2 AM

I am up in the trees, 3 stories with the roof tops.
A sleeping baby heavy in my arms.
The clouds glow in the city lights
Puffs of smoke, wisps of cotton, boiling waves roll over the distant mountains as the wind pushes them through the crevices.
The moon peeks out, trailing a soft crescent towards morning.

Conversations on a Bus

Ever taken a bus trip with a 3 year old and a 6 month old? It's a recipe for disaster if you ask me...

That didn't stop me from boarding a bus for a 5 hour evening trip with The Princess and Sweatpea. I'm all about adventure with the potential for epic fallout!

But, both girls were great and our fellow passengers were heard chuckling over the rapturous exclamations from The Princess. Everything was exciting, everything was wonderful, everything was as good as it ever could be.

I couldn't help but write down a few of the exclamations...

• Look at her beautiful shoes! (as we were looking at the people standing outside watching us leave)
• These chairs are so pretty! Look at all of the colors!
• This is SO fun!
• Did you bring Esme's pacifiers? (she's always looking out for her sister...so sweet!)
• This is my favorite apple. I'm going to eat it all by myself. (they provided boxed lunches for us, excitement in and of itself before we even opened up the box!)
• You can read the blue book to me and I will listen to you!
• I love Jesus and God and we're going really fast!
• Look at all of the beautiful lights! (bedtime is at 6:30 so she's not usually out of the house when it's dark)
• That was a great song! (after listening to someone's cellphone ring)

The excitement and wonder she bubbles over with makes the adventures we go on, and every day life, worth the risk of tantrums, headaches and epic breakdowns. Life is so much fun!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Princess and I got out the heart stickers and glitter and worked on Valentines this year.

There's nothing that makes a princess happier than pink hearts and glitter! We worked in stages. One step per day to prevent boredom.

Hand colored and hand glittered

 The results include big smiles, a continued obsession with stickers, glitter spread throughout the house despite my best containment efforts and 10 handmade valentines for some special people in our life!

If you're going to sticker something do it right!

The Hard Parts

So I wrote an entire post about this, left it overnight and then deleted it after re-reading it following a "good" night's sleep. It's not that what I wrote wasn't true, it's just that it sounded more like the person I want to be in this situation rather than who I actually am right at the moment.

Why Hello!
You think I'm going to sleep when there's a party going on?! Ha!

One of the hardest things about parenting is the questioning. No, not The Princess or Sweetpea questioning my parenting abilities but me constantly questioning myself! Right now I'm questioning the whole sleep thing (among other things but that's what I'm most focused on at the moment). The Sweetpea is old enough to start learning to soothe herself back sleep if it's not time to eat. Oh, and to STOP yanking that pacifier out of her mouth when she practically dislocates her shoulder in order to get her arm out of the iron cased swaddle I've put her in!

There's already a little finger in her mouth!

But knowing that she's old enough is different than knowing that she ready. Or, more importantly, that I'm ready! Basically it comes down to me questioning whichever decision I make...  If we start working on "crying it out" and listen to her scream and cry upstairs I worry that I'm being too hard and calloused. If we continue on as we are with swaddling and comforting am I setting her up with bad habits that are harder to break in the long run?

I try to remember back to what we did with The Princess. It's all fuzzy...which makes me think that I was probably just as tired from lack of sleep as this time around - in spite of the fact that they both really are good sleepers overall... I do remember being in the same agony of indecision; worrying that whatever I was doing wasn't good enough and wasn't  best for her.

So excited to be in a BIG bed!

What it comes down to is that I want to do what's best for The Sweetpea. And it probably won't be the exact same thing as what we did for The Princess, if I could even remember what that was! I'm trying to focus on that fact. Whatever I do, I'm trying to make the best decision for her. It won't guarantee a tearless night or a mistake free parenting moment, but it won't be from a lack of effort.

As far as getting a full night's sleep...well, that may not happen for another 18 to 30 years from what I hear. The problem may change but my worry about them in the middle of the night won't.

Hopefully she'll be sleeping like a baby soon...

Home for the Gnome

The Princess needed a nightlight so we went to Target, home of everything anyone could ever need.  The lighting/light bulb department seemed like a logical place to get a nightlight and, sure enough, they had nightlights. Three of them.  Yep, that's right. THREE!  And they were all Disney ones!!!  Target, I'm not impressed.

Of course, The Princess zeroed right in on the Disney princess one and immediately asked to see it.  Because I am a genius I didn't tell her that the "princess thing" she was holding was a nightlight; I just couldn't bear the thought of buying a disney nightlight... I have to draw a line somewhere.

In desperation I decided to head over to the bedding section, hoping for a miracle.  I spotted it immediately. "Look!! A nightlight!" I exclaimed excitedly.

Sitting all by itself on the shelf was a little mushroom; perfect for gnomes and other woodland creatures. The Princess LOVES mushrooms and gnomes so she greeted the discovery with all the rapture it deserved. She scooped up that mushroom and I ditched the Disney light.

Now the light is on in her room welcoming any homeless gnomes who happen to be in the neighborhood.