Last week was a rough week in these parts.
Here are the "fails":
I had a really rough/traumatic delivery on Monday with a baby that needed to be transported after the longest (2 minute) shoulder dystocia of my obstetrical career, and she's been on my mind a lot.
We've continued to literally struggle in these parts with epic tantrums and power struggles with Iver, our oldest, and I powered through two books in the last weeks on it (
Susan Stiffelman's Parenting Without Power Struggles and
Kurcinka's Kids, Parents and Power Struggles) as a result. We think that a lot of this behavior has stemmed from his internalizing anxiety from a school change in early September and despite my having some really intense losing-it moments, I and he are both coping a lot better with some of the techniques I gleaned from these books.
On Tuesday, after a call night of no sleep and a three-hour post-call nap, I was cooking our dinner and thinking "I should exercise." While I usually work out on our home elliptical, it was a lovely, sunny fall day and I opted instead to go for a few-mile run on a circuit starting that our house that I do occasionally. I was about three-quarters of a mile from my house when I realized that I'd left the oven on (with potatoes and chicken inside!) and had to sprint home, the fastest that I've probably run in ten years. I luckily made it home to find the chicken just barely overcooked (it was still edible!), no fire alarms going off, the house and our dog intact, and breathed a
huge sigh of relief.
Niall has been eating way more and, as a result, pooping way more and growing. We're working on him communicating when he has to go/did go, but last week, I had put him in a cloth prefold with a what now is very apparent to be a too-small) diaper cover, which somehow popped off after he went poop, leading to poop droppings literally falling out of his pants leg onto our living room carpet, as we whisked him to the bathroom. Epic clean up and a bath ensued.
I had some shredded carrots leftover from a meal last week that I wanted to use and then I was gifted some truly overripe bananas from my medical assistant, Jenn. I am not really a baker, but I am a committed food-rescuer, and was excited to have a mama-son baking adventure with Iver, who loves to help measure and mix. We had made all the batter and scooped it both into a muffin pan and a bread pan as there was a lot, and a minute after I put them in the oven, I realized that I'd forgotten to add one ingredient, baking powder. I am not sure what most people would have done in this situation-- scrapped the whole endeavor? Un-scooped out the batter, remixed it, and replaced it? Sprinkled a little baking powder in each individual muffin cup? I will tell you that I just asked myself "What's the worst that could happen without baking powder?" I baked the goods for the 30 minutes as previously planned, and just had flat, dense muffins (hockey puck-like, if you will) and a flat rectangle of a bread. Oops. (You'll know that both kids ate the muffins happily for a fresh snack, but have rejected them for breakfast ever since).
(I should also mention that, while trying to find the molasses and other ingredients for the muffins, I had knocked over a canister of those tiny cupcake sprinkle balls that I used for Iver's birthday cake pops) from the top cabinet shelf, leading to thousands of tiny balls spraying all over our kitchen, and leading to some grumpy "I-don't-have-time-for-this" vacuuming on my part).
It really was a rough week.
That said, the weekend was quite restorative and I feel we're moving forward.
The good news/ (our "nails"):
With better sleep and more "emotional coaching" from Kelvin and me both for our sensitive, spirited child, we are able to diffuse the multiple daily battles and connect better with our oldest.
I attended a four-hour "Spiritual Gifts" retreat led by a wonderful woman of faith, Arlene, on Saturday morning, and connected with many other women who are trying to figure out how we use our gifts to navigate this messy, very busy life with God at our sides.
Kelvin and I got out for a date night for dinner on Saturday, because Iver wanted to go to the daycare's "Parents' Night Out" at his old school and Niall (now >18 months) is able to attend, too.
We had delicious seafood at Arcata's "Salt" and strolled the Plaza admiring the beautiful drawings from the day's "Pastels on the Plaza."
We went out to a pumpkin patch on Sunday afternoon and enjoyed some lovely sunny weather (post forthcoming).
Pepper, who has been struggling with skin
issues, allergies, and lots of scratching and licking (and low energy
as a result), got put on an immunotherapy regimen
"Cytopoint" and, one week after her first injection, is much more energetic and less scaly!
That's just one week of ups and downs in our lives.
How's your week going?
