Catching up...

Well, it's been one of those mornings... It actually started last night, Juliana was so tired that when we headed upstairs to start the bedtime routine (bath, diaper, nursing, bed), she pointed to be put down into her crib where she grabbed her pacifier and her blanket, then wanted to be picked up, as if she wanted to go right to sleep at that moment. Instead, I played with her a little bit (Where's Mommy's nose?) so I could get her undressed and then we moved toward bath time. She fussed and cried during bath time so we moved through that step very quickly, quickly got a new diaper on her and quickly brushed her hair. We moved into the bedroom and I nursed her, and she fell asleep. However, in the transition from our bedroom to her bedroom and crib, I guess she decided she wasn't ready for sleep yet. 20 minutes after I patted her back, she'd lay down, wiggle, lay down, wiggle, etc, I finally told her that it was time for nite nite and if she didn't lay down and close her eyes, I was going to leave the room. So I left the room, she cried and screamed. I gave her 2 minutes, then went back in and tried again, but she just wanted to play. Left the room, she cried and screamed. Brian went in to try, she just wanted to play. He left the room. We started eating our dinner (gave her 5 minutes). Brian went back in, no luck. I finished dinner, he finished dinner, I went back in, and finally she went to sleep. This whole process took about an hour. Brian said that he thought this would mean she would sleep really well, I figured not so much. Turns out, not so much. She woke up at 5:45, nursed (like usual), but then wouldn't go back to sleep. I tried until about 6:45 by holding her, rocking her, etc, no dice. So, since I needed to get dressed, I put her in her crib so I could get dressed and prepare for my day. She cried and screamed. I went in and changed her diaper, put her clothes on, and we went downstairs to prepare breakfast, pack lunches, and eat breakfast. She was hungry, I know, but she fussed and cried during the process. It was 7:50, so I had a choice. See if she'd go back to sleep and go into work late, or put her in the car and head on to day care where she wouldn't nap until after lunch (around 12:30pm). I chose nap. She sacked out in about 5 minutes. It's times like this, and days like today when I feel guilty for having little patience and zero tolerance for the fussing and demanding nature of the tired toddler. I feel guilty that I "work" (luckily I'm still in grad school where I don't necessarily have a time demand for when I need to show up) and she goes to day care where she enjoys playing so much that she doesn't get as many naps, or the naps she does get are normally cut short by loud distracting noises or other kids waking up. I want to post on my MOMs club facebook page seeking compliments and reassurances that I'm still a "good" mom, even though I'm letting her cry and be frustrated because I am frustrated. But I stop myself because of the thoughts of people who aren't so lucky to have "normal" and healthy children, who would envy these moments I have. Or people whose children are missing (thinking about the case in OH where the three women were found, it's amazing how news affects you so much differently once you have (a) kid(s)). I try to tell myself to relax and "enjoy", but sometimes, you just need a reminder of the days (which are more frequent than challenging days like today) when you get the arms wrapped tight around your neck, the open mouthed kiss (?if that's what she's actually doing?) on the face, and the big beaming smile that says "I'm so happy to see you!" So, in the spirit of visiting the fun days, the mind blowing developmental steps, and the sweet stories, I'll photo dump and story dump...

This photo "series" was shortly before her birthday. I was sitting in the chair eating breakfast, and next thing I know, she's trying to climb under the chair.

Then she stopped to examine the caning at the bottom of the chair (the top seat of the chair is upholstered but the original cane is still at the bottom).

And then she took a break before eventually figuring a way to climb out from under it.

One of her birthday gifts was this BRIGHT neon tutu and white tee. This was her first choice of an outfit to wear to school. I added the headband, which was also a gift. She kept it on for about 10 minutes, which was pretty impressive seeing how I haven't made a habit of putting headbands on her. I just like the "ladylike" pose she has here!

She grabbed Dad's chapstick off the bedside table and is examining it.

Since my regular carpool is spending a few months staying home with his wife, daughter, and new baby boy, my schedule in the mornings is totally dependent on when I decide to leave the house, versus meeting at a specific time. This particular morning, we were running "late", probably because I decided to let Juliana sleep late, and we're trying to eat breakfast at home, so she got there just in time to go on a walk with the young toddlers. She was absolutely thrilled. I think this is the highlight of her day, and she looked so cute sitting in this buggy that I couldn't resist taking a picture! In the interest of being sensitive to other parents and children, I've tried to crop out her row buddy.

The weekend after her birthday, we headed down to VA. I was supposed to attend a bachelorette party, but was extremely sick. Instead we picked up some couches and spent time with the family.

Mealtime has become much more challenging... Our kitchen table is normally pretty cluttered as a staging area for mail, bags for day care, etc, and she points and "demands" things on the table other than her food. This particular day she wanted a box and was chewing pieces off of it, so we gave her an ice cream cone instead. In my opinion, they have the same tasteless texture, and she was thrilled.

In the last few weeks Juliana also had her first big illness, a virus that gave her an extremely high fever for about 3 days. She came home from day care early on Wednesday, and the fever finally broke Friday night. So I was home with her on Thursday, here she is sleeping, and Brian was home with her on Friday since I had obligations at school.

On Saturday when she was feeling better, we ventured out to explore a different playground near our house. It looked like she was painting because she would pick up a piece of mulch and "draw" on the fencing. She reminds me of Holly Hobbie with her sun hat on.

Last weekend was the wedding that I was in, and Juliana spent the weekend with Lolli and Pop while Mom and Dad got a "break." Clearly, she had loads of fun.

When we were unloading after we got home, she reached into my bag to dump out the cupcake favor and take a taste. She really liked it.

We were reading books to her, which really means that she was running around playing while we read the books out loud, and I was astonished to see her stacking her wooden blocks. She was so cute with it too, because she stacked them on the lid of this tub, and then she would stack 2 blocks, pick up the bottom block and try to keep the stack.

Yesterday morning while I was trying to get food out of the fridge for breakfast and lunch, she grabbed the container of cherry tomatoes, peeled off the sticker cover, and pulled out a tomato. I told her she could try it, but she still ran off to another area of the kitchen to take a bite out of it.

I don't believe it was what she was expecting... Shortly after this picture, the tomato was discarded and left for Mom to clean up the seed trail around the kitchen floor.