Waiting

It seems that Kelly and I have moved beyond the "will this ever end" stage of pregnancy and right smack into the "ohmygod, it's only 7 1/2 weeks away" stage. Every day feels like we advance faster than just one day toward the inevitable outcome of having a second child, having our son, home with us. Connor is becoming a baby - more real every moment. We are excited, giddy even in moments, and looking forward to the moment when he is outside of Kelly's tummy and into our arms.

We come at it from the perspective of people who have done it before, but it seems that knowing what is coming doesn't hamper how excited we are to be entering this journey again.

We have found some peace with the "what to do with Bailey" question. Our good friends M&S have agreed to be on-call. In addition, we have two neighbors who are available to help if needed. And just this morning, one of Bailey's day care providers has offered to help us. We are looking at a 15-18 hour window of time max before my Mom arrives. Once she is here, she will take over. In the next few weeks we'll be figuring out who really is willing to be on call (in other words...if we call at 2 AM, who will really be able to come over...LOL!). We know it is a lot to ask of anybody and we are so grateful to have people in our lives who will step up and help. Honestly, it makes me feel like I have hit the jackpot to have so many loving, caring people in my life. It's wonderful.

As for Bailey, it appears that she is going to go through "terrible two's" early and that they are going to be pretty terrible. I'm not surprised in the least. She has always done everything early and she has always done every big. She is coming into her fierce independant push with all the intensity and spirit that she has come into every new stage in her life. Everything is "no" and that is usually accompanied by some form of hitting, kicking, biting or running away. We are working on it, and working through it, and she is responding in the way that any toddler would. Sometimes she is very responsive and other times she is not. Her level of "bad" is generally cyclical with her worst times coming when she is hungry or tired. It is nothing new, and anyone who has parented a high-energy, high intensity child through this developmental phase knows that it is not easy. Kelly and I find ourselves completely exhausted after spending 5 hours with her. We are perfecting a system of "tag - you're it" rather than both of us dealing with her on a constant basis. We have realized that, most of the time, one of us needs to be primary while the other is back up, so that when the primary reaches the breaking point, the back up is ready to jump in.

Bailey has always been a lot of work, and this is no exception. We are looking forward to a point when she eases up a bit, but realize that it will be a while. And before it ends, it'll probably get worse when Connor comes home. I'm certain, that she will struggle, no matter how easy we try to make in on her.

And we will all come through it. The only truth that has ever come out of parenting for me is that as soon as you "get" something, it changes. And nothing - absolutely nothing - lasts forever. She'll shift, we'll change and Connor will join us. Then we'll all adjust to our new "normal". Bailey too.

But probably, not without a fight. LOL