Weekly Update – April 21

So now I’ve gone a whole week without a real post and I don’t get any grief from anyone? Hmmm…should I push it another week?

Ok, I won’t. Here is what we’ve been up to:

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My college roommate came with her two kids to visit me and my kids last Thursday. We usually try to get together at least every six months or so for dinner or whatever but obviously things have gotten hectic for both of us. I think it has been two years since I last saw her! Mallory was shy to begin with and wasn’t so sure about the kids playing with her toys but by the end of the visit, she & Ava (age 5) were sitting on the couch reading books together which was pretty cute.

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Mallory has had a rough couple of days. She only wants me to do anything for her which pre-Carson wasn’t as big of a deal but if I’m trying to feed the baby, and Rick is trying to get her ready for school or bath or whatever – she has a complete & total meltdown. She tells Rick she doesn’t want his help and to go away and it makes me SOOOOOOOOOOOO sad for Rick, and mad at Mallory for being snotty to her dad. I know she is just two and my ongoing struggle with this is that she is SO independent and smart and verbal that I expect to be able to talk to & reason with her as if she were older.

And we’ve been able to go almost 2.5 years without having to tell her “no” very much – not because we let her do whatever she wants, but because we’ve been able to successfully redirect her when she starts to do something she isn’t supposed to. But with the new baby and her acting out a bit more along with her being older (and thus being physically & mentally able to be more naughty), she has started to hear “no” more…and she doesn’t like it. This results in more timeouts in her room, which results in more screaming and crying (from both Mallory & me). I hate the meltdowns but I guess this is just a glimpse into what life will be like in our house in 10 years.

She is still refusing to nap for us on the weekend and she is still fighting a cough (going on 3 weeks now…) so we are wondering what is the biggest factor in why she has been such a disaster. She is still great with Carson so that is really good but we really need to figure out what is causing her now daily meltdowns. The cough is starting to concern me since it’s been going on for so long so I think I’m going to call the doctor today.

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Rick’s mom was in town this past weekend to meet Carson – and we are now working on re-entry to reality for Carson. You know, the real world where he isn’t held 24 hours a day. But Mallory had fun reading books with her Grandma and Grandma had fun loving on Mallory & Carson.

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Carson has been an eating machine lately. Seems like he’s eating like every hour or so. I’ll spare you the details but OUCH for me. I feel bad for Rick because last night he brought the baby to me to eat and I was practically in tears, telling him “no! he can’t be hungry already!”. But man oh man, that kid is KILLING me. He isn’t nursing from both sides at each feeding yet but maybe I need to start trying to do that so we aren’t on an every hour rotation. Not that it will make my pain less but at least I won’t feel like I’m constantly feeding him.

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Tomorrow night Rick & I get to go out for a fancy dinner. Not really a date, since it’s a banquet for one of the teams he works with, but fancy dinner regardless. My mom is going to watch Mallory and we’ll bring Carson with us. He better behave and let me eat my fancy dinner or else. :-) The weather is predicting to be GORGEOUS this weekend and I’m hoping that we can get the boat in the water! I need to track down an infant life jacket for baby Carson so we don’t have to leave him behind!