January 2009 - How to characterize???

I am a PRINCESS!!!!!

Let's see - At the beginning of the month I thought I was looking forward to what ever the routine of my new life with Ava as a single mom in a new town would be like. I would have Ava with me most of the month and Ava would visit her Dad every other weekend. Daycare and work 5 days a week and we would get through our first "normal" month. Boy, I hope I was wrong and this month does not represent normal.

T

Since late November we (or should I say I) have faced and gotten through both our birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, our first date anniversary, and the day we received Ava- people say it will get easier - but there sure seems to be a lot of special dates that creep into being when you have been with someone for over 12 years.

The next little bump was Ava's dad's decision to tell me he had a girlfriend with two boys - I certainly was not prepared for that - thanks to the friends that picked me up after that news.

A few days later I learned that Ava had a bad case of bronchitis (for the first time) and I/we were up every three hours giving her a nebulizer treatment. Even though I did not want to send her to day care - I had to, because I was the only person at work that could lay off some of my employees - I hope that no one ever has to experience that process...

Just as the bronchitis seemed to be heading off the scene (she is still taking antibiotics) and I/we started sleeping about 6 hours a night,we both came up with a VERY active stomach bug... Is it better to have it at the same time or not? I am not sure - All I know is I had a hard time taking care of myself and felt horrible that I could not give her the attention she needed.

OK - so here it comes the paragraph on her dad (skip it if you want)... I appreciated that when I was married to him, Ava's Dad helped cover the days that she was not able to go to daycare, he would wake up at night when he needed to, he would take/drop her off at daycare when I was sick, I appreciated that he would run out and get groceries and in general, I just appreciated having someone to talk to about what was going on. What I did not appreciate about him during those types of moments this time around - his decision to only visit Ava for 2.5 hours last weekend instead of staying with her longer and his decision this weekend to not see her until Saturday because he might catch the bug. (He is only taking her Saturday because I insisted that I needed a break...) Who is this man? Some people say that I should be thankful he drove all the way here (1.5hrs) last weekend since she should not be out in 2 degree weather - but if he drove all the way here - why couldn't he stay with her for more than two hours when he was supposed to have her at his house all weekend? I was at work and could have worked all day or done something crazy like go grocery shopping and run errands. OK - I am ranting - that is enough about me and dad.

Now on to Ava. She grew like a weed this month - maybe it was the steroids. She is officially in 24 month sleepers and if her waist was not so small she would be wearing 24 month pants. She has definitely adjusted to her new day care - which she calls "her friends" but at night when we say "bless you" to people she still says the names of her Cortland day care ladies and one friend - Claire. I keep slipping in the new people and she says yes, but she keeps holding onto the Cortland people and then asks where they are. A couple of nights she said Daddy's new friend's name - ouch. Since she and I have spent a lot of time in the bathroom the last few days - she surprised me today when three of the about twenty times that she asked to "go sit on the potty", she actually went pee. She got two stickers for those potty moments instead of the one I had given her for the other potty visits. She made out pretty good in the sticker department today since I was avoiding diaper"blow outs" at all costs. This month - she has loved playing with the balloons she received, has found the concept of a "tea party" or really any kind of make pretend party, she loves playing princess, and can't give Topi enough bones - they have become quite a team. She also found the cat scratcher and claims it as her own, until mommy notices.

Quite the climber and artist.