Me time, you time... baby time

I realize that M's time as an only child is quickly coming to a close. It's not a bad thing but it will be a new and different thing, for both her and I that we'll both have to get used to. Her, as a toddler who's been at the center of our household for the past 2 1/2 years! We have our little routine of story time and snuggling at bedtime and for her morning wake up I come in an nuzzle her and she tries to cover her head with her blanket :) It's intimate one on one time that will soon be divided. I know I've only been at this parenting thing for 2 1/2 years, but I can say without hesitation that sharing your time is tough! I look forward to meeting our new little miss and I can't wait until they can play and giggle together and when M starts teaching her things that she knows. I'm just hoping that my little helper still wants to be helpful when she sees the baby will be sharing the time she used to get by herself. As I said before, it will be a transition but I just hope it will be more snuggles and daddy playtime than grudge matches! Either way, I have faith that once she gets into the swing of things with our new family member, she will be the BEST big sister she can be. I can't wait to share snuggle time with both my little sweeties. Time passes too quickly... we just have to breathe in every moment, even the frustrating ones and soak in the special moments no matter how they come to us.

The Chair

When I was pregnant with M I found a rocker/glider chair off of craigslist. It was of course one of the "good" brands, because as you know, a new mommy want the best. The previous owners had reupholstered it themselves. Well it may have been reupholstered but the cushioning on the inside was the old stuff. So my mom had it redone. The only thing was I labeled the seat and the back wrong and so the back ended up becoming the seat and not fitting correctly. Well it’s been that way since and it hasn’t really bothered me. It’s been the chair that I’ve nursed M in since the beginning. It first sat downstairs in the basement so I could get up for middle of the night feedings. Then it was put in her room when she moved up to her crib. We would sometimes hide out in her room to nurse if company was at the house and I loved when she got older and started being silly with mama when she nursed. She would lay there in my arms after nursing and gurgle words and then as she got older she would say “all done” when she was done nursing. It was also where she would look at mommy’s parts with curiosity and poke at them and giggle.

It has now been two months since I last nursed M. It was almost an abrupt stop. I had just weaned her from nursing in the morning the week before and was planning maybe another month of slowly weaning from before bedtime nursing. Well that weekend I decided to finally convert her crib into the day bed so she could learn how to sleep in a regular bed. On Sunday afternoon I got the front crib panel off and I fixed her bed all cozy for her and told her it was now her “big girl bed” she was so excited and wanted to jump in it and lay down right away. She was so excited that she didn’t even remember to ask for milk before bed. She went to sleep without fuss and woke up the next morning ready to go to Nama’s house. So off to Nama’s house for the day. I was still surprised she hadn’t mentioned “milk”, even in the morning. The week before she would ask for it in the morning and I would say “Remember, we’re not having mama’s milk in the morning, we’re having breakfast”. It wasn’t even until that evening and she kind of remembered but forgot again right before bed. When she finally realized what had happened I told her “You’re a big girl now! Mama’s milk made you strong and healthy and now you don’t need it anymore” She was kind of okay with that explanation but we had to change up our bedtime routine a little so she wouldn’t feel like she needed mama’s milk. We started reading more books before bed and even a little TV some nights after dinner to watch “Harry Potta” with daddy. We also kind of stayed away from the nursing chair and it became more of a place to pile things some days but we’ve been reading her bedtime stories sitting on the floor by her bed. So now, here we are, two months later. Yesterday morning when she woke up I was cuddling her in the dark and had sat down in the chair… she kind of mumbled something and I said “what did you say love?” and she said “I want milk” really shy and quietly. We hadn’t snuggled in that chair really in the last two month. I smiled, hugged her tight and I told her “you’re a big girl love and you don’t need mama’s milk anymore. But we can cuddle anytime you want!” She hugged me and said “I want eggy’s”. So off to the kitchen for scrambled eggs.

She had a good transition I think. She didn’t have any tantrums or withdraw into baby type behavior like some toddlers I’d read do. She’s grown SO much in the last two months too! Or maybe I just notice it more because we’re not nursing now. Her potty training is going great! She wears a pull up at night but it’s been dry every time I take it off. At school she usually might just have one or two accidents a week, if that. None at home to speak of barring an incident in daddy’s car J. Her vocabulary and her memory are just amazing, I’m thinking she got her daddy’s memory (Thank Goodness!). The other night I sat down to finally start her 2^nd year photo album and just looking at the pictures from this time last year it’s incredible how much she’s changed and grown! It made me a little sad but also incredibly happy how we have this beautiful, happy healthy little girl that we’re so blessed to see grow and change each day. 

Now I just have to convince her to let me take the chair out of her room to use for baby sister :)

Confessions of a bad blogger

Ok, the main reason I'm a bad blogger should be obvious... I don't blog that often. Well that's not entirely my fault... I mean I have a 40 hour a week job, a 2 year old busy toddler, housework, dinner, swim class, etc, etc, etc. Yes, I'm aware that I've basically described everyone else who wants to do something but has several other things on the burner too... In other words... Life. So yes, I let the usual things get in the way of me sitting down and taking a moment to describe my life adventures for all of my 8 readers. (Although I'm not sure all of you are still with me so I may be talking to myself here) which is ok too. I find it a cathartic exercise when I actually get the chance to blog, that is when I have a topic in mind. If I'm just trying to post something it's more of a chore :-).

Besides letting the every day particulars get in my way of writing a blog, I'm also known to be a tiny bit lazy sometimes and plop myself on the couch to watch the tube after work (that is after dinner, bath and bedtime for the wee one). My excuse for this being that my brain hurts from looking at the computer all day at work and I don't want to get on at home. Lame excuse I know because the TV is, after all, another screen. In my own defense, we're all allowed to be a little lazy now and again, I just have to get out of letting it become a habit. 

Finally, I often feel I'm a boring blogger. I mean I realize that 99.99% of those reading my blog are family or friends (all 1-8 of you lovely people) so updates on family life are the usual topic. But I, like many, see so many great parenting blogs or DIY blogs or even just humorous blogs that I want mine to be up to par but instead feel like I have nothing to offer.

Well as I write these 'confessions' I recall my mom speaking of some advice from a book she's reading. The gist of it being that we need to try making small changes in order to make them into habits that will eventually be big changes in the long haul. Instead of trying to reach this grand design all at once and failing and then feeling like 'why should I try' we need to take it a step at a time. 

So I confess this. That I will continue trying to be a better blogger and I will aim to maybe enthrall a bit and perhaps entertain me and my 1-8 readers. :-)