Candyce Lund Bollinger

We were going a little crazy with Beckett. In fact, we wondered if he was normal. In the last 6-months or so, he's changed from our sweet, little boy to a nutty, loud, tantrum throwing kid. We've often blamed it on day care. How does he even know what a gun is anyway? So, we enlisted the help of Olympia's premier parent educator. Most parents in Oly know who Candyce is. Katie has attended several of Candyce's classes since Beckett was about 6-months old. She's taken the last year or so off, but is headed back in January. However, Candyce also has a private practice and that was where we headed today.

Well, it turns out Beckett is perfectly normal. If 3 is 'oppositional', then 4 is 'intense'. Tell me about it. Everything is all or nothing with him right now. She gave us a few coping techniques. #1 is to write down 3-5 rules and post them. Things that we're not willing to compromise on. Those things that are our absolutes. For us, #1 is probably going to be 'no name calling'. It could be a bit difficult to change a few of the things that we've done, but it is important. We tried a few things tonight and actually had a very enjoyable evening. Now, we just need to go for consistency. Of course, there is an end in sight. Apparently 5 is the magic age. The age where they want to please you. My goodness, I can't wait for that.

Sweet Cat looking for new home

Tagalong has been in our lives as long as Katie and I have been together. He was my first Christmas gift from Katie. Therefore, he holds a very special place in our lives. He was a wonderful, cuddly cat...until we had kids. Then it turned out he didn't like the little members of our family so well. He went to live with Grandma. He's done quite well there, however it seems that grandma may not have as much time to spend with him as she would like. Therefore, he's a tad bit neglected. So, we're on the hunt for a new home for Tagalong. We'd love to be able to have visitation rights. He gets along with other cats and dogs, apparently just not small children. If you're interested, please send us a note. We'd love to be able to find him a very happy family.

Abby's Medical Update

Well, I am quite stubborn. This I've learned in the last few days. About 3 weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night with pretty bad stomach pains. They kind of felt like really bad gas or hunger pains. So, I tried Tums, gas pills and eating right before bed. They seemed to continue to come back. However, by the time I woke up in the morning they were gone. So, it couldn't be all that bad, right? Well, Friday night I woke up with more pain and ended up vomiting this time. I felt a bit better and was able to go back to sleep. However, this time when I woke up in the morning the pain wasn't gone. I finally listened to Katie and went to the walk in clinic. I got there and the Dr. suspected a gallbladder problem and sent me to the ER. So, I spent my Saturday morning in the ER. They sent me to have an ultrasound and the news wasn't so good. The Dr. came back to talk to me and I had gallstones. Many women have them, but they don't normally bother you. I had one that moved into my common bile duct and it was starting to back up and bother my liver. It was a good thing I went in when I did, before my liver got worse. This meant that I needed surgery to remove my gallbladder and they wanted to get me in Saturday night. Not the news I wanted. I had only been back at work for a week after being out for 14 weeks. I was out of time off at work and we had stretched ourselves as much as possible. The Dr. wasn't sure if my surgery could be done with a laparoscope or if it had to be open. If it could be done with a scope, recovery would be much shorter.

I actually ended up going into surgery on Sunday morning. The Dr. wanted to be fresh rather than doing it late Saturday night. I agreed that was preferable to me too. I came out of recovery on Saturday morning about 11:30. Surgery went well and they were able to do it with a scope. They did a dye flush and got the stone out of my duct. Now it's just a matter of recovering. I should be out of work for about a week. Still not ideal, but better then the several weeks it would have taken with an open surgery.

I'm home now, after spending a couple of days in the hospital. Glad to be here. Can't lift more than 10-15 pounds, which unfortunately includes the baby. I can hold her, just can't lift her. I also can't breastfeed right now because they gave me morphine and even though I'm trying not to take it much, it's helpful at night.

In the meantime, at least I'm home and resting. Katie's done an amazing job at being single mom and both my mom and her mom have been helping out.

Thanks to everyone who has offered to help out, trust me - I won't be turning down any of it. It's hard to admit you need help, but when you do finally admit it things get better. I am incredibly lucky to have Katie in my life and without her pushing me to go to the Dr. and get better, I would have gotten even worse.

Life as 4

 

I've put off this post for a while, thinking I'd come up with the perfect blog about how wonderful things have been the last 10 1/2 weeks... And they have been wonderful, more wonderful and amazing than I ever could have hoped - they've also been busy and frustrating and exhausting and draining and loud and and and..... I guess I could keep going, anybody who has kids can attest to that. I had no idea what was awaiting us as we entered into life as a family of 4. We had an idea, but not alot to go on. Its been more than we'd ever thought! Beckett has adjusted - sort of. He absolutely ADORES his baby sister and would do anything in the world for her. The two of them together is the best sight in the entire world. He's been a little angry at Abby and me though. He's testing boundries and pushing buttons and doing all the things that a 3 year old does - again... We sort of had this phase outgrown just as Maysen was born. Then he jumped right back into the thick of it. Its really just an attitude though. He's got an opinion and will absolutely tell you what it is - whether you want to hear it or not. He's got a ton of friends in school and just loves going in and being the 'big brother'. Its really very sweet - and if we weren't so completely exhausted it wouldn't be half as bad as it is. It does seem to be getting better though, he's close to 4 and he always seems to improve right around his birthday - his half years are rough, so we'll see where we are at 4 1/2!

In other things, Abby went back to work this week. Its nice since I'm off for Thanksgiving break so I can be home with Maysen. She'll start at daycare next Monday but only for 2 weeks until Winter Break. And the daycare LOVES her and is thrilled everytime she comes in. She's the youngest one in the Lamb Room and gets held and rocked most of the day. She finally decided to take a bottle on Saturday - 2 days before Abby went back to work. Nothing like waiting til the last minute. I've decided this is just who she is though - the same reason she was born on 9/10 and not 9/9 but did it between the hours of 6am and 2 pm. Very accomodating (sort of)!

I got a job over the summer at our new Olympia Trader Joes. Its been one of the best things I've ever done. I just LOVE going into work. After school I'll talk to them about going full time and possibly into management. They're are an amazing company to work for and I've never been so respected and cared about as an employee - me and my family! Its perfect for us! School is a bit of a task this quarter, but I only have 2 more left and am graduating in June. Hardly worth leaving now! My class is fascinating and I really like my professors, just alot of work that I really don't have the extra time for. I am learning some great things though - like how to read ancient Greek! I'm really pretty proud of myself and wish I could go to Europe with the class in the Spring. But really I'd like to take Abby with me, so we'll just have to plan a 'real' vacation sometime soon - maybe our 10 year anniversary... We celebrated 5 last August and its been quite the journey. I didn't have a clue that this is where I'd be in life, but I can honestly say that I am happy and content and look forward to every day watching my kids grow and change and become their own little people. So far I'm pretty proud of both of them and the family that Abby and I have created. We're a pretty cool little bunch!

(late) Wordless Wednesday

I have a friend that blogs regularly and she does a Wordless Wednesday. I realize today is Monday, but these are from last Wednesday.