Changes

There are a lot of changes going on in the C-B household these days. Some of them are gradual. Callen is cruising like a pro, standing on his own for short periods, and walking while holding someone's hands. He's also increasingly frustrated with being limited to certain areas of our apartment; he wants to be everywhere, getting into everything. Audia was never the toddler who opened cupboards and took everything out; we never even purchased locks for our cupboards because she simply never showed an interest. Callen, on the other hand, is going to be that child who gets into absolutely everything.

As for the munchkin, I've heard that a lot of kids go through a rough patch around age 4 and I do wonder if we are at the start of it. Audia is, for the first time since Callen was born, expressing frustration and jealousy over the attention that Callen gets. I'll be sitting on the floor playing with both of them and she will be happy as a clam but as soon as Cal tries to crawl into my lap she will get upset and say, "I wanted to sit in your lap!" I am trying my hardest to make sure that she understands that I do not love either one of them more than the other, and am hoping to schedule some more regular mommy-Audia time to help her to feel more secure about it. Thankfully she is still very loving with him; just the other day she said to me, "You growed a good baby, mom."

We put in our 2-month vacate notice for our apartment so we are on the hunt for a larger place. Ideally I am hoping that we can find a house to rent but am open to the idea of a townhome also. The rental market here is insane compared to Arizona. We were in a 5 bedroom house, overlooking a golf course, in Tempe (essentially the middle of everything) and paying less than we are now for a tiny 2 bedroom apartment. I know I need to stop comparing but it's hard! Depending on where we move, we may also be on the hunt for a new preschool for Audia. Stress, stress, stress. On the upside, by best friend N and her family are going to be moving to the cities this summer (they currently live about an hour and a half away) so that is exciting!! Not to mention she is due to have her third little one any day now!

And in between all of this we will be celebrating both Chris' and my birthdays, Mother's day, planning and having Callen's first birthday party, and there is potential for some pretty big changes at work for Chris. And then, a couple of weeks after we move, we will be spending 2 weeks up north both spending time at the cottage (hopefully seeing Chris' family!) and going up to Grand Marais to celebrate my Mom's 70th birthday. Then it will be August. Phew! I am doing my best to just take things one day at a time. But there are days it definitely is difficult to do and I get a bit overwhelmed. I am a planner, big-time. I like to have time to plan things out. This isn't to say that I'm not spontaneous; I can be. But with bigger things like, say, MOVING....I like to have all of my ducks in a row well in advance. I hate not knowing where we are going to be in two months, and if I need to be looking at preschools, and all that jazz. And when I am stressed out I am preoccupied. And when I am preoccupied I am not giving my children the level of attention and patience that they deserve. And then comes the guilt. Which stresses me out. Which preoccupies me.....do you see where this is going? *deep breath* Day-to-day, Erica. One-at-a-time........