Back in the Saddle

Well I've been out of the optimism business for a while but its time to hop back in the saddle. No need for an introductory paragraph today, I'll just get right down to my five good things for the day.

1. Thanks to my mom, I've got a plan for Christmas crafts. Today my mom helped me find patterns and choose supplies for craft projects to get me through Christmas. Since I quit my job I won't be getting that holiday bonus that financed our holiday gift purchasing for the last 9 years. As such, I'll be making most of my presents this year. I never know what to make for people (especially my dad and brother) or where to look for ideas but my crafty mom helped me get it all sorted out and organized. Now I know what I'm going to make for people and I have the supplies to get started on at least two of the projects. I'm glad I have my mom to hold my hand through this Christmas crafting.
2. C smiled at my mom today when she arrived at Starbucks. This morning C and I were already at Starbucks when Grammy arrived and C cracked a big smile when she saw Grammy. Since she's pretty new to the smiling game, it was really special that my girl broke out a smile for her Grammy.
3. My new cookbook didn't totally lead me astray. I tried a baked chicken recipe from a new cookbook today and it was pretty good. I used the crockpot instead of the oven (to avoid raising the temperature in our house from really hot to unbearable) which I think resulted in the sweet potatoes tasting a little tart thanks to the vinegar in the cooking liquid. However, I think this problem would be rectified by cooking the chicken in the oven as recommended. Any way, I'm always happy when I try something new and it doesn't totally disappoint me. (Side note: this attitude is why I need to practice being more optimistic.)
4. To my kids I'm the most comforting thing in the world. Tonight A was having a hard time falling asleep and she wanted me to rub her hand. I indulge this request more often than I should because I can't resist when she says "Mama, stay" in her tiny, tired little voice. I know she's totally taking advantage of me and I'm perpetuating a problem, but it feels kind of nice to be the thing that comforts her and helps her wind down and fall asleep. While I was rubbing her hand it hit me that I'm two peoples' mom and that means that when they don't feel good, or when they've had a tough day, or when they get an owie a hug from me can make it better. I'M the mom. I know that when I need comfort my first instinct is still to turn to my mom, but now I'm that person to two little people. It's kind of empowering to know that I can provide that for my girls.
5. I have good support. It's nice to know that I have people around me that are willing to help me while I work through my anxiety. Not everyone has a set of people that will regularly take time out of their days to keep an anxious second time new mom company and keep her from sitting home alone with the baby wallowing in anxious thoughts.
6. Its finally summer! The weather has finally turned summer-like here. Of course its roasting hot in our new un-air conditioned house but its bearable. Its a real treat to finally wake up to sunshine and blue skies.

Boo Cry it Out

I'm tired, so I'm not going to mess around with an intro. Here are some good things that happened over the weekend:

1. The Baby Lady started clicking her tongue! It is super cute. We were sitting at the table and she just started clicking her tongue. We have done that to her for quite some time now, so it was cute that she learned how to do it herself.
2. I got the new Camelbak water bottle I wanted. I've had my eye on this water bottle for a couple of weeks and I finally got a chance to pick it up on Saturday. I'm glad I finally got a water bottle I'll be happy using so I can stop wasting 4 plastic water bottles a day at work!
3. We had a nice visit to the park with The Baby Lady. We got a last minute invite to the park with the grandparents and some friends this afternoon so we took The Baby Lady to enjoy the warm weather.
4. Uncle B and Aunt H came to visit The Baby Lady. We unexpectedly got a visit from The Baby Lady's Aunt and Uncle this afternoon which was a real treat. The Baby Lady has only seen this pair a couple of times in her life so it was good for them to visit.
5. I decided to quit making The Baby Lady cry it out. I can't handle listening to The Baby Lady wail for significant stretches several times a day so I decided to put sleep training on pause until I figure out a better system. I feel good about not making my baby cry like that.
6. ZZZZzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzz...I'm tired and can't continue my list right now. Night night.

Ear Infection?!?!

Well, The Baby Lady has an ear infection. Poor little monkey. We started her on antibiotics so hopefully she'll feel better soon. Glad its the weekend. The weather is getting back to being pleasantly warm instead of oppressively hot. Looking forward to getting outside some time. Well, I didn't post yesterday, so I'd better get started on my super-sized list...

1. This weather is great. I had to make an ice cream run this evening and the weather outside is GREAT! I love a warm summer evening.
2. Chicken pizza was surprisingly not gross. I went out on a limb and tried making BBQ chicken pizza for dinner tonight. I was skeptical but wanted to try it to add variety to our menu and I'm glad I did. Not sure I'd put it on my menu every week, but I'll keep it in mind for the somewhat regular rotation.
3. ZZZZzzzzzZZZZZZzzzz. Huh?! What?! Oh, I guess I fell asleep at the computer.
4. Hub brought me a special treat today. I was having some doubts about my mommying so hub brought me a nice card and treat to help make me feel better. It was real nice and sweet.
5. I fed my office supplies addiction today. When I went to the store for ice cream, i perused the office supply aisle and found a neat new binder for tracking my crafty endeavours. Real nice.

Well, this might be my least inspired blog posting yet, but that's the breaks. I'm going to sleep.

An Experiment in Sleep Training

Today I finally decided that I am ready to help The Baby Lady learn to sleep. Up to this point, I have been highly resistant to sleep training of any sort because of the apparent stress on the baby associated with a long crying stint. However, I reached the realization that The Baby Lady isn't going to teach herself how to go to sleep when Mama is always there rocking and feeding her. So I told Hub that starting today we should let The Baby Lady work it out after we did our bedtime routine. As usual she fell asleep with her bottle but when I put her down in her crib she woke up and started crying. Usually I would pick her up and comfort her until she fell back asleep again, but this time I let her cry. It was VERY tough but after 50 minutes she finally fell asleep. We'll see how things go over the next couple of days, but I'm proud of myself for taking the first step towards giving the baby the tools to survive in the world. Here are my five positives for the day:

1. I tried out my dependent care spending account! I turned in my first reimbursement claim for The Baby Lady's daycare last week and I got a check in the mail today! The dependent care spending account will only cover about half the total cost of daycare for the year, but it is still quite a treat to get a check in the mail!
2. Cash for Clunkers! I looked into the government program aimed at getting old dirty cars off the road and stimulating car sales. I like the idea, especially the discount although I'm not sure I'm really in the market for a new car.
3. This HOT weather. Its easy to talk up the hot hot weather when I'm spending most of each day in air conditioning. I took a walk around the block at lunch today to take in the furnace-like effect of the heat wave. It felt great for the eight minutes or so that I was outside. Even though I loved it for those few minutes, I have a great deal of sympathy and compassion for those without AC.
4. We're trying sleep training. As I mentioned above, I finally broke down and decided that The Baby Lady's sleep health is more important than catering to my wussiness about hearing her cry. After a great deal of consideration, I decided that she needs to learn how to self soothe and she can't do that if one of us constantly tends to her at the first whimper. It was very VERY tough listening to her cry for 50 minutes, but I think we'll all be better off in the long run when she learns how to sleep well.
5. Hub sent me a nice song today. Hub sent me a nice hippie song today called The Visit made by The Cyrkle. They're pretty good for hippie music and they have a pretty interesting background - managed by the same man that managed The Beatles; John Lennon spelled their name that silly way. Ever since I lost my Rhapsody subscription my work music selection has been limited so this was a welcome change.

And the sleepiness

I've got a pretty serious case of the grumps today which is making it hard to find five positive things for my list. The Baby Lady did not want to go to sleep last night so I was up late and it was a busy work day and afternoon. We had to visit the dermatologist to hear that The Baby Lady's JXG looks good and we should come back in six months. Jeez guys. I could have told them over the phone that it looks good and we'll call if we needed anything without taking the afternoon off work. See? I'm already on the road to complainerville so here are my five positives.

1. I found a prize for myself. I saw someone drinking out of a CamelBak Better Bottle and decided I should get one too. I'm having a bit of a dilemma though trying to figure out if I should get the stainless steel version (not dishwasher safe) or the plastic one (dishwasher safe, but new plastic with unknown properties). I should probably get stainless steel for peace of mind; I don't want the next baby to come out with three arms (although I'd still love the little tri-limb).
2. The Baby Lady is asleep. That Baby Lady has been one tough customer lately when it comes to sleeping. Often, even if she goes to sleep at a decent time she'll wake up within an hour or so either yelling at us or and greeting us with a smile, a wiggle and a look that says "Hey, lets party. I love to party. Why do you guys always want to sleep at night? Are you guys hungry? I'm hungry, lets go to taco bell."
3. Its Summer! We're finally getting some nice summer weather here! Since I seem to have SAD, summer is one of my more favorite seasons and heat reminds me of my southern summers. I
4. I have AC. It is HOT here this week. Today the high was 104 and it might be hotter tomorrow! I can't say enough how thankful I am that we finally decided to get air conditioning this year.
5. I'm continuing to develop my crafty ideas. I have been continuing to develop my crafty baby line that I will eventually sell on etsy. I think I'll end up with some pretty cool products once I ever get around to making and testing prototypes. I also need to work on a name for my etsy shop. Hmmm. MilkyMonkey? MooCowMama? As you can see, this element needs some help...

Sleepy Monday

The Baby Lady was a tough customer last night so Hub and I are beat - especially hub since he wakes up most of the time with the baby. Despite the rough night sleep, I had a productive day at work and we got The Baby Lady down to sleep in a pretty timely fashion. The Baby Lady seems to be experimenting with new motions so all through dinner she was shaking her head no; she looked like she was losing her marbles! I don't have much to report, so here are my five positives for the day:

1. That hazlenut Folgers coffee is delicious! I decided to go out on a limb and try the hazlenut flavored Folgers coffee this week and we made our first pot today. Boy was it delicious! What a brilliant choice on my part. Now I don't have to put quite as much sugar in my coffee in the morning.
2. I was very on task today. Even though I was tired a was a good task master at work and I got a good start on my weekly to-do list.
3. My mom isn't a raging bitch like Candy Spelling. Over the weekend I saw the open letter from Candy Spelling to Tori and it made me thankful that I have a good relationship with my mom. I have a lot to say about Candy's habit of communicating with Tori through open letters released to trashy media outlets but I will keep those comments to myself. All I'm sayin' is that I can't imagine a mother being so callous towards her child regardless of the circumstances.
4. That Heather B. Armstrong is funny. Once again Heather B. Armstrong (www.dooce.com) made me laugh with her irreverent take on life as a mom of two.
5. The Baby Lady is hilarious. The Baby Lady has been pretty tired lately due to the poor quality of sleep she's getting while teething and all this fatigue seems to be leading to delerium. In addition to shaking her head through dinner The Baby Lady sat there and laughed at us the whole time. The shaking and the laughing made her look down right nutty, but in an adorable way.

Date Night!

What a busy weekend! We got up at 6:30 with The Baby Lady on Saturday and got to the hospital for a neck x-ray nice and early. When we walked down the hall to the x-ray room the lights were still off, reminding me of so many TV/movie hospital scenes. I don't know why they insist on portraying hospitals as dimly lit when in reality they are garishly bright with all the headache-inducing fluorescent lights. We decided to skip book babies at the library in favor of resting for a while before taking The Baby Lady to swim with her Little Buddy. It was HOT outside so we didn't stay too long. A little later we dropped off The Baby Lady with her grandparents and went on a date! Sunday was just as busy culminating in The Baby Lady developing a fever during the afternoon :( Except for her sickness, it was a great weekend. Since I didn't post yesterday, I'll list ten positives today...

1. We got an early start on Saturday. The Baby Lady woke us up at 6:30 and instead of trying to gt her to go back to sleep for another hour or so we just got up and got a move on! I always like early days because the day always feels longer, which is especially good on the weekends.
2. I found my dream house (http://7095swkelsi.com). We took a drive Saturday morning after the hospital and checked out a neighborhood we've never seen before. As we wound through an established area peppered with infill developments we found a year old house that is just a dream! Of course it costs way too much, but the flyer came with a floor plan that I'm going to hold on to it as a dream for the future.
3. We went on a date! What a treat. We dropped off The Baby Lady with her grandparents and took off for three hours of Hub and Wif time. It was a real treat but we were both eager to pick up our Baby Lady by the end of the night.
4. We discovered a new taco spot. We were going to head to our old standby Zach's Shack for dinner but when we parked we saw something that piqued our interest. We saw a long line of people waiting to get tacos at a place called por que no. Hub pointed out that it felt like we were on vacation because we were trying a new place (and it was such a nice sunny day)! And, the tacos were delicious!
5. A nice walk. After dinner we took a walk in Hub's old neighborhood which has several lovely, fragrant rose gardens throughout. It was very warm for 8:00a (about 90) and a great evening for a walk. And, while we walked around...
6. We stumbled across a party celebrating the renovation of a cool old house. There is a house in the old neighborhood that has been in pretty severe disrepair for many many years. Apparently, over the last 2 years, some people have been renovating the house to its original glory. It was built in the early 1900s and has huge 2 story columns in the front. It was neat to find out that someone put/is putting the effort into preserving the historic relic.
7. We had a drink at the Slammer. I haven't been to the slammer since some time before I was pregnant and I've missed the (self-proclaimed) friendliest bar in town. The best time to go there is the Christmas season because the owner lady puts up a bazillion Christmas lights, but its pretty awesome any time of year. We sat outside at a picnic table with a view of the west hills and the tops of the buildings in downtown. It was really nice and we met a strange band of people whose relationship was unclear that were totally hammer timed.
8. The grandparents had a really nice time with The Baby Lady. It was nice to pick up The Baby Lady at her grandparents' house and hear that they had such a good time hanging out with her. They took her to the park to play in the fountain and walked with her and generally seemed to have fun. Especially as she gets older, we hope The Baby Lady will enjoy her little adventures with her various grandparents.
9. We're becoming regulars at the coffee shop. We found a coffee shop in our neighborhood about a month before The Baby Lady was born and we've been going in regularly ever since. These days we go often enough that we have started meeting and talking to other people from the neighborhood that are also regulars. Ever since my childhood spent watching Cheers, I've wanted to be a regular somewhere.
10. I'm not a teen mom! I'm watching the 16 and Pregnant after show and its reminding me to be glad that I didn't have a kid when I was a kid.