Savvy Spoonie

All posts by Savvy Spoonie

I am an artist, writer, jeweler, and a Spoonie. Before becoming a Spoonie I was a very busy high achieving attorney and advocate bent on saving the world. Now I'm struggle to redefine my life to fit within my reduced energy level. Some days are better than others. I have fibromyalgia, trigeminal neuralgia, and chronic daily migraine.

First day as a full on mother of two…

I woke up at 7 am, took a shower while Lee comforted Otter, dressed, took Monkey’s lunch out of the fridge and put it in her bag, set out her breakfast, and sat down to feed the baby. She ate and dressed and brushed her teeth and he finished up in time for us to run to the bank on the way to school. We even arrived early so the usual morning race into the lunchroom was replaced with a giggle filled leisurely stroll and a long goodbye from sister to brother.

Now, Otter is resting in his Pac’N’Play and I am drinking some coffee and relaxing. I guess the trick to making this work really is “early to bed early to rise.”

I reorganized the baby zone last night, so now we have all of Otter’s stuff in one easy to access location. It is a great use of the top of the dog kennels. We have always bemoaned how large they are and how much space they take up, but they are the perfect height for a changing station, and the shelving I placed above them makes great storage for clothes and diapers, etc. Lee even had me use the label maker on the bins, so everything is very clearly marked.

I also caught a sweet, sleepy moment between Daddy and Baby Saturday:
Aren’t they so cute together?

I just had to add this to today’s post: I was playing the previously mentioned ‘Mommy stole a kiss’ game. Otter was kissing back and then he smiled a full smile, and laughed! A teeny tiny baby boy laugh! All mine!! I am so happy I am delirious!!

Monkey explains her goodbye note/family portrait to her Nama.

Monkey moments…

It occurs to me that I haven’t posted many Monkey moments lately. Here I hope to remedy that and catch you all up on the doings of our dear girl.

School:
Monkey had her very first lunch detention, two days of it, for a really minor infraction, one for misunderstanding her teacher and going to the wrong area of the room instead of the right one, and the other for forgetting her first lunch detention and going to recess. She was crushed and came home sad and upset. After a generous helping of ice cream in a cone, and a discussion of how proud I am of her for her hard work in school, she felt better. She said “I hope Ms. Diamond forgets.” However, I spoke with her about how proud Ms. Diamond would be if Monkey reminded her about the lunch detention. She did, and came home bursting with pride because her sentence was reduced to one day, because she was responsible enough to remind Ms. Diamond about the detention. (Thankfully she and I were on the same page as far as rewarding that kind of responsibility goes. Don’t you love it when other adults enforce your messages without any prompting?)

She was once again given a good citizenship award this week, which the school gives out to children who lead the class and help out the other students. This is her third time, so we are still very proud, but the luster is beginning to wear off, even for her. The first one was presented with an excited “Look what I got mommy!!” and a long explanation of it meaning and process, but this one was presented with a “I got the good citizenship award again mom. Here.” as she tossed it on my desk and ran into the kitchen for a snack.

Bag sick:
Lee was shopping with Monkey in Costco and noticed large hardsided suitcases. He told Monkey they looked big enough for her to fit in and we would save a lot of money if we could fly her out to Denver in one of the cases. She looked it over and said “No Dad, that’s not a good idea, I might get bag sick.”

Irony:
Today we were cleaning the family room and she was running around in circles in the center of the room with a balloon yelling. We asked her repeatedly to stop because it was making us quite mad. Then Lee asked her to pick a few things up off the floor of her room so he could vacuum it. She came back into the room with earplugs and asked if she could borrow them. When asked why she responded with “I am so tired. I want to lie down and take a nap, and you guys are too noisy.”

Monkey on pain:
“It hurts so much, it hurts like a dog eating an alligator.”

How much does Monkey like her brother? Here are a few of the things she has said about him lately:
“Mom, I think I am falling in love with him.”
“Mom, I think I am going to Marry my brother. He is so cute!”
“Otter is finally here, he is the best brother ever!”
Mom: “Monkey, I know Otter is a little boring right now, but he will be more fun as he gets older.”
Monkey:”He’s not boring Mom! He is really fun!”

Sibling moments:
Today, while holding her little brother, Monkey was given several full on smiles and Agoos. She was so happy to have him interacting with her, and he was so happy to be held by her!
This afternoon, while Otter was resting on my shoulder, and Monkey was standing behind me and talking to him, he puckered up his little baby mouth and gave her a kiss! She was so pleased to be included in the Otter kiss club!

Monkey moments:
Lee took Monkey to the park to run off some energy the other day, here are the photos of said energy release.
Monkey on the Balance Beam:

Monkey crosses the Great Divide:

Hopefully anyone feeling deprived of Monkey stories feels more caught up now. I have been meaning to post them for a while, but baby, and sleep deprivation, have prevented me.

Congratulations to those who passed the Colorado Bar Exam and commisseration for those who did not pass. I love you all, regardless of which category you fall in, and beleive in you.