When Mommy is forced to outgrow naps

I think there needs to be a book written and entitled: "When Mommy is forced to outgrow naps" because I would buy it. Heck, I could probably write it myself, although I don't think what I'd write would be very inspirational. It would be more depressing and bitter.

There's no secret there. I am a napper and I have thoroughly enjoyed the year when both of my children were taking naps in the afternoon. But, unfortunately, that time is nearing an end.


Katherine is very quick to tell even strangers, "I have outgrown my naps. I do not nap anymore." Which, theoretically, could have been true back 2 years ago, if we would have been able to put up with her little world crashing to pieces every evening, with plenty of crying, whining and pure out mean-ness to add to the pleasure of preparing something to eat. But, at almost 4, she's proving that even a half hour nap means not falling to sleep until 10:30, even when she's in bed by 9, and that her world is able to stay intact without naps.

So, it is a sad day in our house because she functions just fine and goes to sleep better at night without naps.

Now, Nathan on the other hand, still needs both naps. There are times he will decide not to take the morning nap and act like the afternoon one is up for grabs. Au contraire!

And as for the mornings when he decides that waking up when the clock starts with a 5, this is usually what I wake up to...
He tries to take his clothes off in protest, I guess.

He's pretty close to figuring out how to climb out of his crib too. I've seen him get within an inch or one good jump from completing the last hoorah over the edge of the crib. I dread the day I wake up to a little person carefully touching my sleeping face while he's holding some Q-tips, a steamer basket and has diaper rash cream smeared across his face with some in his mouth.
Katherine did that one time, and I still have no idea how long she was awake. She quietly left her new big girl bed and went playing. I saw remnants of her "play" in the kitchen by the pots and pans on the floor, in the office by the rubber bands spread across both office chairs, in the guest bathroom from the toilet paper strewn about and in the 4th bedroom because she got into the balloons and had brought me a handful of them asking me to blow them up. After scraping my heart off the floor and managing to swallow all of the fears of what could have been, we had the talk about not roaming about the house until I am up; and even established some new rules.

I'm thinking I better keep him in his crib as long as I can because something tells me balloons would be the least of my worries.

My birthday & birthday-eve night

Today is my birthday and I'm officially half-way to 70. That's kind of a depressing way of looking at it, but not really. I choose to look at it as I've accomplished a lot in this life of mine so far and I've got the second half to finish off the "easy" stuff.

Katherine and Jim bought my birthday gift about a week ago and she has really shown her fortitude and stamina when it comes to keeping a secret. Jim told her to not tell me what the gift was and she did just that. Every day, with Jim around and not around, I would prod and entice her to tell me what it was. "Don't worry Katherine, I won't tell Daddy that you told me. It'll be our special secret" didn't work. She truly enjoyed knowing what was wrapped up, me not knowing and keeping a secret for a long time. And she did an awesome job. She didn't budge one bit after lots of attempts on my behalf.

Although, I did stump her this morning. When I woke her, I explained what we were doing today and that it was my birthday. She quickly perked up from her usual morning sleepiness and said, "Now I can tell you what your present is!" And I said, "Well, I'd like to wait until Daddy is home also to open it. It was from you, him and Nathan." Her furrowed eyebrows and slight frown told me that what I said didn't make any sense in her little world.

While little guy was taking his short and only nap for the day, Katherine and I made insanely-fudgey brownies. I sold her on the idea over cupcakes by telling her we could put icing on the brownies also and when I agreed to sprinkles, it was a no-brainer. So our friend Miss A made some homemade thick and insanely sweet icing for us to spread over the brownies. Can you tell it's my birthday and Weight Watchers has been forgotten about lately?

We believe Nathan is starting to outgrow his two naps. I remember this process 2.5 years ago and it was not very fun then either. He was quite the pickle to deal with for the afternoon and I thankfully had two grandmothers, two grandfathers, and a daddy to pass him off to for supper tonight at Sam's St. Johns. That was my birthday present.

After our, well, my relaxing supper, little guy opted to not participate in the brownie-eating and present-opening activities. So, Katherine and I opened them together while daddy sat behind the lens. It is so precious to watch her little face light up over the simplest gifts. She could have wrapped up a used sock and I would have enjoyed opening it with her.

Hand picked and wrapped by my little precious is a bath poof...(can you sense the anticipation)
and a foot/leg/back massage set complete with back massager thinga-ma-bob.
Last night was a cute little surprise my creative husband concocted with our daughter. She loves to cuddle right before bed and I told her I'd be in there in 10 minutes. When I came in, I found Miss cutie-patootie and hubby pretending to be asleep (with a great big ole' grin on her face)...next to my pajamas, stuffed with a pillow, with the arm of my pajamas cuddling Cathy-bear who was neatly covered with a blanket and maternity-issued socks placed in foot position.They can be so silly sometimes.
I had a great day. Thanks to the modern marvel of heated homes, we were insulated from the unusually cold weather outside, enjoyed spending time with friends we hadn't seen in a while, visited with loved ones, ate good food and I finished up the money collection for my Christmas/Birthday present - a new camera! More to come on that one!

Some Wednesday fun

Is this good sleep or what?

Nathan learning how to say grace before the meal. Sometimes, it takes a little too long for his liking.

Some back yard fun this morning...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Childhood memories

Periodically I have flashbacks of my childhood. I remember one time in particular something didn't go my way. I think I was around 6-9, can't quite remember. It was me, mom and Mark at home and whatever it was that didn't sit well with me, was NOT in my plan (however minor it might have been). So, the only solution to my unhappiness was to pull out the drama and kick it up a notch or two, compared to my normal drama.

I proceeded to wail the best fake cry I could muster, trying desperately to produce a tear or two, dragging it out even after something had distracted me for a second. I would quickly re-compose myself and remembered the goal of proving that this not-my-way stuff is for the birds and everybody else would just be better off if I got my way. I think my mom was busy with something else, like being a mom, and she wasn't there to shush me up so I continued. Wailing, fake-crying, falling to the ground, minor foot-stomping etc.

Since I was getting no attention, I threw myself on the bed, face down and proceeded to wail even louder. (If it weren't for my paralyzing fear of the stage, I'm sure I could have been a GREAT actress.) My arm was folded up underneath my face and I remember concentrating on making the crying sound genuine and heartbreaking so I could force misery upon my perpetrator. Hours went by, well, it felt like hours. Minutes went by while I perfected the best crying scene I could generate and

WHAM!

Out of the blue, a hand smacked my rear-end, I was so proudly sticking up in the air (part of the staging I was working on). And quickly the proclamation followed: "There. That'll give you something to cry about."

Oh my heavens! The wailing continued, but this time with more gusto and heart to back it up; because of pain. My mother, who no-doubtedly had heard enough of my practicing-for-Broadway antics, gave me a real reason to cry. But this time it didn't last as long for fear of receiving another reason to cry.

I learned a big lesson that day: When pulling out all the acting stops, don't leave your rear-end exposed.

Enter: Katherine not wanting to take a nap. Need I say more? She didn't get her way today while I was feeding Nathan his bottle and she decided to pull out all the stops. There was no Wham-ing. Just calmly reading some books as a distraction, but I got so tickled remembering my childhood. Speaking of childhood memories, the story about the movie Annie and singing the song "Tomorrow" is at the bottom.

* * * * *

Today, Katherine's bestest bud AC came over to play for a little bit. I thought it would be a great opportunity to bake some cookies I've had sitting in the box on the counter for about a month. The cutie-patooties put on their aprons and stood on chairs next to the counter.
They combined the pre-measured ingredients, mixed it up and placed dollops of dough on the cookie sheet. We talked about what a recipe is, how the cookies change when they're baking and had a taste test after they cooled.
Conclusion: Even boxed cookies don't like me. I'm convinced the culinary Gods are upset with me and have placed a 'hit' on me.

Thanks to some wise intervention and experience-talk from AC's mom, it maybe had something to do with the cooking stone, humidity, the fact that they came in a box and just plain wrong cooking times on the instructions. I'm going with that because I'm sure it had nothing to do with me and my abilities.

* * * * *

Annie (Soundtrack)

Another treasured memory of mine was when the movie Annie came out. My favorite part of the movie: when Annie sang, "Tomorrow."

So, I'm in our back yard, where we had 5 acres separating us from neighbors, at 7 years old singing "Tomorrow" at the top of my lungs, trying very hard to hit each note on pitch and remember the words. I sang it all the time and there was probably some dancing/choreography included.

What my parents heard was a non-stop bad version of the soundtrack to Annie stuck on one song. What they saw was a little girl dancing around, oblivious to the rest of the world, singing her heart out.

What my parents didn't know was that I was convinced that if I sang good enough and loud enough our neighbors, who were 5 acres away, just might have a talent scout at their house. And that talent scout would hear the melodic voice of the next Annie-on-Broadway-replacement singing her heart out and he would ask that little girl and her parents if she would be interested in, gasp even better, being in the movies!

Don't laugh, it is soooo do-able in a 7-year-old's mind and that's exactly what I thought. I eventually got tired of singing the song over and over again and moved on to wanting to be a gold-medal gymnast like Mary Lu Retton.

Head-bonking laughter

My babies enjoying each other's company.


So, here it is, the publicly-appropriate twirl skirt.
Nathan is sleeping much better for his naps. Mommy guilt has taken over, once more, and now I'm convinced that all his fussiness and not sleeping well was because since June 6th, he's had a total of 6 teeth break through his gums. Hmmm. Maybe he was in pain? Just a hunch mommy-dearest. Teething is just one of those after-thoughts that explains what I've been going through and usually does a great job at making me feel like a horrible mother. Here is my well-rested, precious and sweet little boy.
Sometimes, nothing beats a frozen yogurt pop, on a warm August evening, while taking a swing.

Bananas and Attitude

Ahhh, Thursday. One day closer to the weekend. Which in my case means absolutely nothing because my husband is writing his thesis. I guess it does mean I might get to help him write and/or format also. Please pray for his continued momentum and his attitude to remain positive. Mine too, I guess.

As much as I don't like to admit it, my husband is probably right about this one thing: Nathan does not do well if I take him anywhere during his normal nap times. Which means I'm confined to the house between 9-11 and 1-4 because he likes his bed or a quiet, moving car. How's that for feeling entrapped. I know that it's just a season, but it still stinks. Katherine used to stay asleep in the car seat after I'd put her in the shopping cart and push her around for an hour. On the brighter side, he is eating solid foods much better, though. He doesn't make the face that resembles swallowing poison/how-could-you-do-this-to-me-mom when I give him a minute piece of an over-ripe, mushy banana.

Katherine has taken a serious interest in reading books lately. She will choose to do that (with my help) over riding her tricycle, playing in the kiddie pool, coloring, and most of her other favorites. TV still trumps though. I didn't grow up enjoying to read so I'm trying to keep it fun for her. Her little sense of humor is also starting to really develop. Today, while eating breakfast, she said, "Mommy, after I eat this, I'll eat this, then this, then this, then.....I'm gonna eat.....the CHAIR!" Belly laughs then followed and most of the other furniture items in the dining room were included. I've also got a glimpse into the pre-teen years, I think. She has figured out how to answer me almost valley-girl-ish, which for me means including the word, "uh" before every answer or comment, severe inflection for each word and each word pronounced definitively. Does that make sense? I guess the easier way to describe it would be to say that it has ATTITUDE. Hello! She's 3! Not 13! And it's not just me that gets it, it's brother, the dog, the cat, the lizards running across the sidewalk, the trash truck driver-man, other cars on the road, "Uh, mommy. Why don't you beep beep at them and tell them to move over?" She hasn't started school yet and hangs out with kids mostly younger than her. She must have heard her father talk like that.

























This picture is old but shows how sweet and innocent she can look and be. I've been taking pictures with a disposable camera since Easter and have put my 5-year-long dream of buying an SLR on hold. Having something is better than nothing right now so bring on the point and shoot. God knows the desire of my heart and when the timing is right, it will happen.

And one more thing. This blog-thing I've started may seem a little personal at times and there's a reason for that. I've been suffering from a slight case of mommy-guilt for not taking more pictures, journaling, etc. for my two adorable children and this is my answer. I type much better and faster than I write and it forces me to download pictures more often than once a year. It is my goal to print these posts out and put them in a book for my children to look at later, when they're interested. So please, be discreet with who you forward this website to. I certainly will be.