September 29, 2007
One of the incentives we have offered Ethan in return for having dry pants while he sleeps and also pooping in the potty has been TV. We will let him watch a show if he does these things. We have had many many days without TV for the last 6 months. But, it appears that he has finally got it. At least the pooping. Dry at night is hard. The funny thing is, that he is begging me to watch The Holiday. It has been sitting on our entertainment center about a month. I did watch it the other night and I really liked it. I keep trying to tell him it is for girls and he won’t like it, but he keeps trying. I should just let him watch it. Maybe he would like it…and I would get to watch something other than Dora. The kid has pooped like, 4 times today. I am not complaining!
September 26, 2007
I just discovered the other day what this little icon here means:
<3
I had just seen it for the first time a few weeks ago all over someone’s myspace account in their comments. I don’t often frequent myspace and I am not a hip computer-user, so I had never seen it before then. I don’t know what anything means. Like all the abbreviations and stuff people use when they chat and text…no clue. Anyway, it was all over this girl’s comments and her breasts were all over the place and I just assumed for some reason that that is what the symbol meant. Boobs. My mind. It’s in the gutter?
Anyway, I figured out what it really means when my dear friend Georgia used it in an email to me. She wouldn’t be sending me a boob icon. It dawned on me. It’s a heart. I laughed and was a little embarrassed. I learned something new!
September 24, 2007
Today has been rough. It started out with not being able to fall asleep last night. In bed at 9:30, up till 3. Tegan cried from one or so until 2:30 and I was just a mess. So, at 2:45, I decided to call in sick, knowing that working for 12 hours on 2 hours of sleep would not work, and then I slept from 3 till 6. Ethan was up yelling and crying and being naughty. He has to stay in his room until 7, but he doesn’t always like it. Anyway, Nana took them until about 1:00 and I was able to sleep that whole time, thankfully. I put them both down for a nap a little after one and Ethan protested until after 3. At first he was quiet, but then he started crying and yelling and getting out of bed, running to the door, barely opening it, and running back to bed-crying the whole time. At first, it was that it was 7 (time to get up), then it was for me to come put his jammies on (it is nap time, not bedtime), then it was for his Dora book. I tell you, working on 2 hours sleep might have been easier. I love that little boy, but he is something else. Finally, he is asleep. Now I will have to wake him up so he doesn’t sleep until bedtime. I don’t want to let go of the naps and he definitely needs them. Saturday, he skipped his nap after 2 hours of being in bed at Nana’s house and he fell asleep on the couch at 6:30. He needs a nap. I need him to take a nap:)
So, no more caffeine for me, I guess. At least not in such high quantities. Man, I can’t believe how wide awake I was. I bought decaf iced tea bags at the store today. Crazy.
September 23, 2007
This entry is all about drinks.
I have decided not to drink soda anymore. I have felt guilty for drinking lately for a few reasons. The first, I don’t want Ethan to drink it and I feel like I need to be a good example. The second, it is pricey. The third, it is not good for me. I usually drink diet soda, so I am not worried about the calories, but you know, artificial sweetners and all. I grew up drinking soda. Lots and lots of soda. I quit at some point, but working nights drove me back to the bottle and I have been drinking it ever since. So, no more soda. It has been two or three days now. I think I miss it a little. Water just gets boring after a while. I already drink about 2 liters a day, so maybe I will get to three now.
I am beginning to wean Tegan. Just not enough milk these days. I was having to give her bottles after each feeding anyway, as I think I already mentioned. So, as of today, bottles for all feedings but the first one of the day and bedtime. It will be awesome at work to not have to pump, but I feel a little bit sad about it. I like our time together, it is so much cheaper than formula (and easier), and I just feel like I am failing a bit. I know I am not, but it is hard not to feel a tiny bit that way. It’s ok.
Because I am moving towards the bottle and not feeding her all day, I decided today was the day. I had caffeine. I had a chai latte. It was very very tasty. And I used my new coffee cup cozy I made to hold it (I will try to post a picture soon. I like it. It is cute). But then, I went out to lunch. And I decided to do it. I ordered an iced tea. Iced tea is may very favorite. I am now paying for it. Too much caffeine after over a year of not having any. My head is spacey and I just feel funny. It was all so wonderfully tasty, but I think I will have to pace myself from here on out and build up a tolerance. Then I will be able to drink pitcherful after pitcherful of wonderful iced tea:)
September 21, 2007
I suppose things are better around here. We are still surrounded by potty troubles. Every day, multiple times, I pray that he will “get it” and start going on his own, pee and poop and yay, we will be done. He is being very stubborn and I really do think that is what it is. He gets it. He doesn’t like being wet or dirty, he’s just stubborn. So, I will keep praying. He has had a handful of dry nights and most days are dry, wearing undies, so I guess that is pretty good.
Tegan. Tegan slept from 7 to 6:30 today. Yay!! The night before though, she woke up twice. I am still leaving her in her bed and it is still hard. And maybe she is stubborn, too…. I bought her warmer jammies today and we turned the heater on. It was 61 degrees inside which I think is a little too cold for a tiny girl with no blankies. Maybe that will help. I am also giving her lots of formula. After I feed her, I give her formula. Poor girl is constipated and was just acting hungry all of the time. So, we are phasing out mommy soon and will be moving on to formula. Kind of makes me sad, but it is time, I guess. She is liking her peas and carrots. Still despises rice cereal. I am mixing it in with carrots and she is fooled. Heh, heh.
Speaking of vegetables. Ethan has never (well, since we moved on from baby food) been a good vegetable eater. The only thing he will eat willingly is carrots. I have to do the same thing with him-mask the vegies in things. I chop them up and put them in ground meat, in pasta sauce, and so on. Haha, I fool him too. Anyway, yesterday I was eating my spinach, carrots, cheese and parmesan ranch Trader Joe’s salad dressing. Ethan asks for a piece of carrot. I give him some. Ethan asks for a piece of “green” (spinach). I give it to him. It is small and has some dressing on it. I think he will spit it out. He eats it and asks for more. He finishes my salad and I make him his own and he finishes it too. Spinach?? I am shocked. I will be making him more spinach salads.
Tegan is talking. A lot. She found her voice and it is a very sweet voice. Very girly and kind of raspy, but it is precious. She says “dada” a lot and then just kind of makes lots of cute sounds together. It is my favorite.
So, we are hoping to go to the Iron and Wine concert on November 27th. Tickets are on sale Saturday and I am excited. There are also two The Decemberists concerts in San Diego in December and I want to go. But, two days in a row?? And one day is on Ethan’s birthday. We’ll see. I missed the last one. It would be cool.
That is all for now. I think I might be alone tonight and maybe I will be able to be a little creative. We’ll see. I do have to work tomorrow and it is a lot easier to watch TV or read and go to bed than to get all my sewing stuff out and be motivated. I want a sewing corner in my new house I am ordering:)
September 19, 2007
The house is quiet and I am pretty much here alone. Tegan is here, but she is sleeping. Shane is at breakfast with some friends and Ethan went with his Nana to bible study. I haven’t been alone like this in forever. Even if the kids are sleeping, Shane is usually here. He is usually working, but he is still here. I don’t know what to do with myself. I had planned on walking, but the girl is asleep. I was thinking about sleeping myself, but she will be up soon. Oh…Shane’s home. Ha ha. That was short lived:)
September 13, 2007
Just a quick update-
Tegan woke up once at 4ish, I think, but magically I went back to sleep (minus ear plugs…the fan somehow drowned the crying out this time or maybe she stopped and went back to sleep quickly?)
Ethan had a rough time going to sleep, desperate for his cup of water, promising he would be dry for “a lot of water.” We didn’t cave (I gave him a little right before bed and he had a cup with dinner). He was up again at 10 and I made him go to the bathroom. And, as he promised, he was dry in the morning. I am feeling good about things today. I think I got 8 hours of sleep! Hopefully, today will be a dry day again.
Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and prayers. I feel like this has become a sleep/potty blog. I will change the subject soon. It’s just that my life has been consumed by these things. But, maybe we are getting somewhere!
September 12, 2007
Other than that fact that Ethan is screaming at the top of his lungs for water right now from his bed (drinks before bed are forbidden and he is a sponge), I think we had a better day today. I had a breakdown or two, but Ethan was dry all day except for when he woke up in the morning and at naptime (had to wash his sheets twice). That’s good, right? Not that he really wanted to go pee ever or really took himself in there to do it (he needed guidance everytime), he still stayed dry. Thank God.
Tegan was fed rice cereal, 2 ounces of formula, and then breast fed for almost 20 minutes before bed, so I am hoping her tummy is full to the brim and she will sleep long and hard.
And me, I found some earplugs from a concert Shane went to recently that he didn’t use. I think I might use them if anyone starts up tonight.
September 11, 2007
Life has been really hard for me lately. I decided last Friday night to let Tegan start crying it out when she would wake up in the night. There is no reason a 6 month old needs to wake up 3 times at night and I desperately want to sleep for longer than 3 hours at a time, so I read this book and just did it. It is getting better, but she is still waking up and crying. Last night, it was only once, which was awesome and made me think maybe we are getting there. But the night before, she was awake twice, the last time from 4 am to 5 am and I had to get up at 5:15 for work. And I can’t sleep when she is crying. I lay there, praying she will stop and will soothe herself back to sleep. I know once she is doing it, it will be well worth it for the both of us, but it is hard and I am tired.
Secondly, my allergies are killing me. Claritin is not cutting it any more. I need to go to the doctor. Yesterday it was all in my sinuses and I felt awful. Today was better, but I am so tired of my throat itching, ears itching, nose being stuffy/runny/itchy. I need to take care of it.
And lastly, today was the first day of potty training using this book. I borrowed it from some friends who have potty trained their three children using it and it worked perfectly for all three of them. I read it twice. Shane read it. We bought a ton of snacks and drinks. Ethan started off a little slow, but by mid morning he had taken himself to the potty to pee twice and actually took himself to the potty to poop once. Never happened like that before. I was ecstatic. I cried a little. Then, he stopped doing it. 5 pairs of Diego pants later, here we are. No nap today either. We were asking him every 5 minutes “are your pants dry?” Yes, yes, yes, but then he would have an accident. No attempts to even try to make it to the potty. By the evening, I was just prompting him into the bathroom again. I am bummed. I feel like I failed. I know it is the first day, but I really wanted him to get it. We have been trying for a while and he just doesn’t want to be bothered to take time out of his playing to go to the potty. I thought this might be it. He definitely gets it, I just don’t think he cares. I don’t know. I haven’t given up. He is in bed right now, in Diego pants and I know that I could very well be up at 2 am changing his bed or in the morning if not then, but we committed to no more diapers, so this is it. I am just praying that he will miraculously be dry and will have decided that tomorrow he will do it and we will have a better day. I lose my patience and take it all so personally. I guess I will just start over tomorrow. He will get it eventually, I know. But it is time and I want him to get it now (in less than a day:)
I think I just need to go to bed.
September 2, 2007
When Shane and I got married, we were given a gift certificate or two to Crate and Barrell. We had received just about everything we needed at that point (what I wouldn’t give for a gift certificate to Crate and Barrell now), so we decided to treat ourselves to an ice cream maker. It is an electric one, nothing too fancy involving rock salt or hours and hours of churning or whatever it takes. It is pretty easy. But, we have only ever used it a handful of times. It has been way too hot lately (today it was over 95 degrees IN OUR HOUSE) so last night, we broke it out. We had two friends over and I made dinner and we settled on berry frozen yogurt. It was a lot of work and I was sweating like crazy while pureeing the berries and doing all of the dishes (I don’t have a dishwasher-a must in our next house, I have decided…as is a space for my sewing machine to be out, lots of bookshelves, and storage). We ate the frozen yogurt and it was good. It did have a few seeds in it since I had no way of straining the pureed berries. It was hard to puree them as it was. Today, since it was 95, we decided to try peanut butter ice cream at nap time. I got all the stuff out again and after about 30 minutes of the machine mixing, it was still liquid. It was obvious it was never going to make it into ice cream. I realized I had bought heavy whipping cream instead of heavy cream-I didn’t realize they were different or see that there were two types at the store. Oh well. Probably better anyway. I didn’t need peanut butter ice cream. As I thought about it though, I realized store bought ice cream is a lot cheaper and easier. And the berry frozen yogurt we have sitting in our freezer to reward Ethan for pooping in the potty should he ever decide to do it, is better tasting than what I made. I want it to be fun and cool and delicious, but it was just ok and I was hotter after making it than before I started. We’ll see. Maybe we will try it again. Vanilla or sweet cream with candy bars in it does sound good. Maybe I just need to figure out how to do it right. And to buy the right ingredients….
