Blank Canvas: April 2012

Some things that happened this month in no particular order:

Jenny, Brett, Ella, and Maya flew down for a visit for the first week of March. We had a great time visiting with them and took a lot of nice pictures!

We had a couple more nice visits with Greg, Tina, and Gwyn.

Scott finally got a new smartphone to replace his old blackberry. He’s very happy with it!

Scott built a swingset in our backyard from scratch! Atom loves it. He’s now working on adding a platform and a slide to it.

I decided to find a new primary care doctor in Clermont so it would be easier for my parents to watch the kids if I ever need to go to the doctor. I had one appointment there already and I like it so far.

Scott has been very busy working on the Despicable Me ride for Universal and he’s working some crazy and erratic hours again.

Trillian laughed for the first (and so far only) time this month. She has also started reaching for objects.

Atom mastered basic potty training this month! He has overcome his fear of pooping in the potty (lots of treats helped) and now he doesn’t wear diapers at all during the day. I’ve actually started taken him out without diapers too and he tells me when he has to go. We’re so proud of him! We tried not having a diaper on him at night also, but after a couple accidents we decided to wait a little longer before we work on that part.

I broke down and bought a pretty expensive double stroller this month. I’ve wanted one for a while now, but I had a very hard time rationalizing that kind of purchase. Here's how I did it. First I sold two other strollers of mine on craiglist and made about $100, then I found a way to get the one I wanted (the City Mini Double GT) for 10% off, and finally for good measure I applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which has a $500 cash back promotion right now for new members. Thank you excellent credit! So, now I can take walks again! Which brings me to my next point:

Trillian has been pretty difficult this month. It seemed to get worse as the month progressed. First of all, she hates the car seat. It doesn’t seem to matter if she’s sleepy or awake or even already asleep. When I put her in there and start driving, she wakes up and starts crying. This has really made it hard for me to want to go anywhere. Her naps are also terrible. She doesn’t want to fall asleep unless I’m holding her or wearing her in a carrier. Last month she would fall asleep when laid down on her stomach, or snuggled next to me on her side, but now she’s having none of that and will just start crying if I lie her down, even if I’m lying right beside her trying to soothe her. This has gotten more and more frustrating, to the point where I’m having feelings of intense frustration culminating in bouts of screaming into pillows, which is a new and troubling experience for me. The first few times I used the new stroller, I was elated because she was happy and even fell asleep in it, but then the last couple of times I’ve used it she’s started crying and I’ve ended up carrying her. I can only hope that this needing to be held phase changes quickly as most of these things do. It’s really stressful and rough on me right now.