Smoother days

Things have been smoothing out the past couple of days.  Tuesday was the worst with Cash-- he napped for maybe 30 minutes total all day and was in complete melt-down mode pretty much all day.  I completely lost my patience, which was especially frustrating because I am usually so patient.  So I'm sure we were feeding into each other's frustrations and it just made it all worse and worse, but it was a looooong day here.  Sweet Pea goes down for naps all on her own now.  I might just have to go in to reposition her and turn on her mobil a few times, but she goes right to sleep on her own.  It's frustrating that Cash can't do this even though he's actually ahead of her developmentally.  So I've been pushing for him to nap in the playpen in a bedroom or at least in a swing in a bedroom, but that's gone so terribly that now I've just given in and brought the swing back out to the living room and he's napping great in there again.  I know that's what they do at home and it's hard to fight that.  I know it would be better for him in the long run to be able to put himself to sleep or at the very least sleep in a crib/playpen, but it feels near impossible to teach him how to do this when it's not being reinforced at home.  So I've given in and we've had much more pleasant days so far.

We're going to try out a little baby pool this afternoon.  Just blew it up all on my own, which I am proud I still have the lung capacity to do  :)  Sweet Pea absolutely loves splashing at bathtime, so I think she'll like this too.

We're in for a big adventure next week.  My mom and I are taking Sweet Pea to California to visit my brother and his family.  He is graduating with his PhD in education and I'm so looking forward to them actually meeting Sweet Pea.  I can't wait to see my nephew either.  He's still looking so like me when I was that age-- don't think that will ever get old for me.  Shannon isn't going with us because he doesn't have enough vacation time yet.  I had to get special permission from our case manager, Sweet Pea's caseworker and attorney and the judge to be able to travel with Sweet Pea out of state.  It will be my first time to fly with a baby and I'm hoping she does well.  I'm really looking forward to the trip and hope it all goes smoothly.

Our case manager is coming this afternoon for her monthly visit.  I feel like I should clean up the house for her, which is silly.  What is she going to do, take Sweet Pea because I haven't vacuumed?  But that's the people pleaser/perfectionist in me...  So better get to it while the babies nap away :)