What an absolute chaotic couple weeks it's been!
Christmas came and went.
2013 appeared, which gave me the beginning of my countdown until school started.
My Illustrator class is a hybrid class that only meets once a week on Monday nights and the rest is done through online lecture, etc.
I love this class because it's primarily made up of other adults most of which are working, so it's a no play zone, we're all here to learn and work, which I appreciate SO much.
Photoshop is my two times a week, day time class, where I'm one of the "old" people in the room.
There are maybe two or three others in the class of about 25 that are my age or older, the rest are all 20-22 years old.
Oh to be "young" again and take classes "for fun."
Sigh...
Anyways, so far the classes are going GREAT but definitely keeping me on my toes.
I am learning SSSOOO much and I'm not even a month into it.
It makes me miss my fellow art department peeps back at MJ Soffe SO MUCH.
Brynlee has adjusted to childcare amazingly and I couldn't be happier.
The fact that I can go to class and NOT think about her makes me feel secure about where she is--it's a great feeling, and allows me to truly concentrate while I'm away.
I'm taking a moment to be "that" person and post my current projects I'm working on/have done so far for classes....
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| Illustrator. |
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| Illustrator. Yes, I'm aware the interior is backwards. Don't ask. |
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| Photoshop. |
I got through my first week of class and was 100% on cloud nine.
That Friday, Brynlee caught a 24 hour stomach bug and the puking began.
Pretty much the longest 24 hours of my life, to be honest, besides being in labor with her, haha.
Thankfully the puking only lasted the 24 hours, but the diarrhea was another story.
Brynlee's been sick before, but never like this, so I was totally out of my element.
She wouldn't eat much, (B)RAT didn't seem to be working this time.
If she wasn't her usual perky self I might not have believed she was ever sick at all.
Within 24 hours of her not throwing up anymore, I started too.
The other longest 24 hours of my life!
My poor mom spent her MLK holiday taking care of B, while I set up camp in the bathroom, feeling like death.
The next day, dad.
The next day, mom.
Coming up that weekend? Brynlee's first birthday.
Sigh.
I remember sitting in my room one night, trying not to puke while doing homework, seriously contemplating canceling B's first birthday party.
What a drag that would be?!
I played it by ear, and thankfully by Friday, we were all feeling back to normal, minus B still having bad diapers. We Lysoled the ENTIRE house, and the party was on.
What a great time it was!
**On a side note, I am SO GLAD I started planning it in November. I knew with me just starting school a couple weeks before, that if I didn't start it early, then it might not happen, needless to say, I love it when I'm right and plan ahead!**
To improvise, I made my own snowballs and we were good to go for outside decor!
We had soups and breads, a hot chocolate station, and then TONS of blue, white, and silver candies and sugary treats you could think of.
Brynlee was totally in her prime.
The more people to pay attention to her, the better.
The girl has got NO shame.
The best part of the party, I have to say, was her cupcake.
I made "baby safe" carrot cupcakes from scratch with whipped cream cheese frosting, thinking if this kid is going to have sugar, it's going to be my way!
I had no preconceived idea of how she'd react to cake, thinking she'd either be all over it, or not care.
She was kind of in the middle.
I plopped down that little cupcake with her "1" candle and she just kinda stared at it, not really knowing what to do...after a while she took the candle out, looked it a few seconds, then tried to stick it back into the cupcake.
Holly, our awesome photographer we use here in CO, suggested smushing her hand into it to "get things going," so I smushed.
Needless to say, it did not go over well.
Poor little Queen B cannot tolerate dirty.
It was pretty much awesome, and thank goodness for grandmas to the rescue from mean mamas.
We had such a great turn out of family and friends.
We are SO blessed to have such a consistent support system.
There's really just no words for how awesome it is.
I got to Skype with John, that night, after her party and tell him all about it.
It was a surprise call, so it was a great way to end the day.
After B's birthday, I was ready to get back to "normal" and really get a routine in place for my school schedule, her childcare schedule, and our together home schedule.
But she still was having tummy issues, here almost two weeks later.
I brought it up at her one year appointment and the ped said with babies it can take longer to kick those kind of bugs, so wait it out a couple more days and see if anything changes.
**Another side note, B is now 18.5 lbs (12% weight), 27.8" (12% length) and 17.5" head (31%, big noodle!) so she is still rather petite, fitting in a solid 12 month clothes. We're also getting in two more bottom teeth! We have 8 teeth total, now that they've completely broken through.**
Well nothing seemed to change in those couple days, if anything, things got worse.
For about 4 days in a row, every morning when she woke up she'd wake up shrieking.
I'd go into her room to find that she not only exploded through her diaper but through her clothes, and on some days, through her sheets.
I was doing laundry for her once a day, seriously.
Blow out after blow out after blow out.
This issue caused us to have our very first diaper rash, EVER, and it absolutely broke my heart into pieces.
There is nothing to describe the helplessness of when your baby cringes at your touch.
All I could do is cry while holding her down and doing my best to keep her "treated" to try to heal.
She LOVED it and I got peed on often.
It brought back so many memories of when we still lived in NC and the only time I ever did put clothes on her is if we were going somewhere...other than that, she was in just a diaper most the time.
As of today, almost a MONTH since she was first sick, her little bum is still on the mend, but SO much better than it was. Bath times are no longer scary or painful and changing her diaper isn't like wrestling an alligator.
So, Brynlee is now ONE.
She isn't quite walking, but she can pull up like a pro (thanks to all those squats with Papa every morning) and can shuffle along and around things using her hands.
She crawls like a beast, and seriously is a little stealthy ninja.
She's there and gone before you can blink.
With the pulling up, we're just now getting to the point where she can gently let herself down without falling.
THAT took some major work.
I can't tell you how many times she would pull up on something, play a bit, want down and not know how, so she'd just SCREAM panic until someone came to help her.
I went along with it for a little while, but it started getting old, so the "neglectful" mama that I am, decided not to help her down anymore and just let her figure it out.
It took some time, and some major screaming fits, but now she can squat down to where her hands find the ground and then gently kneel or plop down.
Her words are all over the place.
"Bob-bob" is Hurley, our dog.
BUT she also says "dah" every time she hears a dog bark or sees another dog...I think "dog" is well on its way.
"Eow" or "oooowwwww" is still the words for the cats. And it usually sounds more like a question than a statement..."oooowww??"
She just LOVES them, and I think the feeling is mutual on Jax's end.
I even find him sleeping outside her door every once in a while.
Bella could still honestly care less, haha.
We have a southern accented version of bye-bye, which sounds like "bah-bah."
It's pretty much awesome to hear her say it.
It seriously has the perfect southern twang-ugh, it's awesome.
Brynlee is the best head shaker ever.
Can't make the girl do ANYTHING she doesn't want to do--IDK where she gets it.
Want a drink? Shake head.
Want some cheerios? Shake head.
Want ______? Shake head. Hand swat the object.
If she does want it, you'll know. If she doesn't, you'll DEFINITELY know.
With that, she also knows what "no" means and is very attuned to testing those "no" limits.
I try not to say no very much, I use more of the "Don't_____, please."
But sometimes a sharp no is all the time I have!
She tests the limits by not touching something but by hovering her finger over it while looking at you with a complete stoic expression seeing how you'll react.
It's crazy how smart she is.
She is pretty good, for the most part, in following basic instructions.
"Brynlee, do not touch," is a fair example. She might sit and think about it before she crawls away, but she always does. :) (Knock on wood).
There is seriously nothing more neat than watching your child develop.
I love this age.
Everything is so amazing and cool to her and I love to just sit in the living room watching her explore everything.
The hardest part to swallow is when you start seeing traits of yourself in your kids!
Lord bless her, but the TUDE can get intense sometimes.
I know part of this is just a learning experience and up to me to define boundaries, but seriously, it's so hard not to laugh sometimes. I've had to sincerely turn away or straight walk away so she doesn't see me laughing.
I'm laughing more at how unfair this karma all is, cause it's not really all that funny when it comes down to it!
When she has one of her defiant head shaking moments and you try that "one more time?" to make her do something she doesn't want to do, to prove her point she goes "eh!" and swats the item away.
It's like she's saying, "Woman, I've been shaking my head no, how many more times are we going to do this? One more time. Ok, fine..."
Smack!
She hasn't trained me yet. ;)
I KNOW I drive her nuts because I see her looking at me like, "really? ok....."
Sigh...it really is awesome, but I can totally see how kids win their parents out in this arena.
It's exhausting but hilarious.
I can't wait to see what this next year brings!
With barely a month of school under my belt I'm cautiously optimistic.
I feel like she and I both are in really good places right now all things considering and we both have room to grow together and alone.
Doesn't excuse the fact that we miss dada.
We talk about him all the time.
Pretty much any male of any age or race will most likely be called "dada" by her at some point.
Pretty sure Jax is dada quite a bit too.
We miss him bunches.
But, on the flip side, with all that he's been gone for, it sure will be an awesome show she'll get to put on when he's home.
And once again, she'll be in her prime, with all the attention. :)
