Operation Purge: Part 1

 Moving to New England was a bit of a shock for this California girl. I am used to walk in closets, "bonus rooms", and huge garages which are all products of newer homes and apartments.  When we came to RI the first place we lived in was a second floor apartment in a 3 family home that was almost 80 years old. We had 2 closets, that were literally the size of the door, and not very deep. Our bathroom was in between the 2 bedrooms and had a pedestal sink and a small medicine cabinet. My first thought when I walked in was, "Where the heck am I going to put all of my stuff??!!". We ended up putting up closet rods and shelves in the spare bedroom and basically treating it like a giant closet. I told myself that when we moved into a house that was bigger all of my storage problems would be solved.

Enter our first house. The closet situation improved only slightly, but we had 3 bedrooms and a garage. We lived that whole first year with ample space then along came Natey. I'm convinced baby gear breeds like small rodents because it started filling up the house. We decided to turn our attached garage into a family room and boom, there went the storage. The guestroom bed was sold and the room was turned into my craft room/storage space. It wasn't ideal, but it worked and the clutter was once again at bay.

Cue baby number two and now all 3 bedrooms are filled with people. The things that were in storage in that room were shuffled onto a shelving unit in the boiler room, but there is very little space in there. My sewing machine, fabric and all that sewing entails (which is a lot of stuff by the way) were moved into the back corner of our unused formal living room. The clutter began to grow exponentially with 4 people, 2 of which are small beings which apparently require stores full of things that I have no place to put.

I am surrounded by clutter and I'm done. I need my space to be clean and organized again. My BIL, who inhabits our in-law apartment in the basement, is moving out in February. It would be easy just to move the clutter into the basement when he leaves, but that won't solve my problems.  Inspired by Michele, I started "Operation Purge" and my first victim was the bathroom. I'm pretty sure that I have never thrown away a single thing and somehow ended up with packed drawers and an overflowing medicine cabinet. I had items in there that expired in 2006!!! Seriously. All in all I got rid of 73 things from the drawers and cabinet.

I have honestly had most of these things for years!!! The nail polishes, foot cream and banana boat tanning oil are at least 7 years old...and probably haven't been used in over 5! The Theraflu was from 2004! It was ridiculous. My cabinet is so clean and all of the drawers are organized and not packed to the gills! It was freeing and now I am motivated to tackle the whole house a room at a  time.

Next stop....the dining room!

Arielle at 9 months

Some baby...

...is 9 months old

...is 23 pounds and 30 inches long

...above the 95th percentile for both height and weight if you were wondering

...has a peanut head compared to her squishy body

...has just started waving hi and bye

...tortures me by saying "dada" and shaking her head no when I ask for "mama"

...is obviously spoiled by daddy since I would never let her have any slushy!

...has started making clicking noises with her tongue

...and kissy noises with her lips

...cracks herself up making sounds by rubbing her mouth on her hand

...has started cruising (slowly)

...is now eating small chunks of soft food like banana and fish

...still has 6 teeth

...uses her 6 teeth to chew up her crib railing

...is 3/4 of the way to being 1

That makes me happy and breaks my heart all at the same time

Change

It is inevitable, but to be honest I really suck at it. I am an anxious person by nature and the more things that remain constant in my life, the better I can handle stressful situations.  I still remember the visit to my midwife, when I was pregnant with Nate, where she told me it was possible I could be delivered by any of the doctors in the practice. I instantly felt the blood drain from my face and my chest tighten. I'm sure this must just be common knowledge to most, but I didn't realize it was even remotely possible until that moment. She must have seen the intense look of panic wave over me because she agreed to special me and gave me a slip that guaranteed her to be there for my delivery. I am convinced that, because I had that one constant, one factor I could count on in the unknown of my first child birth, I was able to make it through with a natural birth.

After Nate was born, I found myself in this anxious state again trying to figure out who would care for him when I went back to work. I toured several big day cares, which made me even more nervous. I knew that wasn't what was right for him, or me. The thought of one person caring for 4 infants at a time baffled me. What if one was crying, or hungry, or dirty what about the other 3?? I didn't want my baby to be sitting in a bouncy seat all day because there wasn't enough one on one care for him. I was relieved to find a home day care situation for him. She cared for her twin boys who were almost 2 and my friend's infant who was 4 months older than Nate and him. It has been a great fit from the start. Nate had sleeping issues, she was able to spend the time with him to work through them. She'd carry him around in a carrier when he was having a clingy day. He got his own room to sleep in and became a wonderful sleeper. He has been there since he was 3 months old. He is know 3 years and 3 months old.

I have been toying with the idea of pre-school. He is such a smart kid but, if left to his own devices, is a bit on the wild side. I'm starting to believe that he really needs the more rigid structure that a school setting provides. I talked to him about it and he seems really excited to "go to school", so why am I so freaked out? Why does it make my stomach churn to think about moving him? I toured 2 schools and the curriculum seems awesome, they are close to my work, they even have infant care if I want to move the baby at some point too. I can't pull the trigger.

The nap time and environment is different, what if he doesn't sleep well?

He's been with his care giver for 3 years, what if he has a hard time adjusting?

What if the 1:8 ratio is too may kids to teachers and he doesn't get enough attention?

Will he make new friends or feel lonely at a new place?

I can't help but wonder in all of my worrying, if it is really concern for him or my inability to handle change that is holding me back.

Six Words Friday: The Best

The supreme effort one can make:

This is the definition of best
It‘s constantly thrown in your face
Best bet, best guess, best dressed

Hit me with your best shot
The best thing since sliced bread
He who laughs last, laughs best
and may the best man win.

It’s probably all for the best
Best things in life are free
Best defense is a good offense
These are so cliché to me.

To make the best of it
Should be my rule of thumb
One thing I know for sure
The best is yet to come.

Head on over to Making things Up for more 6 word wonders!

Wordless Wednesday - Just another day at the Zoo

Don't drink the water

Will someone please

tell this kid

that this is

a splash pad

and not a drinking fountain!!!

Yeah, I know kid. Tell me about it!

 

Eternal sunshine of the missing mind

I usually like to clear my head on Thursday but I've been a little off since coming back from NYC. Who knew 42 hours away from home could turn my brain into oatmeal?

For instance, yesterday morning after I dropped the kidlets off, I text (text, texted?? anyway) my friend and the following conversation ensued:

Me: Happy Humpday!
Her: Ummmm, it's Thursday silly!!Thank goodness!
Me: Ohhh, even better!

See what I mean? I lost a whole day in there somewhere. Or did I gain a day? It's like daylight savings for the mind. I'll be happy when this day is over and I can go home knowing I don't have to drag myself into work tomorrow. Unfortunately, my house looks like the crap fairy graced me with her presence, so most of tomorrow will be spent cleaning, organizing, purging (my inner hoarder is crying right now) and a long overdue visit with the in-laws. On the bright side, Sunday brings an outing to Boston to see Cirque du Soleil's OVO and some tasty (cheaper) eats courtesy of the start of Boston's Restaurant week! 

Happy Friday!

Lessons Learned

I went to NYC this weekend to attend BlogHer and this is what I learned:

The 3 hours and 45 minutes it takes to drive home at midnight takes waaaayyyyyyy longer than the 4 hours and 45 minutes it takes to drive to NYC on your way to the conference. It is also way less fun. Especially when you have to call the cops on a drunk driver.

I can't sleep in, even when optimal conditions exist (e.g. no kids, dark room, no one else in my bed, up till 1am the night before). This is an annoying fact.

34 hours is no where near enough time to experience NY.

Just because you add the word Her to something, doesn't mean it makes sense.

That being said, substituting that word where it DOES make sense is often hilarious. So is making fun of the terms that don't.

Even though you intend to go to 3 parties in 1 night, you'll only make it to one. And you'll be totally ok with that. 

Attending the sessions was apparently a waste of time, so I feel better about only buying the parties pass.

Every woman is wearing the wrong bra size. Except for me. Because I went here!

One word. SWAG!

The bloggers that think they're a big deal are usually rude, but the ones that really are and don't act like it are the sweetest women you could ever meet.

Um yeah, SHE was sweet as pie!

You can meet a lot of awesome new people if you just open your mouth and your mind.

Me, Liz, Sarah, Becca, LZ, Sarah, Jana, Christine

(LZ, Liz, Me & one Awesome Diva not pictured on above shot since she left to get beautiful-er)

Me and Amy

If you have zero expectations, you can't help but be satisfied.

I am a way smaller fish in a way bigger pond than I even imagined, and I'm ok with it.

The Holy Grail

Nothing is more elusive than the holy grail of babyhood. That's right, I'm talking about sleeping through the night. With your first baby this journey seems like forever since you don't know how long it will take to get there. You pray you'll get one of those miracle babies who is doing it at 4 weeks, but of course you aren't that lucky. I almost don't believe people who are that lucky, but that's probably just the jealousy talking.

Nate was a rough baby. He was a mover and shaker and was not happy if he wasn't in motion. He loved the swing. He'd spend hours in it sleeping. In fact, all of his naps until he was 4 or 5 months took place in the swing. He co-slept (not by choice but because he wouldn't fall asleep without a boob in his mouth) with us until he was 3 months old and then I finally got him to sleep in his own crib. It took a little bit of crying (only 6 minutes actually), but I remember the first time that he fell asleep on his own so vividly. It was the second happiest moment (the first being his birth of course) I had in his short little life! From then on sleep starting going pretty well and by 6 months he was sleeping through the night.

Just to be clear, my definition of sleeping through the night is not the text book one. To me, it means falling asleep and not waking until the morning! None of this, oh they slept 6 hours in a row, call it good crap. Nate was sleeping from 7pm to ~6:30am by 6 months. It was great. He would only wake due to teething, peeing through his diaper, or the occasional bad dream.

Now cue baby #2. The arrival of lil Miss Arielle was different. She was a good sleeper from the start. She didn't need to fall asleep touching me. She hated the swing (go figure) and napped just fine in her crib or the bouncy chair. We co-slept for a little over 3 months, this time, by choice. She is calm and quiet; relaxed in every way. Here comes the but... She is still not sleeping through the night consistently. She did it 3 nights in a row right before we left for vacation, but then she was thrown out of whack by our trip. After returning, she got settled again and gave me 3 nights (usually waking ~6 am) in a row, but then began teething again. The kicker is, the nights she does sleep through, Nate will wake up for some unknown reason. I seriously think they are in cahoots! This mommy is tired and would really just like to go to bed and not have to get up until I need to be up for the day!

At 6 months I started to wait for the light at the end of the tunnel, but it seems that every time the light gets closer it starts to fade again. I long for the day that I can go to bed and know, with relative certainty, that I will be rested the next morning. When did your kids start sleeping through the night, and don't say 4 weeks or I might have to cut ya!

Arielle at 8 months

Some baby girl...

...refuses to stop growing {hmph} and is 8 months (and a week cause I stink at posting) old.

...is still the best smiley, happy baby.

...decided to start crawling.

... AND pull herself to standing the first 2 days of our vacation.

..has the funniest crawl of all time.

...is toying with the idea of sleeping through the night but it keeps getting interrupted (vacations, teething, etc)

...has stopped biting while I feed her (thank God!)

...has been blowing raspberries like it's her job.

...is cutting her 5th and 6th teeth (top lateral incisors).

...is approximately 22 pounds!

...is down to only 3 bottles a day.

...is a champ at eating her solids.

...has re-tried avocado and now likes it.

...has started eating puffs, cheerios and teething biscuits.

...still has only peach fuzz for hair, but it's getting longer.
...is so content just chilling (sooo unlike her bother).

...has squishy thighs for days.

...answers to putchy puddin pie.
...is the apple of my eye!