My brain is drained

Filed Under Diapers/Potty, Difficult Stuff, Into Everything, Sleep, Slinging, Three Years Old, Two Months- Taylor | 2 Comments

I feel like I need to tell you why I haven’t really been blogging– just posting pictures with a few captions here and there. It’s because when I finally get to sit down, I usually don’t have both hands free. And I get sick of typing with one hand. My brain is tired, but I’ve been getting enough sleep. (Shocking, right? I really have though). My brain is tired because of what happens during my awake hours.

I have a very feisty three-year-old who flat out refuses to go potty. We actually attempted potty training last week, as recommended by our pediatrician. It basically resulted in my child peeing everywhere but the toilet, mostly on purpose, throwing wet undies, and telling me she was NOT going to go potty. In her words, “It’s just for other girls.” Can we say strong willed? We have also had a few incidents involving spitting, kicking, squeezing her brother’s face, and just general disobedience. Oh, and let’s not forget that she dumped the entire thing of fish food into the aquarium, clogging the filter and requiring and emergency evacuation from the tank. Because I had nothing better to do that afternoon. When we were at the store she grabbed a barcode scanner and tried to play “store lady.” She has also recently climbed onto the countertop and played with the dish soap and colored with a sharpie, as pictured here.

Taylor likes to be held all.the.time… he is starting to like other people besides just me, so that is refreshing. Although I’m still his favorite (and I secretly hope I always am!) but he is just a much needier baby than Bailey was. He wants constant comforting and bouncing and eye contact. Until last week he was almost inconsolable unless he was nursing. We finally figured out that he was actually uncomfortable and not just being a pain. Yes it took me nine weeks to realize that, and yes I feel guilty. So he started on Mylanta last week and it has made a world of difference. He still wants to be held but at least he is pleasant while being held and not screaming or fussing. But basically I have a constant companion. He nurses anywhere from every two to three hours during the day, but more like every hour in the evening. He’s cute though, isn’t he?

A few days ago it was SO bad though. Bailey was screaming, he was screaming, the house was trashed… I sat down in the kitchen and cried and called my mom. She came and rescued me and it was wonderful- but sometimes I feel like I am not cut out to be a mom. I just honestly suck at it sometimes. I love my kids like crazy but between the two of them it’s just exhausting emotionally.

At night, he sleeps with me so I have no idea how often he nurses. Honestly, we go to bed and get up eight hours later. Sometime during the night I know that he eats, and we flip over so he can eat on the other side as well. I know sometimes he goes longer than others because sometimes I leak and other times I don’t. But I think it’s all subconscious for both of us- it’s just like an instinct. I know that sometimes I feel his feet starting to move next to me and then I snuggle up next to him so he can eat and then we are both back asleep before I know it. Eight weeks ago, this was making me crazy. I had never planned to co sleep. But we get such good sleep, and I can function normally during the day. Someday I will worry about getting him into his own bed. (Yes, he does sleep there on occasion for an hour or so). It’s amazing how I am such a different mother with him, because he is such a different child.

All this to say, when I have my hands free, it is probably my only free half hour in a 24 hour period. Or Jonathon is holding Taylor so I can get something ready to ship, or I am making dinner. Taylor likes the Baby Bjorn but it’s not practical to have him in there all day. The sling makes me crazy after a while. But this is our life for now. I’m happy, just drained and so blogging is last on my list if it involves thinking.

Rough Week

Filed Under Are you kidding me?, Into Everything, Two and a half years old | 2 Comments

I know I mentioned this on Facebook (what, you aren’t all friends with me on Facebook??) but last week Bailey and I had a really rough week. I just really don’t have the energy to chase her down as much as I need to when she starts getting into stuff or running away from me. She has also been taking advantage of the time that I am in the shower or getting ready. I leave the door open so she can always come find me… but she knows I can’t see her!

So last week while I was getting ready- one day she colored on the couch with markers. Thank God they were washable. Daddy left them where she could reach them. She has NEVER colored on anything other than her own skin before so I was really shocked. She also got into some of my greeting cards that I made and messed those up. Then another day, she got down the Sweet Pea soap from the guest bathroom and “washed” the couch. And another day, she washed the tv stand! I was thankful that we have black faux wood tv stands and glass coffee tables and stuff like that instead of super expensive heavy wooden furniture. At least it wipes down easily. Then another day last week she tore apart a book and shoved little spit wads of paper up her nose. I got to pick all of them out later for her.

This is why I worry about having two children.

There is a reason

Filed Under Are you kidding me?, Into Everything, Two Years Old | 3 Comments

This is why Bailey can’t use markers without being stripped down to a diaper AND having close supervision. Her body automatically turns into a drawing surface.

Accomplishments

Filed Under Being a Mom, Home Sweet Home, Into Everything, Twenty-two Months | 7 Comments

I feel like I have gotten a lot done so far today. Isn’t it funny how once you are staying at home with your kid(s) the definition of “a lot” totally changes?

Today I:

-Washed the cloth diapers, dried the inserts and prefolds, hung the covers to dry
-Started a second load of laundry
-Put almost a full basket of laundry away (Bailey helped me- she tried to put every item in her pajama drawer but it was so sweet that she wanted to help. She finally at least learned where to put socks. I should probably have her help more often. She loved it so much!)
-Put about 10 eBay packages out for the mail… only about 100 to go I think!
-Cleaned the kitchen, mostly
-Unloaded the dishwasher
-Took the trash and recycle down to the garage, where I found that my husband STILL has not brought our trashcan in from last Friday. Now that’s classy.
-Made plans for Thursday with my friend Casey and her daughter Addison

And more importantly, I:

-Kissed Bailey’s soft, puffy, wonderful cheeks at least 25 times
-Held her on my lap to read stories
-Taught her how to put her socks in the sock drawer and how to put dirty clothes in the basket- and had fun doing it!
-Ate Alpha-Bits cereal while sitting on the kitchen floor with Bailey and feeding each other the letters
-Changed three diapers
-Attempted to make a healthy lunch for my daughter (at least she ate the yogurt and banana)
-Got lots of hugs without even asking for them
-Danced to the intro on a new Dora video, several times

Some people think that once you “give up your career” and stay home, you become “just a mom.” I have had feelings from time to time, like all I have is my daughter and my life revolves around her. At times, that has made me feel inadequate or like I am not doing enough. But looking back at my day of accomplishments, I realize again that there is nothing I would rather be doing. There is nothing more important than taking care of my daughter, raising her myself, being with her to give her all those hugs and build her self-confidence, and enjoy the little things with her.

Popcorn

Filed Under Into Everything, Twenty Months | 3 Comments

My kid, she’s funny now. She has a sense of humor and she is to the age where she is starting to say funny stuff. Like “come on, mommy” and describing everything she’s doing. Last night we were in the car. After turning out of our neighborhood we go down a big hill. She said, “Slide, weeeee!” I was like “Is the car going down a slide?” She said “Yeah, car slide! Weeee! Up slide” as we went back up another hill. It’s fun.

Last night I was eating a bowl of popcorn in my office. I finished most of it and then left the empty bowl (lazy slob) on the bathroom countertop in our hallway bathroom. Just now I was checking my email and I heard scratching noises. I though the bathroom was empty because the door was mostly open. The scratching persisted and I went in the bathroom. Crouched behind the door, in the dark, was Bailey. She was holding the popcorn bowl and looked up with me at huge eyes. She said, “Eat it” so quietly. I just about died laughing. Then I grabbed the bowl away from her and came in here to blog about it.

But really, can you be mad at this face? I mean for more than two minutes?

Cute little forced smile, she says “cheese” whenever she sees a camera.

Wordless Wednesday- Babies With Sharpies

Filed Under Into Everything, Nineteen Months | 3 Comments

I need to remember that my child can reach anything on the kitchen table, anything near the edge of the kitchen or bathroom countertops… this is why we need some sort of security systems installed to alert us when Bailey is going to get into something messy. Just last week she got one of my lipsticks and colored all over her eyes, face, and onesie with it before I found her. I should have taken a picture but I was freaking out about cleaning it off before it got everywhere.

Mommy’s Pretties

Filed Under Into Everything, Nineteen Months | 6 Comments

I don’t have really any enthusiasm to write a blog post today. But I feel like it’s been a while since I posted. So I’m just going to share some pictures of Bailey playing with my jewelry. There are always a feel things left in this drawer that she can get into. Not that she’s supposed to get into, but she physically can. She can open zippers on luggage, pull open drawers and cabinets, and she can even get in the shower herself. She’s not even ashamed when she gets caught. But I thought this was kind of sweet and it wasn’t my good jewelry or really even anything breakable, so I let her play with it for a few minutes.

You all know how I love the too-close-face pictures!

Happy Friday!!

Little Stink Found Raisins

Filed Under Into Everything, Sixteen Months | 4 Comments

Just to prove what a little stink Bailey can be- she got these raisins down off the kitchen countertop. By standing on a box. I was in the other room doing something and I found her like this when I came back to the living room.

(Don’t you love her ridiculous bed-head? It’s like this all the time before I fight it to lay down nicely. This was obviously before I cut her hair though! It has gotten a little less flyaway.)

And she realizes she’s been caught!

16 Months

Filed Under Into Everything, Milestones, Sixteen Months, Talking | 5 Comments

I have been getting bad about doing the monthly posts on time. Our lives are so busy and Bailey keeps us on our toes. She really is a little monkey. Anyway I just wanted to try to write down all of the things she is doing right now. I want to be able to look back and remember because I know a few years from now, someone will ask us when Bailey did something and I won’t remember. At least if the memories fade in my mind I can have them on my blog.

Her Fifteen Month Pictures, a little late as we still haven’t sent them out… oops…

She has figured out how to open all the cabinets/drawers etc so we had to install latches on EVERYTHING, which is annoying. Also, she turns the television on by herself, puts a dvd in the dvd player, turns it on, and sits down to watch a movie. Not even kidding. And if there’s already a tv on show instead, she actually knows how to press the source button (she found it on the back of the tv) and switch it to dvd. Gah. So now we have to keep the whole thing turned off in the back with a surge protector on-off switch.

One of the other things she really likes to get into is my makeup drawer. It has a latch but if she is in there with me while I’m doing my makeup, she likes to get the blush brush and pretend to put makeup on herself. It’s the only thing I’ll let her touch out of there. She figured out how to open my jewelry box (I used to keep it on the nightstand) and I caught her putting my good rings on all her fingers so that also got moved up higher. She also likes to stand on Mommy’s scale and it looks like she’s almost 23 pounds. Oh, and she likes to take her diaper off and pee on the floor. Which is lovely.

As far as physical stuff- she is running pretty fast and her feet swing out to the sides almost like a penguin. It’s the cutest. She also walks backwards and is working on jumping. On rare occasions she can get both feet off the ground at the same time for just a split second, but mostly it looks like she’s just bending her knees and picking one foot up. She can climb onto chairs and couches, and slide down off our bed. Her new thing is going up and down stairs “like a big girl” holding on the railing. She can do it herself but I have to be right next to her because sometimes she gets distracted and lets go to look around. She also is kicking a lot. If you put a ball on the ground she will run up to it and kick it while she runs. Our Parents as Teachers educator said she’s really coordinated. Jonathon wants her to play soccer

She knows most of her body parts and can point to them when asked- head, hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue (sticks it out), teeth (chomps them to show you), fingers, tummy, belly button or be-bo, she will point to my neck but can’t find it on herself, foot, toes/pigs. The only body parts she actually says is “Eyyyyyyye” and “no” for nose.

Animals she can point out- bird, monkey, tiger, zebra, horse/nay nay, cow, duck, dog, cat, fish, frog, koala, giraffe, elephant, snake.

Makes noises for cow, horse, dog, cat, and snake. Oh and zebra, she has decided it also says “nay nay” which I think might be right…

Words she says regularly-
mama
dada
gah or mama-dada-mama (Grammy)
eye
no (nose)
no no no
nana (banana or Nana, her great grandma)
apple
cheesh (cheese)
fish
more
puh puh ssss (please)
book
baw (ball)
bird
buh!! (balloon, always said emphatically)
shoosh (shoes)
duh duh (Dora)
Mo (Elmo)
mm-vah (movie)
woo woo, or gee (doggy)
hi
rah rah rah (rock rock rock)
inkeeee (Pinky, her lovey)
up
buhbuh (bubbles)

She still signs occasionally for “more” or “I want that” or “all done” and she also will put her hands up and shrug her shoulders if you ask her where something is.

She loves putting together puzzles. She has several of those wooden puzzles where the pieces have the little knobs to hold them. She can dump them out and put them right back together. She has also recently started playing with legos and other blocks. She knows how to stick them together and loves to put them together and then take them apart again. We put away her Little People Zoo for a while so that she would play with something different for a while. Her favorite books right now are Goodnight Moon, Personal Penguin, The Little People Board Books, Where’s Elmo’s Blanket, and Baby’s First Words.

Self Portrait- Mommy and Bailey

Filed Under Into Everything, Me, Play, Thirteen Months | 3 Comments

Today Bailey and I did not go anywhere! I know, shocker. We very rarely stay home all day. But I have been feeling overwhelmed about the house being messy and having lots of things to catch up on around here. I am addressing invitations for two different weddings right now and I am a little behind on Avon stuff as well. Plus, I know tomorrow we are going to see my friend Sarah and her little baby, and on Wednesday we have plans with my mom.

I tried to put away laundry and do stuff in my office but Bailey kept getting into everything. We call her Destructo. So we ended up just playing in the living room most of the day. Here are some pictures I took of both of us- I know I have no makeup on but the point is that I have a picture with my daughter, which doesn’t happen too often because usually I am the one behind the camera!

Just a few of her while she was playing- you can kind of tell that she is walking on her tiptoes in this first picture. She does that every once in a while now and I think it’s so cute. I guess she just discovered it but she mostly does it when she’s really excited or being silly about something.

(By the way the summer attire of choice for around the house is a shirt and a diaper, yep, we’re classy like that). Hey, sometimes it’s even just a diaper. Whatever’s cool and comfortable.

And her new favorite activity- trying on Mommy’s shoes!

She loves to climb

Filed Under Into Everything, Thirteen Months | 3 Comments

This kid, she really loves to climb. Especially in and out of her rocking chair. If we aren’t watching (or if she thinks we aren’t) she will stand up in it and face backwards, holding on to the top of the back. She rocks as hard as she can. One day, I am sure she will flip the chair over and then she will believe me that it’s not a good idea to rock standing up.

She always looks so startled when she gets busted…

Little Drama This Morning

Filed Under Eleven Months, Into Everything | 5 Comments

Bailey got herself stuck in our bedroom… without me The closet door and the bedroom door are in the same corner of the room, and in the past the ex-cat has gotten them wedged against each other just right so that neither will move- like the doorknobs get caught. You can probably guess where this is going. Bailey and I were in my room this morning while I was getting ready. She looked so cute wearing her new big girl tennis shoes (not Robeez) for the first time. Because it was raining outside.

I went to get the camera to capture her cuteness, and when I came back she had pushed the closet door all the way open and trapped herself in the room, and me out of it! The bedroom door was only open about 1/4 of an inch, at most. I couldn’t get it undone for almost 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Bailey was alone in our room, with access to everything under the sink and in our drawers (which is not entirely child-safe, because she is NEVER in there alone). Never say never.

It wasn’t just the doorknobs being caught this time. The closet door was completely wedged against the bedroom door. There is a little rubber stopper on the back of the door where they bump (you can see the scrapes on the door) and it was caught on that rubber thing, I think. I tried to “recreate” it afterwards so I could get a picture of what happened.

And it got worse. Jonathon had me get a butter knife to try to put under the door and pry them apart. Well Bailey grabbed the knife and had it in the room with her. She probably could not have cut herself on it as there were no sharp edges, but I was afraid she would fall with it or something. I was a total wreck, crying and freaking out. Finally I guess she started playing with the closet door again and pulled it just far enough that I was able to get the door open.

The lesson in all this? Every area of the house should be baby proofed whether she “plays there alone” or not. Anything can happen. And it will, if it involves us and our child.

Here are those pictures of her in her tennis shoes. The pictures that caused this whole thing.