tuesday tea

You are currently browsing articles tagged tuesday tea.

I don’t know why fifteen months seems like a Big Deal to me.  But it does.  Not that she’s doing anything different or there’s any sort of explosion of development happening.

However.

OLIVIA IS FIFTEEN MONTHS OLD.

What the what?

I have cheeks for storing things like raisins and small toys

 

Yes, fifteen months.

We have walking.  Full-on, full-bore, screw that slow crawling crap, WALKING.  I’ve seen her crawl maybe twice? in the last two weeks.  Our favorite game is to say, “IIIII’m gonna get you!” and stomp on the ground really fast like you’re running.  She shrieks and toddles away laughing, constantly checking over her shoulder.  Then? She turns around and runs AT YOU.

So you run away.

Obviously.

Toddlby Tag.  It’s the newest sensation.

cuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrlsssssssss

 

She has ringlets.  Perusal of my baby pictures confirms she has my hair.  So.  I love it now and I empathize with her when she’s older and HATE HATE HATES her hair because it’s curly and thick and hot and fluffy and frizzy and hot and hot and HOT.

Right now, the ringlets are adorable as all get out and make for some stellar bed-head most mornings.  I have given up combing her hair except after baths.  It’s useless otherwise.

guacamole finger painting

 

Food.

She eats it.

All of it.

Well, we’ve run across the occasional thing here and there she won’t eat.  She hates lunchmeat or reheated meat of any kind. She’s very picky about meat in general.  She likes it sauced or heavily spiced and shredded or cut up small.  She adores all vegetables and fruits.  She inhales guacamole and salsa like it’s never going to be around again.  She thinks mama’s smoothies are the best treat ever.  Especially through a straw.

Graham crackers are the shizzle.  And the rule is, “One for each hand one for your mouth.” She will not leave until you comply.

She also eats ridiculous portion sizes.  Her little puffed out belly after dinner is hilarious.  But she’s happy and full and healthy so I’m not worried.

She’s also still nursing for naps and bedtime, which is really really nice.  I love the cuddles and the comfort.

Who let this kindergartener in my house?

 

Teeth.

Oh lordy, do we ever have teeth.

The front four on both top and bottom have come in no problem.  However, we have entered the special level of hell known as Molars.  Three of them to be precise.  And they are the worst thing in the whole entire world.  They wake her up at night and spontaneously make her grumpy during the day.  I guess the upside (?) is she wants to cuddle when she’s upset, which is sweet and sometimes she’ll drift off for a doze while cuddled against me.

the cute kills me

 

Her favoritest thing in the whole wide world is to lay on pillows and watch “Rapunzel” (Tangled).  It is, by far, her favorite movie and I’m completely fine with her watching it over and over and over and over and over.

And over.

And over.

If it means less teething crying and the chance for me to do something like write or work on my part-time gigs I’m lining up.  She giggles at the horse, babbles to Flynn whenever he’s on the screen, dances with the songs, and paces around the living room dragging pillows if the mood strikes her.

bukkit

 

She’s not speaking much other than babbling.  She says “mama” and “deedee” (daddy) and “dog dog wooh wooh” but that’s it.  Her babbling is getting more…specific? if that makes sense.  So I think more words are coming at some point.  I’m trying not to be concerned when I hear/see other babies her age speaking a lot more because I know every baby develops differently.  We read to her a lot and she “reads” her books all the time.  She loves Sesame Street and other educational shows like that.  Plus, she’s around four adults who talk to her all the time so I’m not worried.

She definitely understands certain phrases and reacts accordingly.  ”How about we lay down and sleep now?” “Where’s your pacifier?” “Do you want to watch Rapunzel?” “Come get in your chair to eat dinner.” “May I have a kiss?” “Do you want to dance?”

and then I died again from cute

 

She’s an amazing little girl and we are so lucky to be her parents.  And I can’t wait to see what the next few months have in store.

Tags: , , ,

I feel so behind on life lately.  I owe you guys so many posts.  Olivia’s birthday party, our move, a review on an awesome new hand-loomed wrap, updates on us in general…

The list goes on.

Suffice to say, we are alive.  We made it to St. Louis in one piece.

Since then, things have been chaotic at best.  We occupy two rooms in my parents’ house and, since Olivia naps in one of them, I can only do so much unpacking in that room at a time.  Meanwhile, Stephen still has to put in a normal work week in the other room and I don’t want to interrupt him or make him feel like he needs to get up and help me.  Plus, the closets in both rooms are still packed with other things my parents are planning on moving so we can use them.

So.

Plus we all got sick.  Some sort of weird bug that gave us all scratchy throats and headaches.  I’m [just now] feeling better.

But.

Olivia’s reaction to the move is coming out in her nighttime sleeping.  Or should I say lack thereof.  She fights bedtime [hard] then wakes up multiple times during the night then wakes up at 6.30am.  This is the baby that use to go to bed at 8.30pm, wake up once, and sleep until 9am.  It also doesn’t help that we are all in the same room so she can see me when she peeks out of her crib and her crib is by the window where the sun rises and there’s no window shade there yet.

Boom, crack of dawn baby awake.

Mama not pleased.

However, I’m not really complaining.  I’m just venting a little and trying to explain why I haven’t been here or Twitter or Facebook.  We’re just wading through the boxes and bags and furniture and trying to figure out the best plan to regain some semblance of normalcy.

Plus, the leaving of Atlanta hit me harder emotionally than I thought it would.  I mean, I knew I’d be sad.  I didn’t know that I would randomly choke up or fight back tears at odd times of the day or night.  I think I need to just collapse somewhere and have a proper cry about it.  I still know this is the best decision for our family – and that was reaffirmed watching Olivia play with her cousins and the sheer and utter joy on her face as she crawled around after them.  The other half of it, the leaving of Stephen’s family part of it, sucks and hurts and was a [lot] harder than I’d envisioned.

Still, I am so incredibly happy to be home.  I was able to spend my brother’s birthday actually with him for the first time in 13 years.  My mom is getting to sit on the floor and play with her granddaughter.  My stepdad, who has only seen Olivia twice before now, is actually getting to know her, finally.  This is good.  And this was right.

There is nagging in the back of my head.  are you SURE? what if…? what if…?

But I argue with it and quell it and put my head down and sort through some more boxes.

I promise I’ll come back and write lots more.  I need to.  Or I’ll explode.  For now, we are here.  We are making it.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Tags: , , ,

Wow.

So.  Moving.

Original plan: Rent a truck.  Pack all our stuff into said truck.  Stephen drive the truck and I drive our SUV with the baby overnight from Atlanta to St. Louis the weekend AFTER Mother’s Day.  We leave his car in Atlanta and he fly back his first time he has to be back for his once a month thing.

Stephen started looking up prices of the various truck rental companies and, shockingly, it’s anywhere from $500 to $1500 for one of those beasts.  Even a small one.

Well.

Crap.

We hemmed and hawed and started hashing out alternative solutions.  A while back, my mom had offered to bring her two-horse trailer in addition to her huge truck to help us move since she can’t stay the entire week between Olivia’s birthday (!!) and the proposed move date.  I told her “maybe” and we left it open.

Eventually we came up with two possible solutions.  1) Mom bring her trailer and we pack up as much as will fit in her trailer, her truck, our SUV and Stephen’s little two door coupe.  Then mom leave and head back while Stephen and I stay here and clean up the house, make repairs, etc. and we stay with his parents. 2) Same as 1 except with me and the baby heading back with mom and Stephen staying here to clean/repair and put in a full week at work.

I called my mom, who is coming into town this weekend for Olivia’s birthday (!!), and left a message on her machine asking her if it was possible for her to bring her horse trailer.  I told the machine the ideas and apologized that this cut a week off their timeline to get my and my brother’s old bedrooms cleared out for us to take over.  I told her if that didn’t work to let me know and we’d figure something else out.

That was on Sunday.

Monday was our anniversary.  Yesterday.  I hadn’t heard from mom all day long and was beginning to have a sinking feeling in my gut.  What if something was wrong with the trailer?  What if she couldn’t bring it after all?  What if they absolutely could not get those rooms cleared in time?  We just potentially cut a whole week from our timeline?  What if we can’t get everything packed?  What about Olivia’s birthday party?

What if

What if

What if

We went out for dinner for our anniversary to one of our favorite brewpubs that we will miss dearly.  We had an amazing time.  I drank champagne.  I took migraine medication so I could have one of their amazing soft pretzels.  Stephen’s parents came over to our house and hung out with the little monster.

On our way back home, my mom called.  When I answered the phone, all I could hear was lots of talking and rumbling in the background.  She proceeded to happily tell me that my brother and a friend of his had procured a 24-foot trailer with a fully finished interior for my mom to hook to her truck and bring to Atlanta this weekend.

Twenty. Four. Feet.

Fully. Finished.

This means sealed and waterproof and nice.

The bedrooms may or may not be completely cleared out by this weekend but the promise is there to do their best.  My brother is heading over there this weekend to help while Mom is here in Atlanta.  I told them as long as I had a place to sleep with the baby, it didn’t matter.

So.

New plan: Mom is bringing a 24-foot trailer hooked to her truck which is going to look [awesome] sitting on the street of our city neighborhood.  I will take pictures for you guys.  We are packing everything we own into that trailer after Olivia’s birthday (!!).  Either Sunday night or Monday night, Mom, Olivia and I will make the drive back to St. Louis.  Stephen and the dog will stay with his parents and he will clean/repair the house here.  He will then come up the following Friday evening after work.

Yikes!

So I have six days to pack up an entire house.  Olivia’s birthday party is Saturday afternoon.  Mother’s Day is Sunday.  I will also be solo parenting all next week while trying to move as much of our stuff into my parents’ house as I can alone.

Packing.

Party Decoration Crafting.

Cleaning.

Also? A real estate agent is coming by [tonight] to show the house.

Oh, hi, stress!

Overwhelmed!

But excited.  So excited.

You guys?  I’m going [home] in six days.

Six.

Home.

Tags: , ,

« Older entries