It's strep throat...

Hopefully 10 days of the pink stuff will at least improve some moods around here. Thanks everyone for your kind comments. I especially enjoyed Alicia's, in which she predicted the improvement by this time next year! (those of you with 3 year olds who were commiserating may want to go back and read her comment about a 4 and a 2 year old)

Tough

If I've learned anything about parenting, it's that there are always new joys and challenges around every corner, and that whatever stage you are in will pass with time. And some stages are more difficult overall than others.

I have to be honest, I'm having a bit of a hard time right now.

I think the hardest part about this is that on paper, I think that things should be easier right now. Shortly after David was born, I remember thinking, "Sure, having a 2 year old and a newborn is tough. But just think - this time next year - I'll have a 3 year old and a toddler. That will be so much easier." But I must be doing something wrong, because I am still struggling.

Of course, it is easier in some ways. I'm no longer nursing, and I'm getting more sleep (although still not enough). But gosh, it's still hard, and I'm hoping maybe I'll feel a little better if I can just list it out here.

First of all, on the good side, David is at one of my favorite stages of development. He is so stinking cute, running around with that cute little toddle, using his "words" to make requests, and constantly surprising us with the things he understands. I could do another post on how sweet and interesting he is right now. And I love that he wants to be with me all that time, that's what makes him sweet. But the hard part is that he insists on being held for a majority of the day. So I am cooking, cleaning, helping Katy on the potty, dressing, going to the bathroom, helping Katy on her bike, playing games, watering flowers (that one's for you, Mom), all with a toddler on my hip. I have to be honest. It's super sweet, but it's exhausting.

But my even bigger challenge right now is of the 3 year year old variety. Again, a positive note is that since we started the new sleep rules, it took a few days and she is now staying in her room at night. So that's progress. And of course, my daughter is an absolute sweetheart and I love her with all my heart. But she is driving me crazy right now. She is whiny, demanding, argumentative, bossy, and just plain rude some of the time. I feel like everything I ask her to do is answered with "But, but, but..." or "Well, well, well..." I feel embarrassed of her behavior when I am around others, thinking that they must be making judgements of my parenting. We've also started another big potty push this week, which has had big challenges. For the first 24 hours it was a literal battle to get her to even SIT on the potty. As of today, I'm happy with our progress, but she is still refusing to attempt to poop. This is extra frustrating because she was doing this just fine during our last training attempt. I know she CAN do it, she just WON'T. Ugh.

Her eating is terrible, and I almost laughed when the doctor asked me if she was eating "a variety of foods from all 4 groups?" HA! Good one. Meals feel like battles, too.

On top of these struggles, both of my kids have had fevers for over a week. Today is day 10 for Katy and day 7 for David. We've already been the doctor twice, but I think if they still have them tomorrow, I will have to take them again. Ten days of fever isn't just a virus - do you think? Another trip to the doctor seems daunting.

I'm looking at our calendar for July, and it's jam packed, starting with 2 weeks of swim lessons tomorrow. When I look at it, there are all of these fun activities planned, but things just seem so crazy, I feel like my head is spinning and the day to day is hard. We had to take the van in for some maintenance this week and we've had 4 electronic devices break since we moved. (two of them we cashed in the "2 year replacement plan")

I think another thing that is contributing to this is that with all of the recent busyness, I've been eating terribly and haven't exercised in...oh gosh...I can't put it in writing it's been so long. And even though I think pulling that aspect of my life together would help, I can't for the life of me figure out how to do it - I'm just getting by as it is.

So I hope that doesn't seem too whiny. I look at my husband and my kids and wonder how I can complain - they are so great and I am so blessed. But sometimes the day to day is tough. I know it will pass. Sitting down to write it out has helped. Thanks for listening.

(Not so) well visits

I've been anticipating yesterday's well checks for Katy's 3 year and David's 15 month for a looong time, mostly because of Katy's extreme anxiety that seemed to culminate with the pediatrician. Then I ended up having to bring her for a warm up visit last Friday. Then both kids have had fevers, David had a wasp sting and a bad diaper rash (from all the swimming?), and I was seriously late because I took a wrong turn that landed me in a construction zone. So by the time the doctor came in, I was so flustered that I forgot to be nervous, if that makes sense.

So despite saying approximately 1 million times that she "didn't want to go to the doctor, was scared, didn't like doctors, wanted to go home," etc, Katy was a champ. She clung to me quietly while we talked to the doctor, and then she allowed Dr. B to examine her while she watched quietly. She even opened her mouth when he pulled out the tongue depressor, as if she knew what it was for. It was such a relief, to have a sign that she will grow out of this and be able to have normal reactions to people she doesn't know.

And of course, I never want to underestimate how incredible it is to have a good well check from a health perspective. Fevers, diaper rash, and potty training are such minor issues, and I'm so thankful for my healthy kids.

Stats:

Katy:
Weight: 29 # - 25%'ile
Height: 35" - 20%'ile
BP: 90/67

David:
Weight: 24#, 3 oz. - 45%'ile
Height: 30" - 20%'ile

Two things that are interesting to me: one is how David is approaching Katy in size, and also how David's height and weight percentiles keep switching between 20-50%. I have to wonder how accurate their measurements are, anyway. Basically he's on the small side of average, let's just leave it at that.

Cousins!!

We spent a long weekend in KY with Brian's family, where Katy was able to be reunited with her long lost cousins! Really it had only been since Christmas that she hadn't seen them, but as often as she asks about them, it felt like they were long lost.

Katy and Leah are buddy-buddy. Is this what Katy will look like when she's 6 and a half?

Kimmy is such a great helper! The age difference between her and David is the same as my sister and I.

I like the tongue sticking out in pure joy.

This is what your family photo would look like if you had 5 kids, all 2 years apart.



Katy loved swimming, as usual, but thankfully, she wasn't as fearless as last year. She went down the slide with Brian a couple of times and then said it was "too fast."

David warmed up to the water as the days progressed, which was good for him, since up to this point he has been very nervous about getting near it.

Drying off before one of our many fabulous meals in the gazebo. Brian's folks can cook up a storm, and they always do.

We also visited Cumberland Falls...sorry I don't have many pictures of the adults...even Kelly and John are missing in this one...

Oh, the cuteness.

The girls

It seems that every trip with small children has its challenges. Ours included:

** Katy's fever the day before we were supposed to leave, and trying (unsuccessfully) to get her to pee in a cup at the pediatrician's office. She continued to have a fever and a hoarse voice throughout the trip.

** The first day we were there, Brian had David in the gazebo and went to ring this windchime for him:

Apparently inside there was a wasp's nest. A wasp flew out and into David's mouth and STUNG HIM ON THE TONGUE. It was awful. It started to swell and I was worried about blocking his airway and having an allergic reaction. I talked to my pediatrician on the phone, who told me what to look for and when to take him to the ER. He ended up being fine.

**Tuesday morning as we prepared to leave, I discovered that David had developed Katy's fever. We got in the van and discovered that the DVD player stopped working. UGH.

Overall, though, it was a good trip. We always enjoy our time with Brian's family and they really spoil us. I need to come up with the next thing for Katy to look forward to!

Who's Chasing Who?

Oh, the cuteness. This is the latest game in our house, along with an attempt to get David to dance (when he really lets loose it is absolutely precious.)

Unpacked - a virtual tour

I'm considering myself unpacked. That does not mean that there are no boxes full of stuff anywhere in my house. That does mean that if I have a free moment, I can feel the freedom to sit down and relax for a God-loving minute rather than having this anxious feeling of MUST! UNPACK! AND! ORGANIZE!

So it's time for some pics. This might be a bit of overload for some of you, so you can skim. But I took photos of every room, because I'm just a weee bit excited. As noted by the exclamation points.

There it is! Our new house! Have I mentioned that it's on a cul de sac? Love.

Let's start in the playroom, shall we? Yes! There's a whole room, for playing! Oh, and in the corner that you cannot see, is my desk, where I am currently sitting, typing away.

One might use words like "potential" to describe our backyard. It's pretty big, but somewhat rough and neglected. And it's got a bunch of poison ivy that we'll be taking care of very soon. But I love the shade.

It's a garage, i.e. pure sweetness. It's in a state of post-moving chaos, but if we can get one car in there this winter, that's one car more than we could get in last winter, kwim?

Okay, so this is the "eat in" part of our kitchen. But there's no dining room, so this IS the eating space. Which I love. Two steps from counter to tabletop. And it's open to the living room not only with the doorway, but then also with a window-type opening.

This was one of the things I bought with garage-sale monies. It's for all of Katy's games and crafts, cute and organized, right by the table. I'm sure it won't look this way for long, but at least it's starting out nice.

Here's the other half of the kitchen. The sellers were the original owners of the house, which was built in 1964. My feeling is that they hadn't updated anything at all, so over the past year they updated EVERYTHING. They totally remodeled this kitchen, which I love. We're thinking about getting one of those portable islands, because although the space is large, there isn't much counter space.

This picture was taken from standing in the kitchen, looking into the living room through that window opening I mentioned. And let's be honest. Ninety percent of the time those entertainment center doors are open. That entertainment center was handed down to us from Brian's mom and John. And we bought this living room furniture and the dining set from a used furniture store.

Katy's like, "Seriously, open those doors back up."

A little slice of heaven, aka first floor half bath.

HA!! This one I'm sneaking in here on you. This is our basement, AFTER Brian painted the floors but BEFORE we filled it with our crap. I'm going to spare you a picture of our mess. But the thought is that in a few years we could finish this space, or at least maybe half of it.

We don't have a land line, but we can't bring ourselves to get rid of this phone. It's classic, isn't it? It's 70's Tupperware green, and it has their phone number that they had for 40 years printed on it.

The master bedroom, which we painted, but have yet to do anything else to decorate it.

Master bath, which we also painted and installed these shelves (where did they put their belongings?)

This is the kids/guests bath, which was pink sponge paint with teal flower wall paper border. I stripped and painted it and used the sticky wall decals to add some color to the boring shower door...

...and to the opposite wall. It's so hard to get a decent picture in a small bathroom, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Katy's room, which looks very similar to her old room, except the bed now has legs. My Dad painted this room.

The other half. One of the quirks about this house is that there are no overhead lights. And no outlets in the bathrooms.

David's room. It was already yellow, so we left it. He won't need a nursery design for much longer anyway.

I love how much light his room gets. And the hardwood floors are in great shape.

And the guest room. Doesn't it look inviting? Come and see us!

Issues

I'm having some issues.

1) I had David down to nursing once a day in the morning. For various reasons, I decided last week that I wanted to be done. So I haven't nursed him since Sunday morning (72 hours). I'm pretty uncomfortable, and I can't remember from last time. Should I pump or just let it work itself out?

2) Katy has been having bedtime issues, which inclue getting up several times and taking over an hour to fall asleep. Once we moved and she was able to open our modern-day doorknobs, this then evolved into getting up throughout the night. The night before last she got up TEN TIMES. We had tried various strategies, but THAT incident inspired me to figure out how to nip it in the bud, because that is NOT OK. (I spent yesterday with that newborn sleep deprived feeling, which is certainly no fun)

So we made a chart, we explained the rules, and the rewards (gummi worms) and consequences (child-proof door handle). She lasted half an hour, came out of her room, I installed the doorknob, and she threw a 45 minute kicking screaming tantrum. Then she fell asleep for the remainder of the night. Threw another tantrum in the morning when she was not allowed to have a gummi worm. I'm hoping that the first night is the toughest. It'll get better from here, right?

3) Yesterday my sister asked me about potty training. I almost cried. One issue at a time, please.

Walking proof

I've been trying ALL WEEK to get a video of David walking. It's tough, because when it's just us, he's clung to me much of the time. And if I'm able to get him down for very long, and I go get the camera, he sees me leave and comes running after me crying. So my videos aren't post-worthy.

Of course Brian tries once and gets all kinds of good footage. I'm just putting a small clip here to show that truly, he's a toddler now. *sniff*

Genetic Addiction

Once I heard a guy say that Chipotle must be putting crack cocaine in their burritos because of the way people flock there in droves day after day to get their hands around one. I agreed. Yep, must be crack cocaine. I'm a Chipotle addict, for certain. Brian and I are one ingredient away from being Chipotle soul mates. I'm a chicken fajita burrito with corn salsa, sour cream, and cheese. Brian adds lettuce (blast!).

A typical meal for Katy is approximately 3 adult-sized bites. On a good day. She just doesn't eat much. And she certainly doesn't eat meat, except for hot dogs. At a restaurant we're looking at one or two bites, because she's so distracted, isn't used to the food, and wants to get down and run around.

Chipotle, on the other hand, is different.

Everytime we say we're going out to eat, she looks at us with hopeful eyes, "Are we going to Meh-hote-lay?" The other night, we were indeed. We sat down outside (where I feel significantly less guilty about the amount of rice we leave on the floor), and we didn't hear a peep out of her for a solid 10 minutes as she shoved her single soft taco with rice, pork, and cheese into her mouth by the forkfull. Finally, we started picking up the trash from the table and she said desperately, "Wait! I'm not finished yet!" as she picked at the rice still left in her bowl.

I have never heard her say such a thing in her life.

I'm telling you. Crack cocaine.

Moving Mussings

So!

The last week has been ca-razy. For some reason, neither Brian or I thought to plan for the amount of work we would need to do in the old house immediately after we moved in order to prepare it for renters to move in on June 1st. The only thing I had planned was to have a 2 day yard sale (my first ever) for May 30-31st.

Forget unpacking. Brian spent every spare minute last week at the old house, painting, repairing, cleaning, and preparing for new renters. I was at the new house for long days with the kids, living out of boxes and trying to prepare for the yard sale. And we were both exhausted.

The day before the yard sale I started to freak out about how I was going to make it all happen with Brian home with the kids (the sale was at the old house), so we recruited my mother-in-law to come and save our sorry souls. And thank goodness she agreed! We never would have made it without her.

Brian and I worked hard to have the sale, and at first I was really disappointed with the turnout. But then my genius of a husband pulled out his trusty laptop and his camera phone. He took pictures of the larger items and posted them individually on craigslist. We got rid of every single thing priced over $10. I couldn't believe it. Then the Boy Scouts, of all people, came and PICKED UP everything else that didn't sell so they could have it for their fundraiser. It worked out really nicely.

So now, we've got some cash and a list of things to shop for. Is anything more indulgant than buying fun things for a new house? And I really really love shopping. Especially shopping around for a particular item. I'm my mother's daughter.

And the boxes are working their way unpacked. I won't feel finished until the pictures are on the wall, and we're probably a couple weeks out from that.

Oh! I forgot to mention that David started walking (as a main mode of mobility) the weekend we moved! He is so cute, toddling around with his arms in the air. I will post a video next...but I literally just found the camera. I'm a little out of the loop in more ways than one.

But we love the new place. Katy hasn't seemed in any way sad that we moved. We were at the empty house and I said, "Would you rather live here or at the new house?" and she said, as if it were a stupid question, "At the new house, where all my toys are!"