Month: June 2013

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Did you miss me?

I’ve been a little preoccupied. Now, I don’t expect you all to sit at your computer patiently waiting for the next post on this humble blog to pop up in your newsfeed or in your inbox. So I don’t expect you to have noticed that I haven’t even posted Charlotte’s 10 month photos/update. Actually, I haven’t even taken her 10 month photos. Weeping. I’m weeping at the thought of that. It has definitely become much harder to take her photos as the months progress, and the arrival of summer has packed our schedule full of activities way more important than mini photo shoots and blogging:

  • I have been picking up a few extra days of patients at work now that my sister is home for the summer and is able to watch Charlotte. She loves spending time with her Aunt Mel and cousins.
  • Charlotte and I have also been enjoying play-dates at the aquarium, park, and the good ‘ol baby pool in the backyard.
  • Chris and I finished our resource parent {foster parent} and adoption training through the city of Virginia Beach and are now in the process of completing our home study. The process is very extensive {as I think it should be}. We met with our case worker 2 weeks ago to fill out paperwork {background checks, DMV records, and the like}. We also had to answer questionnaires and decide on the ‘parameters’ we feel comfortable accepting {for us, we only placed limits on age – birth to 3} , any race or gender is welcome in our home! Eventually we will expand the age, but our current room/bed/toy situation is perfect for a younger kiddo in need of a safe place. We went to DHS to be fingerprinted last week and met with our caseworker again to provide an extensive history {our family history, relationships, work history, education, parenting style, support systems, etc} and this week our case worker is coming by for a preliminary home inspection. Once our home study is complete our application will be put before a board for review and approval. Once we are approved we will be ready to have another kiddo in our home. It could be that same day we are approved, it could be in a week, it could be months… we will just wait.
  • I have also been planning Charlotte’s first birthday party. Talk about emotional. I probably should have done way more at this point (with a little over a month to go), but I have been in severe denial.

Stay tuned for Charlotte’s 10 month update later this week. I am PROMISING right here in written word so I had better deliver.

 

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Real Life Parenting: vomit.

Sick babies are never fun. Charlotte is very healthy, and for that we are truly blessed. Today she succumbed to her 3rd illness though (the first being a head cold at 7 months and the second being a high fever from some sort of virus at 9 months). The really sad part about this time is that I didn’t even know she was sick! One moment we were playing by the pool, the next she had thrown up and was feverish. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and as I look back on the course of the day it seems completely obvious that she was sick.

My first clue should have been the surprise waiting for me in Charlotte’s crib when I went to get her this morning:

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No that isn’t blood. It’s blueberries from her dinner last night. She must have thrown up at some point in the night. I feel awful that she slept in yucky blueberry regurgitation, but she never woke up or cried so I had no idea! I thought that it was the blueberries that upset her tummy so I didn’t think much of it. Also I’m sure Charlotte will thank me for posting this lovely photo of her ‘bed head’ and blueberry ‘schmear art’ in 15 years.

I got Charlotte cleaned up and started the sheets soaking {I’m fairly certain they will never come clean but I’m willing to give it the ‘ol college try…. not that I would have ever spent this much time cleaning something in college. I most likely would have just thrown it away}. After nursing for a bit after waking up she actually vomited again! I know, I know… any sane person {parenting experience or not} would have figured out that something was wrong.  I thought it was because she drank too fast and choked, which is something she used to do when she was much younger. I just assumed her tummy couldn’t handle the amount she drank.  After that she ate a great breakfast and was her usual giggly and playful self so I wasn’t worried.

We visited my office for lunch and Charlotte socialized with all her loves there and was on her best behavior.

After that we met up with some buddies for a spashy play date.

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Charlotte wasn’t in love with the cold water, but she loved watching her buddies play.

After a little while though I could tell she was beginning to not feel well and then she threw up again after nursing!

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I am so sad it took me that long to realize I had a sick kiddo on my hands. I’m trying not to beat myself up about it. She was just as playful as usual until the afternoon when her fever spiked. Poor baby. image-57

For a kiddo battling a tummy virus, though, she certainly had a very successful day: Standing unassisted for the first time and SO proud of herself.

Does that look sick to you?!

 

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Real life parenting: multiplying dishes

I just did a weeks worth of dishes. Not even kidding. Bottles, bowls, coffee cups, almost every pan we own…The only counter space in our kitchen not covered by dirty dishes was in front of the microwave and Keurig {priorities}. Granted, we have minimal counter space to begin with so it gets covered quickly, but there really was no excuse for the filth… I just didn’t want to do dishes. There’s something about washing bottles that I really despise. Thank goodness we go through minimal bottle paraphernalia because I breastfeed {nursing, for the win}!

Also {apparently I drank truth serum tonight} my husband told me yesterday that he would do the dishes because ‘I don’t want you to hate me’.
Yikes.
Me: ‘I won’t hate you’
Him: ‘well, I don’t want you to be mad at me’
Me: ‘I won’t be mad at you’
Him: ‘well, I don’t want you to have disdain for me’
Me: ‘ok’

It seems I have a pretty bad habit of being grumpy towards him when I have to do the dishes. I H.A.T.E. doing the dishes. Wrinkly fingers, dry skin, the bits of food circling the drain… Gah, just typing that gave me a full body shiver.
Nevertheless, it makes me feel awful to think that my husband would do something just so I wouldn’t be grumpy towards him, and especially for something that i have no grounds to be grumpy about. I definitely need to work on my servant’s attitude. I started tonight by washing with a smile on my face.

Also, since we are already confessing, I’ll offer full disclosure: after I finished washing everything and cleaning the counters I rewarded my ‘awesome housekeeping’ with a giant bowl of icecream {and a few spoonfulls straight from the carton}.

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The four letter word.

Love.

I just need to brag on my husband for a moment and how awesome he is at showing love.

The other weekend I was really dragging. All mommies get the drags occasionally, but this particular day it was really bad – I was still recovering from the sickies that invaded our house last week {Charlotte and I both battled a bad virus} and I was running on minimal sleep secondary to the unfortunate combination of a 9 month old who requires a middle of the night snack and a mom who stayed up way too late reading. I was able to snag a short power nap; emphasis on the short part because Charlotte woke up from her nap about 20 minutes after I laid down {isn’t that always the case?}. Chris had gone to some sort of church function {worship band practice I think?} so he wasn’t available to entertain Charlotte while I continued napping. I begrudgingly got Charlotte from her room and trudged downstairs. Charlotte, as I’m sure most wise babies do, has a way of getting deep into your soul and tugging on your heartstrings in a way you never thought possible. There’s not much of a chance for anger or grumpiness to linger when she’s around. I wish I could say all grumpiness fades, but let’s face it… when you’re tired, you’re grumpy. No matter how ‘sunshine and rainbows’ your life is, when you are sleep deprived, you will be mean or impatient or pessimistic… or all three. On this particular day, though, I was greeted by this arrangement waiting for me in the kitchen:

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All the supplies and directions for making myself a cup of french press {side note: once you go FP you don’t go back. Our Keurig barely gets any love these days}. The water was ready to be heated, the timer ready to start, grounds already in place, and step by step directions given. In that instant all grumpiness and frustration disappeared.

This is love.

Not just coffee.

Good coffee.

And at a time when he knew I needed it most.

I didn’t ask. I didn’t hint. He just knew.

This is love.

And just to get all the annoying bragging done in one post so as not to drag out our sappy love and make people nauseous, as I sit writing this he is at the grocery store buying me ice cream and peach Snapple.

love.