Sleep Like a Baby

There are people out there who have babies that drink their bottles, look up at their parents lovingly as they are carried to their cribs, then coo and smile as they are put down before batting their eyelashes and time or two and then falling asleep with a soft little smile on their angelic faces. Well, for those of you who own one of these miracle robot babies, congratulations to you, you've won the lottery!

For the rest of us, we have babies who drink their bottles down and fall fast asleep (and I mean the kind of sleep where you can lift an arm and let it drop, or open and close the baby's mouth to make funny noises and then laugh at it - and the baby still stays asleep), then they coo and roll into you as you pick them up and carry them to their beds, and even if you accidentally run into the door way or the wall or step on a toy and cuss a little too loudly and the baby stays asleep... but when you put the little bundle of joy down into the crib and his head hits the sheets his face twists up and his eyes pop open and out comes a scream as if you chopped odd his pinkey toe! That's the kind I have. It's like they have a link to their beds and know the exact moment you've put them down.... Now if you put them somewhere else they would probably stay asleep...

There are lots of methods out there to getting non-robot babies to sleep. I think I've read about them all. There are lots of people who don't agree with the CIO method (for those of you not hip to the new parent lingo, that stands for Cry It Out). And in reading that side of the argument, I tend to agree with some of it. It's really hard to listen to your baby cry when you know you can stop it by just walking over and picking him up. But I'm also not down with the PUYBEFMFAHAAH method either (that's the ever so popular Pick Up Your Baby Every Five Minutes For An Hour And A Half method).

When Nola was a baby she was awful to get to sleep at night. Then at her 4 or 6 month checkup her pediatrician told me to let her cry for 20 minutes. I was shocked and appalled! Twenty minutes seemed like so long! But after another week of the a fore mentioned PUYBEFMFAHAAH method, I gave it a shot. I put her down and left the room... And I never knew just how long twenty minutes could last. Oh my goodness! She cried the whole 20 minutes! And when I went in to finally get her she had cried so hard she threw up all over herself and her bedding. So I felt bad and just rocked her to sleep for a day or so. But the frustration soon returned and I gave it another shot. She cried the whole 20 minutes again, but with no puke. I got her, comforted her and then put her back. She cried for about 10 more min. and then fell asleep. The next night she cried for 15 min and was asleep. And by about a week or so it was like 5 to 7 minutes and a sleeping baby we had. Then by 2 weeks she was just staying asleep, or going back to sleep on her own (most of the time).

Now the madness begins again. Logan. He's cute. He's smiley. But he sucks at bedtime. He sleeps through the night (usually at least 10 hours) so I can't complain there... but getting him to sleep is torture! So here goes another round of teaching a baby to go to sleep! I am SO NOT looking forward to the next few weeks!

Logan's Blanket

A couple of weeks ago Cayce and I started Logan's blanket (made from all his old receiving blankets). Well, I started, and Cayce pretty much did the rest. Well - it's finished! Here are a couple of pictures of Nola from the day we were cutting out the squares - she was a real Material Girl!






Here is the blue-er side:


Here is the green-er side:



And here are both sides:



Thanks Cayce for doing all the hard work - I'm sure Logan will love it for years to come!

Cold Weather Accomplishments

It's been so super cold that we don't have much going on. There's just no way I'm going to take the kids anywhere outside if I don't have to. Nola even had to skip her trip to the grocery store this week. So we've just been working on our growing up skills. Here are a few of our accomplishments in the past week or so:

1. Potty Training is going good - only one accident in four days. Word to the wise - if you have the option of potty training in summer or winter, choose winter. You're stuck inside anyway. Less distractions. I had planned to go out and buy all the supplies to make a big sticker chart with rewards and whatnot... but I waited a few days and never got around to that... and I'm glad I didn't. She's doing it without any bribery (cheaper for me).

2. Logan is now eating baby food. Just green beans so far. And surprise, Fatty likes to eat! I don't even use a bib because none of it falls below his chin. We will move on to some sweet potatoes in a day or so... Big stuff!

3. Nola is also using a regular cup (at the table only to reduce spills). And big people silverware.

4. Logan is almost sitting up, but that big old brain (surrounded by that big ole head) is keeping him from stabilizing himself for more than a minute or so.

5. Nola has learned how to open up the DVD player and switch the movie to one she wants to watch. She can't make it play... but she sure likes to push the buttons.

6. Logan has perfected the motor boat spitting thing with his lips and can now not only spit on you, but spit green beans on you... and he thinks it's really funny.

6. Nola is learning how to draw people.... She can draw the eyes, nose and mouth... even if they aren't in the right place on the face. And she adds ears and hair, which she usually gets in the correct general areas.

So that's our big news for the week. Oh, and I learned nothing. I still eat the same, draw the same, potty the same.... in case you were wondering about me too.

Dude, I was like, totally RAD!

I posted a slew of school pictures on my Facebook page, but for those of you who aren't friendly with me in the Facebook world, I thought you might want to see me when I was totally bitchin! Fifth grade, Martha Turner Reilly Elementary School, Dallas, TX. I guess I was eleven or twelve, but I thought I was 19!

Side ponytail and dangle earrings... pastel teal sweatshirt (with the sleeves pushed up to the just right place on my arms so as to poof in the coolest way possible!) and my prize winning collection of friendship bracelets. I'm sure I had some form of bangs, but the picture is too dark to see them. And I would bet money that the pants I was wearing were leggings (possibly with the strap that went under the layered, multicolored socks).

It was 1988 - and I was an Eighties Lady! This was right before the stage of swatch watches, converse, jean jackets and skater boyfriends... Oh, the good ole days!

I think I wanted my sweatshirt to fall from my shoulder like the Flashdance chick... but at twelve, this was the most I could get away with....

Precious Moments

...and not the stupid collectible statues (sorry, if you collect the figurines).

Yesterday, both sick kids were screaming and crying for me to hold them. I had to choose one, so I chose the sicker and younger of the two - the baby. Then Nola started crying even louder, saying "I'm crying too! Don't hold Logan, hold MEEE!" So I tried to explain that we had to take turns, and it was Logan's turn. Eventually we switched, so Logan could scream while Nola proudly put her silent head on my shoulder as if she'd won the lottery. At some point I had to put them both down to actually get things ready for bed. It calmed down for a bit and I was able to pick up toys and get everyone's night night milk (and bottle) ready.

Nola drinks her milk, then puts her cup in the fridge. After that we go say "night night" to whoever is home, usually just Logan. So she ran back into the living room where Logan was and jumped up in front of him with her arms out in the air, "I loovvee you Logan! Niiight Niight Logan!" He smiled at her and she ran off into her room. I followed her to put her in bed. As I was lifting her into her bed I said, "I'm so sorry Nola, that you two are both so sick at the same time. I hope you feel better tomorrow."
Then she said, "I'm sorry too, Mama."
"What are you sorry for Nola?"
"Cause I cried a lot, Mama..."
"That's okay Nola, I love you."
"I love you tooooo, Mama."
So Precious!


Then this morning Nola was pretending to talk on the phone... She just picks up the phone and starts talking to whomever she picks.
She said she was going to talk to Mama (me).
She said, "Hi Mama" and so I said "Hi Nola..."
And then she said, "No, not YOU!"
She picked up the phone again and said "Hi Mama"
So again I said, "Hi Nola.."
"NO! Not YOU! I'm talking to you on the phone!"
So I realized that I wasn't supposed to talk, she was pretending.
Again, "Hi Mama"
And I didn't say anything this time. She waited, as if listening to the pretend me on the phone and then just set it down, "You're not answering."
And she walked away.

Kids!

Bummer History Channel!

So this is Armageddon Week on the History Channel. While I find most everything they say very interesting, it sure is a big fat bummer to sit around for a week contemplating the end of the world as we know it.

Today Kirk told me one of his employees has been addicted to the HC as well and was going on and on about how we will all die in 3 years (2012). Then he said, "So, honey, we may only have a few years left together..." Don't say that kind of shit, dude! IF the world goes wacko in 2012, which I don't think it will by the way, at least maybe we won't have any more bills to pay!

I tried to read Nostradamus back in high school... it was too hard. And annoying. Blah Blah in whatever language he wrote it in, then someone's biased translation, followed by a slanted explanation of what he 'obviously' meant. Interesting, but pointless to try and place upon modern day events. Yes, some is very coincidental, even creepy, but none exact and therefore just speculation by people who want to find some age old dude who predicted the future. Give me something of his in advance that comes true and I will go out and buy a copy of the latest book of all his predictions... until then, maybe he needs to be on the Sci-Fi Channel instead!

I believe in psychic phenomenon. I believe some people can tell the future, see things, see dead people, all that jazz... But I think it works on a smaller, more personal scale then being able to predict hundreds, or thousands, of years into the future. BUT, if we all explode, implode, or evaporate in 2012 - I will admit that I was wrong.

reduce.REUSE.recycle

I been trying to reuse things lately, so as not to be so wasteful... and so I don't have to spend money on things I can "upcycle" - yeah that a new term that just means turn something you would throw out into something you can use. I've found a few good uses for things this week. We put away all of our holiday decorations the past few days.
I used old baby formula cans to store some holiday ornaments and a larger one to store my new snow globe I got this year (it didn't come in a box). I've already turned others into a piggy bank, a crayon holder, and a grease can for the kitchen...
I also took all the cards we received this year and cut them up into gift tags for next year. I actually got a lot of really cute tags to put on presents, and a whole baggie full. It may not be a lot, but it's a least $5 saved for the next couple of holidays. And they are WAY cuter than store bought ones.
And finally, I decided to make a large blanket out of Logan's little receiving blankets. He's way too big for them and we had so many. They were barely used and all still so soft... And he doesn't have a comforter for his bead, so voila! Cayce is being ever so gracious to loan me her sewing skills (okay, she's sewing the whole thing for me... but I don't have a machine and I'm NOT doing it by hand!). We took pictures of the textures/patterns and with Photoshop I designed a plan for the blanket:


Then Cayce started cutting out the squares. She brought them over and we cut the rest of the blankets up and layed out the two sides. It will be squares on both sides. I had two packs of 3 coordinating receiving blankets, so I kept them on separate sides so it will be reversible. One side is more blue, it has stars, stripes and camo. The other (shown below) has more green in it and is brighter with stripes and polka dots.


Cayce is currently sewing the squares together. Then we will quilt it somehow and then sew up the sides. I'm excited! It's a very good 'REUSE'. I will post more pictures as it gets completed.