Category: Tales from the Crib

Kiddo Milestones I’m Grateful For

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I read another blog this week called Ironic Mom. She is a Canadian mom of twins and writes very funny and honest posts about life with her kids. I also hear her read with her Canadian accent in my head which makes it even better. Her post last week was about ten milestones that her twins had reached that she was grateful for and I started thinking of my own list. There aren’t ten of them, but they are huge milestones so I figure a few will do.

Sleeping through the night – Baylie might be the only kid I know that waited until she was almost 7 months old to finally sleep for a consecutive 8-11 hours at night. I am not a person who deals well with a lack of sleep, and after roughly 210 weeks of rarely sleeping more than 4 hours at a time, I was near death. I looked like a zombie and felt like one too. Finally, the excitement and exhaustion of getting together with family let her sleep for 10 hours Christmas Eve.  It was a Christmas Miracle!

Taking less than 40 minutes to drink a bottle – I never knew it would take so long to feed a baby. The first month of her life, it felt like it took hours to feed her. I remember watching reruns of talk shows at 3am willing her to eat faster.

Feeding herself – for a long time, Bay was a really picky eater. I would have to trick her into taking a bite of food and then push her to finish a few bites so that she would actually eat solid foods. Once she could feed herself finger foods, all that went away. She could feed herself what she wanted and at her own pace. I wasn’t locked to a chair but could make coffee, feed dogs or, gasp, feed myself!

Walking – I was so excited for B to walk. And then when she did, I was ready to jump off the roof. She was into everything that had previously been out of reach. She was also suddenly silent – there were no more hands slapping the ground as she crawled so she was able to slip away when I wasn’t looking. She instantly knew how to climb the couch, chairs, tables, walls and proceeded to do so often. After 2 days of baby proofing,  I was suddenly back in love with her walking. We could play chase, she could carry things, push things, be set down in a public place without me worrying about her contracting something horrible off the floor.

Understanding what I’m saying – We have been at the point for a few months now where Bay can comprehend what I’m saying. It’s amazing to be able to communicate with her. I love asking her where her nose, ears, fingers, belly button and booty are and she can find all of them. She understands that “bye bye” means that the person, place or thing is going away – or more likely that we’re going away. So when it’s time to leave the park we say “bye bye park” and she gets it. No tears, no fuss, just time to go. Mostly I like asking he to pick up all the toys out of the living room (one by one I identify them, but hey, it’s a start) and take them to her room. Some might call it child labor, I call it creative parenting.

I can’t wait for what is coming next. Although I’m concerned that when we get to the talking phase that I’m going to really regret not curbing my snarky remarks and swearing…

Monkey Dance

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Baylie slept until 7:40 this morning. She hasn’t done that, well, ever. Maybe this whole “no morning nap” thing isn’t so bad after all…

Bay loves music and to dance so I thought I would find some cute kids songs to put on the Ipod for her.  I went to ITunes and typed in “kids music”. I disturbed a little by the lyrics of some of the kids songs – i.e. do you know all the words to “Pop goes the weasel”? I do now and they’re weird. It turns out it’s about drinking too much and having to pawn your good coat. I kid you not, look it up.

So I figured if we’re going to listen to something we can dance too and the “kids” songs are about drinking, we might as well listen to something that is actually enjoyable, even if it’s about drinking. Que my running playlist and the classic Beastie Boy’s Brass Monkey.

Brass monkey. That funky monkey…

Thankfully she makes the gestures for when we sing “No More Monkeys  Jumping on the Bed” and not like she’s tipping up her cup.

Nap Time No More

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I knew this day was coming. I’ve been fighting it for months. But apparently now at 17 months, Baylie has won and so she no longer takes a morning nap.

Now, I know all the non-moms are saying “Yeah, so?”. But all the moms are giving me a solomn, sad and knowing nod. Because the end of a morning nap means there is only one nap in a day instead of two. The whole day’s routine now has to be adjusted and new events and activities planned to fill the void left by the lack of a nap.

Even though Baylor no longer needs that morning nap, I still very much want and need that morning nap! Well, nap time any way. It’s at that time I do crazy things like shower, dry my hair and attempt to look like a human, laundry, dishes, ironing, dog washing, house cleaning, blogging, bill paying, connecting with the outside world, etc. And other important things like go to the bathroom without an audience / assistant waiting to pull out the toilet paper for me.

The upside is that with this new phase of circadian rhythm is that Bay is content to entertain herself for longer periods of time. On a good day it  means she will play nicely in her room while simultaneously watching Baby Einstein and without taking a header off of anything. On a not so good day, it means this:

 

 


So farewell morning nap. You will be missed!!

It’s 7:30am And I’m Ready to Throw In the Towel

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I woke up to a phone call with a family member needing some obscure item at 6:30am. This would normally not be a big deal, except today for some reason, Baylie had slept past 6am and through PW leaving for work. And therefore I got to sleep past 6am, that is until the phone rang. The most annoying part? The person clearly knew I was asleep and didn’t say “hey, sorry I woke you up” just rambled on about what she needed and did I have it.

Peter has a big seminar today and left some notes at home so that was the second call at 7am. This shouldn’t have been a big deal, but the kiddo was crabbing in the background looking for more milk/banana/Bear and made it super fun to try to read off notes over the phone. She had also just tried to “help” feed the dogs and dumped an entire cup of food on the floor and in their water bowl.

Lastly, Baylie is teething, again. And because the lovely little tablets that make her less cranky have been recalled, we’re doing this cold turkey. She doesn’t want to eat, but is crabby because she’s hungry. She wants something, but doesn’t know what. She wants your attention so she is grabbing the remote off the counter, my purse off the chair and dumping it, and prank calling random people from my cell phone.

Again, it’s only 7:30am.

I’m hoping that a run to the park and some play time will help.  Or at least keep me alive until nap time…

I Heart Sesame Street – Even if Katy Perry is Inappropriately Dressed

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First, I don’t actually think what she was wearing was all that bad – I have that shirt in purple (only kidding). Just in case you’ve been living in a cave:

http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/a-line/sesame-street-pulls-controversial-katy-perry-duet/624

But this is not the point of today’s blog. The point is that my sweet Baylie Bay has discovered Sesame Street. She’s previously only ever been interested in Baby Einstein and would never pay attention to anything on TV (except for the Geico commercial where the little piggy screams “wwweeeeee!!!”. She loves that one). It’s probably because it’s almost always on the Today Show and even I don’t watch it, I just need people speaking in full sentences with actual words in the background so I don’t lose it.

However, this morning when I put on channel 8 just to see what she would do, she was transfixed. Maybe it was because they were doing laundry and this has been one of B’s favorite activities since she could stand and move things from the washer to the dryer. Or maybe she’s just ready to move beyond colorful toys and classical music, by Momma is in heaven. A half hour of quiet time outside of the meer 2 hours of nap time a day is golden. It means a shower, hair and makeup without having to wrestle my mascara away from her. A chance to get dressed all at one time instead of pulling Bay out of the dog water dish while trying to get on jeans. Ahhh, serenity is a shower in silence.

On a side note, we packed up the Pack n’ Play yesterday and put it into storage where it will wait for the next kiddo. It was a little bittersweet. 30% of me was a little sad to see the bed that Bay slept in for the first 2 months (ok, 5) of her life leave our bedroom. The other 70% of me was shocked that our room is SO MUCH BIGGER without a pack n’play, two dog crates and a sound machine. You see, Bear and Travis did not take kindly to Ms.B when she first arrived so we reintroduced crates, which they actually really like. And in fear that they would feel neglected if moved to the office rather than sleep in our room, we put their crates in there. And because two elderly dogs make a lot of noise in their sleep (snuffling, farting, snoring) and so do babies (snuffling, farting, snoring – no one tells you that they make TONS of noise even when they sleep!) and Peter talks in his sleep (I, however, am totally silent and keep to my side of the bed and in no way steal the covers and wrap myself up so that Peter can’t get them back), we had a very loud sound machine to drown out all the noise so everyone could actually sleep.

Now, the crates are gone. The pack n’play is gone and the sound machine has moved to Bay’s room with her. All that’s left is silence – which in our world means only a slightly quieter din – but to us, it’s heaven.

Cheap Fun

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I found this at Buy Buy Baby this week and it is a HIT – not only with Baylie, but with Bear. Naturally, Travis is throughly terrified.

It is an awesome combination of a tent and a tunnel, what more could a 16 month old toddler and an 11 year old dog ask for?! They come apart and can be used separately and  inside or outside – or put the tunnel inside to get to the tent outside; the possibilities are endless. Also, the tunnel makes an awesome, vertical hiding place for Mommy – which is a huge hit with the kiddo. It’s the perfect excuse to get out and enjoy the fall weather – and at $19.99 plus your handy 20% off coupon (also, Buy Buy Baby will take Bed Bath and Beyond coupons!), a cheap way too.

Also – each of the pieces break down and fold flat – like your windshield cover. Easy storage – bonus!

http://www.buybuybaby.com/product.asp?SKU=16695491&

I love that it looks like they are having a deep conversation…

Buddies

Bear Bear coming out of the tunnel

“Mommy, please stop taking my picture.”

This Is Why I Don’t Get Anything Done

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Reasons I don’t accomplish much in a day other than keeping everyone alive:

1. Baylie dumping dog food into the water bowl and Bear T. Dog bobbing for it. Both of them and the floor covered in water.

2. Nothing is as fun as a messy room. As soon as Mommy cleans it up, Baylie messes it up.

3. I call a handy man to fix the pull out trash can and he calls me two days later and wants me to go online to find the replacement.

4. Leaky diapers.

5. Baylie and I plant two flats of petunias. Baylie pulls most of them out while my back is turned watering the pots.

 

It’s a good thing she’s so stinking cute. And yes, she’s playing with a tube of toothpaste…

What Did You Call Me?!

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I realized the other day that Peter and I have a lot of stupid names we call Baylor. They are all funny names that have come up from the various stages in her life and the activities that happen during those stages.

For example, when she was first born I made the mistake of calling her “crib” in the hospital (which is more like a big, clear plastic bucket) her crate – as in the dog crates we use at home. I found this hilarious but the nurse did not. We found ourselves calling her Puppy for a while after that.

She was also referred to as the Drool Monkey for a while. The drool part is obvious, don’t ask me where the monkey part came from. We were sleep deprived and found stupid things hysterical. Angel Baby evolved to Angel Puff and then to Puffer until she started eating Gerber Puffies and then that stopped.

We’ve always affectionately called her Baby Man Hands because she has well, really big hands for a kid. And they seemed really large when she was very small. She has always been Toots McGoots and Stinks McGinks for obvious reasons.

And lastly, she is Crayon Eater. While sweetly coloring with Peter last weekend, she randomly picked up her crayon, observed it, and then bit off the tip. And so, a new nick name is born.

(Bear is really trying to look pathetic in this one…and you see where the Puppy name comes in..!)

You Know You’re a Mom When…

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1. You can tackle almost any house hold task silently. Dishes, laundry, ironing,  vacuuming, mopping, etc all produce some kind of noise. A mom can do all with ninja like stealth.

2. Your purse weighs as much as your baby

3. The contents of your purse would help you through any imaginable scenario from a runny nose to a hungry kiddo to defusing a nuclear missile.

4. You can carry a baby, a purse, push a stroller and a coffee with ease.

5. When you hear classical music, you know which Baby Einstein dvd it’s from.

6. You speak in sing songy voices to adults by accident.

7. You can make a game out of folding clothes, doing dishes and eating vegetables.

8. You know that no toys is as fun or holds attention like a cell phone, keys or a random item in your purse can.

9. You measure lengths of time by nap times. “I got the entire yard trimmed, raked up AND a shower in one nap!”.

10.You have a ridiculously amazing ability to suck it up.

My Solemn Vow

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I have decided here and now that no matter how many kids we have, no matter how tired I am and no matter how much they hate to have their hair brushed, my children will never look like they have a rat nest for hair.

We always see the same family at church and even when their kids are split up by age into their religious class groups in the front, you can spot them. They all have crazy hair. And I don’t mean like it’s a little messy in the back. I mean the girls have creases from various pony and pig tail combinations coupled with a severe case of bed head and atrocious lack of conditioner. I want to bathe them all, slather their heads in Pantene and comb their locks into neat little pig tails with ribbons.

On a side note, I tried to play “beauty shop” with Baylie this week. She has neither the hair nor the patience to do so.