A couple of things happen when I get busy & stressed. 1. I turn into a psycho, full fledged constantly on edge, everything bothers me 10 x's more than it should, and I flip out over everything. I'm pretty sure stress make me have anxiety. Like the kind you probably need meds for, anxiety. 2. I stop doing things I enjoy, blogging for instance, walking/working out like I like to, keeping my house picked up/clean (which messy house leads to #1).
Good news is I'm feeling more chilled lately. Perhaps it's the change in weather that always gives that wonderful spring time I can accomplish everything feeling. I had a huge slowdown in photo sessions over the winter which I needed, big time. Don't get me wrong I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it but man I was swamped last fall with a job, a toddler and running my own business with my husband working out of town.
Speaking of husbands and working Tony spent most of the winter from Christmas till a couple of weeks ago not working, as in laid off, no work to do, AHHH! (good ahh!) Sounds dumb to feel relieved but it helped so much, he was getting unemployment and we weren't struggling for money so having a house husband was pretty awesome for a little while. No daycare to run back and forth to, help around the house. I was in working momma heaven. He's back to work now on his second new job in three weeks. He'll be working only 15 minutes from home (at least that's where the office is) and is now at the beginning of an electrician apprenticeship. Good things.
Addison. Oh how I love that little girl. :) She is still the most strong willed-dominate personality, but in the last few weeks she's gotten so much easier to be around all day. I feel like (knock on wood) the temper tantrums are at least decreasing or I am just managing them better. She's gotten a lot better with her listening skills and at comprehending that there are consequences when she makes bad choices like running away from me all around the inside of Kohl's. Someone gets immediate walking on her own privileges revoked at the first sign of not listening to momma in public now after that stunt and 10 minute public temper tantrum after I finally caught up to her and refused to let her back down on the ground. She still has quite the vocabulary for her age and talks and sings non-stop. She's always looking for an escape route and you can't take your eyes off of her, she's a sneaky one. She's also the sweetest little thing when she wants to be, full of hugs, kisses, and I love yous.
We spent this past weekend at the zoo, literally. Saturday was Toldeo Zoo and Sunday was Binder Park Zoo where we bought a membership this year. Saturday morning we headed to Toledo and met up with one of my friends from work and her little family. (her son is about 8 months younger than Addison, so it's nice to do have someone with a kid close in age to spend the day with, even if my kid is a brute and dragged poor Harker around!) Sunday I left my big camera at home, even though I LOVE to take pictures at the zoo, in exchange for one-on-one time with Addison without the hassle of lugging that big ol' camera around. I took the umbrella stroller and an emergency bag (change of clothes & wipes for a girl who's 99.999% potty trained unless she's too excited about something and forgets to let someone know she needs to go until the last second) and some snacks and let her do her thing. She listened pretty well for herself and enjoyed running around on her own going to see "More Aminals!" or pushing the stroller all day. Then when she did get tired she hopped into the stroller and snacked. We rode the train & the tram, which along with feeding the giraffe's lettuce, was the highlight of her trip. I had a few moments where I wished I had my camera but I would have missed out on more or yelled at her more frequently while I tried to take pictures, so I'm glad I left it at home and will probably continue to for most of our trips to binder park this year. (Let go Amber, you don't have to catch EVERYTHING!)
Other than the zoo this weekend was filled with Addison's first sleep over at our house with her friend Nichole. (The babysitters daughter) It went really well for a girl who I'm pretty sure hasn't stayed the night anywhere yet in her almost three years (shes pretty attached to her Momma.) There were a few tears shortly after her mom and dad left her where she asked for Momma, but we changed up the scenery headed into the house and she was over it. We had some dinner then my best friend came over for a little bit while I set the girls up on the couch for the night with popcorn and Disney. They lasted all the way through The Little Mermaid and Nichole fell asleep 10 minutes into Peter Pan. Addison on the other hand, the amazing ability to never sleep held out and she finally passed out after I got up to take a shower, let her use the potty again and Peter Pan was more than 1/2 over. I'd call it a successful sleep over.
We had a family party on Sunday after the zoo where I feared no nap (Addison is almost 3 when did you let the nap go? I have no intentions of letting it go anytime soon if I don't have to!) would mean disaster but she did amazing. She learned to "jump" off the diving board (yes the big kid one in the deep end) with a life jacket on. Jump, meaning I pretty much had to push her off, but she loved it and kept asking to jump again and again. Despite the freezing cold water.
Memorial Day was a huge rainy day bust. We skipped out on the parade even though I woke up with all intentions of going rain or shine, I decided in the long run it was cold and I didn't want to be soaked. I was hoping my husband would get Addison's swing set that we bought her built this weekend but the rain completely prevented that from happening (along with his golf addiction).
Good news is I'm feeling more chilled lately. Perhaps it's the change in weather that always gives that wonderful spring time I can accomplish everything feeling. I had a huge slowdown in photo sessions over the winter which I needed, big time. Don't get me wrong I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it but man I was swamped last fall with a job, a toddler and running my own business with my husband working out of town.
Speaking of husbands and working Tony spent most of the winter from Christmas till a couple of weeks ago not working, as in laid off, no work to do, AHHH! (good ahh!) Sounds dumb to feel relieved but it helped so much, he was getting unemployment and we weren't struggling for money so having a house husband was pretty awesome for a little while. No daycare to run back and forth to, help around the house. I was in working momma heaven. He's back to work now on his second new job in three weeks. He'll be working only 15 minutes from home (at least that's where the office is) and is now at the beginning of an electrician apprenticeship. Good things.
Addison. Oh how I love that little girl. :) She is still the most strong willed-dominate personality, but in the last few weeks she's gotten so much easier to be around all day. I feel like (knock on wood) the temper tantrums are at least decreasing or I am just managing them better. She's gotten a lot better with her listening skills and at comprehending that there are consequences when she makes bad choices like running away from me all around the inside of Kohl's. Someone gets immediate walking on her own privileges revoked at the first sign of not listening to momma in public now after that stunt and 10 minute public temper tantrum after I finally caught up to her and refused to let her back down on the ground. She still has quite the vocabulary for her age and talks and sings non-stop. She's always looking for an escape route and you can't take your eyes off of her, she's a sneaky one. She's also the sweetest little thing when she wants to be, full of hugs, kisses, and I love yous.
We spent this past weekend at the zoo, literally. Saturday was Toldeo Zoo and Sunday was Binder Park Zoo where we bought a membership this year. Saturday morning we headed to Toledo and met up with one of my friends from work and her little family. (her son is about 8 months younger than Addison, so it's nice to do have someone with a kid close in age to spend the day with, even if my kid is a brute and dragged poor Harker around!) Sunday I left my big camera at home, even though I LOVE to take pictures at the zoo, in exchange for one-on-one time with Addison without the hassle of lugging that big ol' camera around. I took the umbrella stroller and an emergency bag (change of clothes & wipes for a girl who's 99.999% potty trained unless she's too excited about something and forgets to let someone know she needs to go until the last second) and some snacks and let her do her thing. She listened pretty well for herself and enjoyed running around on her own going to see "More Aminals!" or pushing the stroller all day. Then when she did get tired she hopped into the stroller and snacked. We rode the train & the tram, which along with feeding the giraffe's lettuce, was the highlight of her trip. I had a few moments where I wished I had my camera but I would have missed out on more or yelled at her more frequently while I tried to take pictures, so I'm glad I left it at home and will probably continue to for most of our trips to binder park this year. (Let go Amber, you don't have to catch EVERYTHING!)
