Life lately

School is in full swing and our family has settled nicely in to its daily rituals. Here's a little peak of what's going on lately with extra time given to Avery, because, she's Avery. 

Avery:

She goes to school two days each week and I'm not ashamed to say that it's the best 6 hours of my week. I have the entire house to myself, no interruptions. I paint while listening to my podcasts or watching my shows in complete peace. 12:15 comes to fast.  Avery loves school and has not cried once after drop off. She got stickers last week because she went pee and poop on the potty! I couldn't believe it but they said she asked! She's peed several times over the last few weeks but never #2. If the school can potty train her, they can have all my money.

So much progress on the sleep front. She's often sleeping through the night and when she doesn't, she goes back to sleep quickly. And at bedtime, no more throwing up or herself out of bed. At worst, she cries for a minute but has generally been staying in her bed. This does very good things for my psyche. With long naps, she still stays up late and relishes the time with her parents after her brothers are in bed.

 

Jackson:

Jackson goes to preschool four days a week and his favorite part is "lunch bunch" with his friends. He'd always been denied that last year because it didn't jive with Averys nap schedule, but he's relishing it this year. He continues to be the sweetest boy on the planet and makes me laugh daily. This morning I put a sparkly black hairbow in Averys hair thinking she would take it out like the last 50 times but she wanted it on. I told her it didn't really go with her outfit (Nike shorts and Nike shirt), and Jackson chimed in, "But black matches everything!" Touché 

 

Brady:

Brady's crushing first grade. He's loves friends and grasps any and all independence we give him. He loves walking around the neighborhood "looking for friends" and much to Brady's delight, our house has become a bit of a hub for boys coming and going. He loves play sports, he loves friends, and really love his friends at playing sports with him.

Our neighbor, who speaks Korean and basically no English, is a gold coach and after seeing the boys hit gold balls in the front yard, offeted to give Brady golf lessons in his backyard (conveniently the neighbor across the street speaks Korean which is how that message ever came across). The plan was for our across the street neighbor to translate, but Brady took it upon himself to ask out next door neighbor if he could golf one afternoon. Eric was gone and I became the translator, which is problematic because I speak 0% Korean. 

Thankfully, while not a good golfer myself, I have gotten some instruction, so I sort of knew what he was trying to tell Brady. He basically knew the words "good" and "no good" and was not afraid to bark the latter at Brady. Brady took the instruction very well even though I think he was expecting more hitting the ball and less practice swings. After about two minutes, Jackson turned to me and said, "mommy I don't want a turn."

Neither do I, Jackson.

 

 

Letters to Avery: Two years old

Dear Avery,

You are two!! TWO!! There were moments I wasn't sure we would make it here, but here we are! It has been an amazing and bumpy ride with you these past years and I wouldn't change it for the world. When you are happy, you are so happy and nothing makes me happier and when you are sad/mad/frustrated, well watch out! 

 

It's crazy to think that when Brady was your age, I was bringing home another baby from the hospital! I hope you like the doll you got for your birthday, because you're not getting a brother or sister. And as much as you like your dolls, I feel like you might be happy about this. Luckily, you already have two amazing brothers and I hope you know how lucky you are. They put up with your bullying with grace (usually), they celebrate in your victories (like going pee on the potty, blowing out your candles), and share with you even when the reverse doesn't happen. You have a pretty cute fan club. 

 

One day I know I will miss your attention and affection. You'll be in your room by yourself texting about boys (or to boys) and I'll remember the days when I couldn't get you to stay in your room by yourself. I'll reminisce about the days you were my physical extension and I just wanted to breathe. But how I love cuddling with you, hugging you, playing with you. Your favorite game right now is for us to "hide" under the covers from the invisible monsters that lurk in our house. When I peek out and tell you that I see one, the degree of glee on your face as we hide from said monster is amazing. And you're just as excited the next time the monster comes. And the next time. And the next time. Until the game stops and out comes Jekyll and Hyde!

 

Watching you learn and grow has been so fun. Every day you learn new words and while you've always been effective at communicating, regardless if you had the words, it's less frustrating for both of us when we don't have to play charades all day. And watching you go to school makes my heart swell. Jackson is always proud to tell people that you have never cried at preschool. 

 

I'm proud of the little girl you are and the excited to see the young lady you will be become. AK, you complete our family and we love you.

Love,

Mom

Sleep wins!

Well it only took about 717 days, but Avery finally slept through the night! Now one night of good sleep does not a good sleeper make, and she's thrown a good night in here and there, so I am yet to throw her a party, but I will take successes as they come.  

A few things happened since the overly descriptive ice cream incident I so kindly burned in your brain last week. One, we went on a trip sans kids for a wedding in Dallas. As expected, Avery had a rough first night with Eric's parents, waking up several times, but most likely that is due to the fact that I'd been nursing her in the middle of the night (sleep deprivation makes you desperate). I knew this trip would be my opportunity to stop breastfeeding once and for all (like for ALL time) and I knew it would ultimately be best for both of us and hopefully help her with sleep. Because really, if you have the option of a midnight ice cream malt, would you pass it up? 

After returning, we had a few rough moments when I told her the mommy milk was all gone, and even yesterday, four days after we returned, she gave one last ditch effort. "Milk?" she asked pitifully, pointing to my chest, but it was the equivalent effort of a hopeless drunk who raises his drink to the bartender after last call. He can't not ask, but he knows he's cut off.  After returning home to her torture chamber big girl bed, she continued to wake up, but was content with her paci, and my hair, to soothe her. And then last night she went to sleep on her bed and then waltzed into my room at 6am, still a bit early, but I'll take it!

Now bedtime is still and issue, but I think we will get it worked out soon. The problem is we are now in a cycle where she takes a three hour nap, but won't go to bed until after 9:30. Then sleep until 6. So she gets about 8 hours of sleep. It's a hard cycle to break, and I even tried to wake her up from her nap yesterday after 2.5 hours, but she wasn't having it. And I really need her to be ready to sleep when we start out bedtime routine. Last night the great news was she did not follow me out after I said good night. The bad news is that it was 9:45, two hours since her brothers had been asleep. 

Last night was a win and we have a babysitter tonight. We may be sitting in our driveway at 9:45, waiting until we see her light off and hear silence! Out babysitter earns her money!