A friend posted this to a Facebook group I’m a part of. I cannot express how much I loved this piece. Not only because it shows what a pain in the ass the website GOMI (Get Off My Internets) is, but that you see what you want to see in photography and art. The photographs of this little girl are amazing.
This has been a year full of change for all of us.
Most of this change seems to come in little perfect storms. In May/June, we had the (early) arrival of Elliott, then packing our house, moving out and saying goodbye, and moving into my in-laws home…all within about a 3 week span. The four of us handled it okay. Of course, our biggest concern was Abby. She suddenly was gaining a sibling and losing the only home she’s known, and moving into a temporary space at her grandparents. However, she handled it all really well.
Now we have another cluster of change, but this one is really Abby’s alone.
Earlier in the year, I tried really hard to get her enrolled in Kindergarten early. Since her birthday is post September 1st, she isn’t scheduled to start Kindergarten until next year. However, Abby is (in our opinion) very smart, socially capable and seemingly ready for the task of grade school. However, none of the schools I wanted her attending had any availability for her to begin early. (Not to mention that now we’re not even going to be living in Minneapolis anymore, so it wouldn’t have worked anyway.) So, when the majority of her friends “graduated” from Pre-K last week, she did not. This made her very sad. She’s been attending this school since she was 18 months old, so she’s known a lot of these kids almost her whole life. And now they’re leaving for bigger things and she’s staying behind. It’s hard to explain to a four-year-old how there’s rules and unfortunately she can’t do the same thing her friends are doing until this time next year.
To add to the change, Abby’s school has two Pre-K classrooms and she’s being moved to the other one starting next week, which means she’ll be with new teachers and mostly new students. This is also making her sad, as she’s been in her current class for nearly a year and a half. Finally, today I learned that her most favorite teacher, Miss Mel, is leaving the school…and today is her last day.
And what would this adjustment period be without a big move? A week from today we’re moving into our new house.
Everything all at once, all over again.
I’m trying to remind her that when she does start Kindergarten next year, that it will be the same; new classroom, new teachers and friends to meet. That this is kind of like graduating, but on a smaller scale and without a ceremony like the other kids got. And that she is still growing up, and she’ll be getting her big girl room next week! And all of her toys out of storage! But I know it’s hard. And I know she doesn’t always know how to deal with her emotions. She’s four! This is a lot of shit to deal with. Christ, I can barely deal and I’m…over 30. We’ll leave it at that.
I try to put myself in her position, to try and understand how this must be for a four-year-old, but that straight up was too long ago. So we’ll try to make her understand the changes happening around her, and when she just can’t, we’ll be there for her to comfort her until she’s okay. This storm will pass.
Hi. I’m not dead. In fact, things have been quite lively ’round these parts.
First this happened.
Then this happened. After five weeks of bed rest and three-and-a-half weeks early, Elliott William arrived safe and sound.
And now, our next adventure.
We’ve purchased our “for most of forever” home. It’s beautiful and we cannot wait to move in. While my in-laws have been so kind in letting us live with them since the middle of June, we are looking forward to getting our stuff out of storage and living our lives as our own little family of four.
I hope to blog a little more after the move, which is about two weeks from today. I miss this space and the blogging world as a whole. I hope you’ll have me back.
xoxo
It’s nearly 4:30am. I’ve been awake for 2 hours now. Most nights I would just attribute this to pregnancy insomnia, but I think my mind is definitely not focusing on sleep. It’s been a weird day in the land of fetus gestation.
The past couple of weeks have been insane. Non-stop house preparations, and more uncomfortable everything in the baby department. He felt like he’d moved head down, but with that move came more lightning crotch (cervix hits, and plenty) and also a lot more pressure. Walking to work from Abby’s daycare has been taking me twice as long, with plenty of near stopping just to make the pressure go away.
I brought all of this up to John the Midwife today at my 31 week appointment. We both agreed that it was just second pregnancy fun (he suggested I invest in a pregnancy support belt) and we carried on with the exam.
Sure enough, baby boy IS now head down (one good thing), and low. John checked me for any signs of cervical change (last week was thick and normal), and it took him for what felt like forever, before he declared that things were starting to change. It was soft and maybe 1cm dilated. For anyone playing along at home, I didn’t really have any issues of this sort until about 33 weeks with Abby, so things are happening a little more quickly this time. John seemed concerned. He told me to take the day off work and ordered a Betamethasone shot (read: steroid) to mature baby’s lungs, in case shit hits the fan and I go into labor in the next few weeks.
(Sidenote: HOLY MOTHER OF GOD did that shot hurt. Like, the Rhogam shot in the ass hurts pretty bad, but this was like someone injected a shot of fireball into my buttcheek. It’s STILL sore.)
I came home from my appointment to an evening of Braxton Hicks that warranted a chat with the on-call midwife, as I had 8-9 per hour for about 90 minutes. Eventually they calmed down, but I felt crampy for the rest of the night. The in-laws picked up Abby, where she spent the night and will spend the day so I can rest. Which brings us to…now. Me, on the couch because I can’t sleep, writing a blog post.
But..that’s not the end of it. Tomorrow (well, I guess today – HI NEARLY 5 AM) I’m to rest all day, and then at 5:30pm, I’m supposed to go to triage at labor & delivery to get hooked up to monitors to see if I’m contracting, get a second Betamethasone shot, a fetal fibronectin test (which could only serve to be helpful if it’s negative), and have another cervix check. I’m really wary of another check, simply because of how much the last one hurt, and the amount of contractions I had just a few hours afterwards.
Did I mention our house goes on the market in the next 48 hours?
Yeah, I’m not falling asleep anytime soon.
So, I haven’t done one of these once this time around. Figure now’s as good a time as any to start, eh?
How far along? 29 weeks. (tomorrow)
Total weight gain/loss: About + 14 lbs, give or take a pound.
Maternity clothes? All the maternity pants are belong to me. My “normal” winter coat is too snug. But, maybe it’ll get warm and I won’t need a coat soon? (BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA.)
Stretch marks? I think my stomach got worse. It’s hard to tell between Abby-induced and baby-boy problems.
Sleep: It happens. But only when Abby doesn’t wake up.
Best moment this week: Getting the house re-situated and baby boy’s room started.
Movement: This kid is throwin’ ‘bows like nobody’s business.
Food cravings: FRUIT. And Cherry Coke.
Gender: Penis.
Labor Signs: No real ones. Braxton Hicks are back with a vengeance, but John the Midwife checked today and there’s no progress in the dilation front, so BONUS.
Belly Button in or out? Both. (And yes, it’s totally possible.)
What I miss: Wearing pants with a waist. Sleeping on my stomach.
What I am looking forward to: Getting our house “finished” and back on the market again.
Weekly Wisdom: Ikea is effing dangerous.
Milestones: Oh, HAI THIRD TRIMESTER.
We successfully (with my brother-in-law’s help) got our bedroom moved into the attic and got baby boy’s bedroom set up. We also successfully spent $400 at Ikea buying a new dresser & bookshelf (and other randoms) for Abby (since we stole her stuff for baby brother and our room.) Our house still needs a deep clean and decluttering, but we’re that much closer to listing again. After spending an hour putting the crib back together, I started thinking that if we did all this and the kid doesn’t even get to sleep in it before I have to take it apart again…I’ll be both pissed and elated all at once.
(Wanna see where I was at 4.5 years ago? Check it out.)
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