rains started to get really bad, just in case, so that E would have someone at home if Mommy and Daddy needed to go. I had contractions for a few hours in the middle of the night, I lay awake on the couch trying to time them and not freak out.
But...nothing happened. The contractions fizzled out. The rain stopped. The flooding abated. Oma arrived safely. No baby.
So at my "40" (39 weeks 5 days) week appointment I mentioned induction. The doc said they'd call me with a time once they'd contacted the hospital. Less than an hour later we had an eviction time and date. 5 am the next day!
They made me come in and pick up some instructions and after reading them I started to freak out. The instructions made it sound like I was going in for surgery. No food or drink after midnight. Not even water. I had to take two special showers with a pre-surgical prep soap "paying special attention to the lower abdomen and crotch". Did they think I was going to have a C-section? Why were they having me do pre-surgery prep?
After not much sleep I called in to the hospital at 330 am to see if they still had space for me to come in. Got the green light. So into the shower for the second special shower and off to the hospital we went.
This time was so different...no triage room, no checks, no monitoring. Just straight into a birthing suite. IV in, medical questions asked, and at 6 am they started my pitocin drip.
Started getting some contractions, tried to rest and watched a lot of NCIS. Around 830 the doctor arrived and checked me. She guessed he was going to weigh around 8 lbs. Progressing along, but he was still super high up, he didn't want to leave. She broke my water and let me get out of bed. I opted for the birthing ball and that felt much, much better than the bed. Watched some more NCIS, chatted with Ken. Labored along. The contractions started getting much stronger, though they didn't register as so on the monitor. I was waiting for the kick you in the crotch kind of sensation I'd gotten with E when active labor really started, because I knew I wanted my epidural at that point.
Around 1030 I still hadn't had the sensation, the monitor was still reading very small contractions, but I was feeling them so much more than the monitor showed. So, I asked for the epidural. They ran a bag of fluid into me (SOP), it took about half an hour. Then they kicked Ken out of the room (SOP) and the anesthesiologist came in. I had two nurses with me, one was shadowing my actual nurse and she was a midwife. It was nice having the extra support there, especially since Ken could not be in the room for the epidural. They numbed up my spine and then tried to insert the epidural needle. I felt the needle going in and down my spine like hot acid shooting up and down my right side. I cried out and told them I could feel it. They backed the needle back out and tried numbing my spine some more. They tried again. Hot acid down my right side and a contraction at the same time. I started sobbing. They tried a third time, waiting a little longer for the numbing medicine to work and success. So much relief.
It was a different epidural experience for me than with E. I could still easily move both of my legs, and I could still feel the contractions, but only in my butt. It was a really odd sensation. Everywhere else was numb. It was really distracting and made me totally fearful of pooping during delivery.
They checked me 6.5 cm dilated but he was still too high up. So they brought in the peanut ball. It's like an exercise ball but it's shaped like a peanut. Since I was stuck in bed I had to lay with it instead of sit on it. To help take my mind off things Ken and I played some Star Realms. We played two games (I won the first, he won the second) and then they came to check me again. In the 40 minutes we'd been playing I went from a 6.5 to a 9.5 and he'd come down into place. It was go time!
I pushed for about half an hour. I could still feel the contractions and had a good sense of when I needed to push. I'd debated trying for a med-free birth, because I wanted to experience it, and I kind of got my wish. While I couldn't feel any pain in my back or stomach, I could still feel everything else. I could feel him emerge (and they aren't joking when they call it the "ring of fire"). He had the cord around his neck when he came out, they had to cut it immediately and then he was up, out and on my chest.
He was so big and he was so purple. So purple. And not really breathing. And my heart sank into my stomach. They whisked him away to the warmer and kept saying "he's okay, he's just in shock, like when you jump into cold water. He'll breath in a second. We're going to make him mad." They were rubbing him vigorously on the warmer. All I could see was how purple he was.
And then he cried and the world was okay again.
They gave him to me and delayed all the newborn measurements so that he and I could snuggle and bond.
Eventually they did weigh and measure him. They heard us call him "Tank" and said it was an appropriate nick name for him because he was so big.
at 1:35 pm on 10/28/15 Tank was born weighing in at 9lbs 0.4 oz and 20.5 inches long.
Her little brother decided he was nice and comfy just where he was. At 37 weeks I was 3 cm dilated. "it could be tonight, it could be weeks" the doctor said and then she offered to strip my membranes to try to induce labor. Nothing happened.
At 39 weeks I had a cold, the whole family did, there was a horrible storm inbound and Oma was still 3 days out of being there to take care of E. It would have been a horrible weekend and I was already 4-4.5 cm dilated. The doctor mentioned she really didn't want me going past 40 weeks because the baby was already seeming large. She mentioned that maybe we should do an induction if nothing happened. Of course we figured Tank would try to be dramatic and make his appearance then, probably at the height of the flooding and rain, just to keep this interesting on the 45 minute drive to the hospital.
I started freaking out. What if it was flooded? Where would E go? Who would take her? Would we have to take her to the hospital with us? Would Ken have to miss the birth? I think at one point we had 5 friends on standby to come up/ take E. Shelby drove up Saturday when the rains started to get really bad, just in case, so that E would have someone at home if Mommy and Daddy needed to go. I had contractions for a few hours in the middle of the night, I lay awake on the couch trying to time them and not freak out.
But...nothing happened. The contractions fizzled out. The rain stopped. The flooding abated. Oma arrived safely. No baby.
So at my "40" (39 weeks 5 days) week appointment I mentioned induction. The doc said they'd call me with a time once they'd contacted the hospital. Less than an hour later we had an eviction time and date. 5 am the next day!
They made me come in and pick up some instructions and after reading them I started to freak out. The instructions made it sound like I was going in for surgery. No food or drink after midnight. Not even water. I had to take two special showers with a pre-surgical prep soap "paying special attention to the lower abdomen and crotch". Did they think I was going to have a C-section? Why were they having me do pre-surgery prep?
After not much sleep I called in to the hospital at 330 am to see if they still had space for me to come in. Got the green light. So into the shower for the second special shower and off to the hospital we went.
This time was so different...no triage room, no checks, no monitoring. Just straight into a birthing suite. IV in, medical questions asked, and at 6 am they started my pitocin drip.
Started getting some contractions, tried to rest and watched a lot of NCIS. Around 830 the doctor arrived and checked me. She guessed he was going to weigh around 8 lbs. Progressing along, but he was still super high up, he didn't want to leave. She broke my water and let me get out of bed. I opted for the birthing ball and that felt much, much better than the bed. Watched some more NCIS, chatted with Ken. Labored along. The contractions started getting much stronger, though they didn't register as so on the monitor. I was waiting for the kick you in the crotch kind of sensation I'd gotten with E when active labor really started, because I knew I wanted my epidural at that point.
Around 1030 I still hadn't had the sensation, the monitor was still reading very small contractions, but I was feeling them so much more than the monitor showed. So, I asked for the epidural. They ran a bag of fluid into me (SOP), it took about half an hour. Then they kicked Ken out of the room (SOP) and the anesthesiologist came in. I had two nurses with me, one was shadowing my actual nurse and she was a midwife. It was nice having the extra support there, especially since Ken could not be in the room for the epidural. They numbed up my spine and then tried to insert the epidural needle. I felt the needle going in and down my spine like hot acid shooting up and down my right side. I cried out and told them I could feel it. They backed the needle back out and tried numbing my spine some more. They tried again. Hot acid down my right side and a contraction at the same time. I started sobbing. They tried a third time, waiting a little longer for the numbing medicine to work and success. So much relief.
It was a different epidural experience for me than with E. I could still easily move both of my legs, and I could still feel the contractions, but only in my butt. It was a really odd sensation. Everywhere else was numb. It was really distracting and made me totally fearful of pooping during delivery.
They checked me 6.5 cm dilated but he was still too high up. So they brought in the peanut ball. It's like an exercise ball but it's shaped like a peanut. Since I was stuck in bed I had to lay with it instead of sit on it. To help take my mind off things Ken and I played some Star Realms. We played two games (I won the first, he won the second) and then they came to check me again. In the 40 minutes we'd been playing I went from a 6.5 to a 9.5 and he'd come down into place. It was go time!
I pushed for about half an hour. I could still feel the contractions and had a good sense of when I needed to push. I'd debated trying for a med-free birth, because I wanted to experience it, and I kind of got my wish. While I couldn't feel any pain in my back or stomach, I could still feel everything else. I could feel him emerge (and they aren't joking when they call it the "ring of fire"). He had the cord around his neck when he came out, they had to cut it immediately and then he was up, out and on my chest.
He was so big and he was so purple. So purple. And not really breathing. And my heart sank into my stomach. They whisked him away to the warmer and kept saying "he's okay, he's just in shock, like when you jump into cold water. He'll breath in a second. We're going to make him mad." They were rubbing him vigorously on the warmer. All I could see was how purple he was.
And then he cried and the world was okay again.
They gave him to me and delayed all the newborn measurements so that he and I could snuggle and bond.
Eventually they did weigh and measure him. They heard us call him "Tank" and said it was an appropriate nick name for him because he was so big.
at 1:35 pm on 10/28/15 Tank was born weighing in at 9lbs 0.4 oz and 20.5 inches long.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
3 Things I don't want to forget
With the impending arrival of baby boy, there is so much going on, and so little sleep happening that sometimes my brain feels like Swiss cheese or a colander. So I'm trying to document a few things that have been happening in the last few weeks.
Thing I don't want to forget(tidwtf) #1 - ren fest
We went to the Renaissance festival to celebrate our 5th anniversary. It's such a fun tradition, and this
time all of us, even E, got to dress up. I had to rent a costume, since pretty much none of my clothes fit, as little man has made me look and feel much more pregnant than his sister ever did. We looked pretty good as a family and the festival is so much more fun dressed up, especially with an extraordinarily cute kid with you, the paid actors all interact with you more, they fawn over the kid and give you things they normally wouldn't give to others. It was awesome.
E was our little autumn fairy warrior and she loved it! We have been telling stories about the fairies, last year she got a fairy stone from the face court, and our stoies are about how the stone allows E to travel to the realm of fairy and play with the fairies, especially Dog fairy and Cat fairy, so we were in the hunt for the fairies. E was enraptured by all the people in costume, a little intimidated by the more creepy/scary costumes like the dragons, but still highly curious. She would pipe up occasionally "they're just people dressed up, pretending, right?" But this grasp on reality didn't hold true for the fairies, the fairies are real, and around them she could fly.
So of course when she asked to "fly" we let her. She barely weighed enough to meet the minimum requirements, and the attendant didn't even take our money until after she was sure the harness would fit. It did, just barely. I was completely prepared for her to get strapped in, go for one "flight", panic, and want down. But that didn't happen. The attendant started her out with just a little bounce and as she got more and more comfortable he started launching her higher. The higher she flew, the bigger her grin got. She LOVED it. She looked so brave and fearless like a picture out of Peter Pan.
It was a fantastic day, filled with friends, elephant rides, circus shows, jousts, pony rides, 'fishing', 'flying', bells, flags and tri-colored icees. E was absolutely spoiled by everyone. The gold fairy gave her bubbles, the purple fairy gave her a new fairy jewel, the Owlchemist gave her a gold dipped feather. Our friend's dad bought her a joust flag to cheer on the knights "Go blue!" The garland sales girls gave her bells to hang off her garland. The Icee vendor let her have 3 colors, though he told our friend that they only gave out 1 color.
We searched and searched for the fairy court, visiting their throne room in the garden twice but were never able to find the faeries. I thought E would be devastated, but she simply stated "we couldn't find the faeries, they were hidin' " E lasted until about 3 and then asked to be picked up by Auntie Shelby (who she'd clung to like a barnacle all day) because "my foot is starting to hurt a little bit". She got super comfy and cozy in Shebly's arms and then once she transfered to Daddy because we were leaving, promptly fell asleep in Daddy's arms.
TIDWTF #2 -sweet sister
E is excited about being a big sister. She tells everyone there is a "baby in mama's womb" or "I'm going to have a baby soon!" She's already possessive of him. "That's MY baby"
Currently I've been sleeping on the couch because of issues with getting comfortable and E has moved into her big girl bed, with no baby gate on the door. So when she wakes up in the morning she comes out to me on the couch and greets me with "good morning mama." and then immediately follows it with "good morning baby" and she loves to give him hugs and kisses. She likes to talk to him, and expects him to talk back via mommy or daddy. She likes to share her food with him and tell him what he will be able to do when he gets bigger. She asks me quite frequently if she can "take baby out" yet.
She loves to play with his toys and pretend to be a baby, I hope that she doesn't get super jealous of him once he is actually here. She likes to go into his room and play. The other day I went in there to put some clothes away and found a very sweet scene.
The rocking chair had been drug to the side of the crib and E's "baby ballerina" doll was tucked into the crib. Her head was resting on the turtle pillow E picked out for her present to baby brother and wrapped up in a blanket.
TIDWTF #3 - Sleep (or lack there of)
E still doesn't like to sleep. She actively fights it some nights. We have kept the same bedtime routine since we started. When it's time to start the routine we say "it's time to get ready for bed" now when we start to say it she interrupts and shouts "pway!" (play)
Once in bed she sings, talks, reads, plays with her water bottle, her "Rexy" pillow pet, her froggy flashlights, anything she can do to prevent going to bed short of actually getting out of bed.
Once asleep she is restless, she seems to have bad dreams, she wakes up and needs water (we keep a water bottle in her bed). She wakes up and takes herself to the bathroom (win!). She wants to be cuddled but doesn't want to be touched. She cries for me, even when I'm standing right next to her. No wonder she doesn't like to sleep.
Tonight as we were walking out of dinner at dusk she noticed it was getting dark and began insisting "the sun is up!"
I pointed out that the moon was up in the sky, which she knows means it's "sleep time" and so she began to shout out "go away moon!" all the way home. It was adorable. She claimed that she was making the moon disappear by putting on her sunglasses. We played a game with it where we would open the skylight and show her the moon and say "hello moon!" then she would shout "go away moon" and we could close the sklylight....we repeated the game all the way home.
Thing I don't want to forget(tidwtf) #1 - ren fest
We went to the Renaissance festival to celebrate our 5th anniversary. It's such a fun tradition, and this
E was our little autumn fairy warrior and she loved it! We have been telling stories about the fairies, last year she got a fairy stone from the face court, and our stoies are about how the stone allows E to travel to the realm of fairy and play with the fairies, especially Dog fairy and Cat fairy, so we were in the hunt for the fairies. E was enraptured by all the people in costume, a little intimidated by the more creepy/scary costumes like the dragons, but still highly curious. She would pipe up occasionally "they're just people dressed up, pretending, right?" But this grasp on reality didn't hold true for the fairies, the fairies are real, and around them she could fly.
So of course when she asked to "fly" we let her. She barely weighed enough to meet the minimum requirements, and the attendant didn't even take our money until after she was sure the harness would fit. It did, just barely. I was completely prepared for her to get strapped in, go for one "flight", panic, and want down. But that didn't happen. The attendant started her out with just a little bounce and as she got more and more comfortable he started launching her higher. The higher she flew, the bigger her grin got. She LOVED it. She looked so brave and fearless like a picture out of Peter Pan.It was a fantastic day, filled with friends, elephant rides, circus shows, jousts, pony rides, 'fishing', 'flying', bells, flags and tri-colored icees. E was absolutely spoiled by everyone. The gold fairy gave her bubbles, the purple fairy gave her a new fairy jewel, the Owlchemist gave her a gold dipped feather. Our friend's dad bought her a joust flag to cheer on the knights "Go blue!" The garland sales girls gave her bells to hang off her garland. The Icee vendor let her have 3 colors, though he told our friend that they only gave out 1 color.
We searched and searched for the fairy court, visiting their throne room in the garden twice but were never able to find the faeries. I thought E would be devastated, but she simply stated "we couldn't find the faeries, they were hidin' " E lasted until about 3 and then asked to be picked up by Auntie Shelby (who she'd clung to like a barnacle all day) because "my foot is starting to hurt a little bit". She got super comfy and cozy in Shebly's arms and then once she transfered to Daddy because we were leaving, promptly fell asleep in Daddy's arms.TIDWTF #2 -sweet sister
E is excited about being a big sister. She tells everyone there is a "baby in mama's womb" or "I'm going to have a baby soon!" She's already possessive of him. "That's MY baby"
Currently I've been sleeping on the couch because of issues with getting comfortable and E has moved into her big girl bed, with no baby gate on the door. So when she wakes up in the morning she comes out to me on the couch and greets me with "good morning mama." and then immediately follows it with "good morning baby" and she loves to give him hugs and kisses. She likes to talk to him, and expects him to talk back via mommy or daddy. She likes to share her food with him and tell him what he will be able to do when he gets bigger. She asks me quite frequently if she can "take baby out" yet.
She loves to play with his toys and pretend to be a baby, I hope that she doesn't get super jealous of him once he is actually here. She likes to go into his room and play. The other day I went in there to put some clothes away and found a very sweet scene.
The rocking chair had been drug to the side of the crib and E's "baby ballerina" doll was tucked into the crib. Her head was resting on the turtle pillow E picked out for her present to baby brother and wrapped up in a blanket.
TIDWTF #3 - Sleep (or lack there of)
E still doesn't like to sleep. She actively fights it some nights. We have kept the same bedtime routine since we started. When it's time to start the routine we say "it's time to get ready for bed" now when we start to say it she interrupts and shouts "pway!" (play)
Once in bed she sings, talks, reads, plays with her water bottle, her "Rexy" pillow pet, her froggy flashlights, anything she can do to prevent going to bed short of actually getting out of bed.
Once asleep she is restless, she seems to have bad dreams, she wakes up and needs water (we keep a water bottle in her bed). She wakes up and takes herself to the bathroom (win!). She wants to be cuddled but doesn't want to be touched. She cries for me, even when I'm standing right next to her. No wonder she doesn't like to sleep.
Tonight as we were walking out of dinner at dusk she noticed it was getting dark and began insisting "the sun is up!"
I pointed out that the moon was up in the sky, which she knows means it's "sleep time" and so she began to shout out "go away moon!" all the way home. It was adorable. She claimed that she was making the moon disappear by putting on her sunglasses. We played a game with it where we would open the skylight and show her the moon and say "hello moon!" then she would shout "go away moon" and we could close the sklylight....we repeated the game all the way home.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Empathy
I've always thought that empathy is a very valuable character trait. To be able to understand what other people are feeling so that you can do something about it seems to be grossly lacking.
So, understandably, we talk A LOT about feelings with E. Her feelings, other's feelings, how her actions affect others, how others' actions affect her feelings. Daniel Tiger helps with this quite a bit. She loves making people happy, she doesn't like making people sad. She knows that sad choices are called that because they make people, sometimes her included, sad. But I thought that her empathy still mostly revolved around her.
Today, she proved me wrong.
We were at Little Gym, it was the first day of the new season, so a new class. Her bff from her previous class moved up a level so she wasn't there to play with. It was a really small class, only 3 girls and their moms. One of the girls E had been in classes with before and they parallel play well together. E was happy to see her. The other girl was new to us, but apparently not new to Gym, and she was having a rough time.
Normally kids having a rough time cry a lot, but this girl didn't cry, she just refused to participate. Up to the point that she was lying on the uneven bar mat, in a corner of the gym, sucking her thumb in silence. Her mom was visibly distressed. E was running around playing and then stopped and came back to me to ask
"I lay down with A?"
I figured she wanted A to play, she'd been trying to engage her off and on throughout the class, and said "sure"
E went over and lay down near A on the mat and put her thumb in her mouth. The two girls lay there together. That was it for the moment, they just lay there. While E was laying there I talked to A's mom. She was at the point that she was considering withdrawing A from Gym. A had panic attacks in gym and refused to participate. She switched down to a younger class so she could be in the gym with A to see if that made it better, but A was still having a rough time. As we were talking I heard giggling, we looked over to see the two girls laying on the mat smiling and giggling at each other.
E jumped up and went to the bars with a smile and a "come swing with me!"
And A followed and it was like a weight was lifted off both A and her mom.
The girls played until E had to go to the bathroom, with the third girl joining them.
In the restroom, E looked at me and said, unprompted,
"A was scared. I helped her"
And then we were back in gym and everyone was playing and having fun, I don't know if A will be back next week or not, but I don't think I've ever been more proud of my sweet, empathetic, compassionate little girl.
So, understandably, we talk A LOT about feelings with E. Her feelings, other's feelings, how her actions affect others, how others' actions affect her feelings. Daniel Tiger helps with this quite a bit. She loves making people happy, she doesn't like making people sad. She knows that sad choices are called that because they make people, sometimes her included, sad. But I thought that her empathy still mostly revolved around her.
Today, she proved me wrong.
We were at Little Gym, it was the first day of the new season, so a new class. Her bff from her previous class moved up a level so she wasn't there to play with. It was a really small class, only 3 girls and their moms. One of the girls E had been in classes with before and they parallel play well together. E was happy to see her. The other girl was new to us, but apparently not new to Gym, and she was having a rough time.
Normally kids having a rough time cry a lot, but this girl didn't cry, she just refused to participate. Up to the point that she was lying on the uneven bar mat, in a corner of the gym, sucking her thumb in silence. Her mom was visibly distressed. E was running around playing and then stopped and came back to me to ask
"I lay down with A?"
I figured she wanted A to play, she'd been trying to engage her off and on throughout the class, and said "sure"
E went over and lay down near A on the mat and put her thumb in her mouth. The two girls lay there together. That was it for the moment, they just lay there. While E was laying there I talked to A's mom. She was at the point that she was considering withdrawing A from Gym. A had panic attacks in gym and refused to participate. She switched down to a younger class so she could be in the gym with A to see if that made it better, but A was still having a rough time. As we were talking I heard giggling, we looked over to see the two girls laying on the mat smiling and giggling at each other.
E jumped up and went to the bars with a smile and a "come swing with me!"
And A followed and it was like a weight was lifted off both A and her mom.
The girls played until E had to go to the bathroom, with the third girl joining them.
In the restroom, E looked at me and said, unprompted,
"A was scared. I helped her"
And then we were back in gym and everyone was playing and having fun, I don't know if A will be back next week or not, but I don't think I've ever been more proud of my sweet, empathetic, compassionate little girl.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Love wins!
Today is a good day.
We are in California at Oma's house. Mommy is finally getting over a nasty cold. We spent yesterday with mommy'as friends in Sacramento, swimming, going to the zoo and generally having a wonderful time.
Two of those friends just got married on Saturday. You didn't go to the wedding, mostly because mommy wanted to be there to support her friend and at 2.5 you can be a bit of a distraction. Even though you couldn't be there for the wedding you immediately took a liking to your new "aunt" Jessica. Aunt is in quotes because Jessica is married to mommy'as best friend from college, your "aunt" Sarah.
Hopefully by the time you are old enough to read this two aunts getting married will seem like no big deal.
But that is the reason today is such a good day.
Today people in charge of the laws in our land made a big statement. Today they said that it is a constitutional right to get married. No matter if you are two aunts, two uncles or one of each. Today the Supreme Court said that one day you can marry the person you love, no matter that person's gender
There are some people, even in your extended family, who would deny you and other people the right to follow your heart if it didn't fit within their beliefs. I hope that by the time you can read this, they are more willing to see that giving other people the rights that they have as the majority population doesn't hurt them, or make them less. It just helps other people be happy, which I the end is a good thing.. Our nation still has a long way to go to make things equal for all people but today is a step in the right direction.
Today is a good day.
We are in California at Oma's house. Mommy is finally getting over a nasty cold. We spent yesterday with mommy'as friends in Sacramento, swimming, going to the zoo and generally having a wonderful time.
Two of those friends just got married on Saturday. You didn't go to the wedding, mostly because mommy wanted to be there to support her friend and at 2.5 you can be a bit of a distraction. Even though you couldn't be there for the wedding you immediately took a liking to your new "aunt" Jessica. Aunt is in quotes because Jessica is married to mommy'as best friend from college, your "aunt" Sarah.
Hopefully by the time you are old enough to read this two aunts getting married will seem like no big deal.
But that is the reason today is such a good day.
Today people in charge of the laws in our land made a big statement. Today they said that it is a constitutional right to get married. No matter if you are two aunts, two uncles or one of each. Today the Supreme Court said that one day you can marry the person you love, no matter that person's gender
There are some people, even in your extended family, who would deny you and other people the right to follow your heart if it didn't fit within their beliefs. I hope that by the time you can read this, they are more willing to see that giving other people the rights that they have as the majority population doesn't hurt them, or make them less. It just helps other people be happy, which I the end is a good thing.. Our nation still has a long way to go to make things equal for all people but today is a step in the right direction.
Today is a good day.
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
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.
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.
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.
Friday, January 9, 2015
I want more
E's has a knack for getting what she wants. It's funny because "please" was one of the first signs she learned and it took forever to get her to learn "more" but she's always been very good at asking for what she wants.
For a while it was signing, which evolved into "peas"(please), then "have ______ peas", for a while it even became "i NEED _______" and now it's "I want more" and she wants more everything!
December was such a blurr of activities. She and her good friend each had birthday parties at Little Gym, one week apart.
"I want more party"
"I want more pesents"
"I want more tuptake" (cupcake)
Nearly as soon as the birthday party was over we were off on vacation. We went up to Ken's parents for first Christmas. E's eyes grew to the size of saucers at the pile of presents under the tree (most of which were for her of course). She loved spending time with her Ganddaddy and Gama. She loved going across the street to feed apples and carrots to the horses that live there.
"I want more pay gama" (play with grandma)
"I want more horsies"
We left first Christmas and headed out to see my mom in California. For her birthday E received a rolling luggage trunk "trunkii"and she LOVES it. When she first opened it "What is it?" I thought she wasn't interested because after I explained it was to put her clothes in when we go on a trip she walked away. Only to return a few moments later, her arms loaded with clothes proudly proclaiming "Let's go Oma's house!"
We arrived and second Christmas began. Last year E didn't really understand the whole Christmas thing. She enjoyed opening presents but there was no anticipation. This year was a completely different story. We did 2 advent activities with her each night after her milk. She got to open her advent calendar and put a new ornament on her mini-tree in her room and she got to open a wrapped Christmas book and read it with Mommy and Daddy. She got really into it. She would put her ornament on the tree and break out in "Oh Christmas tree" as she danced around her room in the glow of the tree lights.
She also got very into looking at Christmas light displays. If she became upset in the car all it took was mentioning looking for "pretty lights" for her to calm down.
Christmas eve she left out milk and cookies and a letter(scribble) for Santa and she was awestruck when she got up and found that "Santa ate da cookie and drink da nilk, took da letter, left can-e!" (candy)
It's a little hard for her to understand why all the things she likes so much are going away. She still asks to do her advent calendar after milk even though her tree is no longer in her room, and got really sad when I took the jinglebell wreath off the door, I think she kind of understands that Christmas will be back, but doesn't like that it's going away. This may be further complicated by the fact that it is January 9th and we have yet to take down the Christmas tree or the stockings,
"I want more pretty lights"
"I want more oramet" (ornament)
"I want more tree"
"I want more jig-a-bells"
Unfortunately the whole family was struck with an upper respiratory/sinus/chest/head cold bug that just sort of hung around us for the entire vacation. So we didn't get out and do quite as much as we had originally planned. The 3-4 hour drive to take E to the snow just seemed a bit too much for us in our sad sick state. So we spent a lot of time at home at Oma's house, which was wonderful. Lots and lots and lots of playtime. Her favorites were playing with the ornaments on the Christmas tree, playing grocery shopping with the cart and groceries Oma got for her, drawing on her art easel that Oma got for her, and very slowly eating her candy cane that Santa left. We let her have a little bit pretty much every time she asked for it...and by a little bit I mean a nibble or 2-3 licks. She is such a wonderful kid and she actually followed the guidelines. She has pretty amazing self control for a 2 year old. Christmas morning she was up about 2 hours before everyone else and she didn't touch any of the presents under the tree or her Santa boot which was loaded with "candy" (animal crackers, panda cookies, cranberries, raisins and yogurt raisins....along with some haribo gummies and other wonderful German candies that may or may not have made there way into mommy and daddy's tummies....)
However, we did make it out of the house for 2 big adventures. The first one was down to San Francisco to have dinner with her tante Oana and Uncle Kane'.
(funny aside, E calls the office workers at my school her "tias" which is Spanish for aunt, and Oana (pronounced Wanna) is her tante, which is German for aunt. At one point, sleepy E got confused and called Oana Tia Oana....to which she replied "I don't have enough tequila in me to be Tiajuana!)
While in the city we decided to go to my favorite museum of all time The Exploratorium! It was crowded, a lot of it was over her head, it was so much larger in it's new location, it was crazy loud and it was so much fun! E's favorites were the tinker lab marble run wall, the shadow room and the colored shadows wall. She went nuts in front of the colored shadows, singing and dancing and trying to convince everyone who passed to dance with her in the colored lights.
The second adventure was to go to Mt. Diablo, which despite living 40 minutes away from it for the entire time we've lived in California, we never really explored. We got to the summit and got out of the car and nearly got blown away by the arctic winds! It was BITTER cold. "Brrr,,,It's TOLD mommy! It's WIND!"
After a brief visit to the windblown summit we went down mountain to Rock City which was a fantastic little hike. It was still a little chilly but the wind was mostly blocked so it was manageable. We hiked around and found some climbable rocks, which E happily attempted to climb and some caves which E appropriated one and called it her room. She lay in that little cave for a good 10 minutes talking to herself about watching Daniel Tiger and brushing her teeth and going to sleep. She kept asking for it after we left to finish our hike.
" I want more lights!"
"I want more meat!" (at the house of Prime Rib, where she ate a good quarter of my prime rib)
"I want more Uncle Kane'"
"I want more some-all-eh" (sarmale, Tante Oana's special Christmas dish)
"I want more can-e cane"
"I want more build"
"I want more cave!"
"I want more hike!"
It was a fantastic trip, illness aside It was a fantastic month of celebrations, food, presents and people. December is just always going to be a crazy month between normal end of the year crazyness, birthday and Christmas but I hope that December will always be as good as this one was. It was a good time spent reconnecting with family and Elora sums up everyone's feelings pretty well...
"I want more"
For a while it was signing, which evolved into "peas"(please), then "have ______ peas", for a while it even became "i NEED _______" and now it's "I want more" and she wants more everything!
 |
| I want more birthday! |
December was such a blurr of activities. She and her good friend each had birthday parties at Little Gym, one week apart.
"I want more party"
"I want more pesents"
"I want more tuptake" (cupcake)
Nearly as soon as the birthday party was over we were off on vacation. We went up to Ken's parents for first Christmas. E's eyes grew to the size of saucers at the pile of presents under the tree (most of which were for her of course). She loved spending time with her Ganddaddy and Gama. She loved going across the street to feed apples and carrots to the horses that live there.
"I want more pay gama" (play with grandma)
"I want more horsies"
 |
| I want more go Oma's house! |
 |
| I want more Santa! |
 |
| I want more can-e! |
Christmas eve she left out milk and cookies and a letter(scribble) for Santa and she was awestruck when she got up and found that "Santa ate da cookie and drink da nilk, took da letter, left can-e!" (candy)
It's a little hard for her to understand why all the things she likes so much are going away. She still asks to do her advent calendar after milk even though her tree is no longer in her room, and got really sad when I took the jinglebell wreath off the door, I think she kind of understands that Christmas will be back, but doesn't like that it's going away. This may be further complicated by the fact that it is January 9th and we have yet to take down the Christmas tree or the stockings,
"I want more pretty lights"
"I want more oramet" (ornament)
"I want more tree"
"I want more jig-a-bells"
 |
| I want more cuggles (cuddles)! |
 |
| I want more dancin! |
(funny aside, E calls the office workers at my school her "tias" which is Spanish for aunt, and Oana (pronounced Wanna) is her tante, which is German for aunt. At one point, sleepy E got confused and called Oana Tia Oana....to which she replied "I don't have enough tequila in me to be Tiajuana!)
While in the city we decided to go to my favorite museum of all time The Exploratorium! It was crowded, a lot of it was over her head, it was so much larger in it's new location, it was crazy loud and it was so much fun! E's favorites were the tinker lab marble run wall, the shadow room and the colored shadows wall. She went nuts in front of the colored shadows, singing and dancing and trying to convince everyone who passed to dance with her in the colored lights.
 |
| I want more cave! |
After a brief visit to the windblown summit we went down mountain to Rock City which was a fantastic little hike. It was still a little chilly but the wind was mostly blocked so it was manageable. We hiked around and found some climbable rocks, which E happily attempted to climb and some caves which E appropriated one and called it her room. She lay in that little cave for a good 10 minutes talking to herself about watching Daniel Tiger and brushing her teeth and going to sleep. She kept asking for it after we left to finish our hike.
" I want more lights!"
"I want more meat!" (at the house of Prime Rib, where she ate a good quarter of my prime rib)
"I want more Uncle Kane'"
"I want more some-all-eh" (sarmale, Tante Oana's special Christmas dish)
"I want more can-e cane"
"I want more build"
"I want more cave!"
"I want more hike!"
It was a fantastic trip, illness aside It was a fantastic month of celebrations, food, presents and people. December is just always going to be a crazy month between normal end of the year crazyness, birthday and Christmas but I hope that December will always be as good as this one was. It was a good time spent reconnecting with family and Elora sums up everyone's feelings pretty well...
"I want more"
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