Why do I always let so many months go between blogging? When I finally do sit down to write a post I love it, it's just remembering to do it in the first place that seems to be hard for me.
So... since April when I last blogged:
1. Emma finished her first year of "preschool/playschool" and has learned a lot. She sings/screams a song about the days of the week and months of the year. She can count to 30 (although she throws a few extra 19s around as she counts, and sometimes 13 gets skipped completely). She learned how to ride a scooter and has much better control over her steering when she rides her tricycle.
2. Chris has been struggling with insomnia and other sleep issues for the last few months/years (but especially the last few months). We're waiting for results from his recent sleep study to see if he has sleep apnea or some other problem.
3. I finally decided it was time to talk to my doctor more seriously about some issues I've been having with my back/shoulders/neck and we concluded that surgery was in my future. It looked like insurance was going to make me do a TON before they'd approve surgery, but I saw a surgeon anyway and they submitted all my information to the insurance company. The next day my surgery was approved and scheduled, so on June 1st I had surgery. It's been 5 weeks now and I'm slowly getting back to normal. Next week most of my restrictions go away and I am SO excited. It's been really hard not being able to lift anything that weighed more than 5-10 lbs and not being able to help Emma get into her car seat. So far it seems like my issues are getting better, but I am excited to be able to go get a massage soon that should be able to help.
4. Because I had surgery and couldn't do a whole lot Emma and I started what she calls "Emma and Mommy School". I was debating doing another co-op preschool in the fall, but we decided that doing something on our own at home was going to fit Emma's needs and our family schedule better. So we are doing our own things at home to help her learn. She's been asking to read lots and lots of books, so we've been working our way through all the books we own (I couldn't go to the library for a while because books are heavy and I just can't lift very many... for one more week) but just put a HUGE stack of books on hold at the library. Can't wait to go get them soon. We've been working on recognizing the lowercase letters and Emma has been working on some pre-writing skills. Her scissor usage has improved dramatically and so has her attention span! During our "Emma Mommy School" we also plan on a bunch of active activities- park days, swimming (I just got the ok to swim again!), bike riding, and scooter riding.
5. Also while we've been chillin inside our house Emma has a new favorite activity that she calls "little beads." I purchased a few sets of Perler beads (they're tiny beads that you put on a little pegboard and then you iron them and the beads fuse together) and we've been making all sorts of things- a ton of fish, dogs, cats, squares, circles, octopus, dolphins, whales... the list goes on and on.
6. With my back doing better my surgeon recommended getting back to the gym (we cancelled our YMCA membership a while ago because I was in pain) and doing some weight lifting to help strengthen my back. I'm actually really excited to get back to the gym and so is Emma. We're going to check out a new YMCA that just opened by our house this weekend and are excited to sign up soon! One more week until I can start doing small exercises again!
7. Emma discovered Dora the Explorer and I HATE it. Dora is obnoxious.
8. Yesterday I cooked what was probably the most real meal I've cooked since surgery. It was super nice having my mom here for the first week after surgery, taking care of Emma and doing all the cooking. Then it was super nice that we had a bunch of leftovers after she left, and that we got 6 meals brought in by members of our ward, plus we had some meals in the freezer that I made before surgery. But now we're out of most of those... and it is time to eat real, homemade meals again! We are so grateful for everyone who has helped us the last 5 weeks. We had plenty of meals, someone mowed our lawn, and a lot of friends took turns having Emma over for play dates so I could rest.
9. Grocery pickup services are amazing. I am so happy that we have two stores near us with curbside pickup. It is so nice to just spend 10 minutes adding everything to my cart online and then just have to pull up to the curbside pickup spots and they bring me my groceries. I think that will be something I continue doing even after all my restrictions are gone. I think I saved a ton of money NOT taking Emma into the stores... and I ate a lot less donuts 😆😆
10. I couldn't leave the list at 9, that was just such an odd number to end on, so here is a pointless number 10.
