Need a laugh?

Check THIS blog out. A friend sent the link to me and its hilarious! I'm always on the hunt for new blogs to read and this one is definitely going on the list.

And, alright already...enough of my blog-o-rific weekend. Here I am bitching and moaning to Glenn about how we haven't made as much progress on the house as I'd like and I'm sitting here blogging while he and Beanie are napping. Let's get to getting!

Strange.

Between starting my sprinkler fun post and posting it (and editing it a few times) seven international readers popped on this blog from blogger.com. Weird? I thought so. I wonder what post is of such international interest? lol.

Make that 8 now. Hmmmmm....

Sprinkler fun.

Last night (after dinner & before all my posting) I was trying to figure out what Beanie and I should do for the evening. We had left the stroller at the rental so a trip back to get it sort of put us too late for a walk to the park to play. Glenn suggested turning on the sprinkler and letting her play in it. It definitely was a hit. The first time she ran through the water was hilarious. She got just close enough for it to get her and then shrieked and ran away giggling up a storm. I couldn't help laughing just watching her, and ended up running through (in my clothes) a few times myself. We threw her ball back and forth through the sprinker and she picked lots of flowers (okay because Glenn is planning on compeltely redoing the whole garden box) and watered them in the sprinkler. It was a fun evening and, with the weather as nice as it is (and is forecasted to be for quite a bit) I'm sure we will bring out the sprinkler again soon.

Tired, but not ready to sleep.

So, what the hell, I might as well put some of these thoughts flowing through my mind down on this blog.

Today was a rough day. I am stressed and just so over this whole moving thing. Beanie has been a normal almost two year-old, but normal toddler behavior is enough to drive me batty lately. Glenn has been doing so much work around the house that I think he forgets that I might want two seconds to myelf. He's upset about a lot of things. I am too. I feel unsupported in almost everything I do with Beanie. We got in a big long talk about cosleeping yadayada. I know I changed the "plan" when I started cosleeping with Beanie. I know it wasn't something we thought we would do before Beanie was born. But, I also know I can't change any of that now (and I wouldn't either). My views on parenting have changed and cosleeping, extended breastfeeding, and other AP point-of-views have become very important to me and pretty much central to how I choose to parent Beanie. The problem is that we aren't a team as parents. We are divided. And both of us feel unsupported.

We are working on transitioning Beanie to her own bed. Or I am. As Glenn said today, you dig your own grave so you can lie in it. Yea, thanks for the, um, support. I feel like we are making good progress. She is falling asleep after nursing, opposed to during nursing. For her naps (as haphazard as they have been) she hasn't been nursing at all. She is sleeping by herself in her bed right now. When she wakes we have been cuddling back to sleep as opposed to nursing back to sleep. I re-introduced her lovie George the giraffe and she holds and plays with him while nursing.

He doesn't think I'm going to do it. Even when I told him I planned on transitioning her after we moved into the new house he said he didn't believe me. The thing is I wanted to be settled a bit here before just throwing her into her bed by herself. I wanted the baby gate here so we could block off the hall. I wanted the master bedroom not to have tools, nails, and etc all over the floor because I do imagine she's going to wake up and venture into our room. I do have a plan and, so far, all seems to be going pretty well. Except for the whole supportive husband part.

So Glenn, if you read this (which I'd bet you won't) just believe me. I know you didn't sign up for my crunchy parenting style, but I feel like you think you have all the answers to a game you've never even played. I know your work schedule prohibits you from nighttime parenting. I know that. And I don't resent you for it. I do resent that you aren't supportive of me, or how we move forward from here. And we are making progress which is good because, you know what, I miss sleeping next to you too.

And, I don't know how many AP-ers there are that read this blog, but do you have any advice or words of wisdom for me? I try to understand Glenn's point-of-view and why he feels the way he does. I wish I could make him understand mine. I feel like I've done the research on these things and they are important to me. If he would just try to listen, or even if he did some of his own research...even if he came up with a different conclusion at least I would feel like he backed it up somehow. Is there anyone else out there who transformed into a different type of parent than they imagined and their significant other thinks totally differently? I am really struggling here...

Mommy confession #2

The last pages in Beanie's scrapbook are from January. January 2008. I haven't even gotten any prints made since her 1st birthday. She'll be 2 in less than a month.

I really need to get out the external hard drive and start uploading my pics to costco.com (love their photos and their prices). I think I'm going to go month by month as not to overload myself too much.

As for the scrapbook, my goal had been to finish her first year scrapbook by her 2nd birthday. Might still be possible, but I'm not going to hold my breath. I want to get settled here first. At least get some boxes put away so I can actually get to my scrapbooking bin.

I have so much on my mind tonight. I was going to blog some more, but I think I'll leave it at this. I could really go for a nice glass of Cabernet sauvignon but the wine is still over at my sister's. I think we have a bottle of something in the fridge, maybe I should crack that open? I'm more of a red wine gal though....

Awkward extended family relationships.

Okay, I know I can't be the only person who has an awkward, strained relationship with my extended family. I've been thinking about it a lot lately as my grandma's 75th birthday is coming up and my dad is hosting a family reunion/birthday party for her. Part of the gig is that each of us (and by each I really mean each of us...Glenn, Beanie & I) are to make three cards for my grandma. That's nine freaking cards! They are supposed to be fond memories or birthday wishes. I think its calculated to work out so she'll have 75 cards to open. Yowza!

Anyway, it is kind of funny trying to think of things for these cards. And really all nine are going to have to come from me. I mean, Glenn doesn't really know her at all. I'll probably have Beanie scribble some artwork on a few and call that good, but that still leaves six for me. Sigh.

My dad and mom got divorced when I was 14. An already almost non-existent relationship with my grandparents (my dad's parents) became even more so. So, to say the least, there aren't exactly lots of fond memories there. I have some, sure, but they are all from when I was very young so this task of making nine cards seems almost insurmountable. Okay, not really, but you get the idea.

Here are a few that didn't make the cut.

Thanks for pretending I didn't exist after my parents got divorced.

Thanks for asking my husband if he "thought he was a samurai or something" at our wedding.

Thanks for kicking my cat across the room when he nuzzled up against your leg.

Thanks for telling me that there was "no history of mental illness in the family" when I was struggling when I was younger & making me feel like I was all on my own (knowing full well that there was a very serious history of depression -- and suicide -- in my family).

Thanks for mailing all my mail to my dad's house, even though I lived with my mom.

Alright, I'm sure you get the picture. I think it'll be best to stick with memories of picking peas at her farm, thinking cow pies were the funniest kind of pie ever, and Skippy the dog. What do you think?

And coming soon I have to find a father's day card for my dad which is always a difficult task too, although I do have to say it has become easier the last few years as I have gotten older and learned to live and let live.

Bye-bye naps?

Sigh. Is this the end?

Beanie has been napping extremely poorly the last couple days. Poorly as in just here and there in the car, or for a 1/2 hour at 9:30am. The thing is she has been sleeping a ton better at night the last few nights. Hmmm....I'm really liking the sleeping better at night thing; the no nap thing not so much. Can't I have the best of both worlds?

We'll see how things progress as we settle into our routine in the new house.

As for now, I think I'm going to read a little. Hubby and baby in bed?? Me time!!

House pics.

I have hesitated posting pics of the house, mostly because I have been wanting to post before and after pics of the house. Judging from what we have left to do the after pics may take awhile so hopefully these will satisfy your appetite until then!!

The dining room.

The IMO guacamole green fireplace. (Sorry just realized that I don't have any pictures of the biker snot green living room!!)
The "temporary master" as Glenn calls it. Drives me nuts. There are three bedrooms down the hall and the 4th is an addition off the dining room. Just doesn't make sense to me to use that as the master right now with a little kiddo. Maybe someday in the future. So, this is the master.
Beanie's room.
The former purple room (complete with purple carpet), soon to be the office.

The main bathroom.

The workout room. (pretty small as its the converted garage)

The kitchen (still getting used to how much smaller it is than our old one!!)

The 3/4 bath (and me in the mirror..lol)

The playroom.

A close up of the painted baseboards. They are like that in EVERY room!

Oh and click here if you missed the pics of the outside of the house & the yard I posted earlier.

Nineteen days.

Its been nineteen days since we closed on this house and we still haven't spent the night here. Tonight we will though. Its amazing how you can plan for a three week overlap to get all settled in and you still seem to be doing everything at the very last minute. Well, not everything, but I did envision us being all settled in by now. I also envisioned having everything painted and sorted and etc. Overambitious, you think?

The master bedroom and Beanie's room are painted. The living room is mostly done, just have to touch up some paint and finish painting the formerly IMO guacamole green accent wall above the fireplace. The workout room is mostly done as well. That leaves the office, the playroom, the accent wall in the dining room and (eventually) the kitchen.

Its funny because the whole three-week-overlap led me to believe we'd be all settled in and homey by now. Not the case at all! I've been itching to have some of Beanie's (and my) friends over for a backyard playdate, but this house is just not suitable for a bunch of toddlers yet. Soon, hopefully!

Almost everything is out of the rental. I think we will finish that today as well. I really hate going back and forth between home and sort-of home.

What is that law I learned about in business school? Oh yes, Parkinson's Law.....

Work expands to fill the time allotted to it.

So true.

Who do you blog for?

This question came up recently, not in regards to this blog, but regarding the other private blog I keep for Beanie. I was telling Glenn how I was frustrated that no one seemed to check her blog anymore, or at least no one left comments. Or maybe frustrated that my dad checks it twice a day and leaves the most ridiculous comments ever. Either way, the question came up and I have been thinking about it.

With this blog its easy. I blog for myself. Sure, I get excited that there are a few people who like my blog enough to regularly (or at least semi-regularly) read. I think about things and think I should blog about this mostly because I am sure someone will be able to relate, enjoy my post, or give me some advice. But the crux of it is for me. Its a great way to get all those random things out of my head.

With Beanie's blog its more difficult. I do get enjoyment from her blog. I started it because I was sick of everyone asking for more pictures of her (most all our extended family is out of state) and a friend suggested blogging as a way to keep everyone up to date at once. A few friends check her blog, but it is mostly reserved for family. Mostly just the grandparents and they are three very different blog readers/commenterers. First, there's my dad whom I mentioned before. He checks multiple times a day (even when its been two weeks since I posted) and he leaves comments that just crack me up. Like they always have some silly little thing in them like, no laughing at boys until you're 25 Beanie or something like that. Then there's my mom, who always talks to me (via phone or email) about how my dad must check it all the time and he's always the first one to leave a comment. And she's rarely comments, or at least it seems she'll only comment if she can beat my dad to the punch. Then there's my mother-in-law who will go on for years about how much she misses us and wishes she were closer but only checks the blog about every 2 months. Or she'll ask (over the phone) if there's anything new on there yet (even when I've been posting every day).

I guess all I'm trying to say is nothing really, or just point out the differences. I keep up with Beanie's blog because I know our friends and family do appreciate it, maybe just not in the way I want them to? This blog is more fun. I can write and while I may get bummed if no one comments or if certain people I might wish would read don't I still enjoy it. Because its for me, and only for me. The kicks you readers get out of it are a bonus!

I know some people mesh their own blogging and blogging about their children together, but that's just not my cup of tea. I like having my own space, a place where I can blog about any and all craziness I want to. I probably wouldn't feel like that if mother-in-law (or mother or stepmother for that matter) were reading. Same reason I denied my mother-in-law's friend request on facebook, which could be a whole nother blog post entirely (and probably will be, someday).

Anyway, that's it for today...thought maybe some of you fellow bloggers might relate. Or at least get a kick out of my ramblings.

Bow envy.

You know those little girls you see running around with cute little bows, barettes and headbands in their hair? Yea, Beanie is not one of them. No matter how hard I try she does not like "bow-bows." Or she likes them, just on her toes. She will routinely ask for bow-bows only to sit down and put them all over her toes or fingers. Not in her hair. Never in her hair. And, yes, she managed to put all those bow-bows on her toes all by herself.

I honestly don't know why I even bother anymore. Still I hold out hope that someday Beanie will become the little girl who likes her hair pulled up. Maybe?

Sometimes (a very few sometimes) she will ask for a bow-bow and pat her head. On the off chance I actually get it in her hair (beacause usually as soon as she asks for it she changes her mind) it doesn't last longer than a minute or two. On the very rare occassion it has lasted longer than those first initial minutes (usually by distraction) it comes out as soon as Beanie realizes it is up in her hair.

So, moms of girls, is there any hope that Beanie will someday wear clips or should I just give up already?

Nighttime nursing.

Beanie is still nursing at night, although it seems she just wants to play and not really nurse. She'll wake up a couple times and rustle around. Sometimes she decides she wants boobie, but it seems to me she's not really nursing. I mean, I guess she is comfort nursing but it is really uncomfortable. I'm thinking more and more that I am really ready to put an end to nighttime nursing. Its been almost two years, right? I know neither of us are magically going to sleep through the night since she's not nursing, but its become something I don't look forward to, rather than something that just didn't really bother me at all.

She's still nursing before nap and bedtime and I'm okay with that for now. She's been nursing in the morning too, as she's been waking up so darn early and I always try to squeak out a little more sleep from her.

So, we'll see how it goes. It appears we're both ready to be nightweaning.

I should also mention...

...that the post below totally makes me want to go out and blow cash on a pregnancy test. Which I was actually considering doing in the next week or so should I not get my little friend. Or unfriend. After being pregnant and not getting, um, fertile again for 19months I really didn't miss having a damn period at all. I'd sort of like it to go away again until we do decide to try and get preggers.

There's something in the water.

Seriously. A month or so ago we found out my brother-in-law and his girlfriend are (very unexpectedly) expecting a little one. Due in December. Today I got a text from my sister-in-law that they just found out they were expecting too. Another surprise. So Beanie will have another cousin in December and one in February. CRAZY!

I'm staying away from the water. I'll stick to beer. At least for the next month or so ;)

//and I'm totally joking about the beer. I drink so little lately I'd probably be a bit tipsy off one beer. How sad is that?

I think Beanie's bedroom is a hit.

I haven't started the stenciling yet, but we took her in her new room the other day to show her the walls. She jumped up on her bed and started saying "purple....purple...purple...wow purple..." as she pointed at each wall. It was hilarious. I guess I made a good color choice.

I feel like there is still so much painting to do. Because of the colors we have to prime almost every room before we paint so it makes for a lot of work. Well, a lot of work for Glenn. He's been doing most of the painting while I unpack the kitchen stuff and watch Beanie. He's hoping to get the workout room painted today and then we can finish unloading the POD. We were hoping to be sleeping there as of tonight, but it might take a couple more days. I have to head back to work tomorrow so what we get done today will probably pretty much be it for the weekend.

Its to be expected.

This afternoon while Glenn was painting the living room Beanie walked over and put her fingerprints all over our 46" plasma screen TV. Glenn was livid! I told her "no" and walked her away to explore something else. Noting that the TV was sitting on our bench by the front door where we put our shoes on (at the TV stand isn't inside yet) I said "Well, with it sitting there its sort of to be expected she's going to try and put her fingers on it." He angrily replied "No, its not."

I wasn't saying it was okay that she put her little fingerprints all over the screen; I was saying that considering the fact that it was sitting on a bench at prime baby-fingerprint-height it would pretty much be a miracle if she didn't try to put her paws on it. Sort of like if you leave your glass on the coffee table while she's thirsty. Sure she has her own sippy cup sitting right there, but for some reason water tastes much, much better out of Mommy or Daddy's glass so she grabs it and spills the water on the coffee table. Can you really blame her for picking up the glass, or do you blame yourself for not thinking it through enough and leaving the glass on the table?

I am apt to put it on myself. She's an almost-two-year-old VERY curious little girl. If you leave something in her plain reach she is going to be curious about it and grab/touch/play with it. She's a toddler. You can tell her no and send her on her way, but, in all reality, maybe you just shouldn't have left it there in the first place?

A (not so) clean break.

So the previous owners are currently living right across the street while the house they are building is being completed. Weird? I think so. Am I wrong that it totally creeps me out that they are living right across the street? I feel like I'm on that show where the old owners come back to see what you've done to the house except they're not coming back...they are right there while we're doing the fixing up. Yea. Creepy.

It first came to my attention on Sunday when I realized that the lady and her 4 kids piling out of the minivan across the street looked an awful lot like the previous owners. Then Glenn came out of the master and said "hey, the old owners are across the street." He was hoping they were just visiting friends, but, no, they are there all the time. Yesterday after Beanie and I arrived in the morning I noticed there was a note hanging on the front door. It was from the old owner. Attached to it was a flyer for the neighborhood Memorial Day BBQ/garage sale/concert. Yes, be jealous...I now live in an awesome neighborhood. As in they have BBQs in my cul-de-sac. Then the UPS guy dropped off a package for the previous owner. Sigh. After I noticed the van leave I took the box over and dropped it on the porch. Today I got the mail. It was all for them. As Beanie and I were leaving to go to the PO Box I noticed the previous owner at the mailbox so I grabbed her mail and gave it to her.

Then came the conversation. She was super friendly, don't get me wrong. Too friendly for my tastes maybe. Maybe just too friendly because she used to sleep/eat/pee/bathe in my house. Perhaps if it was another neighbor I would've thought Wow, what a nice & friendly neighbor! She asked Beanie if she liked her new room and I replied that Daddy was painting it purple at the moment. "More purple?" she replied, suggesting (or assuming) that the room that was her daughter's was also going to be our daughter's room. Actually, the currently purple room is going to be the office. I didn't tell her that. Nor did I tell her that we were painting the biker snot rocket green living room brown later on. And it was the weird way she said how are you, Kristen? like she knew me. I wish (oh I wish) I could reflect the intonation in her voice her on the blog because it was weird. Like the kind of tone someone would use if they were asking you how you were after a loved one died or something. Like I halfway expected her to put her hand on my shoulder or something.

Its just weird. When we moved out of the condo we forgot to leave the garage door openers. Glenn had it programmed into his car and we hadn't used them in ages. Neither of us wanted to go back, even just to drop the opener off on the porch.

So, I don't know. Is it weird that I'm a bit creeped out that they are right across the street? I feel like we are trying to start fresh and make it our home and they are breathing right down our necks. What do you think? Would it creep you out too?

New link.

There's a new link in my blog list.

Parent v. Parent

Its a fairly new blog and I love it already. Check it out.

The Play Room cont.

Mommy = 1, Glenn = 0.

Did he read this post? I doubt it, but seems the competition was off before it even began. Glenn just started talking about the 3rd bedroom as "the office" which means I won. Yay!!

I do think it makes a lot more sense this way and am happy we came to an agreement (a me-winning agreement!!).

There's a whole lot of painting going on.

Just not so much as of yet though! We have so much painting to do in the new house. The previous owners had really odd color choices. And 4 children so the bedroom are very personalized. We've taken down the border and primed in the master and are set to paint today. We also want to paint Beanie's room today so that we can get the beds set up there. Luckily we had some paint leftover from the condo (3 gallons of a lighter tan when we bought a shade too light for the kitchen on accident) and we bought some more paint yesterday at Home Depot.

I especially like the names Glenn has come up with for the colors currently in the house. Like biker snot rocket green which is pretty much throughout the common areas of the whole house and also in the living room. The accent wall in the living room is IMO guacamole green which, while I love guacamole, is about the most putrid color of green I've ever seen. Glenn hates it so much he primed it yesterday before we even had any paint for the room. I tried to get a name for the green in the workout room from hin, but he said he was too tired.

I'm just hoping Beanie cooperates with some painting today. She wasn't much for napping there yesterday, kept waking up. I think I may have to bring the laptop and a DVD over. This might be one of those days that a little TV is a blessing :)

Jardine Enterprises Cribs S-U-C-K SUCK!!!

Once again the recall on Jardine Enterprises cribs has been expanded. We have one for Beanie (not that its ever really been used, but still). The first recall was in June 2008 and it was expanded earlier this year. Beanie's crib was (sort of) included in the expansion, it was the correct model number but was made in Vietnam instead of China so apparently it was a-okay. Now the recall has been expanded to include the ones made in Vietnam, but somehow the stain/color/etc of Beanie's crib makes it okay. I have to double check once we get the crib out of the POD, but according to the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission site, only black and white Olympia Lifetime Cribs are involved.

Get it together! I can't imagine how a crib with a natural stain (but the exact same crib) is somehow safer than one that is white or black.

And it makes me really angry that the recalls keep getting expanded. I'm not the most knowledgable person on the whole recall protocol, but if Beanie had been sleeping in this crib for the last 2 years and just now they recalled her specific model I would be beyond livid. At the least I'd like to get my money back for the crib (or some of it at least) by selling it on craigslist, but who the heck is going to buy a crib that is (almost) recalled? Its ridiculous.

And Jardine's remedy? To give you credit towards the purchase of a new crib. Hello...we purchases this crib over two years ago so the likelihood of needing another one right now is pretty damn low. Perhaps you should've just made a safe crib in the first place! Or give credit towards some other product that parents of two year-olds need because most of them aren't in the market for a brand new crib.

Anyway, I just want to get the crib out of the darn POD already and see if it is or isn't included. If it isn't I think I'll call Babies R Us and see if there's any remedy.

I'm attempting crafty-ness.

I have a really neat idea of what I want to do in Beanie's new room. Whether or not it will turn out as nicely as I imagine in my head remains to be seen. So, here's my vision...

I picked out a lighter purple color which we are going to paint the walls. Then I'm going to use our laser level and a stencil (I'm thinking butterflies) to stencil about chair rail height around the room in a darker shade of purple. I'm thinking its going to look great as long as I can stay within the lines. Its probably going to be a lot more work than I think, but I am pretty excited. I'm nervous too. I hope it doesn't turn out looking like crap.

I'll be taking lots of before and after pics (of all the rooms) so you can look forward to those!

And I would really appreciate any tips anyone has on this whole stencil crafty-ness idea of mine.

Baby Jail retraction.

Okay, okay I don't really think cribs are baby jails. I jokingly call them "baby jails."

If there's one thing I hate its people who judge how other people are parenting their children. What business is it of anyone else's if Beanie sleeps with me, if I'm still nursing her, etc etc. Anyways, since that is a huge pet peeve of mine I didn't want to come across as sounding judgmental when talking about cribs. So that's that.

The Play Room.

Well, we are moving in this weekend. Yahoo! And, unbeknownst to me, Glenn and I had very different ideas about where the play room is going to be. Really, I don't know where this confusion came from because we have talked about it many, many times. Big emphasis on many. Like yesterday when we were discussing whether or not we missed the condo and I said that I missed that the kitchen opened into the dining and living room where we could watch Beanie play. We discussed how the new playroom would be just off the dining room in our new place but that the kitchen wasn't completely open to it. That was just last night!

So this morning we are talking about painting the bedrooms and Glenn says how the 3rd bedroom is going to be the playroom. Which doesn't even make sense to me as hopefully in a couple years the 3rd bedroom will be #2's bedroom. And its small. The 4th bedroom (which was an addition to the house) is much bigger and more suitable for a playroom in my opinion. I've had visions of playdates with Beanie's friends. How are we going to fit a bunch of kids and mamas in the small 3rd bedroom? Glenn wants to use the 3rd bedroom as the playroom and the 4th as the office. Makes no sense to me.

I just don't understand where this confusion came from. We talked about is so many times. The current owners use the bonus room for a playroom. We had thought about doing that as well, but then decided it would be better suited as our exercise room. Which would make the 4th bedroom (before thinking it would be our exercise room) as the play room. And we've talked about it so many times.

Okay, enough of my rambling. I'm planning on winning this one ;) so I'll let you know how it goes.

Fail.

Well I've been thinking about updating about our Great TV Test. I've wanted to, but I seem to have failed. I had big aspirations (even expectations) of what we would accomplish. Instead one day while I was at work Glenn went out and bought Spongebob Season 2 on DVD. Its not that we've totally reverted to how we used to be, but I just haven't made the changes I was hoping to. I guess, to sum it up, I feel like a failure. While I never set out to be a TV-free household I did want us to make progress in that direction. I had visions of becoming crafty mom overnight. Yea, that didn't happen. It has been hard (harder than I thought) living in the rental. It is hard not being in our own space, not having our own furniture, or things, or anything. See, I haven't written this blog because now I just feel like I'm making excuses. We have made progress. The TV is not on as much. Mostly Beanie watches a little in the morning while I drink my coffee and a little while we make dinner. We've been getting out for late morning playdates which has been a lot of fun. And after her nap we've been going for walks or running errands. It is progress I guess, just not as much as I was hoping/expecting/aspiring to.

But, you know what? That is okay. Its okay that I'm not crafty mom. Its okay that we watch a little TV. Its okay that I know almost every word to every episode of Spongebob Season 2 right now. Most of all, its okay to recognize that progress was made even if it was a little smaller than I imagined.

Spring is here and summer is right around the corner. We aren't going to be spending our days cooped up inside while the rain is pouring down. We are going to be outside and enjoying it and not sitting in front of the TV. Crafty mom time can still come, but its not something I'm going to lose sleep over.

Where do we go from here?

Beanie is almost 2. When we move into our new house the plan is to try and slowly transition her to her own bed, a twin bed. I miss sleeping (and I'm really just talking sleeping) with Glenn. I know he thinks I don't, but I do. I have only been doing what I've thought was best for Beanie. And having her all the way across the house in a baby jail (read crib) wasn't best. Nursing her at night was best for our nursing relationship. However, now that she's almost 2 I am ready to be done with the night nursing. There, I said it. I'm not quite ready to be done nursing all together, but I am over the night wakings to nurse. I am conflicted on whether to go about transitioning her to her own bed and stopping night nursing all at once. Seems like a lot of change for a young kid. When we were at the condo she was doing pretty well and I was only nursing her once at about 4am. Now she is waking multiple times (better than when we first got to the rental though) and I am afraid that will start when we move into our house as well. Maybe I will try to cuddle her back to sleep, while still co-sleeping when we move into the house? I don't know. I honestly want to make it as easy as possible for everyone.

I'm also ready to be done with her grabbing at my boobs and lifting up my shirt all afternoon long. I know it was just a phase, but boy oh boy she was driving me nuts with all her antics for a couple weeks there. Now I tell her no and offer some sort of distraction. She is smart though. she knows that I nurse her down for naptime and bedtime, so she has resorted to trying to tell me she's sleepy when I tell her no boobies. I'm not so easily fooled. She seems to be doing pretty well with the offering cow's milk or distraction and I'm glad its working. She can't just be going for and pinching my boobs all day when she wants to nurse. Its all about boundaries so we are both happy.

I'm just trying to wrap my head around all this and figure out a plan of attack. I know I plan to gate off the hallway and put a baby lock on the 3rd bedroom door so if she wakes she can only come to the master. I will probably use the monitor for awhile because I don't know how well I'll hear her. I'm actually okay if she wants to come to bed with me after Glenn leaves for work, but we'll see how that goes. I'm still trying to figure out if that is a possibility or if she needs the rigidity of being in her own bed all night long. As for nursing, I have no problem nursing her before nap and bedtime past her 2nd birthday. I do plan on weaning all other nursing sessions though. I don't think that's unreasonable and I think it will lead to more happiness with the relationship on my part.

8 o'clock

That's what time Beanie went to bed. She went down for her nap right before noon...I guess I tired her out good and plenty with our late morning playdate. Considering she's been going to bed at 9 or 9:30 and waking at 6 I'm just hoping she's not wide-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4 tomorrow morning.

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We got the call from our mortgage gal. We are in the clear and just waiting for escrow to call and schedule time for us to sign the docs. Woohoo!!!

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I have lots of things I've been wanting to write about, but its late and seeing how I wasted an incredible amount of time doing stupid things on facebook I should probably head to bed. Just in case I do get that 4am wake-up call :(

Nighty-night!

Only one week!!!

Until we close on our new house. Woot! Woot!

Coffee please.

So I am trying to figure out exactly what to do about Beanie's sleep schedule. Her new sleep schedule. She had been napping later at about 1 o'clock. I know this is a popular time for toddler naps but Beanie had always gone down around noon at the latest. Well now its more like 1 and then she decides she doesn't want to go to bed until 9pm or later. Seriously cutting in to any time I have to myself and its driving me mad. I end up staying up way later than I am used to just to get a little time to think, watch Grey's Anatomy (Season 3...we're hooked now) without interruptions or get a little time on the internet. And then she's waking up at 6 or 6:30am!! Oy! I am really not ready for naps to go by the wayside, but we have to shake something up with them because this is getting old.

We have a playdate at 10am today so I'm hoping I can get her to crash shortly thereafter. Luckily we're meeting at an espresso shop because I'm going to need it. Unfortunately its not until 10 so I'm going to need a cup or two of coffee before then :)