A Little Update

I forgot how intense the cravings could be during post partum!  I have a bigger sweet tooth now than I did during pregnancy and beforehand.  If I could bake cookies every day, I would.  I try to trick myself into satisfying my sweet tooth by eating a couple strawberries or even carrots with peanut butter, but it doesn’t always work. 

On Sunday, Aaron attended the Talladega Nascar race, and the boys and Avery and I were on our own at home. We attended church (I got off easy from my week to do children’s church since there were no children besides Michael, and he decided to stay in the nursery with my mom, Noah, Avery, my mother in law and my 9-month-old niece). 

After church, my mom came over to watch the boys and Avery while I took a whole bunch of winter clothes to the local consignment sale drop off day.  The sale starts this upcoming weekend, but all consignors had to bring their items ahead of time to have them looked over by the staff to make sure they were quality items.  My mom, mother in law, and I will shop on Friday night during consignor night (I got two guest passes), before the sale opens to the public on Saturday.

When I got back home, I found that the boys had stayed in their room but never actually went to sleep.  So guess what? I told them they were going to definitely have to sleep, and I was able to get a little nap on the couch.  The boys slept for two hours and when they woke up, it was dinner time.  They were content with leftovers (praise hands!!!) and afterwards, they played on the deck while I made cookies.  I didn’t have any brown sugar, so the cookies were made with only white sugar.  So, I accidentally made sugar cookies with chocolate chips.  The boys liked them.  We turned on a movie through an Amazon app and they ate cookies for their bedtime snack. 

By this time, the race was over, but Aaron was stuck in major traffic.  He doesn’t usually get stuck in traffic when he attends the races, but he and his buddies parked somewhere else this time.  So, it took him two hours to get out of the parking lot, and then it took him an hour and a half to get home.  Although Michael fell asleep within 10 minutes of going to bed, guess who was up at 9:00 when Aaron got home? Yes. Noah.  My night owl and also my early riser.  He was up on Monday morning at 5:40.

Tonight, Michael is participating in the Kindergarten performance in school.  Kindergarteners are performing Halloween songs during the APT meeting.  The sign-up sheet was sent home in August asking if kids wanted to participate.  I was sure Michael didn’t want to do it, but Aaron said we should ask him to be sure.  To my surprise, he wanted to do it!  I’ve heard bits and pieces of one of the songs over the last several weeks, and he seems really into it!  I’m super excited to be attending this very first of hopefully many school performances. He has to wear a costume, so he’s going to be Mario. 

Noah’s had a bit of regression since Avery’s arrival.  He’s getting some molars right now which is definitely contributing to his fussy spells.  He gets flustered if he’s in the midst of saying something and then forgets what he was going to say.  And I think this is just him being three, but he is struggling with the internal debates of asking for something and then not wanting it.  Then if you start walking away to put it back, he screams for you to come back to him.  Then he screams if you get close to him.  So… that wears me out.  But I know it’s a phase and I know it will pass.  He makes up for all of it when he is sweet because he is really sweet.  I just wish I had that Noah around all the time.  It’s a guessing game in a way, to know how he’s going to act when he wakes up… or anytime I randomly look at him… or if he loses a toy… etc. 

He’s so cute though because he likes certain things and is very loyal to those items.  At the moment, he’s very much into garbage trucks and school busses.  He has a few garbage truck toys and a few school bus toys.  On Mondays, we wave to the garbage man.  And every school day, we wave to my dad’s bus as it drives by, and sometimes we’re able to wave to the second bus that drives into our neighborhood.  My mother in law has taken a couple pictures of garbage trucks as she’s seen them and we’ve printed them out for him.  So, occasionally, a picture of a garbage truck will be his toy of choice that he carries around.  For example, at the DMV when I was changing a license plate for the van.  He carried around his garbage truck picture and showed everyone in line who would pay attention.

Avery is super great. She has been a great night eater the last few nights and this is awesome for me so that I can nurse her and then go right back to bed.  For a long time, I’d attempt to wake her up, she wouldn’t wake, I’d pump, she’d wake up during pumping or about an hour after I lay back down.  So, I’m really happy when she’s able to nurse in the middle of the night.

Yesterday our weather was finally cool enough for me to put a long sleeve onesie on her and she was adorable!  She’s doing really well at my mother in law’s during the day.  Noah is also totally fine with having her there since he still gets to pick the shows all day long.

Michael is finally enjoying school.  He’s made a good buddy and they pretend play Mario or Pokémon each day at PE.  Last week was fire safety week and he got to look around a real fire truck.  He came off the bus with a plastic fire helmet on and was too cute for words!  He shared with his brother and then they played “at the firehouse” (ie, our living room) for the rest of the afternoon.  I’m really happy for their closeness in age and that they are best friends.  Sometimes they’re worst enemies and say “I’m never playing with him again” and I just say “Ok” because I know that in less than 20 minutes, they’ll play together again.  And it never fails.

I’ve been trying to get back into a workout routine.  Aaron and I worked out together right after Noah was born and we were super consistent and it was FANTASTIC!  Baby weight came off super fast (but my supply tanked, so now I know better).  This time, I’m trying to be more sensitive to my post partum body and not do too much too soon. Aaron and I worked out one day last week, but I need to get us both back into a more steady routine (and I’ll just modify the movements so I don’t hinder my supply). I’m continuing with my walking DVDs and try to take a picture every time that I walk because most often, I am either holding Avery or wearing her in the baby carrier.  I have a post partum DVD that I did the other night and I had to put Avery in her bouncy seat and then use my hand or foot to make the seat bounce as I did the movements.   

I’m glad to see some fall weather, and I’m hoping it sticks around!  I’m also glad the consignment sale is this weekend because I need to buy pants for Michael since he only has two pairs that fit, and I’m washing one pair each day to get him through this week.

Thanks for reading!

I’ll update some more later this week about the performance tonight!

Until Next Time,

Much love, Reba