Babies and Toddlers

I've been on the fence about having another one, right? The other day when we went to see our friend's new baby, I jumped over to the side of not having another...Not to say that I'll stay there, seeing as I was pro-one from the day Ingrid was born until she turned one. Then I thought it would be nice to have a brother or sister for her. Then we traveled on a plane and I went back to wanting only one. I change my mind easily, it sucks.

So Tuesday we went to our friend Heather's. She has a two month old, Olivia, and I was really excited to see how Ingrid reacted to her. Ingrid could've cared less, I don't think she realized it was another human. She was way more interested in the dog that was whining at the back door. When she did see the baby in the swing, she had a fun time taking the blanket off and then throwing it back on, watching it land on the poor baby's face. On a positive note, Olivia seemed to find this very entertaining and smiled the whole time.

The a-ha moment was when I was holding Olivia and feeding her a bottle. Ingrid came up to me and whined and cried and tugged on my leg. She tried to take the bottle out of Olivia's mouth, and did whatever she could to get my attention away from the baby. I know tons of moms do this, but I don't want to!! I hate having my attention drawn in six different directions! I love to be able to pay all my attention to Ingrid. I know I would just get used to it, much like I got used to nights of no sleep and other horrible things from having the first baby, but I really don't want to...

Knowing my personality, I think I would do much better just having one and doing it all for her than trying to spread myself out over two kids. People think because I was a nanny before having Ingrid that I must just love kids and want a ton of them, but they are wrong. I love kids, one at a time. I watched two little boys while I was pregnant. One went to school for most of the day, leaving me with the other. I had two hours after school where I had both boys and it was the hardest time ever. I watched them over a weekend and I thought it would take another week to recover. Most of the families I nannied for had one child. I like having only one child to take care of.

I have been reading this book, Parenting an Only Child by Susan Newman. I really like some of the things she has to say. She goes through debunking myths of onlies being too dependent, being lonely, being demanding, wanting siblings and feeling like something is missing since they don't have one. And she also goes into what to say to people that think you're crazy for only wanting one, and how to deal with your own feelings when you question your decision. It's been a great way for me to sift through all the thoughts I have about family size and why I have these hormonal shifts in either being happy with one or longing for another.

What I have figured out is this: I don't want another person, I want to just go back to when Ingrid was a baby for a day or two. I want to relive her being immobile and cuddly and wanting to be held all the time. I don't want that full time, though, just a day or two. Like how puppies are so cute and cuddly, but they grow to full grown dogs--I just want to pet a puppy, not buy one. Yes, I just compared my child to a dog :) So, I think I will just enjoy other people's babies and then go home and enjoy my one and only.

Etsy junk

Stuff is happenin' at Applesauce Crafts!! I'm getting ready for the holidays by making some cute Christmas jumpers, and possibly snuggly flannel pants if I ever get back to Joann's for more flannel. Two blogs will be featuring reviews and giveaways from my shop, which is pretty exciting. Around the first of November Chari over at Take Time to Smell the Rose is hosting a giveaway, and sometime soon after that, Emi at the Cloth Diaper Report is doing her review. I am very excited and so appreciative of the opportunity to promote Applesauce Crafts and get the word out that I'm making cute things :) If anyone needs any Christmas gifts that are one of a kind and ridiculously adorable, check out my etsy shop!

Oh, and also, I'm thinking of adding these reusable cup holders for all the coffee and tea drinking mamas. What do you think? Part of me thinks if you want to be green you'd just bring your own mug, but on the other hand, this is way easier to carry with you than a travel mug, and every little bit helps. Hmm, help me decide, does the world need reusable cup holders??

News from the Job front.

Brendan talked to his advisor a couple days ago, about his future and how long he'll stay at the University, etc. It looks like he will continue on at UofM until the spring, then start the job search and we'll be moving in the summer. Ahh, a sigh of relief to actually know what the next six months is going to bring!

So...now the question is this: do we move into Ann Arbor for the six months after our lease is up here, or do we renew here and then do a big move to wherever B gets a job? Pros for staying here: not moving until summer. We would have to move in January again, which is NO FUN in Michigan. It was -14 degrees I believe when we moved in. Yuck. Also, our stuff is here and unpacked and we're cozy here. I love our dishwasher, washer/dryer, fireplace, and the dog park.

Pros for moving to Ann Arbor: We'd leave most of our stuff packed up so less packing to do when we do our big move to Brendan's new job. Brendan would be able to be home earlier if he didn't have to do the stupid commute to Ypsilanti. Seriously, we don't live in a city and his work is about ten miles away, WHY does it take him an hour to get home??? I hate the traffic around here, it's worse than it was in Milwaukee, a real city! I would also like to be closer to the stuff that's going on in Ann Arbor. I hardly go there because it's just a pain in the ass to get there. If we lived there, though, we could actually do things like go out to dinner!

I am undecided. Moving means spending more money on a smaller place without laundry. I don't know if I can do that :) Pro and con lists suck, I can always see both positives and negatives and neither one seems to outweigh the other...Stay tuned, our saga continues.

No More Bottles!!

We are on day two of no bottles and it seems to be going pretty well. Crap, I just jinxed myself!

We started two nights ago, after Brendan unloaded the dishwasher and had to put together all six parts of the bottle for each of the three bottles that were in there. I have been irritated with them as well, and had thought of not bringing them with us when we went on vacation in August. Then I decided I'd like to sleep on my vacation, so we kept using bottles. But as soon as Brendan made a disgusted sound and said he wanted to be done with bottles, I figured it was time.

I did not want to force Ingrid to give up bottles right at a year old. I couldn't see why I'd give up something that worked so well for us. She only ever had them at nap and bedtime, I just didn't see what the big deal was. I figured we would know when the time was right. I am so glad we waited until she seemed ready and we were both on board, I think it makes a big difference in how well it's going vs. how horrible it could be.

Ingrid seemed ready because she never really drank much of the bottle, just a couple ounces. And then she'd get up three times a night for a quick suck and go back to sleep. So she really didn't NEED it, it was more for comfort. Like I said, I was ready to be done with them just for the fact of how annoying it was to make sure we had all the parts to the vent system and the right flow nipples, etc etc. If there's a next baby, they're getting the cheap-o bottles that only come with a nipple ring and the nipple. None of this fancy venting system!! So I was ready, and then when Brendan said he was ready, it was time.

The first night was tough. Ingrid cried on and off for an hour and a half, but fell asleep after much singing and shushing and rocking. Yesterday at nap time she went right down, she could've cared less if she had a bottle. Last night she went right down, too, but was up a couple hours later and screamed for two hours! I offered her a sippy of milk, which she thought was very offensive. She threw a little temper tantrum right in my arms, hitting me and throwing the cup out of my hands and arching her back and yelling. Not fun. Today naptime, right down. Tonight at bedtime, she went right down. Let's see if she will stay down. I asked her very nicely before bedtime if she would please sleep and not scream in my face...Let's hope she listened.

I can't believe she's done with bottles. She is such a little girl now, she smiles at us with a mouthful of teeth, she talks up a storm, she's not a baby!! Where does the time go?

A Great Article

Holly over at the Cloth Diaper Experiment posted the link to this article. I think it's pretty funny when people try to say disposables are better than cloth or not as bad for the environment as some would have you believe. Yes, they are convenient sometimes, and yes, I still use them sometimes. But I would never say they are better for the environment than cloth diapers. That's just silly.

Oh, Cloth, How I Missed You!

Last time we went on vacation I brought along all our cloth diapers and went to the laundromat and washed them every two days. It was not worth it at all. I ended up spending over $20 washing them, but because I ran out of quarters I couldn't do an extra rinse on them and all the diapers ended up smelling super bad. Gross.

So, this time when we went to Denver I bought disposables to take along. I got a pack of Earth's Best non-chlorine diapers. Also not worth it. They're paper, they leaked, and they gave her a rash. Rashes are not good, they do not make for happy babies.

When we got home the first thing I did was change Ingrid out of her disposable and into a cloth diaper. They seemed so cozy and soft!! I can't believe I ever used disposables. But there has got to be some compromise for vacations, doesn't there??

Off To Denver!

Bright and early tomorrow morning we are leaving for Denver, Colorado. It will be the first time Ingrid's been on a plane! How exciting, and utterly terrifying. She loves to wave at every plane that goes by in the sky (we live by an airport, so that is quite frequent.) I've been talking a lot about how we get to go on a plane and fly with the birds and go see Aunt Shell. I have toys and books and dvds and snacks. So I hope it goes well, but you just never know with Ingrid...

From the very start Brendan and I knew we'd continue to travel and do fun things, even with kids. We always hated when friends would say they couldn't go somewhere because of their baby. We were going to just have our baby live our already established lifestyle, within reason. It wasn't too hard for the most part. Ingrid came to the cottage with us at 6 days old, Brendan's college friends got together for a raucous party when she was four months, and she just slept in a pack and play throughout the whole ordeal. I took her to Holland for Tulip Time and she fell asleep in my arms while I was at a bonfire with friends. Sometimes she's really great!

Then there are the times when she's not. For example, the night we went to a friend's house to play Guitar Hero and she screamed bloody murder the entire time we were there. Or the time I was in a wedding and she screamed and cried the entire night before the wedding, until Brendan took her out to the car and slept with her on his chest. In the car, with the seat reclined. Or just a couple weeks ago when we tried to take her camping and she was up all night long. You just really never know with her!!

Even though we never know what we're going to get with her, I'm still glad we travel with her. Most of the time she's okay, and she always settles in the second day we're there, she just needs to get used to things. I want her to be okay with going places, I want her to be flexible. I just hope it gets a little easier as she gets older. So, off to Denver tomorrow, on a plane. I hope she's in a good mood and sleeps well at the hotel and we have a good time. Otherwise, I'm not sure Brendan will agree to go anywhere with her ever again...