marathon day, sleep training, stinky bookcase, no barbies

Time for some miscellaneous items this Monday.

1) It's marathon day here in Boston! I can't wait for the kids to be old enough for me to take them in to watch the marathon. Better yet, for them to be old enough for me to train and run the marathon!

2) With the weather sunny and in the 80s today I'm actually quite glad I'm not in the marathon. That is terrible running weather.

3) Henry slept horribly at night Friday and Saturday, and since we have to take away the swaddle anyway  we finally started sleep training last night. It took time to build up the resolve to sleep train, but it will be so much better for all of us. Henry's just so darn handsome and charming during the day, that by bedtime I would always lose my resolve to go through with it.

He didn't do too badly last night. I gave him a binky but no swaddle, and he spent about 20 minutes quietly kicking and moving his arms around in the crib. He fell asleep with no fussing, arms stretched out above his head. What a good little guy. He woke at 11:30, and rather than feeding him I went to his room at 3, 5, and 10 minute intervals to briefly pick him up and tell him good night. He did cry, but fell asleep again by himself at the end of the ten minute wait. He woke again at 2:30 and I decided to give him one feeding, so I fed him and he went to sleep again with no fussing. He woke up at 6:00 this morning. So, not too bad! Tonight I'll put him to bed earlier and cut out all feedings because Henry doesn't seem especially hungry when I do feed him at night. He's using it more as a crutch for falling asleep. I'm hoping naps won't be too bad today...

4) Celia and I cut some flowers on Saturday. She was very interested in arranging them by herself.

They went in the front hall, which I rearranged last week. We've been moving furniture around for some improvements.

5) Speaking of improvements, we got a new-to-us bookcase for the family room. Got it in the room, and it turns out the thing smells like a combination of poop and really bad breath. This is something I've always looked for in a bookcase. I've cleaned it several times and it seems a little better now.

6) Celia doesn't drink cow's milk. I have introduced almond milk but she hasn't liked it. Yesterday I found some strawberry agave syrup at the store and thought of putting it in the milk. Just a teaspoon in a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and this was the result:

Guess that worked out okay.

7) It's school vacation week here this week. We're not really affected except daycare is closed today, and some of the places we go will be more busy than usual with all the kids out of school. It's supposed to be a beautiful summery week so I need to plan some fun things to do.

8) With things being really busy and getting less sleep lately, I've fallen off the wagon with my exercise and diet. I was doing well and losing more weight, but it's hard to do when you're tired and have so many other things to do. I think on Wednesday and Thursday I'll make sure to work out when Celia's at daycare!

9) Pita is the owner of a new baby carrier for her dolls. She was given a Barbie doll as a gift, which was very nice of the giver and appreciated by us, but we don't do Barbies at our house. I don't judge others for giving Barbies to their girls. After all, they're a very popular toy and have been around for decades. If you want your girl to have Barbies, I think that's fine. But at our house, we don't play with dolls that look like hookers. Ha! (Also, try explaining that to a 3-year-old.) Anyway, I took Pita to return the Barbie and we exchanged it for a little carrier for her baby dolls.

10) Our spring outdoor projects have begun! We're having the deck and outdoor furniture power washed by a former neighbor of ours today, and then he will stain the deck and I'll do the furniture.

sunshine, flowers, and a neat new bink

I keep forgetting it's only March because we're having such summery weather this week! Here I am putting away winter things and taking out summer clothes already. Every day the plants are growing and budding more. Yesterday I noticed these pretty little critters had come out.

After much waffling the last few days about whether to sleep train Henry and whether to take away his swaddle, and even one night of beginning Ferber, I stumbled on a possible solution to our sleep issues yesterday. Turns out Henry will now take a new kind of binky that has an orthodontic shape and doesn't fall out of his mouth while he's sleeping! I'm well aware that this just creates a new crutch for him, so to speak, but if it buys us some time and lets me wait to sleep train when he's a little older and really ready to give up the swaddle, I think that's the best thing to do. The swaddle still really helps him, as his arms flail all over the place without it and keep him awake. The binky even may help him settle down and sleep better when it is time to unswaddle. Anyway, he had good naps with the new binky yesterday and last night he slept for 8 hours!!! He slept from about 8:30 to 4:30, had a small feeding, woke again at 6:30, and then slept for another hour. I hope this will continue! Of course I was still awake all night, since I'm so used to being up...

Such a handsome little fellow.

It's a beautiful day today. Celia is at daycare, probably playing outside and getting covered in dirt and sand. She gets disgustingly dirty playing outside and has such a good time. Since Henry now has a consistent morning nap, I know that I always have two hours to get things done on mornings Celia's at daycare. This morning I started some spring cleaning- let in fresh air, dusted the walls, ceilings, baseboards, vacuumed everywhere, and washed and put away some winter coats. Then I did a workout dvd, showered, did some more things around the house, and woke Henry. I really pack a lot into those two hours! Then Henry ate, we played, I had lunch, and now it's nap time again. I've been doing more laundry, putting clean sheets on the beds, making dinner and getting the pack n play and baby swing out of our bedroom. That was exciting! I also have some garden-related planning and journaling I want to get to, but not sure if there will be time.

Last night Chris wasn't home until after the kids were in bed. Celia and Henry were both really good, but it still exhausts me to be in charge from morning 'till bedtime. I was probably crankier than Celia by bedtime, and unfortunately I had a bit of a short fuse. I don't know how single parents can do it, and do it well. I did get an adorable picture of Pita and Henry Boy together :)

Time for me to get going. When Henry wakes up, he will eat and we'll play, and then we'll pick up Celia and have more play, dinner, baths, and bedtime. Things are busy, but I'm glad we're starting to get in a nice routine! Spring weather and sunshine always help too.