This was supposed to be an upbeat, happy post. And then yesterday and today happened and I have so little left in me, it's a miracle I can get anything down at all. Anytime anyone asks me how I'm doing, I put on a brave face, and I tell them how wonderful it is to watch the siblings together, how we're surviving work and daycare and preschool and everything else, how it's hard, but it's okay.
But honestly? Sometimes it's not okay. I am so tired. The kind of tired you can feel in your bones. And Dakota is even sleeping through the night, so it's not even an up five times a night tired. (although she's not sleeping now - at 9:30 pm on Saturday night - which is just one of the reasons today is hard). I'm tired of everything being so hard. I'm tired of planning dinner, of grocery shopping, of doing laundry, of cleaning up little people's bodily functions, of not having enough time for anything, of always being on someone else's schedule, whether it's work, home or otherwise. Not \every day, but some days, it takes everything I have to motivate myself to get up and be happy and excited about the day to come.
It's not a lie when I say I love my kids. Because I do, with all my heart. But I need the next six to twelve months to go faster than you can imagine. I'm not saying it will be easier then, but the challenges will be different. And right now I need different.
I know this is a downer for a Saturday night, but I had to get it out. I don't need sympathy; this is the life we chose and we'll get through it. I think more than anything I just need people to know - to know that when I smile and say "I'm good," there's something else going on that isn't always "great" or even "good."
On to the good stuff - the cutest kids you've ever ever seen. :)
(On a related note, as we were leaving a restaurant at lunch today, I overheard a woman saying to a co-worker (about our kids), "did you see those two kids? Those are the cutest kids I've ever seen!" So it's not just me who thinks they're cute!)
A little Athletes First love, while also exhibiting her spitting skills. She's pretty proud of her spitting skills.
How we all felt on Tuesday night. It has been an exhausting few weeks.
Jayden. Not much else to say here.
Probably one of my favorite videos of all time. I had given Dakota her bath and decided to put her in Jayden's just for a minute. She started splashing, and getting me and Jayden all wet. So we started laughing. Which made her laugh and splash even harder. This went on for quite a while, which is the only way I was able to capture this on video. Enjoy!
(Finally) sleeping. Napping has been the world's biggest battle recently. And about once a week, bedtime is a disaster as well. Last week it was Sunday night. This week it's tonight. She just is wide awake and refuses to go to sleep. It's brutal, especially on a night like tonight when I have 181 things to get done in preparation for the coming week. Definitely brought me to tears.
Jayden found this game my mom gave to me years ago. It's way beyond his skill set, but it involves cars and trucks so we play a version of it. Basically, you pick a card that has a set up of cars and trucks. You have to slide the cars and trucks around to get one particular car out the exit. It's a logic/puzzle/spatial orientation game. Because it's a little above his level, I read him the answers. But after doing it a few times, he was able to figure out the last few moves on his own. And as we were putting it away to go upstairs, he managed to fit all the cars and trucks into the board, based on organizing them in a certain way. Carmen and I both complimented him and he exclaimed "I'm talented!" And he was right.
Tomorrow we have soccer class and a birthday party. Then Carmen and I have work Monday, Tuesday and a little bit on Wednesday. Gigi and Mom-mom arrive Monday around lunchtime, and are here for eight days. Next weekend we have no activities (no swim or soccer), so we'll find some other activities to entertain everyone and get the kids out of the house those days!
I'm guessing I won't make it back online before Thanksgiving, so everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with friends/family/whoever!
Welcome to my exciting Saturday night! As usual, I spend my Saturday nights writing a blog post before I pass out by 11 at the latest. And the only reason it's so late is because I have to get Jayden up to use the bathroom one last time between 11 and 12 or so.
And speaking of that, I am so over nighttime potty training. Jayden was doing great, and went a whole week without any kind of accident (earning him his Hot Wheels track!). And then the last few days happened. He "forgets" to go to the bathroom and instead stands in the doorway to our room or at the top of the stairs and has an accident. Or he'll refuse to go to the bathroom and an hour later have an accident in his bed. Now Carmen and I are debating whether or not to put him back in a pull up or just tough it out. We can't punish him for accidents; that's pretty much proven not to work generally, and definitely won't work with Jayden. So we're sort of at a loss. But with Carmen out of town for the next five nights, something has got to give. We'll see how long I last, I guess, and how bad it is for the next night or two.
In any case, we've had a pretty good last week. Gramma and Grampa arrived Wednesday (I had the day off and preschool was closed). We hung out in the morning and then picked them up from the airport a little before lunch.
I had to run to the bathroom, and put Dakota in her bouncy seat next to the table. Jayden was playing with his roller coaster set. When I came back, he had pulled her seat over to him and had given her one of his cars. He explained that he didn't want her to be alone and be sad, so he brought her over closer to him. And he didn't want her to be bored, so he gave her a car to play with. He definitely gets the best big brother award.
We got to the airport early so that we could watch the plane land, and we did it! We had a good time sitting on the hood of my car, snacking on some fruit and watching planes take off and land. It was pretty windy, pretty loud and pretty bright. But we had a great time. And then, of course, we got to pick up Gramma and Grampa, which was the most exciting part of the day.
We spent the rest of Wednesday hanging out at home and relaxing. Thursday Jayden went to school because he didn't want to miss show and tell, but we picked him up before lunch. We relaxed the rest of the day, playing outside and playing card games.
Gramma got a great shot of Jayden riding his bike at preschool.
Jayden and I running, playing soccer together. I definitely got some exercise in. It made me realize that mentally (and probably physically) I would be a whole lot happier if I started running again. I just can't quite figure out timing, and I'm still a little worried about interfering with my milk supply.
MOST importantly, Dakota was five months old on Thursday
And what a happy, charming five month old she is!
Friday we planned to go to a science center near us that had a traveling Hot Wheels exhibit. I'd been talking to Jayden about it, and we decided it would be a fun exhibit to see with Gramma and Grampa. And it was pretty fun! Not as big as I expected, but about the perfect size for a four year old. And we checked out a couple other parts of the science center too, which were pretty fun also. We're definitely going to have to go back to see more.
Wearing a pretty orange dress from Gramma, and fighting Mama on tummy time.
Playing with the track at the exhibit. He found a launcher. I was hoping that would encourage him on the potty training front, since he had a glimpse of the cool track accessories he could get...but no such luck.
The Pit Crew: Jayden and Grampa changing the tires on the race car.
Sibling cuddles. This is a very typical Dakota face. Big eyes, eyebrows raised, lips together - watching, trying to figure out what exactly is going on. She's an observer too, but a much more active observer than Jayden.
My loves. Pictures like this make me all sappy. They're just so cute together.
Today was an almost typical Saturday. We had swim class, and then we went to the mall for a little bit of the Nordstrom (and Varvatos) sale. I of course spent a little more money than I planned, and got a little more stressed out than I wanted (shopping with kids is just not really enjoyable, especially when the four year old is exhausted, getting sick and hanging on by the tiniest of threads). Carmen took Dad to the airport, and then we all met at home so the kids could nap. Jayden napped, Dakota did not. Story of our lives these days - one kid sleeps, the other does not (Jayden naps well, but has been waking up multiple times at night; Dakota sleeps through the night but won't nap during the day unless she's in our arms). We had dinner and put the kids to bed, and then Carmen took off for the airport.
Baby girl is getting so strong - she was standing up by herself! I was inches away, spotting her, but her legs were supporting her all on her own!
A family photo.
Cutest baby wrapped in a towel.
Tomorrow we have soccer and more relaxing planned, and then Monday I'll take the kids to preschool and my mom to the airport, and then head to the office. I am ready for the day when both kids sleep during they day and all through the night. I'm afraid by the time I teach Dakota to nap, Jayden will be close to ready to give up his nap. But I'm hoping we get at least a couple months of overlap, at a minimum. We'll see.
I realized I haven't been putting up any "official" updates from my emails. I don't have a lot to add from them, because the four-year-old ones are pretty generic, and Dakota's are usually spot on, so usually I've already told you about what the update says. This week the four-year-old update was talking about rules and how much four year olds love them. And it's true; Jayden loves rules. He loves telling people rules, and he's good at following them. One morning he didn't want to eat his breakfast, and I told him preschool has a rule that all students have to eat breakfast before they get to school. This is mostly true - technically they won't send him home if he hasn't eaten, but they do strongly suggest that the kids eat a well-rounded breakfast before coming to school. Once I told Jayden the "rule," he has since told Carmen and Gramma about it. And he does take it seriously, because he loves preschool. :)
For Dakota, the email updated suggested I let her sit up more unassisted. Which I do. As you can see, we're even letting her stand! She's definitely gaining strength quickly, and so intrigued by the world around her. She also loves to spit. I'm guessing that came from her brother, but it also could just be her thing.
That's all my cuteness for the week. I hope everyone is having a good weekend! I'll get more up on the blog as I can this week. In the meantime, send positive thoughts for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights when I'm solo parenting. Something tells me I'm going to need to reset my patience about 3,465 times to make it through...
And I mean that in the most positive way possible. :) What I mean is, basically, once Halloween hits, New Years comes in about a week. At least that's how it feels. And this year is going to be particularly hectic: my parents are here 11/11-11/16, I have a baby shower 11/21, we have a birthday party 11/22, Carmen's mom and grandma are visiting 11/23-11/30, Carmen's holiday party is 12/2, I have an evening event 12/3, and then there are other events and trying to wrap everything up before my office closes for the holidays - oh and of course Carmen's last minute travel that always happens in December/early January. So yeah. For those of you who are coming to my house in the next two months, don't expect much! I'll have the kitchen stocked, the house will be (relatively) clean - although there will likely be toys and baby gear everywhere - and you'll have a place to sleep. Beyond that, I make no promises. Kelly, Mike and Ella came to visit last week, just for an afternoon, and I failed her by not greeting her at the door with freshly baked cookies and flowers. #housewifefail (except the whole thing about me not actually being a housewife....). So yeah, don't expect fresh flowers or freshly baked cookies if you're showing up at my door!
A few pictures from last week:
Jayden took a BIG tumble on Tuesday or Wednesday. He ended up with a giant scrape on his knee, and scratches all over his face. His knee is finally healing (after Carmen convinced him to leave the band-aid off for a night, and after going in the pool this morning), but his face is still scratched. He's a tough kid, but this knee scrape was a bad one.
One of my favorite pictures/stories ever. He was playing with this yo-yo-like toy that has little soft rubber tentacles. It bounced up and one of the tentacles hit him in the eye. He was already tired, so it caused a bit of drama. I suggested he needed safety goggles and (jokingly) suggested he wear his swim goggles for eye protection. Well, he agreed. So he wore them to play with the toy, and then wore them to eat dinner too! It was awesome. Safety first with this kid.
Dakota making her concentrating face, reaching for the toy. She's not totally steady sitting up yet, but she's getting better and better.
Jayden teaching Ella how to play with his Shark Hot Wheels track. He had a little trouble, but really, overall, he was great about sharing his toys and "teaching" her how to do things.
And Ella is just darling. She is amazing.
We did survive week two of daycare for Dakota. I did pick her up early Wednesday to visit with Kelly, Mike and Ella, but other than that, she was there five days. I think I am going to try to give her one short day a week, if I can. This week she'll be out Wednesday, Thursday and Friday since my parents are here, so she wins this week. :) (or maybe I do - maybe we both do!) But I am also trying not to take her out too much, because I don't want to make the transition more difficult.
Dakota is doing fine. She is eating great - finishes all three of her bottles with no problem. I've even been putting a little extra in there - giving her 4-1/2 ounces or so - to see if it helps with her weight. She still isn't sleeping in her crib for naps. She'll give them 20-30 minutes usually, tops. She's had a couple naps of two hours, but those are few and far between. It's funny she can sleep so well at night in her crib and fail miserably at naptime. But today, as I was trying to put her in her crib for naptime, she startled and cried every. single. time. I put her down. Exhausting. I finally gave up and just kept her up. I don't want her to get used to sleeping in my arms (or anyone's arms), so if she can't sleep, then her naps are just going to be short, I guess. I feel like she'll have to figure it out eventually, because she'll need the sleep. Or so I'm hoping, I guess. Last week I cried the first three days and managed to not cry Thursday or Friday. It might be because I've cried SO much in the past two weeks that I just didn't have anything left in me, because both Thursday and Friday when I left she got fussy - so I had to sort of run out of there. It's both better and worse, I suppose.
Here's the November newsletter I received for Dakota's room (Room 8). Check out the baby on the left part way down the page! That picture was taken on her first day there. She doesn't even look miserable! If I'd been in the picture, my eyes would have been all kinds of red. Mondays are the hardest. I cried the most last Monday and kept crying even at work. My co-worker had to comfort me, even though she really didn't have time for it. She doesn't read the blog, but I appreciate her more than she knows. We share our mommy joys/frustrations/fears/etc. and it helps us both get through the worst times.
Carmen flew to San Jose/Santa Clara today for the 49ers/Falcons game tomorrow. It's a quick trip; he'll be back tomorrow night at about 10 pm. As is usual, when Carmen goes out of town, I try to find something to do with the kids. Since Halloween is over, it's clearly Christmas time, so we went to a tree lighting ceremony in Newport Beach!
Jayden took my phone and this was one of his shots. Not so bad, really! This is (hopefully clearly) before the tree was lit.
They played music before the ceremony began, and I wanted to show you what it looks like when Jayden is "jammin'" to some tunes:
They do a 25 minute Disney show before the tree is lit. I made a rookie mistake and staked out a spot on the back of the stage. We did get to see Daisy and some singers, but Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy were all on the other side. They came by our side twice, but only for a few seconds. It was hard to see anyway - I had Dakota in the carrier and was holding Jayden up, so even if all of the characters had been on our side we would have had a difficult time seeing them.
The (giant) tree just before it was lit.
The tree in all its glory!
A blurry shot of the three of us.
The best part is that the ceremony was from 5:30 to 6:00 and I had brought a picnic dinner to eat while we waited (we had to get there at least an hour early to get our not-so-good spot), so we didn't have to eat when we got home. We got home, played for a few minutes and then went upstairs for bed. Jayden really wanted Dakota to chew on this necklace I have that is specifically made for teething babies. Dakota really was not interested in chewing on said necklace. BUT. How cute are they cuddling in the chair together?!?
Jayden "helping" Dakota chew on the necklace.
My flash kicked in, unfortunately. Jayden wanted to do a "funny" face, and as he pointed out, Dakota looks surprised! Still cuteness though, especially since his arm is wrapped around her and she is holding on to his hand. She is going to be his shadow, and he is going to have a hard time shaking that shadow!
Tomorrow is a day of errands - mostly the grocery store to be ready for the week, and soccer class. We'll lay low in the afternoon.
One more piece of news: Jayden decided he is ready to sleep in underwear, not in pull-ups. So Carmen and I said okay and have crossed our fingers, and had a change of sheets at the ready. We told him if he made it seven days in a row, he could get his track. He made it five days before his first accident. So we started over, and he made it seven days! He actually made it ten days (until last night when he had his second accident). But, he did get is Hot Wheels track, and it is really awesome. It's all he has played with for the last two days. It's very cute, and he's very proud of himself. To keep the momentum going, I think I'm going to have to buy additional little pieces of track for him, and give them to him at slightly longer milestones. I think we're going to say if he can go two weeks without an accident, he'll get to pick another piece of track. We do get him up when we go to bed, usually 10:30 or 11:00, to go to the bathroom, and that seems to help quite a bit. We'll keep doing that as long as we need to, to avoid accidents. It's worth it. He is very proud of himself, so we have to be careful to not be disappointed when he has an accident, but also encourage him to do better. It's a fine line.
So, on that note, I'm off to get Jayden to the bathroom and get me to bed. I'll be up in a few hours to pump, and then a few hours after that to start all over again. Here's to holding on to every last bit of my patience tomorrow and going with the flow while still being productive!
We had quite the adventure yesterday. We had swim class in the morning, went to the church festival around the corner for a little bit, had lunch, and then took off to Balboa Island to meet our friends Lili and Josh and their kids Oliver and Austin. Oliver and Jayden are buddies, and Jayden spent most of yesterday saying "I just really love to see Oliver." And luckily Lili and Josh are way better at Halloween than Carmen and I are, so we had a pretty good time.
I made a few Halloween treats for lunch - mouths (apple slices, peanut butter and marshmallows) and broomsticks (pretzel sticks, string cheese and chives).
She's a WILD one!
Sitting up checking out the giant basketball. :)
We met Lili, Josh, Ollie and Austin for dinner on Balboa Island (which is in Newport, right where Carmen used to live when he and Alex lived together). We had a good meal and then set off to trick or treat. The appeal of Balboa Island is that the houses are about 12 inches apart, so you can hit up SO MANY houses in a pretty short amount of time. Here are some pictures:
The crew: Koalas, Witch, Kylo Ren (the villain in the new Star Wars movie), Darth Vader and Yoda, Michelangelo and Donatello
Donatello, ready to get his candy on. Poor kid could barely see through his mask, so we had to guide him up and down stairs. He stuck it out for quite a while, but once it started getting dark, we finally convinced him to take it off so he didn't break any bones.
Sunset. Not a bad view for Halloween.
The boys: Donatello and Kylo Ren. So cute.
The Grahams.
The Wallaces. (I know the tutu doesn't fit - it was just something fun to wear!)
Some of the houses seriously went all out for Halloween.
One of the "treats" was vampire teeth, which we clearly had to try on when we got home, even though it was late. So cute!
It was a good night, although a little hectic. Jayden had a great time, and was worn out by the time we called it quits. And because we started so early, we actually got to call it quits by like 8 pm, maybe 8:30 pm. Halloween on a Saturday is an adventure, because it gives the adults a reason to go all out too. :)
And then. Time Change. Seriously?!? Seriously. Do we really need time changes anymore? I feel like there are enough parents out there we could start a movement to abolish the time change. I slept poorly anyway, and Jayden actually "slept in" until 6:30 (the new time), and wasn't terribly grouchy all day either, but it was still hard. And Jayden just barely went to bed. So tomorrow might be ugly. Dakota was a hot mess all day today. She spent a lot of the day fussy and tired. I did get her one really good nap in her crib (something I'm really trying to focus on since she has to nap in a crib at daycare). She went to bed relatively easily, so I'm hoping she gets some rest tonight.
She was mostly calm when we were outside. This is us at soccer class. She's wearing a tutu onesie from Gigi's friend Ms. Stephanie. It's adorable. I should have known pink would be her color - only because I was doing whatever I could to avoid overwhelming pink! Oh well. I'm still going to buy lots of non-girly colors, but I'll throw a pink shirt in here and there, I guess.
And tomorrow it's week two of daycare. I'm pretty much dreading every Monday from now until forever. I mean, clearly, it will get better, and probably quickly. But work is completely uninspiring right now, home life is hard, and I just feel like I can't do anything well. I'm even trying to do things at work to be inspired, and I just can't pull my head out of the sand. And at home, I'm doing some things okay (I was pretty proud of the Halloween treats, and Jayden and Carmen liked them, so I felt good about that), but I just can't clean out our guest rooms and I can't get certain other things done that need to get done. Part of it is time, and part of it is motivation. On days like today I just want to curl into a ball and hide from the world. But with two kids and work to go to tomorrow, that's just not going to happen. I'm thinking maybe 2033 I'll get a chance to hide for a couple hours?!?
Hope everyone's Halloween was wonderful, and, considering how quickly the next two months go, Happy 2016!
On Halloween eve, I am spending my evening straightening up, as much as I can, and convincing myself that we'll make it through our activities planned for tomorrow!
As with my last post, I'm trying to make sure we get in the spirit of Halloween, even though it's not my favorite thing. So, after the pumpkin patch, we got up Sunday morning and carved our pumpkins. It was a lot of work, since Jayden picked pretty much the largest pumpkin he could possibly pick. It was awesome. We tried to get Jayden to paint his pumpkin, but once he saw us carving ours, he wanted to carve his too. So we did.
Jayden's pumpkin is HUGE!
The serious insides of the giant pumpkin
Our carved/painted/decorated pumpkins! Jayden's on the left (obviously), then mine and then Carmen's.
All lit up.
Jayden and Carmen on the front porch with the pumpkins on display.
I let Dakota get in on the fun too. My friend who has a baby a month older than Dakota did this for her kid, so I copied her - and kind of surprisingly, Dakota enjoyed it.
I put paint on a piece of paper and then slid it inside a ziploc and taped it to the highchair. She could hit the paint (inside the ziploc) and spread it around, but no paint on her hands - so genius! She's not quite ready for the highchair, but she did pretty well. I propped her up with a blanket so she could be a little higher, which helped quite a bit.
And now her masterpiece is taped to the refrigerator and every time she sees it she gets all kinds of excited. Probably mostly because of the colors, but it's still cute she loves her own picture.
We had soccer class, and then Carmen and I had date "a few hours" on Sunday afternoon. We went to a local shopping area and just wandered around. It was nice, and relatively relaxing.
A little wine flight.
I felt all fancy in my outfit, until Jayden stuck his head in my shirt, Dakota spit up on me . . . oh the life of a mom!
We got home in time for dinner and had a giggle fest.
Cutest baby smiles.
Carmen definitely knows how to make his little girl smile. And sound ridiculous in the process, but he'll do anything for her - especially to hear her giggle!
And then Monday was the BIG day, the day I had to drop Dakota off at daycare. I had been anticipating it for weeks and the anxiety was definitely building. As you can probably tell from my posts. But yeah. Monday morning came and I clearly was not ready. (it's Friday night and I'm still not really ready, even though I've now done it five times!). The rule at the preschool is that you drop the big kid off first and then the infant, since the infant room has cleanliness guidelines. So, I dropped off Jayden's stuff, signed him in and took him down to the lower yard. Then I went into the infant room. And pretty much started crying. I learned the process - bottles in the fridge, sign in, and update the information about Dakota's evening/morning, and put her stuff in her (locked) cubby. Then the idea is that I hand over the baby. But yeah, that wasn't happening. So I sat in the rocking chair and held her, trying my best to let her go and convince myself that she would be okay. And the thing is, I know she'll be okay. I just want to believe she'd be better with me. So then mommy guilt kicks in and I feel sure I'm making the wrong decision and I should stay home until the kids are 18 because I should be there every. single. minute. But eventually I realize Dakota is going to get hungry and I need her to get used to being at daycare and being fed with bottles, so I hand her over, take one last picture, and pretty much run out of the room to my car, where I sob.
Asleep on my chest while getting ready to leave the house. A weird picture of me, I know; I promise I'm not pregnant again! *by the way, the dress I'm wearing is AWESOME! It's a little short on me (surprise!), but I wore it with tights and it was still work appropriate. It has buttons down the front for nursing/pumping, but is really just a great shape. I highly recommend!*
Saying goodbye, or not really...
One last shot. In Teacher Kathy's arms as I walk out the door. I learned the next day that Dakota was shaking a little bit after I left. Which a thousand quintupled the mommy guilt.
I cried all the way to work, and a little bit at work. In some ways it was lucky that I had a lunch meeting where I had to give a brief speech and some other things to keep me busy. BUT, the preschool is awesome and sent me some pictures to reassure me that Dakota was, in fact, doing fine.
Cuddling in teacher's arms.
Checking herself out in the mirror!
I definitely ran to get her as soon as possible, and was so excited. She didn't nap at all in her crib that day, and didn't eat a lot either. I knew she'd come around, especially with the eating, but I was definitely worried about the napping. But it was a good evening, and Dakota was so happy to be home she hung on through her exhaustion and was actually cheerful.
Tuesday was better, I let her go more easily, but it still was hard, and there were definitely still tears. I was crazy busy Tuesday (5 meetings in the 7ish hours I was in the office), which made the time fly by. I ran out of there as soon as I possibly could to pick up the babies. Tuesday she did better - ate a little better and slept a little better too, but still only in the teacher's arms. She still was cheerful at home, I think just from being excited to see her people again.
Wednesday was even a little better, fewer tears for me, and Dakota was okay. She ate two full bottles in the morning, and took a long nap in her crib. She fell asleep on her own around 3 pm, Kathy transferred her to the crib, where she fussed for a few minutes, flipped on to her stomach and then slept until I got there at 4:45. So great for her. She missed her afternoon bottle because she was sleeping so much, so I fed her as soon as we got home. Luckily I'd made dinner Tuesday night so all I had to do was microwave.
Mean mugging in the courtyard before I dropped her off.
A picture from the preschool, proving she does actually have fun without me!
A little series of bathtime fun. All it takes is a Lightning McQueen bath toy that squirts water out.
This face is exactly what it looks like: "oooooh!"
Trying to figure out where the water went
Got it! But I can't actually catch it!
Thursday she ate three full four ounce bottles and took two naps in her crib! So great. Totally proves that babies adapt much faster than adults do! I tried to leave earlier, but the whole problem is the pumping (or as Jayden says, my "pumpers"!). To pump three times a day, to get somewhere between 9 and 12 ounces, means I have to pump at like 10, 1 and 4. And if I pump at 4, that means I'm not leaving until 4:30 or so, which means I'm not getting to them until 4:45ish. I've tried to push it a little earlier, and sometimes it works, but it is definitely hard.
Thursday was pajama day, so both kids wore their pajamas. And all the teachers did too! Seriously so adorable. Also, when I do drop off, we have to park in the back parking lot, which overlooks the lower yard. So when we get there in the morning, Jayden stands at the fence and yells down at his friends until I get Dakota out and am ready to walk him in. It's only slightly obnoxious!
Pajama day mug shots. I promise both kids were actually pretty happy at this time.
Pajama Day at Children's Village I don't know all the kids' names, but this is Jayden's class. The one girl with a pumpkin over her face is because her parents probably said no pictures on social media when they enrolled her.
Jayden wanted to hold his sister. Seriously how cute are these two?!??
Dakota really loves Jasmine. She was petting her and then tipped over and fell face first into her. Kind of awesome.
And today, I still cried a little, but not much. And when we walked in to the classroom, she saw some toys and actually kicked her legs, cooed and got all excited. It was nice. And made me feel that much better. I was technically on flex today, but wanted to go in for the morning to get a few things done. So I picked Dakota up a little after noon. I was going to get Jayden too, but he wanted to stay to be able to play in the lower yard and with Grayson. I should have known!
She's rolling all over the place - heading towards rolling onto her stomach in the next few weeks, I'm guessing. Also, on one of the days that I picked Dakota up - it has already escaped me which day it was - she was on the floor and roller over like she is doing in the picture when she heard my voice. It's the little things that keep me going.
I'm still not exactly sure how she did it, but she managed to pick up the pacifier on her own and get it in her mouth. It was amazing. So maybe she will have a version of "baba" for herself. But Jayden has already declared she needs to have a different name for her lovey. I'm sure we'll come up with something.
Just some cuteness from the day.
And I'm only a little obsessed with her weight. Tonight I weighed her and I came up with somewhere between 12 pounds 4 ounces and 12 pounds 8 ounces. Which would be incredible. So I'm hoping that the weight is really accurate. I'll keep checking weekly-ish, and I'll know for sure in December at our next appointment. Carmen offered a few of his pounds, but I had to explain she really only needs like a pound, so it won't do him or me much good to give up one of ours.
Tomorrow we have swim class as usual, and then are planning to go to a festival at the church next door, and then head down to meet my friend Lili, her husband Josh and their kids for dinner and then trick-or-treating. Apparently it's quite crazy where we're going, so it should be an adventure. With the time change Saturday night/Sunday morning, Sunday could end up being a very interesting day. We're going to summon all of the patience that we have and hope for the best!
I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween! Stay safe, and mail Carmen all the peanut butter cups you can find! (TOTALLY KIDDING - PLEASE DONOT MAIL US ANY CANDY! WE HAVE PLENTY! (except Gigi, Jayden loves the Smarties you sent!))
