Only two

I'm stopping by to write for a quick reprieve before jumping into work for the day.  The holiday lull has definitely ceased at work and "slammed" is how I again describe my day to the hubs when I get home from work.

The hubs and I are both very tall, so we make tall kids.  BW, in particular, is off the charts.  at 2 1/2ish, she is almost 42 inches tall and 40 lbs - about the size of the average 4-5 year old.  SB is shortly behind her at almost 40 inches tall and 33 lbs.  This brings about a host of challenges, like having people mistake BW for a 4 year old and expecting her to behave like a 4 year old, and giving us the side-eye if she throws a 2-y-o tantrum.  She's potty trained now, so at least the judgy looks about her wearing a diaper have stopped, but there are some days I want to have a t-shirt made that says, I'm 2, so people know that she is just acting her age sometimes.

However, I think the hardest thing is meeting the emotional and physical needs of a 2-y-old in a 4 year old-size body.   I can still pick both of them up and carry them if necessary, but there are times they want to be held and cuddled by their mama, or they just need a carry because their legs are tired, or because they are TWO.   BW doesn't get carried much, because (1) she's a lot to carry, (2) she isn't a good contributor to being carried - she doesn't hold on and just hangs out and makes you do all the work and (3) she doesn't seem like she needs to or should be carried because she seems older than her age.  I have to remind myself, too, that she is still only 2, and sometimes 2-year-olds needs some carries and cuddles, because.  Even if my back sometimes disagrees. 

Turning a corner?

I am furiously knocking on wood as I type this, but I think we may have turned a sleep corner.  Like Nugget has suddenly decided that she's cool with going to sleep and staying asleep, or putting herself back to sleep without needing to nurse.

If she has accomplished this without sleep training....yay.  I was worried I was getting to the point where my sanity couldn't take it anymore and we'd have to do some form of sleep training.

So, over the past few days, we have gone from 3-5 wake-ups a night to ONE last night.  One.  If I hadn't needed to stay up until almost midnight doing work I would feel so refreshed today, haha.  It also helps that SB and BW did not make a peep last night after a few nights in a row of terrible nightmares.

I'm giving some credit to her new sleep sack.  That thing is AH-MA-ZING.  I want one for me.  More on that in another post.

2016 goals

I want to make things happen in 2016, instead of putting them off or talking about them but not taking action or waiting for them to happen.  I don't want them to be resolutions; I want them to be  goals.  I'm not sure what the difference is really, but I'm aiming for goals.  My first goal is to make a list of goals for four areas - personal, work, household, and financial.  This is my start - I'm not going to share them all, but I'm going to commit to some here, for "everyone" to see.

Personal

• Get on a regular haircut schedule again (It's been 5 months since I had a haircut, and it looks like it).
• Get back to being able to run 2 miles nonstop by the end of summer (this is going to be tough unless Nugget starts sleeping more, but a girl can dream)
• Finish SB and BW's "baby" blankets (luckily I made them toddler/kid size from the start; I'm cheating a bit here as I just finished SB's; I have a few more hours for BW's).
• Choose and start "baby" kid blanket for Nugget.

Work

• Get a promotion (I'm really nervous about this one; I don't have enough confidence in myself).

Household

• Declutter and organize master closet
• Redecorate SB and BW's room to a "big girl room" (I'm super excited about this one, and have even opened my Pinterest app again to explore color ideas.
• Make our office an office instead of a storage room

Financial

• Finish paying off medical bills (still some lingering from Nugget's birth and subsequent illnesses)
• Increase 401(k) contributions 1% over yearly scheduled increase
• Commit to plan to pay off credit card debt and make substantial dent in credit card debt (this one weighs huge on my mind.  We have more than I'm comfortable with due to the Hubs' stint of unemployment in 2014; the Hubs and I are still working on how to communicate financially after five years of marriage - I think this is still one of the areas that is a work in progress for us, and may be for some time.

2016 began with a bang

Well, at least with a banging head, that is.  I woke up to the New Year with a terrible migraine.  We had to push off our family plans because I was unable to function for the first several hours of the New Year, likely a combination of not enough sleep and some yucky sinus virus.

We also rang in the New Year with three littles on antibiotics.  Nugget on a second course for the ear infections that won't quit, and SB and BW were both diagnosed with strep just after Christmas.  Thank you daycare.

I am on the mend, Nugget's last dose of antibiotics was this morning, and I am thankful that our illnesses our minor.

The hubs got me a fitbit for Christmas (I know I'm a bit late to the game). It has led to some interesting revelations. 

1) The sleep function is not entirely accurate.  I'm awake enough during portions of the night to have an awareness of when I'm awake (thank you, reverse-cycling infant), and the fitbit doesn't always register when I'm awake.  The other morning it credited me with an extra 40 minutes of sleep because it didn't register me waking, using the bathroom, putting my contacts in, and taking it off to set it on the counter while I showered.  I wish, fitbit, I wish.  With the inaccuracy, I average about 5.5 hours of interrupted sleep time a night, and I'd estimate that it's crediting me with an additional 30+ minutes of sleep that I'm not actually sleeping at night.  No wonder I'm tired.

2) It's a bit tricky if you are ambidextrous, as I don't have a true "dominant" hand - my hands share the load equally. - righty writes and does some stuff, but lefty does the majority of the other tasks - eating, brushing teeth, etc.  Even though I now have it coded as dominant on my left arm, I still have to remove it to brush my teeth or it counts every swipe as a step.

3) It is fascinating to see how many times I climb our stairs during a weekend.  Our two-story house plus my sleep-deprivation forgetfulness is certainly helping me burn calories.

4) I am terribly sedentary at work.  I am looking forward to when I can get more sleep so I can get more exercise in during the week. I can easily meet the 10K steps at home on weekends with cleaning and chasing after toddlers, but during the week I barely make half that.  Ugh.

I'm looking forward to 2016, although this year our babes will turn 3 and 1. What?  I'm aiming to write down goals this year - personal, work, household, and financial.  I want to make a bunch of things happen and I want to commit to them happening. More on that soon.