The Willa

I have this odd habit of referring to my children as "the girls" (meaning Cora and Evaline) and "the Willa." It stems from "the girls" being such a good pair, and for the almost four years before Willa came along they were "the girls" and the only girls.  But now that Willa is here, it is hard for me to include her into that pairing.  And it also makes for awkward conversations when someone asks something like "What size clothes are the girls wearing now?"  Because when I answer I only tell them what size Cora and Evaline are in....because those are "the girls."  I probably need to change that.

Willa is at such a fun age right now.  I probably wouldn't have said that three weeks ago, because then she was at a very obnoxious age (clingy, whiny, generally discontented).  But just like everything that they go through - she grew out of that.  Thank goodness - and just in time for summer - hooray!

At 21 months (yesterday) she is a fun-loving, smiley girls who is curious, playful and loves to tease and be teased.  She's a little bit of a thing, still having to roll up her 18 month pants.  At her 18 month doctor's appointment at the end of February she measured in the 3rd (that's right) percentile for height.  She has super chubby cheeks and gorgeous (if still quite skimpy) red hair that curls straight up on top of her head in the humidity. (Its a little hard to see in these pictures, but she wasn't into cooperating.)

She was a late walker (not until around Christmas - almost 16 months), but is making up for that now.  Her trot has turned into a run, and she is constantly chasing after her sisters - every where they go, she is at their heels.  And for the most part, they don't mind.  Cora has always been a bit more willing to let her tag along, and will sometimes sit for over an hour and just play with her.  Evaline is warming up to her as she is able to do more and more.  For awhile there, Evaline liked her and all...but didn't really know what to do with her.

Willa's play is advancing - she loves to play with babies - baby dolls, her "Little People" doll house, the wooden dolls in their Melissa and Doug wooden castle set, her sisters' Polly Pockets or Barbies, any type of dolls.  She watches her sisters and copies everything they do.  This weekend we were with some friends who recently had a beautiful baby boy and she copied what she saw done with the real baby: changing diapers, putting her doll in the rock-n-play, and all that jazz.  When she gets into something, she has a very long attention span.  In he picture at the top of this post she sat and played with the color/shape sorter for well over half and hour while we were making supper.  She worked at it until she could get it right - every time.

She's starting to be a little jabber-box.  She's putting two words together - Daddy Bye-Bye, Daddy/Baby Ni-Nigh and others.  She still uses her sign language, as is still making up her own signs, which is pretty cool to watch.  I would say that between signs and actual words she's got a solid vocabulary of somewhere in the 40-50 word range.  

She loves to rock and snuggle.  She loves hugs.  She loves her dad, but prefers her mom (and I'm OK with that).

She's a fun kid.  We think we'll keep her.

The Come-back

The past year has not been one of the best. I can't offhand think of any other year to date that has been so hectic, so draining, and so ready to be over.  (As a teacher, my year ends in June.)

Last summer I got busy (doing fun things, actually), and for no good reason, I neglected the blog.  Then the school year hit and I felt myself pulled every which-a-way.  I took on more this year professionally: I took some extra professional development classes, taught a couple new (AP) classes, and set (and mostly met) some lofty goals for my classroom. However, I felt overwhelmed and treading water.  And I continued to neglect the blog.

In November I got sick.  Not the 24-hour-flu kind of sick, but the out-of-work-for-two-months kind of sick.  I got an inner ear infection and it destroyed my right vestibular nerve.  I didn't know what a vestibular nerve was when this happened to me - but apparently its the "command center" that connects the eyes, ears, and brain and manages the body's balance.  After several days of unbelievable nausea, I finally admitted that I probably didn't have the stomach flu and went to the ER, barely able to walk because my body just couldn't function in that way anymore.  Two months of physical therapy later I was able to return to work...but I'm still dealing with some after affects: fatigue and pressure headaches being the most bothersome.  At the end of the day I'm exhausted and if I don't have papers to grade or lessons to plan, I just want to veg. And so I've continued to neglect the blog.

Ian's mom, Barb, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in August, and even after attempts at treatment through radiation and chemotherapy, the tumors continued to grow.  About three weeks ago, she passed away after two months at home on hospice care.

As I said....I'm ready for this year to end.

In this year of being busy, and unwell, and tired...I found that I stopped doing a lot of the things that I used to do that used to make me happy.  I muster all my energy to do things I have to do...and then neglect the things I want to do.  I almost never bake anymore (much to Ian's dismay), and cooking has been relegated to whatever is the minimum needed to healthily feed my family for the week....and these used to be hobbies that I'd relish.  I can't remember the last book I read (fiction or otherwise).  I stopped exercising (and it shows).   I didn't grow my garden from seeds this year, like I had so wanted to.  I rarely have the time to find, prep, and do "art-craft" projects with the girls - something special that we used to enjoy with each other at least a few times a month. And I've continued to neglect the blog - something that I enjoy because I've always liked to write, and because I love to look back and have this record of the things we've done and the life we've lived.

As this year winds down (although I use that phrase a bit liberally because we still have FOUR weeks left of school...can you believe it??!!), however, I'm making my own New Year's resolution to bring back the things that make me happy.  I'm going to find a way to rearrange things and to do the things that are most important - and aren't the things that make you happy really the most important things anyway?

Re-starting the blog is going to be part of that.  I've wanted a re-start for awhile now, but didn't really know how to make the come-back.  After being away for so long - do I need to do a re-cap?  Do I need to go back with updates of all the holidays, and other photo-worthy occasions?  These are the questions, actually that have me hesitant to start again.  So, while I'm sure that would be nice...I just can't.

This is the recap:  The last year has been a rough one, but it hasn't been all bad - there have been lots of smiles and lots of laughter, too. As for the details, I don't have the time or energy to start by going back....so I'm going to just have to start by going forward.