In one end, out the other...

Dear Maggie,

What a rough week. You started waking up again at night and you seem to have an upset stomach. Your naps are a lot shorter too and you don't wake up happy. Instead you wake up screaming.

I am not sure what is going on. I think it might be these herbs I am taking to help with breastfeeding. I am cutting down how much I take to see if it improves. But despite it all you are still happy! I think you feel better today as you you woke up happy and you were talking away while we were playing. And you slept through the night. Hopefully you will get a nice nap today. I feel a lot better having had a full night sleep.

I get very stressed by all this stuff. I found it hard to deal with since I can't control it all. Did I mention I am a control freak? Hopefully by time you are reading this I have learned to let go of things. part of me is tempted to go back to work early. Work is easy and comfortable and I think mentally I would do really well back at work. But just because its easy doesn't mean it's the best choice. My motto is "everything worth having is just outside your comfort zone". I don't want to give up this time with you. This only happens once in a lifetime. I would miss out on so much just because I am a bit uncomfortable. And guaranteed I would get back to work and I would be miserable. The grass is always greener...

You are really good at sitting up now. I think crawling or some mobility will be soon since you are getting frustrated that you can't reach everything. You were pretty mad to day you couldn't reach the remote control. You could touch it but every time you did it would move just a little bit more out of your way. I finally took pity on you and moved it closer. And then you changed the channel. Thanks. But I will start to torture you and force you to figure out how to move.

The eating is going a lot better. You love cereal. You have eaten squash, carrots, sweet potato and just started chicken (mixed with sweet potato). We had some banana but it seems to have clogged you up a bit. Although with the amount of pooping today maybe I should give it to you again. I can't believe soon you will be eating real food!

Well if you are going to wake up from your nap early, it will be in the next few minutes. So I am going to get another cup of coffee and prepare. But even if you are up, you are always happy so i am happy.

Love Mom xoxo

Dear Maggie, here we go again

I thought you might be interested in how your day goes. You are seven months old now and we have a pretty regular routine. Nothing exciting but it's our day!

Because Owen is in school, you wake up around 7:15. We get Owen ready and off to school for 7:55. Then we come home and you have breakfast. I have breakfast and a BIG coffee. It's decaf but I need it. And I put a lot of sugar in it so it propels me through the morning.

Then we either go do an errand, like groceries or other shopping. Or we hang out at home and play on the floor with stacking cups, rings or you bounce in your jumperoo (a stationary bouncy thing that we borrowed from Max).

Then we do some house work, usually folding laundry. I give you some face clothes or socks to play with and you are pretty happy. You love blankets and towels being thrown over your face. You kick your legs and swing your arms wildly till you pull the towel off. And then you have a huge smile on your face. So that keeps you going through most of the laundry folding. When I fold sheets you're in heaven! I shake the sheet out and let it fall over your face. And then I yank it up really quick, like playing parachute. That usually gets some giggles from you.

About three hours after you wake up, you have a nap. Usually it's about three hours. Sometimes it's less. But you typically get 4 hours, spread out over two naps. So whether it's 2 hours in the morning, two in the afternoon; or one in the morning and three in the afternoon. It works out to four hours. While you sleep, I usually watch tv, check the internet, do some tiding, wash dishes, relax (recoup from lack of sleep at night!!), eat lunch. It's a little boring but I am trying to enjoy it since this is the last time I will have time like this, both to myself and with you. I am sure I will regret how much time I wasted watching tv, but oh well...

Once you wake up, it's usually time to eat again. Right now you are eating cereal/pablum. But we went and bought a bunch of veggies and fruits that we will start today at lunch. So hopefully, you take well to it and don't turn your nose up at it. I tried barley cereal today. You were gagging and coughing. So I don't hold much hope for carrots today.

Then we either go out and do more errands, or just stay home and do more chores and cleaning. Today I think we might walk to the drug store. Just for something to do. Then three hours later, it's back to bed.

Usually, Dad gets home around 4:30- 5:00, or we go pick him up. And then we pick up Owen from daycare. After that it gets pretty hectic. There's dinner and playing and baths and books all before 7:30. You usually head to bed between 7:30 and 8:00.

You fall asleep on your own. No rocking or patting or anything. Just put you down, wrap you up in a special blanket, turn on some music and that's it. Walk away. You always grab this ratty sheet we have for you and shove your thumb in your mouth. that's how you sleep.

I feed you again around 10:45 before I go to sleep. You used to sleep right through till 7:15. But now you are waking up around 3:00 a.m. Last night it was 2:30 and 5:30. So tonight you are getting some tough love. You are on your own to fall back asleep. I know you can put yourself to sleep so you just have to re-learn it. Hopefully it only takes one night, which is how long it took you the first time. Fingers crossed!!

Well you are talking away in your crib. It's only been one hour and forty-five minutes. It's not time to eat yet either. So I guess we will fold more laundry. The good thing is I can leave you to be in your crib for quite a while by yourself. You just chat away and suck on your blanket.

So there you are. Our day in a nutshell. nothing spectacular. Soon we will start some library time. But for now, you are content with our day so so am I.

got to go you are getting restless.

Love Mom xoxox