Christmas fun?

Can someone please tell me why my child wakes up exactly one hour after being put to bed for the night?  I'm stumped.

So, it's been an interesting weekend.  On Friday night, David and I had a little gathering to go to and I had volunteered to bring a dessert.  I always volunteer to bring dessert - baking is fun, cooking is not (to me).  I did what never fails to drive David crazy...I tried a new recipe.  He has no objections to new recipes;  it's the making them for the first time and "trying them out" on non-family members that he doesn't understand.  Really, I don't understand it myself.  I should just make something tried and true when preparing dessert for other people.  I decided to make some little cookie cups and then fill them with cream cheese frosting.  Sounds good, right?  First off, I should have known nothing good could come from them when I was trying to squish the dough into my mini muffin tins and it kept sticking to my fingers and wouldn't mold into the pan.  The recipe called for store-bought refrigerated cookie dough but I don't think I've ever bought cookie dough - I always make it.  I figured it'd be the same thing.

Apparently not the same thing.

Something was burning.  I peeked into the oven and realized that the tins were overflowing and dripping (yes, apparently cookie dough can drip) onto the bottom of the oven.  I think my dough wasn't cold enough...maybe I overmixed it.  Either way, the stench was very potent.  I wasn't having a particularly uplifting day to begin with but this failed recipe really had me defeated.  We decided to just pick up some cookies on the way to the get-together instead.  I hate doing that, but I love that the option to buy yummy cookies from the grocery store bakery is there.

So, that night we got home from the get-together and I rushed to get the baby in bed.  For the last week or so she's been going to bed fine but then she'll wake up really mad about an hour later.  She won't go to sleep until around 11:30pm so I've been trying to get her on a schedule.  If she's anything like her father, she'll thrive on routine and structure.  We'll see.  Of course who really expects to stick to a schedule around the holidays?  Yeah, I'm a great mom.  Thanks to David, she's now sleeping again.  He went in and patted her bum until she went back out.  I don't know why she wakes up.  Oh, nope...she's awake.

Anyway, so on Friday night I got her in bed then decided to make some baby food.  We bought the big bag of frozen organic peas from Costco so I put some in a pan with a little bit of water and cooked them down.  Tried pureeing them in my small food processor - wasn't pureeing them well enough.  Tried them in my bigger food processor - still not working.  Then I got out my blender.  Realizing that they probably weren't liquifying because they were too hot, I threw in several ice cubes and, voila!, baby food!  It made a lot more than I anticipated...I filled my Baby Cubes and stuck them in the freezer and still had about 1/2 cup left which, in baby food terms, is a lot of food.

So, on Saturday, Amelia had peas.

I think she liked them but, wow, she made a mess!  The fingers had to go in her mouth after every bite then they went all over the Bumbo and then all over her pajamas.  They went in the wash and the baby got a bath. 

That night we had some friends over for our annual Christmas party.  I had decided to make some fudge and did a double batch.  Well, it took forever to boil...literally, like, an hour.  So I was in panic mode trying to get everything ready before people arrived.  It's a good thing I have such a wonderful husband.  He vacuumed, straightened, cleaned toilets, and took care of the baby while I baked the fudge, cooked the artichoke dip, and cleaned up the kitchen.

Good friends of ours have a sweet little boy named Max who is just 3 months older than Amelia.  Here are a few pictures.  They had a good time checking each other out.

Amelia tried to eat Max's ear and did a face plant into the sofa.

"Finally someone my size!"

I can't believe it's the week of Christmas already.  More than that, I can't believe that it's 11pm and, yet again, my child is still awake.  I fed her earlier when she first woke up and she didn't seem all that interested.  David just tried feeding her again and she didn't even drink everything he offered her.  I also gave her Tylenol and Hyland's Teething Tablets so who knows what's wrong.  Maybe 11:15pm is her real bedtime.  Seriously, we tried getting her up at 7 or 8 when she first wakes up no matter what time she goes to sleep at night then putting her down for only 2 naps, one around 10am and one around 2pm then 8pm for bed and she still won't sleep. 

Okay, enough about that.  It's Christmas already!  I haven't been in the mood to do much baking.  I think I have a bit of the baby blues or seasonal depression or something.  Probably shouldn't shout that out to the world, but it's how I feel.  Just...down. 

I should run errands tomorrow but I haven't been feeling so hot today and I need to make sure I'm not getting sick first.  Blech.

My baby is crying.  Still.  Crying.  She has to sleep some time, right?

Good night.  And wish me luck.