The New Normal

This has been an interesting week for our little family. Not only have I reinforced some pretty strict rules on house training for the pooch, we were also splashed with a nice, icy dose of a new reality. Our little princess had to start daycare this week. Not biggie, right? Em… Well, not so easy, really. In a few days’ time, I had to reinvent our entire routine and hope the little one can adapt quickly. Because of the addition of daycare, instead of me getting up at 6:00, and letting the little one sleep in, I am now up at 5:20. I walk the dog, feed the dog, hit the shower, get dressed, wake Baby Girl, get her dressed, get her to eat breakfast, take the dog out one last time, and out the door by 7:20. She would normally sleep in till about 8:30 – 9-ish when my parents were with us (the rules were virtually non-existent when she stayed with them). oh yes, to make all of this work, I also prepare her and my meals before going to bed the night before. I even determine what's for breakfast and get as much of it as possible ready at that time, that way I have a few less steps to deal with in the morning. I still don’t have all the steps quite right but it’s getting there. Of course, we also had to get the little one into her daycare routine, which is another challenge altogether. She now has to get used to eating at a particular time but more importantly, get into her crib and go to sleep. And that, ladies and gentlemen is the monster hurdle. See, at one point I used to be able to put the little one in her crib and she would kind of just hang out, get her pacifier and go to sleep. Then my parents insisted on holding her to put her to sleep, and then we were done. My Mom even got offended by my efforts to try to get her to sleep on her own. I was in the room with the baby, mind you, just not holding her. This made the little one wail like a banshee. It got to the point where I had to kick my Mom out of the baby’s room when she stormed in demanding to take the baby to their room till she fell asleep. Awesome. But yes, we were entirely too lenient and took the path of least resistance, and now we find ourselves with a kid who refuses to fall asleep on her own. Note to self, for the future, tough it out. So yes, in daycare, she is put in her pack and play and is expected to sleep. We’re in day three and she is still putting up a good fight. But the woman who runs the daycare is no-nonsense and it shows. The little one has been fussing a touch less about getting into her crib. The one great thing about daycare is that because she is more or less playing for the majority of the day, she has been coming home pooped. I love it, by 8:30 she starts saying, "night night." Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Baby Girl, but she can make it difficult to do things like clean the house after dinner or even relax before my bed time. The other aspect that we had to deal with is the complete overhaul of our finances. I knew daycare is expensive but damn, it stings. Over the next few months I will have to don my Mr. Scrooge top hat and slash expenses across the board. I’m so not going to enjoy that but ah well. Until I win the Powerball—which by the way, is the kind of frivolous spending that I am cutting out of our budget— this will have to be the new normal. F- me!

So excited! I currently have several things in the works and they are all potentially fantastic. Now if I could only get around to the lingering boxes in the garage and the flower bed. Ah, then that would also make Aaron do a dance of joy, which really just makes me happy because he won’t have to bitch at me about them. Here’s the thing, I am not entirely sure if Aaron as a realistic understanding of how little time I have, even with my parents watching the little one during the day. I mean, I can’t even pee in peace when I get home. I am fairly convinced Baby Girl thinks the room converts to a magical land— along the lines of an amalgam of Narnia and the Wiggles World— once the door closes, and she MUST be in there with me. But back to my original point, I told Aaron that I would gladly take care of the damn boxes and everything else I have to do around the house when he is off and can watch the little one. But every single damn time I go to do something, he brings her right back to me within a half-hour, to an hour of starting anything. His rationale, “she wanted to be with you.” My repeated replies of, “so friggin what?!” aren’t received very well. He interprets that as me being grumpy. And damn yes I’m grumpy. I have to not only deal with him bitching about the stuff I’ve been putting off around the house, AND keeping the little one entertained and/or keeping her from running off into the street or playing with stuff in the garage that she shouldn’t be touching, I also have to then deal with him getting on my case about being grumpy. What the frick?! I can’t win. Anyhoo, I did actually intend to write about things making me happy lately—kinda vented a touch there, sorry. So yes, I started this post hinting that I’m actually in a good mood. And I am. I’ve just gone through two very good meetings. Hopefully one or both result in new possibilities for me. So keep your fingers crossed for me and wish me luck.

Goals

My clothes seem to have gotten smaller... again. Don’t you hate it when that happens? So yes, I used some of the free time I had this weekend to swap out some of the fall and winter clothing for some of the spring stuff. I was a touch dismayed by how much more snugly things fit. I then looked over at my neglected running shoes and decided it’s time. The poor things have gone unused for far too long. Great. Now the only problem is finding the time to use them. I have the sinking sensation I may have to become either a night time runner. I mean, after dinner, 8:30 p.m. and later- kind of runner. OR start my runs at about 5:00 a.m. why so early? That’s easy, I have a little one who has gotten into the habit of waking up at 4:00 a.m. and while I can get her back to sleep, it normally takes a bit. But, this also means I could only really do this on the days my parents stay over. OR become a totally irresponsible parent and leave the little one on her own while Mommy goes running (yeah, okay). I am still not sure how well working out inside would go, but it might be worth a shot. Meh. I’ll do a trial run today and tomorrow and see how this all goes. It’s going to kind of suck ass though. That’s usually small window of time when I can actually spend a few minutes with Aaron. I would take him running with me. But he usually comes up with some excuse like, ‘I’ll start the insanity program first, then I’ll go running with you,’ or my personal favorite, 'you don't keep up with me.' Mind you, we have had that thing in our house for almost two months. I think I’ll actually get around to doing the workout before he does. So what’s my ultimate goal? I’m looking to drop about 60. Yep. Big ole goal, but doable. Of course, I’ll have to alter my plans should anything come up, like say, a successful pregnancy, but I’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Still Here!

Hiya. In case you have been wondering, no, I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth and yes there is stuff going on. I'm just not exactly comfortable posting the news at this time. I am keeping a long and detailed entry that I will post when the time is right, but for now... Hiya.

I can't believe we're already at Memorial Day. Holy crap has this year flown. I mean honestly I have no idea what happened to the last three months. All I know is that I started work and, boom we're here at the unofficial start of the summer. Next thing you know, we'll blink and it'll be the 4th of July, then we'll give Halloween and Christmas miss and proceed directly to Groundhog Day. Huzzah!

Ooh, speaking of Huzzah! I'm really excited. I've already know which items I will be getting at this year's Ren Faire. It is almost the season es, This year I'll be getting the apron portion of the garb and a head cover of some sort. I haven't decided if I like the bonnet style or the floppy-style hats. Eh, I'll decide later. But yeah, I am so looking forward to all the Summery stuff .

Activities I've got planned for this summer:
Hiking
Kayaking
Camping (still have to determine where and get a new tent)
Ren Faire
Beach (Duh)
Vegas (Labor Day weekend)

The other thing I have decied on is finally getting a digital camera. I still use my old-school film camera which I adore and will NEVER give up on, but I think it's time to bite the bullet and get a point and shoot.