Worst Week

I don't know what it was this week...the cosmos were aligned just so...or misaligned...I dunno...We've had a bit of a Murphy's Law sort of week and I felt it fitting to purge myself of it just as it comes to a close so that we can have a great week as we prepare to move! Good!

Last Sunday Belen woke up with some green crusty eye goo..I know, ick.  But I spent a few years as sort of a nurse in an urgent care...I've seen the symptoms of Conjunctivitis ("Pinkeye") before...so Zak took her to the doctor to get some antibiotics while I went to church to teach my class...case closed, right?

On the 5th I had the maintenance guy come walk through the apartment to tell me what specifically needed to be addressed so we could assure ourselves the safe return of the whole of our deposit...by the way, our apartment is old and yucky, with old appliances that have paint pealing off are actually beginning to rust, ugly cabinets, and gruesome linoleum floors. The M-guy told me to use Comet cleanser to scrub the floors...when Zak was working in L.A. earlier this week I stayed up until 3 a.m. scrubbing those floors then sealing and waxing them...I'm hoping no one will notice just how slippery the floors are now that they've been freshly waxed...will that be a problem?  Anyway, I was so tired when I finally finished that I just left the still nearly full Comet container on the counter in the kitchen and crawled into bed next to my snoozing toddler.  This is what I think went down about 5 hours later. When I was deep in dreamland, Belen woke up, handed me my glasses & gave me kisses (I say this not because I remember it but because it's what she does every morning...that and when I finally did wake up I was holding my glasses...weird).  This is where it gets dicey...when I didn't wake up she figured out how to open the bedroom door (not hard because it doesn't even latch...please refer to the description of my apartment above if you're confused) and being the adventurous, independent little toddler that she is, pushed our ottoman into the kitchen and climbed up onto it thus making everything on the counter within easy reach...yes, including the Comet.

Belen woke me up by coming back into the bedroom saying, "eye. eye.eye." I put on my glasses...which oddly enough as I'd mentioned were in my hand and saw that she was COVERED in white powder that smelled suspiciously like COMET! I'm awake NOW!  We got her all fixed up...we went straight to the bathroom, stripped off all her clothes, and she and I stood under the shower head for 20 minutes so the water could rinse the chemicals out of her eye. I love Poison Control. They are so helpful...I called them...they helped me...So, the lovely disaster awaiting me was this:

Just a couple days ago Belen did the same thing...let me clarify, the ottoman went straight to the garbage as did the Comet...but this time Belen climbed the drawers up to the counter and go ahold of a one pound bar of dark chocolate that I use for baking.  She'd left little todder-sized bite marks around the entire perimeter of the of the bar. This is how I found her:

Needless to say, she got a monster tummy ache and spent the majority of the morning curled up on the couch. Since then she's been refusing to eat anything I offer her and won't take a her nap. Yay...fun...the sugar "crash" wasn't a joy to endure either.

Ok, I've purged. It's over. Time to move on.

Daddy's Little Girl

Belen has always loved her daddy and found ways to show him just how much. Lately she as been exhibiting some real signs of separation anxiety with daddy that has become difficult for the whole family.

At night when it is time for bed, only daddy can put Belen to bed without some pretty incredible tantrums. We have adapted and now make sure we always take Belen to bed as a family with prayer, hugs and kisses, and waves bye-bye.  Zak has even taken to special daddy-daughter relaxing time every evening before night-night time.

Last night nothing seemed to work.  Sunday's are difficult for Belen anyway.  We have church at 1 p.m. which just happens to be right in the middle of her nap time.  We try to get her to take a nap a bit earlier so she at least gets an hour (as opposed to the 2-3 hrs. she normally requires) before we have to leave. Yesterday was no exception however, when we got home Belen refused to take a nap immediately after church (which she normally goes down for easily).  Instead we ate together as a family then daddy and Belen sat together on a chair and after 20 minutes they were both snoozing away.  Belen ended up sleeping for nearly 2 hours not waking up until after 7 p.m. as she sat snuggled up to daddy. We got her ready for bed, made sure she wasn't hungry, and went through our normal night-night routine. Belen happily waved bye-bye as we left her room albeit a bit later than normal due to her late nap otherwise, nothing was out of the ordinary. 

Unlike normal, 20 minutes after leaving Belen in her bed she'd found her way to her bedroom door, slid a hand underneath the door and proceeded to holler, "DA-DEE".

3 more attempts at night-night brought us to 11p.m. and a hysterical toddler. Finally, daddy thought we might try laying her on the couch until we turned out our light (our bed is set up in the dining room adjacent to the living room...long story) but we'd also decided that it wasn't safe to let her sleep all night on the couch because we have to keep our sliding glass door open (it's the only 'window' in the room) for ventilation.  We were afraid she may wake up in the middle of the night and wander outside. But, when the time came she was so tired she didn't protest being placed in her bed.

Bright and early as Zak is getting ready for work Belen began screaming hysterically as she woke up.  All sorts of things went through our minds as we tried to figure out how to help her.  What it came down to was that she didn't want daddy to go to work. She was fine when he was around but when he told her he had to leave she was inconsolable though several minutes after he'd left she was quiet and ended up sleeping until 11 a.m. 

When Zak came home for lunch we went through the same scenario.  Now that I think of it, this has been building for some time. Saturday Zak spent 5 hrs knocking doors for the Yes on 8 campaign here in California, when he got home he wanted to get the car cleaned up for Sunday and was in and out of the apartment for another couple hours doing so. Each time he was in and out Belen took it really hard. Poor girl. I've started telling her that he will be back because he loves her very much.  I hope we are handling this okay. This is our first real encounter with any type of separation anxiety. Belen as always been very laid back in this area.  She still seems to be doing well when we take her to the Nursery at church it's just at night and early in the morning as I'd described.  

If anyone has any ideas or experiences themselves with separation anxiety please let me know what you've done to combat it or at least lessen it's severity. Or, is this just something we will have to wade through?

Mother's Day

Now that I'm a mommy I find Mother's Day has become extremely important to me.  I get teary at church when all the primary kiddos sing to their mom's...of course there is always the little boy in the front who is making silly faces at his brother/sister but most of them are so sweet and you can tell that they are so happy to have a little something to "give" to their mommies..they are the ones with the big smile who is up there waving at mom.

Then there are usually a couple of talks given by a young person or two in the ward. They say the sweetest things to their mommies and pretend it's "like no big deal" but they too love their mommies and I can tell so the tears well up again.

Then a husband may also give a talk. The husband will say wonderful things about his wife's patience, nurturing capacities, and the pure love exhibited by his wife and how he'd be lost without her. All of which combine against my own ability to control my emotions and I try to inconspicuously wipe a tear or two from my eyes.

This Mother's Day also happened to be my 30th birthday. Yup, I'm the big three-OH!  This is a big one...and while my heart does skip a beat when I say it out loud, 30 years of life has brought me wonderful experiences, a life-time (so far) of learning, faith, family, amazing and enduring friendships that have helped me through a few tumultuous times of my own, a generous and loving husband who is my very best friend, and a beautiful daughter. So, to 30 years of living I say, "Bring it ON, and I'll take another 30 while I'm at it!"

Our Busy Little Bee!

I will post an update about Zak in a day or so but I wanted to put a few things up about Belen first, since it's been awhile.  She is walking like a pro and she can now eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but  she still only has the two teeth so we still have to stick to a lot of the softer food variety.

What a girly girl!

Playing with Daddy!

Playing with Jana!

Wearing Mommy's Coat

 "I'm gonna get you! There's nowhere to hide!"

"I can seeeee youuuu!"

"Pleeeeaaaassseeee!"

In other news, we have made the official decision NOT to move to Alaska in July. It was a tough decision for us because we had the opportunity to be associated with some really great people but as we began to move in that direction (i.e. beginning to pack things up and contacting moving companies and apartments up there) it just didn't feel like the right thing nor the right place for our family.  We have a few other options that have come our way but we will be taking the summer off school (the first since we moved out here two and a half years ago) so that Zak can work and make some moolah.  Yes, after nearly 14 months since our daughter was born, 37 weeks of pregnancy before that, AND 5 months of marriage before that...I have finally decided that I am O.K. with being a wife and mother without being involved in some additional personally defining activity (work/school). Zak would very much like to support me in this endeavor but that requires that he take the summer off to work rather than finishing his last semester of school. We are not completely sure what kind of work he will be involved with...he may do an internship or he may do some summer sales in Missouri and reserve his internship for a company in an area we'd actually like to stick around in. We are itchin' to find our little piece of heaven on earth and I'm convinced that, for us, it is not in Idaho.

 

Sorry the video is sideways, I'd edited it on my computer but, hummm, I don't know what happened.

I am in awe.

I know that every parent thinks that their child is the smartest, most adorable creature on the earth and I just have to say that Zak and I are no exception to this school of thought! Belen has been feeling much better the last couple of days and seems to be back to herself, though she has yet to cut any teeth. She has two little white bumps, one on each side where her eye teeth will eventually come in. I am relieved that we have a little break until the next episode.

Belen playing in the shipping paper her jumper came in.

When we were in Washington about a month ago, my parents bought for Belen a "Rainforest Jumparoo." It is just the coolest freestanding jumper and Belen absolutely LOVES it! We, however, have been waiting for my parents to mail it to us here in Idaho because we couldn't take it on the plane. We'll, we are all SO happy to announce that the wait is OVER! It arrived at our doorstep just a few days ago and Belen has been bouncing like crazy...and when she's not bouncing, she's playing underneath the bouncer...she just can't get enough of it, it's just totally cute!

Belen has started pulling herself up to stand! It may just be a byproduct of just trying to climb all over Zak and I but she'll get herself onto her feet and will bend at the waist with her little hands firmly planted on my leg, or some other body part that she can reach. Earlier this evening I caught her trying to get into her diaper bag and she was totally standing up on her feet holding on to her diaper bag! She's not even 8 months old yet (o.k. so she will be in about a day and a half...)!

Zak and I had some errands to run the other day and I was getting Belen's diaper bag ready. Well, in the bottom I found one of her pacifier's that she hasn't used since she was barely 3 months old (she prefer's her thumb but she seems to actually be phasing that out as well). Since it is something she no longer uses I just pulled it out of her diaper bag and tossed it aside then ran upstairs to grab my shoes while Zak was downstairs with Belen. The next think I knew, Zak was standing at the bottom of the stairs holding Belen in his arms and what do you supposed is in her mouth?!! YES!!! The little stinker sucked on the thing all evening! She did get over her attraction to the pacifier pretty quickly, now she'll throw it on the floor like all her other toys, wait for mommy to pick it up then throw it on the floor again.

And finally, my little sweetheart is learning how to clap her hands...so far she uses one hand to clap the back of the other hand instead of the palm but she's getting better! She also had learned how to play "peek-a-boo" but she controlls the game...She's the one who pulls the blanket up over her face and brings it back down again...it's just the most adorable thing on the planet so I just HAD to show everyone a video of her playing.

Teething Troubles

Yes, it is true...my almost-eight-month-old daughter is teething for the first time. I was told that the first teeth to come in are usually the front ones. First the bottom then the top...after that the sides then the molars in the back...Well no one in my family ever seems to opt for the easy way out and, sadly to say, the same seems to hold true for my dear Belen, poor thing. She is getting her eye teeth in first...from what I hear they are the toughest first teeth to come in. She's had some redness and swelling in that area for months but she seemed fine so I never thought much of it...the last two weeks, however have been quite challenging for her...she seems to have ALL the classic teething symptoms including refusing her baby food...she will eat some finger foods and she will nurse but we've had to supplement with formula to make sure she's getting the calories and nutrients she needs. I keep offering her baby food and cereal with not much luck. She does now have two little white bumps that just appeared today, one on each side. My baby girl is growing into a big girl!

She will eat teething biscuits! What a mess!

It hasn't all been tough, though. Mom wasn't feeling well this past weekend and my little sweetheart crawled over and layed down next to me, she knew just what I'd needed! She also loves to give big slobbery kisses! Here are some other happy-baby pictures I simply HAVE to share!

We recently bought Belen her very own piano! She absolutleyLOVES it! She's so cute with it and will just pound away on it before she flips it upside down.