This is the cow with the crumpled horn... So sleep has become a battle at our house. Brianna, going to sleep, at night, in her bed, at a reasonable time, is just something that hasn't been happening. Every night, we go through the same thing - culminating in a whiny, overtired infant who only goes to sleep after an hour (or more) of being held, rocked, and swung, and a mommy who gets nothing done and gets to bed late.
We've been trying to get a consistent bedtime routine. We tried reading stories, lavender lotion/bath stuff, and a ton of other things to help her wind down and sleep. But nothing seemed to help much - I had almost decided that it was a phase we would have to weather.
But then - I saw on one of my mommy boards, an idea to try. So. I tried it. Monday night, I took one of Brianna's soft fuzzy animal things (it's hard to describe, it's like a little blankie, but the center of it is gathered up and made into a little cow. Sounds odd, but it's cute, and really soft), and while i was running through our bedtime routine, I stuffed it in my shirt. Yes, I know this sounds crazy. You should have seen me walking around the hosue with a lovey stuffed in my shirt for an hour. Luckily, Chad was working late that night. He might have had me committed. When it was time to put her to sleep, I put her in the swing (I chickend out of trying the bed right away), and gave her the now-mama-scented lovey. She snuggled it, and talked to it, and was asleep within five minutes. Success!
Last night, we tried the same thing, except - the lovey was already mama-scented, so no need to walk around with a cow in my shirt. And. We actually put her straight in the crib. Gave her the lovey, and she did the same thing - snuggle, chatter, and off to sleep. Success again!
This morning, she was a little whiny getting up to go to daycare, and cried in her car seat... I gave her the lovey, and she was happy.
So that's what works for me. Hopefully, it will keep working! And hopefully, we'll never lose that cow, 'cause I'm sure that would be a meltdown, lol.
For more Works for me Wednesday tips, go to We are THAT Family. (I didn't follow this weeks theme, but I think that's still ok... I didn't have any great recipes to share, since most of my cooking lately has involved driving through a fast food joint, lol).
Brianna's sitting! well, sort of, anyway - she sits on very stable surfaces (like the floor, not the couch or a mattress - if you put her hands down to help prop her up. But still, it makes me happy. And also scared - here comes the crawl (otherwise known as the ability to get into everything in site!).
Today was the first day I got dressed for work, looked in the mirror, and actually felt like I was looking at me, not my head put on someone else's body. So there's at least light at the end of the tunnel for my post-pregnancy body image issues. In a related note, I may quite possibly buy an entire work wardrobe of crimson and black.
Speaking of post-pregnancy body woes... My feet are bigger. Like, at least a half a size. Enough that most of my shoes are uncomfortable, and some of them I can't even get on at all. Someone warned me this would happen, but I don't think I believed them. Anyone interested in a closet full of shoes?
I hate it when people butt into my parenting and inform me that I'm doing it wrong. For instance, the whole breastfeeding thing. I would never. Never. Never tell a mom that was using formula that she's not doing it right, that she's somehow hurting her child by not breastfeeding. There are so many reasons why it might not work for that person at that time - and in the end, it's totally a personal decision. My decision was to breastfeed, as long as possible. This isn't always easy. My doctor agrees it's the best choice for my situation, and as long as I can do it... keep on it! But the daycare people (or rather, one of them) have been going on from day 1 about how Brianna likes formula better (we supplement as needed), or her bowels would be more regular if she were on formula all the time, or she'd sleep better, or whatever. I was even told that some infants can't take breastmilk, that it's not healthy for them. I call BS. My choice. As long as she's gaining weight, and her doctor is happy, and she's happy - we'll keep doing it. People just need to butt the hell out, seriously. Ok, so that turned into a rant. Sorry. But it was on my mind.
Going to see a nutritionist in a couple of weeks, to hopefully get a diet that helps my supply levels, energy levels, overall health - and if I could lose weight and beat Chad, that would be awesome :-) I hope this will help... I'm at my wits end trying to figure out how to lose weight and maintain a milk supply. The weight has to come off (it's not just vanity - my knees and back hurt, I'm exhausted all the time, and I need to be healthy again. Being 40+ pounds overweight isn't conducive to being healthy).
Chad's still winning the biggest loser. I lost 0.2 pounds last week. Yep, you see that right - two-tenths of a pound. Total weight loss: still less than 2 pounds. I need to catch Chad, and win, so that I can spend a ridiculous amount of money on total vanity and silliness. Maybe the nutritionist will help. Or maybe I should just fill the house with Oreos, lol.
It's hot as blazes here, in case you wondered. Like, over-100-hot before you figure in the heat index. Don't get me wrong, I hate cold... but this is unseasonably early to be this hot. It's record-breaking hot, and it's killing me. But at least I have AC in both my car and my house - we love AC. And couldn't live without it.
And laid out like cash your take on my list of shortcomings This. Again, I wish I had the words to say it this well.
"I wake up each morning telling myself that today I’ll make it a better day, today I’ll do better. And then the sun rises in the sky."
I am the queen of (short-lived, sidetracked by 9am) good intentions. Every day, I decide that:
Today I will get up on time, so I have time to get everything done and eat breakfast without getting stressed or mad or being late to work.
Today I'll eat a healthy breakfast, not whatever I grab going out the door.
Today I'll pack my lunch and not spend extra money buying a most likely unhealthy lunch from the cafe.
Today I'll be a better wife/mother/friend/person in general.
Today I'll resist the urge to eat junk food.
Today I'll remember how much my husband helps me, and I won't yell at him when I'm frustrated because I have too much to do.
Today I'll call/email/facebook that person I haven't talked to in forever.
Today I'll be organized and on top of things.
And pretty much every day, I've blown most of these before I get out the door in the morning... and probably all of them before I go to bed. I whine about not having a system, and worry that I'm failing at life somehow. I often spend so much time concentrating on how I've failed... that I don't concentrate on how to get better... how to pick myself up and start over fresh (day after day, if needed).
"Daily, my good intentions fail, but His compassions for me don’t. And therein lies my hope."
Today I'll try to do better at doing better. And at not concentrating on the failures, but on the successes. And I'll keep moving forward - His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. [Lam. 3:22-23]
You just stick the right formula in / A solution for every fool
Corporate America & our fine legal system are so awesome. Came across this gem this week:
It is my understanding that we agreed to include the text [...] However, it was not in the terms that the text be legible. It was under the advice of our counsel that we made the text very small and difficult to read.
You have to love it. Or something.
Being a relatively new Smart phone user, I appreciate this. I wish everyone thought that way, really. For example - it may take me a week to get to respond to a personal email. That's just the way it is. I try, but, it happens that way anyway. Sorry?
I thought this was funny. And of course, the follow up here. Just thought I'd share :-)
I love this post from One Thing. I've been thinking about it a lot this week... it sums up a lot of the way I've felt lately. Here's a quote:
But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand. [...] I want to be real. I don’t want to demand careful handling. I want those sharp edges to be worn off by that Love that isn’t afraid to be hurt. Can I stop being afraid of breaking long enough to let that happen?
I wish I could say things as clearly and concisely as she did.
I hate feeling like I suck at life. And I feel that way a lot. I hear that parenting small children has that affect on people. I feel like I'm kind of wandering through life, blundering my way along, hoping that I don't get anything too terribly wrong in the process. There has to be a better way?
I thought this was funny. Celebrity ghost twittering, indeed. And more Twitter-ness, on a slightly more serious level.
If anyone has any tips for how to stay healthy (and keep Brianna healthy!) - without just boarding ourselves up in the house and never leaving - I'm all ears. Chad, Brianna, and I have been sick, one thing and another, for like a month. I'd like to be healthy again, please?
I'm finished making sense / Done pleading ignorance I had the best of intentions to post more last week. The road to hell, and all that, I suppose.
I spent Monday home/at the doctor with a sick baby again. We've had this stupid cold thing (we as in both of us) for like a month. My round of antibiotics made my ear stop hurting but didn't solve the cold (thus reinforcing the fact that it is in fact viral). Dr. put Brianna on antibiotics now, for an ear infection, and finally - finally - finally, we got some cough syrup. There's just not much you can do for sick little babies.
Tuesday she was well enough for daycare, but she's still fighting a cough, still congested, still not sleeping weel. She's just not as "sick" and lethargic and whiny as she was before. Me? I'm worn to the bone. I can't take much in the way of medicines, either, since I'm still nursing. And when Brianna's up at night - so am I. So now I'm at work, downing a billion (non-menthol) cough drops, hoping I eventually get over it.
As for the Biggest Loser contest... I did much better this week (more Zumba, less cake), and managed to lose the 3 pounds from last week, and about a pound and a half more. Which I thought was pretty awesome, til I looked at Chad's weight loss, which is something like 8 and a half pounds in two weeks. I am so gonna lose this challenge. But at least I'm headed in the right direction now?
Still searching for a "system" - I need to make better use of my time or something. Especially now that I'm working out... my time at home is so limited, and I have so much stuff to do. Thinking about trying FlyLady again, but not sure. I should just get off my behind and start doing something, though.
I have no fear of drowning / It's the breathing that's taking all this work So the Biggest Loser thing.
I suck at it this week. Here's what I did:
Ate salads for lunch when I was in the office (turned out to be twice, due to sickness - both me and the baby).
Ate healthier dinners. Only had fast food ONCE.
Ate a crap-ton of veggies.
Drank a crazy amount of water.
Did 2 yoga classes and a Zumba class. Was very very sore.
Ate ONE PIECE of chocolate cake. At a party.
End result? I gained three pounds. Suck.
So this week? I'm taking the stairs, and hoping to get more workouts in. Trying to eat more healthy (and less overall, I guess?). This whole thing is complicated by the fact that I'm breastfeeding, so I can't just cut my calories in half and burn it all off... I still have to take in "enough", or my supply will tank - and I'm having enough problems right now, I'd rather not add to them.
So. Hopefully burning a few more calories will help. And maybe eating a few less. Alreay have one Zumba class under my belt... so that's something.
Talk About Tuesday Today, I talk about being an overprotective mother (or something) :-)
So we finally moved Brianna out of the cradle and into her crib... but still in our room. The cradle was ridiculously too small - I mean, really. I was afraid she would roll right over the edge and onto the floor one night... and I have no idea what the weight limit on that thing is. So it was time (and probably way past time, at that).
But I wasn't ready to move her out of our room and into the nursery yet. I'm sure it's part laziness - she gets up between two and four times a night to eat, and it's much easier to have her in the same room, and just pull her up into my bed to feed her and then put her right back down. But it's not just that... I feel like she'll be too far away in the nursery - like even with the baby monitor, I might not hear her or something. She just still seems so little to be in her own room...
So yeah, there you have it. My 4-month old is still in the master bedroom. She won't be a baby forever... I guess I'm just trying to hold onto what I can :-) Eventually, we'll move her into the nursery. Before she graduates to a toddler bed, we hope.
Head over to the Lazy Organizer for more Talk About Tuesday.
Rolled in late about an hour / No cup of coffee, no shower
Brianna is now 4 months old. This is amazing to me... Where did the time go? She's happy and healthy (except a cold that we've been fighting), and learning new things every day. She's teething (yay!) and eating solid food (baby oatmeal and Gerber 1st foods veggies and fruits). Her favorite food, to date, is probably Sweet Potatoes. And just today, she moved from just using vowel noises, to using the "b" sound... so now she sounds like "bub-bub-bub-bub" - which is funny. She even does it with her paci in her mouth, which is even funnier.
Moms don't get sick days. I don't think I fully groked that concept until this past week. But we survived :-) With lots of help from Chad.
I am badly in need of a routine. And a few extra hours in the day. But if anyone has any great advice for morning or evening routines to make sure that baby and I are both fed, bathed, and get to sleep/work/daycare on time, that would be awesome. If the house could be kept clean in the process, that would be better. Maybe I'll try to FlyLady system again...
Chad and I are doing a Biggest Loser challenge. We started June 1st, and we're runnign until Oct. 1st - hopefully I'll drop this baby weight. So expect some updates here, as maybe it will keep me motivated (we put a large amount of money on the line, so you would think THAT would keep me motivated, but I can probably use all the help I can get). Hopefully, but October, I'll fit in a clothes size that only has one number. Or at least one that I can buy at Ann Taylor without ordering online.
As part of the losing weight thing, I've started working out at the Y. They have free childcare, and lots of workout classes, so it's seeming to work out ok (except it takes even more time out of my day). I've gone to two Yoga classes so far... and OOWW. I mean. I *knew* that when Brianna was born, they cut my abs apart and stapled them back together... but I didn't really think about it until I started trying to do these yoga moves, and i went to use my ab muscles... and they weren't there! I mean, they were gone! So I have a lot of work to do to get back to my pre-pregnancy hotness (pre-pre-pregnancy, I guess). Or something. Meanwhile, I'm just sore. But there's a Zumba class tomorrow, so maybe that will help (lol).
I joined Twitter. Sadly, I joined only because I found a cool app for it on my phone and I wanted to use it. But now I'm addicted. Although my tweeting waxes and wanes as I have time/interest (like my blogging!).
Chad and I are trying to convince some people to move out here. What else is new? But this time, it might work? Really, though, with our luck, everyone will come at once, and we'll be stacking friends on top of each other when they stay with us while looking for a place of their own :-) Actually... thinking about it, that would be awesome. So. Yeah. Please move here? We need more people from back home. :-)
This is my brain..... in part, at least.
