The End...

Before you read, please know this is mostly post about breast feeding. There, you’ve been warned ;)

I realized last night that it has now been a week since I last nursed Lake. So I guess that is the end of our special little arrangement. We officially made it 16.5 months. I knew I wanted to do extended breastfeeding (past a year) but wasn’t sure exactly when I wanted to stop, other than knowing I didn’t want to go past October.

I’ve had some bumps in the road with nursing Lake. The most painful was when he had thrush (yeast infection) in his mouth and passed it along to me. That was painful!

Then the biting. Oh boy! I knew his incoming teeth were hurting him, but mommy is not a good teething toy! Then as he got older, holding him at the right angle would cause strain on my neck and shoulders (already a sensitive area for me) and he nursed with such force that it was painful. Lets not forget about the hitting and slapping me and getting frustrated when my supply had dropped.

But even with those little bumps, I loved every minute we had together. My favorite moments were when I was putting him to sleep. Our routine for almost a year was, I’d get off of work, take him upstairs, change his diaper, get his PJs on then nurse him to sleep. It was my down time and my connection time with Lake. I didn’t let Kaydriana fall asleep at the boob because I didn’t want her to be dependent on that being the only way she’d go to sleep, but with Lake, I treasured this little routine of ours. And ultimately, Lake now goes to sleep on his own, so I don’t regret my choices.

Two weeks ago, I was getting to the point where I could go 24-48 hours with nursing him. I felt like I didn’t really get to say good-bye, so I tried to call him over for one last nursing session. He was ignoring me, so I undid my nursing bra strap (which has a distinct sound) and he looked right at me, got the biggest smile on his face and literally squealed in delight as he ran over to me. I’ll never forget his joy!

I ended up feeding him one last time after that when he woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t get him to calm down. He was finally soothed and went back to sleep and that was a week ago.

I really think we could go longer, but I wanted to quit for selfish reasons. I want to change my BC, (many birth controls affect your supply) I want to start dieting, and really want to stop wearing those awful nursing bras of mine!

Lake hasn’t tried to nurse the last couple of days, but I do have to be careful when we’re showering because he has latched on to me when I wasn’t prepared! So I’ll have to be mindful of being exposed!

End Breastfeeding Post

Lake is talking and babbling so much right now. He’s added a few words to his vocabulary, but I think only Tim, Elisa, and I can decipher his little language. He now says, “first down!”, “Balloon”, “banana” along with the words he was saying before. He now uses “Mama” and “Dada” more frequently and is really good at signing, “more” and “please” consistently.

Kaydriana is dressing and redressing herself throughout the day. Even if I can manage to get her dressed before I leave for work, she is always in a different outfit when I get home and it generally involves a tutu or a princess dress. Next week, we should be able to get her enrolled into dance class.

As for me, the details have been worked out and my last day as a manager is Saturday, November 30^th. – Side note, looks like I’ll be working a 12.5 hour day that day L

I’ve really received some warm comments and many people saying how proud they are of me for making this transition for my young family. Many successful women have even told me they did something similar in their career and when their kids got older, they focused on their career growth again. My favorite comment came from an 18 year employee who said I was the best manager he has ever had. He’s gone through many managers during his career, so I take this as a very meaningful compliment!

42 days! 

Family Over Money

I’ve been thinking for a while how I wanted to write this blog entry. I realize it’s mostly my closest loved ones who read my blog, and many know of the conflict I’ve been faced with since becoming a mom 3 years and 4 months ago. But for the sake of reflection, clarification, and maybe being able to help someone else out in my situation, I wanted to post this.

I grew up poor. I grew up with more challenges than most kids in America do- from not knowing where I’d be sleeping next week, to not knowing where we were going to get our next meal, not knowing when I’d get shoes without holes in them, or if I was going to be safe from predators… Bottom line, if I was going to be successful in life, I had an uphill battle.

Thankfully, I had a very loving extended family that always came to our/my rescue before things got desolate. I also accepted Jesus as my savior when I was young, so I always had a reason to hope, believe and strive for a better life.

I truly believe God had a plan for me and lead me to the direction that I went in life. After the army rejected me (there went my college plans) and with my family getting evicted from our apartment right after high school graduation, I made the decision to move to California to have an opportunity to develop a relationship with my dad and his family. After 6 weeks, I moved back to WA and was so grateful my Aunt and Uncle gave me a place to stay. Next stop was a job. I had a high school friend that worked at Costco and at the time, they had the highest starting wage, $8!

November 11^th, 1999, I got a seasonal job in the bakery at the Aurora Village Costco in North Seattle. This was the first time in my life that my livelihood depended on my work performance, and I did not disappoint. I was only 1 of 2 people offered a permanent job after seasonal period had ended. Unfortunately, that was in the food court, and I knew I did not want to sling hot dogs for a living! At that time, I had moved in with some friends who worked at the warehouse and they had heard about an opening in the Call Center. Long story short, I got a job as a customer service rep in May of 2000. Before a year had passed, I had been accepted into the Supervisor in Training program and was offered a permanent supervisor position. I thought I was rich! 19 years old making about $40K! Fast forward a couple of years and I got promoted to manager at the age of 24. I’ve now been a manager for about 8 years. I won’t share how much I make a year, but it’s more than most people I know.

Since I was 18, I was recognized/rewarded for my hard work, dedication, and leadership abilities. I was so proud of my accomplishments. I have allowed myself to be defined by my job title. Actually, not just allowed, insisted that people understood how important I was and what I had accomplished.

When I became pregnant with Kaydriana, so many people asked if I would quit to stay home with her. I guffawed! There was no way I was quitting! I was going to be a successful working mom. I had always wanted to become a parent, but I was “big boss lady” at work, and there wasn’t anything that was going to change that.

Then she came. She changed my world! The first moment she laid on my chest and I just cried with joy. I was a mom. I wasn’t “big boss lady, Kristiana”. I was “mom”. Over the next 3.5 months, I tried to figure out if there was any way that I could possibly stay home and be with her forever. Unfortunately, short of winning the lottery that wasn’t a possibility.

I entered the world of going to work each day, leaving my heart at home. It took a while, but I finally adjusted to the reality that I had to remain in my current position/pay at work to make ends meet. About a year after my return, I found out I was pregnant again. I fully anticipated being able to make some big changes to my career after the birth of our son, because no way could we afford day care ($2310 a month!) for two kids. Turns out, I couldn’t afford not to. But if I thought it was hard leaving Kaydriana for 45+ hours a week, it was doubly hard to leave both kids. My first day back was 10/1/12.  For the past year, I haven’t been home to cook my family dinner or eat with them. I’ve rushed them out the door each morning and within minutes of walking in the door at night, I was putting Lake to sleep. I run a marathon from 530 AM to 830 PM each day, with the majority of that time with not nearly enough sleep.

Now here we are today: Tim has finally reached his goal of working for the city of Bellevue where the pay and the possibilities are much better. With his better pay, and the fact that in one month, we’ll be almost completely out of debt, I get some freedom with my choice of position at work.

I would very much like to be able to go part time, but we’re not quite there yet. However, I am able to take a step down to a supervisor position, which I’ve negotiated with my bosses to become affective in January (Shhhh… this has not been shared with anyone else at work). My pay will be cut by more than half of what I make now, but my responsibilities will be much, much less. I will be able to work just 40 hours a week, take breaks and lunches, leave my work at work, not wake up to anxiety, not have to answer to employees or members, not have to work 12 hour days during the holidays or bad weather, get off earlier, not have to read my work emails at home, not have to come in when I’m sick, and have more quality time with my family. I’ll be home in time to make and eat dinner with my family and not work on the weekends.

For nearly 11 years I had worked so hard to move up as quickly as I could in the company. Now my greatest role and my greatest passion is being a mother to my children. It’s a difficult mindset for me to no longer be the boss, but since making this decision official a few days ago, I feel the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders. I have a joy and an outlook that I haven’t had since I can remember.

With Tim and I both now having good paying jobs, I know I’m stepping away from financial security, being able to purchase nice clothes, getting my hair done, affording vacations, and spending money freely. But since May 10^th, 2010 my happiness and my fulfillment comes from my role as a wife and mother. Not my job title. We’ll go back to living on a budget, but I know God will provide for us because I finally have my priorities straight J

Growing

You always hear how each child can be so different, but you don’t really grasp it until what everyone has been telling you is proven true. I mean, how can a child by the same two parents, raised in the same environment, be complete opposites of their sibling!? Well, that’s Lake and Kaydriana for sure!

I took Lake to his 15 month well child check up on Thursday. Unlike his sister at this age, he is only "saying" two words: "Wussat?" and "uh oh". Dr. Schrier was not concerned. She said that between now and 18 months, he'll really start picking up on vocabulary and told me how I can help teach him to add to his current vocabulary, such as say, "ooh, what's that?" She said, she'd consider, "ooh" a word when used together with "whats that". 

She was pleased to hear that he hasn't gotten any fevers since his 12 month check up when he had a bad reaction to the MMR vaccine. He was due for three more vaccines, plus the flu shot. And so far, no bad reactions! 

Ironically, Thursday night as I was putting Lake to bed, he really seemed engaged in wanting to learn. It's like he knew I was concerned about him being a bit behind. He had one of his animal books, so we went through it and I tried to make the appropriate animal sounds and have him copy me. It's pretty funny right now because he growls when you ask him what something says. When we went to LaSheika and Asa's house the other day, it was fun for Asa to ask Lake what something says, including, "What does mommy say?" and he replied of course with, "Roar"

So we get to the frog and I make the, "ribbit" noise over and over again and I can see his little mouth is trying to figure out how to form the noise. Then we get to the monkey and I make the "ooh ooh aah aah" noise and after a couple of tries, he finally makes the, "aah aah" sound and starts giggling, he was just so tickled with himself! So we go back and forth for about a 1/2 hour and he is loving it, and so am I! Then he grabs my nose! The reason I was so excited about this is because I've been trying to teach him where his nose and ears are, but he would never copy me. So then I point to his nose and then he grabs his ear. It's like all of a sudden a light switch went off and he wants to learn! I loved it!!

Then last night, watching the Hawks game, we raised our arms up and said, "touch down!" and guess what he does? He raises his arms up and says, "touch down"! It's officially his third word! 

Watching my kids learn and grow is by far one of my most favorite parts of parenthood. Even though Lake isn't as verbal as Kaydriana was, I know he'll get there. While she might become an actress or some sort of performer, Lake has quite the arm on him and will probably be a pitcher or a bowler ;)

Feeling Blessed!

Wow, God has really blessed us this past week. Our patience (If that’s what you can call it ;) ) has paid off and prayers have been answered.

Tim got the City of Bellevue job! It’s been a very long road of waiting, temporary jobs, silly and dumb jobs, working nights, etc. This is the job that Tim plans on retiring from, just like his dad did. It means more money, but more than that, it’s a career that Tim has an opportunity to grow in. And he knows he loves the work and knows most of the people there and enjoys the management.

Our first step is to pay off our debt and start putting money into savings. Then maybe in about 6 months or so, explore trying to put our house on the market again. Then we’ll see where it goes from there.

The same day that Tim got the news, I had my annual review and raise discussion. Weeks leading up to this meeting I was feeling under-appreciated and felt myself getting defensive of what I was sure was not going to be a fully accurate review or the raise that I deserved. My GM made an inappropriate comment to me a week before our meeting that lead us to have a very serious discussion about my ambitions of getting out of my current department, but our discussion wasn’t going to be final until my director returned from vacation and we could all talk. But walking into the review, knowing Tim had this job, I knew if it wasn’t what I deserved I was going to hold my head high, knowing I didn’t have to stick it out anymore.

Lo and behold, my review was help written by both directors in Issaquah and Yakima, along with my GM, so between the three of them, all of my hard work was fairly documented. I also got more than the standard raise because of my recognized hard work and performance.

Needless to say, last weekend (Labor Day weekend) was pretty awesome. Tim and I both feel like a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders and as we start getting out of debt, that weight will continue to get lighter and lighter!

I did have my follow up discussion with my GM and director and have made it very clear that I don’t know what the next six to twelve months looks like, but my days in Ecom are definitely numbered. I think it was especially difficult for my director to understand as she has mentored me since I was 19, but after I told her that if I am going to be away from my kids 45-50 hours a week, I want to be for a position that I am excited and passionate about, because as it stands, what I’m doing now is not worth the time I’m missing out on with my kids. And gosh darnit, it felt so good to say that and be honest!

Oh! And one of the best parts is, I asked to have at least two nights a week where I’m not closing, and I got three! Woot Woot! I can have more family time and cook dinner for my family again!

The next blessing to share is how well the first week with our nanny went. Our kids are happy, our house is clean, and we know our kids are in great care! It does result in more work for me overall because of meal planning and grocery shopping and unloading the dishwasher daily now, but it’s completely worth it! And I might even ask if she wouldn’t mind running and unloading the dishwasher.

The kids are doing well. Lake still isn't talking, other than saying, “uh oh”, but he understands most of the commands I give him. Kaydriana is such a performer, now more than ever!

Last night, Tim and I turned the tv off and she regaled us with stories and songs for  a ½ hour or more. Tim got quite the gem of a video on his phone. She went to the junk drawer and came out with a clear cell phone protective case. She tells us that we use this when we go to sleep and we can see eagles! And she starts off with each new story with, “Are you ready guys!?” And when she breaks into song, Lake will join her and use some of the same dramatic arm gestures Kaydriana does. Who needs tv when you’ve got these kids!?

Oh, and one of my favorite recent moments was a few nights ago when I was putting Lake to sleep. I only nursed him before bed 3 times this week (slowly but surely weaning him), and so this particular night I was nursing him. Kaydriana comes in (which she isn’t supposed to, because she gets Lake riled up), but she comes in whispering and says she wants to sing him a song. She comes over to me and strokes his leg tenderly while singing, “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star”. Then she quietly exited. UGH!  Melt my heart! I love being their mom!

August 17th entry (creative, I know!)

It’s been a while, so I don’t even know where to begin.

Lake has not had fevers for so long that I can’t even remember the last time he was really sick. So that’s a blessing!

On July 20^th I got the extreme honor of witnessing my niece, Sloane Augusta, be born. Seriously, watching the miracle of birth is just an amazing and beautiful experience and I’m just so blessed to have a sister who let me be there. Breanna certainly didn’t make it look easy, but did such an awesome job of doing it completely drug free that I will always be in awe of her. I’m very excited that I get to be the first person to babysit her on Monday night so that Will can take Breanna out to celebrate her birthday.

Tim finally had an interview for the city of Bellevue, which we’ve been waiting 7 years for. We’re hoping he’ll find out he got the job on Monday. This opportunity will mean we’re finally on our way to accomplishing some huge goals in our lives and I am just so excited for the future!

We decided to not put the house on the market after finding out that even if we got our asking price, we would just barely make enough to move into an apartment. At this point, we’re not just trying to get out of our house. So we’ll see what happens with Tim’s job situation, then go from there. I do hope that maybe in the next six months or so, selling our house becomes a reality so that we can move and I can maybe go part time. But first things first: Tim gets that city job!

On Thursday night we received an email from the kids’ daycare that they are closing their doors after 20 years. I was in shock and totally heartbroken. Sure, they cost a lot, but knowing the kids love it there, learn so much, are around friends and their teachers really love them, makes paying the expensive tuition worth it. Especially after the home daycare we tried for two months, Tim and I really know what’s important when finding good care for our kids.

So after it sinking in that we only have two weeks to find new care for our kids, we started looking at other daycare facilities in the area. We also discussed a couple of the teachers we may consider approaching about hiring as a nanny.

Since my last search for a nanny came up empty handed, due to the typical pay a nanny could get, I wasn’t sure this would be a viable option. But we thought that it was worth a try because not only are parents out of care for their kids, a whole bunch of great daycare teachers are out of a job.

So yesterday morning, I took the kids nice and early to daycare since I knew Miss Elisa typically covers Lake’s room early in the morning. I was right and as soon as the classroom door closed, I said, “So you wanna job!?” She replied with, “I was hoping you would ask! As soon as we learned the news last night, you’re the first family I thought of!”

I was so relieved to hear that! Tim and I ended up meeting with her after she got off work and apparently, what we were able to offer, was totally agreeable to her! We are so relieved! It will certainly be a transition, to have a nanny come to our house, versus taking the kids some where. But we’ll be paying her less than what we currently pay daycare - it will equal out to be the same due to now having to supply our kids with lunches. She never missed a day of work at the daycare, which means she’s accountable, she is already certified for all the things you’d want in a caregiver, she is totally flexible with her schedule, she LOVES our kids! (She’s the one who bought Lake a cake and cute card for his first birthday) and I won’t have to stress about getting the kids ready and out of the door each morning.

Tim has decided, in preparation of having a nanny, we’re making our guest room a play room. I’m requesting a few days off as vacation since now I don’t have to worry about saving so many days in the event I’m not able to take the kids to daycare when they are sick, so I’m going to enjoy a few days off to myself while they are in daycare J I’ll still keep some vacation and sick days handy in the event that I have to stay home with them, but considering I REALLY need a break from work, this seems like perfect timing!

Tim and I had a date day last weekend. Back in March he bought tickets to the Mariner’s game that Ken Griffey Jr. was being inducted into the hall of fame. We had a gift card from Christmas to a restaurant close to the stadium, so we had a great, cheap date together. Tim’s parents had the kids overnight so after we ate and enjoyed a bit of the game, we headed home, hiked around our neighborhood and just really enjoyed us time. It was the first time that we had ever spent the night at our own home with out the kids. It was a little weird, but nice at the same time. We really need to figure out how to have more dates!

The kids are doing well. Kaydriana is becoming a bit more defiant, so we’re trying to combat that. On the positive side, her imagination is growing and now that she loves me telling her stories, particularly Goldilocks and the Three Bears, she likes to add on to the stories at the end. Her bangs are finally starting to not look so horrid after her run ins with the scissors. I’m praying we never have to deal with that again!

Lake is always covered in bruises! It was so bad about a week ago where he had a bruise on each cheek and everyone, including Tim, thought it was dirt! He still isn’t saying much, but he is in love with books. He enjoys it when I say animal sounds and he is pretty good with snorting like a pig when he sees one. Last night we were playing while Tim took Kaydriana to Home Depot and I told Lake that it was time for nigh night. He got up and started going up the stairs. I love that he understands me J

The past couple of weeks have been tough. I’ve been pretty down lately with the non-stop stress and feeling like I’m not fulfilling my life’s passion of being with my kids more. I still get up everyday and go through the motions, but what I really want to do is either be in bed or just hang out with the kids. It’s all I can do to get through the work day. Maybe having a four day weekend to look forward to next week will energize me, but knowing we’re entering our busy time of year here at work, is already having it’s toll. I want out so bad, and I just don’t see an end to this position in the near future. I just need to keep my eye on the prize and continue working towards our goals and, at minimum, survive until then.

How Many Balls Can We Juggle?

I’ve learned that God has an interesting sense of humor, especially since I became a parent. Thursday is a great example of thinking God was saying, “I’m going to give you the desires of your heart, but you need to remember to trust me through tribulations.”

On the way into work on Thursday, I was running short on time and was going about 10 miles over the speed limit down one of our hills. I know where the cops usually hang out, so I slowed down in the normal spots and sped up where I knew I could. Just then a sick feeling washed over me and I slowed all the way down to the speed limit. Few seconds later I see a motorcycle cop hiding where there never has been before. I typically would be going fast through that area so I thanked God for giving me that warning. I just couldn’t take another financial blow.

Later, I’m at work and on my to do list is a member issue that is just ridiculous and very escalated. I’ve been trying to get a hold of this member to tell him we will not cover the cost for missing an appointment with an installer that HE hired and is ripping HIM off. The bill was $2,188. I get a call from a phone agent telling me this member is on the phone to return my call. Perfect, lets get this over with, I think. I accept the call cheerfully and was told this was not the member, it is the installer. He starts threatening me telling me I’m bad mouthing his business (he used some legal jargon, not defaming, slander, or libel, but something else) and that it is against the law in the state of Texas and he’ll have his lawyers contact me and blah blah blah. I get nervous and take a, “play nice in the sand box” approach and get him off the phone.

I was worried that I might be held personally responsible because I did tell the member that the installer he hired has an unfavorable rating on the BBB and from my experience, no installer would charge a member that much money to have to reschedule their installation appointment. I was only telling the member out of concern.

I ended up calling our legal department and had to leave a message. So I sweated about this for a few hours. Finally, I spoke to one of our lawyers and he said I didn’t do anything wrong. I wasn’t maliciously saying untruths about this company and what I did share was public knowledge on BBB’s website. Phew!

A little while later, Tim text me after he picked the kids up from daycare to say that our monthly daycare fee has been reduced by $122!! That means our new monthly fee is… $2,188!!! That dollar amount look familiar!? Crazy coincidence!

However, minutes later Tim calls me with bad news. As he was backing up to parallel park, he hit someone who was behind him. He says it was her fault because he was already partly in the spot and she obviously wasn’t paying attention. But I’m not totally convinced. Who knows how the insurance company will go. The last thing we need is to pay another $500 deductable! We just paid that with our water damage.

It’s bad enough that I hit a neighbors rearview mirror and had to pay $318 out of pocket to reimburse the replacement mirror. Then we receive a bi-monthly water bill and it’s gone from an average of $200 to $600! I spoke with our insurance company and it’s unlikely they’ll reimburse us, because for one instance of our toilet overflowing, wouldn’t cause that much extra water usage. My toilet has done this constant running thing for months and I had my huge make up case on the back of the lid, so I generally would just let it be. Now with the toilet situation and our outrageous bill, I’ve been taking the lid off to stop the water. Next step is to have someone from the water department make sure we don’t have a leak and then ask them to cut us a break. We also need to call a plumber to look at the toilet, but we definitely can’t afford that right now, so I need to be diligent about stopping it from running. Ugh! Being a home owner is not all it’s cracked up to be! I kinda miss the days where I can call the apartment manager and have the handy man fix my issue.

To make matters worse, Tim and I have not put ourselves in a financial situation where we have wiggle room to handle disasters. Since I returned to work from having Lake and paying for two kids in daycare, we’ve had to use credit cards a lot to make ends meet. Add to that all of Lake’s doctor bills and not only are we struggling to pay our monthly bills, we certainly can’t afford all these unplanned bills. We’re looking into debt consolidating, but wonder if we should. We’re putting our house on the market and my idea is to use what we make on the house to get out of debt, move into an apartment, save money for a new down payment and start fresh. I just don’t know what the right answer is.

Among all these financial unknowns are our work situations. I’m so excited that Tim is finally switching to day shifts on July 1^st. I’ve been feeling alone for a long time. Not just single parent status and having to deal with all the kids needs from 7PM-9AM each day, but no one to talk to status. I began to enjoy it, like the kids go to bed and I’m by myself to read. But after I realized I was mostly looking forward to seeing my message therapist for the conversation and not just for the back care, I realized that something just wasn’t right. I’ve turned to my online mommy groups, which has been really great, but nothing beats being able to sit and talk to your partner. It really, really became obvious when Tim and I went to stay overnight for our anniversary. Being able to have a conversation with him is something so simple, but so needed and worthwhile. Imagine that, a wife talking to her husband…

Tim will begin working from 630-330 most days. We’ll need to figure out how to sleep in the same bed again. He likes windows open, TV or radio on, no covers. I’m exactly opposite. But we’ll finally have time together while the kids are asleep, which will be great.

Now, onto the topic that’s bringing me a lot of excitement and nerves… I’m applying for a new position at work. It’s a lateral position in a WAY less stressful position, earlier hours and Monday through Friday. I would be all excitement and no nerves if I didn’t have to worry and figure out childcare. The position would mean I’d have to open 3 days a week, which I would absolutely love!! I loved those hours before I had Kaydriana. However, I’d have to be at work at 5:30 AM and daycare doesn’t open until 6:30. So at least three days a week, we’d have to hire a nanny. If everything worked out perfectly, a nanny would be at our house at 515 those three days I have to open and the kids can stay in daycare two days a week. It would have to equal out to be what we’re currently paying as we certainly can’t afford more than what we’re paying. I like the idea of not having to get the kids fed, dressed and out of the house in a frenzy. But I would be concerned about their safety (do I let the nanny drive them anywhere?) and learning and playing with other kids. Also, finding good childcare is stressful!!!!

I have my interview on Tuesday and while I have an excellent shot at getting it, I’m not a shoe in. I’m trusting God will open doors to get me out of this current position, with these really restricted hours. When I was on maternity leave with Kaydriana, I was called and told I was coming to Ecom. So I never got the benefit of really learning if I could have a good work/life balance and be satisfied with my job and home life.

I feel like this new position, with it’s earlier hours, would give me the benefit of having a good balance and perhaps satisfy the hunger I have to spend more time with my kids.

With the house going on the market, our financial situation, new positions at work and possible childcare changes, we have a lot of things up in the air. Trusting in God’s plan for us and praying for patience and wisdom in all of this. 

Adventures...

It’s been a crazy past few weeks. Actually, all of May was crazy, which I knew it would be. I had a lot of time off for the kids’ birthdays, girls weekend, and our 5 year wedding anniversary. That was all planned. What wasn’t planned was the not so expected adventures.

In my last post, I covered how well Kaydriana’s party went. When I entered the information into the kids’ baby book, there were 41 guests at her bday party! We didn’t invite as many little friends to Lake’s, so his party had 21 guests, which was perfectly fine!

Lake’s birthday was fun. I made him a little ball pit with a plastic tub with plastic balls. He loved it! Kaydriana loved it too! That made for a fun morning. Because it was the Friday before Memorial weekend, daycare was closed so Tim and I took both kids to the Woodland Park Zoo. The kids held up for a long time, but they made it clear when it was time to go! After we got home from the zoo we sang happy birthday to Lake and presented him with an adorable little cake his daycare teacher gave him. He was not into it! I think he is more like Tim: not a big fan of sweets. Unlike Kaydriana, who is a lot like me and insisted on helping her baby brother with devouring his cake.

Lake’s party started off a little touchy with decorating and setting up for an indoor party. At the last minute, we moved everything outside since the weather seem to have stabilized. Lake doesn’t usually go too long without a nap so we knew we’d be fast tracking the birthday events. Lake had fun playing with the ball pit balls we moved outside and watching his sister and cousins running around. He was in a much more cheerful mood than he was at Kaydriana’s party. Then it was time for cake. He still didn’t have much interest, but we made him get dirty anyway, because we’re awesome parents like that. After he was good and messy, I realized we hadn’t brought out any wipes to clean him with. I asked Tim to go inside and grab wipes.

He comes back out sauntering in that way that he does and locks eyes with me and motions me with his finger and then says our house is flooding. Without reliving all the gory details, basically, my third story toilet didn’t stop running and it leaked through the second floor all the way to the first floor kitchen. Water was pouring out of the sprinkler system and light fixtures. Tim and Lee were taking care of things and Tim told me to go back out with our guests and go ahead and open Lake’s presents. So the party went on.

Lake wasn’t too excited with opening presents, but sissy was there to assist. Our party goers started to leave and give us their condolences and well wishes as they left.

Not too long after, the water damage people showed up and went to work drying out our house. All I gotta say is, thank goodness for homeowners insurance!

They tore apart my bathroom, placing the toilet in the tub. In both bathrooms and the hallways, Lake’s closet and the linen closet, the floor boards were ripped off. So with the carpeting also pulled back and nails and chunks of dry wall exposed, it has been too dangerous to have the kids upstairs while I’m getting ready for work. That has been so difficult. How our house is laid out, the most practical way of me getting ready each morning is having the kids on the third floor with me, putting the baby gate up at the top of the stairs and letting them play. This has not been possible for over two weeks. I’ve been going to the gym to work out and get ready, dropping the kids off at daycare early so I can get ready at home, and once I locked them downstairs while I showered and that didn’t work out too well. Finally after 16 days the house was put back together!! I am looking forward to getting back into our normal routine. The mornings are my only quality time with the kids. However, now that I know I can make it to the gym, I’m going to try to go twice a week. I really enjoy my work outs again!

Both kids had their well child checks on May 30^th. Kaydriana still has her irregular heart beats, called PCVs. I was kinda hoping she would have grown out of them already, but we’ll just continue to watch her. Kaydriana is 33 pounds now and despite her heart beats, is perfectly healthy.

We talked about Lake and I gave Dr. Schrier the notes I made regarding Lake’s fevers.

There isn’t a consistent pattern and we talked about the possibility of arthritis. Because Lake hasn’t been exhibiting any real signs of it, she felt we could rule that out for now.

She advised that we continue checking his temperature, and when he does spike a fever, to have him come in and get checked for symptoms. And if we can find a more consistent pattern, see if I can get him in before a fever spikes and draw blood to check his white blood cell counts. Sounds like if he does have something, it’s going to be a long time before we figure it out.

However, less than 12 hours after our appointment and he getting vaccines, when I got home at 7 that night, Lake had a fever of 102. He woke up the next morning with that and had fast shallow breaths and his heart was beating fast. I called the nurse on call at Children’s and from what we were able to discern, it appears he could be part of the 1-2% of children who have a reaction to the PCV vaccination. I was told his symptoms could last 72 hours, but to go ahead and treat with ibuprofen and Tylenol. I took him to daycare and got a note faxed over so they could give him the fever reducers.

That same day, Tim had a surprise overnight date planned for our 5 year anniversary. He had picked up the kids from daycare and took them to his parent’s house. He didn’t mention anything about Lake not doing well. He picked me up and whisked me away to Salish Lodge.

We had a great time, staying in the nicest room I had ever stayed in. We had an amazing dinner and dessert and enjoyed the falls. We also enjoyed the Jacuzzi tub, which I’ve never used before. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention, I walked into the room with a beautiful bouquet of roses and gourmet chocolates.

The next day, I had a hard time sleeping in (darn breast feeding!) but enjoyed lounging around and ordering room service. Salish makes the best eggs Benedict! While we were waiting for our breakfast to arrive, Tim called his parents and that’s when we learned that Lake had had a really rough night.

When we made our way to the kids, Lake couldn’t even sit up, he was so lethargic. He usually is so excited to see me, but it was almost like he didn’t recognize me. The rest of our anniversary, Lake laid on top of me. He couldn’t get comfy in his crib, and he didn’t want any food except to nurse occasionally. My sweet little guy L

The next day, Sunday he perked up a bit, but still had a fever. And then on Monday morning, he woke up and it was like a light bulb was switched on. He was perky and happy and fever free….

So we’ll just keep tracking, and I’ll be avoiding vaccines at his 15 month appointment.