China

We survived! yay.

But not without some challenges. Let me say this first, however, before I go into those: you are amazing. You have risen to the challenge of being the 1st Born/big sister. You were my little helper, and for the most part without complaint. I love you so much for so many reasons, not the least of which is I am not sure how I would deal with your baby sister without you! (Ok - I'm being dramatic). But really - because she worships you down to your core there are times where we can just leave you two alone for a long time to play because I know you're watching out for her.

Ok - so onto the challenges. Main thing: mama didn't get much sleep during this trip. Aside from Ba helping every evening (hallelujah!!!!) the only overnight help I had was during one of the weekends when Nana came to stay with us. There were many nights I spent either in your bed or on the floor next to Berit's crib. Neither of you like it when one of us is gone, and it really reflects in your sleeping habits. But the worst night was when you both woke up AT THE SAME TIME! At 2:45 a.m. And. Never. Went. Back. To. Sleep. For real. After multiple attempts to keep you separated, I finally gave in at 4:30 and we went downstairs to watch a movie. I have never been so exhausted. That was the only night that happened - but there were many where you both woke up in the same night, just not at the same time.

We function best as a whole family. No questions asked. And when you guys saw daddy standing in the garage waiting for us last week when we got home from school - MAN did you faces light up! You were both so excited. It reminded me how awesome we are when we're all together.

iloveyoumadly.
mama

I said.

My sweet little Hads. Oh what a kid you’re becoming. Everyone said 3 would be harder than 2 – I didn’t believe them.

I do now.

Daddy was in China the past few weeks. He came back this weekend and BOY OH BOY! are you happy he’s home! We made it through his trip – and pretty successfully – but I think we’re all glad to be a complete family again. Here are some highlights from while he was away:

-you had frequent nightmares and woke up terrified, crying for me.

-one morning you decided “ENOUGH!” with the whole sleep thing, and woke me up at 5:50 a.m. by standing next to my bead saying, “Hi mommy. I am done sleeping now.” Scared me to death! (Keep in mind that most mornings I need to drag you out of bed at 7 a.m….)

-you peed in the playroom closet. For real. How did I discover this, you ask? You came upstairs with a huge smile on your face and said, “I peed everywhere.” And you did mean everywhere. Through 4 sleeping bags, onto 2 suitcases and it spilled from there onto the carpet. I had no idea a 3 year old could hold so much pee.

-But the topper? You and I both got the stomach flu. It’s hard enough to keep it together when your baby girl is throwing up every 30 minutes for 12 hours straight – but to do that AND try to make it to the bathroom yourself is near impossible. Somehow we survived, and seemed to keep it from your baby sister. (Typing that all makes me truly wonder how I survived those 24 hours….)

One of your latest and greatest comes in the forms of vocab. In all of your “three-ness” you have really started to use declarations when talking about anything! I think you’re starting to discover your bossy side. :-) You love to end these kind of sentences with “…I said.” For example: “I don’t like tofu today, I said.” It’s quite funny. Especially because you’re so serious when you say it. You also use this phrase when reading outloud to your sister (which has become one of your favorite activities). You hold up the book, like your teachers do during circle time, and read to the pictures. Ending almost every page with”…I said.”

Now that your daddy is home, you’ve become very worried that he is leaving again. As hard as it is to deal with the crying and the clinginess that has come from this fear, it is also very endearing that you love him so much. 3 is a bit harder than 2 – but not necessarily because you’re more difficult. It’s mostly just because you’re more intelligent and all our previous distraction techniques no longer work on all your brilliance.

iloveyoumadly.
mama