Summer Malaise

We are just about in the half-way point of our summer here.  Again, it appears that I can't manage to get the kids out of their jammies and outside before 10:00 (and the heat sets in) and then we seem to be inside ALL DAY.  And we don't have enough money to do any FUN stuff like go to the movies or the local amusement park or even for all the groceries necessary to feed all these ever-hungry mouths. And all the free stuff got BORING on the second day of break.

I am a summer-mom failure.

We have managed to get invited to a couple of family pools (thank you, local friends, for taking pity on my hot family).  And the kids don't seem to mind that I can't manage to unscrew that new-fangled water hose squirter the hubby bought to attach the actual fun-sprinkler thing--squirting each other with the hose is just as much fun.

The ant colony that attempted to create its home in my fireplace was not fun--nor the pile of baby flies I just found in the garage since my son forgot to take out the garbage last week (tip! put the bin outside where you can then do bird-watching as they are all having a party with all those maggots!).  Why are all the spiders in my house not doing their jobs?  Hmmmm?

But we did have some excitement the other night as some high winds knocked down a neighbor's tree onto the power lines, which all snapped, leaving three houses without power for about 24 hours.  Thankfully, the 90* weather had cooled down that day.  And my neighbor was kind enough to let us run an extension cord from our refrigerator to his generator, therefore, I only lost some "non-essential" foods that were in the spare refrigerator--like the really cheap frozen dinners I bought that ended up being kinda gross.  And another neighbor let me use her dryer so my son and husband actually had DRY uniforms to wear to their ballgame--and then we ended up spending most of the day/evening with them just hanging out, folding laundry (theirs, not mine!), and then grilling some hot dogs.  Mary and Izzy got to spend the night with some OTHER friends which also helped.  Then the generator we borrowed popped a hose and John spilled gas everywhere, but it was alright in the end since again, it wasn't as hot as it had been just the night before, so it was a pleasant evening's sleep for not having any air conditioning--and only John and Keith (who both slept in the living room) had a fan plugged into the borrowed generator cord.

I don't know if it's been the heat or if it's the teething (molars!), but Sophie has started waking up at 3AM and turning me into a coffee-hungry cretin in the mornings (probably another reason why none of us manage to get out of our jammies until noon).  But she's been taking some nice afternoon naps which helps me get caught up on laundry--or ignore it to finish a book or try to finish that quilt for my newly-expected niece/nephew.  She's still so much fun, tho.  The other kids love her--well, except for when she's trying to hit/bite them, ugh,  She's imitating EVERYTHING Mary does and gets Izzy and Keith to laugh at/with her even though sometimes they seem to want to pretend she's not there (although, that's probably just the DS obsession talking).  She LOVES being in the water.  She gets called a "little doll" by many as she is just so darn tiny.  She weighed 18.5 lbs at her 15-mos appointment, only gaining a half a pound in 3 mos.  The doctor just shrugs her shoulders--cuz this is pretty normal for a Q baby. She nurses just twice a day, but I don't see our cutting those feedings too soon. One is at 5 AM (which is more doable when she's not waking me up at 3AM!).  And then around 8PM where she gets antsy and starts pulling up my shirt if I'm too slow on the draw (sometimes around 7).  If that doesn't work, she'll go get the Boppy and bring it to me.  I have tried teaching her the sign for "milk," but shirt-pulling probably just gets a quicker response. 

The girls are still both swimming in the evenings, which helps with some of the tedium, and Keith and John have their tournament baseball team going on (so far they are 4 and 2--with one game ending in an AMAZING triple play!).  And then John found a soccer camp and a field hockey camp for Izzy.  Too bad they are both on the same week which means she'll be carted about ALL DAY.  WHAT FUN.  Anyway, we're doing the best we can with the limited means that we have.

And now that I've taken some time to catch up on a few interwebby things, I better get going getting the laundry caught up.  *shudder*

Procrastinating

It's naptime, and I should be doing more of that deep spring cleaning I've been attempting to do the last couple of weeks, but the latest bathroom grout-scrubbing session has wiped me out, so I'll catch you all up instead! 

• We are expecting back to back visits from grandparents and are very excited--although annoyed with all the cleaning it ensues and why on EARTH I don't do a better job keeping up on that stuff on an every day basis.
• Izzy did her first long course swim meet, did great and had a ball.  We were wondering whether or not to keep her in swimming since she hasn't been trying as hard during practices and seems to have lost interest.  We are now wondering if it's simply that she's not hard-wired for long daily practices (very short attention span, that one), and if she just simply needs to do MORE meets!
• Mary has been running modified track--and doing great.  But we can tell she's still not "sold" on this sport and would rather be swimming (but NOT at the same time as track, OH NO).  Just like with swimming, she is an endurance runner.  She doesn't want to admit it, tho, and keeps signing up for the shorter races.  Significantly better with distances.  Thursday is her last meet.
• Baseball and softball are in full swing which means that life is complicated to the nth degree with running three kids to five different sport schedules (plus two Girl Scout troops!).  Keith is the youngest kid on his team, so he's no longer the Big Fish.  He's learning humility as he has to sit the bench more often than when he was in the not-so-good league of players.  He's having a few problems hitting this year, but he's doing great with his fielding/pitching.  And Izzy is surprising me with her softball abilities.
• I took Izzy's Girl Scout troop on their first camping trip/overnight last weekend, and it went great.  Until I got my mini-van stuck in the mud.  Three people got stuck.  I was the only one who ended up having to call a two truck (which insurance did not cover! grrr!).  Ah well.  The kids were well-behaved and had a great time.  I'm looking forward to another overnight attempt in the fall.
• Sophie is sort of sleeping through the night.  And sort of in her crib.  Sometimes.  Many nights I can plop her into her crib, and she falls asleep after a few minutes fussing, no problem.  Many nights, like last night, I have to give in after awhile and cuddle up with her as it's obvious there will be no sleep to be had otherwise.  But now she no longer just cuddles in my arms--she flops around all over the place.  It's better if John is in bed with us--as that extra "body boundary" to keep her contained, but lately he's been giving sleeping on the couch a try again.  Of course, the couch is so uncomfortable, I wonder how he hasn't figured out that a toddler who fusses at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning is better than a bad back..!
• I have Sophie weaned down to 2 or 3 feedings a day now.  My baby is so grown up!  She is learning new words: shoes, Izzy, sissy, thank you, etc.   She is such a funny little thing!  But she is into EVERYTHING and driving us nuts!

So Mary is home and grumpy, and I just LOVE thirteen!, so I'm off to hand over the computer to her so she can finish ALL THAT HOMEWORK, OMG!!

Getting There

My amazing one-year old started WALKING just two days after amazingly turning one.  And now she's got me chasing her everywhere, and she is no longer content to sit in my lap during Keith and Izzy's Suzuki lessons.  No, she toddles around almost knocking over cellos and getting into the marbles.  When I was busy fiddling with SOMETHING (what? WHAT was so important that I turned my back on my new-toddling toddler?), she ambled up to the basket of marbles (they are used to help the violin/viola players learn to hold their instruments, BTW) and put TWO in her mouth.  And yet, when I noticed that Izzy was over there, I got on to her for "playing with her sister and not paying attention" until the poor child finally got out that "SHE GOT INTO THE MARBLES, MOM!"  Oh.  Well.  Carry on, then, my much-more-observant child.  YEESH.

But the best bit was when I went to the pool to pick up Mary from swimming and put Sophie down (why?  oh yeah, she was getting HEAVY).  While talking to Mary, we both sort of glanced up and noticed at the same time that my newly-walking prodigy was actually about to newly-walk right into the POOL.

Yeah.  Two almost-heart attacks in a week.  Let's hope I've re-learned my lesson about the fact that I HAVE A BABY THAT CAN *WALK* NOW.  Yeesh.

And I am happy to report that the sleeping situation is MUCH BETTER.  Not perfect, mind you, but just....well, almost pleasant!  Sophie still has to be nursed to sleep, but I'm having better luck actually getting her into her crib without her waking--or at least with her burrowing down and falling right back to sleep.  And then she sleeps for 7-9 hour stretches.  It's a sleeping miracle, people!

There have still been a few nights here and there where John or Sophie and I end up on the couch for sanity's sake, but very few, and we are all getting much more sleep, for the most part.

Now if only I would channel this new energy into cleaning my house instead of reading more books!

ONE

My little one is ONE!!  And I've been nostalgic all weekend about her birth as last Sunday just seemed like it was THAT DAY all over again!  Beautiful weather!  Exhaustion from DST!  Swimming!  And...oh, well, NO CONTRACTIONS, thank heavens, but still.  And then my memory apparently came to LIFE as then I started coming down with a cold JUST LIKE A YEAR AGO.  Awesome.

Anyway, my darling Sophia is a year old now.  And poor fourth kid, we have YET to eat her birthday cake!

We just...had too much going on all weekend to even attempt a party.  And then when I decided we would at least eat cake on Sunday, I ran out of frosting, and it took John so long to get to the store to get me more (when I was going to go get it MYSELF, but he's all, "No, I'll do it," and I would have had it two hours earlier if I had just GONE when I SAID it....), that well, it got late, and we just didn't DO it. 

Last night was out of the question as we had a parent-teacher conference (those of you on Twitter heard my standardized tests RANT), and then the girls had swimming while Keith had his final basketball practice/party.  I was driving around a LOT.  And we got home kinda LATE. 

So!  John says, TONIGHT is a good night, right?  No basketball, we'll let the girls skip swimming.  Oh.  Wait.  *I* have a meeting that I CANNOT skip tonight.  So sorry I never got around to putting it on the calendar, dear.  And the rest of the week is pretty much shot.

Yes, this is our life.  Everything to be PLANNED down to the last minute.  Anytime I even think of working full-time, I shudder.  HOW?  HOW could we pull that off???

So!  We're gobbling down her cake very, very quickly tonight before my meeting.  And she's only one, and she doesn't know any better nor care.  The end.

And since I still cannot get this computer to download any new photos, you will just have to IMAGINE her cuteness.  She's a DOLL, I tell you.

Sophia,  you are still keeping us up many nights, but ever since you've been here, it's as if you belonged.  No one can imagine our crazy household without you!

I...just don't know

Sophie and I really did have a good run there for a couple of days.  We had a couple of good nights where--even though it took me two hours to get her to actually lie down and sleep in her crib and not in my arms--she slept from midnight to 6am.  That's DOABLE.  But then...Tooth #8 appeared, and all that hard work went to CRAP.

The tooth showed up last Friday night, and then suddenly Sophie was waking up EVERY HOUR again (with extra teeth-grinding bonus!).  And since Mary and John had to be up at the crack of dawn for a swim meet, I was forced to roll Sophia and myself up in a blanket burrito and try to keep her quiet on the air mattress.  And...it did not work.  Well, I mean, it worked in that she was kept quiet since I was holding her and soothing her immediately, but it was a huge step back in sleep training.  Because the next night, she would not even go into her crib.  And yes, Mary had yet another crack-of-dawn meet, so...I gave up, and Sophie slept in my arms IN MY BED.  Cuz I was tired of being cold and uncomfortable in addition to being woken up all night.  

And...that's all she wrote.  We have regressed back to a baby who seems to only sleep in my arms.  The only benefit I can say of that whole mess last week is that Sophia is officially night-weaned.  I can sooth her without offering her a boob.  Well, yay for small successes?

A good 60% of me really doesn't care.  I mean, I knew I was spoiling her from day one.  But as Semi-Desperate House Wife said, she's my fourth, and I think I'm entitled to spoiling the fourth and FINAL baby.  The ONLY reason why I started this nightmare and the hand-wringing is because I want to take my Brownie troop on an overnight.  And I can't do it until Sophie is sleeping through the night.  My poor troop didn't get to go on one last year.  They really deserve one.  And no matter what, we actually have one scheduled in May.  But there is no way John will want to deal with a repeatedly-waking baby (TODDLER, by then!) on his own.  So...I started the training. 

Know what I need?  A set of insulated rooms where I can put Sophie down to let her cry, and it won't wake up my other children or my husband.  Since that does not exist in my house, I am stuck with a "sneaky" family bed.  "Sneaky" in that my husband does not want one, and yet, we seem to have one...!  (Last night she slept in her own crib for maybe an hour.)

I might try again this Friday night.  Maybe.  I dunno.  There are no swim meets on Saturday, but there is a basketball tournament on Sunday, so I don't know how much progress I can make.  *sigh*



But let me stop whining and tell you all about Mary's swim tournament!!  She qualified for 5 different events for her tournament and had to swim last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  She got fourth place overall in the 500 freestyle.  She then made it to the finals in her 50 freestyle, 200 freestyle, and the IM.  She slipped off the blocks when she dove in for the 50 free, which made her lose some time, but she *almost* caught up (she said she was so ANGRY that she was swimming like a demon to try to catch up!).  We're still waiting for official results on those other events, but really, just the fact that she made the finals--and got that fourth in the 500--is a spectacular show for a skinny, little girl who has only been swimming for two years.  John and I are just bustin' with pride!!!

So What

I think I am just too darn old for sleep-training.

Monday night was kind of OK.  Because I nursed Sophie to sleep while John and I caught up on some of our DVR recordings (oh, the list of recordings!  weeks and weeks behind!).  So then when I finally tried to put Sophie to bed (around 11-ish?), yeah, she woke up.  I let her cry for the requisite 20 minutes, cuddled her for a while, then lay her down--and she magically rolled over and went right to sleep.  Yes!  But, due to the extra-long cuddle, it was around midnight before the magic happened, and then she woke up around 6am.  And I brought her to bed and nursed her.  And all was mostly good.

Well, Tuesday night I decided that I really needed to start focusing on getting Sophie to bed at a more decent hour.  I mean, holding her while watching TV for two hours is not conducive to actually training her to sleep in her own bed, you know?  So, I managed to lay down with her to nurse in my little air mattress around 9:30.  Next thing I knew, it was midnight, and she was still snuggled up next to me.  Whoops.  So, I tried to put her down, and then the chaos started.  After a few cry-it-out attempts, I decided that I had pretty much screwed things up by letting her fall asleep with me in the first place (and John was on his way to bed, and yes, you CAN hear her through the floors of the house!), so I just brought her back to our air mattress, and we both slept a nice, peaceful night. 

Have I mentioned that it's just really, really COLD in my den?  I don't remember it being so cold when we used it as our family room, but Tuesday night in particular I was freezing my butt off--and this is with wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt (with hood!) to bed.  I even double-checked with John that the heating vents were actually OPEN.  Yes, indeed.  And I wonder if it's not helping the baby sooth herself to sleep so well, either.  (Mostly, I think, um, MY FAULT, tho!)

Anyway, last night it was even colder outside than the night prior--and I just couldn't face it again.  So, I decided to see just how she would do in her own bed in our own WARM room again.  Again, I nursed her around 9:30.  Again, I woke up around midnight with her still in bed with me.  Again--whoops.  This time she went straight back to sleep when I put her in her crib.  But then she woke up at 2 (or was it 3?), and since now I'm back to that old problem of Sophie waking my husband, I just brought her to bed with me to cuddle.  I know I got her back to bed at one point, but then she woke up again--and she was pretty much in bed with me for the rest of the night. Warm!  But baby not in her own bed!  Dangit!

Sleep training:  FAIL. 

ME, not the baby.

I guess the one good thing about all of this is that we have definitely night-weaned.  When she has been waking up, I've been able to get her to go back to sleep--albeit with cuddling in bed with me--without nursing.  I think that I am going to take that as a SLIGHT success.

Just a few more days of winter break for the older three kids, and then the chaos of getting-ready-for-school mornings start again.  I had really hoped to make more progress by then, but I don't think that's going to happen now.  Again, I think I'm just too old for this @#$%.


Oh--and Keith turned 11 yesterday.  ELEVEN!  I am just not ready for my little big guy to start middle school next year, you know?  *sigh* 

So Far, So-So

Friday night the Great Getting-My-Darling-Brat-To-Sleep-Through-The-Night Adventure began.

I had the spare room all prepared with the pack-n-play.  I set up the CD player with the Beatles lullabies that all my children have loved so much, but Sophie hasn't really been privy to much yet (I dunno--the CD player in my room sucks, and I never got around to switching it with the better one that happened to be in the spare room..?).  I put in a night light.  I inflated the inflatable mattress in the den for myself.

Sophia started getting sleepy around 9:30, so I lay down with her in my REAL bed and nursed her to sleep.  Yes, I know the first thing I'm supposed to do is put her down when she is sleepY and not Asleep, but there is only so much I'm willing to do as a sleep-deprived parent.  Anyway, I put her down in her crib (which is easier to type over and over again than pack-n-play) just before 10.  And...she immediately woke up, started crying, stood up, and started jumping in the crib.  I calmly left the room.

Twenty minutes later, there was no settling down of the baby, so I picked her up (Yes, I know, also WRONG. But again, there is ONLY SO MUCH....).  Sophia almost instantly fell back to sleep in my arms--which is what she wants to do EVERY night.  After a good 20 minute cuddle I lay her back down in her crib.  I kid you not, folks, the SECOND I even BENT OVER an nth of a degree, she WOKE UP and started crying again.  (Ah yes, THIS is how she ended up back in my bed every night last month! and for the last 11 months!)

So, we kept playing this game.  Scream and bounce in crib for 20 minutes; cuddle and fall asleep for 20 minutes.  John even came down at one point and said, "You know, this is a strange room!  And a strange bed!  Of course, she's going to be waking up and anxious!"  Yes, dear, I DO know that.  Hence the lullabies and night light!  And the cuddles!  But since you do not want a family bed, and I cannot possibly ignore a child screaming just one foot away from me, THIS is how we have to do this.  John picked her up and cuddled her (it was OK, it was time, anyway).

Finally, around 1am, just as I was about to get her again, the crying faded, and the poor baby fell asleep.  She slept until 5am.  Then I got her and nursed her and let her stay with me on the inflatable.  Because, seriously, after taking over 3 hours to fall asleep that night, I felt she deserved a good, warm cuddle and nursing session after a good 4 hour sleep.

On Saturday, Sophie hardly napped at all.  Good!  With little sleep on Friday night and no naps, Saturday night should be a piece of cake.  I didn't count my husband....

Izzy had a swim meet on Sunday, so John said he did NOT want the baby up all night crying again keeping up Izzy and/or him.  I think it's safe to say he meant HIM since none of the three eldest moved a peep through all the crying from the night before....  So, our darling spoiled baby got to sleep in our bed again Saturday night.  We all felt well-rested for that early meet on Sunday morning, at least.  *sigh*

Last night I nursed Sophia to sleep around 10:00.  I rolled her up in a blanket hoping that that would help with the transition from my arms to her crib.  Nope.  Again, my child apparently has a heightened sense of elevation.  After a good long cuddle, and many attempts to get the sleeping, now-NOT-sleeping child in her bed, I finally grit my teeth, set her down, and then tried patting her back to see if I could sooth her back to sleep.  No go.  I finally bolted out to my air mattress and resigned myself to another long night.

I let Sophia cry a bit longer because I, um, lost track of time a bit.  (That's a good thing, right?  Since it shows that her crying wasn't feeling like a Fist of Death to my stomach??)  Well, she also kept winding down a little, so I waited to get her in the hopes that she would actually, you know, WIND DOWN.  And then she'd pick it back up again.  So, after about 40 minutes (I still can't believe I was able to ignore her that long!), I got her, wrapped her back up in her blanket burrito, and cuddled her again.  And again she fell asleep.  And again she woke up with every attempt to lay her back down.  Ugh.  Well, I finally put her down and made a run for it again.  She woke up for about 30 seconds and then was quiet.  QUIET!  Ahhhhh....  After a few minutes, I tip-toed back in, and sure enough, she was asleep.  And she stayed that way ALL NIGHT until I finally WOKE HER UP at 8:30 this morning.  

Oh!

Well!

Stay tuned....

A lesson

So I mentioned last month that I was trying to night-wean my Little Miss.  Partly because "It's time."  Partly because the pediatrician "suggested" it ("Well, if she is nursing in the night, the worry is that she won't eat as much during the day").  And partly because I have realized all along that I was doing myself and my family a disservice by letting my sleep-deprivation get the best of my parenting gut instincts and spoiling this darling child as long as I have.

Well, it's just not going so well.

The problem all along has simply been logistics.  With the crib in our bedroom, I cannot feasibly let Sophia cry it out a little and keep my sanity--or my husband's.  She wakes up at 2am crying and immediately gets up, peers over the crib at me, and then starts BOUNCING on her crib mattress until I get her.  In order to not annoy my husband, I usually respond immediately.  And bring her to bed to nurse her back to sleep.  And if I manage to stay awake, I try to put her back in the crib without waking her--which does not always work so well.  And then we play the game again around 4:00 or 5:00.

Another issue is the bedtime routine.  I never really established a good one.  Basically, her routine amounts to: change into pajamas, nurse to sleep.  Sometimes I am able to read her a book.  Sometimes she is stinky enough I gave her a bath.  Most times I am dealing with three other children who need to be carpooled from here to there and then get snacks and homework checks and put to bed and then next thing I know, it's 10:00, and I am having to nurse every ounce of milk out of me in order to get Sophia to finally settle down from all the ruckus.

I tried.  I really did.  We did OK for a few days.  She even managed to sleep through that 5am feeding a couple of nights.  And then...I think that the exhaustion just got the best of me.  Having to get up and then walk downstairs (in my FREEZING living room) and sway and cuddle her back to sleep took its toll on me.  Next thing I knew, that 5am feeding was back, and John and I were wretched messes. 

Anyone on the tweets knows that I've been whining for a while about the weary wretchedness.  Just...not good.  Because suddenly Sophia started waking up almost EVERY HOUR.  And I completely forgot my name with all the insomnia. 

(Note here that it may have been the unluckily-timed eruption of the 7th tooth that "helped" with this whole mess....)

Well, it came to a head one night when I tried desperately to sooth Sophia back to sleep without nursing her.  I actually think I'd already nursed her once...I don't remember anymore.  But I do know that that night it took over an hour of dancing, swaying, singing, cuddling before the sleeps finally came.  John let me stay in the bedroom while HE tried to sleep on the couch.  It was horrible.

So the next night, I went back to nursing her back to sleep.  Just so that we could get some sleep.  And yes, she kept waking up very, very frequently.  And then I realized that she was basically not sleeping AT ALL unless she was in our bed and/or on my chest.

Well, all that on-again, off-again nursing must have messed up my body.  Or maybe it was the day I woke up, and she may or may not have been sleeping partially on my breast...?  I dunno, but last Wednesday night I came down with a case of mastitis.  I spent all that night until Thursday morning running a fever that got up to 101 and with that lovely plugged duct pain in my right breast and...the poor baby.  Most of Thursday I was so down with it (I also had an upset stomach), that she stayed in her crib while I tried to shake off the fever in my bed and threw cheerios over the bars at her when she seemed hungry. 

Well, I got over my mastitis (and did NOT have to go to the doctor in the 2 feet of snow on Friday!  Woot!), but I am still at a complete loss on how to get this baby to sleep ON HER OWN.  Meanwhile, the lack of sleep is turning me into a complete hag to my other children--and my husband and I are hardly speaking we are so tired and grumpy.

After another night of the same ol' on Sunday, I decided ONCE AGAIN to make some sort of attempt to clean out the spare room.  In my frenzied, sleep-deprived state, I think that I thought that if I could just get her out of MY room, she would automatically start sleeping like the good, sweet child I know she is.  So around naptimes and 13-yo sister-availability times, I managed to sort of clean out a corner in that @#$% spare room yesterday where I set up the pack'n'play to start some SERIOUS sleep-training.

I realized last night that the feeble-minded plan just won't work.  Yet.  I need to set up a comfortable place for myself close by.  I probably should start on a Friday night to HOPEFULLY give everyone in the house at least SOME recuperation time when they are not expected to work or stay awake through tests.  I need to take a step back and realize that since she's regressed to sleeping with me (or on my chest) again that I will probably fail miserably on most nights and can't expect miracles.  It would probably help if I had a rocking chair.

Next week the kids have off for winter break, so at least if we are miserable from this trial period, we can all be miserable together, without early morning bus-catching and then homework expectations (well, except for that poor working schlep, John).

Be prepared for more whining, twitter.  It's about to get REAL.

It's Electric!

A week ago Saturday (er, Sunday morning), I was woken up around 1:00am by my husband saying, "The power is out."  Um...huh?  So, he wanted me to grab a flashlight and help shine his way down the basement steps so that he didn't fall and break a neck or something on, you know, all the random socks and towels that get thrown down the stairs on a daily basis.  *cough* 

He explained as I tried to wake up that he was playing video games on that box with the X when everything went black...and yet the kitchen light over the stove was still on.  Huh.  So, he checked our fuse box there in the basement and strange? no circuits have been tripped?  We started fiddling with lights down there and noticed that random ones worked--along with the refrigerator down there, the heater (thank goodness!), and the washer--but not the dryer.  Huh.

We came back upstairs and played some more.  Really random stuff worked.  He tried tripping the whole house.  Nope.  Same random stuff worked and same did NOT work.  We peeked outside, and our neighbors to the left still had power, but we couldn't tell with the folks to the right (across the street is on a different grid).  So John decided to call the power company to see if there was some sort of outage, although it seemed unlikely.  Nope.

Meanwhile, the outage woke up Keith, who is not particularly comfortable sleeping without his closet light on (Oh boy, he's gonna find this post one of these days and completely DIE of embarrassment, isn't he?  Sorry, buddy!).  Anyway, Keith and I hung out while John went outside with the flashlight and started following the power lines around the house with the beam.  Wouldn't ya know it?  He found a break in one of the lines on the edge of our property!

So, another call to the power company where he gets to hit the Armageddon button, and goodness, he gets to talk to a real, live person!  She seemed unimpressed with John's finding of a broken power line and simply takes down his name, address, and the nearest intersection and says someone will come out.  And then...that's it.  John gets off the phone and realizes he doesn't even know WHEN someone will come out.  Now?  Tomorrow morning?  Um...?  Unhelpful person on phone..., hello?

Keith curls up on the couch, and I go back to bed (Sophia had awakened by this point, and she OF COURSE, needed to be nursed back to sleep.)  Around 2:15-ish I hear lots of noise of the big power company truck pulling in. 

Not 30 minutes later, the two guys had been shown the line, gotten their ladder out, spliced the line back together, gotten the power running right through the whole house again, picked up their flashing lights and orange cones, and left.  Neat.  We were all back in bed and slumbering within minutes.

Amusingly, Mary was staying the night with a friend that night and not part of the fun.  Her friends took her to a church-sponsored breakfast the next morning where the gentlemen sitting across from her sort of recognized her, got chatty, and ask her where she lived.  When she told him her street, they both realized why they recognized each other--it's the guy who lives across the street!  "Hey," he says, "What was going on at your house at 2:00 in the morning?  The dog woke me up barking his head off, and I see the power company blocking your driveway?"  Of course, she had no answer to that.  Heh. 

You know...

 1.  We are currently PET FREE.  A few months ago, I put my foot down about the FIGHTS over cleaning the bunny's cage (bunny belonging to Keith) and the FLIES that had taken over the den and living room as a result.  I was surprised at NO ARGUMENTS over it.  Keith, albeit honestly sad to see his little buddy go to the shelter, was also honest about his lack of desire to keep the bunny cage clean.  Huh.

Then, on X-mas night, my husband discovered our darling guinea pig--the one whose life I saved exactly a year ago?--had um, expired.  Was it because she was just a sickly pig?  Was it because Mary had given her a slight sponge bath to get her cleaned up because she was so stinky, and perhaps inadvertently gave the pig a chill?  Was it just HER TIME?  We will never know.  Mary, John, and I are quite bummed because we all felt she was a special pig and not just another "critter in a cage".  Mary admits freely that she did not seem to pay as much attention to her since the baby was born...but still, she most certainly took better care of her than her brother did the rabbit that somehow managed to survive his I'm-bored-with-this-pet-now care for six years.

Izzy's turtle quietly left us.  And the question of "has anyone seen him surface lately?" finally got answered by ME when I went LOOKING for him in his disgusting aquarium.  The poor guy didn't really have a chance.  His tank was in a part of the house which caused no one to remember him.  And the cleaning of the tank needed to be done by the adults of the house instead of the kid--and a turtle who is stuck in a not-often-visited corner of the house will suffer in silence.  And...we're not sure how often or how much the 8-year old was feeding him.  BAD ADULTS on this one.  :-(

Despite the sad losses, I am enjoying being pet free with no food, treats, or litter to purchase.  And even though I would love to honor Mary with the request for a new pig, I am saying NO for now.  I think that being pet free is the best option at our house at this baby-crazy time.

2.  The baby.  Oh, what a love.  She now has SIX teeth (four within days of one another!).  She is eating mostly table food now.  She is starting to imitate sounds and actions.  She can nod/shake her head.  She says "bow wow wow" when we read her "Doggies" book.  She points at EVERYTHING.  She is finally wearing 9-12 month clothes.  She weighed 16 lbs, 4 oz at her 9 (*cough* 10) month appointment.  (Still tiny--even smaller than Mary at that age!)  She is a Daddy's girl and lets him know that she does NOT like it when he sets her down.  She is still spoiled and wakes up twice in the night.  I have started trying to sleep train her, but with the crib in our room it just seems impossible.  So I've been getting up with her at night and taking her into the living room and trying to get her to go back to sleep by cuddling her instead of nursing.  It's been working about 50% of the time.  50% of the time I think I'm so exhausted that I just grab her and nurse her in bed and then wake up an hour later going, "Um, WHY do I not remember getting her?"  Then there is John SHAKING the bed to wake ME if I don't respond to her cries right away.  Yeah, I'm not responding because she DIDN'T WAKE ME UP.  Sure.  LET'S JUST SEE IF SHE WILL CRY IT OUT FOR A MINUTE, OK?  We are not getting proper sleep either, is what I'm saying here.

3.  I have polished up my resume and have actually applied for a few jobs. 

4.  I am learning new and interesting means of economy trying to tighten up our budget.  We eat a LOT of eggs for dinner. Lately, ground turkey is cheaper than ground beef!  Tofu is also cheap and easy.  If the kids want hamburgers, I make mini-meatloaf-burgers to stretch out the beef.  Mom can do without coffee (on most days....).  But when I remember to bring in the recycling to the grocery store, I usually have enough to buy myself a coffee as a treat--a good incentive to get those bottles and cans out of the house!

5.  I see I forgot to mention that at least three of us got the flu a few months back.  Izzy came down with a 102* temp and slight cough during Thanksgiving week.  Then a full week later Keith and I both came down with fevers and coughs.  Keith rode in right at the 102* range while I shot right up to 103.2* at one point.  I was so sick that I couldn't even properly take care of Keith.  I was working at the time and kept Sophie home with us, and it was all I could do to nurse her and throw her a few cheerios.  The x-mas tree got decorated by the kids (Keith bouncing back sooner than I) while I sat on the couch bundled up in blankets and in a stupor.  I can't even tell you the last time I was that sick.  Then Mary got sick a full week after that, but she only had a slight fever for about half a day, so we don't know WHAT she had.  So, when it came time for Mary's and Izzy's annual appointment, I went ahead and skipped the flu shots.  I mean, what was the point?  We'd already had it.  (I hope that doesn't bite me in the butt later this season!)  And...we passed the nastiness on to my friend who was watching Sophie while I worked--and her family.  NASTY FLU, folks.  NASTY.  Oh, and Sophie, who had had her flu shots?  She only came down with a runny nose!!!






  

Q Holidays

Mary turned 13 on December 23, and we celebrated in style by seriously cleaning the house and then inviting five of her friends over for a sleepover.  And...it was lovely.  We invited friends from all different phases of Mary's life:  past friend from our previous town/school, friend from Girl Scouts, friend from swimming club, new friend from middle school, and BFF.  They all got along splendidly and were So Much Fun!  And when I ran upstairs for a moment and then came back down at 12:37, I noticed that ALL was QUIET.  They had actually all bundled into their sleeping bags and settled down for the night.  I was expecting at least a 3 AM-er or something.  Nope.  Good, sweet children who were all apparently tired...?  Anyway, Mary said it was the Best Birthday Party Ever!

 Mary also learned a valuable lesson about texting while watching her baby sister.  See, Sophia is a CLIMBER.  None of my other children were climbers!  So, now we can no longer just stick her in the high chair with a handful of Cheerios and turn our backs for a moment.  Nope, she must be physically monitored at all times.  Mary forgot this rule.  And while Mom was downstairs turning over the laundry, Mary had put Sophie in the highchair and then left the room to answer a text.  All of a sudden, Mom hears THUMP and "WAAAAAH!"  A very, very scared Mom (and all the rest of the family) rushed in to find a scared, mostly-unhurt, crying baby.  Oh, I think I lost a few years of my life on that one.  Thankfully, Sophia only ended up with a bump on her nose.  And ALL were reminded of the "can't leave her alone!" rule.  I wasn't even mad at Mary--just relieved that my baby was OK.  (She also climbs out of the bouncy seat, the stroller, and any shopping cart.  No straps can contain THIS child!)

X-mas was spent opening presents and except for a few comments of "not getting what I wanted" by the middle two (one apparently forgetting he has a birthday coming up and the other apparently forgetting she JUST HAD a birthday a month ago) (and both apparently forgetting that they did not provide a Wish List until about a week before X-mas when 95% of the gifts were [sorry!] already bought and shipped and wrapped!), it was a great day.  (They really DID get a lot of what they wanted, just not ALL of it or sometimes SPECIFICALLY the item written down.)  We then cleaned up and headed off to our Japanese restaurant and had our lunch.  We set off for the movie theatre, and...it was completely, totally packed with people.  The line to buy tickets was soooo long, we eventually gave up--by the time we would have bought our tickets, we would have missed the first half of the movie!  (NEVER has this happened to us on X-mas day!)  We headed back, played with some of our presents, and then John took Mary and Keith back that afternoon to watch The Hobbit while Izzy, Sophie, and I stayed home and watched a few movies here (we were unsure of Izzy's reception of the movie--even though she's been read the book--and we were unsure of the 9 1/2 month old's ability to stay quiet now). 

New Year's Eve started somewhat sporadic as everyone seemed to have a different idea of what to do, and at one point all five (since Sophia can hardly be counted since she was always with me) of us were each in different areas of the house.  We finally all converged to the den where Mary, Keith and John played Just Dance 3 & 4 (well, John for ONE song, anyway--heh), and Izzy and I played Headbanz.  John, not being the dancing type, broke out the Rock Band upstairs, and we finally all got together up there and sang and played Beatles tunes until we watched the ball drop.  Mary strained her neck at her swim practice earlier that day, so after Just Dance, she was basically done for the night and spent the rest of the evening dozing under a blanket on the couch.  John kept Izzy and Keith up until almost 2AM playing on Rock Band. 

We slept in a little on New Year's Day (Well, me and Sophie, not so much--even though Sophie was up for MOST of NYE apparently not wanting to miss out on the fun?), then we met friends of Keith's and Mary's for sledding.  Most Fun.  Keith came home and took a two-hour nap, but the rest of us were up (Mary and Izzy finished the day with a playdate with their friends) and totally exhausted and totally NOT READY for school on Wednesday morning.  Ugh.

Free at last

I am DONE with my temp job.  And it's possible I could have stayed a few more weeks, but all that getting ready for work and pumping milk and no time to go to the store and laundry explosions and scary-messy house and day care issues and no time to eat that went with working just sort of turned me off to the whole idea.  For now.

I admit it was nice to be able to get AWAY from the house and pretend to be like a grown-up or something for a bit.  Talking with other adults during the day and using that shriveled up part of my "working brain" was a nice change in pace from the "hanging out and nursing a baby all day" part of me.  But with the day care costs and the parking fees and the gas, I wasn't actually making much money on the deal--a lot of hassle for, well, nothing.  Nothing but the satisfaction that the folks at this company are very nice and always seem very impressed with my work.  If only they would find something more permanent for me.

Because, despite all those issues of going back to work...I REALLY need to go back to work.  Money is beyond tight, and those diapers aren't getting any cheaper!  The biggest issue is that we are using the state healthcare since John's contractor has HORRIBLE healthcare.  It is kind of OK, but kind of pricy, and if I could just find a job with benefits--even if I'm only breaking EVEN with the day care costs--then we'll end up ahead with the healthcare costs.  I'm not sure how we'll manage the before/after school and then before evening activities chaos, but, like most families, I guess we'll figure it out.  And I keep reminding myself that I have an almost 13-year old who will be most helpful with getting the younger kids off the bus and started on their homework before Mom and Dad get home.

Still.  Ugh.

So!  Christmas is just 10 days away, and we have managed to buy TWO gifts.  Eep!  At least the tree has been up for the last two weeks.

Mary got a qualifying time in one of her strokes a few weeks ago (I think her 100 freestyle, but I might be mistaken), and she was ONE SECOND from getting a qualifying time in her 500 freestyle.  And for those of you non-swimming readers, that means that she did 20 laps in the pool.  We are getting a lot of comments from other swim parents about how much she has grown as a swimmer in the year and a half that she's been doing this.

Izzy continues to impress with her swimming skills.  But she is still cranky and crotchety in the mornings.  And she is still being forgetful of homework--and orchestra materials.  John and I know that THIS kid is the one that needs more one-on-one attention, but frankly, I can't really pull it off since I've ALWAYS got the baby with me.  And John is now coaching Keith's basketball team.  So, the most attention-starved kid seems even more attention-starved than normal.  John took her with him to the grocery store the other day, and the poor child talked NON-STOP the whole way there, the entire time in the store, and the whole way home.  Oh!  To have a doppelganger to help pick up the slack here!

Keith, as mentioned, is now in a basketball league.  And John, as mentioned, got suckered into coaching.  It's keeping them super busy in a time of year when we're already up to our eyeballs, but Keith, despite being a short, little guy, really enjoys playing basketball, so...there you go.  And his stinky feet are just STINKIER now!

Sophia is still just a delicious baby--who is starting to grow OUT of being a baby now.  NOooo!  She is nine months old now and has been pulling herself up and starting to cruise and pointing and using her pincer grasp (yay!  we're at the "stick her in the high chair and throw her a handful of cheerios" phase!) and maybe really trying to talk (we swear she is trying to say "tree").   STILL not sleeping through the night, though.  She usually falls asleep around 8 then wakes up at 9 to play until I finally manage to nurse ALL the milk right out of my body to get her to go back to sleep around 10.  Then she wakes up at 2.  THEN she wakes up at 5.  I think I have figured out that the 2am wake-up is mostly John's fault.  That's usually about when he goes to bed, and I think his walking around and settling down for the night wakes her up--and now it's become a habit.  I still mostly don't care.  I deal with the wake ups when they come.  But we seriously need to get all this house rearranged so that she can get OUT of our bedroom!

I have lost even MORE weight and so now my pants are starting to slide down.  This is normal for me at this point post-pregnancy.  I feel that the stress of working in addition to working very strange hours with NO lunch break have not helped with the unintentional losing of the weight.  So I am also glad to be done working since I may actually have time to eat lunch now--and all those holiday goodies will help, too.  heh.,

Hey!  Now we've got FOUR gifts bought.  Thank you, online-gift-buying place!

Have I mentioned that Sophie will still not consistently take a bottle?  That ended up being an interesting part of going back to work.  I had two regular sitters who split the week of watching her.  Then I had two back-ups for if/when the original two could not do it (this was an interesting week with my using all four friends for five days of work!).  Amusingly, all four folks had different methods of attempting to get Sophie to drink her milk.  Sometimes they were successful with the bottle (usually not).  Sometimes she was drinking out of a cup (which really worked the best, but some folks didn't seem to want the hassle).  Sometimes she would only ingest an ounce or two before they would give up and just feed her the baby food.  And...I was OK with it all as I knew she was nursing so much when she was with me (including those 2am and 5am feedings).  I can just imagine the worry I would have felt if this had been my first baby!  Yay for realizing that she's just FINE if she missed out on her bottle the 5+ hours I was gone from her during the day.  (Although you should SEE how much milk is currently residing in my freezer.  Milk that will probably NEVER get drunk, but HOW could I possibly throw it away?!)


  

Fit

• ALL of the boy's pants are now high-waters on him.  
• The oldest is out-growing all of her shirts.  And yet, she's at that in-between stage where girls' larges don't quite fit (or are too childish), but adult smalls are too big (and sometimes too grown-up-ish).  And adult extra smalls are too small now, too.  So basically she has the choice of wearing too-small shirts with cutesy childish sayings that are skin-tight or too-large shirts that are too adult and maybe somewhat skanky.  *sigh*
• Izzy is the lucky one with gobs and gobs of hand-me-downs, so she's all set.
• The boy's sneakers are getting too small.  And exceptionally FUNKY-SMELLING.  Dear Lord, THE STENCH!  THAT CARRIES OVER TO HIS ROOM!!!  GAG!!!
• I am working a temp job (third fall in a row--they love me!).  I was most pleased that my work clothes fit on me again.  I figured slacks had more of a "give" to them.  Then I got on the scale and noticed that I'm just two pounds shy of my pre-pregnancy weight.  Woo hoo!  Now, that pre-pregnancy weight was a bit "big" for me, but it was nice to finally at least drop down from that plateau I'd hit for a while there.
• So for kicks, I tried on my pre-pregnancy jeans.  AND THEY FIT.  Well, MOST of them, anyway.  Remember, this weight is the "pudgy" weight.  Whatevs.  Most happy, anyway.
• I have so much more to blog about!  But I can't seem to find a spare moment AT ALL.  (Gee, I wonder why?)

Any Other Name

I have officially decided that we have TOO MANY CHILDREN.  Keeping track of the times/schedules/activities for three children (plus baby!) has become worse than keeping up with a highly stressful job.  I am not sure how the house would function without G o o g l e calendar.  The laundry is a fright.  If I fall behind on dishes, clutter, and the laundry, I start panicking about ending up on some hoarders' TV show.  The baby has absolutely NO bedtime routine to her life because we have a different schedule from one day to the next on who/when we're picking up from what activity.  NO ROUTINE.  So, no, Dr. Mrs. Pediatrician, I am not surprised (and frankly not even gonna worry about) the fact that she does not sleep through the night yet. 

Oh, but she's such a delicious baby!  So happy and cheerful!  Smiles for almost everyone (except ONE of my friends--LOL!).  NO.  I refuse to worry about the sleeping thing.

It would be nice if she had her own room, though.

Admitting to the world that Sophia's name just doesn't seem to suit her was a nice thing to get off my chest.  And I know that Swistle is RIGHT.  It really isn't that hard to change a baby's name.  Really.  And I think that if it really bothered me THAT much--if I REALLY wanted to do it, I would.  But I decided not to, and I guess it's mainly because the whole BABY THING in general was somewhat new to us and getting used to having a baby around the house was enough of an adjustment.  Maybe it wasn't just the name, but still--even months later--the CONCEPT of another baby around here I wanted to wrap my brain around.  So, no, I'm not changing her name.  But I am making more of a conscious effort to call her by her name--even in my head--to help get used to it.  (I'm having a very foggy memory of trying to get used to Mary and Izzy's name, too.)  And I think that the biggest reason for not changing the name is that for several weeks Sophie has been at the age where SHE knows her name.  She looks up and responds when we say her name.  How can I change it now?  :-)  So I'm using it more often when speaking to/about her, and I only cringe when I see reference to the million other Sophia/Sofia's born this last year (top girl's name of 2011!).  Or when I tell it to the obviously-Italian-descent folks who frequent my grocery store.  (Yes, I stole your culture's name! LOL)

Sophia had her six-month appointment last week, and she is now a "whopping" 14 pounds 4 ounces.  She's still a peanut weight-wise, but length-wise she is exactly at the 50 percentile.  The doc is quite pleased.  Sophia is already bypassing Mary in the weight/height aspect.  Poor little Mary.  She will always be the first and most peanutty of our peanuts!

Speaking of Mary, she got to officially babysit (for money!) for the first time last week.  She watched the neighbors' five- and seven-year old kids when the parents were at their Curriculum Night.  She only ended up there an hour and they paid her $15 (!--well, you see, the parents were accidentally told the wrong curriculum night by the 2nd grade teacher, so they did not have to stay, so they paid Mary for the "intended time out" instead of actual time).  The kids were good, and Mary came home saying that she hoped babysitting would always be that easy!

John is now a Major League coach for the little league.  Draft was last week, and while he (and Keith--whom John picked for his team.  heh) are excited about a few winter practices and getting things started up in the spring, John was a bit bummed to go back over his picks and realize that he's going to be short pitchers.  It might be a tough season!  Ah well.

Izzy has taken to the swim club very well and absolutely loves it.  It's wearing her out beyond believe, though.  She has been sleeping like a log at night.  And I've noticed several more "slips" of forgetting homework, etc. than she has ever done in the past.  We may need to go down to two nights of swimming a week instead of three.

Since school has started Keith has remembered to bring home all his homework, planner, and reading log ONCE (and that wasn't even on the first day of school!).  It's been worse than usual.  The teacher sent me a kind note the yesterday to ask me to check his homework and planner since he's not been turning it in.  Ah, sweet teacher.  I sign the planner EVERY TIME I SEE IT.  If my name's not on there, HE DID NOT BRING IT HOME.  That kid is driving me absolutely NUTS.

Back to Life

So we went on our annual trip to the ocean and then school started and that means...summer is OVER.  It didn't really hit me until we were driving home from Ocean City that this was indeed the end and that all that stuff I wanted to do over the summer--like get the kids to work a little on their math and try to teach Izzy how to ride a bike without training wheels--just didn't happen.  To me, the whole summer felt like one very LONG Sunday.  We lounged around the house in our jammies until 11:00 playing or reading, then got dressed, ate lunch, and then lounged, read, and played some more until the girls had to go to their swim club.  And then every now and then we actually DID something.  Like go swimming at a friend's house, go to the library, or...what else did we do now?  Hmmm....  Well, I'm not too bummed about it.  It was a good summer anyway.

Anyway, here some pics!

Ocean City, NJ

First Day of School

Rocking on her knees and trying to crawl!

Name Regret

A few weeks ago, John was playing with the baby and says to me, "You know, we should have named her Lucy.  I don't think Sophia fits."

...And thus it has officially been verified that we did indeed pick the WRONG name for our baby.

Know what's crazy?  *I'm* the one who picked the name to begin with.  *I'm* the one who kept putting it on MY top ten list.  ME ME ME.  But you see, HE sold me on the name Darcy (or Elliot).  But then HE had second thoughts at the 11th hour.  And then he surprised me by picking Sophia--a name he never really expressed interest in when I kept adding it to my list.  And I did say, "I think she looks more like a Darcy than a Sophia."  And the name has just not seemed right to me since he picked it.  But SOMETHING had to go on that darn birth certificate. 

Every time I tell people her name, I feel the need to EXPLAIN it.  To justify why we picked this perfectly lovely name that just. doesn't. seem. to. fit. her!

But really.  She does NOT look like a Sophia.

And I refuse to go through the hassle of changing her name after the fact.

So I call her Sophie, but you know, that doesn't seem right, either.  I know that in a year or so it won't be a big deal.  We'll get used to it. 

But I wish he would just let me call her Loretta.

*sigh*

Keeping up

Baseball is finally ovah!  Oh...it's been a while, so I have to go back to catch you all up....  Keith's league team won the Loser's Bracket (CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP, I mean).  Then Keith got chosen to play on one of the Town's Tournament teams again.  Last year, John managed the team, and they had a ball.  This year, another manager took it on, but John still assisted.  And...it wasn't nearly as much fun.  We won't go into the hows or whys here, but hey, baseball aside, John and Keith did at least make a few new friends.  And well, they lost the other night to the #1 seeded team, so it's finally DONE.  Yay!  And that's all I'm going to say about THAT!

We are pinching pennies here to save up for our summer vacation and to hopefully get the house connected to the sewer.  Another summer of finding all the cheap and FREE things to do around town!  Mooching off folks who have pools and are willing to invite us over in the extreme heat.  Trying to set up playdates.  Reading a LOT.  Dragging out the battery-operated pottery wheel bday gift and NOT managing to make a pot (As feared by Mom who almost stuck it in the garage sale.  Ah well--pinch pots are fun, too!) 

Little Sophie is now 4 months old and trying very hard to crawl when we put her on the floor.  At her appointment, she weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds, 12 ounces.  The doc is thrilled.  They measured her at 23 inches, but I watched the nurse and double checked after she left and made sure the doc knew that it was NOT accurate.  I'm guessing she's at least 24 1/2 to 25 inches.  Anyway, Sophie is still a little peanut, but she's pretty normal now for a Q baby.  And finally fitting into her 3-6 mos clothes.  Yay!

My neighbor took some some 4 mos pics of Sophie, but I haven't gotten the proofs yet.  Can't wait to see them.

Um, and I never sent out birth announcements.  Parenting magazine assures me that in this electronic age that was OK.  But yes, I do realize I should have at least gotten her hospital pictures out.  Poor fourth child!  In a busy house of three very active older children!  So, I guess folks will be getting hospital pictures AND 4 mos pictures at the same time.  *sigh*  It is what it is.

Oh!  Did I tell you that now Izzy has joined Mary's swim team?  She's is doing so, so well.  Her best stroke is the butterfly.  It's so wild to see this little thing keeping up so well with some of the older kids with whom she's been swimming.  Mary admittedly was a little bummed.  "Swimming was supposed to be MY thing."  Oh, honey.  So tough having siblings who can do the same things as you.  (She's being a good sport, for the most part.)

Sophie stopped sleeping through the night two weeks after she started.  The only thing I can think of is that she's been showing signs of teething (LOTS of drool, chomping on her toys, tugging at her ears), and perhaps that's helping wake her up.  2:30 is the magic time when she usually wakes up.  The doc suggested I try to let her start crying it out a little and soothe her without feeding her.  But the crib is in our room so it's kind of hard to let her cry it out for very long.  Right now I think that John and I getting some decent sleep is sort of winning over whether or not I am nursing her in the middle of the night.  She started cereal last week.  So far...not the biggest fan.

4 months-ish

New Tricks

Thursday night Sophia technically slept through the night--as in, she was out cold for 6 1/2 hours during the night.  But really, we bleary-eyed mothers don't want to call it "sleeping through the night" until they are actually sleeping PAST 4:30 AM, thank-you-very-much.

This milestone coordinated on the same exact day/night that Sophia figured out how to roll from her back to her belly.  So yeah, I'm all checking on this baby every few hours cuz she's not waking up, and then getting a mini heart attack because she's on her belly.  Gotta love THAT milestone.

...And then last night she woke up at 4 hours again.  On top of my flipping her over onto her back every couple of hours.  I'm TIRED, is what I'm saying here.  Ugh.


In other news, Keith's team lost their first play-off game, but they won the first "loser's bracket" game today, so oh joy, they get to play again on Monday night.  And he's playing in the All Star team on Wednesday.  And then the tournament team starts practice next week.  And then Mommy went a little loopy AGAIN from trying to keep the swimming/baseball schedules straight.


The kids are officially out of school now.  Mary got out a day earlier than the other two, so as a treat to us, I took her (and baby makes three!) to see Hunger Games on Wednesday.  She'd already seen it with her father when it first came out, but as Sophie and I were one week post-partum there, we did not get to partake.  The baby was pretty good and nursed/slept through most of it.  And I was happy to FINALLY get to see the movie.

Thursday, the first day of all three kids home from school, went pretty well in the morning, but by the afternoon exhausted children and Mommy all got on each others' nerves and Mommy was yelling.  Yeah, this is going to be a pretty long summer unless Tired Mommy learns how to get her patience back.

Things making me happy right now

• Mary saying to me, "You know what, Mom?  I can't remember what it was like without Sophia here."  (HA!  See, honey!  I TOLD YOU!)
• Keith passing his Suzuki Cello Book 2.
• Izzy playing her viola solo perfectly.
• Izzy being "Narrator 1" for the "Sneech Play".  And nailing it.
• All three kids coming up to hold and tickle and cuddle their baby sister.
• Having one night this last week where ALL SIX of us were home for dinner.  Of course, being in a celebratory mood (it was the night of Keith's recital), we ordered pizza.  ha!
• Sophia's roly poly legs.  Well, roly poly for one of OUR babies, anyway.  
• Baby girl hand-me-down clothes.
• Softball and Baseball seasons are almost over (although, we still have Keith's tournament season to contend with).
• Sophia's grins and gurgles.
• Chocolate-covered almonds.
• And iced coffee.
• Being able to make a quick run to the store--and leaving Sophia with Mary!
• Finally getting the old, broken down crib and mattress out to the curb.  Along with various other icky things from our gross basement.
• Almost keeping the laundry caught up.
• Finally getting Keith to change a diaper.  And then his begging to change the next one.  
• Sophia chewing on her hands and starting to grab her toys.
• Getting rid of toys and books and even the toddler bed at my neighbor's garage sale last week.
• Scoring a bunch of fun, crafty stuff and a hand-crocheted baby dress from my neighbor's garage sale last week.
• Finding a pair of shorts that fit at Good will.
• $5 Baby Rompers at the R Us place.
• School is almost out!

I heart Shaun

If you have followed my blog at all, you know that I always jump at the chance when Mommy Daisy has a Shaun the Sheep giveaway.  My kids have aged a bit since I won the first DVD from her, but we still watch it and just get the giggles every time.  (And I catch my husband laughing, too.)  It's also nice since it's so QUIET--I can put that DVD on and except for the giggles, I barely know the TV is on.  I'm looking forward to getting Shaun out when the baby comes of age.  :-)