The weekend, the dog run, and the screaming.

Happy Monday. I’m almost relieved the weekend is over.
On Friday after work Neil started building a dog run for Dotty. He worked until suppertime and then got sick and went straight to bed. I had already been having a tough time with a little someone who only wanted to nap for 20 minutes at a time, and was starting to reach the end of my rope. But what was to be done, the man was sick.
Unfortunately Neil had a breakfast meeting on Saturday that took up the whole morning too. By the time he got home at lunch I had basically been single-parenting for 48 hours or something. The end of my rope was getting a lot closer. Neil came home and went straight to work on the dog run, which I appreciated immensely but it left me in charge of the littles by myself again. I tried to nap because I knew I was going to snap really soon, but between the pounding of the posts for the run, the loud radio in the garage, and the wee baby who wouldn’t sleep longer than 20 minutes, the nap didn’t happen.
I went outside to check on things. I noticed the kids had spilled the brand-new bottle of bubble solution I had bought them. I burst into tears and sobbed for several minutes. End of rope: reached.
Deep breath. Put some Hillsongs on the ipod and settled myself down.
Neil finished the dog run and noticed that I was looking a little “fragile” and suggested I get out for the evening. Even though I was tired I took him up on his offer. A walk and a cup of tea with a lovely friend was just what I needed. I stayed out later than usual, but hey, why not. Live a little, right?
I got home just after 11pm. Ivy was up and Neil was feeding her. She wasn’t taking the bottle overly well, so I took her and nursed her, and tucked her into bed with me. We fell asleep. For 15 minutes or so. And then it started. The screaming.
Ivy just cried and screamed and cried for basically the whole night. She slept in little 20 minutes snatches here and there, and a couple times slept for a whole hour, but other than that she was FREAKING OUT ALL. NIGHT. LONG.
By 8:30 or so she was still a basketcase and I was convinced she must be dying. Something terrible must be wrong with her. Bowel obstruction? At the very least, a severe double ear infection. She was screaming and crying like a crazy baby and that is just not like her.
Luckily the walk-in clinic is open on Sundays, so I took her there. We arrived just as it was opening and were fourth in line. Wouldn’t you know Ivy had passed out on the way to the clinic and was still dead asleep when it was her turn to be seen.
And wouldn’t you know, there was nothing wrong with her. “Colic?” the doctor suggested. Not likely but thanks for trying.
We headed home. Ivy had gone peacefully back to sleep and slept till about two in the afternoon and then woke up as her cheerful little self.
Neil and I had cancelled our Sunday plans of brunch with friends and we took turns napping for the day. We wandered around the house looking a little like zombies. I think Seth and Ben played video games for like three hours straight while Neil and I slept. Hopefully their brains aren’t too mushy now.
We played with our sweet little daughter and when she went to sleep at 8:30 we followed very shortly after. There was no screaming last night, thank goodness, and I am feeling much more human-like and less crazy-person-ish. For now, anyway.
The weekend had it’s successes and failures. Success: a dog run for Dotty.
Fail: sleep. I know I’ve said it before, probably a hundred times over the last three months, but thank goodness she’s cute.
But it’s over now and we’re on to a fresh new week. Swimming lessons start tomorrow, I think we might head out to the grandma and grandpa’s place one day and take a long nap while they babysit the girl.
For now I’ll keep on sipping the Kona coffee and trying to stay sane in a very crazy place.

Sewing for baby :: Pouch slings.

Last night I sewed not one, but TWO pouch slings for friends with babies or babies on the way.
I love the bright colors and I not-so-secretly want to keep both of these for myself!

They’re both reversible to a charcoal grey. I imagine a baby might enjoy napping in the dark sling all cozy next to his or her momma.

I wanted to take a picture of Ivy and I modeling one of the new slings. Once I took a picture of Ivy in my own sling, and it turned out so cute.
I didn’t capture the moment quite the same this time…
I did capture real life though. Yes, my baby gets cranky. And yes, my two year old brings coloring books into the bathroom.

Grandparents.

Grandparents and great-grandparents are such a blessing, and our children are lucky to have so many of them.

I love this sweet picture of Ivy and her great-grandmother.Ivy really loves her Grampy, too. So precious!

P.S. I know posts are few and far between these days. Post about Hawaii should be up one day soon and I’ve been plucking away at finally finishing Ivy’s birth story. It’s getting a bit long-winded and needs a little editing down. Hopefully I’ll have it done one day soon!

3 months.

Ivy had her three month ”birthday” on Wednesday while we were in Hawaii. It seems like she grew a lot in all that sunshine and fresh air. She smiles and talks a lot now. She can even say “goy goy goy”. She’s so smart. Actually it was hilarious, while we were driving, she had her soother in her mouth and made some noises that sounded just like “goy goy goy”, so I repeated it back to her. Then she said it back to me. So I said it again and she repeated it back again. It was almost the funniest thing ever. She did it about five times and I think my sister even got a bit of it on video tape. It was so darn cute, regardless of whether goy goy is a real word or not. She also had her first little laugh this past week. She thought “goo goo” was the funniest word. Why do I turn into a baby when I talk to Ivy? I don’t know, I just can’t help myself. When I’m hanging out with her all I can say is “goo goo goy goy” and stuff like that. She likes it, I swear. Motherhood makes me weird. Whatever, she’s cute. She knows it too. Look at this picture of her looking at herself in her little mirror. She loves mirrors!
She is still up a few times at night, and still prefers to be held while she sleeps than sleep in any kind of bed, but we’ll work on that soon. I think I’ll enjoy her nighttime snuggles for a bit longer though. Anyway, here she is in all her three-month-old glory:

Remember when she was only two weeks old? Or when she was a month or two old? Time flies!

Home again.

Ivy and I are home from an amazing week in Hawaii.
We’ll fill you in on the details later!

Mockers.

Oliver loves coloring. Especially with mockers.
Aka markers.
The other day when we were in his bedroom, we noticed some lovely art all over the back of his door.
That’s why we only have washable markers in this house.
Not that we’ve actually washed it off yet.
We’re not that organized.

Phew.

Ivy and I leave in two sleeps.
We had some errand-running to do to get ready for our trip. And I needed to get my dry eyes checked at the eye doctor’s. I tried to convince Neil he could handle watching Ben, Oliver, and Ivy while I ran around buying myself some new summer digs and stopping at the eye doc. Neil said he would, but he seemed highly reluctant (aka terrified). I decided to take Ivy with me because then at least if I felt like it I could take my time shopping, and not have to worry about getting back to Ivy and a stressed-out Neil.
It started out smoothly. I drove in to the city and stopped at a store to look for some t-shirts for Ivy to wear in Hawaii. Ivy slept through the whole first stop, so I was feeling fairly confident. On to the optometrist.
Perfect timing, since I was a bit early and Ivy was due to feed. I would get there, feed her, and then she would sit contentedly on my lap while I had my eyes examined.
Not so. As soon as we walking in Ivy started screaming. She refused to eat. She only wanted to scream. Thankfully I was the only one there besides the receptionist, and thankfully it’s a family-friendly place. She did settle down enough for me to get my eyes checked, and then conked out on the way to the mall where I was meeting my mom, my sister, and my three nieces.
As soon as the stroller rolled to a stop the screaming started up again. Ivy still refused to nurse (although to be fair, I had convinced her to at least have two swallow-fulls at the eye doctor). I swaddled her up and she conked out again. My sister and I managed to do some mean shopping in a very condensed time period while our dear mother watched the nieces in the mall playplace. Aka hell.
Then I made everyone go grocery shopping with me in Wal-mart because I can’t fit groceries in the stroller basket, Ivy is too small to go in a cart, and I can’t push a cart and a stroller at the same time. So I pushed the cart and my mom pushed the stroller and my sister tagged along helping me make decisions like which sunscreen to buy.
By the time I was done getting my few groceries, Ivy was awake and fussing. I traded my groceries for my baby, gave my mom my debit card, and sent her off to pay for my stuff while I fed Ivy, who was definitely due for a feed by now.
Luckily Ivy quickly latched on and began happily feeding. Until she coughed 90 seconds into it and decided she was done with that for now and broke into wails once again.
I said fine then, and buckled her into her carseat in the stroller, met up with my mom, and out we went to load up the van and drive over to Old Navy where my sister and nieces would be waiting.
Got into Old Navy, tried to feed Ivy again. No go. She was happy now, though, and my mom carried her around the store and let her smile at herself in mirrors. That girl loves her some mirrors, I’m telling ya!
Zipped around Old Navy throwing things over the stroller. Picked up way too much stuff. Spent way too much, but whatevs, Ivy will be cute on the beach, and so will I. Hopefully.
Arrived home to a hot cooked meal of Kraft Dinner with a side of spring rolls. An unexpected combo, yes, but it sure was nice to just walk in the door and sit down and eat.
Ivy eventually had a good eat too, and is now having a nice nap.
Phew, what a day.
Thank goodness there’s only two sleeps till Hawaii.
And thank goodness she’s cute.

A wee bonnet.

Did I tell you, Ivy and I are going to Hawaii next week!
I was on the hunt for a little sunhat for Ivy, but hats for babies come in such weird sizes. Like “0-12 months”. Because babies all have the same size head for the entire first year of their lives? Yeah right. It’s also apparently very hard to find a baby girl hat in any sort of neutral color. They’re all very bright and most hats were plastered with flowers or even in the shape of a flower. A little bit too much for me. The smallest hat I could find was sized 0-3 months and it did fit Ivy but it is hot pink with a ladybug on it AND a blue bow. It’s a lot going on for Ivy’s sweet little head.
Then I got to thinking, hey, couldn’t I make a hat for Ivy? I googled it, of course, and sure enough, I could. In a matter of hours I had started and finished a sweet little bonnet for Ivy. I used some of my favorite fabrics from my stash to make this cute little reversible bonnet using Prudent Baby’s simple tutorial. Ivy looks like she just stepped out of Little House on the Prairie. I mean that in the cutest way possible, of course.
The hat is nice and lightweight and should keep her little face protected from the hot Kona sun. Check out the cheeks on this baby…
Ivy loves her new hat!

Every day.

We eat supper every day.
And every day there’s drama from a certain four year old in the family.
It’s not like I’m serving him liver for supper. It’s just regular foods.
But unless it’s pizza or macaroni, there’s almost always tears.
Case in point: homemade tomato soup. A very small ladle of it in a very small bowl evokes this response:

Sometimes Ben will sit at the table sobbing. At the very least he will be whimpering. He’s been known to spend large quantities of time sitting at the table crying until he finally works up the courage to eat his last three bites.
Poor child.