Life as We Know It

If you start a blog post out with “Not a lot of excitement in our household lately…” it’s probably not the best way to keep anyone who happens upon this post enticed to keep reading. So I won’t. But, I guess we’re in kind of status quo land lately. Ronnie is super busy at work and just as busy not at work, working. Skyler is busy getting everything out of her room all the time or challenging anything I ask or tell her to do, sometimes all of it simultaneously.

This fourth year of her life is my least favorite so far in the joys of parenting category. Mainly because there seems to be a lot less joy and a lot more parenting of the non-fun variety. My voice feels constantly raised and I have to turn into this scary monster of a person in order to get her attention, which usually frightens her into the most pathetic cry of hurt feelings. But if she would just listen and obey the first go-round, things would be so much better for all of us!

She really is in this manipulative stage where she likes to see how long she can go back and forth with me smooshed under her little thumb. Sometimes I don’t even realize it until it’s too late. My latest strategy of giving her choices backfires as she thoughtfully changes her mind from one option to the other over and over and over, not without a sparkle in her eye as she watches me switch gears each time. As soon as I realize the game, I leave her with her latest choice, only to be met with a temper tantrum of the most disastrous proportions, and on we go about our lives, day after day after day. I’m actually hoping that since I’m typing this, it means this phase has come and gone, as that’s how a lot of these things seem to go once I’ve written about them.

My quest for better health has mostly been going well, until this last week my health actually took a turn and I was down with a stomach bug for several days. My diet suffered as I ate whatever worked at the time, and got no exercise. However I was still able to get in three moderate workouts this week, so on average, it wasn’t a loss and I’m even more motivated to make this week a great one to make up for last. I’m looking for the object of my next fitness goal, and considering what event would help keep me motivated through the winter. Currently I’m considering getting a few people together for the Brew to Brew relay, or just going on my own in the Rock the Parkway half marathon, which both fall the first weekend in April. Plenty of time to get ready and push myself to do it well, which is my ultimate goal. I’d really like to move past the “just finish with both lungs” to really being proud of completing the race with a solid and challenging finish time. Ronnie has helped me change up the way I’m working out a bit so I really feel this is possible.

Otherwise in this life, we’re gearing up for holiday season. We hit the mall this weekend solely to let Skyler ride the giant carousel (and I might have had a Bath & Body Works coupon to burn), and the holiday shoppers were already going in full force! We set aside money from savings to start our own gift shopping, and began talking Skyler up about how we get to put the Christmas tree up in just a couple weeks! I also asked her what she wanted for Christmas presents this year and she said very adamantly “Pajamas! And socks too.”