2014!

A new year is upon us!  I honestly can't believe how fast 2013 went by, mostly because I was exhausted for most of it.  Last year really was the fastest year of my whole life and I think 2014 might just speed by as well.  But I am loving our life and where we are.  As a family, we've gotten used to the 4 of us and I am happy we are at the end of our time with newborns.  Even though they're cute and cuddly and require no actual parenting, I am happy to have our two big boys.
Logan turned one a few weeks ago and since we'd already had his party early, it was fairly uneventful.  Rhonda's holiday party happened to be on the same day, so he got to celebrate twice.  The boys wore their pajamas to daycare that day, so when we went out for dinner as a family, they stayed in their pajamas!  Luckily, we went to a pretty casual place that was not very busy yet.
Christmas and New Year's Eve flew by too.  James loved opening presents and Logan loved chewing on wrapping paper.  We are going to have an interesting time next year when Logan also wants to open presents and James is used to opening all of them.  But there are worse problems to have and James has gotten used to sharing (at least a little bit).
My 31st birthday is coming up, but other than that, life is pretty quiet.  I am glad we are done with the holiday madness and back to a schedule.  I haven't really made a resolution this year, but I did start the Couch to 5K running program again and am hoping to do another 5K in March.  Losing another 15 lbs is my ultimate weight loss goal, but if it took the whole year, I wouldn't be upset.  Last year, I said I wasn't going to talk about weight loss, I was just going to do it.  And I have managed that fairly well.  Also, going to the gym is my only quiet, alone time ever, so I will continue to embrace it!
In the Spring, we will make some decisions regarding James and Pre-K.  We are fairly sure that we make too much for James to automatically get to attend public Pre-K, but will still apply, in case there are extra spots available (HA!).  We have decided that a full day Pre-K program is probably not something we're going to do, but a half day program would present other challenges.  Mainly, it would mean that I would be using my lunch break to cart James between school and daycare.  But when we find out for sure about the public Pre-K decision, we will look at our options again.

The new routine

Things have been going well around our house!  This week has been a bit hectic, trying to get myself and the boys out the door, but I've really made an effort to do as much as possible the night before.  I pick out my clothes, James' clothes, change Logan into his outfit for the next day (Is that bad?  I mean, he just hangs out in a sleeper all day, so why not get him into it the night before...), make lunches, and take a shower.  I feel like I'm superwoman every time I get to work on time!
So far, Logan loves daycare.  Rhonda has enjoyed having a little guy to cuddle and Logan loves to look at all the new sights.  The kids are certainly keeping him entertained and James has only been a little jealous of the other kids paying attention to his baby brother.  James has done well, he's regressing a bit, but nothing too terrible.  He really likes to be the baby and who can blame him.  But he's gotten no time outs all week and has been very helpful for Rhonda.  Maybe one day he will want to be helpful for mom and dad and actually use the potty, but that's another story.
Logan's been sleeping really well, he gets so tired during the day and fights sleep, but by the time he gets home and eats (and eats again) he is ready for bed.  Over the weekend we made it a priority to get him in bed by 8:30 pm and that time frame is slowly moving forward (which is the goal).  James has always been in bed asleep by 7:30 pm and Logan is following suit nicely.  He's been sleeping longer stretches too (probably due to the 8 ounces he's been eating between 5 pm and 7 pm) which is really wonderful.
I've been making a huge effort with going to the gym and am so happy with our routine these days.  I can only hope it will continue and that my motivation will as well.

The New Daycare

After a week of James being home with mom and dad, we knew it was time to get him back into a daycare routine.  While he was still well behaved, his desire to play with the iPad and watch television was growing by the day.  Little things like increased temper tantrums and not wanting to nap were starting to wear on all of us.  Overall, James needs a routine and schedule.  We were doing our best to stick to that routine and to keep his mind stimulated, but mom and dad can't really compare to 5 other kids to play with.
So Monday morning, I called our first choice for daycare and went to fill out James' paperwork.  This daycare provider takes children starting around 15 months and does a preschool program with them.  She has a degree in Early Childhood Education and Psychology, on top of being a licensed provider for 20 years.  We feel solid in this choice, even if she can't take the baby.  We decided to hope that Rhonda will still be taking the baby when my maternity leave is up (more on that soon).
On Tuesday morning, Adam and I both took James to his first day.  Adam worked from home and I went into the office, so I was glad to have some back up.  James didn't really do much when we left, but according to the report I got, he had a rough morning.  He spent an hour or so crying, which lead up to his complete meltdown.  Apparently he was screaming "I want my mom" for a bit.  But after awhile of sitting in Miss Linda's lap, he hopped down, started to play with the other kids, ate lunch, napped, and had a great afternoon.  Wednesday, James cried when I left him, but only took a few minutes to get over my absence.  This morning was the hardest on me, he started to cry before we'd even gotten to the house for drop off.  I gave him a quick hug and made my exit, but even as I was leaving, I could tell he was crying less and less.
This is one of the times when being a parent is the toughest.  I know he needs to go to daycare.  I know I need to work and he needs to play with other kids.  But my first instinct is to grab my little guy and bolt for the door.  I've done pretty good, I haven't shed any tears yet, but hearing him cry for me just pulls at all my heart strings.  Mission accomplished, kiddo - you know how to manipulate your mother.
So for the time being, James will go to his new daycare.  I checked with Rhonda's neighbor today and she has been home resting since Monday.  She is tired, but doing well from what I hear.  They are estimating that next week they will be in touch with us parents about what is going on, so I am hopeful for good news.  We do have 14 more weeks or so until the new baby will need care and I certainly hope that is long enough for Rhonda to recover.
I should also mention that the last two nights with James have been pretty uneventful.  He's back to being his polite, upbeat self,  has eaten a good dinner, told us about his day, and gone through our usual bedtime routine without fuss.  Its a far cry from the moody little guy we were facing toward the end of last week.  I can't say that he slept the greatest last night, but I think that's just coincidental, he is still only 2 years old and is bound to have a rough night here and there!

31 weeks

This week we are back to fruit!  The baby is the size of a pineapple.  He is rapidly taking over the space once filled by my lungs and I can wait until he drops, just a tiny bit, so I can breath more easily.
Breathing more easily takes on many forms this week, now that I think about it.  Every time I think our lives may settle down, even a bit, we are thrown a curve ball, but that is just life, I suppose.  This Sunday we received a horrible phone call that our daycare provider had an aneurysm and was in emergency brain surgery.  Those were all the details that we received at the time and honestly it sent us into a tailspin kind of week.  After we got the phone call from Rhonda's neighbor, Carla, we also had Carla's daughter (who is our age) Megan stop by our house.  Luckily, Megan is a nurse and could give a few more details.  As of yesterday, Rhonda had thankfully made it through surgery, has been up, talking and walking, is eating solid foods, and has moved out of the ICU.  She may even be home in the next day or two.  We are still waiting to hear more details about her recovery time and the possibility that she will be resuming daycare.
So this week Adam and I have taken turns staying home with James.  We had many generous offers from friends and family to stay with James, but this week it has been easier to just switch off between the two of us.  Next week we are able to do the same (November is a great month for government workers to stay home, we have a ton of holidays!) and the week after I already had off the entire week for Thanksgiving and Rhonda's preplanned vacation.  Needless to say, I don't think she'll be going to Florida, but I'm sure that's the last thing on her family's mind!
On top of trying to figure out who is staying home with James and when, we've visited 4 daycare providers and will visit 2 more today.  This is the biggest stress I could imagine at 31 weeks pregnant and trying to keep myself from totally freaking out has been difficult.  Three of the providers we've seen can take James and the baby and 3 of them can take only James.  Once we know more about Rhonda's situation, we'll be able to decide which is the best option.  Obviously, if Rhonda can't take the baby in 14 weeks or so, then we want to make as few changes as possible for James, so he'll start with the provider that will also take his baby brother when that time comes.  I feel strange, leaving my boys in the care of a total stranger, but Adam pointed out to me that Rhonda was once a complete stranger also.
It's hard not to sound selfish during this time.  I want Rhonda to get better overall, not just so she can babysit my kids.  If she can babysit my kids, its just a bonus, but those lines get easily blurred.  This week has just been really hard.
Tuesday, James and I went to the OB for my 30 week checkup!  I've gained a little bit of weight, but my ankles and feet are quite swollen, leading me to believe that its just water weight.  My blood pressure was fine (amazing considering this week's stress!), my blood sugar is well controlled and everything with baby is just fine.  At 32 weeks, I'll have another growth ultrasound and start non stress testing (NST).  I can't believe I am so close to being done with this chapter of my life, but I am looking forward to never being pregnant again!  If all goes well for that visit, I won't need to do a second NST the day after Thanksgiving.  Weekly visits are eminent and I know before we have time to blink, we'll have a second little boy.

James who?

I have not been keeping up well lately with posting about James!  Poor first child, he's being ignored already.  But such is life, I usually think about something I want to blog about and by the time I get around to doing it, I have no idea what my idea was.  But such is life, I will keep tabs on my crazy, running toddler when I can.
James is growing up so quickly.  He talks up a storm and most of the time we can understand him.  He puts together sentences well and I really enjoy talking to him.  He comes up with the most hilarious observations and questions, stuff that as adults we never even think of.  The other day, he broke two of his blocks apart and asked me "Mom, what happened to the blocks?"  Okay, I suppose it was more "Mom, what happened blocks?" but I tend to fill in the blanks for him.  He likes to "break" things over and over, just to ask mom or dad or fix it.  He will point out all kinds of vehicles when in the car, big truck and motorcycle being his favorite.
Yesterday, towards the end of James' nap, we got a huge thunderstorm.  The thunder was pounding and James was a bit freaked out by it.  Usually by the time we get a storm, James is asleep in bed and it would take a lot more than some thunder to wake him up.  He wanted to be held during the storm, but Adam explained that it was just thunder.  After that, every big noise, thunder or not, that James heard was "Big thunder!".  When Adam braved the rain to take Mac out, James stood by the door "No walk, Dad, big thunder!"  Actually, telling Adam not to walk Mac is another one of James' catch phrases right now, along with "No work, Dad."  I know that speaking more is a normal part of development, but I can't help but think my boy is a genius.
Anyway, I could go on and on about how smart and wonderful I think my boy is.  I'm so excited for him to start the preschool curriculum at daycare next week.  He'll be doing "Mother Goose Time" with the big kids and I know he's going to have so much fun.

Nippy Kippy strikes again

Well Nippy Kippy is at it again, wreaking havoc on the daycare children.  James was the victim of a biting attack yesterday.  Rhonda called me at work to let me know what happened and when I picked James up, she showed me the small bruise on his back.  It actually isn't that bad and Kippy didn't break the skin.  Rhonda also let me know that Kippy's mom had been called and that Kip was disciplined for biting.  I know its a pretty common thing for kids to bite and I know that Rhonda broke up the biting as soon as she could.  She told me that she wouldn't have minded so much if James bit back, but that she broke things up before it got that far.  I was glad that she did, because while I know James would have been defending himself, I still don't want him to think biting is ok.  I read a bunch of articles yesterday about biting, and while they didn't give me any new perspective on the incident, they did reaffirm my thoughts on it.  All we can do when James bites (and he occasionally does test his boundaries) is give a warning and follow up with a timeout.  We also need to make sure James remembers that it hurts when he is bitten and that he doesn't want to make others hurt.  James was actually pretty proud of his booboo, so I don't think he was traumatized too badly.  I think Kippy had a hard time adjusting to James being the "new baby" at daycare and now there is Baby Landon too, making Kip officially one of the "big kids".  He really is a sweet kid and while I would prefer he not snack on my James, I know he's not a bully.