3 Year Old Baby

Miss Gracie Goo is 3!

Her birthday was on Sunday.

She was spoiled as spoiled can be all weekend!

We had her party on Saturday and she received some pretty stellar presents. Having three sets of grandparents, plus lots of aunts and uncles will do that.

Seriously, she got so many new toys. Ha ha ha ha

She's been so happy all week playing with all the new things.

She had a Pinkie Pie (My Little Pony) party on Saturday, then we just celebrated with my mom and Dave on Sunday with a dinner at their house.

She changed her mind SO many times on the type of birthday party she wanted. There were about 8 or 9 different themes that she cycled through before Pinkie Pie stuck. She would come up with a new theme every couple of days.

By the time it was about 2 weeks before her birthday I knew I needed to gear myself up to make her finalize her decision.

She said Pinkie Pie and I thought, okay that would be cute, but let's wait till she changes her mind in a couple days.

A couple days went by and she hadn't changed her mind. Then a week went by and it was STILL Pinkie Pie! I was happy, because that was the longest she had gone with one theme.

I bought a bunch of decorations and then about 2 days before her party she said: "Uhhh...Mom. I want to have a Doc party." (Doc McStuffins)

I was like.......uhhhh...nope! Ha ha ha. I told her we had bought the stuff and we weren't changing.

She thought about it and said: "Okay, Pinkie Pie birthday now for 3. Doc birthday for number 4."

Ha ha ha ha

So she already has her 4th birthday party planned out.

Of course.

I made some rainbow decorations and used some of her pony stuffed animals for decor as well. Another thing we had was some pony pictures that we stuck on some string. That is pictured in one of the last pictures, although it's a little hard to see.

Grace was so happy to have all of our family here to celebrate her!

My sister in law made the cake and cupcakes and they were SO cute! They were perfect. Grace LOVES sprinkles, so I thought it would be fun to have a cake covered in sprinkles. We were surprised by the inside of the cake being a rainbow! That was fun! Jeff's sister is very talented!

So happy to be three! 

So fun!

Those balloons/streamers seemed like a Pinterest win......but they were actually really difficult to get set up! Aaaaaaaand that's why I'm not a Pinterest Mom 24/7. Ha ha ha ha

They looked super cute when it was all said and done though.

Strikin a pose! One of the things she does best! Ha ha. (Pony pictures on strings)

So many fun presents! 

Grace is a good girl. 

She has her tiny person meltdowns, but for the most part she is just sassy and sweet and so smart. She loves telling stories. It is cute how she has really started to open up and talk to people longer than just a couple short words. 

She really likes telling any and all of her grandparents different things about her life. She was so excited that all of them came. 

She has a different name for each of them. 

My mom and Dave are Grandma and Grandpa Josie (they have a dog named Josie).

My dad and Teri are Grandpa and Granny. 

And Jeff's parents are Grandma and Grandpa Zachy (cause Zach is the cousin in that family, ha ha ha).

Jeff and I the other day were like......we should probably figure out a different way to differentiate instead of saying Josie and Zachy. Ha ha ha! 

It might need to turn into the grandma's first names? I dunno. We'll see. 

Grace loves playing with Hunter. 

She will laugh and laugh and drag him around the room (nicely), which makes him laugh too.

She has a very caring heart and really likes to look after him. 

She also likes to tell him what to do, but I think that just comes with being an older sibling. 

If he is ever close to the top of the stairs she will run and say "I will save him!!!" (He's actually really good about not going down, but still....it makes me nervous and Grace knows that)

She loves "washing dishes" and "sorting laundry". 

She is obsessed with taking baths, although not to actually get clean. She just likes playing in the water. 

Her favorite present from her birthday is a mermaid that's hair changes colors in the bath! 

Taking a bath is a reward to her. She thinks it is the best.

She has been potty trained for 9, going on 10, months now and has never had any major issues with that. 

She gets to start preschool in a couple months which is crazy!

She will absolutely love it.

She likes making new friends.

She is very socially observant, so it will be interesting to see how she does in preschool. It'll be interesting to see if she engages a lot or just stands back and watches. 

I wish I could be a fly on the wall. 

She is a sensitive girl, but mostly when it comes to me and Jeff. She can stay pretty strong when other people tell her things she doesn't want to hear. She'll usually bite her lip and come over and sit with me, then cry about it later, ha ha. 

If Jeff and I say something she doesn't like then all bets are off. 

She loves kissing Jeff! Ha ha ha. She will sneak up and kiss his arm or leg or head, and then run away. She doesn't do this with anyone, but him. 

Jeff would probably say that she is a mommy's girl, but I think she is pretty equal. 

I think because she is with me all the time it is easier for her to come to me for things, but there are so many times when she yells for Daddy and only wants him. 

In lots of ways it doesn't seem like she should be so big already, but in every other way I feel like she's always been there and has always been my best friend. 

Love that Gracie Goo. 

I Go to China Every Day.

I love my job!

It fills a big void in my life.

Have I ever said that being a stay at home mom is the best?

Uhh....

Cause IT IS!

*lists 30 million reasons why it's the best*

But let's be real.....

I'm at home with miniature clones of myself all day, everyday....and really, while I love them more than I love anything, everything, all things.....

I don't get to talk to other people.

I don't get to see other people.

Jeff gets home from work and I'm like a famished wolf screaming: "PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER THAN RAINBOW DASH AND TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!! *brushes glitter and fruit snacks out of my hair*"

Me: "How was work!!?"
Jeff: "Good."
Me: "Who was there!?!?" (it changes daily, cause they're auditors so they travel all over doing audits)
Jeff: "Uhhh...*lists like 2 or 3 people*"
Me: "........How are they!?"
Jeff: "Good."
Me: "Did you talk about anything interesting?!?!?!!?!!"
Jeff: "Uh, not really."

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Stay at home moms.

If you see one, just let them talk to you.

Anyways, back to China.

I absolutely adore the kids that I work with.

I have two boys and seven girls that I teach on a regular basis. The rest are just random kids that fill in the rest of my schedule, but lately it's just been my repeat students.

These kids are SO dedicated to their studies. It blows me out of the water nearly every day.

Seriously, they are incredible.

In China there is a big (HUGE, gigantic) test that everyone takes when they are 18. This test determines what kind of job you will have and/or what kind of schooling you will receive at a college level.

If you don't know English you are going to fail.

It has made me take a huge step back and realize how fortunate I am.

How incredibly blessed I am that not only did I get to go to college and get my Bachelor's degree....

But that I have a husband who received a Masters degree all on his own. He did not have his future decided for him, he decided it for himself.

My kids will get to go to college no matter what their IQ is or what kind of test takers they are. They will get to do that, no problem.

These kids that I work with have extreme amounts of pressure on them all the time. Their parents take learning English so seriously.

I teach a sweet sweet so sweet 9 year old girl who will always respond: "I am happy, how are you?" when I see her at the beginning of class.

Today she took her end of the year exam at school and when we started class I asked her how she was doing. She responded with: "I'm okay."

I asked her why just okay and she didn't know how to tell me so her mom who was sitting to the side of her helped her say: "I did not finish my test at school."

I wanted to jump through the screen and give her the biggest hug! I told her that is okay and she is a very good student. I made sure to say in the parent feedback as nicely as I could that their daughter is so smart and capable and is going to be very successful in life.

Because she IS very smart! Our class today was an assessment, which means I had to quiz her on what she has learned and give her a score at the end.

Of course she received a perfect score of 36/36.

I just gushed and applauded her in the feedback like crazy, cause I just want this little girl to feel validated. I want her to know that she can do it! She can finish and do well!

It just broke my heart hearing about her day outside of my class.

Seriously, I was crushed for that little girl. Seeing how important she knew it was to perform well and her mom was clearly upset with her.

Oh boy....I'm tearing up again over it.

I also taught my favorite student this morning and she said that she did "so so" on her test at school. I assured her that she is great and did a good job.

Gosh, I just want to give all these cute kids virtual hugs.

Too bad they would think I'm nuts and/or have no idea what I am trying to do.

Learning English is so important to the kids I teach.

That importance makes me feel like I am making a difference in the world.

Being a stay at home mom, I know I make a difference for my individual family, but there has always been a part of me that wants to do more.

Say what you want....

What you will say will probably sound like President Harold Be Lee:

"The most important work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home."

And for that I am so grateful that I CAN be a stay at home mom.

My job allows me to do that.

My husband allows me to do that.

I'm lucky, and I know that!

I feel beyond lucky that I get to go to China every day.

Baby Faves

I want to do a favorites update, because I feel like my babies are just getting so big and grown up! They change all the time.

~Grace's Favorites~

Color: Always pink first, purple second, but recently I think it is actually just rainbow. She is a fan of all things colorful. Sometimes I'll ask her what her favorite color is and she'll list all of them.

Food: Spaghetti and pizza!

Fruit: Apples

Vegetable: Carrots

Dessert: Chocolate ice cream (she's my child)

Snack: "Cracka n cheese!"

Animal: Fish! She told me she wants a pet fish. She loves looking at the fish at the pet store.

Toy: This changes every single day. As an overall category though, I would say she loves stuffed animals the most. She can be found carrying a stuffed animal around the majority of our days. Lately she's been loving her Simba and Minnie. (Less than 5 months till Disneyland!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!!)

Game: Hide N Seek. She's actually getting pretty good at it too!

Song: The Super Why! version of the ABC's and Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.

Show: Right now she loves Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and Super Why! Those are both good with me, cause they are actually extremely educational! She has learned a lot from both of them. "Mad mad maaaad....it helps to say I'm maaaaad!" We talk about that episode quite a bit, ha ha.

Biggest Interests: ABC's, spelling/reading, feelings, small trinkets, imaginative play/making her toys talk to each other

Time of day: Hunter's morning nap (AKA one on one time with mom) and after dinner/before bed (AKA play with daddy and usually bath time).

Place to go: The library. I ask her if she wants to go to a myriad of playgrounds or other fun places and her answer is always "....Oooorrr....the LIBRARY!?!?!" She has a routine when we go. We check in what we got the previous time, we walk over to the kid area (she runs...I tell her to stop running...), she picks out a new book and new toy to check out, she does ABC Mouse on the computers for 5-10 minutes, and then we play in the play area for a half hour.

Best Friends: Liza and Zach! The other day we went to a playground where Liza's family was as well and when we showed up Liza did the CUTEST, loudest, happiest squeal ever when she saw Grace. They make my heart happy. They usually hug each other every time they see each other. Cousins make the best friends!

Grace is a smart girl. She likes talking about behavior far after the fact. The other night she was upset and didn't want to go to bed. She wanted to keep playing for awhile. My kids go to bed at 7:30, 8:00 at the latest every night, and I think it was after 8:00 by the time this instance occurred.

She got mad when I told her it was time to go to bed so she said "Just leave me alone!" I said, okay, and walked downstairs. Keep in mind she's almost three and was REALLY tired, so she really didn't know what she wanted. When I walked away she started screaming "NOOOO I want Mama! I need Mama!! No!"

She's brought up that instance every day for the past two or three days and we've talked about how it made me sad that she told me to leave her alone. She has liked talking about our feelings in that circumstance and several others as well. It's interesting watching her grow up and realize that people have feelings and they matter.

Something kind of bizarre that she has started doing is replacing the word "please" with "course of".

It took me awhile to figure out what she was saying. In the beginning I thought she was trying to say "of course", because she actually says that quite a bit.

Me: "Grace will you go check on brother?"
Grace: "Of course, Mommy!"

Ha ha ha

But I started to realize that she wasn't saying of course, she was saying it in the place of "please". So weird. She knows "please". That was one of the first three words she ever learned as a baby. She has been signing and saying please for well over 2 years.

I have no idea why she just out of nowhere started saying "course of" in the place of please. It's constant though.

"Course of, we go to a library?"  

"Course of, I have a snack?"

"Course of, I watch a show?"

I mean, I'm glad she's saying please, but what the heck, Gracie Goo? Ha ha ha

I have started saying "ask normal...", and then she'll stop and say "please".

So silly.

She has a really tender heart.

She tries to cover it up a lot with being silly, but really she's a very caring little girl. She cares very deeply for Hunter. She loves making sure he's okay. She's been on high alert with his new stair situation. She will dive in front of him if he is getting too close to going down the stairs.

Along with saying "please" ("course of" *face palm*) Grace also says "thank you", "thanks", and "no thanks" constantly. She's just a cutie!

Whenever she doesn't want to do something that we tell her to do she'll happily exclaim "Uhhhh.....no thanks!!!" Ha ha ha ha ha ha. It's hard not to laugh. She's funny.

She thanks me all the time for appropriate things too though. She'll thank me for making her food almost every meal. "Thanks for the delicious dinna, Mama!" She's a very thoughtful girl.

Something else funny that she does is she will apologize FOR us. If we make her feel bad by telling her she can't do something or getting mad if she's naughty she'll say "Sorry you is mad at me...."

But she doesn't mean it in a "I'm apologizing" way, she means it for US to be apologizing to her. Ha ha ha ha ha.

She teaches me a lot every single day. She shows me what it means to really be empathetic and loving. She shows me what's really important in life.



~Hunter's Favorites~

Color: Grace answers for him and the answer is green. Grace knows a lot about Hunter's likes and dislikes that the rest of the world is oblivious to, ha ha ha.

Food: This is a hard one, cause we just downs whatever is placed in front of him. He eats absolutely everything. He does like rice quite a bit, I've noticed. He always devours bread. We haven't tried many meats with him yet, mostly just chicken. I'm gonna say rice and bread for top food favorites right now.

Fruit: Strawberries

Vegetable: Hmmm....most of the vegetables we get for our family are too hard for him right now. He has tried some steamed veggies and like everything else he just plowed through them.

Dessert: Puffs? Ha ha ha. He doesn't eat dessert.

Snack: Baby yogurt puffs (he smiles from ear to ear when he sees he gets to eat these!)

Animal: Dogs

Toy: The stairs. Ha ha ha ha ha. All other actual toys are very much liked, but just liked equally. The stairs = heart eyes for daysssssss.

Game: See how many stairs I can go up before Mom catches me! He actually laughs as he crawls up and will do a happy panicked squeal like "Oh no! She's coming!" Such a punk.

Song: Wheels on the Bus, Patty Cake

Show: Well, he doesn't "watch" shows, but will just stare at the TV off and on if we have it on.

Biggest Interests: Grace, THE STAIRS, pulling my hair, putting everything in his mouth, THE STAIRS, splashing in the bath tub, and finally.....the stairs.

Time of day: Morning! He's always the happiest first thing in the morning.

Place to go: He goes wherever the wind takes him! Or really wherever I take him.

Best Friends: Grace :)

He is getting more and more personality all the time, it's fun to watch!

He's an adventurous little thing. He loves climbing and exploring. If he's fed and not tired he will just explore by himself and not care to be held or play with other people. He does love to chase Grace every where though. He loves to see what she is doing and I think he is taking notes on how to play from watching her.

When he is tired he likes to cuddle up on me and will lay his head on me periodically.

He loves to get Jeff's attention and will sqwak at him to get him to look over.

He always has a smile and coo for everyone. He's a sweet sweet boy!

 

Aaaaand this is why I have so many single shots of Hunter! Ha ha ha ha

*heart eyes*

A Day Like Today

4:30 AM.

I woke up so tired today!

I went to bed with a headache.

I woke up with a headache.

"These kids better be worth it today"....I told myself, ha ha ha.

(The Chinese ones, I mean. The ones who reside in my house are always worth it!)

I wasn't very positive going into today, but that all changed after I taught this morning.

Seriously, I have the best job!

3 of my 4 kids from this morning were repeat students and they are just great. They are such sweet kids. The new one was pretty darling too.

I often worry if I wake up tired that I won't be very present for my own children, but that actually hasn't been the case today.

We've had a really good day!

Being a stay at home mom is redundantly beautiful.

You do the same things every day.

Feed the children.

Bathe the children.

Make the children sleep.

Feed the children again.

Sometimes bathe the children again (okay for real, we don't do baths that much).

Make the children sleep again.

Basically my job is to keep the children alive and make them thrive!

We've been thriving today, that's for sure. I love these babies.

Hunter is a MANIAC.

           

Remember when I said we don't bathe that much? Maybe we should. Ha ha. Jk. Kinda.

Grace was never as daring and adventurous as he is.

Let's get stereotypical here and say it's cause he's a boy, cause I really have no other explanation for it.

He SPRINT crawls for the stairs every time he sees them. He can't get enough.

Allllll day climbing climbing climbing.

He tried to climb on our small (huge for him) kids Lifetime table today. He's not physically big enough to do so, but he tried and almost succeeded. I'm not sure how he even got close.

He's an incredible little thing!

We went on a walk this morning, which is usually hit and miss, but I'm always happy when it's a hit.

Grace is a trickster. She LOVES doing the opposite of what I say. In situations like this, it's more hilarious than anything else though, so it's all good. 

They are cute! 

Grace was downstairs "cleaning up the toy room" in order to watch Super Why for 2 minutes (seriously, that was the deal....and literally she only had 2 minutes to watch cause we had things to do, ha ha ha. 2 year olds....), and while she was down there she found these 2 A's. She came up three sets of stairs to find me and excitedly said "Mom! I's found 2 A's! Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh aaaaahhh A!"

I'm going to take credit for all of that and pretend that Wyatt from the aforementioned Super Why had nothing to do with it.

I figured I should document a day like today, so when I'm not having a day like today I can look back and see that we have some pretty spectacular times among-st our mediocrity.

I am grateful I can be home with my babies every day. Their smiles and laughs are priceless! And watching them become best friends is hilariously satisfying. Grace is SO protective of Hunter. Every time he looks at the stairs she'll dive in front of him and start crying (like literal falling tears) "No Hunta!!! HUNTA BABY! Hunta baby boy!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Ha ha ha ha

And Hunter just laughs and laughs and sprint crawls after her all day. He wants to run just like her. And sadly, he's going to way sooner than he should! That kid is never stopping.

I love watching my kids learn new things and grow a little bit every day. They are really good kids.

I'm feeling very lucky today that I have the life I do.

All About the Baby

There is a little girl in our house that is the constant spot light. 

She is the queen. 

It's her way or the highway. 

She's the loudest person in our house. 

Definitely the most opinionated. 

She's very dramatic!

Ha ha ha ha. 

Because of all this.....

There is a little boy in our house that happily plays off to the side.

He is the peace maker. 

It's his job to keep us all smiling.

He's the sweetest person in our house.

Definitely the most easy going.

He's so incredibly tenderhearted and kind.  

My little Hunter Boy.

I just love him. 

He's the calm in my storm. 

I just have to look at him and his smile melts me every time. 

It's so funny how kids can be SO different. 

I mean, you always hear that from parents, but you don't realize the complexities of it till they are your own. 

I'm starting to see all the differences in the way I parent both of them too. 

With that little girl I mentioned, I was always working with some kind of time table. 

We had the strictest schedule, and worked endlessly on meeting objectives. 

Now with my second baby....

He very much just goes with the flow, because there really is no other way! Ha ha ha ha. 

He will happily play on the floor for 15 minutes or more sometimes. 

He LOVES Jeff.  Jeff is his happy place. He just laughs and laughs when he gets to play with Daddy. 

We are still breastfeeding,  which if you would have asked me 9 months ago if I'd be breastfeeding this long I would have said nope! 

Grace never breastfed. 

We tried for months and she never could.  

So to be 9 months strong with this dude is pretty incredible to me.  

Every month that goes by I say to myself "this will probably be the month we stop. There's no way we can make it another month." And then we do.  

I'm a huge advocate for fed is best.  

Honestly, I get uncomfortable when people are extremely pro one way or the other.  

Bottle feeding.  Breastfeeding.  Just feed the baby! 

What I think matters is how much you love the baby.  

I have loved my bottle fed baby equally to my breastfed baby and the bond is the same.  

I don't think moms should ever sell themselves short for how they feed their baby.

I think the biggest difference in how I parent Hunter is I'm a lot more cautious with him than I ever was with his sister. 

He just started out so little and fragile. 

I worry about him more when he's sick. 

When you aren't allowed to really hold your baby for the first few days of their life it takes a while to get over that feeling of needing to overly protect them. 

One thing that I'm kicking myself for constantly is how he still needs a binky!

Being first time parents we thought we needed to be textbook, so we trained Grace fast and made her self soothe at a very young age.  She would go down for naps or bedtime no problem from at least 4 months on.

With Hunter I have had a much harder time training MYSELF to just let him be okay.

Like I said,  he was so sick and sad in the beginning.  I just want to hold him forever and make it be alright.

Because of my own pathetic ways,  he still has to get rocked to sleep every time and uses a binky quite a bit.

We'll get there.

Every baby is different.

And apparently mom can be very different from baby to baby.

He is almost 9 months old, which is hard to believe! 

He's still so little that it doesn't seem like he should be that old.

He is hitting every milestone on time or early though.

He's crawling at the speed of light!

He's pulling himself up to stand a little bit. 

Cognitively he seems right where he should be with his age.

He loves interacting with us and loves being right in the middle of what's going on. 

Yesterday at church a lady with a baby about his same age after watching him a bit said: "He's just so calm!" Ha ha ha ha. 

It's true. 

He's a calm little guy. 

He's just peaceful. 

I love watching him. 

He definitely loves playing, but it's in such a unique way. 

He LOVES FOOD! He eats absolutely everything and never looks back. He eats more than Grace, I'm positive of that! Ha ha ha. 

From this face.....

To this face....

I just love every bit of him. 

From the Mouth of my Child

Grace is craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy cute these days.

She is also just plain crazy.

:)

But what almost three year old isn't, right?

She is so hilarious! Oh my goodness.

Such pure innocence, learning how to navigate the world.

I figured I should write down some of my favorite things she's saying right now, cause why would I want to forget these things??

She says "Fraid of it!" (I'm afraid of it!) often.

This is basically her cop out for "I don't want to do that."

She'll even exaggerate how she says it with looking scared, shivering, and clutching her hands tight by her face. Ha ha ha.

She says this for things that I know she has zero fear of.

Her carseat.....going potty....sitting on a chair.....walking up the stairs.....giving Hunter a toy....ha ha ha ha ha.

The defiance is getting real with this kid.

I hate it and secretly love it a lot.

The early childhood obsessed observer in me beckons for these things.

I'm probably the crazy one, not her.

HANDS DOWN my favorite phrase of hers right now is "Dats a good option, Mama?" or "What are the options?" Using the word "options" is SOOOO not age appropriate for this chick. And yet she uses it several, if not a dozen of times a day. It kills me!

She's so funny.

She always wants to know what her choices are.

Generally GRACE'S "options" are:

Watch a show.
Watch a different show.
Eat the chocolate egg.
Watch PBS Kid.
Go to the library "aaaaaaan borrow a new toy".
Watch Super Why.
Go to the Target Dollar Spot.
Eat 2 chocolate eggs.
Go to the pet store.

Some days (Most days) I want to do Grace's options and nothing else.

That's the life right there!

A diet of chocolate eggs and Super Why giving me the power to read.

Speaking of the power to read....

Grace is killing it in the ABC area of life right now. I'm fairly certain she knows all the letters of the alphabet.

I've heard her name them all when seen at least once.

I think there might be a  handful, like 5 or 6 that she only kind of knows and gets wrong occasionally. But I'd say there's a solid twenty that she now permanently has memorized.

She tries so hard to memorize the sounds when I tell her, but I feel like that's still a little too much for her age.

She knows that....

G is for Grace
H is for Hunter
M is for Mom
D is for Dad
Z is for Zach
P is for Poppy (Princess Poppy)
Q is for Queen

Something that we are slowly trying to curve is her need to win at everything, ha ha ha ha.

She loves being the first one up the stairs.

It doesn't matter if we're going up to do something together or if she's just glued to my leg following me around while I do menial chores, cause....well....she's basically my appendage.

She always wants to be first. She'll exclaim "I the winna!!" pretty much every time. Or if she's not winning she'll scream "NO GRACE WANT TO BE THE WINNER!!" She gets pretty distressed if she's not the winner. I've pretty much just been trying to ignore all this behavior, because it's just not really necessary. Hopefully she'll figure out it doesn't matter eventually. Until then I get to trip over her on the stairs about 12 dozen more times.

My second favorite thing that she says right now is "In two minutes."

She says this ALL the time.

Me: "Grace, we're going to go in 5 minutes."
Grace: "Five minutes AAAAAN TWO minutes!"

Me: "Do you want to go eat lunch?"
Grace: "In two minutes."

Me: "Let's hurry and go potty."
Grace: "In two minutes."

Me: "We should probably get dressed."
Grace: "In two minutes."

Me: "We get to see Zach and Liza today!"
Grace: "IN TWO MINUTES!?!?!"

Man, I've become really good at timing two minutes in our life. :)

Her birthday is in 2 months and she is pretty obsessed with the idea.

She's changed her mind on the theme of her party about 20 times.

It was originally Paw Patrol. Then it was Trolls. Then it was ponies. Then it was Moana. Now as of today it's Minnie Mouse.

Okay, that's only five changes, but still.

She has exact qualifications for her gifts too. She'll say things like: "Grace want a Trolls birfday party and a pony toy." or "Grace want a Minnie birfday party and a Poppy toy."

Ha ha ha ha ha.

She's not spoiled.

Why would you ever think she's even kind of spoiled?? Ha ha.

Oy!

Something really cute that she's been doing quite a bit has been giving Hunter toys without being asked.

One day he woke up from his nap and was whining a little bit, but not crying yet. She heard him and told me to go get him. She knows not to go in there unless I say it's okay. I told her I needed to finish what I was doing really fast then I would. I told her she could go in and say hi to him though.

She went in and put about 10 different toys in his crib with him! Ha ha ha.

When I went in there he was grinning from ear to ear and Grace was looking at me like "was it okay that I did that?"

I told her that was so nice of her and look how happy she made him!

Ever since that she'll randomly bring him things and say "I'm going to make you happy, buddy! Here's a toy for yoooou!"

Another cute thing she says to him is when he's crying she'll yell happily at him "Is okay, Hunta boy!! Is okaaaaay! It okay Hunta! Yeah yeah yeah!" She definitely is copying me with that one.

So cute.

She's been very clingy to me lately. Other people (like Jeff) try to do things for her and she will not accept it. It always has to be me.

She wants to be just like me and that scares me!

She watches and mimics everything I do.

She's super curious about my job I do in the mornings before she wakes up. She really wants to watch me do it and I've even let her watch the play back of one of my classes once, because she started coming down during my classes and trying to get in to watch. When I let her watch the play back of my class she was GLUED to the screen. She had her little hands clasped on her lap and just soaked it all in. She talks about the kids that I teach all the time.

She will generally wake up and come down to our office/spare room where I work while I'm finishing up my feedback for the day.

I think she's finally stopped trying to barge in during the actual classes.

I'll tell her I'm doing my feedback.

Today she gathered up a bunch of props that I have down on my desk and brought them up to our kitchen table. She started playing with them and was saying to herself: "Feebacks for kids....and the feedback time."

Ha ha ha ha.

Oh I love her.

She doesn't know any other words pertaining to my job, so she just used the one she knew to copy what I do.

Like I said she tries to be just like me.

I have a lot of work to do to make sure I'm doing things worth copying.

I love my sweet and sassy Gracie Goo.

Perfectionist Diabetic

Perfectionist Diabetic is an oxymoron.

There is no way a diabetic can be perfect.

There are so many ups and downs.

Literally.

Blood sugar numbers can be anywhere at any given time.

There are so many variables.

Food. Obviously.

Stress.

Movement/exercise/physical exertion

Sickness (hence why Jeff and I are weirdos about sickness and catching it, ha ha)

No dang reason.

There are so many things that can make a diabetic's blood sugar go up or down.

It's unpredictable.

I have to think like a pancreas all day and I have no idea how a pancreas thinks!

Seriously, how can I train my brain to be a pancreas?

I can't figure that one out.

Anywho....

I am really hard on myself about my blood sugar.

I'm way too much of a perfectionist.

This benefited me while I was pregnant with Hunter, because...well....ya kinda have to be really careful when you're pregnant with diabetes.

The last almost 9 months since being pregnant have been rough.

And the stupid thing about that is........

I'm actually doing REALLY great compared to a lot of Type 1's.

This isn't going to make sense to anyone who isn't a diabetic or is close to a diabetic....

But my blood is SO SO SOOOO rarely above 200.

And it never goes below 70.

And I literally can't think of a time since being diagnosed that it's been above 300.

You guys.

I am SO hard on myself.

Managing diabetes is like having another kid (or two). But THIS kid doesn't sleep through the night.

Or nap.

Okay, they really never sleep in any way shape or form.

This kid is always hungry.

This kid is attached to my leg and whines MOMMY all day!

Ha ha ha ha.

So really I have 3 kids and only 2 of them I like.

If I could get rid of the 3rd I would not even feel bad.

But I can't. I'm in it till the end!

So is there anything good from being a perfectionist diabetic?

Eh.

Maybe.

It means I'm healthy.

It means I'm a fighter!

It means I'm never going to give up!

I have so many positive things in my life, I try to let myself not get hung up on the perfectionism.

I'm coming up on 2 years since my diagnosis and I've been thinking about the whirlwind of a diagnosis that it was a TON lately.

I think about being in the hospital.

All the doctors, nurses.

About the huge learning curve I'm still experiencing.

Those 3 days in the hospital are a blur to me.

I can remember a lot, but what sticks out to my memory the most is Jeff.

I can remember him asking the doctors questions after questions.

I can remember him asking him what I wanted him to say to the nurses and how he did all the talking, because he knew I just couldn't.

I can remember him holding my hand and telling me it would be okay. And really it HAS been okay because of him. Because I've been able to lean on him every day since that time two years ago.

HIS life changed forever in those three days.

I think in many ways I'm a perfectionist diabetic for my family.

So they don't have to worry.