On a lighter note.....

Since I got not a single comment on my last post, I am thinking maybe many of you saw it in "bad taste" or whatever and I am going to lighten it up a bit. :) Please do understand, that here at "Today Again", you get real me - not glossed over me, not "I am super pious" me, not perfect-mom me, or no-sinning-going-on-in-this-head me. Nope. Just REAL me. The post about the (awesome) dream was just a glimpse into me. I hope it at least made you laugh a little.

We are first lightening up a bit with some yarny news....

I got the shipment of yarn for the Malabrigo Scrappy Swap in the mail today!! And I have picutures!! Except, silly me, I forgot to load them here before I started typing. Let me tell you, if I try to load them now, it will erase all of my previous typing and links. Being that the typing with the nursing baby on my lap takes a lot of time and patience, not to mention the added linkage and "boldface" type.....I am just going to link you to the Ravelry pictures instead. Or, you can follow the forum posts here, where there are also pictures.

And, from the depths of my 4 year old's awesome phrases:

ME (talking to baby Rose, 4 months): Hello Pumpkin! Aren't you a cutie pumpkin pie??

FLOWER (in all seriousness): Mama, she is not a pumpkin!

Happy Saturday!!

Yes, I can craft things other than yarn

Flower wanted to make a "Christmas Tree" the other day. So I pulled out some glue, sissors, and construction paper and we did some crafty stuff. Lovey did them too, but he wasn't hanging around for pictures.

This is Mama Mary and Baby Jesus. Violet is very proud of her gluing skillz. :)
And here she is with her Christmas Tree. (Yes, I just started a sentence with "and". I know it's not proper grammer and I don't care.)

She arranged all those ornaments herself too.

I added this last picture because it made me laugh! It's the "I am smiling so hard it hurts" face!! Hee Hee!

Please don't think it's all crafts all the time around here. It's not. Although lately I have been trying to not give in to the "it's going to be way too much work and be way too messy and it won't be perfect" voice in my head that tells me not to even bother trying to do fun things with the toddlers. Really, if I just jump in and KISS (keep it simple, stupid) everything is fine. I am realizing that my toddlers don't want (or need) some long, drawn out, over explained lesson about what we're doing. They don't need it to be perfect either (and they don't have to be perfect). They just want some simple, creative fun.

What I've Been Up To......

Lovey says, "Baby Sister."

She opened her eyes, for a minute.

Closed again. But Cute.

Taking baths.

Supervising naps. It's an important job.

Yes, I am still here :)

I had all but given up on poor blog.

I have so many ideas, and so many things I want to tell you about, and write about, that I just couldn't wrap my mind around them all.

Then I got a lovely comment on my last post from Katherine. It was so nice, I decided I just needed to press on. Not only do I love blog, but the writing is sort of therapeutic especially when things get crazy.

So, without further waiting, I must share some simple updates with you. I will make a real effort for regular blogging from now on.

~~~Showers~~~

I am really not getting as many showers as I'd like. In fact, usually I cannot remember the last time I've had one even if I think real hard.

Today I finally took one. Is it bad that I was so exhausted from standing up in the hot water trying to shave my legs that I almost passed out?? It doesn't help that I have forgone any kind of shaving for so long that I had to go over one leg two times and the other three. Don't even get me started on the underarm hair. I should have just taken a chisel in with me to get it off.

Oh, and it's not that I like the unshaven look or that I'm a hippy. I just have small children, and I homeschool, and I'm busy. Events like shaving just seem to fall to the wayside. Um, showers too. If I get in the shower at all I am generally not concerned with the state of my body hair. I know that sounds kind of yucky, but that's the way things are.

~~~Knitting~~~

A whole lot of knitting is going on here. I don't have actual pictures to post on blog, because it takes forever to load them. But I have been loading my projects in Ravelry, with pictures. And guess what? They have a new feature that allows me to post a link to invite you to look at my project page whether you have a Ravelry account or not. :) I am sorry not to give you any eye candy here, but if you click on the links below you can see pictures and notes on the wonderful things I have been knitting. It's lovely. It also means I only have to wait one time to load pictures and then can share them with the ravelry community and you.

Sweater for Flower
New Baby Sweater
New Baby Hat
Cute Turtle Toy
Baby Diaper Soaker
Flower's Fingerless Gloves
Nighttime Diaper Soaker

As for the Sweater that will never die.....it's getting frogged back partly and reknit. You can read about details here and see some new pictures. I should have listened to my instincts on that one.

If you really want to see all my projects, and anything else interesting on ravelry, just join. It's free and really worth it.

I also have acquired quite a bit more yarn. It's a sickness I tell you. My project list has grown also since I am trying to only get yarn for projects I actually intend to make. Right now, the list looks like this:

Finish Wonderful Wallaby for Flower (almost done)
Frog and fix Husband Sweater
Wonderful Wallaby for Lovely
Longies for Baby in Malabrigo "Oceanos"
Longies for Baby in Malabrigo "Sealing Wax"
Sweater for Baby in Madelintosh Merino "Nutmeg" and "Scarlet"
Finish Nighttime Soaker
More size small soakers for Baby in random assorted wool
Baby hats
Wonderful Wallaby for Wobbers in Wool-Ease "Pines Print"
February Lady Sweater for me in Malabrigo "Verde Esperanza"
Rivendel Socks in some local Wool/Cashmere/Nylon blend in "Plum"
Baby blanket (maybe)
Something pretty out of Malabrigo Silky Merino
Finish Mitts Pattern and publish
Reknit that second mitt
Traveling Woman Shawl out of Mountain Colors Twizzle (which is what the mitts are made out of)

Ya know, just a small list. Should be able to get that all done before the baby comes in September. Right? Uh-huh. Suuuuuuure.

~~~Baby Weight~~~

I am 20 weeks along. And ya know what? I have yet to gain a single pound with this pregnancy!! I am very excited about this and not for reasons of vanity. I know I will have a much easier time with this pregnancy if I do not pack on the pounds. I will be more comfortable, healthier, and have an easier time feeling normal again after delivery.

I have in fact lost weight during this pregnancy. Lost weight. And it's staying off. I have done nothing to accomplish this. I am not on purpose doing anything different. I am not exercising. Not trying to eat less. Not eating more healthy than I have been. I will say I do not feel as ravenously hungry this time around. I am not making a cake every other day, like I did when I was pregnant with Lovey, and consuming the whole thing myself. And I am knitting a lot. That must be keeping me too busy to gorge. I feel like it's great because I am just eating a normal portion of food when I sit down, instead of enough to feed 2-3 adults. (Seriously, I have been eating like that for the last couple of years, enough to feed 2-3 adults per sitting....it's kind of gross when I think about it.)

So, because I am not shy about my numbers.....I am going to share some with you. I wouldn't want you to think that I am some thin or skinny mama happy to not be gaining weight. I've got some to lose.

Pregnancy #1: 18 years old, 125 lb. I lost about 10 lb in the first few months, then went on to gain it back plus 65 lbs. (One month, in just 4 weeks, I gained 35 lbs. Seriously.) Delivered a healthy 8 lb 4 oz boy and I weighed 190 lbs at delivery.

In the next 2 years, I lost most of the pregnancy weight and was a reasonably healthy 140-150 lb. woman. Then I met my husband. We were very happy and both put on about 20 lbs over the next 2-3 years. Uh-huh.

Pregnancy #2: 25 years old, 170 lb. I also lost about 10-15 pounds at the beginning of this pregnancy. I delivered at 198 lbs, a 7 lb. 10 oz. baby girl.

Pregnancy #3: 27 years old, 190 lb. I lost 15 pounds at the beginning of this pregnancy. I delivered at 214 lbs, a 7 lb 4 oz baby boy.

I had been hovering around 220 lbs. for the last year.

Pregnancy #4: 29 years old, 216 lbs. I weighed myself as soon as I got the positive pregnancy test at 12 days post-conception. I dropped down to 205 lbs by 10 weeks and have remained there since.

I am very excited to not be packing on pounds and I hope I can keep it up. By this point in my other 3 pregnancies, I had already recovered from the lost weight and then some. So this is new to me and wonderful. At least I think it's wonderful. ;)

~~~~~~~

That's all I have today. I hope you enjoy those links. Oh! I almost forgot! Those teeth finally came in and Lovey is back in all his wonderfulness. The Brute seems to have disappeared for now.

Some Pictures

Oh! I forgot that blogger uploads photos in the opposite order that you load them. So......this is a really crappy picture of me. But Flower took it. She really loves to use the camera and always has to take picutres of me. I thought I'd show off her skills.

But this! This is a really cute picture of my Flower. She is getting so big!

And this is a sweet black and white that I snapped of her sleeping a few months ago. Everyone say it with me......"Awwwwww."

This is Lovey, who will now be known as "The Brute" (until he cuts his molars) escaping from his towel after a bath. Oh, and that ugly, burnt pumpkin red-orange-y color on the wall over there?? We painted that white this week. It's like a new house.

Awww. There he is again. :)

if I have to...

...change one more popcorn poopy diaper, I am going to scream.

Just Because

We need some Joy around here:

What an awesome big brother she has. I am so proud of the man my little boy is growing into.



Lovey says, "Spaghetti is good. But not as good as the mookies!!"



Sheesh. My Flower is SO CUTE!! I can't even stand it! She's started wearing my old ballet costumes around. So precious.

Proud papa and his other baby girl. She still needs prayers folks. Keep 'em coming.

And yes! One good picture of my boys together! I love you guys!

(I hope you enjoyed that, Aunt San.)

Cuteness? Anyone?

It seems to me that in this drought of blogging I have not given you anything sweet to lay your eyes upon. For your pleasure I bring you this:

Cuteness upon cuteness. He knows he's got my heart. Just look in those eyes. Can you even imagine anything more sweet?

And for my next trick: I present "Cyclops Blue"!

This is what happens when you don't use icing tips on the frosting tubes AND you don't know that the gel stuff runs. Freehanding a Blue's Clues cake is harder than you may think. Admitting that you even made a Cyclops Blue is even humbler.

And this is my baby girl having her candles blown our for her. Isn't she cute? She's three years old now. Too cute. Too old.

And just for fun is my little Lovey, eating his share of Cyclops. Love the frosty blue lips.

I Have A Blog??

Surely you jest.

This cannot be my blog. Surely not - for there is emphasis on the my. We all know I cannot do that.

Oh, but wait. I am on actual internet. Internet that does not require me to *star* and CAPITALIZE things I want to accentuate.

I thank my dear friend, laurazim, for the use of her PC.

Now......for the important stuff.

I am hopefully going to update my sidebar as soon as I am done with this post. There are many a wonderful, entertaining, informative blog I have added to my bookmarks on the crackberry that I would like to add here.

An update was requested, I believe by fellow blogger linked above in a comment on my last post.

~~Rural living is very special.

• My gas and electric bill are now separate
• In fact, I have to order the gas, AND it's propane
• The people who work at the propane place are rather dense
• I have a septic system requiring me to call and have our waste pumped away
• Weird
• Garbage must be driven in to "town" on Saturdays, they do not pick it up
• $2 per bag! But "recycle" is free
• We are now recycling for the first time ever
• When the wind blows and you live in the middle of nowhere.....will anyone hear you scream?
• It's nice when you have a cop on hand to escort you into the house in the middle of the night with his 9mm when there are rabid horses stalking you from the neighboring field
• Wind storms can knock the electricity out for hours at a time in the middle of the night
• Not so great when your husband needs electricity to run his CPAP machine so he can rest

Other than that all is well.

Ok, maybe not.

~~A devastating tragedy has afflicted our family over the last few months. One of my step-daughters has been the victim of a sexual assault. It has waged a spiritual battle in our family. Not only has it caused much stress for her, but my husband is beside himself with grief, guilt, and sadness.

Trying to deal with the consequences of the circumstances has caused even more hardship in our family. We are fighting tooth and nail to gain primary physical placement of our daughter. Her mother obviously opposes this. We have shared placement of both the girls equally for 7 years. However, with the assault having taken place in the township (less than 3000 people) where her mother lives, and under her mother's care, we have decided she would be physically and emotionally safer under or care and OUT of that school district.

The hardship of having to travel back and forth to the courthouse and lawyer's office with my babies in the car has begun to drive me to the brink of insanity. Not to mention the constant vigil answering the phone calls between the police, lawyer, social workers, counselor, school officials, and her mother. I can't even stand it.

Unfortunately for our daughter, her mother doesn't really see the "problem". Some comments we have gotten from her (and I am not exaggerating or joking here):

"We should just put her on birth control."

"I don't know why you feel so sorry for [her], she wanted this to happen."

"No one will talk about it. They'll be over it soon."

"If you tell the cops it will just cause everyone a lot more trauma."

"Kids will be kids."

Seriously. She's 13. The "offender", as the District Attorney is calling him, is 18. Yep. And her mother sees no problem. Didn't want us to go to the police. Obviously, getting a predator off the streets would be the last thing on our mind. Yeah, especially since my husband, her father, is a COP. That is the last thing we'd do. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Oh, and the fact that we weren't told about it as soon as she (the mother) found out - that doesn't bother us at all. No really, it's totally fine for you to wait 10 days to tell us. And then only tell us because our daughter was "supposed to tell" us, but didn't. Of course you should leave it up to a 13 year old victim of a crime to inform her father of the crime. You shouldn't bother picking up the phone, being the adult, and telling him yourself. Nope. You acted like a completely competent, normal, sane parent.

Oh wait. There's more. When he confessed, which he did do after we took our daughter to the police to tell her story, he also confessed to doing this to no less than 3 other girls. Three. Other. Girls. Age of consent in the state I reside in is 16. This miscreant, this fiend, wasn't in a relationship with any of these girls. Not that status would make the act of his addiction OK - but it would explain more. This creep was preying on young girls that were friends of his little sister. Genius. Or scary. Take your pick.

There are more details than I care to recall. And anyway, this is not the appropriate medium for those details. If you know me, ask me sometime about how eye opening it was to read the police report. I still have not shared it with my husband. He knows we have it, but feels it prudent not to lay his eyes upon it.

This is the real reason I haven't blogged much. Well, that and the stubbornness on my part to take the time to blog from my blackberry.

Anything else (other than my very long rant)?

~~Oh yes. I have been knitting - a sweater and a pair of socks. The former for my husband. The latter for the Boy. Did you know that when you are knitting a circumference of 59" a skein of yarn only makes 4" of height? So even though I've been knitting my butt off, the sweater remains a mere 7" in depth. It will be at least 20" to the armpits, then there are two sleeves, and the yoke/shoulders. I only have 7 skeins of yarn. I'm going to need more yarn. That translates to, "I get to visit the knitting store again soon!" Woot-woot for me!

The socks will probably be done first. :P

~~Flower is the cutest 3 year old ever. She says super cute things and does super cute things.

She is constantly putting all her "babies" to sleep all over the house. She covers them with whatever is handy: a washcloth, a baby wipe, a clean pair of underwear from the laundry basket. You know, whatever looks like a blanket. Her "babies" can also be whatever's handy: a remote, a hairbrush, her "duke", a shoe.

When she wants to be picked up she says, "I want to pick YOU uppie." I ask, "You want to pick ME uppie?" "Yesh," is her answer. Really.

~~Lovey can walk. And run. He has an opinion. He is sick of his sister beating him up. He has a love for steps and a fear for NOTHING. He has a set of curls across the nape of his neck that I could just eat up.

~~If you do not care to hear of fertility issues GO TO THE NEXT SECTION.

I am fertile again. How do I know this? I got my period. For. Ten. Days. 10. T-E-N. It was looooong.

It wasn't that unpleasant, just never ending.

I had to wash pads 4 times.

Yes, I use cloth menstrual pads. No, it's not gross. Yes, I wash them in my washing machine where all my other laundry is done. No, it doesn't bother me. I've used cloth diapers extensively. They feel better against my skin. They are pretty and soft. They make me feel happy and lovely at a time when most likely I would be feeling icky and run down. Organic bamboo velour - look it up.

~~I have been asked (and I may have said something about this already, so forgive me) to be the Confirmation Sponsor for a dear friend's daughter! It was the daughter's Guardian Angel (she tells me) that thought of me. I guess I never expected that I would ever be considered for such an honor as a Sponsor or a Godparent, etc., being that I am myself a new convert.

It's very cool. I am a little nervous as to my exact role and what things I should be doing for her. For now, I pray. I know I can do that. My sponsor was really awesome about answering questions about the Faith, bringing me little presents at important ceremonies throughout the year leading up to my confirmation, sending me cards here and there in the mail with inspirational messages, etc. I hope I can live up to the call.

~~Lawyers are EXPENSIVE. Really. I wish I could charge $200/hour on the phone and $300/hour in person. Although he is very good. But it would be awful expensive for my children to have a mother if I charged those kind of rates. Can you imagine - "Mom, can I ask you a question?" "I don't know, you got 10 bucks?"

~~Cops don't make a lot of money. It's been a year at this cop's salary and we have finally exhausted our savings. It's down to $5. We are praying for a miracle.

~~I am very much looking forward to Mass tomorrow. All Saint's Day beats out Halloween any day in my book.

Wish List

For family far away, or even close by friends or family, I am posting a wish list for the two upcoming birthdays....Lovey turns 1 next month and Flower will be 3.

I like to do Montessori Activities with them, especially Flower. Mostly, I go to the thrift or secondhand store and pick up things and make activities that are similar to the ones I see on different Montessori teacher websites. I have a lot of stuff that I've gotten from there. But still, there are some classic Montessori activities I'd like to have for them that I can't buy at a store around here and can only find online and I can't afford to buy on my own.

For example, I think Flower would love more sensorial activities. She loves to sort and stack things and especially touch them and organize them. I think she would love to have the Pink Tower and/or Brown Stairs. There are a couple of different stores you can get them at online, just click one of these colored links in this post. I know they may seem like just a bunch of blocks, but they are designed to help them with visual discrimination....which Flower has a high sensitivity to already. I think she'll love the "order" without chaos of playing with these two toys.

I also like the Movable Alphabet. I'd like to start her with the D'Nealian letters so that it's not hard for her to make the jump from recognizing and writing manuscript to cursive. Then there's the Number Rods. Again, visual discrimination but this time with a math approach.

For Lovey...I really like the Circle Sorter. It's the easiest puzzle to do because it doesn't matter what direction you turn the circle, it always will fit.

Love the Farm Puzzle for both of them. And this. And the Color Tablets. Flower would love to sort these out. For. Hours.

Both of the websites have the classic Montessori items like the Pink Tower, Brown Stairs, the Number Rods, and the Color Tablets. Those are the real hardships for me to get for them right now and would be my priorities based on what I am seeing as far as readiness to learn right now. Remember, I'm also getting them ready for eventual homeschooling. I'd love to be able to start them out with this stuff.

This is just a "wish list". Being that we have 5 children, we really already have most of your classic 3 and 1 year old boy/girl presents. We have dolls and dress-up stuff, cars and blocks. We have balls and stuffed animals, and toys that make noise (see previous post). We have movies, and books, and toys to ride on. We have so much "stuff", I'd just rather see something that is needed and will be fun for them and useful (even if we have more kids).

Flower does NOT need anymore clothes, no matter how cute they are. She has at least 20 dresses and lots of shirts and pants. I love garage sales. Lovey could get more shorts....but I can garage sale those too 'cause he's just going to get them messy. :)

I realize this is not a normal-type post. But it is important to get this stuff out there, and I know so of you family types are readying this.

We love you and miss you and hope to see you soon.

Aaaaah! They Grow Too Fast

Well. It's that time.

The time when your baby is no longer a baby. The moment, for me, when they stop looking like a baby and start to look like a kid.

She's still my baby. Still a toddler.

But today........I cut her hair.


Her hair was getting in her face, in her eyes, and in her food. It was time to insert bangs. She really likes it and took to the cutting well.

Oh, that? That's the "I can't believe you won't let me play with the expensive picture-taker thingie" face.

~H

More Pictures

Just 'cause I know there is at least one person reading this blog who hasn't seen us in over a year. :)



I will assume my husband and not some random stranger snapped this pick of us sleeping.


And here's My Lovey sleeping on My Love.

And this is my princess. She's too precious for words.

Mittens!

The mittens are beautiful. I currently have two done and plan to make a third. I made some modifications with the second one. I plan on more for the third. Poor Flower will have 3 mittens, none the same. I don't think she'll mind, though, since she's just 2 and they probably all look alike to her anyhow.

I actually already ripped the top of the second one....the sqaurer looking one there....and reknit it with a nice triangle-y angled top.

~H

I've Been Busy

Dying that is.

See...



That's the wool with some Berry Blue Kool-Aid on it and "Warm Red", which is Blastin' Berry Cherry with a packet of tangerine.

I tried to mix them to make purple, and got brown. I tried again and got black. I decided I'd just have red, white, and blue yarn. So I put it in the oven.....

And then I had an epiphany. I mixed just a little, itty-bitty bit of Cherry with a whole packet of Berry Blue. Voila! A midnight blue/violety color. I pulled the wool out of the oven and put it into all the white spots (as much as I could).

This is the end result from the oven. Still a little white. I'm hoping it knits up nice. These are for Flower's mittens.

~H

Funny

A conversation between me and my increasingly chatty 2 1/2 year old: (her in the blue, me the black)

"Pretzels?"

"You want some pretzels?"

"Oh-kay!"

"Mommy will get you some pretzels when she's done going potty."

"Oh-kay!

A few minutes later, while I am on said potty....

"No pretzels."

"No pretzels?"

"No pretzels."

"Okay. No pretzels."

"No pretzels. Ice cream."

Must Stick To the Plan!

I am keeping to the no nap rule. However with the addition of Daylight Savings Time (read post about this crazy thing here) and Daddy moving his work schedule to nights, the inevitable has happened:

We are now sleeping while we eat. Yes folks, this is My Petite Flower, asleep with her hand in her macaroni & cheese, head bobbing like, well, a bobble head. You can't see her bobbing because this is just a two-dimensional photograph. But I assure you, bobbin' it was.

I rather like the "macaroni in the front of her dress" look. The new fall fashion for toddlers - coming soon to a kitchen near you.

She did finally keel over and get into a deep snooze. So deep, in fact, that when I took the tray away, did the dishes, and came back to her, she was still asleep. I gave her a rather vigorous rubbing with a wet washcloth (to get all the cheese off, for Pete's sake!) and she still slept. I decided she must be very tired to stay asleep through that and transferred her to the couch.

So now, it is midnight and guess who's still awake? *SIGH* I guess we'll try again tomorrow.

~H

And The Verdict Is.....

No naps. Definitely a BIG FAT NO. As in, "I hate the days that my daughter naps and then stays up until 11pm or later!" Like today.

It wasn't even on purpose today. I was holding My Little Man and he was asleep. I was on the phone, talking to my dear friend C., whom I haven't spoken with in a while, and My Petite Flower climbed up onto my lap. Pretty normal. Happens all the time.

However, I was distracted by the phone call and didn't realize she was snuggling in to me to fall asleep. 'Cause guess what? That's exactly what happened. And by the time I realized it I just couldn't bring myself to wake her up.

About an hour after this I had to move because I could no longer feel my legs, er, I mean, I had to drive my son's friend home from his "playdate" at our house. Even after I picked her up and set her down uncomfortably on the ottoman......she still slept. Oh well.

So definitely, completely, totally (feelin' a little 80's tonight) going for NO NAPS. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.

~H

Like Nailing Jello to a Tree

Parenting a toddler. Or a teenager for that matter - like nailing Jello to a tree.

You try. You try your best and think very hard about how to proceed. Do I slice the Jello a little thinner? What if I use less water when making it? Shorter nails? Longer nails? A tree with a softer wood maybe?

My dilemma this week is: to nap or not to nap?

I've talked often of my issues with sleeping and waking times, here and here - both my own and that of my children. After much hell, er very strict practice, I have gotten into the habit of being up by 8am at the latest in the morning, but usually by 6:30 or 7. My baby gets up with me, the Wobbers gets up about 1/2 hour after I do, no doubt from hearing me muse about the kitchen, and My Petite Flower....well that's the issue. Sometimes she gets up with me and sometimes I let her sleep a little. But usually within the hour of my waking, she's up. That is not, per se, the issue.

It's the problem after she's awake. She's up by 8 or 9 most days, sometimes 7.

If she doesn't get a nap, she's pretty darn cranky by about 6 pm. If she is allowed to sleep then, she sleeps till 8 or so then is up until 12 or 1, which I can no longer handle now that I am not pregnant. If I attempt to drag her through the crankiness not allowing her rest, I can give her a bath at 8, be reading books at 8:30, and lay with her through 15 minutes of crying and she's out by 8:45.

If she does nap during the day, she falls asleep sometime between 1 and 3 PM and sleeps anywhere from 1/2 hour to 2 1/2 hours. As you can imagine, this poses some issues. But the real issue is then she doesn't want to go to bed until around 10 or 11. I can still give her the bath at 8 and try for bed by 9, but the results are fruitless. We end up sitting in bed with me very angry and her making lots of blabbering noises to herself because she's not tired. So we get up and I wait until she is tired at 10 or 11. Then sleep is a little easier.

All of these nights, nap or no, are compounded with the problem of trying to get her asleep while keeping My Little Man either asleep or at least content. If he's already asleep, it's great. I can rest him on my chest and cradle her in my left arm. If he's not asleep and wants to nurse, then I have to try and nurse him while she's trying to fall asleep, all the while having her say, "Arm, arm, arm. Arm. Arm!" Meaning - give me your arm to sleep, Mama. While I say, "In a minute. I've got to nurse Little Man (I say his name here actually, but I'm trying to keep it off the blog). I'll give you my arm when he's done." She doesn't like this one bit. So she tries to grab my arm or thrashes around on the bed a bunch. If she would just calm down and let me nurse him, he'd fall asleep and then we could all sleep. *sigh* But she's just a little girl and doesn't get that. She annoys him by rubbing her hands all over his head, which annoys me, which makes no one relax.

Bottom line: I have to make a decision. Do I go for the nap in the afternoon and deal with a later bedtime OR do I forgo said nap and keep my sanity at night but deal with extreme crankiness?

Things that make you go hmmm.

~H

Why I do Montessori

As I was sitting here, reading away over at Candy Rant, I suddenly noticed it was far, far too quiet.

My eight year old was holding the baby and watching Star Wars, Episode III (his favorite). Said baby was asleep. But the usually audible musings of my toddler were not to be heard.

I turned around to find her with the Basic H sprayer in her hands as she calmly sits at her table. She is squeezing the trigger. I lean back a little so that I can see her table at an angle where the sunlight illuminates it. What do I see? Lots of little liquidy puddles.

"Wet," I say.

"Whet, whet, whet!!" she says back.

Oh boy.

We clean up the table with some paper towels and I proceed to inspect the rest of the living room. Wouldn't ya know there's a lot of "whet" all around - on the ottoman, the table, the floor. Ooo-wee, fun, fun, fun.

I gotta finish setting up my Montessori shelves.

~H