Cut Me Some Slack, Muffin

Before we determined the genders, we called Flynn Peanut, Toby was Cheeto (thanks to Dr. Foster), and this little one we're calling Muffin. Muffin, I could stand it if you gave me a little break...

With both boys I had nearly constant morning sickness and was tired for the entirety of the first trimester, but as I got into the second I was able to enjoy the slackening of symptoms. Yesterday marked week 17 of this pregnancy and if anything my symptoms have started to increase again after a week or two of slight relief. I take Unisom nightly to help me fend off the worst of the nausea through the next day, though most days are still a bit of a challenge. My energy hasn't bounced back much and I'm already waddling with ligament stretching, groin pain, and now sciatic flare ups. Woohoo! As an added bonus I just got the confirmation call that the gestational diabetes is back and I immediately get to start my special diet and checking my sugars 4 times a day. This isn't a huge deal, I've done it quite successfully two times before, but it's definitely more work and the pie-in-the-sky dream of "maybe this one will be different" is officially toast. None of these are things I can't deal with, but I feel weary from the consistency of them all at once and it just makes things more challenging. On the upside, my pregnancy app reminds me that soon I should start to feel baby movement, and I'm looking forward to that tremendously!

In the meantime, I am blessed with two incredible boys who are sweet, loving, and radiate joy. Well, for the most part... Flynn excels at pushing Toby's buttons, usually by indicating his interest in a toy Toby has and walking deliberately into his personal space with grabby hands outstretched, snatching intent CLEARLY evident. This, naturally, distresses Toby to no end, but he responds by swatting and hitting at Flynn in defense. Problems all around. Hitting and "mean hands" (including head, feet, body slamming, etc.) are house No No rules and warrant time outs, but Toby is just getting into time outs, so hasn't really gotten the concept yet, and Flynn isn't exactly doing anything WRONG (he's not 'touching'), but needs to learn the finer lesson of not being an instigator. It's a tricky balance, for sure. In the midst of all of that I'm trying to learn not to yell, but it's slow going, especially when I feel so worn out and crummy. Ugh.

Flynn is in full-blown potty training mode, FINALLY, after dragging our feet and a lot of slow, stuttering, false starts. He's, shall we say, strong willed and resistant, which makes for a tricky balance between insisting on getting time on the potty but not making the situation traumatic and undoing what little progress we've already made. I've gotten to the point where his tears can no longer be a deterrent, which makes me scramble for distractions and positive focuses when it's time to try. It's actually going ok, with a few accidents still, but also a few days of staying clean and dry all day. Going #2 continues to be the biggest challenge, but we'll get there. He's gotta have it down so he can go to school in September. No pressure! I know he'll get it in no time.

Toby has started talking up quite a storm, I'm even starting to understand parts of what he's saying. He still calls everyone 'Daddy', even though he absolutely knows how to say 'Mama'. He talks about birds while using the sign language, says please like a seasoned pro, and has started working in small, basic sentences here and there that surprise and delight us to no end. His sweet little voice combined with his wrinkle-nosed grin makes him quite a charmer.

Both boys had their first swim class last week: Flynn in 'Level 1' (basically the basics to getting comfortable in the water and starting to learn skills), and Toby in Mommy and Me with me. Toby seemed to range from feeling apathetic to really enjoying his class, while Flynn rebelled with every ounce of his toddler self and essentially refused to get/stay in the water. Here's hoping he'll warm up to the idea in the next couple of weeks. In the next session I'm planning on switching him to the same day and time as his best buddy to see if having a known friend in the water with him will help. I hope so! The sooner the boys learn to swim, the sooner I can take substantially less gear and anxiety with us to the pool.

 Since it's been so long between posts, you'd think I'd have so much more to say. Really time just slips away so fast and I find myself using the excuse I'm enjoying just being in each moment. I don't want Toby or Muffin to feel skimped of posterity blog entries, but I'm also trying to let myself be realistic of how much time and brain power I'll have to log each tiny detail. I'm going to put my focus on the big picture and cataloging moments as I can, and that will be good.

Growing Like Weeds

(I'm posting this incomplete lump of brain dribble that was started in October of 2016 because it's proof I tried to write an update and contains a couple of tiny Toby details I figure one day I'll appreciate having. So, here it is, more complete postings to come...) It's been a while since I last wrote. I know it doesn't look like it, but the post that just went up was one I started back in March, then got stuck. I'd written too much to scrap the piece but just lost the motivation to finish writing the darn thing. Finally tossed up a summary paragraph and called it good so I could move on. I'm bad at that, just letting go of one task, even if it isn't finished, before moving on to the next. It bothers my selective OCD. So many things have happened since our March adventure with goats, SO MANY, and both of my boys are growing up way too fast. Toby has 6 teeth with more on the way, he stands on his own (Look, Ma, no hands! - I even got to witness his very first two steps, but I'm the only one who saw it and we have yet to get a repeat performance), crawls like a speed-racer zombie fiend (truly, my boys are strange movers), and is thinking about sleeping through the night (gotta have that midnight snack).