Travelling with a toddler is the best and the worst of childhood all rolled up into one messy little package.
I feel like sometimes people think Ava is totally chill all the time. Trust me. SHE’S NOT. Perhaps that’s my own fault? Maybe I need to start posting the meltdown videos as evidence?
Words like strong willed, belligerent and independent spring to mind. Well let me tell you, those were not the words we were using at 2am last night.
Travelling is hard for anyone. Adult or child.
So I imagine it must be hard on a toddler. They are taken out of their routine and thrown into a foreign country and all that goes with it. New surroundings, new food, new climate. We’ve tried to keep as much structure as possible for her when travelling, but there is only so much you can do. In fairness to her, she has been really patient (for a one year old) and has been having a lot of fun too. But yesterday and then last night, it was like every single thing was a problem. And it’s hard for your emotions to keep up with her little whirlwind of activity. One minute you are overcome with love for this chubby little creature you’ve created and the next, you are having serious visions of what would happen if you dropped her off at the nearest shopping mall and drove away. (Don’t worry I promise we’ve never done this. Just about.)
We call her our tiny little dictator, because when her chubby little finger is pointing and telling us to do something. It's oh so hard to resist. Although we do tell her ‘no’ quite a lot. That’s one thing we were always in agreement about. We don’t want to raise spoiled children who have no manners and no respect for other people.
ANYWAY, enough about our tantrumming toddler.
It’s all going great with our reciprocal IVF cycle. Audrey got to have her last injection last night! It’s called the ‘trigger shot’ because it triggers your ovaries to release the eggs. It’s very important to be done at the exact time, as the egg collection will be done 36hrs from the time of the trigger. We are so excited to see how many eggs and then embryos we end up with.
Also very excited to see the ‘Embryoscope’ in action. It’s basically a little incubator for the embryos where there is 24hr footage of them as they develop. Very cool technology and Ferticentro were the first clinic in Portugal to offer this service. Here’s a link to a video, showing how it works.
The next few days will be busy. Holding out hope that our dreams for another baby will come true.
Love,
Ranae x
Ps. Don’t worry we know how ironic it is that we are complaining of Avas toddlerhood and yet we want more babies.
Pps. If you want a good laugh, please head over to follow Bunmi Laditan, Canadian mum and blogger and author of one of my favourite books - ‘Toddlers are A**holes. It’s Not Your Fault.’