Eating so much crow...

that I have stinky crow-farts.

When my daughter was a baby, she was the most chill, easygoing little thing. She would sit happily in her bouncy chair while I did my chores or surfed the Internet, then she would fall asleep for an hour or two in it. When she outgrew the bouncy chair, I was able to nurse her to sleep in the side-lying position. She would pass out and I would transfer her to her crib for naps and for bedtime. When she would wake in the night, I'd also feed her in our bed in the side-lying position and she would fall asleep snuggled up next to me. Those were blissful days and I thought my easygoing baby was a result of my stellar parenting abilities and because I did everything "right."

But then, Duke was born and I realized that truly, every baby is different. This child of mine seems to have a serious aversion to sleep and it is crazy-making. I can't imagine anything more infuriating than spending almost an hour nursing and rocking a baby to sleep, only to put him down in his crib and have him pop his head up like a darn prairie dog! Repeat four to five times. Never before have I felt such a strong desire to put my fist through a wall. And anyone who knows me knows that's completely out of character. I'm a lot like my first baby: relaxed, calm, laidback, easygoing, etc. How can such a tiny human being have the ability to drive me so far up the wall?

So, eating crow. I always considered letting babies cry-it-out to be extremely cruel, but I'll admit that I've considered it as a coping mechanism for dealing with Duke's sleeping...challenges. One day, after he repeated the above-mentioned routine several times, in my sleep-deprived and tearful state, I said to myself, "Forget it! He can cry himself to sleep!" But no. Duke doesn't cry himself to sleep. He just gets himself more and more worked up. So that's out. I've started co-sleeping with him at night because it's easier to have him in bed with me than to stumble bleary-eyed into his room four times a night. I originally didn't have him sleep in our bed because he's such a puker. But I'll take sleeping in a bit of baby puke if it means more sleep for me!

I also remember thinking it was crazy when people would ask for baby advice and say, "My baby doesn't like x,y,z." I would sort of scoff to myself, wondering what they meant. Take swaddling for example. Sunshine loved to be swaddled early on in her life. So if someone said they were having a hard time getting their newborn to sleep, I'd say, "Well have you tried swaddling." When they would reply, "No, my baby hates to be swaddled," my inner Judgy McCriticalpants would assume they were doing it wrong. But I now know how wrong I was. Duke HATED being swaddled and would bust out of the swaddle no matter what I tried.

So perhaps this is some sort of karmic payback for being so self-righteous. Who knows? But if anyone can send some sleep vibes out to the universe for Duke, that would be nice. I promise I've learned my lesson.

I wish I could bottle this feeling...

Last night was Halloween, and although Sunshine is 3 years old, it's the first time she really "got" it. She was so excited for trick-or-treat and for putting on a costume. Normally she doesn't like to try new things so we weren't sure if she'd be into it.

When we went outside to start the trick-or-treating, it was just starting to get dark. She saw a group of 3 kids out and about and yelled, "Mommy! Look at the kids! Look at the nice costumes!" Then another child walked by wearing a storm trooper mask and she stopped dead in her tracks and cried, "Woah! That's scary!" and just stared as he walked away.

She seemed so impressed that she could go to anyone's door and have them put candy in her little orange pumpkin basket. She was very polite - said thank you, but didn't always remember to say, "Trick or treat!" We just went to houses on our own street and the amount of loot was unreal! Lucky for mom, she doesn't like chocolate, but there were still plenty of chips and candy for her.

I don't know what she enjoyed more: trick-or-treating or handing out the candy at our house. When the doorbell would ring, she would look at me excitedly, yell, "I do it!" and run for the front door. We had the candy in a huge wooden bowl and she would haul it off the dining room table, and carry it to the door which I'd already opened. Then she would shout, "Hi kids! Nice costumes!" and place excessive amounts of candy in their open bags. She was sure to act scared of all the kids in masks and I think they appreciated it. I helped myself to one of our Crunchie bars and she shouted at me, "NO MOM! THAT'S FOR THE KIDS!" The Colonel said it served me right for trying to eat some chocolate before the night was over.

At bedtime she was so sad that Halloween was over. Seeing the sadness in her face almost made ME cry. So much excitement and wonder at such a fun holiday and the realization that it was all over was too much to take. But it wasn't anything that couldn't be cured with some hugs, and the usual nightly reading of "Go Dog, Go" before she crashed into a deep sleep.

I'm already excited for next year!