Kidding
Sleep. Babies. The first question people ask. Does your baby sleep through the night? No? Here are my suggestions as to how to achieve that! Okay, maybe it’s not phrased that way, but that’s their point. Followed by How much does she weight? Oh, she’s tiny. Oh, she’s huge. I got news for the askers of the world: my thirteen month old does not sleep through the night, nor does she weigh very much. *gasp* I must be a lousy parent. Despite my lousy parenting status, I’m going to share my sleep tips and transitions with you. Despite my poor tiny sleeper’s trajectory, I think I’ve got a few things that may help the sleep derangedly deprived parent. Why? How? Because I’ve been that person (am that person still?). I’ve written a lot about sleep. Starting with my unbearable smugness that SuperBoy slept through the night at 12 weeks, simply due to the fact he didn’t want to night nurse anymore. Clearly it was superior parenting skillz. Ending with the fact that SweetPea, although night weaned at 12 months (nota bene, months, not weeks), still awakens at least once a night to be comforted back to sleep. I must be awful at this gig. 1) Birth to 6 months. Shockingly, me and a bunch of other moms and a few experts feel that the first six months of life are to be led primarily by the baby’s needs. Keeping that infant on you, close to you, within smell-shot of your milk means you’re…
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My son loves baseball. Loves it. Breathes it. Lives it. He knows all the players. He knows their faces on their baseball cards. He knows which teams they’ve played for and which ones they are currently played for. This is a really odd thing considering I know NOTHING about any professional sports teams. Nil. Zilch. So you’d think my husband must be some kind of obsessed person himself. But he’s not really, either. He played baseball in high school and loved it, but until we had a son I never heard him talk about it. It must be that boys bring out the little boy in their dads. It started last summer when he was about 20 months, but now it’s in full swing. Suddenly we listen (never watch) to the game on the radio every night. He wants to know who’s up to bat, and what the score is. He cheers when we win, and is sad when we lose. Clearly I’m getting into this too because I just used the first person plural when making reference to the Minnesota Twins. *sigh* He and his Dada go to Saints games, Twins games, and now his own Dada’s softball league games (which was like heaven on earth!!). And he’s trying to win over his sister to the game, too. Overheard in the car yesterday: SuperBoy to SweetPea “Can you say ‘Joe Mauer’? Joooooeeeee Maaaaaawwwwweeeerrrr. Can you say ‘Justin Morneau?’ Jusssssteeeeeeennnn Moooorrrrrrrrnnnnnnooooo. What about Brian Dozier? Brrriiiiiiiiiiiannnnnnn Dozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzier.” SweetPea to SuperBoy: “Dada.…
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What’s cuter than a little girl in a cute dress? Maybe one that is running away from you. SweetPea rocks a new sewing project of mine. The Etsy shop is busy busy and I’m thinking of adding a modern fresh vintage girls’ clothing line. We’ll see. I have oh so much fabric in my dresser of wonders (fabric stash) that I want to make a billion things out of. This one is a soft blue corduroy lined with a new organic cotton print, and a little do-da on the bottom corner with a “V” for my Goddaughter and niece for whom I made the dress. Now I have to make Sweets a matching one. I made SuperBoy a pair of pants in this fabric but they’re not that exciting. My girlfriend Mary pointed out they kinda resembled hospital scrubs. And she was right. Also on the horizon: being a contributing writer to two new projects. Will keep you posted once my writing is actually up there. Pretty darn excited about it. My sisters and I started working on a children’s series two years ago. It’s finally getting momentum again. Woot! Now, to summon the muse and get cracking on my posts. And to finish cleaning up the sewing studio. And mending pants & hems. And the endless list of around the housisms. And laundryisms. And gardeningisms. Pretty darned blessed around here. Love this little girl. And her big ears that stick out.
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SuperBoy is Mr. Church. He loves church. He loves mass, he loves vespers, he loves Stations of the Cross, he loves anything related to being inside God’s house. He loves our church. He loves our priests. He loves it all. But last Sunday, in sharp contrast to the above norm, he was a holy terror. It all started because I took him to the bathroom during the sermon instead of his Dada. That was it. Downhill from there. He refused to go in the Ladies’ Room. “Mama, I want to go in the other bathroom.” “Well that’s for men, and when you’re with me, I can’t go in there, so you have to come in here.” “No! I’m a gentleman!!!” Much negotiating later, including threats, he comes in the bathroom. Won’t go. Suddenly doesn’t have to go. No. Can. Do. We go back up the stairs. He cries because he wants to walk up the stairs from the church basement. It takes him like 30 minutes to do one stair. He cries when we go back down the aisle (why did we sit so far into the church, so far away from the back doors? So far away from the bathroom??). We settle back into the pew. All seems well. Or so I thought. Fast forward to the consecration. For my non-Catholic readers, this is the most important and quiet and reverent part of the whole shebang. And yes, that’s when my son says in a loud stage whisper “MAMA,…
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Yes, some of us have had two children under two years old! Many of my friends’ children are further apart than two years, either intentionally or not. Some lost a baby, some struggle with fertility. SuperBoy and SweetPea are 22 months apart. That means I had a raging toddler when I was pregnant (and throwing up daily, etc). That also means I had two in diapers, two who needed to be carried, and two who loved snuggling. Loved that last two out of three. Here’s a quick list of 12 ways I survived having two kids who were under two years old: 1) Pregnancy is tough. Take all the help you can get. Your friend offers to host a playdate with your toddler and hers so you can lay down? Thank YOU, yes! Your mother brings over dinner? Thank you, yes! Your co-worker takes over the next big assignment so you can not stress too badly during maternity leave? Thank YOOOOOU! But really, despite being super sick throughout both pregnancies, I really do love being pregnant {10 Reasons Why I Love Being Pregnant Again} 2) Figure out childcare early on in your pregnancy. Infant care is harder to come by than toddler. If your toddler is in a daycare situation, ask early to reserve an infant spot. If they have to be split up, try to ensure the infant is in a center close to your work so you have the possibility of coming by during lunch to nurse or…
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