19 Months - The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

DD is now 19 months old. Our sweet girl is growing like a weed, she was 21# 11.5oz and 32.5" tall at her 18-month check up, right on track for her personal growth curve. The doctor said 75th percentile for height, but that was actually the first time he's ever mentioned statistics. It has always been obvious, on the graph, that she's taller than average and that her weight is slightly below average but I really like that he's focused on how she's growing and developing based on her own track record, not just some random numbers. She still has her daddy's noggin (not a pinhead like me) and she's always been lanky.

She is her daddy's girl. I was the same way so I'm not surprised but, man, that girl loves her dad. There was a long while, when she was teeny, where she pretty much only wanted me and it definitely bothered him. He said he only kept her (barely) entertained long enough for me to do whatever it was I couldn't do while holding her. She still likes to hang with her mama but she thinks her dad is a fun guy and I can't help but agree. She likes to hang out with him while he works on the Jeep (she loves the Jeep) and he's had the majority of bedtime duty lately, too.

New words are coming, basically, daily and some of the phrases really crack us up. She'll get tripped up (on toys or dogs) and fall; I'll ask if she's ok and she'll respond, "Iiiii ooookaaay." She will take the keys (to anything) and say "bye" as she walks to the front door. "Bye-bye, Dogs," is a daily thing now. She can sort of say their names, but also calls them "good girl" and "good boy." Her "dogs" is also more like "dowgs." Really cute. She knows most body parts, lots of animals (and their noises), other objects, and is learning colors.

She's very independent and wants to not only do things herself but can get really upset (especially if also tired or hungry) if we don't know what it is she wants right away. We've been working on talking about how she feels and why she's mad or upset... trying to help her get to the point of using her words (or anything, really) to cope. She'll flail her arms occasionally and has actually bitten me a couple of times. The other morning she said, "I mad," after DH held her still long enough for me to get her hair in a ponytail and out of her face.


She doesn't like to go to sleep and talks in her sleep. She might even sleep walk, although she doesn't get far in the crib. Unfortunately, all her sleep habits are just. like. me. Which means, I guess, this is payback for whatever I put my parents through. I, still being the light sleeper, am the one who is up to settle her back down at 4am when she's standing in her crib and talking (but not awake, not even a little). Even if I wasn't 35 weeks pregnant, I'd be exhausted. Some nights are better than others, between teething and other developmental milestones that can contribute to a crappy night's sleep. She'll sleep for 5 or even 7 hours, uninterrupted, some nights and then there are the nights she wakes up for no reason at 2am and it takes 2.5 hours to get her back to sleep. She's been intermittently dropping her afternoon nap, also, and then she is melting down right after dinner. This is not for wimps.

I'm not complaining, these things are just reality. We roll with it as best we can, try to tag team different activities, and mostly try to let her be her. She's always interested in what we're doing, so we try to let DD "help" by holding something (and hopefully not losing it), or just get her occupied nearby while we talk about what we're doing. We did a quick landscaping project a couple of weekends ago and she helped DH replant some bulbs (another funny word for her to repeat) and we just let her cover herself in dirt and mulch. She was happy and we got something done in a timely fashion. DH did a couple of things to our Jeep one night and so I'd take her to find some random tool he realized he needed and let her carry it back to him. Did I mention that she loves the Jeep.

She's actually been working on using the potty for almost three weeks now. She will say "pee pee" and we'll either hold her on the toilet or let her sit on the little kiddie one some friends passed down. No where near done with diapers, and it is a whole new thing to deal with when we're traveling or doing anything else, but we cheer and clap when she does it and she grins really big, so that's fun.

To be sure I end on a positive note, I'll say again that my girl is an awesome kid. Smart, sweet, and super observant. She studies people, smiles easily, and has a great laugh. She likes to give hugs and kisses, she likes when we wrestle and tickle her, and she love it when we jump out at her and say "boo!" She is always on the move, walking, running, and climbing. She likes to pull things apart and empty out boxes, bags, shelves, and kitchen drawers. Sounds exhausting, just reading it.

We have about 5-7 weeks until she's a big sister and, although I don't think she understands it, I think DD will be great with the new baby. She loves kids, we're working on 'gentle,' and we will just have to hope this little one is a bulletproof tiger like DD.

A Bump...

I mentioned before that we were planning to have some work done on our house, to make it a little 'nicer' so we can enjoy the next 5-ish years there before we go live on a sailboat. I've had two hiccups come up, just this week, but I'm feeling better about them already.

The contractor who seemed very interested is suddenly very busy and has declined the project. We spent a bunch of time in the last two months revising our plan for the house work and then waiting on the contractor to return from a 2-3 week trip to the UK. We were a little distracted by our 5-year plan and I'll take responsibility for dropping the ball (since I've been the one communicating with him). It sucks because it means we definitely won't get finished until after the new baby is born, but we should still be able to move back in before my maternity leave (I'm planning on 12 weeks) is over. As easily as we have been distracted and continued to put this off, we just want it done... there are some aspects to our cute, quaint, shabby little house that we are just tired of dealing with after 10 years. We're more than capable of doing most of the work ourselves, we finished a renovation of our own bedroom two weeks before DD was born, but we're at the point of just wanting to pay someone else to fix it. We will probably do a lot of the demo ourselves, but if I don't have to lay tile or finish drywall evar again, I'll be happy. So, as of this week, we had to start over talking to more contractors. I've met with two and a third is coming by early next week. Two others, that I'd talked with earlier in the summer, are slowing down and are also semi-interested. This may actually get competitive.

I got in touch with the bank guy to refinance and the good news is the rates are great! The bad news is that everyone agrees and, so, closing will take 60-75 days. Crap. Fortunately, our neighbor has another mortgage contact and he has a much better outlook on closing, 30 days. Whew.

We celebrated DD's 18-month birthday last weekend. I'll gush more on how awesome she is later.

Setting a Course - Part 2

So we haven't completely let the cat out of the bag about our big plans, but I'm talking about it here and with some other friends... not to mention our friends (& neighbor), C and G, who now also appear to have live-aboard fever (sorry guys!). We've, collectively, come across a few books, more sailing blogs, several with kids, and even got a couple of links from the Schultes... I've also expanded my research to include several 'working abroad' blogs. Some people work remotely/online and others are making their living writing travel articles or even documentaries. It's fun to glean ideas or little tidbits of information, about the traveling part, the working/financial part, and the family part.

As it turns out, a good friend is restoring a 33' sailboat from the late 70s that he bought for a song. He's still not completely certain what he's gotten himself into, as far as the boat's condition, but it sounds like the project is going ok and we can't wait to make a trip down to check it out in person. We got together with some friends for dinner Monday night and DH and I both got to spend time talking to him about the project and what he's learned about boats and sailing. We only joked him a little that he got out of amateur off-road racing to get into boat restoration and sailing.

Last week I got to have lunch with my favorite cousin, who was going to spend most of this past spring and summer helping a friend sail his 42' ketch (Swedish made, that's all he told me) from Deltaville, VA, back to Sweden. I think it was originally planned for the summer of 2011, but the weather and other things forced them to put it off not only once but now twice. They're planning on doing a loop of the Caribbean this fall and winter. My cousin is in his late 60s or so, and a complete nut. I mean that in a good way... he's always up for a challenge and stays busy with a business (or maybe two), working on his 1740s house in Virginia, or visiting Hawaii and hiking all over to check out old haunts from his Army days. He basically drove 2 hours out of his way because he was passing through "close enough" to warrant a quick visit. He was excited by our scheme and promised to send me links to people he knows who are sailing, especially with kids.

Right now, I think we're leaning toward a catamaran. As much as anything for the stability, because they don't heel like monohulls (look at the terminology use!) and we'll have small children and dogs on board. I don't know, for sure, though because I've seen several blogs with kids and dogs on monohulls and everyone seems to do ok. There may be more critical things to consider, such as boats actually out there for sale and their available space, condition, equipment, and holding tank space for things like gas and water. DH suggested we name whatever boat "Your Boat Name is Dumb," but then realized we'd probably end up with the nickname "The Dumbs." You can't always get what you want.

We do have a ways to go before we are actually in shopping for a boat mode. Some of the boat questions will require some actual experience (or at least stepping aboard a craft or two) to sort out and we'll have to have at least a half-assed plan for how on earth will we finance this lifestyle to which we'd like to become accustomed. There are some debts to be paid off, money to save, a few ongoing house projects to be completed, stuff to unload, and a family to continue to raise. We need to refinance our house, because the rates are just too good not to. We're looking at having a contractor come in and do some work, including probably finishing some things we haven't. Several friends and family members have told us (more than once) that the 10 years we have spent working on our house have been tedious and unnecessary, but we've learned a lot about construction and ourselves along the way. DH and I know we make a good team; we know how to split up projects and tasks, we know our strengths and weaknesses.

   

We're bulletproof tigers, dude.