Before and After…

ugh. brace yourselves…

 

BEFORE:

 

 

AFTER:

My poor guy!!!! He lost his footing while trying to step into a crock (the ugly shoes) and fell face first into our hard wood floors.

I was holding Athena and saw it happen. I immediately put her down on the floor and grabbed Elijah. Blood was gushing everywhere….I mean EVERYWHERE. Luckily my dad was still home and he was able to manage Athena and Aubrey (I’m watching Aubrey a few hours this week).

The irony is that this week Elijah has really caught on to the fact that he could go “boom boom”. He points at potentially dangerous things and says “boo boom”….like when he stands on the couch. Who would have ever thought those ugly shoes would have been a potential hazard…

He is okay now. I believe he’s just torn his maxillary frenum which is common and anticipated usually. I asked Elijah’s doctor about his a while back because it seems that Elijah’s frenum inhibited him from opening his mouth….and sure enough the doc said he will probably tear it at some point in life.

Expected or not, my baby is hurting and the sight of his blood is something I never want to see again. My poor Elijah, he went boo boom.

I feel so blessed tonight

It’s amazing how sometimes you really  don’t know.

What I mean is that I just knew  that tonight was going to be a disaster. Elijah postponed his 1 o’clock nap to 4 pm and slept until 5:30. Athena didn’t get a good deep sleep for her afternoon nap, so I just had a feeling that the night would be disastrous. Brad is out with friends, which left me even more apprehensive about being 2 to 1.

When Elijah got up we left the house (poor Athena, we packed her up sleeping and all) to get a quick bite of dinner and then to look at some “dhoo choos”. They were both so great at the store, I was really amazed. Elijah even pointed out that the sales tags in the aisles were “no no’s” from when were there before and he would rip down every one. He was able to walk around freely because he listened and obeyed immediately when I asked something of him. (that is an extremely rare occurrence!) 

Athena, she was great like always. Her demands normally include being held facing out to see what’s happening. Or to stand up if you’re seated with her.

We got home and to my amazement Elijah asked me to go to bed. “Mama, nani”. (Nani is Greek for sleep/sleeping). I warmed his milk, put his pj’s on and with Bobby and a pipila in hand he was ready. Athena however was also ready, and I had no choice but to leave her in her crib fully awake so I could get Elijah rocked a little. I didn’t hear one peep out of her. How awesome! She stared at the light on the camera for a bit and then fell asleep. Same for Elijah, I laid him down, he snuggled Bobby and stared at the camera then fell asleep!

So I feel rather guilty for assuming I was going to have a terrible Saturday night. My love and appreciation for my kids overfill my heart right now. I am so incredibly blessed. Even if my night went as predicted, I am blessed. I am always aware of it even during the frustrating times.

I can keep rambling, but pictures are fun to look at. So here you are:

Here is Athena today playing with her friends. She does this a lot, so I am finally glad I got around to taking the picture! (I don’t tell her they used to be Elijah’s friends)  :)

She loves her feet, especially when you pretend to eat them. She however, isn’t so sure about blowing on her pudgy belly.—That’s what that look on her face is for.

Elijah knows to not drive trucks on her head, but sometimes he pushes the limit….this was one of those times. But he truly loves his Nina! (that’s how he says Athena)

He’s learned to play so well with his toys, but still requests that we “geeyt down” to push a ball or truck back and forth with him.

The past few weeks both of them have been learning so many new things that I just want to push a pause button in our lives for a bit! I can’t get enough of them.

Which reminds me! We’ve briefly discussed me staying home from work until Elijah goes to school (well, and basically Athena since they’re so close in age). I was a little mixed with my feeling because the longer I postpone working, the less savings, money, extras, etc….but I know those things can wait. My kids will grow up whether I work or not, so how much better is it that I am there. Plus unless I get a decent paying job it’s pointless to work just to pay for daycare.

So I’ve decided to go to graduate school in the fall. I really enjoy school and learning. And in the time it will take me to finish my masters the kids will be ready for school and me for work. So I am looking at SIUE at their Environmental Chemistry program. I’m so nerdy….I have missed my chemistry classes and labs!! I’m hoping I may be able to get an assistantship where I will be paid and tuition will be reduced to assist a professor.

Anyway, I’ll let you know how that goes. For now I am going to soak up nothingness (meaning foodnetwork) for a while :)

“geeyt down”!

I have Aubrey to thank for teaching Elijah to say ‘get down’. He has become so active and curious we have to turn chairs over so he doesn’t climb on furniture, and god-forbid the half wall that barricades the basement steps.

It’s so cute though, he will stand on something he knows he isn’t supposed to and tell on himself by saying “geeyt down”. So cute.

What’s not so cute is when he says “No”. In perfect, understandable English. I am a little dumbfounded how to  handle the situations. When I ask him to do something and he says no….what do I do? He is to young to reason with I know, but the word “no” just makes it seem that he knows exactly what’s going on, and that he is entitled to get his way. I am definitely going to have to work on this….

Elijah is also going through some kind of emotional issues too. He keeps waking up in the middle of the night (not with just a whimpering, but screams) and is nervous any time we get in the car. I know he’s afraid we’re going to school. My poor guy, he has such anxiety about school and being left behind. Thursday was awful. He threw himself on the ground and cried, and to make matters worse I forgot Bobby at home. So he didn’t even have Bobby there for him.

His teachers assure me it may take a few months to adjust. Probably more time with his case because we are approaching summer break and when we return from Greece he will start in a new classroom and with a new teacher since he will be 2.

The way I see it is that it’s better for him to go through this now, rather than when he’s 4 going to preschool. He will adjust, but I hope soon…and hopefully he will adjust to sleeping through the night. Especially because his sister does now! Woo hoo! 8pm-5am! Then she sleeps until about 8 while Elijah wakes up at 7.

Whatever emotional issues he is facing I just continue to assure him that I will be there. I love that little boy so much, more than I ever dreamed.

It’s such a great Friday afternoon, I can’t wait for Athena to wake from her nap so we can go the park. Gotta use the nice weather while we can because, who knows, we may have 10 inches of snow tomorrow…

Athena is laughing out loud!

It was the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard. She is so adorable, and her personality is so fun. Part of me wished that I would have had a camera to capture the laughter, but now a days I am getting SO sick of our reliance on technology. I am so glad to have shared that moment with my daughter, versus captured that moment with her.

I recently bought a used DSLR camera so we can have some good pictures of our summer trip – It’s actually very fun to play with….Well, I say that because my test subjects are really fun :)

Anyway, my point is that while trying to learn this camera I have been reading through magazine and I came across a photo contest. The winning picture was a beautiful sunrise somewhere in the outback of Australia and in the caption the photographer said that she was so glad to have the shot even though she didn’t feel the spirit of the moment.  - How dumb, pathetic and sad. The same goes for me thinking I should have had a video camera during the irreplaceable moments of Athena’s first laugh.

It’s not all bad though. I  have sweet pictures of my babies.

Oh, and while Athena is laughing out loud, Elijah is telling me “No.” for too many things. Ironically it just started today as well.

that’s all for now….

go ahead, tell me

how crazy I am.

So I went yesterday and had the IUD put in place.  As I was sitting alone in the exam room waiting for Dr. Chen, I felt overwhelmingly sad that it was the end! – I  know it sounds nuts. Even though this IUD can stay in place for 10 years (I’d be 38!) it doesn’t mean it HAS to. But yesterday I felt so sad, like I wouldn’t be able to have any more kids if we wanted to.

I know my sadness must have been attributed to having an attachment to my OB office a little bit. (Now that must sound totally nuts!)  I mean if you think about it, I have been visiting the same people in that office at least every month for 2 1/2 years! He has such great staff, and he himself is a great doctor so I felt like I was closing a door yesterday (although I have to go back in a month to make sure this device is still in the proper place).

Also, I started thinking about if  we wanted more kids how would that happen? Life is always so busy so how would we decide? I can’t imagine us saying, “Ok, life has slowed down enough to try.” And now that it can’t happen by “accident” like Elijah and Athena, will we ever make time to have another one? Especially because we’ve reached capacity at our house! So now that would mean eventually having to move for each child to have their own room…..yikes….I know, I’m thinking too hard about this…..but still, do you kinda see where I’m coming from?

On a different subject, Athena slept through the night!! I kept her out kind of late at the gym and she finally settled around 9:30 and didn’t wake up until 6:45! So awesome!

Even more awesome is that it’s 1:30 in the afternoon and both of them have been asleep for a while, but Athena actually put herself to sleep. She was wide awake snuggly swaddled and eventually closed her eyes. Such a good baby! – They both are actually fantastic. I wouldn’t trade them for anything!

They’re so sweet aren’t they!!!!