Krissie - I think when kids learn to speak and make their needs known, things do tend to improve! I have never been a mother, but I
am 10 years older than my youngest sister, and since my mother was a single mom who worked 40+ hrs a week, a lot of the childcare fell to me.
When my sister learned to tell us that she wanted food, she was thirsty, she had hurt herself -- things got easier. There were still tantrums and fights and things, but they were more about being tired or irritable than because she couldn't tell us what was wrong.
And besides that, toddlers sometimes say
hilarious stuff! Haha
I can remember my sister telling me at age 2 that she 'used to' paint and do woodwork all the time! And when I asked her, "Oh really? When was this?" she says, "About 30 years ago."
On a completely unrelated note, something that's been bothering me for a couple days now:
RANT WARNING.... lol
I come from a family of street-smart-but-not-book-smart people. No college educations, no love for reading, no desire to learn simply for the joy of learning. Normally it's no big deal, but recently their reactions to my preference to read and learn have been becoming very negative.
For example, my mom was considering getting two dogs for Christmas. My sister's dog had just had puppies. When I said to mom, "We were told that you should get one of each gender so that there's less competition between them," Mom agreed and asked my sister for a male and female pair.
My sister loudly proclaimed over the phone, "Just because [iReadYerMind] reads books, doesn't mean she knows anything about dogs!" Nevermind the fact that this wasn't something I had read about, I was told this directly by a local trainer and animal rescue worker. AND nevermind the fact that I have extensive experience with animals, their training, and so on. I had always wanted to be a veterinarian from childhood and had grown up learning things accordingly. Anyway....
At Thanksgiving, I mentioned the fact that my fireplace wouldn't start up the other day, and how even when I
could get a small flame lit, all the smoke was flooding into the house rather than up the chimney, even though we just had it cleaned and the flu was open. I mentioned how, after trying several things to solve the issue, I decided to do a google search and see if I could troubleshoot it, and how the very first thing I found and tried ended up working.
My mother snapped, "You don't have to google everything, why wouldn't you just try a bunch more stuff!?"
They make me feel like I'm stupid or somehow less intelligent for reading and learning from books. But how do teachers convey ideas and facts to their students? Textbooks! How do scientists share their findings from their studies with others, without having to travel the world and give lectures to everyone? Essays, books, and articles! How do famous chefs teach others how to cook amazing things? Cook books! Or what about when you're trying to build/assemble something and you don't know how? Instruction manuals!
They ALL require reading and they are ALL completely valid ways of learning information when you don't have, or can't get, hands-on experience.
I do not understand their insistence that somehow, learning stuff from a book is less valid than just randomly trying things out until you've managed to get something that works, or never bothering to learn anything at all.
How would you gals handle something like this?
I am not a confrontational woman, so I generally let the comments and belittling slide. Of the 3 of my mother's children, I'm the only one with a diploma AND the only one who's attended college. Neither of my parents did, nor did their parents. I can see why they might not think much of "book learning", but I don't understand why they feel it's
bad to read and learn.
END OF RANT, SORRY!
I'd love to keep seeing update photos!
And a great plan to use this time to focus on making a healthy environment for a little embryo. 
my DH is pushing to start trying again for #2 but i have a feeling he will be changing his mind when she starts moving and getting into things. I want to give it a little more time between really ttc. We aren't preventing or anything but I figure around her 1st birthday we will be back at the fertility center making a plan (but who knows its too far away lol). and thats if i even get AF by then ughhhh!
But I am determined to stick with my diet so I am back on track today!
