Though she be but little, she is fierce

Or however that saying goes...

Lillian is a force to be reckoned with. Full disclosure: she feels ALL of her emotions to the tenth power. This includes: happiness, relaxation, fear, fury, and OMG. 

It's to the point where the daycare staff tells me, "Thank God we know her because otherwise she'd be hitting her head 100 times a day." We actually had to buy a padded highchair because she was intentionally hitting her head on the hard kitchen chair when sitting in her booster seat. 

It's just... When she's happy she is SO happy but she is volatile. Her fuse is short and her triggers are difficult to predict. Some I have locked down. She WILL NOT sit in the tub. A reality I have accepted. I hold her with one arm and wash with the other and pass her off to hubs so she can leave the room because HOLY CRAP. She will always melt down in the high chair. She doesn't like being put down. And on and on...

But in the end, I remember Gabby at this age. She's always been dramatic and needy and Mommy-oriented and then I look at Lillian and think, "She is definitely mine." Both of them are. And I'm not sad about it. 

Working Mom Blog Series - Episode 4: Self-care and Bonding time with Husband

I have to admit that lately, these moments are few and far between, although extremely important. This is probably our biggest area in need of improvement, but I think in time we will do better. It's hard to focus on our relationship and ourselves when we have two needy little girls. So what do we do?

I definitely take a bath and read for a while after the girls go to bed. Ricky goes for a walk when the girls have been quiet for a bit. It stinks to separate like this, but someone has to be in the house with them...

On spending time together, I guess we sometimes will watch a movie or show after he gets home for his walk. I would entertain going for a dinner or movie more often if we weren't both trying to lose weight and had a regular babysitter. This is one of the things we are working on.

Day-to-day, we really just try to work as a team to take care of the house and our family so that nobody is feeling overwhelmed. We take turns. He cooks dinner while I keep the girls busy. I take a day off a month to do a deep clean on the house. We are definitely still in survival mode, but we are way beyond surviving. We are loving it. We have the best family ever. 

So long suckers!

Photo credit: shrimpyphotography.com

Addiction is a nasty beast. For over a year now, we have been planning Gabby's quit. We have to wait until the baby is born. We have to wait until she isn't jealous of the baby. We have to wait until she is sleeping through the night. We have to wait until she gets used to sleeping with the toddler rail. And on and on and on...

I don't want to put it off anymore.

I also don't want bedtime to be the worst part of my day.

But the binkies have GOT to go. She is at the point now where she bargains and negotiates for "one more sip" or "one more bite" in the mornings. She asks to go to nap just so she can have some alone time in her room with her binky. It's just no good.

So... now that she is going to bed happily and loves her sister, we are going to stuff a Build-A-Bear with a binky and some stuffing and head off into the sunset binky-free.

I hope.

Update: She has been 3 days binky-free!