One more thing...

Just reading through my comments from previous blogs, and my friend Sarah commented about Bella being perfect in every way. I realize my last post about her (lack of) tantrums also probably made it sound that I feel that way. Well, of course I think she’s perfect … but she does have her moments! She’s becoming more and more independent which is a struggle. In the morning, for example, things have to be just right or else we will be dealing with a crabby toddler way to early in the morning. If she wants a pink bowl and it’s dirty, we wash it for her. If I wanted shredded wheat for breakfast but she tells me to eat Kix instead, I eat Kix. So basically she calls the shots :-P

I’ve been blaming it on my lack of energy due to pregnancy, but she does try my patience quite a bit lately. Again she likes to call the shots and trying to tell her no doesn’t work out too well. So I choose my battles. She watches more TV (Wiggles DVD to be specific) now because after I get home from work I need a little chair/relaxing time. If she was cereal for dinner, I won’t object as long as she had something different for breakfast.

While it’s manageable right now, I’ll admit that my biggest concern is when baby comes. She won’t be center of attention anymore. She won’t be the only grandchild. She won’t be the only one I plan my days around. I think it’s going to be a big reality check for her and the ‘3s’ may end up more terrible than the ‘2s’!

Still here..

It’s inevitable. I think I’m going to be an active blogger and then I go for a long stretch without updates. Maybe it’s because there hasn’t been anything really that interesting going on. I’m still pregnant. Bella is still cute. Our lives are plugging along.

Bella had her first real meltdown tantrum the other night where we had to resort to a punishment other than time out. I guess that was kind of a big deal. We’ve only done a handful of time outs because she usually gets it – one mention of a time out and she gets the hint. However, this time it didn’t do the trick. It was my birthday night (yay) and we had gotten home after her bed time from dinner with my family. I can’t even remember what started it (don’t the best tantrums start that way) … I think she just didn’t want to put her PJs on. All I know is that it ended up with Jeremy having to put her in time out. She wouldn’t sit. She kept saying “ok, I’ll listen!” but we told her that she still had to sit for the 2 min in time out. She kept getting up and JT kept adding 1 minute each time. By the time she got up to 8 minutes we decided we’d just put her to bed without stories/book time. That was hard. She did listen and get her PJs on (while still freaking out) but kept leaping out of bed to grab books. She kept asking for me because JT was doing most of this since she started the tantrum with him. It was hard to stand back and NOT give in when you hear your 2 yr old say “I just want Mama!”. Eventually, she calmed down enough for us to still give hugs and kisses and sing her a song and she went to bed.
It was stressful and not how I planned to end my b-day, but it worked. The next night she got her PJs on just fine and when I walked into the room she said “Mama! I’m listening!”. In fact, this entire week she’s been proud of herself for listening and doing really good.

Makes me wonder how life with #2 will go. We are lucky right now that we can bring Bella places and, for the most part, she’s well behaved. For example, we went to dinner at Famous Dave’s tonight and she couldn’t have been happier. Maybe it was because we let her eat 2 cornbread muffins and 2 pieces of corn on the cob for dinner….but the point is that she sits nicely to wait for the food and is calm. I know that with a second one at the table we may not be so lucky.

Speaking of baby – the pregnancy is going good. I actually feel better now than I did a month ago. I was having such a hard time sleeping and getting comfortable for a while. Not sure what changed, but I wake up less at night and my back doesn’t seem to hurt as much. I get really tired out walking still. All it takes is a trip from my desk to the bathroom at work and I’m out of breath. Don’t get me started on the steps in the house. Combine this with minor contractions and I’m sure Jeremy is really sick of me being out of breath and whining.

I took a reality trip to Target today. I know that I could have gone to labor already, and at 2 weeks before the due date it really could happen any time. So I stocked up some new born diapers, nursing essentials, pacifiers, and some long sleeved onesies for baby. We are lucky we can reuse Bella’s clothes for baby #2, but many are ‘off season’. I think I have about 50 short sleeved onsies, but only a few pairs of 3M pants. So I bought a few plus found a couple hoodies that we can use over the onesies. It’s just hard to buy clothes not knowing how big/little she’ll be! I know last time there were plenty of clothes that Bella never even wore because she was never the right size.

The next feat is to figure out how to fit 2 girls collection of clothes into one dresser and one closet… wish me luck!

Typical Day

My friend Jessie inspired me to do this. She typed out a day in her life recently. When I thought about it, I realized that each of my days during the week are scarily similar. The deviation occurs if JT has something going on after work - volleyball (which is done for now, thank god, a work happy hour, or just needing to work late. Usually once a week there will be something and I’ll handle dinner/bedtime – but for the majority of the time here is the day in the life of the Traftons...

5:25 – Alarm goes off. I turn it off and climb back into bed.

5:40 – Second alarm goes off (same clock – 2 alarms). I hit snooze.

5:46 – snooze alarm goes off. I get up and tell JT it’s time to get up. Push him out of bed a bit.

Head downstairs to feed Leinie and shower. JT gets his clothes together and shaves. When I get out of the shower, he gets in (I actually love sharing a bathroom/getting ready together – it’s our alone time in the morning before the chaos of the day). I brush my teeth, start to do my makeup, etc. Put my PJs back on.

6:10 – head upstairs to wake up Bella. Pre-3rd trimester I’d do this myself. Now I wait for JT to join me as I need a little extra manpower with Bella. She greets us with “Good morning Mama and Dad” in her sleepy voice. We take few minutes to get her up and get morning snuggles.

JT carries her down into the kitchen and lets her pick out cereal, her bowl and what cup she wants. I get my own cereal ready. Bella and I sit and eat while JT finishes getting ready. I ask if she had a good sleep (she always says yes) and listen to any dreams she had. I tell her what day it is and where she is going. I start to think about dinner for the night and snoop in the fridge and cupboards to see what we have.

At some point, JT comes back into the kitchen and we swap. He doesn’t eat, but will sit with her until she’s done and I’ll continue to get ready for the day.

Around 6:30-6:40 – Bella is done eating. She gets dressed and brushes teeth.

7:05-7:10 – out the door, even though we always try to leave by 7:00 it never seems to happen. JT takes Bella. I head to work.

7:45 – arrive at work, head straight to the café for a cappuccino (decaf) and a muffin or bagel for my second breakfast (yup)

8:00 – at my desk, connect my laptop, wait what seems like forever for it to power up and connect to email/internet. It’s quiet as many people aren’t at work yet or just quietly working at their desk.

Once email/internet finally loads I check email and my calendar for the day. Decide if there are any meetings that I can cancel or move. Read through new emails and take action on ones I can.

If I have time, I’ll take some time to check Facebook while I eat my breakfast and sip my coffee. Say hello to people as they walk by. Respond to a question from a team member who stops by.

9:00-12:00 – Meetings. If I’m lucky, a 30 min slot of open time for email. Hope that meetings will end early letting me check/respond to email in between meetings.

12:00-1:00 – lunch and desk time. I buy lunch from the cafe and eat at my desk. Get through new emails, check facebook again, read blogs, talk to a team member or my manager if they stop by.

1:00-3:30 – more meetings and desk time when I can manage it.

3:30-4:30 – finish the day at my desk, respond to more emails, answer voice mails, organize my notes/to-do list from meetings throughout the day, make sure there isn’t anything urgent I missed. Leave to pick up Bella.

5:00 – 5:30 – Pick up Bella, chat with the in-laws or my mom (depending on where she is)

5:50 – home. Get dinner going. Let Bella help me do things like dump water in pots and stirring to keep her entertained and distract her from wanting to eat yet another snack (she typically has just finished one when I go to pick her up, or eats one in the car on the way home). Let her watch The Wiggles DVD or get her settled downstairs to play while I clean up the kitchen and put things away (diaper bag, my purse, mail, etc) and check my email (can’t access my personal email at work) and facebook (yes again).

6:30 – JT gets home. Force, I mean ask, Bella to turn off the DVD or, even better, watch Bella greet JT at the door and ask him to come play with her. Let Bella and JT play for a bit while I wrap up dinner.

Once dinner is ready we eat, talk about the day, answer a million questions from Bella (where does milk come from? What are you eating? What day is it tomorrow? What are you doing now? What are you eating now? What are you doing now?..... Now? Where do beans come from? )

7:00 – clean up dinner. Bella goes downstairs to play with JT. I join them when I’m done cleaning up. JT takes this on if I'm too tired or Bella wants me instead.

We play with her Dora house, we practice trick or treating, we dance to Raffi, Wiggles, Alvin and the Chipmunks and other random nursery rhymes we have on our computer…. Participation from me depends on how I feel – I need a lot of breaks/couch time.

7:30 – Convince Bella to brush her teeth. JT helps her while I putz around on the computer some more. I have nothing to do on the computer, but the important thing here is that I’m sitting yet I can see/hear them in the bathroom so I feel like I’m at least present.

Once done with teeth, Bella gets a horsy ride upstairs from JT. I hobble my way up the steps to her room, by this time of night my body is exhausted so it takes me a while. By the time I get there, they are already in PJs and done with the diaper change.

She decides who picks out books – me, JT or herself. She climbs into bed and we read 4 books alternating between JT and I. Lights out and sing one song (rock a bye baby, twinkle twinkle little star, you are my sunshine or love grows best in little houses)

8:00 – Collapse into my new La-Z-Boy. Kick up the feet. Pull out my laptop to check email (work and personal) and general internet activity.

8:15 – JT hooks up his laptop to the TV and we stream an episode of something good from HGTV.com. If I decide I can handle it, we’ll watch a second episode. Or if something is actually worth watching on our basic cable we’ll watch normal TV.

9:00 – get ready and climb into bed with my book. JT comes in to tuck me in :)

9:15 – can’t keep my eyes open. Set my book down and fall asleep.

10:00-10:30 - JT comes to bed, double checks the alarm and turns off my lamp.

Goodnight!

She knows her ABCs, colors, shapes, can count to 20, spell her name and could sing you any nursery rhyme you want… the one thing she can’t do?

Take off her own diaper.
And thank god. No messes on the carpet here!