So Long, Nuks.

I threw away Ingrid's nuks (pacifiers) this morning.  Just cold turkey, say good bye to them, honey, in the trash they go!  We've been talking about how babies use nuks but not big girls and she's really into being a big girl.  And Brendan and I wanted her to have it gone before the baby gets here, and she was up screaming for it twice last night, so...time to go!  I have always disliked seeing kids walking around trying to talk around their pacifiers, and she was starting to do that.  She only had it at naptime and bedtime, it usually didn't leave her bedroom, so it wasn't like it was affecting her speech, but it drove me nuts when she'd spit her words out while sucking on that thing. 

Naptime wasn't happening today, even though I tried to wear her out.  We had to go to the car place to get a part put on, bright and early at 8am.  Then we went to run errands, stopped at a park, and came home to pack a picnic and go to the pool.  By 12:30 she was laying her head down on my shoulder and asking to go home.  Of course, once we got there she was all engines go again, go figure...So we're trying to do the one hour rest time, I gave her books and a bottle of water and told her she had to be quiet and rest.  Ha!  That kid does not sit still if she doesn't feel like it.  I kind of rested but mostly just kept hearing her banging things around in her room, knocking the fan over, jumping on the bed, singing songs.  Sigh...is it really the end of naptime?  Or will she learn how to zonk out without a piece of plastic in her mouth?

Bedtime tonight should be interesting.  Hopefully without a nap she'll be okay, but who knows.  Eventually she'll have to sleep, right? 

What a Good Day!

This morning I thought today would suck. Ingrid was up until almost 2am last night, in and out of our bed, crying, and being unhappy. And then even after all that she was up at 6:30! I could barely open my eyes this morning, even after three cups of coffee.

But...we had a great day! It snowed a little, which Ingrid kept talking about. We made more paper snowflakes for our window since she managed to rip off most of them. We colored, of course, and I cleaned, although you wouldn't ever know it looking at the mess that's all over now.

Ingrid (and I) took a nice nap and then ate lunch. We took the dog outside, even though it was freezing! The dog park gets this huge lake in the middle when it rains, and then it freezes into a little ice skating rink. Ingrid loves to watch me wobble and slide on it, and even tries herself. It was so cold, I felt bad about her little chapped cheeks, but she cried when I said I needed to go in. My ears were frozen even with a hat on...Yuck winter.

When we came in I made cupcakes. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook? I adore it. Every time I need to make something there is a nice straightforward recipe in there. I got a Martha Stewart one from a friend, but she was right--it's too fancy! I never have most of the ingredients she calls for, and none of the molds/pans/fancy serving things she demands. But the BHG cookbook is awesome. I made yellow cake, which looks really good, and once they're cooled I'll make chocolate cream cheese frosting to go on top. Mmmmm!! My pants are busting open already!

Then the maintenance man came to tell me that yes, our dishwasher was broken, and no, he can't fix it. So I have done dishes four times today!! I forgot what a pain that is, I've been spoiled for a year now with a dishwasher...Ingrid helped me do dishes, and by helping I mean splashing and taking a cup and pouring water all over the counter and floor. The silver lining of that is that I got to mop the floor afterward! Which sadly has not been done since we've moved in, I bet.

Once one set of dishes were done, it was time to make dinner--ham and pepper quiche. Ingrid was still splashing in the water, therefore taking up two of the three tiny areas of counterspace. I had to move stuff around and try to make room to roll out a crust, but I managed! I am always so stupidly proud of myself when I can make multiple things in our tiny kitchen and have a toddler underfoot.

So now, quiche is in the oven, cupcakes are cooling, Ingrid's watching Charlie and Lola and I'm about to go change my clothes because they are a pastey mess from dishwater and flour. But overall great day!

New Felt and Fabric Makes Mama Happy

Today I went and ran errands by myself.  How ridiculous is it that going to Target and Joann Fabrics without a kid in tow is my idea of girls day out??  I was so excited to be by myself, to browse through Target and check out all the little baby stuff for a friend that's due in a couple months.  I had to try on bathing suits, which in itself is very NOT exciting, but to be able to shudder at my fat bottom without a kid in the dressing room with me made it a bit more doable. 

And then I got to roam through the fabric store and not worry that there was a line at the cutting counter.  I got into a conversation with two grandmas about what they were making and how they started sewing when they were my age.  And now their daughters are 43...Someday Ingrid will be 43, how insane is that??  I got a bunch of new felt and a couple yards of the best green fabric, and some of the felt was in the remnant bin, which means half off! 

I got home to a happy girl and husband, and after Brendan left to go to work I put Ingrid down for a nap.  Usually I can't lie down until I know she's sleeping but today I just closed my eyes and drifted, took a 20 minute cat nap to the sounds of her reading her books in bed, and I woke up to silence.  She fell asleep with stuffed animals and books in bed with her!  Score!  I was fully prepared to get up and get her up and try to figure out what to do this afternoon, but now I can keep relaxing and get some sewing done! 

Great day. 

Just Roll With It.

We are having some issues over here at the Liddle house.  Ingrid has been sick and clingy, whiny, non sleeping, crabby, you name it, she's felt it in the span of six seconds...I'm trying really hard to just go with it, let her have her phase of being crabby and sick, nurse her through it with cuddles and patience, but after a week of this, my patience has run out.  I'm going on very little sleep and at 2am, when she's screaming in her bed but doesn't actually want or need anything, it's very hard to see this as a small glitch in our routine.  I start thinking things will NEVER go back to "normal" (whatever that is, anyway...)  Things start becoming massively important, like if we take her into our bed to sleep another night, she'll absolutely never learn how to sleep on her own again.  Or if I go in there to calm her, she'll be up at 2am every single night of her life and I'll never once get another good night's sleep. 

Last night the only thing that got me through was Sarah's post and knowing every mom goes through a period of wondering what the hell is going on with their kid.  This is why I love the blog world!  I feel so much support from other moms whether they know it or not.  Whether I've met them or not.  Whether the issues are the same or not.  Just knowing other moms are up at all hours and dealing with their kids makes me feel a little calmer.

So last night as Ingrid cried on, I just kept saying to myself every minute she cries is a minute closer to morning.  Be consistent, she'll fall asleep eventually.  And she did.  After an hour, many many trips into her room to rub her back and give her a hug and put her blanket back on her, after an hour of cries and wails of mamamama, she fell asleep and slept until 8am.  It was a very small blip in the big picture, one measly hour, but man, in the heat of the moment when all I want to do is go back to bed and curl up under the blankets and go to SLEEP already, it seemed huge.  Alas, it was not.

The same is true of her two days of not napping.  It really drove me crazy to see her rubbing her eyes and asking for her blankets and books only to put her down in her bed and listen to her jumping and singing and not sleeping.  And then getting her out of bed only to have her cry at every single thing that happened because she was so tired.  I was so crazy I almost started to cry.  Not only does SHE need the naps, but dammit, so do I!!  I work so hard every day taking care of her and the house, those two hours of her sleeping are my only time to calm down!!  And then people would tell me their kid stopped napping right around now and I seriously had a meltdown.  Brendan took Ingrid out of the house to drive around and let me nap, I was so upset. 

And now, with my cup of coffee in hand and a clear head from six straight hours of sleep, I can see that it's probably not the end of her naps, it's probably just a phase.  I need to just roll with it, let her talk in her crib if she wants to, not force a nap on her if she's just not going to, not get so upset if once or twice she doesn't nap.  Keep trying and just ride this wave of her being sick and everything getting out of whack.  I really want to be that calm mom who goes with the flow, but it's a struggle.  I have to physically tell myself to remember that, it is so completely not in my nature to do so.  I want to be in control of everything and have things go my way, and sadly, with kids it's just not possible.  So instead of fighting Ingrid, I'm going to fight my urge to have everything under my control.  Let go, roll with it.