The Brat Years

I've probably mentioned this somewhere already, but whenever someone asks me how Mira is doing, my immediate response is, "She's a brat, thanks for asking." And I'm only sort of joking around. Think I'm exaggerating? Let me explain.

A couple weeks ago Mira and I were going to meet my dad at a local mall so that we could upgrade my cell phone (I'm still on a family plan with my dad and sisters since hey, it saves money). While Mira and I were waiting I figured since it was about lunchtime we should go to the food court and get some lunch. First of all Mira was deciding to be contrary and didn't want to eat anything the food court had to offer, but finally she decided on pizza. Fantastic, I thought. So we stand in line. She decides which kind of pizza she wants. Excellent, I thought. This is going better than I thought.

Then she decided she wanted to make a run for it.

I nabbed her before she got anywhere, but this precipitated a meltdown. As in, flailing, kicking, arching, struggling to get down. I realized I about 5 too few arms to manage this fighting toddler and my purse and our food on a tray. I ended up tucking Mira under one arm in a football hold while trying to push the tray along with the other (a part of me wished she would scream loudly enough that the people in front of us in line would get sick of it and let us go first just to make it stop). When we got to the cash register I realized I had to juggle this flailing child around to reach my debit card. Once that got done, I somehow had to carry a 30 pound screaming toddler, my purse, and a tray of food through the food court to a table. I know from past experience that I absolutely cannot trust Mira to hold my hand and meekly walk with me to wherever I'm going - oh no, trying to do that always results in Mira deciding that she'd like to be dragged on the ground. I ended up dumping a regular-sized soda down the front of my shirt in the process of trying to juggle everything. When we finally got to a table, Mira decided that the pizza was not being cut up to her exact specifications and she had a nice loud screaming fit. Short story long, I'm never taking Mira in public again until she's at least 10. And that wasn't even a bad day.

One response that I commonly get when I tell stories like this is to enjoy it because it goes way too fast. A friend of mine found this article that I'm going to share here because it describes my feelings on this perfectly.

To Parents of Small Children

I'll admit it, there are many times when I feel like I just can't wait for this phase of Mira's development to be over with. I'm sure I'll miss parts of it when it's gone, but seriously, I'm just so exhausted I feel like I need a break! What makes it worthwhile is that she does and says so many cute and hilarious things, and when she's tired she snuggles down into the side of my neck and hugs me. This part I do love - I'm still her favorite person in the world, and she is so affectionate. She loves to give hugs and kisses, she wants to hold my hands and dance and twirl and sing. I just love the way she tries to mimic things that she sees. Apparently Mark and I might need to censor ourselves a little better because several times Mira has grabbed my face in her hands, leaned in and given me a really long romantic kiss on the mouth.

At least with summer weather finally here it's easier to wear her out.

Mark and I have talked about taking Mira on some short hikes, which I'm sure will happen as soon as our work schedules align correctly. Mira's little wading pool from last summer cracked so Mark found this new pool for Mira.

Mark has been really busy working in the yard. He's been doing some landscaping in the backyard, one improvement being the addition of a new fire pit.

He also put in a flag pole in our front yard. This is the view from the back yard.

Our baby chicks have finally graduated to living in the coop with the other hens! I thought they were big but compared to the full grown hens they're still really tiny.

And some more random summer pictures of Mira.

Helping water the blueberry bushes.

This was at a neighborhood block party last weekend. I think she's figured out the icing is the best part.

Nothing says summer quite like eating watermelon outside!

And some videos. The first one is from Discovery Gateway and the second one is from Memorial Day weekend at Mark's parents' house.

Don't get me wrong, I love this girl with all my heart, but man, she runs me ragged! And of course after saying all this - I absolutely wouldn't trade her in for the world. It's all worth it. Sometimes (especially after working a 12-hour graveyard shift) it's hard to remember that part, but it's absolutely worth it.

Work has finally calmed down a bit. Our census is down to about average (so no more mandatory on-call shifts until next winter!) and the most work-intense part of my Advanced Cardiovascular training is done. This last month was pretty stressful because I applied for a couple of different promotions within the department, one of which required creating a presentation on top of all the other education I was trying to get done, and I didn't get either position. In some ways I'm glad because quite honestly, a lot of the time I feel overwhelmed with what I have on my plate already, and adding on to that wouldn't have been emotionally healthy for any of us in this house. On the other hand, I'm a perfectionist over-achiever and the concept of not being good enough is a really really difficult one for me to swallow. Mark of course doesn't think any less of me for not getting the positions, and Mira I'm sure is benefiting from me being at home more, so again, I need to learn to not try to do everything and be happy with what I have. You'd think I'd have learned that by now... Well, my experience has been that if something doesn't work out it's because something that's a better fit is waiting. So, for now, I'm going to dedicate myself to being the best mom and wife I can be, and for 3 nights a week I go to a hospital to work.

Just another night at the office.

A patient's family left me this super sweet handwritten card and some candy to thank me for taking care of their child. In my 5 years in the PICU this is only the second time a family has left me a card to say thank you. If you want to make a nurse's week - leave them a card thanking them specifically for what they did. So I guess I really am doing the right thing and making a difference.