The Game Changer

I am reborn. I, who once felt downtrodden, am now uplifted. I, who once felt discouraged, now feels optimism. I, who once felt like my very life was being slowly sucked into a black hole with no hope of return, now feels on top of the world. For the past week, my daughter has gone to sleep without fussing, can usually be returned to a nap after awaking with a burp, actually takes decent naps, is sleeping longer periods at night, and will sometimes drift off to sleep when put down half awake. I owe this miraculous change in my child to one thing- the binky.
After two weeks of life, my daughter started fussing when it was time for her to sleep. During these times she required being held- preferably standing and bouncing. Nothing awful, no screaming, just tiring. We tried giving her a binky, but from the beginning she made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with it. This was communicated to us by gagging, coughing, looking insulted, and crying very loudly when we attempted to give her the binky. We figured the bright side was that we would not have to deal with weaning her at some future point. On top of this, she seemed to hate being in the car. On at last 3 occasions, instead of sleeping she would cry. And cry. And cry. When things started getting worse at six weeks instead of better, it began to wear on us. Wear at our very soul.
One night, my parents babysat for us so that my husband and I could go on a date and have a conversation that lasted longer than 5 minutes, and on a topic other than our children. This had not happened for about 4 weeks. Three hours have never been so refreshing. When we returned, we were witnesses to a miracle. My parents had somehow persuaded our baby to not only take the binky, but she was laying on a blanket on the floor peacefully drifting off to sleep. My jaw dropped to the floor. I don't care how they did it, but they did.
Since that day, the binky has continued to work its magic on our baby. Not only is she sleeping better at home, but she actually sleeps in the car! And I can say with true conviction that I'm a believer in the miracles that a binky can perform. The binky difference has been so big, we will gladly deal with weaning her if it means we can actually sleep, in our bed, and without an aching back. I don't pretend to ignore the fact that nothing stays the same for very long with a baby, but hope is alive.

Thank you binky. Thank you.

A House of Order.... Please!

The other day, our darling, baby daughter was having a rotten day. There was much crying and little sleeping on her behalf. These bouts of crying are particularly frustrating on our son because he 1.) hates loud noises, and 2.) feels helpless in making it stop. In an attempt to create understanding, my husband explained to my son that our daughter needed to get into a routine. This was something my son could work with! A few minutes later, my son presented to us his draft of our baby's new routine:

7:05- Wake up
7:06- Eat
7:07- Nap
7:08- Eat
7:09- Nap again
7:10- Eat again
8:01- Nap for 9 minutes
8:02- Eat
8:03- Calm down time
8:04- Nap
8:05- Calm down time
8:06- Eat
8:07- Calm down
8:08- Nap
8:09- Calm down
9:01- Eat
9:02- Go to sleep

Top 14 Signs You Have a New Baby

Besides the obvious clues, here are my "Top 14 Signs You Have a New Baby":

14. There's an increase in the number of one-way conversations you have in a day.

13. You cheer for burps.

12. Your standards for a good night's sleep have become more liberal.

11. You're in the business of stopping leaks.

10. You consider changing from pajama bottoms into sweatpants to be an upgrade.

9. Showering has become a luxury and is now done in record speed.

8. Every 3-4 hours you wonder, "Left or right side?"

7. When your husband gets home from work, he finds you sitting in the exact same spot on the couch nursing as when he left in the morning.

6. You log about as much time on your couch sleeping as you do in your bed.

5. You've suddenly adopted a new exercise regimen that consists of walking the equivalent of 1 mile a day, in your house, while rocking and bouncing.

4. Breakfast for dinner has become a weekly occurrence.

3. At no other time would you be okay with another human tooting on you.

2. Making sure your son's frogs get fed twice a week has become a challenge.

1. Your heart has quadrupled in size.

Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This...

Yesterday, instead of taking a shower I decided to mop my bathroom floor. Mopping one's bathroom floor becomes top priority once the toilet has overflowed and water is creeping out through the door (and can I just say that watching the water in your toilet bowl rise, and rise, and rise to the edge is the most horrifying thing ever?). While this alone was fun, what made it even more fun was when I realized that my sweet baby had prematurely awaken from her nap, and was screaming her head off. The cherry on top was that my son was home sick from school, and my husband was on call and would not be home until the next morning.

If my mama had told me about yesterday, I would have found a hole to crawl into and never come out.

Which is Worse?

Shopping for jeans or bras? Discuss.