THE GOOD
1. Micah man scooting over in his tiny twin bed and saying “mama nuggle?” This little guy melts my heart!
2. Makenzie dancing. I think she’s learned some new dance moves at Trinity….she tells me there’s a stage there and she and her friends practice. 
She asks me almost everyday to turn on music so she can dance – and her new dance moves look something like a cross between ballet and interpretive dance, really pretty impressive for the girl who got her mother’s lack of coordination!
3. Micah copying Makenzie. Whether its dancing or skipping or doing cartwheels, or anything else Makenzie might be trying, Micah is sure to want to try too –and if it isn’t funny enough to watch Makenzie do it, trying to watch Micah copy his big sister is sure to make me laugh!
4. A daddy who’s willing to play in the snow with my kiddos (mostly so that I don’t have to!) I’m just not a huge fan of snow….unless I can sit inside with a good book and WATCH it snow outside, so I’m thankful that Tom actually enjoys taking the kids outside…and making things like a cute little snowman family of five (even if the Makenzie snowman is “way too big”):
5. Technology….like 4d ultrasounds that let me see this little bug kicking up a storm inside my belly!
THE BAD:
1. Daycare. Not actually daycare – the daycare itself is great and Makenzie loves it…the issue? Micah cries inconsolably every single time I drop him off and he’s almost always sobbing again when I pick him up. They tell me he does “okay for the most part” during the day, but that really doesn’t help this mama’s heart. I know he has one teacher that he dearly loves….and even calls “grandma” but even having her there in the mornings doesn’t seem to make them any easier, and usually by the time I get him dropped off and leave him crying (with coat still on, blanket and elmo in hand because he refuses to take his coat off and settle in) I’m ready to drive straight to my office and quit my job –on the spot, just so we don’t have to go through this everyday!
2. Night time. We’ve been having a serious war around here with bedtime. Micah has really been struggling since we moved him to a big boy bed….but matters got so.much.worse. during his 2 week long cold episode. He was up all the time with a nasty cough – and I resorted to survival mode (rocking, snuggling, laying in his bed) just so we could all get at least a little sleep. Now the cold is gone and the bad habits remain – and lately the little guy has been waking up as many as 6 times a night needing mama and screaming his little lungs out if dad gets up instead. I decided enough was enough – with only 8 weeks till #3 is due to arrive, I was a more than a little panicked at the prospect of being up with 2 kids multiple times a night. We tried putting him back in the crib but that was nothing short of disastrous and resulted in long spells of screaming and crying (and no sleeping).
So I implemented a new plan two nights ago….I’m still laying with Micah to get him to sleep at night (bad habit probably….but SO much easier than a 45 minute bed time battle!) but then he is on his own for the night. Mama doesn’t get out of bed, no matter how much yelling we have - Micah can either soothe himself back to sleep in his own bed or come sleep on the floor in our room – I even have a little bed made up for him. I’m trying to do very little talking and negotiating because there is NO reasoning with a 2 year old in the middle of the night. So, I got into repeat mode –give him his choices and then when he yells my name, I whisper quietly, “shhhh, mommy’s sleeping I need you to be quiet…..over and over and over.
The first night he and I were up 4 times in 2 hours, then when I went back to bed and told him to come sleep on the floor beside my bed, he stood about 6 inches from my face and yelled/cried for 45 minutes straight. But, he finally collapsed in a heap on the floor around 2 am and slept the rest of the night. Last night was MUCH better – he woke up once at 4 am, stood in the hallway and yelled for about 10 minutes then went back to his bed and went to sleep until 6. I have high hopes that maybe we’ll make it through the night with NO waking up in the near future!
3. The sassing. (And the sassing combined with a way too tired (and therefore not very patient) mom!) Miss Makenzie has picked up some major sass lately and trying to turn that around has proven to be a challenge! She seems to get “stuck” in sassy mode sometimes and nothing short of naptime or bedtime will get her out of it….consequences make matters worse (at least for the short term….I’m holding out hope that consistent consequences will eventually get rid of the behavior!)
THE UGLY:
1. Me –functioning on way too little sleep and way too much stress. Unfortunately the “bad” has made for a crabby, no fun mama at this house! And everybody knows, if mama isn’t happy, nobody’s happy! Here’s hoping for a good nights sleep so we can turn this crabby household around!
We also got picture frames to hang in the nursery, a wall hanging for the master bedroom (no more empty walls!), lamp shade for the guest bedroom (goodbye light green shade that came from Makenzie’s nursery and matched NOTHING in the guest bedroom), a lamp for the nursery, new picture frames for the living room and a heater for the basement (so more freezing to death at night!) The kids were amazingly good shoppers too – extra bonus!