April 30, 2009

In 15 minutes or less . . .

::I know I've posted a lot of sweet stories about Jack lately, but don't be fooled. We're in one of the most trying times of parenthood right now (thus far, at least . . . seasoned parents are probably shaking their heads and laughing at me). With all of the sweetness and love we get from him also comes this disrespectful, awful behavior and I have NO IDEA where he's learned it. I just haven't figured out a way to accurately express my feelings about his defiant behavior without sounding like I'm complaining about him. I never want to sound like I'm ungrateful to have him in my life . . . because he's the most amazing kid I know. But right now, anything I'd write about the "terrible, awful, horrible twos" would probably wouldn't come across that way.

::I honestly am overwhelmed by the fact that I have to buy very few pieces of maternity clothes. I thought I'd have to buy a whole summer maternity wardrobe, since I had a winter/spring pregnancy with Jack, but I think I'll just have to buy a pair or two of capris and shorts. My sister in law is letting me borrow an entire bin of her clothes and Crystal sent me a box of her clothes. Folks, I'm set. This is such a relief to me. I'm so grateful.

I need to take another belly picture because I feel like my waist has grown an inch just since starting this post! My weekly "your baby this week" e-mail said the baby should be around 10 ounces. At Monday's ultrasound he was already 15 ounces. Ouch.

::I hit 1700 sales today. I hadn't really been keeping track since I hit 1000 and it caught my eye today and I was amazed. To all of you who have purchased designs, or sent people to my shop, or have simply encouraged me . . . THANK YOU!

I booked another photo session today, too, and I'm wondering how long I'll be able to do this. I booked one for July before I realized that I'll be 7 1/2 months pregnant. I mean, I lay on my belly for a lot of photos and on Easter, I felt pretty awkward laying on my side and trying to snap photos. I'll just have to figure out a different set up. I'm definitely losing a bit of my flexibility . . .

::Between the swine flu and the economy, I'm going to develop an ulcer. We're going to Chicago this weekend, but I heard someone on the news say that they recommend avoiding public transportation. But I don't want to pay for parking everywhere. Ugh. And the economy . . . when I watch the news, I feel like living in Michigan is like being on a sinking ship. Another 21,000 layoffs at least - and for every one layoff in the auto industry about 4 people are laid off in related industries. It's pretty grim. I feel like I know more people who have been laid off than I do people who have jobs.

::I need to figure out what to do for Jack's birthday party. It was such an afterthought last year, and I pulled it all together in just a few days. I'd like to have a little more prep time this time around and maybe put a little more thought into it. I've been doing birthday party invitations for kids having parties in June, and Jack's party will be the 25th of May and I don't even know what I want to do for it yet! Baseball theme? Numbers theme (since counting to 10 . . . excluding the number 5 . . . is one of the things he likes to show off the most)? Finding Nemo theme? I have no idea . . . I'm open to suggestions.

5 comments:

rachel said...

Wow! Congrats on all the sales - that's incredible.

Kristi said...

I vote "Finding Nemo"...not that I'm biased or anything ;)

Sara Neufeld said...

1. Congrats on the baby boy!! You know I'm partial to boys. :)

2. Do a numbers theme!! That would be so stinkin' cute. And you could give away little magnetic numbers (fridge magnets) as a favor and that'd be really cheap and cute.

Kyle Luke said...

Sara,

I think you just convinced me.

Julie Alvarez said...

I know exactly how you feel about this phase of the terrible twos. My little girl, ever so full of love, sweetness and smiles, started doing all sort of boundary tests at that age, and I couldn't imagine either where did she get the ideas for the things she did. Not a clue. But it was awful. And my nerves WERE at the edge. They still are sometimes (these days, to be more precise, we are having some tough days right now).
The ONLY thing that did help me, was to stop, each and every night, breath deeply after tucking her to bed, and give it at least 15 minutes of positive thinking (after the first mandatory 10 minutes of cursing, ha ha!). I just think about the good things I am doing as a mother and what do I want to achieve by getting better as a person. I think about my daughter with love, put the emphasis in something nice she does, and then remind myself to not yell, to stay calm. When I can't do that by myself, I ask my husband to replace me. And I tell myself in the meantime how much I love this little girl, and what memories do I want her to have when she grows older.
After that, I can usually set the baudaries and tell the "NOes" with much more calm and certainty. And that always helps little girl to accept them.
Sorry for the neverending comment! I just wanted to help a little, at least by telling you that you are not the only one!