The Daily Grind

I was trying to think of what to blog about yesterday and nothing really came to mind. We've done a few fun things lately, but nothing huge. The weather here is nice as I see lots of my friends and family having last snowstorms, but that's not really worth writing about. I guess I'm mostly just consumed with the day-to-day struggles of parenthood and am not seeing much beyond that for the moment. I wake up a lot of mornings feeling fine, but as soon as the normal struggles happen I find my patience is non-existent or I just can't think of a good way to handle what is thrown at me. It's been a bit rough lately.

I chalk it up to a few things. One, my third trimester is in full force and with it all the uncomfortable symptoms. It seems there is a tradeoff between feeling rested and my body feeling good. The nights I sleep all the way through the night I invariably wake up with a super sore back or shoulders or hips from not moving around much. But if I wake up a bunch all night to adjust or go to the bathroom, then I'm not well rested in the morning and that's no fun either. As usual I am carrying this baby all in front, so my lower back is getting pretty strained. That certainly makes my patience vault less full. I have 10 or 11 weeks left, and I'm really looking forward to that time flying by. Thankfully it feels like it has really sped up. The first couple trimesters dragged a lot, but this third trimester is clipping right along, a fact that I thoroughly appreciate.

Another thing is that parenting a 3-year old is pretty serious business. Spencer pushes my parenting abilities constantly. It's amazing how very inflexible kids can be at that age. Genevieve is pushing two and joining the club with her own set of challenges. She is so independent, the trademark of that age, and the levels of frustration she feels are pretty epic. I have a hard time not laughing sometimes, though that's much better than lots of responses. The two of them alternate between being best buds and enemies who steal each other's toys with the sole intent of bugging the other, or at least that's what it appears they are thinking. It's pretty exciting around here, to say the least.

So yeah, daily struggles. Like my friend often says, the days are long but the years are short. I really can't believe Genevieve will be two in just a few months. Spencer is already nearly 3 1/2. Time is a flyin' whether it feels like it in the moment or not. Bill will be done with the master's part of his degree in December if all goes as planned and at that point we'll have been here for two years. Hard to believe.

All that being said, despite so many daily frustrations, my kids never cease to amaze me. Genevieve is a total sponge. She adores Spencer and is so adept at imitating him. She loves to do anything he's doing. Spencer blows me away all the time with all the things he is learning. He doesn't even try, he just absorbs everything around him and it comes back out of his mouth and actions in his own creative way. The kid can count to 100 for heaven's sake! Genevieve is pretty proud of herself that she can count to three. :) I'm right in the middle of all their awesome development and sometimes all I want to do is tell everyone about it so they can agree that my kids are the coolest. lol. Sometimes things are rough, but I'm really glad I'm here doing this right now. I wouldn't change the decisions that got me here for anything. It's a nice feeling to have.

This boy literally takes the lower half of his church outfit off the instant he is two steps in the door, but he was still stylin' yesterday on top. :)

This dress is to die for. Sweater dress, purple flower, cute model. Good things all around.