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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Holiday Craziness

I'm still here. It's been a week since I've written anything, which is funny considering that last week I thought 'Oh, next week I'm off, I can probably post every day!'

HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!

I have high aspirations.

I don't always actually meet them.

Since last Wednesday, I have bought and wrapped presents, made cookies, stayed overnight at my grandparents, wrapped some more, visited my in-laws, spent time with my parents twice, went to our local butcher to fill our basement freezer, and today I'm working. Even though I'm on vacation.

SIGH.

I know, I know, it's like this for everyone this time of year. And yet, each year around Thanksgiving I think 'THIS year will be different. This year I will relax and enjoy the Christmas season.

Again: HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!

No, I did enjoy it. I have a wonderful family and enjoy many blessings throughout the year. You just have to wait a week to read about them on my blog while I recover from what can only be described as a holiday hangover sans alcohol. I like to keep my readers in suspense.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Snots

I love watching Christmas movies, and one of my all time favorites is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I saw it with my family this weekend. Little did I know that part of it would resemble my life very soon:
OK, so indeed my baby does not have a 'set', but she has been just about that snotty this week and she also loves a good tummy rub.

I know, you're saying to yourself "She talks about illness all the time on this blog". (I also posted about it here and here). Well, wintertime motherhood is like that. Snot, vomit, congestion for a week or two, a break of a few weeks if you're lucky, and then you're facing the same battle all over again. Heaven forbid you have multiple germ carriers little darlings in your house because then it's just one constant stream of disgusting bodily fluids and sleepless nights. Or so I hear.

Actually, Amelia is pretty happy when she's sick. As evidenced here:

And here:
The worst part of her cold has not been wiping buckets of snot off her face or having her smear it on my shirts. Instead, I have been sleep deprived for nearly a week. Because she can't take cold medicine or blow her nose, she also can't breath at night and only finds comfort if I hold her, fairly upright, on the couch. Not super comfortable for mommy. Finally after five nights of little sleep (and sometimes some tears at 2 a.m. From me. Not the baby), she slept decent last night.

I feel like a whole new person today, and a little bit over the edge with energy. Which is awesome, because I have a ton of cleaning, work, and Christmas type things to do. Like watch the rest of SNL Christmas that I missed last night, which my husband tells me includes my favorite SNL holiday clip of all time:

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Crazy Week

I was totally going to write a post Thursday or Friday, but let me tell you, it's been a crazy week. Someone got their hands on my checking account number and was paying their bills with it, I locked myself out of the car while I was at the bank handling it, and now my daughter has a cold:
This creates horrid sleep at night. Which in turn leads to a crabby, unproductive mommy during the day. Thankfully, my husband took care of her this morning so I could lay in bed and try to sleep. Try. Because my mommy brain is used to waking up at 5:30 a.m. every day and thinking about cleaning, working, exercising, diapers, meal planning, playing, laundry, dishes, etc. Also it occurred to me this morning that I'm running a half marathon in April and I'm going to have to start training for it in a month. Don't ask me why this is what I think about on the rare occasion that I could sleep in.

ANYWHO, I felt like I could be lazy about my postings because yesterday I was mentioned on Life's Crazy Joke. Very generous of Meredith to give some other blogs some exposure and also gave me a break on writing. Check her out, she's a funny lady.

And now, I'm off to try to peel my rear end off the couch and do something, hopefully Christmas related, because did I mention that I have hardly anything made, bought, or wrapped? No? Um, yep, not a thing done.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Refreshed

I was on the brink of exhaustion yesterday. I can't blame it all on Amelia, as I neglected to take any naps over the weekend and there were times when I just couldn't sleep even when she was slumbering peacefully next to me. Regardless of who was to blame, I really needed a good night's sleep last night. No toddler staying up in the middle of the night or waking up every 1.5 to 2 hours. No mommy brain a-buzz with things I need to accomplish at 4 a.m. Just some rest.

I got it. Finally. Between 9 p.m. and 5:30 a.m., Amelia woke ONCE. This is as good as it gets with our daughter. I thought about getting up at 5:30, but was so cozy with Amelia that I passed back out. Till 6:45 a.m. When I woke up, I was in the best mood ever. No mumbling or tripping over my own feet to get to the coffee pot. No cursing under my breath. Just a cuddly toddler, hot coffee, and chocolate covered gingersnaps, along with a big smile on my face.

The downside is I probably won't see such sleep again for months. This made me wonder if I could barter with Amelia for her to sleep at night. Some things I could promise her:

  • Endless daytime cuddling (which she's doing now anyways).
  • Cookies and milk at every meal.
  • Unlimited access to my keys, which I only let her play with when she's driving me up the wall.
  • Letting her yank on the dog as much as she wants (sorry, Molly, we all have to make sacrifices so Mommy can get some sleep).
  • An increase in naked baby time during the week.
  • All day Sesame Street on the T.V.
I ran some of these ideas past her, and she seems not impressed, as she put her hand over my mouth while I was reading them to her. Ah, well, it was worth a shot!

** PS, if you missed it yesterday, you can now vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs by clicking the banner at the top of my page.... and you can vote for me each time you visit my site! Thanks for any votes :)

Monday, December 12, 2011

Thirty One

Friday I turned 31. It was a weekend full of excitement. Friday we went to eat at the new Mexican Restaurant in town. Saturday I started my day with a spinning class with the hardest instructor at my gym at eight in the morning, then followed it with taking Amelia to see Santa read a story at our library (she fell asleep-- clearly not impressed by jolly old Saint Nick), then a haircut and a massage. Sunday was my birthday party with the family.

It was a good weekend.

Now I'm busting my butt to meet a deadline at work and anxiously counting down to Christmas. Not so much because I'm dying to get presents but instead because I need to get/make the presents that I'm giving. I have a ton on my plate right now, just as probably everyone does around the holidays.

In any case, if you'd like to give me a virtual birthday/Christmas gift, click on the banner at the top and vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs! You can vote for me each time you read my blog, so it's a gift you can give me throughout the year :)

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Multiple Toddler Survival

This weekend, this happened at my house:
TWO toddlers in my house. That is my friend's son, Luke. He is six weeks younger than Amelia, and I managed to survive both of them for a whole 90 minutes. His parents have not been on a childless date since he was born, and I decided that this was insanity in the making. I can't have my mommy friends going insane, I need them around and with it so they keep me sane. You are probably asking yourself how it worked out.

Actually? I enjoyed it.

Don't get any ideas, Mom and Dad. It did not inspire any baby making at our house.

I did not admit the true weight of my anxiety about watching Luke to his mom because I didn't want it to add to her nervousness about leaving him. It wasn't because I didn't think I could handle him. Instead, I wanted him to have a tearless and fuss free time so his mom could feel comfortable with me babysitting him on a regular basis. Every mom needs a standby babysitter, and I am blessed enough to have mine. This mommy needs one too, and I wanted to keep Luke happy so that could happen.

You might be saying, well, couldn't you just lie if he had a hard time?

NO I couldn't. It's against the mommy honor code in my book.

I didn't need to worry about that, though, because he did great. I did learn that when he's adjusting, it's best to leave him alone. It never ceases to amaze me how different babies are from each other. If I leave Amelia with someone, they'd better cuddle and love her until she's decided that they are trustworthy, otherwise they are ousted from her loveable adults list. With Luke, the more attention I gave him, the more he stared at me like I was an oddball, which led to some brief tears five minutes later. I scooched up to the couch and left him alone, he found some toys to play with, and he was a happy boy. As long as I didn't sing 'Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes', that is. I knew I couldn't carry a tune, but I had no idea that it could make kids cry.

There goes my dreams of a singing career.

It took he and Amelia about an hour to really pay attention to each other. They are really cute when they play and his mother and I always joke that maybe they'll get married some day and we will have pic's of their lifetime together.

The other thing I learned was that it's almost impossible to get good pictures of two toddlers. These are the best that I could manage:
Amelia showing Luke how to best torture dog-dog.


Luke giving me the "What are YOU looking at?!" look.

Amelia too busy to cooperate for a good picture.

This one is my favorite. Luke kept trying to hold Amelia's hand and she was having none of it! Poor Luke.
Adorable! Looking forward to babysitting him again soon :)