Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

Greetings from somewhere between Jersey and Nevada.

Right now we’re on our way out to Las Vegas. I realize it’s the middle of summer and we’re heading to the desert. But it’s fun, and we’ve been doing it every year.

Some years Andrew does better with the trip than others. We try to time the flights around nap time so there’s less time on the plane where he’s awake and we’re trying to keep him occupied while strapped into the seat. Sometimes that works better than others, but it is really hard to keep an active 2 year old in his seat for 5+ hours.

The time change definitely throws him. By around 7, he’s ready to go to bed. And, unfortunately, that also means that by 5 AM, he’s rip roaring ready to go. I can handle going to bed early…but waking up that early is brutal. Especially since there is NOTHING to do in Vegas that early except gamble, and you can’t exactly do that with a little one.

The other interesting part of this trip will be whether Andrew actually sleeps in his own bed. He usually doesn’t sleep so well in hotels and wants to be in bed with us. I’ll have my fingers crossed for at least a couple nights of sleeping in a munchkin-free bed.

Andrew has been looking forward to getting on the airplane and seeing his Vegas girlfriend. (My friend from college has a little girl Andrew’s age. Last year they bonded over taking turns riding Andrew’s stuffed horse “Neigh” and jumping up and down in his crib.) He’ll have fun swimming, eating ice cream, and cruising around the strip watching all the people. It’ll be good to get away for a couple days.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Over the last month my life has changed in many ways.  Baby Tate entered the world and has brought us much joy.  I was lucky enough to have my mother spend an entire month with us.  With her help, she made things seem pretty manageable and gave me hope that I could be a wonderful mother of two.  Unfortunately, she had to return to PA a few days ago and go on about her life.

I have been dreading the day/night when I’m by myself and my husband is at work.  Thinking about tending to the two children all alone makes me a bit uneasy.  Jack has been having a rough time getting to bed at night, and Tate’s feeding schedule is about every 2 hours.  Making sure dinner is cooked and fed, bath time, brushing teeth, reading, telling stories and convincing Jack that there are NO ghosts in our house seems to take up my entire night.  Trying to squeeze in a feeding can get a little tricky to say the least.  To my amazement, I have been able to juggle everything the past few nights.  Jack has been such a great big brother.  He seems to find something to do when I have to tend to Tate.  Sometimes it’s playing with the breast pump, which makes me chuckle, but to him it’s some kind of cool machine that makes funny noises.

I know that within weeks I’ll be on a routine and getting more sleep.  Before my mother left, her advice to me was to take it day by day and things will go smoothly.  So far, her advice is working and keeping me sane.  It’s funny to think that I felt this way with one child (and a high maintenance dog) and now I have two.  Despite all the stress and panic, our kids mean the world to us and we couldn’t be any happier.

Our church recently had VBS, Mega Sports Camp. And although Brady is now exhausted from five nights of fun, he had a blast. I was worried that he would be nervous leaving me. Even though many of the kids there were kids from his Sunday school and Wednesday night classes, most of the kids were visiting from other churches and just there for VBS. Brady walked in the first evening and “announced” his arrival as at least ten other 4-year olds came running over to him to say hi. I guess I have a little social butterfly on my hands. He definitely wasn’t scared – AT ALL. So, I left and headed off to a free two hours to work.

I now realize that Brady has been going through a tough time (behaviorally) lately. The doctor told me it was known as the “frustrating fours” and very normal. Although I am still having difficulties dealing with Brady at times, without getting frustrated myself! But that is for another week’s blog.

So when I arrived to pick up Brady on the first night of VBS, I was a little afraid that I might get a bad report. (I have the past two Wednesday nights.) Much to my surprise, the teacher handed me an award, the nightly MVP award for the student who behaved well and helped out the most. To say I was a proud mama is putting it mildly. I made a HUGE deal about the award and hoped it meant we had turned a corner in his behavior.

Well, throughout the week I got several other great reports from his teacher. His behavior at home still is “frustrating,” but it is a first step on the road to recovery from frustration. I hope to get many more great reports on his behavior in other classes. But for now, I am very proud of my little MVP.