But it was a wonderful day. While it has been a stressful school year, the biggest perk of my new job is the increased income, plus things are going insanely well at Dave's business, so we were able to go a little (or a lot) over board this Christmas. I really love being able to provide for them, and I had a lot of fun the last few days helping them assemble and play with their new acquisitions. Dave & I got presents, too, this year! Dave got a giant Lego crane and I got a guitar. I have wanted to learn how to play the guitar for years, so it is a nice thing to have for my bucket list.
What's interesting about learning the guitar is the muscles! I never realized the latent muscles I have in my arms that are required for the most basic guitar skills (and I mean BASIC- I am just learning how to fret things right now). My fingers are a bit sore from the strings, and my forearms are getting a little annoyed at my 30-45 minutes per day. But it's worth it, because I am doing something for me! I have not done a whole lot that I truly wanted to do for a while because of time (and insurance- because what I REALLY want to do is gymnastics, but that's not practical right now). Taking 30 minutes a day to go through some lessons is a bit freeing. Once school starts back up, it might not be as frequent, but I am going to take this last week of break to really relax and work on me for a bit.
New Years resolutions?
Actually follow through with some sort of daily exercise (or even weekly would be a vast improvement). While I am actually back at my high school weight (Freshman year too!), I don't stretch enough, and I am losing my gymnastic flexibility. I need to do some yoga far more regularly than I do.
Keep on plucking! I want to get this guitar thing down!
Figure out the kindergarten thing! We still haven't decided if we are keeping C at his Montessori school or moving him to the local public school for kindergarten. There are many pros and cons to each of these moves. Who knew this whole "raising a human" thing could be so complex?
Keep working on me! I feel I have grown and changed a lot in the last year, and I am a lot more comfortable in my skin than I used to be, but there is still room for growth, and figuring myself out.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Three years later
The last time I posted here, on my short lived stint to become a famous blogger, I was a mother of one. Now I have a second little boy, have had 3 new jobs, and am pondering the future evermore.
On to my miscellaneous musings:
There isn't too much that can make a person feel like an inadequate parent like potty training. With C, it was stressful, but when he got it, it was fast. We tried at 23 months for a day, and it was a clear no-go. Then, I tried again at 27 months, and he was close, but I was pregnant with Z and just not willing to go the super intense route. After Z arrived, we gave C a month long countdown, constantly reinforcing that this time was going to be it and the diapers would be gone forever- I wasn't going to have any more double diaper changes! And really, he had one accident and that was that. I think over the course of the first six months, he had maybe two more accidents, but he was all set. I do not think that is how it will be this time around.
We tried, albeit half-assed, this weekend with Z, and it didn't really stick. He loved wearing undies, but I don't know if the muscle control is there yet. He knows when he is going, but but not really how to stop it. He had a few super successes, but many more failures, and realizing that a long weekend wasn't going to be enough, we called it quits today. We are still sitting on the potty at every diaper change, and asking him if he has to go regularly, but he is back in the diapers for the next three weeks. Because of his successes, I think we will be good to go over Christmas break, but who knows- every kid is different.
That said, while Googling for the best diaper bag to work with a potty-training munchkin, I came across a rather interesting video. This woman had the most ridiculous (IMHO) video about what was in her diaper bag. This person didn't use baby wipes. Apparently, there are sprays and sticks that one can use to clean poop off a butt. No thanks! I will continue to bulk buy my Huggies wipes from Costo (well, maybe I won't have to if things go well in 3 weeks!). She also buys undies from Etsy. Are you freaking kidding me? Fortunately, the best advice we got for potty training was to buy the most excessive amount of undies possible, and we have kept all C's old ones. So we have about 40 pairs ready to go. There will be no $15 home made underpants in my diaper bag. Sorry, future Z & C, if you feel I have set you upon the wrong path in life, but I have to draw the line somewhere!
The one useful piece of information I gleaned from the video had to do with these handy inserts. Now the ones she mentioned are specially made for the homemade undies, but a cursory glance at Amazon showed these things could work in undies purchased by we simple folk, and I might actually get them for car rides. I have the pad for the car seat, but it would be nice if it just alerted him he went and could get him to stop before all was ruined. It is worth looking into.
I hope to be back for more Miscellaneous Musings, preferably in less than 3 years time. Future topics might include cooking, cleaning, working two jobs, and kids. I never really thought this would be my life, but so far, I wouldn't trade it for anything.
On to my miscellaneous musings:
There isn't too much that can make a person feel like an inadequate parent like potty training. With C, it was stressful, but when he got it, it was fast. We tried at 23 months for a day, and it was a clear no-go. Then, I tried again at 27 months, and he was close, but I was pregnant with Z and just not willing to go the super intense route. After Z arrived, we gave C a month long countdown, constantly reinforcing that this time was going to be it and the diapers would be gone forever- I wasn't going to have any more double diaper changes! And really, he had one accident and that was that. I think over the course of the first six months, he had maybe two more accidents, but he was all set. I do not think that is how it will be this time around.
We tried, albeit half-assed, this weekend with Z, and it didn't really stick. He loved wearing undies, but I don't know if the muscle control is there yet. He knows when he is going, but but not really how to stop it. He had a few super successes, but many more failures, and realizing that a long weekend wasn't going to be enough, we called it quits today. We are still sitting on the potty at every diaper change, and asking him if he has to go regularly, but he is back in the diapers for the next three weeks. Because of his successes, I think we will be good to go over Christmas break, but who knows- every kid is different.
That said, while Googling for the best diaper bag to work with a potty-training munchkin, I came across a rather interesting video. This woman had the most ridiculous (IMHO) video about what was in her diaper bag. This person didn't use baby wipes. Apparently, there are sprays and sticks that one can use to clean poop off a butt. No thanks! I will continue to bulk buy my Huggies wipes from Costo (well, maybe I won't have to if things go well in 3 weeks!). She also buys undies from Etsy. Are you freaking kidding me? Fortunately, the best advice we got for potty training was to buy the most excessive amount of undies possible, and we have kept all C's old ones. So we have about 40 pairs ready to go. There will be no $15 home made underpants in my diaper bag. Sorry, future Z & C, if you feel I have set you upon the wrong path in life, but I have to draw the line somewhere!
The one useful piece of information I gleaned from the video had to do with these handy inserts. Now the ones she mentioned are specially made for the homemade undies, but a cursory glance at Amazon showed these things could work in undies purchased by we simple folk, and I might actually get them for car rides. I have the pad for the car seat, but it would be nice if it just alerted him he went and could get him to stop before all was ruined. It is worth looking into.
I hope to be back for more Miscellaneous Musings, preferably in less than 3 years time. Future topics might include cooking, cleaning, working two jobs, and kids. I never really thought this would be my life, but so far, I wouldn't trade it for anything.
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