I said I’d be back to continue the updates on my little Squish and her delays, and then, well, life got in the way! But here I am, AGAIN, with more updates. (Check out the rest of this series here, here, and here.) If you find any of these posts helpful, as always PLEASE leave a comment. It helps me and other readers so much! If you have more questions or want to talk closer, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Last I left off, Olivia was 11 months old and in 4 regular therapies: Physical Therapy (45 mins weekly), Occupational Therapy (45 minutes weekly), Speech Therapy (30 mins every other week) alternating with Feeding Therapy (30 mins every other week). Busy? Who, me?! Understatement of the year, but I digress. Since then she’s been busy meeting milestone and inchstone one after the other, like an actual hero. Read on for long and long overdue update.

A short while ago I lamented about routines and staying focused. One of the things about motherhood (adulthood?) that I struggle with is the repetitive tasks. It’s no wonder my children also struggle with this! Nothing makes me feel more like a failure than knowing kids thrive on routine and not being able to keep one myself consistently. There comes a time when I feel like they should just “get” it on their own, but the reality is they’re just kids, how on earth can I expect them to!?

Ah, motherhood. It’s beautiful. It’s messy. It’s wonderful. It’s so so so hard. It’s an attachment and bond like no other. Nothing else in this world comes close, and I’m not sure it ever will.

I so wish I’d been better educated going into motherhood. I read books and took classes but it was all based on a very idealistic (ahem, fantasy) situation which in real life turns out to be so much more nuanced and generational than anything I’d ever dreamed up.

It’s seems every year I only manage to get one or two Advent posts out in the blogosphere, despite planning for way more. Yet here we are once again—it’s December 5, and…well, here’s my first post.