sorry for the lack of blogging... Andrew has been such a crappy sleeper for the past several months (especially in Georgia where he was waking up every two (or less!) hours during the night... and every closet and drawer in my house is in complete disarray and my kids are just really time consuming and I've let myself take some time off from blogging. as much as I absolutely love writing and posting pictures, it can be pretty time consuming. thank goodness for the journal my dad gave me for Christmas... it's an every day journal and I can just write a few sentences each day and not feel guilty for not writing more. I honestly don't know what I would do without it now... it has been such a blessing to me since I'm someone that feels stress at not keeping record of things and events.
anyway, life is good.
over the past week, Abigail has been doing better and our relationship has been going a bit better. today was big in that I emailed her teacher that she'll be walking home from school each day with our neighbors and I talked to a number of medical professionals on the phone this morning and afternoon (our appointment was cancelled last minute by the doctor not being in the office today) about Abigail's medication and we'll be doubling the dose and hoping to see some positive results. Abigail walked home from school today for the second time and it is honestly the best thing ever to not load the kids in the car to go pick her up. and I feel like she's in a better mood when she gets here.
Brady, over the past week or two, has gone down hill, as has our relationship. apparently these things are inversely related? he's turned pretty moody and angry and sometimes belligerent. he says it's because he isn't getting enough sleep and hasn't been napping as much as he needs to so we've been trying to make his naps more of a priority but I don't know that it's helping THAT much. he's still wonderfully independent and all of his regular good qualities... he's just always angry at me. I asked him about this and he says he always expects me to say no to his requests so he's just already upset even before he starts asking me a question. it's not horrendous but it does make me pretty sad right now because I feel like I've lost a friend.
Elizabeth is opinionated and headstrong and holy cow, as hilarious as ever. everything is her FAVORITE. I don't think she understands that word very well and probably thinks it just means that she likes something. literally every song she hears, she declares to be her favorite. on Sunday, our closing song was "come along, come along" and I can't recall ever hearing that song before and, judging by the singing, or lack thereof, I think the rest of the congregation could have said the same thing. but don't worry, just upon hearing the intro, Elizabeth is enthusiastically proclaiming that "I LIKE THIS SONG!!! IT'S MY FAVORITE SONG!!!" also, we decided to all go as a family to Abigail's "it's great to be eight" meeting on Sunday night and Elizabeth had a lot of loud gas. after each loud toot she's all, "I tooted!" and then proceeded to do it again. she has an excellent sense of humor and is also developing a lot of opinions about books that she likes to read and favorite clothing/pj's/boots that she likes to wear. right before Christmas, Elizabeth flipped a switch and went from being terrified and hating (like SCREAMING bloody murder through the whole experience) baths and showers, to being obsessed with showers and begging multiple times a day to take a shower. Chris was cracking up the other day when he came home from work and saw us all and then was all "you've got the shower on while you just sit in bed?!" and I had to tell him that actually Elizabeth was showering. she's also started requesting again to use the potty. I had told her before that she for sure had to wait until after the holidays but I'm still going to try holding her off on that til she's closer to three or potty trains herself. I can hope, right?
Andrew is great. he's been sick with the worst congestion though... like soooo horrific. I try to nose suck him as best I can but he still nurses and sounds like he's drowning and gasping for air. he'll take three sucks and then turn his head to the side and breath like he's catching his breath for a bit and then he'll latch on and suck three times and do it again. like he's swimming or something. he's still mostly happy though, thank goodness, and has actually started sleeping longer just in the last three nights. since he was previously waking around 11:30, 2:30, 4:30, and 7:30, this is a huge improvement to have him wake just once around 4:30 or 5. we'll see if he's maturing and really starting to sleep longer stretches or if he's just doing this because this sickness is really taking it out of him. also, I finally broke down and bought a baby scale. his weight percentile is less than 0.1% and he only gained 5 or 6 ounces between his 4 and 6 month appointments. I had some huge days of stress about it and was freaking out about my milk supply and was trying to supplement with milk from my freezer (but he either wasn't hungry or didn't want milk from a bottle) and it was just not great... all of that was happening the week before Christmas. so I took fenugreek to boost my supply and I started nursing him allllll the time. like at least every hour or two hours throughout the day and night. I couldn't even tell you how many feedings he was getting in a 24 hour period because I felt like I was just nursing him constantly around the clock. but I guess it worked because my supply met his needs and I quit taking the fenugreek and he's sleeping longer at night. I asked his doctors office if I could bring him in for just a weight check to see if my efforts were effective or not and they said there was a copay for that. I thought that seemed stupid but we have kaiser insurance so a lot of things about it are stupid. instead of paying the $50 copay, I bought a scale for less than 40. I'm happy to report that he's broken 13lbs which means that he'd gained over a pound in that month since his 6 month well check... woohoo! also, I've realized how inaccurate and varying the scale measurements can be with a wiggly baby and I'm wondering how accurate that weight was that was taken at his 6 month appointment. anyway, he's still less than .1% but he's growing and I know he's eating a lot and peeing a lot so that gives me comfort. also, he's super vocal and social and happy and is hitting all of his milestones and sitting up and rolling over like a rockstar. once he gets over this cold, I'm gonna have to get him weaned from the swaddle because he keeps rolling over and getting stuck on his belly. Abigail did that too at this age but she was a happy beached whale... Andrew is not the happiest when he gets beached. other random things to note... Andrews cheeks are almost always flushed and he is biting on everything. I'm still in mourning that we lost our Sophie giraffe a week and a half ago when we went to the library one evening. I've checked their lost and found twice though (they keep a log of everything) and it was never turned in... which makes me worry that maybe it fell out of the car when I made a huge goodwill run on our way to the library but also gives me hope that maybe it's just hiding somewhere in our car even though our car is clean and there's really not anywhere for it to be. ugh. so I was resorting to Andrew's next favorite toy and that went missing at the gym last week. we never lose baby toys and now we've lost our favorite two within just a few days of each other! major fail. mostly still sad about Sophie though. for sentimental reasons but also because of that $25 price tag. let's all pray for a late Christmas miracle that she shows up somewhere. I have a reward out for her though and told Brady that he'll get the biggest treat ever if he finds that stinking giraffe. Andrew's gummy little gums neeeeeed it.
man, those quick summaries get longer with each kid. this is why blogging is so time consuming... I'm too long winded to ever be quick.
anyway...
honey has been doing well... normal work and traveling and more work and travel. he stays busy but I try for us to at least feel like we get some hang out time every few days. tonight I felt like we kind of hung out for a good 20 minutes or so while the kids skated in the basement and I made dinner... so that was nice. it sounds pathetic when I write it out but honestly, we're just kind of at a busy stage of life right now and it is what it is.
I'm hanging in there! despite the constant mess and disorganization of my house and life in general, my days are happy. my days are mostly getting Abigail off to school, taking the other three with me to the gym for a bit, doing lunch, quiet time, Abigail's after school stuff (unpacking backpack, homework, etc.), dinner, and bedtime. it's a good routine we have down. we've also been trying to make more of an effort to do fun things as a family and this past Saturday was great with going to the wildlife experience, costa vida, the lone tree library, and then watching beauty and the beast as a family. we all have a good day if we can make a plan and stay focused on our priorities. also, because that made me think of it... I am sooooo excited about the come follow me curriculum in relief society this year and counsel meetings and whatever other changes they've made that I don't even know the names of. but for real, so pumped about come follow me and studying conference talks and having more of a discussion during lessons. it's been so amazing already.
