Tea and Fam Update

TEA IS SEVEN MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!! ^_^ To celebrate, here is an update post:

Have I mentioned that Tea gave me an awesome Mother's Day gift? She crawled well for the first time that day!!! Since then she's become a pro. Sunday evening she left the kitchen (where I was working) to hang out with her sisters in the dining room. It was a relatively short distance, but THE first time she has willingly left my presence! :)

Did I tell you that she has been cruising for the last 2 weeks or so?

She's pulling up to stand on anything she can reach (including trying to pull up using clothing!).

Tea has gotten brave about letting go of things to test her balance. As an example of her balance testing, she now leans her belly on the tub (I put her in it when I use the toilet) and then she lets go of the sides!

Tea has also become the little standing-turner. For instance, she'll stand at the open dryer door and slowly turn, let go, and hold on to the dresser behind it. She's also done a similar move in my bedroom between my bed and some shelves, which I recently rearranged. (I changed our bed area all around to make more room for Food Storage!)

My youngest is no longer an easy baby and I totally look forward to her full-on walking days! She doesn't sleep in her stroller any more. She won't sleep longer than about 15 minutes alone in bed. So, if I want her to sleep well, or nap enough, she's on me. I guess this is probably what happened with Kat and Ria... but with Ria I didn't have anyone else to care for and I had to work so when I was around her I wanted her on me! With Kat I pretty much always wore her in the sling so I didn't really know when she was sleeping. It's always different, this Mothering thing! We sure can say that for it, eh? :)

Ria
This girl has a Dr. Jackie, Mrs. Hyde thing going on!!! Seriously, one day she's SO sweet and loving to all of us and the next she doesn't want to cooperate with anything and is mean and nasty to Kat all day. It's alarming how much like my 12 year old self this little 5 year old of mine is! I love that my kiddos are advanced and all, but this is ridiculous! She doesn't want to do school even on her good days. Glad for some consistency, just not glad about the issue over which she's consistent!!!

I love her endlessly, even on her bad days. She's a helpful a wonderful girl more often than not and I'm lucky she's my first! It's just amazing to me, this "new development."

Kat
I'm not sure if she's having growth regression or emotional... but Kat has been peeing in bed at night and some naps lately. After washing way too much laundry (and being EXHAUSTED because of the extra food prep and other stuff) Kat is back in diapers at night. I'm not happy about that, but I am happy not to have as much laundry!!!

Kat has definitely learned how to throw a temper tantrum. They are JUST like Ria's. When Kat does what she does, I look at Ria and she's got this look on her face like, "Oh, THAT's what I look like?" I've told her enough that she knows it is.

Kat has adopted a habit of doing just like Ria. Ria might tell me about a booboo she just found or got. After Ria has finished, and usually walked away, Kat will come right over and mimic everything Ria just did: body posture, tone of voice, and repeat what Ria has said and done. It's amazing. I can't help but think my Kat is a kinesthetic learner and body intuitive! I do feel for her because I've realized I'm the latter, though not the former.

Kat and I are working VERY slowly at reading class. She tolerates it relatively well, especially when a movie is on the line. My kiddos and movies!

Jess
My sweet husband is still working hard and sleeping hard. :) Actually, he's been striving to be awake more on his days off. At least, when I'm up he does. I appreciate that SO much because he usually sleeps at least 6 hours straight... I can only dream about such luxury with all my issues combined with night nursing. On nights like Sun, Mon, and Tues, he usually sleeps at least 9... Oh, how I WISH! So, it's was extremely frustrating when he has (in the past) fallen asleep every time he'd sits down. It's SO much nicer to get to actually INTERACT with him when he's home. I only get so much adult-speak most days. It's wonderful to have my partner around as a companion, too! I love my three little companions... and Ria is ever more interesting to chat with, but conversation with her is just not the same as iwth another adult quite yet. :)

He actually loves his job. His short day is 8 hours, if he's lucky. But the other 4 days of his work week are still 12-15 hour days! Saturday night he conducted his first firing. He didn't like it at all. Especially because the guy reminded him of one of my brothers. He was obviously down and sort of sad when he got home, as a result. So, I gave him a pep talk about good business and stuff and he seemed a little bit better. One of the negatives to take with having a job that is a move in the right direction for his career. On a more positive note; because he's a Manager at The River Grille on the Tomoka, Jess gets a nice discount. Plus, right now, Monday nights kids eat free!! So, we're planning to eat out sometime soon as a Family Home Evening thing and it'll probably only cost around $20 WITH tip!!! Isn't that awesome? A perk for all the time he's gone, I guess.

Oh, did I tell you... they made cards for Jess? You know, business cards with the company logo and EXECUTIVE CHEF under his name. It was a pleasant surprise to both of us. You see, they have a policy of a 90 day trial. This step seems (combined with getting Health Insurance soon) to indicate a determination to keep him beyond the 90 days. Of course, there's every reason they SHOULD, but still....

Me
My biggest news has already been mentioned in a previous post. The whole 'trying to figure out how to heal naturally' stuff has been consuming my available time. I was planning to start reading the Harry Potter series (I told Ria what it was about and she almost tried to take one of the books out of my hands she was so excited!). But I haven't begun yet because of the learning curve on this celiac and SCD stuff (especially SCD).

I've been feeling a greater peace and wellness since getting off sugar and ESPECIALLY since starting this SCD. I think it's likely and very possible that my anxiety/panic/depression issues were, in part, due to hormones as well as bad gut flora die off after I went off sugar. My limbs still feel pretty weak a lot and I feel out of breath too much sometimes... but then there a moments like Sunday night when I was getting out of bed and felt like I jumped because I overestimated the energy necessary to get up from where I was. That could also be partially due to losing 14 pounds in 4 weeks... but who knows. :) That last little tidbit is some good news! I keep hoping and praying that I will be able to get down to or nicely below the weight I was after Ria was born before I get preggie again. It totally seems possible at this point! Thankfully. YEAY!

We Keep Choosing Us
Jess is praying with me at night as well as reading the Bible to me now. I would guess that his agreeing to pray with me has been just to please me, but he was reading the Bible on his own. I just asked him to read it out loud. This activity is one of my favorite times of the day. And I feel like it's done some good beyond the few minutes the actual activities require. YEAY!