Sleep Experiment: Day 2

Sometimes it's tough being a mom. There is nothing in the world that can unravel me as profoundly or as quickly as my baby screaming. Ever fiber of my soul just aches to hold her and comfort her. I just want to make everything instantly better. This, however, is not always the best thing for her in the long run. For instance, hubby and I are trying to teach our little gal to go to sleep on her own. Previously, I have been very adamant that we hold her and rock her to sleep, and pick her up again if she starts crying when we lay her down. I felt it was incredibly important for the first few months to make her feel secure, and help her understand that her needs will always be met. Now, however, I feel she's smart enough and old enough to start going to bed on her own.

Previous to yesterday: Putting E to bed consisted of swaddling her, feeding her, and some extremely long turns bouncing her and holding her. And then after she fell asleep we would continue to hold her for a minimum of 5 minutes - because we learned that she's tricky, and likes to make us think she's asleep when she's really not.

Starting yesterday: Feed her, rock her, read her a story, give her a binkie, and put her in bed. The end. Ignore that her eyes are still half open, and brace myself for the screams.

Yesterday she screamed [I do not use this term loosely. She screamed] for thirty minutes. I would go in about every 10 minutes to check on her and make sure she hadn't rolled over, and try to give her her binkie. Finally after a half hour I couldn't take it any more. I was on the brink of tears myself, and she was still so upset. So I picked her up, fed her for about five minutes, and though she was still slightly awake, I put her back down. And that was it! Success!

Tonight it only took 20 minutes. I did not have to feed her a second time. After about 20 minutes, husband went in to check on her and make sure she wasn't hurt, gave her the binkie, and she whimpered a couple more times (I'm sure just to tell us she still wasn't pleased) and then fell asleep. Thank goodness.

It's agonizing to listen to her screaming, but I also know that it's important for her to learn to self-calm. Plus, I simply can't rock her for an hour every night for the rest of her life. I hope it keeps getting better each night. We took cookies to all of our neighbors in our apartments as an apology and thank you for putting up with the screams.

Thank Goodness

If this is a preview of what my life would be like with twins, I am so grateful I only have one baby.

Milestones

This morning my daughter woke up at an unearthly hour. Fortunately I'm blessed with an angel of a husband, and he got up with her. When I finally did wake up, I played with my daughter for a little bit, then set her down to go get ready for the gym. I laid her on her back. I went and put in my contacts, and when I came back, she was on her tummy! Hooray! We've been working on this skill for awhile, and she's been rolling over with slight assistance, but this is the first time she's ever done it by herself! Now she won't stop! I'm realizing that life, as we know it, has ended. Goodbye to laying her on the couch while I readjust my clothing after feeding her. So long to leaving her on her changing table for just a quick second while I grab an outfit to put on her (I know. I'm not supposed to do that anyway, so stop judging me.) And farewell to putting her in her swing or bouncer unbuckled. So long. Farewell. And hello to buckling, holding, and careful careful watching. But it's worth it. One of the most wonderful things as a mother is watching your baby grow, and learn new things. Even something as small and simple as rolling over becomes a monumental event, and you can't help but yell and cheer and clap and maybe even choke back a few tears. I have loved watching little E. grow. It truly is miraculous, life. How easy it would have been for God to set us on this Earth, already knowing everything we need to; but it's so beautiful to watch life unfold instead. I love watching every little thing she learns, and her excitement at learning it. Isn't being a mom fun?!

Mommy Lesson #3: Babies are not unlike Puppies....

I realized recently, that aside from how you get a puppy, babies are not that different from canines.

1)  Drool. Puppies and babies love to drool. They don't care who's watching, or how wet they get. They just love to drool. Why are puppies and babies always unable to swallow?!

2)  No matter how long or loud they make noise, nothing they say is intelligible. They can say it any way they want, and as earnestly as they want, you're not going to understand them so stop trying.

3) Chewing. They chew on absolutely everything! You take one thing out of their mouth, and they instantly replace it with something else. Fingers. Cloth. Shoes. Toys. They're not picky. They just want to chew.

4) They poop whenever and wherever they please. Again. Not picky. They don't care who's watching. They don't mind an audience. If they need to poop, they poop. Luckily you can put a diaper on a baby. With a puppy, you just have to get your hands dirty.

5) All they need to be happy is a little attention. They just want to be loved.

So essentially, if you can take care of a puppy, you can easily take care of a baby.... so what if every puppy I had met a not-so-good end?

 

Mommy Lesson #2: Alone Time

So yesterday I had an epiphane. I'd gone to the gym, and my husband had taken our little girl out for awhile. When I got home they still hadn't gotten back. And that's when I realized. "This is the FIRST time I've been home alone in over three months. Because while I may often feel alone. While I may get so deprived of adult conversation that I resort to talking to my three-month old like an adult, and I may often keep the TV running all day, even when I'm not watching just to hear the sound of words instead of babble in my home, I am never really alone. I always have a little, smiling, babbling, wiggling dwarf attached to my hip, arm, breast, something. So to be alone. Actually alone - not pseudo-alone - was pure bliss. It only lasted five minutes. And I'd like to say in those five minutes I just vegged on the couch, or at least that I took a shower that wasn't rushed by a crying baby. But I didn't. I tried to veg on the couch, but I kept seeing things that needed to be picked up. So when this happens again, you know, another three and a half months from now, I'll take advantage of it. I will eat bon bons and watch TV with no worries. Next time....

Lies My Mother Told Me

When I was younger, I used to come straight home from school and change right into my pajamas. It was a mix of two theories. 1) Why put off the inevitable? I'll be putting them on to go to bed anyways. and 2) I am all about comfort, and pajamas are just more comfortable. My mother used to tell me, "Natalia. You can't wear your pajamas all day." I would ask her why not, and the answer was always, "Because when you're older, married, and have kids, you can't just stay in your pajamas all day every day." Guess what, Mom. You can!

So little, but already such a teenager

So I got a credit card in the mail (actually a rebate card) and as soon as I opened it, my daughter snagged it. I can already hear her saying, "Mommy, I'm taking your credit card. I need some new jeans." This does not bode well....

I'll tell you what I want what I really really want...

I really really want this. But I could never spend that much on a coat. I also desperately want this. It's more reasonably priced, but probably still out of my range....

Fast & Easy

No, the title of this post is not my old High School Nickname. It is referring to my requirements for recipes and cooking. With a three month old who loves to be held, and does not love to sleep, it's difficult to spend too much time in the kitchen without some serious tantruming (can it be called a tantrum if she's only 3 months? Probably not...) So here's a recipe I discovered that was so super easy, and very tasty. It's similar to a curry. I was able to get all the ingredients at Walmart, except the fish sauce I had to get at the local Smith's. (My experience looking for fish sauce at Walmart went something like this: "Do you know where the fish sauce is?" "Fish sauce? You mean soy sauce?" "No, I mean fish sauce. Fish. Sauce." "Oooh! Fish sauce! Yeah! You want Tartar Sauce?" "No. Fish sauce. Saucey. Fishy. Not soy, not tartar. Fish. Sauce." "Is it like a fish rub to rub on the fish?" "No. It's a fish sauce, you put it in things to cook with." Yeah for Walmart workers and their "no education required" job descriptions.)   

Honey Garlic Lemon-Chicken 

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour, 7 minutes

Yield: SERVES 2-4 as a Main Entree

Ingredients:

·         6 to 10 chicken drumsticks, skin left on (I just used chicken breasts, no skin, and still tasty)

·         juice of 1 lemon

·         7-8 cloves garlic, minced

·         2/3 cup liquid honey

·         1/4 cup fish sauce

·         1/2 cup coconut milk

·         1-2 fresh red chilies, minced, OR 1/3 to 1/2 Tbsp. dried crushed chili (from the spice aisle)

Preparation:

For my original Thai Lemon Chicken recipe (with lemongrass), see: Thai Baked Lemon Chicken.

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in a flat-bottomed baking dish (I use a glass lasagna dish). Make sure chicken pieces are not piled on top of one another.

2.    Place remaining ingredients together in a bowl or measuring cup, stirring well to combine. Pour this sauce over the chicken. Turn chicken pieces several times to coat. This chicken can be baked immediately OR left to marinate for 30 minutes (or up to 24 hours).

3.    Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, turning pieces once halfway through. When done, chicken will turn a dark reddish-brown and be very tender. If still pale in color after an hour, continue baking another 10 to 15 minutes, or until desired coloring and tenderness is achieved.

4.    Serve immediately together with plenty of plain steamed rice. Fresh coriander/cilantro and thin lemon slices can be added as a garnish. The sauce from the baking dish is excellent spooned over both chicken and rice. ENJOY! I'm inherently lazy, so I didn't do any of the extra garnishing or marinating. And it was still THUPER DUPER good!

Mommy Lesson #1

One of the first things I learned after having E... you know, after I'd been home for a few days, and my Mom had gone back home, was that being a stay-at-home mom is a full time job. A simple To-Do list that previously would have taken me a few hours to complete, now takes me an entire week, and I still don't usually finish it. For example, yesterday my list consisted of going to Walmart and Costco, and doing laundry. What did I actually accomplish? Well, I went to Walmart. And the laundry? I got all the laundry through the wash.... though I forgot to add soap to one of the loads. I won't tell you that it was the load full of our underwear, and I had too many other things to do to run it back through when I realized, so yes, my husband and I will be spending this week in questionably cleaned underwear. Deal with it folks. And I didn't fold the laundry. Yeah, my husband folded it when he got home. Thank goodness for husbands. So today my list consists of putting the laundry away, unpacking all our gear from visiting my parents this weekend, and going to Costco. I'd like to vacuum too, but that seems a little too ambitious. Oh, and I should probably add getting dressed to the list... because sometimes that doesn't get done either. Ask me how much of that I've accomplished today (it's 2 pm). Go ahead, ask me. Nothing. That's right. Not one darn thing.