Worshiping False Idols

See the contraption above? It's my new best friend. Why? Because it makes my daughter go nighty-night. We have to pay daycare providers an obscene amount of money to do that. This soother does it for the one-time price of $34.99. I love you Precious Planet Soother.

As you know, Mya has been having a difficult time with sleep recenlty due to her flu, teething, growth spurts, and just because she can. It was around this age with Max that we sleep trained him so that we could put him to bed awake and have him put himself to sleep. My mommy amnesia has stolen away all recollection of how we did this (large amounts of Benadryl?) so we've started anew with Mya.

Currently Mya's bedtime routine is that I swaddle her in her velcro blanket, snuggle her on the My Brest Friend and nurse her to sleep in the rocking chair in her room. Once she is completely asleep I transfer her to her crib. At daycare they lay her in the crib and rock it as needed until she konks out.

My ingenious idea was to buy a crib soother like Max has so that she can start associating that sound and sight with sleep. Unfortunately they don't make his particular brand of soother anymore and I wasn't too impressed with the features and/or reviews of the others that are made. Whatever, I settled on this one and brought it home. I started playing the music while I'm feeding her, hoping that she would start to associate the sounds with comfort and sleep. By golly, it seems to have worked. Last night and tonight I was able to feed her to the music, lay her in bed awake but drowsy, turn on the music and she put herself to sleep. Tonight I fed her swaddle-free and she still put herself to sleep to the music.

Better put batteries on the Costco list!

"Go 'way!"

"Go 'way!" That's Max's favorite new phrase. Guess what? It's not mine. He started using it a few weeks ago. I sternly explained to him that I don't like those words and offered up some suggestions for other words he might use. The reaction to this phrase has escalated over the past few weeks to the point that last night he was in time out for saying it to his sister with a shove. Not cool.

As with everything, it's now always so straightforward. Yesterday in the driveway Max and I were blowing bubbles and he was chasing them down to pop them. He was giggling saying, "go 'way." Sigh. In this instance he's not saying it in a mean spirited way so I let it go.

Today Alex is golfing and it's the wee ones and me. I was changing Max's diaper this morning and he started chanting "go 'way" and bucking his legs. Oh he thought he was hilarious with his big ol' grin. I decided the game is over, became perfectly still and stared him down until the smile came off his face. He wasn't sure what to do. It was the funniest thing. His little eyes darted back and forth and you could tell he was thinking, "Oh crud, she's mad. This isn't what I expected. What do I do now? Is she still staring at me? Yep. This is really uncomfortable." After he stopped I finished changing his diaper. He did try "go 'way" later today and he received the same stare down. Then I just strated talking over him. This seems to be the most effective response.

Hopefully "go 'way" will go away soon.

My guys

It's a good thing she's cute...

I was just pulling these photos off of our camera and it was just what I needed....a reminder of how cute and sweet our baby girl is. She has been driving me insane the past 3 nights by waking every couple of hours and staying up between 2 and 4. I'm assuming that it has something to do with her not feeling well. I think on top of her flu she is about to push through her bottom front teeth. I know she will be glad to get through this period too! Poor sweetie.

Sickos

Uh oh. Max and Mya are both sick. Max woke up from his nap on Saturday feeling warm and by the end of the day had a high fever. He spent yesterday and today home with Daddy. He has been incredibly cuddly and tonight asked Alex if he could go night-night. I laughed as Alex asked him repeatedly, "Night, night? Is that what you said? Are you sure you want to go night night?"

Mya and I have been making it into work and daycare but she fell victim today. I should have guessed it when she woke screeching a midnight. My hope was that she was simply suffering from teething pain. I came back from a meeting this afternoon to a ringing phone. It was Mya's teacher telling me that she had a temp of 102 and needed to be picked up. When I walked into the daycare one of the float teachers was snuggling her in a lobby chair. Mya was nuzzled into her neck making a pool of drool on her jacket. She promptly konked out in the car.

Tomorrow (and likely the following day) I'm up to bat. Wish me luck...as well as a quick recovery for the kids!

Squishy Mya Bear

Here is my Mya. Or, as I call her, Mya Bear. I have no clue where she earned that nickname. I don't suppose she looks much like a bear. Probably just because she's sweet and cuddly like a teddy bear. Mya's other nickname comes from one of the teachers at daycare who calls her Squishy. She has said she doesn't know why. I think it has something to do with her cheeks. Don't they just make you want to plant a kiss on them and feel the squish?

Mya is 6 months old now and getting increasingly active. She's able to grab toys that she wants and hold on to them and play for a good length of time. She log rolls across the room and is starting to sit up with supervision. No teeth yet although it seems like her front lower pair are right there. She naps like a champ and is sleeping through the night up to 10 hours. Overall she's still an incredibly sweet, happy baby who loves to giggle and watch the antics of her big brother Max. We're happy you're part of our family, Squishy Mya Bear!

A Day in the Life

I'm thought I would preserve for posterity's sake a little record of what a typical work day is like at this point in time. Let me start off by saying that I love my family dearly and no effort is too much to make them happy but my oh my this can be exhausting!

5:30/6:00 - Mya wakes. At my request Alex will trudge upstairs and bring her down to me in bed. I nurse her in bed with us while trying to snooze a bit more.

6:15 - Time to get up. Happy Mya lays in bed pulling her fleece swaddle into her mouth or banging her rattle around. I got to the bathroom to get myself ready.

6:30 - My time is up and Alex heads out the door. Bye, honey! Mya and I head upstairs to get her changed and ready.

6:45 - Wakey, wakey Mr. Max! Mya goes into the crib to watch her mobile and I head into his room to wake him up. He slowly wakes and reaches up for me. He tucks his head into my neck and his long legs hang nearly to the floor. My big baby! His first word is either "Daddy?" or "Waffle?"

6:50 - Into the kitchen where I sit my sleepy guy on the counter and we toast him a waffle. Many times Alex has courteously left out the waffles and jam so we're ready to go. Max's job is to say "ta da!" when the waffle pops up. Max's typical breakfast includes a waffle with jam or peanut butter, banana and a cup of milk or watered down juice.

Max sits in his booster at the dining room table and eats a leisurely (and I mean leeeeeiiiiisurely) breakfast. I load my pump supplies, Mya's bottles, changes of clothes, clean blankets, etc. into the car. Back inside I sit Mya in my lap, put her coat on as we chat about what a good job Max is doing of eating his breakfast. By the time he finishes eating Mya is secured in her car seat with her Taggie blanket providing entertainment for her.

7:10 - Max gets wiped down and I convince him that he's done eating. Off to his bedroom we go and begin a wrestling match known as changing his clothes and diaper. I try to convince him how cool his new football shirt is as he clings to his warm jammies to keep me from pulling them off. "On! On!" he cries. Eventually, through sheer determination, I get him dressed. On bad days he may have a meltdown that lasts all the way to the car. However once he's buckled he always admits defeat and quiets down.

7:20 Now that Max is buckled in I run back in for Mya who is calmly sitting in her car seat on the kitchen floor. Let's go, Mya Bear! I snap her in, start up the car and the defroster, then circle the car wiping off the condensation.

7:25 - I can finally see and down the driveway we go! As we pull onto the street we say goodbye to the house, the cats, Elaine and everyone else we can think of. On the car ride there Max and I talk about the sights along the way - fast cars, busses, cement trucks, stuck cars, the Max train, you name it. We exit off the freeway and Max calls out, "Bye, cars. See you later!" All part of the routine!

7:50 - We arrive at daycare, spill out of the car with one bag, one toddler, and one baby in a seat and in we go. First we drop off Mya in the Ladybug Room. Belongings in the cubby, bottles in the fridge, write a "story" about when she last slept and ate and get her settled on a play mat. Loves to Mya and we're off to the Twig Room. Once again it's belongings in the cubby, write a story about when Max slept and into the classroom we go. Max likes to settle in next to the puzzles. We talk about "mommy-come-back" a time or 2 and once he has accepted that I will indeed come back "kiss!" is his goodbye request. Loves to Max and I'm out the door.

Don't forget to log the kids into the computer on your way out!

8:15 I sneak into my office hoping nobody notices how I'm constantly 15 minutes behind my planned arrival time. It hasn't bitten me in the rear yet!

9:00 - Time to stop my work and head down to the Mother's Room to pump. Right now I'm reading A Lesson Before Dying which takes away from the tediousness of the task. I've also completed Run, Ahab's Wife and Three Cups of Tea in the past few months.

12:00, 3:00 - Two more pump sessions in the Mother's Room. I've given up worrying whether it's enough for the next day at daycare. It's always between 75 and 100% of what she eats. I'd say that's pretty good!

4:30 - The best part of the day. Time to head out the door and pick up the kiddos. Don't forget to grab the milk out of the fridge. She'll need that tomorrow!

4:45 - I arrive at daycare, log the kids out, gather them and their belongings up and we head home. Max likes to point out his same landmarks and we guess at what we'll have for dinner.

5:15 - We're home! Daddy has made us dinner and we eat a great meal!

6:00 - Starting to get settled. Time for baths and play time.

6:45 - Mya is getting fussy. Into jammies and it's time for Mommy to nurse her and put her to sleep. She's asleep and in bed by 7:15. I can hear Alex downstairs brushing Max's teeth and getting him into his jammies.

7:30 - Time to tuck Max in. Off to bed you go. Mommy will see you in the morning for waffles. We love you, buddy!

Ahhhh, a little time for Alex and I to catch up. Ugh, don't forget to fill Mya's bottles with milk, label them and wash your pump parts. Pack it all up so that you're not searching for it tomorrow!

9:00 - Usually we're in bed and relaxing. Lights go off at 9:30 and we're asleep by 10.

3:30ish - Mya wakes and requests my company for a feeding. I stumble out of bed, toss on a robe and head upstairs. We snuggle in the glider and I try not to fall asleep. Full yet? Good, Mommy is going back to bed.

5:30/6 - Mya wakes and we start the cycle all over again.