(Today) I Hate Daycare

I would just like to start with a disclaimer, that I do in fact love my daycare. The facility is great, the people are great and I would recommend it to anyone.

Today, however I hate daycare, all daycares in general.

I hate that we stuff a bunch of germ loving kids in a building and then just sit back and wait to see what kind of super bacteria we can create. I hate that whenever I take Charlie to the doctor that I get the "oh that explains it" face whenever I tell them he goes to daycare.
I hate that he had one consistent ear infection for the whole month of July that ultimately resulted in a ruptured ear drum because the bacteria that was living in there was resistant to every antibiotic we tried. I hate the rare days that I go to pick him up and find him crying. I hate that Monday they thought he had pink eye (because it was going around) and then today they call to tell me they think he has hand, foot and mouth disease (something that frankly sounds like it was named in the middle ages). He did not turn out to have pink eye, but does in fact have hand, foot and mouth.

I hate that this has been a hard month for Charlie. Up until now he has loved daycare. He could have cared less when Tony and I dropped him off in the morning, and most afternoons I had to pull him away from his friends or his toy and essentially force him to come home with me.
He made the move to the toddler room this month and while it`s a great thing for him socially, as he now has kids his own age to play with, the change in nap schedule and the sheer increase in daily activities has realy worn him out. Him being super worn out only increases the likelihood that he has a night terror, and it`s awful feeling like you can`t help prevent his night terrors, because most days of the week you aren`t in charge of his nap schedule.

He is super eager to leave when I pick him up. He runs to me and gives me a hug, which makes me feel great, but then he impatiently stands pointing at the door instructing me to get him the hell out of there (or at least that is what I imagine him saying).
He cried last week when I had to drop him off in the morning, and it was awful- I hated that too.

I love my job, and I`m happy I get to be a mom and a professional, but today I hate daycare.

Busy Week

So last week was quite busy for the Esterly fam, especially for our smallest member.

Let's see, the week started with our third night terror in the span of 6 days.  If you have never experienced these with your own children, be grateful!  There are awful and in Charlie's case seem to last forever.  Essentially they scream like you have never heard before, flail their little bodies all over their crib, look wide awake, all the while they are completely unaware of what is truly going on, supposedly will not remember it when they wake up, and the worst part is that they are COMPLETELY inconsolable.  In fact the experts claim trying to pick them up and hold them only makes it worse.  Basically as the parent you are suppose to sit their watching, not intervene, and occasionally try to pat them on the back or tell them they are ok.  IT-IS-AWFUL.
Charlie's typically last about 20 minutes before he kind of comes out of it and will let me hold him, but even after that is takes at least 10 to 20 more minutes and more tears to get him back to sleep. YUCK!

So anyway, that was Monday
Tuesday Charlie fell at school and somehow bit through his bottom gum, with his top teeth.  Let's just say when I picked him up at school he was in a new shirt because he had bled all over his other one :(
Needless to say he was a total mess when we got home, couldn't eat, couldn't drink, occasionally bleeding = not good.
Then, poor guy, the next day we went for ear tubes.  He was a perfect little sport about it, took his oral Versed like a champ and couldn't have cared less when the nurses wheeled his away from us in his hospital bed.

Post-anesthesia Charlie was a different story.  The nurses kept telling us it was normal for him to be as "crazy" as he was after anesthesia.  I hated to tell the nurse that he was acting almost exactly the way he acts during a night terror and that unfortunately I had gotten a little bit numb to all the screaming. At one point he was laying on the hospital floor (gross I know!) screaming.  The anesthesiologist even came back into our room to see if everything was ok (so embarrassing).  In the end they just told us to leave because medically he was fine, and he didn't seem like he was going to calm down while in the hospital.
Once we hit the car and started driving he was out:

He came home, took a 3 hour nap, and was a new boy.  Even felt good enough to go out with Daddy and the guys for a few holes of golf:

Thursday was surprisingly uneventful (thank goodness) and then Friday we hit the road for Missouri to visit with friends.
First we stopped at Five Guys:

I have to comment on this photo and say that Charlie has definitely tapped into his independent side.  He wants to do things himself and he wants to do them the way grown-ups do them.  Example, in this photo, he used to happily sit on our laps -- no, no, no -- now he needs to sit beside us like a big kid.  A few other things that fall under this category would be, using utensils to eat (spoon and fork), drinking straight from a cup ( he really can't do this himself yet but he loves when we hold the cup and let him drink out of it), helping wash dishes, sweeping etc.  He is sooooo proud anytime we let him do something we do - it is precious. Just tonight I was eating chips and salsa and he wanted a chip.  After I gave him the chip he leaned over to dip his chip in the salsa -- hilarious!

Anyway our friends in Missouri have two boys so Charlie had a blast playing with them.  Our other friends have a little girl and a new baby boy.  We had a great time visiting, although babies definitely don't understand time zones.  What was 5:30 am in Missouri, was for Charlie, a perfectly respectable time to get up for the day.  Needless to say in an effort to not wake the other children, Charlie and I took several early morning strolls through their neighborhood.
All the kids:

 Charlie's little head barely poked over the counter

Overall this week has been much less eventful, and since I am a single parent this weekend (Tony is out of town) I am hoping for a nice relaxing weekend, with my 17 month old (who thinks he's more like 17).

Home Improvement + Photos from 5 year anniversary

I had the day off today (since I work the weekend) and after visiting homearama a few weeks ago I had been thinking about sprucing up the house a bit.  I naturally turn to painting 1) because almost every wall in our house is a neutral tan color, and 2) because paint is easy, cheap and if you don't like it you can always paint over it!

First C and I made a trip or two to Home Depot for paint samples and then once we narrowed it down to a color we went back and a purchased small sample of that color and painted a block on the wall.

C was quite helpful with picking out a color!!
Next we have before photos, including the "tester" block of new color I painted on the wall.

And lastly we have the finished product.  While C helped quite a bit in the planning phase, he definitely did not help me paint, in fact I spent most of the day painting while he slept and then trying desperately to keep him away from the wall while he was awake!
Finished Product
After painting the front wall I think I will probably paint the neighboring wall seen in this photo as well.

From another angle:

Overall I am really happy with it, and even happier that I was able to completely finish the wall on my day off, during the two hours C was sleeping!

Also, given that Tony and I have been married for 5 years (as of July 21st) I thought I would post a few pics from our wonderful vacation we took to Mexico.  We had a great time, and even got bumped up to first class on our way to and from Mexico!! Can't believe we have already been married 5 years!  Love you babe!

 The view from our room.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!