When Three Become Four!: The Break, At Last!

If I had to summarize last week, I'd have to say it was "manic-depressive," but not related to any diagnosis (thank goodness ;-)!). The first half of the week was really rough, and I truly did feel a little depressed at times and completely at a loss. Liam's sleep, that had just started to get better again, suddenly got much worse. We couldn't figure it out, and nothing that used to work seemed to help. We kept tag teaming in our frustration with constant sleep-fighting and wakings, and felt like we were spending more time getting him down or back to sleep than he was actually sleeping, especially during the part of the evening before we went to bed. He would then remain restless the whole night.

I had blamed teething, but in hindsight I believe Liam had a mild cold. He had a runny nose, coughed a little, spit up a little more than usual, generally just didn't seem to be feeling well. On Friday and Saturday, Michael felt like he was fighting a bit of a cold too. Everyone is fine now, Liam's "teething" symptoms disappeared even though no new teeth came in yet, and he finally started sleeping better again on his own.

The second half of the week was awesome. It started with me getting some pampering time at the Aveda Institute and a hair cut on Wednesday. I actually ended up getting 6 inches cut off, mostly because I have "virgin hair" that hasn't been colored and the student who cut my hair could use it for a color project. I really wanted a change and more style, so I just went with the flow. He did a great job, even took before and after pictures of me for his portfolio. The instructor also used me as a model to show a couple students a new layering technique, and one of the girls said, "You don't know how special you are!" I have gone there regularly for a few years now, and really felt like a VIP more that time than any other. I loved the results, and Michael did as well (even though at first I was wondering how he'd react, since he is one of those men who prefer longer hair). But, he said it looked better than before. It is still past shoulder length, so it is still pretty long. I felt great, I only wish we weren't so busy that night and I took a picture when it was styled!

Thursday, I had an interview for a part-time job that seemed to go well (I won't hear more for awhile, until probably September). Michael and I went out for a long overdue date night, and our first really nice more formal date night in over a year and a half. We discovered "restaurant week," where nice restaurants have specials like 2 three course meals for $35, and the premier four and five star places had three course dinners for $35. This was the moment we were waiting for to use our Christmas money set aside and splurge! We went to a Morton's Steakhouse and had wonderful caesar salads and bread, perfect fillet migon, and we shared our desserts: creme brulee and chocolate mousse we could tell were made from scratch. So yummy, and the portions were the perfect size!! After a demanding week of parenting, we just enjoyed reconnecting while Liam had fun with some friends of ours.

Saturday night I went out with some ladies I'm getting to know better, mostly other moms, and we just had a random "Princess Day," which was really an excuse to "recycle" some formal attire we have and have ladies night out around town. We all went to another restaurant downtown that had specials, took a carriage ride, and lots of pictures. It was definitely a fun time, and a very interesting social experiment (how different people reacted to us was our primary source of entertainment). I have to admit, I was a bit out of my comfort zone at first, since I'm not the type that likes to be the center of attention! But with the group, I had a great time and no regrets. Here are some pictures... (it also shows my new hair cut...though I didn't have time to really style it that day since I was running behind):

I also have some pictures of Liam. This past week I really didn't take many, but I realized I forgot to post a few cute ones taken at his cousin Evan's 5th birthday party on August 1st!

Aunt Marsha, holding cousins Addison and Liam. You can get one kid to look, but it's hard to get both at the same time!