A Decision

Well, there is nothing super exciting to report around here. May is right around the corner and that means summer-time is almost here. I only have 4 more weeks of teaching left at the Academy where I give violin lessons. This will be it for me since I have decided not to go back once baby Lauren is born. I did it with Lydia and we made it work. She was very adaptable to new situations and continues to love going to the nursery to play with the other kids and to see the two women who have been taking care of her since she was just 2 months old! It was a great situation to have childcare on-site in the church nursery. Also the two women who keep the teachers' kids are great. I trust them implicitly and never had a moment's worry about what was going on while I was teaching. Lydia has never been a "clingy" child or a mama's girl, so she took right to the situation. However, it was virtually impossible to have a set "schedule" with her because my hours were so different from day to day. We fit nursing and naptimes in between lessons....and those were some really long days! Looking back, I think it made nursing and sleeping through the night more difficult for both of us than it needed to be...and it didn't help my stress level either! Anyway, Ben and I decided that this schedule just was not the best choice for our family anymore. I'm hoping the opportunity to stay home more (let's see how that plays out!), especially at the beginning, will help the transition from 1 to 2 munchkins go a little more smoothly.
Part of me is a little sad to be leaving this behind. I've met some really wonderful families over the past six years and had some students that were really talented and were a joy to teach. Also, Lydia loves the social interaction she gets at the nursery. (She thinks the only time she "pways" (plays) is when she is there!! She says, "Go nursey and pway? See Ian, see Courtney"....proceeding to name all of the children she sees while there.) On the other hand, I'm looking forward to being at home more. I'll be able to devote more time and energy to being a wife and a mom - a better homemaker I hope.
I'll leave you with a few tidbits about Lydia. We take turns putting her to bed a night, but the "ritual" is usually the same - cuddling in the rocking chair, singing some songs and praying. She has recently started requesting her two favorite bed-time songs: "Jesus, da Bible" and "Great my Father." Translation: Jesus Loves Me and Great is Thy Faithfulness. It took me a couple of nights to figure out that last one, but we have it now! (I have grown up singing these hymns and yet I can barely make it through one verse with correct words. Even so I think I may mix up some phrases here and there. I "blame" it on the fact that I have been playing my violin in church for the past 15+ years, so I rarely get to sing songs. I could tell you the key almost any hymn appears in in our hymnal or play from memory the soprano, alto or tenor lines...but the words escape me. Kind of depressing!)
Lydia beat me to it and has decided she is done with her highchair. I know some people think they are space wasters, but I have truly enjoyed mine. I guess the highchair will go gather dust for some months before Lauren is ready for it.
Lydia loves shoes - particularly a pair of ballet slippers from Mema and her jellies. She doesn't understand why she can't wear the ballet slippers outside to play. She calls the jellies her "jelly shoes." They were cheap and don't give her blisters (unlike the water shoes we bought for the beach and pool time). I think we'll need to find something a bit more secure and durable for her summer play shoes though.
I brought out a few "new" books from the stash that I've hidden away. She used to be really rough on her books and I stopped letting her look at books during her nap-time after she totally ripped apart two board books! I'm more careful to try to monitor her with the books with regular paper pages and she seems to be doing pretty well. One of the books I pulled out is a collection of Curious George stories. She loves this book about " George, da monkey." (We used to refer to her as our curious "georgette" because she was always getting into something.)
We try to talk often about baby Lauren and how she is mommy's tummy. Lydia likes to pull up my shirt to look at my belly. Sometimes she says," Hi Wahren," or "How doin' Wahren?" Other times she will give a kiss to the baby. She does this by putting her lips on or very close to my belly and saying, "MUH" - a funny and fake kissing sound!
Well, those are my thoughts for now. =)