John left very early yesterday morning for his big annual conference "The Learneds." If you aspire to Homer Simpson then you'll be saying to yourself right now "The Learnds, Pepsi, The Learnds." Oh, that Homer.
Anywho, John is in Vancouver until Thursday evening. That's a whole lot of kid/mummy time. And we haven't had enough of that lately, right? I figure I'll need a big vacation, a trip to the spa or one of those margaritas the size of your head when he gets back. Maybe all three.
Yesterday, Day 1, my good friend Pam took Hope while Emily and I perused a giant community garage sale nearby. It was Emily's first garage sale experience. Unfortunately it wasn't exactly the typical experience one would expect: we drove between houses that were open for business due to the non-stop drizzle and occasional downpour. That did not diminish our spirit however! Emily loved scanning the garages for the things we were looking for and we came out the other side being able to check everything off our list for good deals to boot: sand box ($15), new bike for Emily ($10!), bouncy seat for Sofia ($5), small wood table and chairs for Emily's room ($15) and a bonus Thomas the Train puzzle for 50 cents. All in all, a good haul.
Today I was on deck to teach Sunday School with both kids with me. Normally Hope is with John sitting, most likely, at a Time Horton's stuffing herself gleefully with timbits. I was fairly prepared to hand Hope off to an unsuspecting parent in the nursery but she was amazing; she loved Sunday School (not that surprising really since she loves to do whatever Emily gets to do) and she sat better in the "Big Church" then Emily often does.
With another rainy day today I decided to borrow Shan's idea for movie day/night complete with thematic snack food. I loved Shannon's idea from the start and knew I would adopt it myself one day. I let Emily choose the movie. She chose Cinderella (she has not seen any of the classic Disney flicks yet but I can see it coming fast and furious) and I made sugar cookies that I decorated like pumpkins. They were VERY popular. I put the plate down on the couch and Hope, in a matter of minutes, was decorated like a pumpkin herself. Icing head to toe. Eh, it's a special, once-in-a-while treat so I let her go crazy. It was really fun and I'll definitely be doing it again some time. I may put a drop sheet on the couch first though. Thanks for the great idea, Shan.
The rest of my night is unfolding before my eyes. Hope is up there crying.... again. She has become the worst sleeper and I just want to scream... and sometimes do. I am so sleep-deprived and so frustrated. Last night she was up at 1:00, 4:00 and then for good at 7:00. I guess I could deal with that if I had an easy time getting her back to sleep but I don't. I also don't have an easy time getting her to bed initially. She wants me to sit in the chair in her room until she is asleep. I just don't want to do it anymore. I'm pretty certain that having me do that is leading us to the trouble in the middle of the night. I think she wakes up and wants me there for her to fall back to sleep because she is in the habit of having me do that at the beginning of the night. No more. I'm already losing a lot of sleep so I figure I'll write off tonight and just give her a dose of tough love and see where it gets us. So far it is getting her hoarse and me stressed out.
From here on in, it's all up hill.
2 comments:
Love the movie theme idea. Will have to remember that in years to come. How did Hope do last night? Hope you got some sleep!
yes, let us know how it went last night. Graeme leaves this weekend for a conference, and I'm thinking it might be a good time to try to drop our middle of the night feeding. it would be a couple of nights of crying, but it might be worth it.
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