Dubious Superpowers and Two Other Fun Things

1. I'm convinced that everybody has a superpower of some sort. I have two, but they're not the best superpowers to have. They are always chosing the seat at a table that is right in front of the table leg (I often come away from conferences/meetings and formal events with a bruised shin) and the ability to travel down any road that the pothole filling truck has just visited. My car suffers greatly from that second one - I'm always having to take it through the carwash to rinse off the tar and rocks.

2. Sophie has started saying hi, and it's adorable. It's especially adorable because she likes to walk around the house and say hi every time she enters a room, occupied or not. Since our house is arranged in a loop, she walks around in circles saying hi repeatedly, while waving and smiling. I love having little kids for reasons like this one.

3. Aaron has been training for a 10K, which takes place in one of my very favorite places on earth (Traverse City, MI) on Memorial Day weekend. This is a pretty big race, so hotels have, of course, raised their rates for that weekend accordingly. We've stayed at a couple bed and breakfasts up there, and with the hotel rates being even higher than the B&B rates, we booked a room at our favorite for the weekend. This is also a weekend that is proceeded by me attending a meeting in New Orleans during the early part of the week. Gabbie turns four (!!!) that Friday, and then we have the following Monday off work. This is shaping up to be the best week ever, for serious.

Two? Three?

Ever since Sophie hit the one year mark, and started being more toddler than baby, Aaron and I have been having "the talk." The "are we good with two" talk. As we put away baby toys, and baby gear that she has outgrown (or set it aside for my brother's baby due this summer), we are experiencing all sorts of feelings and thoughts. I think, if we're just going with feelings, we would like to have another kid. I mean, our family, as it is, would feel fine and complete to me, but there's always room in my heart for more.

Back in November, we were pretty set on trying for another in a couple years. As of right now (and the whining, obnoxious child-filled weekend we just had), two seems to fit us just fine. Babies are a lot of money and time, and we're about at our limit on the availability of both of those things. But, then I see a friend with her nine-week-old, or I finally put away some of Sophie's newborn clothes (and completely tear up over several different tiny oufits), and I'm not so sure.

So I think we're officially on the no-plan plan. If we do ever have another kid, it won't be until Gabbie is in grade school (there's no way in hell we can afford three in daycare), which is a little later than we'd like to have kids. But, oh, another tiny baby would be so awesome.

How does anyone ever make this decision?

Suddenly, Toddlerhood

So. Last week was a rough one. There were a lot of things going on, including my special monthly visitor, that really didn't help the situation, which ultimately was this: my baby is not so much a baby anymore and it kind of hit me all at once and really hard.

Last week was her first full week in the toddler room at daycare. She loves it there and is truly thriving, trying to catch up with the bigger kids. What this also meant, though, is that she went from taking two to three bottles per day to zero, pretty much overnight. So I went from nursing/pumping from six to eight times a day (usually eight) to three or four overnight and the resulting hormone mess was a nightmare. I had zero patience with anyone and I couldn't stop crying over every single thing.

And then there was Thursday morning, when I realized I was out of bottles to pump into because I was still pumping but Sophie wasn't eating any of it. That's when I went back to bed, and stayed there most of the day.

Sophie is so great. Much more challenging in many ways than her quiet, compliant older sister, but really great. She is a cuddly, smily, fun girl. It just seems like she went from being a baby to a toddler within a month. No gradual transition at all, just BAM! Toddler. A walking, getting into things, eating real people food, signing and using words, responding to questions, toddler.

I knew this day would come, I just didn't know I would have such a hard time with it.

In my defense: I did fold one (small) load of laundry

Since yesterday was MLK day, my office was closed in observation of the holiday. Aaron's office, however, was not, and daycare was open, and since we still would have had to pay for the day whether we sent the girls or not, I chose to send them to school and take the day to do whatever I wanted.

And whatever I wanted included eating snack foods without having to share, finishing a crochet project (that I started 3 years ago), and watching some shows without distraction. I accomplished basically nothing else, but I did eat an entire bag of popcorn without a three year old scolding me to not eat it all. I also watched the entire first season of Downton Abbey. That crochet project is very nearly finished - I only have about a foot of the border left to do and I plan to accomplish that tonight after putting the girls to bed and starting up the first episode of Downton Abbey season two.

I think that Aaron was a little annoyed that I didn't get anything done - the house really needs some picking up, and while I did load the dishwasher, I apparently forgot to actually push the button to start it. However, a day all to myself was sorely needed (insert some slightly whiny statement about Sophie weaning a bit during the same week I'm about to get my monthly visitor, resulting wacky hormones), and greatly appreciated.

As an aside: I totally recommend Downton Abbey, if you couldn't gather that from the above paragraphs. (Very slightly spoilerish information ahead.) The only problem is I can't decide if I like or dislike most of the characters. I mean some (Thomas and O'Brien) are easy to dislike, while others (Sybil) are mostly likeable). However, I kind of feel sorry for the otherwise mostly unlikeable Edith, and Mary is a brat but I want her to get what she wants. Also, Matthew's blue eyes are second only in awesomeness to my husband's.

In sum, it was an awesome day. The only thing that would have made it better was a house staff even a fraction of the size of that in Downton Abbey. (A cook and a house maid would be fantastic.)