When it's really hard...

Sometimes parenting just really hard.  For us it usually has to do with issues surrounding sleep (and behavior associated with sleep problems).  Tonight just was hard.  We just got back from three nights away in Las Vegas, replete with lots of sleeping problems.  Alice had a bad cold, that I am crossing my fingers is almost over.  Violet was so over-excited/over-tired that she could simply not have me put her down to bed.  She would fight every step of the routine and then nonsensically scream at me "Put my blanket on more!" until she was practically hyperventilating.  Every time we ended up leaving and having her grandma Mimi put her down instead.  The matter was of course compounded by Alice and Violet being in the same room (Alice was in a crib in the bathroom!)  Alice wasn't sleeping well at all because of being sick and in a new (ugh, bathroom) environment with a less comfy crib. 

Tonight Alice screamed for roughly 30 minutes, but was clearly trying to go to sleep.  It was horrible to listen to because I know in my heart that it wasn't her fault that her whole schedule has been so wacked out by our vacationing.  (I think George feels okay about her crying herself to sleep because 1.) she loves to sleep and usually is clearly trying to get to sleep when she cries out and 2.) Violet's continued sleep resistance is proof that answering every cry has its real drawbacks. It kills me because Alice is such a love and if you honor her schedule, hardly cries when she's put down at drowsy).

As I type this Violet is in her room, now talking to herself, after several minutes of fitting at the top of her lungs.  I am attempting to utilize the "Green" light function of her Toddler Clock to instill a limit on our book reading, back rubbing portion of the night. 

Of course it seems like she needs a whole different color because she kept looking at it for when to get into bed and then was pissed when we didn't have much back rubbing time.  She actually yelled that "blanket on more" nonsense in the last few minutes I could have been rubbing her back.  I'm hoping this green light stuff catches on. 

Sleep!  Ahhh!  It's hard to remember that this next year or two is the hardest, and it, like all things, too will pass. 

Oh Sleep, Thou Elusive Wanderer

Dear Daughters,

Your rooms are kept at a perfect 68-70 degrees the year round.  An ideal temperature for comfortable sleep.  We have hung hotel-grade black out curtains, which we close tight every night, making sure that no unwanted scrap of light interferes with your wee morning slumber.  Equipped with soft and continuous white noise, the softest minky sheets and silk trimmed blankies. Your favorite stuffed animals keep you company, their ears to snuggle, nibble or suck, your's all night to cuddle tight.

So why must sleep be so elusive, so hard to come by, and never at the same or right time?  Why must there be battles, daily - nightly - sometimes waged by you both in union against your mama getting sleep?

Don't you girls know that balmy sleep is one of God's greatest gifts?  To sleep, perchance to dream...  I daydream about getting enough sleep TO DREAM!  Perchance to sleep, perchance to dream.....

Love,
Mama

Brian and Kiana's Wedding; Trinidad, CA

My cousin Brian just married his college love, Kiana on January 26, 2014.  They rented out a beautiful little seaside inn on the coast of way Northern California in Trinidad called "The Lost Whale Inn."  My dad was their officiant.   Kiana, being from Seattle by way of Alaska was hoping for rain.  It didn't in fact rain, but it was cold and foggy but beautiful and romantic.  Here are a few cute pictures taken by their famous wedding photographer Joe Buissik.

Binkyfiers Anonymous

Alice:

Today marks the start of my fifth day without a pacifier.  I received my 72 hour chip Tuesday and, at least right now, I can say that I'm confident that I will get to that one week mark.

They say you have to hit rock bottom before you can really make a change.  That was true for me.  See, when I first got on the "binky" or "binkyfier" as my older sis likes to call it, it was innocent enough.  Frankly, I didn't really have any idea what I was getting into.  I was a little rough for the wear after being born, and my sweet well-meaning grandma Mimi just wanted to make life a little easier on my folks.  She was the first person to give me a pacifier.  I loved it from the start.  It was so soothing, and it seemed to help me fall back into a cozy, relaxed sleep like I used to love when I was in my mom. 

Anyway - back to how I got here.  See, I'm a second child.  And I'm not blaming anyone here but I do think that as a second child your parents are more relaxed, more willing to just "solve the problem" and "stick with what works" than first time parents are, mainly because they are so busy with their first.  My older sister is loud, wreckless, funny and high energy.  She's a "toddler" - whatever that means.  So the binky was a good tool for me to feel soothed, even when my parents couldn't hold me or rock or nurse me to sleep.  I got great a falling asleep with it.  Too great.

I first knew that I really had a problem when I began to wake up every 90 minutes or so at night and 45 minutes during daytime naps because my binky had fallen out of my mouth.  My mom or dad would have to rush in and replace it, I would suck for a while and go back to sleep.  Sometimes the binky would fall out again before I had completely drifted off, and I would have to cry again for them to replace it.  It was bad for me, it was bad for them.  But then I began to teethe.  That damn binky and all that sucking that once was calming also began to hurt my mouth.  I needed it more often because I was in pain, but it hurt me too.  And because I was waking up so often and addicted to sucking so much during the night, I was gulping in tons of air - causing, you guessed it: painful gas.  What a viscious cycle. 

Thankfully for me, my greatest enables (my folks) also loved me enough to know how to call it quits.  My dad put me down for my first nap without the binky last Saturday morning.  And though it was a painful, tearful withdrawl - I am sleeping better and feeling better now.  There's no going back folks - I am better than the binky.  I can do this!