I always try to be authentic in my posts. Maybe not in airing all the things, but I don’t ever try or want to come across like my life is all roses and sunshine. Because – whose is, really?? Life is hard. Adulting is hard. Marriage and parenting are SO HARD. But, if everything went smoothly all the time, how would any of us learn and grow? Some days I think that if I could go back in time that I would do SO many things different. I missed out on so many experiences just due to decisions I made and focus being in the wrong place. But if I did things differently – led a different life – would I be where I am now? Would I have J and my sweet baby girl? Probably not.
I may have missed out on going to college right out of high school and living that college life – but I did go, and I did get my degree when I was 30 years old. I worked full time and went to school at night, for 5 loooong years. But, I did it. I can’t go back in time. I can’t change or relive the past, so I just have to embrace where I am, right now. Maybe that mindset is why I’ve never been one of those people who freak out about turning any certain age. I find that those who do, are usually not where they hoped they’d be in life by that point, so it scares them. I’ve just never felt that way. I mean, sure…I definitely had a different “plan” in my head for how my life would go, but…it didn’t, and I can’t change it, and I’m ok with that. It doesn’t mean that I don’t think back and sometimes wish I hadn’t missed out on things that I did, but I don’t dwell and I don’t get down about it.
Instead, I hope that I can encourage and allow my child to participate in and experience as many things as she wants to. Not to live vicariously through her, but so that she won’t have as many “what-if’s” or “I missed out on” thoughts as her mama has.
So, after that little tangent I jumped off on, how about we get to what went on for us in August?
Natalie. My sweet baby girl. Who turned 2 in August. TWO. I posted about her party and such in the most recent Baby Bites post, but my gosh y’all. Oh, and while I’m over here thinking, she’s “officially” a toddler – the Baby Center site that sends me weekly “age” emails, says she is now a “Preschooler”. Um, What? Let’s wait until 3 to call her that, mmmkay? I’m having a hard enough time wrapping my head around the fact that she’s a little kid now, not my tiny baby girl.
Probably late July, we entered the first sleep regression that we have ever experienced. And it is The. Worst. OMG, y’all. Being used to having a child that is a great sleeper and has gone to bed easily and slept through the night since 7 months old, this new phase is killing me. Not only will she no longer allow me to just lay her down and leave the room, she is also waking up 1-3 times each night. WHAT IS HAPPENING?? It started with hysterical scream-crying, followed by climbing over and falling out of her crib. That resulted in a crib mattress being dropped to the floor and having to now rock or pat her to sleep every night. Let me tell you how much fun leaning over a crib rail to pat your child’s back for-EVER, is. I read that separation anxiety and/or the fear of missing out can be the culprits of this particular sleep regression, and I’d say that is probably spot-on. Ever since my work trip that had me gone for 7 days, little one is VERY clingy. Oh, we also had a (thankfully) short stint with night terrors. If you’ve never experience those, count your blessings. Nothing like your child crying, and literally nothing calms them down. 20 minutes of a not-really-awake child, crying and pushing away from you if you try to do anything at all to comfort is not my idea of a good time. She is doing better (though nowhere near back to “normal”) on all fronts, but this mama is still so, so tired. I am thankful for the few nights here and there where she sleeps all night. I’ll be even more thankful when that is the norm again and not the exception.
In the midst of sleep regression hell, we also got to deal with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. You guys. The devil himself created this virus. My poor girl. I won’t go into details, but her little face and feet took the brunt of the rash, and she and I stayed home together for six. long. days. I mean, I love my kid, but 24/7 for six days with a terrible 2’s kid is not for the faint of heart. Thankfully she wasn’t feeling bad most of the time, but…we also had to stay home because….HFM…contagious. All that jazz. I’m just glad it happened before her birthday party, or we would have had to cancel.
And baby girl wasn’t the only one with a birthday in August. My Grannie, my mom, my niece, and me also have August birthdays (along with several other family members – sheesh!) And while I don’t have any bad feelings about my birthdays and getting older, I also am not a big celebrate-my-birthday person. To me, it’s really just another day, and one that happens to mean I am turning a year older. J’s sister and brother-in-law have a beach house a few hours away, so we went there for a long weekend with them and another family. Nat loved the pool, the beach and riding on the boat and seeing dolphins jump up and follow the boat. That really was a great experience!! They were so close, about six of them, just following the boat and jumping up. “More dolphins!” she kept saying. It was adorable.
And finally, after J trying to persuade me for months, we decided to start renting out our RV. I was hesitant because…you just never know, but our schedule and finding locations when we do have time weren’t allowing us to use it much and it’s a shame for it to just sit in our driveway most of the year while we make payments on it. So, we’re renting it out now. We had to rentals in August, and both went really well! I had fun getting it ready and stocked for the renters and both families had a great time. And, the income from it offsets the monthly payments for it and the insurance, which is really why we decided to do it. Wins all around.
Work has been busy, lots of changes, lots of meetings and events to prep for. I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon. All part of adulting, right?? Queue mama wishing she were 19 and carefree again. Ha!! If you made it this far, congrats! And welcome to my crazy life 🙂 And here’s a picture of my baby girl and J, just because.
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