Fourth Birthday
Wow, my small daughter turned 4 this month! I can really tell that she is getting big now with her vocab, polite manners, interest in new things, and just getting taller. She's a lucky girl that gets to have three parties. One with mom and dad on the day of her birthday, one with her buddies, and then another family party at Easter with the whole gang.
Hoppy Easter
I'm excited for our Easter party here at our home. Both sides of the family are coming and it should be a nice, relaxed, afternoon. We will be hunting for eggs with one cousin who is almost 3 so that should be fun. Otherwise it is all adults and older teens - plus my great family (both sides) are bringing food so that we are sharing the load this time around.
Week 14/15-ish
Gosh - what a difference 4-ish months makes in my new job! Here are some positive things that I've noticed:
1. I don't yell at my small child anymore to 'hustle'
2. My small child is getting braver, less shy, and less clingy (some of this is age but most of this is because I'm with her all day in my opinion)
3. My house is clean - not obsessively clean but generally clean
4. I can tell what/why my small child is upset about now... is she tired, hungry, being crossed, etc. Prior to staying home it was always a guessing game but since we are together now I understand what type of day she is having.
Some of the negative things:
1. It's getting hard to sleep at night. I think I'm not exercising my brain enough during the day as compared to working at the 'zon where I stressed out my brain and fell into bed each night.
2. Finding play dates is still difficult
Overall doing the SAHM thing has been very positive for me. I certainly miss my work friends and the challenge of doing a great job at something tough but this is a nice break from the rat race.
Preschool!
We got into a preschool for September and couldn't be happier. We are still on the waiting list for co-op preschool but we will give this other school a chance of course! As I've been talking to Pookie about her new school that she will attend after the summer is over she is getting a bit panicky. She thinks it will be like her daycare so I keep telling her that it's about playing and very very very short time. I know I will need to stay with her the first few times or she will melt down. It's on my 'to-do' list to call the school and see if we can come observe the four-year-old class in May a couple of times so that she can see what the new routine might be like and think about it over the summer.
Tiny Dancers
Pookie is taking ballet class and is loving it. It's on Saturday mornings so that she can be in the same class as a good friend of hers. Of course that means that I don't meet other SAHM's with whom I might be able to set up playdates. Sigh. Well it means a lot to Pookie that she gets to dance with her friend so I'm willing to suck this one up. I love the little pink tights and white leotards - she looks so tiny and cute.
Living Room Makeover
I won! Yes, it's true - I won a living room makeover and I am SO excited. Authentic Home is an interior design company here in West Seattle and together with Fine Construction Inc they sponsored a contest I entered for a living room makeover valued at $2,500! It's the biggest prize I've ever won (J-man too) so we are both excited. We meet with them on Monday the 25th of April so I hope to understand a bit better exactly what we might be getting. I'm fairly certain we will get new paint, drapes, and moving around our furniture. My fingers are crossed that Fine Construction will be able to reinvent our fireplace and maybe build some shelving with doors so that we can store toys for Pookie out here. Any thoughts about mounting our TV above the fireplace? I think it would be okay since we only do cartoons on this upstairs TV for an hour or two each morning and then it's off the rest of the day (90% of the time anyway). Well if you have time check out the website for both companies - they have good sites.
