Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Currently: March 2022

Turns out I haven't done a currently post since October! So here is what is currently happening in our world.

Reading: Invisible Child which is a heart-breaking book by a NYT reporter that chronicles the lives of a family living in poverty in Brooklyn. The book focuses on the oldest daughter of 8 children. I can't remember why I added this book to my holds list but I know I saw it on a lot of best-of lists. It's non-fiction but reads like a novel - but a sad novel given everything that happens to this family. I'm also about 40% through The Count of Monte Cristo. Overall I like the book but there are sections that really drag for me. I don't know if it's because I'm reading it in short snippets (I'm using the Serial Reader which breaks it out into daily readings) but I someone wonder - who are these people and why are we hearing about them?

Loving: the warmer weather we've had recently. The snow and cold is not fully behind us - we might get some snow this week, actually - but things are moving in the right direction! We were outside quite a bit this past weekend which makes a huge difference in my mood! I took Will to the park on Sunday afternoon and he loved swinging. And yes he's wearing footie pajamas in the photo below, in the middle of the day! I liked that I didn't have to worry about him taking his socks off during the walk and having cold feet. Paul was notorious for doing this and then I'd worry about what people thought when they saw our barefoot kid. If they had kids, they likely didn't think a thing because all kids seem to hate socks??!?! Even at age 4 Paul prefers to be barefoot, even in the dead of winter when I'm cold with thick wool socks on!


Feeling: pretty tired. Will has been waking around 5-5:30 for the last month and it's wearing us out! I don't know if it's teething or needing to drop to 1 nap or just a phase? I went back and read through a bunch of posts I wrote when Paul was around this age to see if this was a thing for Paul, too, but I didn't unearth any wisdom about what to do. We can't really let him cry when he wakes early since his room is next to Paul and he will wake Paul up and then we have 2 kids up way too early. We are going to try to drop to 1 nap/day at home on the weekends but I don't think that will work at school because they nap at 10 and 2 in his room and with a 5:15 wake-up, there's no way he can make it to 1 or 2 without napping... I keep telling myself that everything is a stage and it will eventually pass. 

Anticipating: a dinner out with a girlfriend tonight to celebrate her 40th birthday! We are going to one of my favorite places - Colita - which happens to be 2 blocks from our house! Everything on the menu is gluten free! The restaurant focuses on the Oaxaca region which features food that is naturally gluten free so the chef decided to lean into that so everything is gluten free. So I get to see what it's like for most people when eating in a restaurant! 

Struggling: with Will's sleep which I already mentioned above... I did a lot of googling around and it seems like teething *might* be the culprit but who knows. He just has 3 canines left and then will be done with teeth until he gets his 2y molars so the end is in sight! 

Grateful: that I am done nursing. I do wish I had known when my last nursing session was in the moment, but overall it's really nice to be done. Now Phil and I can both do bedtime (I always did bedtime when nursing since it didn't make sense to have Phil come up for the book reading/placing in the crib part since that took so little time). Plus I have a work trip at the end of April and while I was planning to wean him before that trip, it's nice to not stress about how to wean him. 

Working: on keeping up with workouts while back in the office 3 days/week. Morning workouts aren't possible for me, as I have to be up at 5:45 at the latest so we can be out the door at 6:50. Plus Will has been up early and working out while he's up doesn't work. So I've settled on getting 2 runs and 1 strength training workout in on Monday, Friday, and Saturday and I'm going to try to leave work a bit early one other day of the week to do a run outdoors or in the on-site gym. We'll see how this goes!

Listening: to Taylor Swift and Brandi Carlile when I'm in the car with Paul. Those are his favorite artists. He will request specific songs and knows a lot of the lyrics! I'm trying to turn him onto the Beatles by playing songs at dinner time but I haven't converted him into a fan - yet!

Watching: the new season of Top Chef. I have a text thread with 3 other friends who are very into the show. It's really fun to discuss it with other die hards! I'm also watching "A Million Little Things," "This is Us" and "Investing Anna" when I have the tv to myself as those are all shows Phil isn't into. Together we are watching "The Drop-Out" which is a documentary based on Elizabeth Holmes. It's really well-done!

Wishing: for a beautiful spring! Spring can be kind of disappointing here since we often get huge snow storms in March/April. But I'm holding out hope that we'll get a nice spring to offset the super cold winter we had.

What are you anticipating, struggling with, and grateful for?

8 comments:

Jeanie said...

Apart from the sleep issues, it all sounds pretty good -- especially dinner with a friend. Isn't it nice to be waking up to warmer (even if slightly) days? After all the sick kid issues, it's nice that things might be on the upswing!

Suzanne said...

Ooof I am sorry that your little one is having trouble sleeping. That definitely affects everyone, and everything, and feels SO hard while you're in it. Here's hoping it is a very short phase that passes quickly!

Elisabeth said...

We just finished The Dropout and Inventing Anna as weekend watching (I don't watch much during the week but we watch things together on our Sat/Sun at-home date nights). I found the acting subpar in Inventing Anna and I hated all the swearing - the combo of the two made me not super enjoy the show BUT the story is compelling. I really enjoyed the Dropout though. I think I can relate to that story a lot more, too, working in start-ups for the last decade.

We're also slowly working through the Get Back documentary about The Beatles.

Sorry about all the sleep woes. Yes, it is a phase but phases can be absolutely horrid and last seemingly forever. Whatever it is, I hope it passes as quickly as it came.

Enjoy that dinner. I take it for granted how easy it is to eat without a dietary allergy and I'm so glad you get to experience a simpler time at this meal.

NGS said...

Oh, how fun to eat in a restaurant with absolutely no worries about cross-contamination. When we lived in Minneapolis, there was a GF restaurant and my husband and I went there a couple of times, but the food wasn't very good, to be honest. If there was a nearby restaurant with GF food that we enjoyed, I would be ordering takeout there weekly!!

katielookingforward said...

Yum! I hope you had a great meal! I have no advice on the nap and wake up routine, but I always find it fascinating how a daycare can really set the tone for a kiddo's schedule.

Nina said...

My daughter just turned fourteen months and we transitioned to one nap about a month ago. Before the switch she was waking around 5/530 each morning and her naps were getting shorter. She is now sleeping closer to 12 hours at night with a 1.5-3 hour nap during the day. They also say that they sleep longer when they start to walk, so it could be that too.

Stephany said...

Your sleep woes sound awful. I do hope it's all just a phase. It really sucks not getting good sleep, especially as you transition back to office life.

I haven't watched The Dropout yet. I've read the book and listened to the podcast, but I guess I need to watch the documentary, too? Haha. So many ways to consume the same story these days!

San said...

So happy to hear the weather is improving. I can imagine that you're really longing for spring weather after a long winter. I am glad you were able to spend some more time outside - it does truly lift the mood.

I hope that Will be a better sleeper soon. I can only imagine how this wears you all down... I don't know how parents do it, ow they operate on little or interrupted sleep. I don't envy you.