Sleep

Everyone talks about the sleep deprivation you feel when you have an infant. You're basically supposed to be a walking zombie for the first 6 weeks of your babe's life. What I want to know is why no one seems to think to warn you about the sleep deprivation that comes from having a toddler? This is far worse in my opinion. Babies are supposed to wake up in the night...it's a fact, some people get lucky and get a sleeper, but even if you don't, a breast feeding mom can simply lie down and tuck the little nuzzler into her side and fall asleep through the feeding, just like the babe. And even during the day, your baby is going to take naps even if they are six months old, they will still sleep and give you some down time whether you sleep or simply zone out.

Then your sweet smelling babe is a toddler. By this point, you are embarrassed if you are still waking up at night with the child. Everyone else's kids have been sleeping through the night for a year or something. And here you sit at 2 am on the side of the bed giving your toddler a drink of water. Sometimes you hit the jackpot and the cute little darling sleeps all through the night and you find yourself worried about them at 6 am, but most nights you see that mop of hair at least once for a "dink".

That's not the real terrible sleep deprivation. Most adults wake up at least once a night anyway. And when you're pregnant you are grateful for the potty break. No, the sleep deprivation no one warns you about is when that toddler is sick. And not even super sick, just kind of achey, mild fever, maybe even just growing pains will throw you and your child into the throws of waking every hour. This is the trenches. You can't simply tuck her in next to you and feed her. You probably have to force a dose of nasty medicine on her bringing on a round of screaming and crying that refuses to be quieted. And then even if you lie down next to her, she's twitching and rolling and unable to sleep which makes her lash out in cries every half hour. I will say, it's not that I don't feel empathy for the kid. Even adults want to cry when they can't fall into a deep sleep, it's just that she keeps you in a constant state of awareness that puts you on the verge of losing it.

Now that sounds terrible right? Well what puts the icing on the cake is that your toddler will somehow magically be better the next day. She will have energy and will bounce around and want to do things "side" (outside). No 2 or 3 naps through out the day to help you regain your energy. Probably only one. And you're so frazzled that it takes you most the nap to relax enough to fall asleep for the final 10 minutes of her unconscious state.

For the record, my toddler slept through the night last night, but two nights ago...not so much. I understand why people let their children sleep in their beds. If it keeps them sound asleep longer, then bring it on!

I'm Home!

Well I made it back from my sojourn to St. George! Daddy came and met me in Fillmore. I had gotten sick the last two days that I was with Grandma so I was REALLY glad to see my Daddy and didn't mind a bit that Grandma and Aunt Angie didn't get in the same car with me. Normally, I would have panicked. I was so excited to see my home. I came in the door and started saying "Home! Home!" I made Mommy turn on every TV and get out all my toys even though it was almost 10 at night. I had a good time at Grandma and Grandpa's though. We swam and went to Costco and the lake. I got my toenails painted again. What I would I do without Aunt Angie? Mommy needs to buy some nail polish.

Mommy took me to the zoo on Friday after we went to her doctor. Mommy and baby sister are healthy and all is well. We're in the final countdown to when we actually get to meet baby sister. I had fun at the zoo and I even insisted on going to the bird show. Here's me waiting so patiently for the show to start.



Anyway, it has been a whole week since the Larsen Reunion and Mommy has finally downloaded the pictures. I had so much fun. First, we went to the zoo on probably their busiest day yet. Kind of a mistake, but it was still fun. A whole bunch of us went. Then we headed up the canyon to Midway. I got to see a pony and chickens and doggies. And go swimming at the Zermatt where Great Grandpa works. The 4th of July was spent at Great Grandma and Grandpa Larsen's house. There was so much to do. Great Grandpa brought out bubbles and then there was this awesome horsey race for us young ones. I can't wait to see pictures of my shrieking as I ran up and down the lawn as if I was actually racing correctly. There was also a trampoline which is a personal favorite of mine. I LOVE to jump. That night we had a barbeque. There was plenty of hot dogs and burgers and the Larsen tradition of dutch oven potatoes. Delicious. Oh and who could forget the Costco cake. Yum.

We stuck around to watch fireworks fired off from Memorial Hill which is right in front of the house. I was beyond exhaustion because I hadn't been sleeping and taking naps for about 3 days and so I didn't like the fireworks. Once Mommy covered my ears I was a little better, I even started to drift off to sleep. However, once the show was over I insisted that they were "pretty" when I talked to Aunt Becca. Maybe next year, I'll mean it!

Mommy's Favorite Time of Year

I LOVE SUMMER. Anyone who knows me or has really spent any time around me in the winter knows that I LOVE SUMMER. I would love Phoenix if my family lived there. I enjoy all aspects of summer. I love walking outside and having the sunshine warm you almost instantly. No need for a coat. I love summer clothes. Simple shirt and simple pants. Less is more. The light feeling of cotton. Most days are sunny and even when they're cloudy it's still blessedly warm and if it rains it normally has thunder and lightening with it. I even love getting into a hot car. I love the A/C in my car, granted, but I would much rather get into a baking car than a freezing one.

My favorite months of the year are June, July, August and September. In SLC, I only really love July and August and maybe September. It's not summer until it's at least 90 degrees outside. I spend a lot of time frustrated by the weather in May and June in northern Utah.

I get all happy and bubbly at just the thought of the smell of sunscreen. And now that I'm a Mom, I love taking Siena swimming. It's so awesome to not have to worry about her being too cold. Jumping around in a swimsuit and getting all tuckered out from the sun...HEAVEN. I know that it's not very PC, but I also love seeing her little tan lines. All kids should be brown by September. Oh and as kid...NIGHT GAMES. You can't do night games in winter. One, because it would be kind of cold and two, because you also normally are in school and any playing with friends all occurs before 5:00pm.

Sitting outside at 8:00pm with the sun just barely showing signs of setting. Fireworks on the 4th of July. Seriously. I am just giddy thinking about it all.

I've had many people express their sympathies for me having a due date in August. A typical response to my due date always includes "oh you have to make it through July!" Well July is here and I'm at the end of my pregnancy and I STILL LOVE SUMMER. I think I might be a little more heat sensitive, but I love the heat. I think I might actually be a more miserable pregnant lady with a due date in January or February!

This IS the best time of the year.

Ah, July...

July is here...it's already the 5th! And Mommy will take over posting today because Siena is on her way south. That's right, we let her go to St. George with Grandma sans Mommy. It's going to be a little bit of a busy week up here in SLC and since Grandma was already up here for the Larsen Family Reunion, we took a little advantage of the babysitting opportunity. Truth be told, I'm a little jealous. I'd like to be on my way to St. George to relax beside a pool and maybe go to the lake. Instead, I'll stay home and clean and work. Maybe I'll start preparing for this baby that will make her entrance soon enough! Nah, I bet I just sleep.

A quick commentary on our June goals...Siena is not potty trained, but she is sleeping in her own bed. She's shown mild interest in the potty, but has really just gotten good at holding it for 3 hours and then releasing as soon as she gets a diaper on. We have gotten her to do both #1 and #2 in the potty though. We'll keep working. As far as sleeping in her own bed, she's done really really well. I know quite a few people who were glad they weren't going to be living with us when we made that adjustment, but it appears that she likes the space sleeping on her own affords. We are still working on sleeping through the night a little bit and there were a couple of nights (not a ton) where Mommy or Daddy spent a few hours sleeping next to her on her own bed. We're just happy with the progress! We might be able to only have one kid in the bed at a time!

Daddy is starting to feel much better as we wait for the kidney stone to pass. We are gratified with the number of people who read our blog! We hadn't made any phone calls to family (yes, even close family!) and were surprised by just how many people contacted us. Thanks for all the advice and well wishing.

The end of June was a little bit of a whirlwind for us. I meant to put out a bigger nod to the Toone family for visiting us. We really didn't think of getting the camera out which was a shame since Jonathan was one of Siena's first "friends". Since Siena shows only mild interest in children her own age we will use the term loosely. It was great to see Jeff and Jen and also meet the newest addition to their family, James. It definitely reminded us just how much we miss our ward family in Monterey, even if most of who went to church with has moved on!

We also got to see Aunt Whitley and Smith and Laine. Aunt Whitley and I are the exact same amount of pregnant. I guess you could say we're in a race...I hope I win! It was so nice to see them, and Aunt Rachel (okay actually Uncle Troy) got some great pictures of all us. Unfortunately, I'm not in love with the pregnant me in photo form so I'll not be sharing any pictures of me! But I'll steal from Rachel's blog and post the two of Siena!



And then of course this Fourth of July weekend was the Larsen Family Reunion...which will have to await it's write up until a little later this week when I will have the need to fill my time up as I miss my daughter incredibly. Also, the camera is downstairs and as I am 35 weeks pregnant I have zero desire to go bring it up here as that would entail a fair amount of walking. So for now, you can wait in suspense!

Miss you, Siena!

A very long night and a day

Do you know what these are? I hope you don't. Because if you do that means you know somebody or have been the unfortunate person to have a kidney stone. One of these is trying to kill my daddy. It all started at about midnight last night. He was doubled over in pain and apparently waiting to die while mommy slept downstairs completely unaware. Finally at two am he heard me start crying and mommy go in to my room. He came down and BEGGED her for help. What makes this story really dramatic, is that daddy does not have health insurance! So he and mommy sat by my bedside (well mommy sat, daddy writhed on the ground) and discussed their options. Mommy got the brilliant idea to put a heat pack on the place on daddy's tummy where it hurt. This knocked the pain in half and they were both able to grab about three hours of sleep. Daddy still hurt in the morning, but he was really trying to tough it out. But the kidney stone was tougher. We all went down to St. Mark's Emergency Room at exactly 9:00 a.m. We didn't leave until almost exactly 1:00 p.m. despite my repeated usage of the word home.

The E.R. was very upsetting for me. I did NOT like them putting an I.V. in my daddy or even them asking him for a urine sample. I was actually pretty good for the majority of the time though. I got to watch Super Why, Word World, Clifford, Martha Speaks and Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman.

Daddy was kind of a complicated patient too. He didn't present with the tell tale signs of a kidney stone. The pain wasn't radiating or even coming from the usual places! So he ended up having to get his first CT scan. Again, I did NOT like that. I cried (screamed) the whole time he was gone. Mommy cried too because she's pregnant, stressed, and sleep deprived. The poor nurse and rad tech kept trying to tell mommy it was nothing serious. Mommy knew that, but those dang hormones refuse to let an emotion get stopped in its tracks!

The happy ending to this story is that the meds they gave daddy in the hospital made him feel MUCH better and his stone is only 4 mm big so it should pass on its own. We also have some very good drugs available at home now. We even went swimming at the pool this afternoon. Yeah! I hope Daddy NEVER has to do this again.

Happy Birthday, Apa!

Apa, we wish you a very very happy birthday! We wish we could be celebrating with you. We'll post this a day early in hopes that you get this birthday greeting early in your day! LOVE YOU! Kisses!

"Tie"

This is "Tie". I picked him up at Lagoon! Mommy and Daddy got him in exchange for their locker key. Cool, huh? The best part about Tie is that I actually love him. I tuck him under my arm next to me when I go to sleep. I've never been big on having a "lovey" or anything and so this is a first. Mommy and Daddy like him because he looks so much like Hobbes. Who knows? Maybe I'll end up having the same crazy adventures with my Tie as Calvin did with his Hobbes.