Nothing much

My house is totally destroyed, I have about 4 loads of laundry to put away and at least 7 to wash, so, naturally, it is time to blog. Well, we are definitely in the home stretch now. Matt will finish his internship 6 weeks from today...well, he will start his last shift 6 weeks from today. Ka-razy. I am so excited for him to come home and the loneliness has really been killing me lately, BUT I am not looking forward to living with a boy again! I'm not gonna lie...I like the bed to myself, I like the bathroom to myself, I like the TV to myself and I like not having to deal with someone else's agenda (and Matt always has an agenda, but don't we all?). In some ways, it is like getting married all over again, but this time we actually have--get, I mean GET--to spend time with each other. We knew we would spend our twenties investing in our careers and our future, but it has worn us down more than we ever could have imagined. Now we get to have a simple life and I'm not sure we will know what to do with it. I think it is going to take time to learn to have fun again! It is a welcome challenge, of course, but our life is going to change over night and that makes me nervous (use your Olivia from the caf voice when you say that to yourself)!

We have had a lot of ups and downs with Lizzie over the last few months. We go back and forth between being really impressed with all of her progress and wondering if there is some other issue that we are not addressing. We have given some thought to Auditory Processing Disorder and dyslexia and are going through the steps to have more testing done by the school district. They won't actually test her until next school year, which is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because she will be older and we think it will be more clear as to what is going on, a curse because any possible issues will go unaddressed for another four months. She has been having some problems at preschool with obedience, so we had to have a meeting with the teacher. She launched a positive reinforcement system that she had used in the past and is really going the extra mile for Lizzie, but I can tell she feels strained by all of it. We still feel that this preschool is the best place for her, so if you are a praying person, please say a prayer for the relationships between Lizzie and her school staff. We have launched our own positive reinforcement system at home and are doing a new "chore" chart this weekend using pictures instead of a list and we are really hoping this encourages her to be more obedient, cuz, lemme tell ya, she will sit in time out half of the day and still laugh in your face when she doesn't want to do what you ask. She is a pill and a half. I pray every day that I can help guide all of that drama into a positive direction and shape her into an amazing woman, but it is easy to run out of patience and picture spending the rest of my life having meetings with teachers and school administrators about my disobedient daughter. She scares the bejesus out of me! Deep breath, I can do this...I hope, hope, hope that she will chill out a bit when Daddy moves home for good and actually comes home every night, but I am guessing it won't be that simple. Sigh.

Speaking of little pistols, my other one is really kinda just like her, except different. Addie hates getting into her carseat, and yesterday when I put her in, she hit me! I scolded her and she didn't like it, but she thought it would be fun to keep testing me and I had to give her a time out later in the day. I am in trou-ble with these two! She is talking a bunch, though, and still a cutie. I wish she would let me put her hair in pigtails or a ponytail! She would be a little doll, but she takes anything I put into her hair out immediately.

Hmm...other stuff. I have actually gotten to know some of the other moms at preschool and think I might be able to fill the summer with playdates. I am nervous about Lizzie getting bored this summer with no school and no speech, but we can't really afford a daycamp type of thing right now, so I am hoping to spend time at the beach, park, Y and hopefully some playdates. I finally seem to have found some moms that aren't over forty and that have busy husbands like me, so even if we aren't best friends, it could be really good. I am still going to the Y a lot. It is my only chance to "relax". I have been taking lots of different types of classes--zumba still (of course, it is the best), but also a yoga/pilates/tai chi one, a kickboxing one, and a group barbell one. I like the variety, but mostly I like that my kids are having fun and I get to not worry about keeping them alive for an hour or two. I seriously don't know how I would have survived this year without the Y. I'm pretty sure I would be a complete lush...

Okay, I know this post is long, but one more thing. We got to go to Santa Barbara last weekend to celebrate my mom's second 59th birthday. It was so fun. It was really beautiful there (haven't been there since I was 12) and it was nice to see my family. We went to the zoo, the beach, the wharf, but I have to admit that the highlight of the trip for me was swimming in the hotel pool. Becky juggled her two girls and Matt mostly played with Lizzie while I swam with Addie. She was hilarious. She wanted to jump in off the side over and over again, and every time she would say, "I jump!" She was having so much fun. Lizzie was doing really good at going underwater for a bit, too. Matt was throwing her high in the air a lot, etc. and they had a blast. Then Matt threw Addie SO HIGH in the air that I almost had a heart attack. I thought she would be terrified, but all she did was say, "I jump!" So, so, so cute. I will post pics of our trip on fb soon. Hopefully this weekend.

Well, that's all for now! Love to you all.