On Thursday, I had a weak instant coffee, because I "slept in" until 6:30AM, and did not have time to make a real coffee. This was a mistake. Waking up earlier for coffee and a few minutes alone helps so much with my mindset and mood. 

Instead of coffee, I tried to brighten up the day with some fresh banh mi's from Kim Chau. These are their #1 menu item, the special:

One of these was spicy, and had a few peppers in them, but they didn't actually taste spicy, which was a little disappointing. I'm not complaining though - check out all the meat and veggies packed in between the freshest bread: 

I haven't had these in a while, so maybe my memory is off, but I feel their prices have increased recently... Didn't these cost about $3 just a few months ago in 2021?! Now, the special costs $5.50 each. Everything is more expensive these days, and it's adding to my sadness. I have to remind myself that I'm far from poor. Unlimited hot water comes out of my tap on demand, and I can afford it! 

After the banh mi, the day dragged on, and all I wanted to do was eat chocolate chip cookies. I had no patience for S, and snapped at my dad when he told her not to yell because speaking loudly isn't pretty. This really irritated me. I want her to express herself however she wants, yell if she needs to, and not be suppressed by something as superficial as being pretty. He comes over to help with the kids almost every day, which I am so grateful for, but he doesn't always have the most modern take on raising children.

Looking back, the day wasn't so awful, and it was mostly me feeling sluggish and unmotivated. I didn't end up in tears, unlike the first few days post-partum when I was so tired, and it took massive efforts to force myself out of bed even at 10AM.  It's only been a month and a half with baby P, I shouldn't try to be too productive.

Baby S is now four months old, and as mentioned previously, she's going through a sleep regression/4 month leap. She used to just let us put the pacifier in her mouth whenever she was upset.  One day, she realized that if her mouth is too small for the pacifier, we won't be able to do that anymore. She started to keep her mouth smaller instead of wailing with mouth wide open, so that she can still complain and whine but the pacifier won't fit.  Just as easily, she forgot how to sleep for more than two hours at a time, and so I'm swimming in exhaustion for the past few weeks.  

It's just easier to go out and pick up lunch, rather than cook. H found a great little spot for Vietnamese sandwiches, Ba le Deli Victoria.

Fresh bread, excellent meat to veggies to sauce ratio, $7 a sandwich, prepared in less than 5 minutes.  Can't go wrong.

Other than changes with the baby, everything else has remained the same, but it just takes that one phone call to change everything. Hopefully we get that phone call before we return to Vancouver for good.