Call CPS, I let my child cry

Sorry for sharing the cord story in my previous post.  I know I freaked out both sets of grandparents, and I couldn't sleep last night because I was literally sick just thinking about what could have happened - I think I finally fell asleep around 4am.  Thank You, Lord, that nothing happened to our beautiful daughter.  I'm going to move on now and try not to ever think about it again. 

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My baby went down at 8pm without a peep.  This makes me so very happy.  Mainly because bedtime lately has been an absolute chore.  I pity the women who think they must rock their children every night until they are fast asleep and refuse to let their child cry even a little.  Especially if they had a child like mine who just hated bedtime and didn't want anything to do with her crib or anything to do with me since my end goal was to put her in the crib and she knew it.  The only person she wanted at bedtime was Daddy, and that's because she knew Daddy wouldn't try to force feed her a pacifier and pin her to his chest while humming "You Are My Sunshine" and attempting to release calming energy. 

Our routine at night goes a little something like this:

1.  TV goes off, then she gets a bottle (4 oz, sometimes 6 oz)

2.  Oatmeal mixed with fruit and water or formula, nuked to a perfect 98°, then some cold fruit puree spooned on top (she loves this.  If your baby won't eat his/her oatmeal one night, try adding some cold fruit puree with each bite).
3.  I strip her down and wipe her with a warm washcloth and a dab of Baby Magic lavender calming lotion.

4.  Diaper change & jammies
5.  To the nursery for storytime and pacifier with Mom (Amelia gets the pacifier) by lamplight.

6.  Rocking with Mom in the glider for 2-3 minutes, then an "I love you", "Sleep through the night", and "Nite nite" from Mom.

7.  Bedtime

Usually at step #5 she starts whining the second I cross the threshold to her room.  The book helps to distract her and by the time I'm finished reading the story, she's rubbing her eyes and will willingly lay on my shoulder.  Laying her down is iffy.  Sometimes she won't fight it, she'll just curl up in a little ball and go to sleep but she'll wake up crying an hour or two later.  Other nights, she doesn't even let me lay her down - she sits right up and begins protest.  Either way, I leave the room.  Our mistake has been to go back in the room after about 30 minutes of whining/crying.  We pick her up thinking,  Maybe this one night...

...her teeth are hurting.
...she has a poopy diaper.
...she's still hungry.
...she will go to sleep if I try rocking her again.
or, my favorite...
...she's scared of the dark.

After offering to fix all of the above and getting completely rejected and totally frustrated, we've been known to walk her into the hallway or into our bedroom just to see what happens.  Crying stops.  Actually, the crying turns off like a light the second David holds her because, as I said before, she knows he isn't going to try to get her to sleep.  We have felt like genuine suckers every single time.  It got to the point that I would get mad at myself for thinking I could rock her to sleep...she fought me hard, no matter what.  I don't even remember the last time she even got drowsy by my rocking her.  It's more stressful to go into her room when she's throwing a fit than it is to just let her cry.  That might sound weird or stupid to some of you, but it's the truth.  Knowing the battle that awaits on the other side of that door really helps us to know that it's not worth the trouble.  If she were at all comforted by us then it would probably be a different story, but she wants nothing to do with us unless we're going to let her stay up.

So, we've let her cry the last couple of nights, no exceptions.  For naps, too.  We've even gotten good at figuring out when she has a poopy diaper.  If she's whining then goes radio silent for about 10 minutes then starts really crying, she pooped.  David called it today during her nap so we changed her (boy, it was a doozy - all up her back) and back down she went.

Tonight, it was too good to be true that I laid her down and she went right to sleep.  David thought she'd for sure be awake an hour later, but here it is 3 hours later and not a peep.  Apparently she just didn't like bedtime.  It was such a frustrating experience until we figured out that nothing was wrong with her and if we leave her alone and stop catering to her every whimper she'd realize that bedtime is nothing she needs to be rescued from and being overtired and wired and forcing herself to stay awake is far more stressful and taxing than just succumbing to sleep.

It's been one night - I'm not going to throw a ticker tape parade quite yet.  Especially since Amelia and I will be going to Portland this weekend.  Anything could happen when she has to sleep away from home.

Don't forget about my giveaway on my Millie's Bows Facebook Fan Page.  Already over 225 fans - I can't believe it!

Happy Monday!

A lot happens in a week!

I'm a wee bit neurotic when it comes to how my child sleeps.  She moves around in her sleep constantly.  I think this is partly due to the fact that she is an incredibly light sleeper.  God made her this way; we did not.  I am very sensitive to noises and perhaps because of it or in spite of it I tried very hard to make Amelia used to being in the midst of life itself.  All day every day in the months following her birth (until she started sleeping in her own room for naps) she would take her naps in the living room.  David and I would keep the TV at a normal volume, unload the dishwasher, etc., hoping she would just get used to sleeping wherever, whenever.  Didn't work.  I guess with my noise sensitivity and David having been a light sleeper most of his life our child didn't stand a chance.

This is why my blog posts are so lengthy - I get off on tangents and ramble.

Anyway, so Amelia moves around a lot at night and I'm neurotic about checking the video monitor to make sure that she's still covered up and her face isn't too close to the bumper.  David makes fun of me because even though I can see her on the video monitor, I frequently go into her room to check on her.  Sometimes I accidentally wake her up by moving the blanket out from underneath her feet or by grabbing her by the ankles and pulling her away from the side of the crib.  Usually she goes right back out, but since she's been teething it's a whole new ballgame.

First, it takes forever to get her to sleep at night.  Bottle, nursing, teething tablets, Motrin, paci, rocking, more rocking.  You name it, we've tried it.  Gone are the days where I could lay her down and she'd drift off to sleep.  She needs me to rock her now.  I really don't mind - I absolutely love the time I can spend rocking her and cuddling with her.  It's the times that she's so uncomfortable that she screams when she's in her crib and she screams when I'm rocking her that's tough.  Or when I rock her to sleep only to lay her down and have her start crying again.

Can I just stop and say that it's really creepy to be in the living room of your home and hear breathing that isn't your own?  I know it's either the dog or one of the 2 cats, but still...

My entire point is that I didn't check on her tonight at all after I put her to bed.  I saw in the monitor that she was covered but I didn't check the monitor after that.  Usually I'll check it before I go to bed around 11pm then go and adjust her and cover her up, but obviously I haven't gone to bed.  So she woke up at midnight crying.  I tried rocking her to sleep a couple of times but it resulted in her crying and standing in her crib.  She's finally asleep now after I nursed her and rocked her.

She can pull herself up to stand in her crib.  As of, oh, last Saturday.  She pulled to her knees (which I actually think is what's pictured) a couple of times that day so I asked David to lower the mattress.  He did, and after her next nap when I went in to get her she had pulled all the way up to standing.  Whew.

And here she is today.  I caught her in this position when I came back to the living room after having heated up her lunch.  She really loves those Yogurt Bites.

And she somehow managed to prop herself underneath the same table a little later.  You can't really tell, but she's standing with one hand on the diaper caddy and one hand on the table support.  If she moved, she bumped her head.  So, being the wonderful mom that I am I made sure to snap a picture and then help her get out.

After David got home from work today we took Amelia outside for another shot with the tree.  It looks much better than it did even a few days ago.

I want to try feeding Amelia what we eat since I hear that's the best way to raise a non-picky eater.  So David broke out the high chair for the first time and she ate at the dining room table with us.  Well, she didn't really eat.  She posed for a few pictures and shoved the food around.  She wasn't hungry. 

She also might want me to tell you that for a while now she's been drinking out of her sippy cup all by herself.  Not always tipping it far enough to get water and not always attempting to drink it with the sipper facing the right way, but she has the right idea, anyway.  She's still just on water...we are holding off on juice for as long as humanly possible.

Finally, here are a couple of pacifier clips I made for Amelia tonight.  If you have any sewing ability whatsoever, please don't look closely at my stitches.  One of them is just one-sided ribbon.  The other is one-sided ribbon that I stitched together so that it would be a thicker, two-sided paci clip. 

Business is going well...many new items listed and I have a few orders I need to fill which is why I haven't been blogging much. 

Happy Tuesday!

Steam or cold? Let's do both.

Millie celebrated her first day being 7 months old by going to the pediatrician.  Then, she thought it would be fun to get a diagnosis of Croup today, too. 

I highly doubt she is having a blast. 

I crawled into bed last night/this morning around 1:30am.  I don't usually stay up that late but I had things to do on the computer.  Important things like write a blog.

At 1:38, I kid you not, Amelia woke up.  At first I didn't know what I was hearing.  It sounded like someone had parked Sea World in the middle of my living room.  My daughter was barking every time she sucked in to take another breath, and it sounded painful.  I rushed in there to nurse her and unfortunately had to change her diaper, too.  I really am not a fan of middle-of-the-night diaper changes.  One of two things happen:  Either I change her diaper prior to feeding her or I wait until after she's been fed to change her. With the former option, she cries because she's hungry and her screams wake up David, and with the latter option she manages to wake up completely and is sometimes harder to get back to sleep.  Last night she started crying while I was changing her after she had been fed, and since she was barking so badly it woke up David.  He really was worried and asked me to call the pediatrician in the morning.

So, I did and they said they'd like to see her. 

It was pouring outside and my gas tank was inching closer and closer to "E".  I don't like to get that close to empty, but I don't drive my car all that often so I frequently forget where my gas gauge lies. 

I decided to take the freeway, figuring it would take less time even though the backroads are more direct.  I was already running late.  Right outside my neighborhood the "low fuel" light came on.  I get good gas mileage so I wasn't too concerned.  I made it to the pediatrician's office only 5 minutes late, but wasn't called back until after 10 minutes of waiting.

Her oxygen levels were good.  Whew.
She was diagnosed with croup and offered a steroid shot to open her passageways.  Steroid shot?  My baby?  No, thanks.  We were told she is contagious and would take 7-10 days to fully recover.  I need to watch her to make sure she doesn't run a fever or start to have trouble breathing.  Having a sick baby is absolutely no fun...it's so hard to have her feeling crummy and not be able to tell me what's wrong.  Even if she could, I can't fix it.

She fell asleep on the way home and I decide to take the back roads.  It's like I was being punished - I hit every. single. red. light.  I'm not kidding. Every one.  The needle on my gas gauge inched closer and closer to the dreaded "E" and I tried to coast down hills when I could.  The back roads only have one gas station and it's Arco...I mentally block it out. 

I made it home.

David got home tonight and he sounds awful.  He's getting sick, too.  I guess it was inevitable. 

Right before her bedtime, we ran a hot bath and sat in the bathroom with Amelia for several minutes, hoping the steam would help her breathe.  She would NOT sleep tonight.  I couldn't nurse her, rock her, sing to her, sway with her...nothing worked.  Several minutes into my efforts, we decided to take her outside and hopefully let the frigid air do its work on her croup.  She stopped crying as the scenery changed and really any time David held her.  He wasn't the evil person trying to get her to sleep.  We brought her inside and I kept trying.  She cried really hard and the barking started again so finally after an hour and a half of fighting her, I gave up.  She played happily on the floor in the living room until she pooped.  After that, I successfully nursed her and rocked her to sleep at 10pm.   

I think this is my most boring post yet. 

Here's something unboring (at least to me):

Disaster & every day life

If you can watch those news reports about Haiti and not get a little misty-eyed (or bawl, like me) then you're not human.  I wanted to reach through the screen and grab all those orphaned babies and children and bring them back here to live with me.  I felt an obligation to watch when they showed a 3-month-old baby girl in her mother's arms and the reporter narrated that she was starving.  I felt an obligation, but I didn't want to watch.  I wanted to change the channel and forget what I saw.  Before I became a mother, scenes like that would touch me.  Now that I'm a mother, scenes like that haunt me. 

I remember when my baby girl was that age. 
I remember her tummy, how I'd watch it rise and fall with every breath she took. 

The baby girl on TV was so calm, but her eyes were like saucers - staring at the camera in almost a pleading way.  I have heard that there is a movement to bring as many orphaned children to the United States as possible to get them medical care and, hopefully, loving homes.  However, efforts like that can take time.  A lot of time.
Amelia was napping when David and I were watching the news story about Haiti.  When she woke up, I squeezed her extra tight and kissed her over and over again.  And I looked at the remnants of our dinner, thinking about what some Haitians would do to get even a nibble of what we have to eat.

Keep the Haitian people in your prayers. There are still people buried under those buildings and some are still alive, but they are running out of time very quickly.


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Switching gears...Hard to do, I know.

When I wrote my previous post I said that my laptop didn't have a USB drive.  It was late.  I shouldn't write late at night.  My laptop obviously has a USB drive, however, it does not have an SD card reader so I have to use a separate SD card reader that has a USB adapter on it.  There. 

My right eye, for the last few days, has been leaking like crazy and has swollen to impressive levels.  The most fun, though, is waking up in the morning with my eye crusted shut.  Mmm, details.  I'm sure you want to know more.  I wish I could tell you why my eye is going all Hunchback of Notre Dame on me, but I can't.  I have no idea.  I changed my pillowcase thinking maybe it was allergens, but it didn't help.  I took Benadryl last night before bed but that didn't seem to make a difference, either. 

On Monday morning, David said "Wow, yeah your eye is all swollen and crazy".  He got out of bed and walked toward the bathroom.  I thought, How sweet - he's getting me a cold or warm compress for my eye.  He returns to the room and hands me something.  A mirror. 

Thanks, babe.

To his credit, I did ask for a warm compress and he happily brought one to me.

Switching gears again.  Amelia slept 8 1/2 hours last night!  She woke up around 5am and I fed her then laid her back down and she slept for another 4 hours!  Then, for her morning nap when she would usually only sleep for an hour (her long nap is generally the afternoon one), she slept for 2 1/2 hours.  Maybe it's a growth spurt.  Or, maybe, just maybe, the "sleep training" is working.

On Sunday night, she woke up around 1:30am as usual and it had been about 5 hours since she last ate so normally I would just give in and go feed her.  But, I didn't.  I checked on her 3 times in the hour that she was awake and fussing but she never really cried like she meant it and she would even stop for short intervals to look at something in her crib.  She finally fell back asleep and slept for another couple of hours.  So, woo hoo.

We took this picture of Amelia a couple of nights ago.  She's modeling the super cute, very clever "car seat blanket" that her great grandma Baldwin made for her.  We love it!  And she's sitting on a blanket made by David's cousin, Coralie.  We come from a very talented family! 

Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.  Amelia and I are going to the University of Washington to participate in a hearing study tomorrow then again on Thursday.  Innnnteresting!  More on that later.

He knows me very well

David came home on Wednesday with a gift for me.  In case you're wondering, yes, he does read my blog so he knew I was having a fat day.  He also knows that the way to make me feel better about my fat day is to bring me the biggest cupcake he can find.  What a guy!

Behold, Trophy Cupcakes.

And the red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting.

I was planning to eat half of it and save the rest for later.  But then I took a bite.

Seriously.  I ate it all.  Actually, I'm not completely barbaric - I did give David a bite.  Just one bite.

It was delicious. 

On the sleeping front, we're doing better.  When Amelia started feeling better we began letting her cry again.  She never has a problem going to sleep initially.  Naptimes are great, bedtimes are fantastic.  It's that she wakes up an hour after we put her to bed and she's mad that we don't come get her up to play.  So, the night before last she fussed/whined/cried for an hour before finally falling asleep.  Last night she woke up 45 minutes after I put her to bed and she cried for 20 minutes before falling asleep.  Hopefully it's working.  I haven't been leaving her for the full 8 hours.  She seems to want to wake up around 1:30am every morning and since it's been 6 hours since I put her to bed I feed her.  I know she could go longer, so I guess I'm waiting until she doesn't wake up that first hour then we'll work on the rest of the night.

My sister, Carrie, started her blog again.  I hope she keeps it up now...I really enjoy reading her posts.  Her blog is here if you're interested in reading it and/or saying hi. 

And, just for fun, look how big my baby is getting.  This picture really makes her look huge.  Pardon the sweet potatoes stain on the front of her shirt.

David has a 4 day weekend (a perk of working for the government) this weekend, so I plan to work on more bows and post them and he plans to get some things done around the house.  Amelia plans to be cute.  So far, so good.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Dear Valerie,

I'm really happy for you that you lost all that weight on Jenny Craig.  Really, I am.  Forget that I weigh what you did when you were "fat".  My only saving grace is that you're 4" shorter than me, but even then I'd be in denial if I said I wouldn't love to lose 30 lbs.  Love.  It.  But, anyway, we're all real happy for you that you've kept the weight off for 3 years and that you are still eating the Jenny Craig food (yuck!), but can you please go be your perky, slimmer self somewhere else? 

Signed,
Resentful Fat Girl

I'm not really resentful.  And I really am proud of Valerie and her blue bikini - I'm just tired of looking at it.  I don't really make resolutions at the beginning of a new year, mostly because I'm constantly thinking to myself "I should do this" or "I'm going to commit myself to do that" and then I falter and, ultimately, fail.  Every time I try to watch what I eat, my milk supply seems to decline.  I couldn't tell you what my milk supply does when I exercise, but then what excuse would I have?  David has been kind enough to offer to exercise with me which I think will really help.  And, nice weather would help, too.  I am excited to get out and go for walks to the park with Amelia this spring/summer.

Speaking of lactation and weight loss.  Okay, not really speaking of weight loss.  But tell me this batter doesn't completely blow your mind.  I could live off of it.  Or die off of it - whichever.  But I'm prescribing myself cookies and it doesn't get much better than that.

I call them lactation cookies even though I didn't follow an "official" lactation cookies recipe. I just made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and added coconut like my mom used to do in her oatmeal cookies.  Little orbs of perfection.

Oatmeal and flax seed are supposed to aid in increasing milk supply and I put both in these cookies, so here's hoping.  Even if it doesn't help, they sure are fun to eat.  I only made two cookie sheets worth and put the rest in the freezer for a later time.  I love having cookie dough in the freezer.  I mean, obviously not more than I love having it in my mouth (hence, the Fat Valerie dilemma).

Amelia's congestion seems to have improved but she still struggles with it, especially at night.  Tonight, for no good reason at all, she woke up about an hour after going to bed, screaming.  She was pretty much inconsolable until I stuck my finger in her mouth and stuck a couple of Hyland's Teething Tablets under her tongue.  Nothing says reality like someone's finger jammed in your mouth.  I think she must have had a nightmare and then stayed in a daze for a while.  After the Hyland's incident she seemed fine if still not really congested (even more so now, after crying).  David's dad used to be a pharmacist in the Army and recommended Benadryl to help her breathe better and to help her sleep.  Since we already have the cool mist humidifier going at full blast in her room and that doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot of good, we decided to try it last night.  She slept for 5 hours straight, which is far longer than she's been sleeping with the cold (or without it, for that matter).  We tried to hold off giving any medication to her tonight but she was just miserable.  She fell asleep shortly after I put her down after the nightmare episode, but slept fitfully and would whine/fuss in her sleep before finally waking up.  That's when we gave her the Benadryl.  She played happily in her crib with a tag on her blanket (we have video monitors - thank you, Lord, for video monitors!) until finally turning over and zonking out.

One more note on the sleeping thing.  Last week on our first night of Ferberizing Amelia, she woke up at 1:15am which was too early.  She wouldn't be fed again until 3:30am, so I laid in bed and watched her on the 7" screen on my nightstand, cringing and hoping for only a few minutes of Angry Baby.  She barely woke up, reached for her pacifier which I had put beside her in the crib, put it in her mouth, and fell back to sleep.  Seriously.  I wanted to go into her room and wake her up just to give her a high five or kiss her chunky cheeks.  But that would defeat the purpose, so I just woke David up and told him about it instead.  He appreciated that.

It was out-of-control cute last night when David was playing with Amelia on our bad.  Tess, the dog, decided at that very moment that she needed to be pet.  She nustled up next to Amelia, turned on her back, and put her head in Amelia's lap.  I grabbed the camera just as Tess decided she was done being cute, so these aren't the best representation of the scene, but they're still cute.  P.S.  I know it's not in good form to not use a flash when shooting a very quick moving dog and baby, but when I use the flash Tess ends up looking like Demon Dog and I try to avoid that.  Amelia still absolutely loves Tess.  I have to send Tess out of the room when I feed Amelia, otherwise the child won't eat because she's too busy staring down the dog.  I'm still thinking Tess gets the most baby giggles.

Millie's Bows - NEWS

Now available:  You may opt for a thin piece of velcro to be applied to the inside of the alligator clip for no additional charge.  This is especially helpful for Moms who have babies with thin hair or very little hair to keep the bow in.

Also, new to the shop (both will be posted tomorrow 1/12)...

The Dainty Mini.  $4 for a set of 2.

Also, the Big Girl Bow.  Approximately 4 1/2 inches in length, perfect for post-toddler girls.  Soon will be available on a french clip.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

A New Hobby...For Sale

Because I need a new hobby - I don't already have 5 hobbies with supplies for those hobbies stacked up in dark corners of my house.  I guess I should look at it as gaining another valuable skill rather than taking on yet more craft supplies that I'm still not sure where to store.  I'm having a lot of fun with this, and I am genuinely hoping to attempt contributing something financially to this family with my new hobby.

 In other words:  I'm selling them.

I'm working on opening my Etsy shop at the moment so I don't have anything posted online, but I'll post pictures of what I've done and tell you that I'm constantly creating and churning out bows.  I'm not completely out of my mind thinking that making bows is a novel idea.  I realize that the market is competitive.  I also realize that I'm just getting started and, while I think my bows are lovely, I know others have been doing bows longer and are better at them.  Which is why I'm not selling them at boutique prices.

SO...  all of this is on a trial basis.  I want to sell my bows for a very reasonable price but I also want to hear feedback about them from people who have them. 

Now, on to pictures of the bows.  Realize I'm not anywhere near a professional photographer and don't own a nice SLR camera with which to take pictures of my products.  All of my photos have a yellow tint because of the harsh lighting above my dining room table - and there's my disclaimer about the photos!  I will probably apologize more than once about the quality of the photos...

- What you see above is just the ribbon I have on hand, but I have access to every style under the sun and every color of the rainbow.

- I can also make them whatever size you need.  3/8" ribbon, 1" ribbon, etc.

- I also have the following resins on hand: ladybug, strawberry, cupcake, and daisy, but I have access to many more and can show you pictures of other resins if you're interested.

- All bows are on lined alligator clips, but I can also make them on alligator clips with teeth, ponytail holders, etc. 

These bows are some of my first attempts, and I do get better with each bow I make.  You'll notice the butterfly clip.  I can make that in any color and can also make a bumble bee and a ladybug...I just haven't made either of them quite yet.

And...just in time for Valentine's Day...

Pricing

$4 per large bow

$4 per set of mini bows

$3 per insect bow

$2 per mini bow

Shipping not included.  Buy 5 or more bows, get free shipping.

But...I will match any competitor price.

I'm just starting out so I don't think it's fair that I price my bows higher than anyone else's right now.

Here is a photo of the bows I made for my nieces.  Already, looking at the pictures I took I can see a lot of errors that I know how not to make anymore.  Again with the lighting - sorry!

I have another style of bow to show you, too, but I'm still trying to figure out what to put in the middle of it.  Maybe I'll post a picture when I figure it out.

Like I said, I know the bow market is a competitive one and that I'm just an amateur, but I'm getting better by the bow.  I hope you'll think of me when considering ordering a bow.

I'm also working on nylon headbands for alligator clips.  I made some for my sisters' babies but I'm still trying to round up the supplies I need to make them.  I'll let you know.  Here's a picture - let me know if you'd be interested in them so I don't round up all the stuff then no one cares (the one with the bow is actually a single bow with an alligator clip - it's just as an example)...

Sorry to market my wares to you.  I promise it won't happen again.  Unless I want it to.

If Amelia had enough hair, I would have her model some of the bows for you.  Oh, if you scroll down to the previous entry, my nieces are wearing the headbands I made for them.

Ah, need to go to bed.  We let Amelia figure out the sleeping thing relatively on her own tonight and it went pretty well.  Of course, she went down easily, but she woke up an hour after that and stayed awake for another hour and a half.  She never got angry...just whined/fussed and played with her pacifier and rolled around her crib.   

By the way, my little girl is sitting up SO well by herself now.  I took a picture a couple of days ago...  It must have been about time for her to eat.  She gets to be like Pavlov's dog with the drooling around mealtime.

Have a great Friday!

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.