January 9-15, 2017

Lately I've been unnecessarily stressing over how I can possibly organize and keep track of all the little moments that occur in daily life.  Sometimes I look back at old baby pictures of Maddie and realize I can barely remember some of those moments.  Too many things happen.  Also, I am extremely determined to make sure we have as few idle days as possible; that is not to say that lounging around, snuggling in our pj's is a bad thing, just that I want to look back and be able to say, "I did everything I humanly could to make the most of our time"!  

Ryan and I definitely notice the difference in Maddie's development when we have busy weeks (going out for playdates, appointments, errands, etc.) versus the "lazy" days when she and I just stay home and read, play or watch Netflix kid shows.  Again, there are times when those are needed, but we don't want to get into the habit of doing that all the time.

So here is a recap of the second week of January (where it seems we did the "busy" thing a lot)

Monday, 1/9 Westerville Community Center:

This is a place about 20 minutes away from us that I found on a "Things to Do with your Toddler" website. A couple times a week, you can bring your toddler to their play time from 9:30-11:30am for $3, and just let them have at it!  They have a large variety of toys scattered throughout an open gym. You must sit outside for snack time.  Maddie quickly found some of her favorites--the slide, the rocking fish and the cars!

Tuesday, 1/10  Chick-Fil-A and 18 month check-up at the pediatrician's:

Normally, whenever we've gone to Chick-fil-A, it is CRAZY.  I swear, no matter what time we go, it is swarming with people and kids.  On this day, however, I decided to take Maddie around 1:30 for lunch, because we had a 2:45 pediatrician appointment, so I figured that would be enough time for us to eat and then let her play in the indoor kids area.  Thankfully, it was a lot less crazy this time, and there were only a few kids playing (which made me less anxious...I know, paranoid mom here) and they were all girls who were very nice to Maddie, so that made it more pleasant.  Last time we went with my family, we were all watching in horror as we saw older, ultra-hyper boys (who were too old to be there, I think) running and shoving past Maddie at the very top of the playground where we didn't have access to her. Ugh. No gracias.  So anyway, we had a little mommy-Maddie lunch date here, grabbed some Starbucks (yep, I've got the whole SAHM thing down pat, no shame) and headed to the doctor's.  We walked in to a pleasant surprise:  Ryan showed up before we did and made Maddie's day!  We love it when Daddy takes off work early to surprise us.  I also secretly appreciate it when Ryan can join in on these appointments, because he tends to asks questions I never even think of.  Maddie did a terrific job behaving well during the check-up and her shots.

Wednesday, 1/11  Rest Day:

Without intending to, I just realized that the past few Wednesdays we have all been staying at home. Maybe we snuck in a grocery trip, but not much else.  That's okay.  Everyone needs a rest day :)

Thursday, 1/12  Ladies small group and Speech study at the Children's Hospital (no pictures):

So lately, I've been trying to take Maddie with me to my small women's Bible study on Thursday mornings; sometimes we make it, sometimes we don't.  It's just a lot tougher post-baby.  I feel like 90% of the time, I'm just running after Maddie and can't really participate or pay attention to what we're studying at the moment.  I still feel like I should go in an effort to be a part of something, though.  The ladies, who are all a little older than me--most with grandchildren--totally understand.  On this day, we were a little late and couldn't stay for lunch with the ladies because we had to run to Maddie's 4th Speech Study session. 

 Last summer, I volunteered Maddie to participate in a study for babies with cleft palates who had had corrective surgery.  The sessions are every 2 months until she's 2 (I think? I'll have to check again on that) and then a little more spread out, I believe, until she's 3 or 4 YO.  All it really is are the speech people observing her play with toys and getting her to make sounds or say words while she wears a cannula (which she hates) to see how much air is coming out of her nose, if any, when she talks.

I am not compensated in cash, but they do give us gas and Target giftcards at the end of each visit (which is the same, to me!) so that is a bonus.

Friday, 1/13 Rest Day?!?!:  No idea what we did.  So we must have stayed home, or did some small errands.  I also failed to realize it was Friday, the 13th.  Oh well.

Saturday, 1/14  Students and rehearsal:

So Maddie always gets to play with my two students who come to my house on Saturday mornings.  She loves seeing them every week, and they seem to love it, too.  In fact, I suspect they enjoy playing with her much more than they do the lessons.  Understandable.  Early in the afternoon, I had to leave for a short rehearsal with a flute student of my former boss at the studio I used to teach at.  She asked if I could accompany her student for OMEA, so we met for a short rehearsal.  Maddie was supposed to be napping during this time, but she did not, and she was awake by the time I arrived home from rehearsal (and a short pit stop at Nordstrom and picking up our lunch!).

Maddie finally took her nap later in the day, and we decided to go out to dinner, once she woke up, at a nearby Italian restaurant.  The weekends are always our time to go out, although, it never makes us feel good health-wise. I probably should plan better on making meals at home at least one day during the weekend.  The restaurant is family-run and the service is great...but the food is just meh.  Kind of overpriced.  We both agreed that the only reason to go is the service and people.  Maddie also did great behaving well, just content to observe her surroundings and munch on bread and butter, and share our lasagna and spaghetti.

Sunday, 1/15  Church:

We dropped Maddie off at the nursery and headed to the Child Dedication class we're required to take in order to participate in Dedication Sunday this coming weekend.  I kind of had to drag Ryan to this (not because we're in disagreement on how to raise our daughter, but because he just thought it was extra unnecessary fluff) but in the end, he sat through it and participated in the class more than I did, ha.  We didn't get to attend a church service because this was at the same time, so after it was over we picked Maddie up, packed her in the car and went back home for lunch and a nap.  Sundays usually are rest days, too.  We try to stay home the rest of the day after church.

Wow--so this post took me an hour to write.  Reminder that I need to do this more often (also, gotta work on taking more pictures!)

Also, a question for families out there:  any suggestions on photo/video storage options?  Do you pay monthly for a type of storage service, do you spread your storage out among, say, Amazon prime, Google drive, etc. or something else?  I am completely technologically inept, so forgive me if this question sounds basic.  I am just finding that I've had to delete videos in the past to make room for more, and as a result, lost a lot of memories that I didn't think at the time I would want to keep.  I have unlimited storage for photos on Prime but the videos have reached their limit...and there isn't even that many!  Any suggestions?  I appreciate it!

Have a great week :)