We have a winner

Two teeth are about to pop through. I found them yesterday! I am so grateful to know what has been bothering my little baby girl. The normally pleasant smiley girl who lost her mind several weeks ago. The teeth are close to the top and about to break through. So we are holding nothing back...puffs to chew on, vibrating teether, Ibuprofen, Tylenol and gum goop. It is a relief to know what has been bothering her and to see her turning back into my precious baby. SO things are going so much better!

She has also been sleeping through the night!!! From 7:30 or 8:30 until 9 am!!!! What to do with all the sleep? REJOICE!!!!

I am so excited to see my L again and to know what was wrong and to be able to help her. Thank you God for getting us through this recent rough patch. We are happy and loving life again. This mom thing is working out very well.

We are also packing up...for travel and moving.

Itinerary:
Dec. 24 -- Go to city for dinner and Mass
Dec. 25 -- In Central Jersey for Christmas
Dec. 27 - Jan. 5 -- Kansas and Missouri
Jan. 7 - Jan. 15 -- Bermuda
Jan. 17 -- Move out of house
Jan. 20 - 21 -- Travel and move to SC
Jan. 30 - Feb. 3 -- Virginia to attend M's promotion ceremony

Holy Smokes! That is lots of travel and moving. We are excited about our changes.

Yeah for our life changes!!!

Dead Set

Since becoming pregnant, I have realized that many people will do things exactly this way or that. They have researched and think they know what is the best thing to do. Parents think that they know what will and will not work and will gladly share their views with other soon-to-be or new parents. Parents will only breast feed or parents will only bottle feed. Parents know that time-out is the only form of discipline to use. Others only use spanking. Parents read a book or check on the inter net and then magically know how to parent. This is hog-wash!

I will admit I have used the Internet and books to help me along. But as L gets older, I am checking less and less on what everyone else recommends and instead doing what is best for us. There is no one like L and no one like me. And no relationship like the one we have together.

You see, I was never dead set against breast feeding, or bottle feeding. I figured when the time came, we would do what worked and was best for our family. L took to breast feeding like a fish to water. We never had any issues...always had enough milk, never got clogged and did not loose my mind from the hormones. So we breast fed because it worked for our family.

I am not dead set against time-out or spanking. I think for different kids and in different situations, each one will work just fine. I have already had to smack L's hand because she LOVES to go for cords and cables. These are her favorite things in the house to play with. I feel she has to learn not to touch the cords and this is non-negotiable. She could get zapped or worse. Time-out does not work for a child who has the attention span and memory of a goldfish (3 seconds). She touches a cord and gets an immediate and firm "NO!" with a smack sometimes. Then redirects to another toy until she spots a cord on the other side of the room. I refuse to child-proof my house because she needs to learn what is and is not ok. Kids are way too protected. The obvious killers are child-proofed --- like the stairs, cleaners and knives. Otherwise, I believe it is my job to teach what she can and cannot play with. (And yes I have told her for the millionth time and she's only 8 months old ;)

This is because she was crawling at 6 months, and yes that is young to start discipline, but she has to learn. She is on the move, so we have to work with her. From teaching experiences, parents often wait way too long to discipline and then it doesn't work. Kids are too old. I think it would be silly to suddenly start trying to discipline at 8 years old, then be surprised that she won't listen to me.

L also decided this week that she was done nursing. She just no longer was interested and would not stay on the boob. So we are done. I had hoped to nurse until 12 months, but she is done and I will not force her so that my wishes are met. This was a situation where she took the lead and I followed.

My whole point is that when parents are so stuck on what they want to happen, or what they read in a book or on the Internet that they forget to listen to the kids, then that sucks for the kid. As L's mother I will provide what she needs when she needs. I will pick up on her ques and quick checking the Dr. Sear's website for every little thing. If things don't always go the way I had pictured, oh well. Why add what I am dead set on to my list of stressers? I like the easy going life better.

I do like hearing ideas and suggestions (when I ask for them) but will not be dead set on any one way. We will be flexible and work with L and what our family needs.


So, as my facebook status was set to this week...

I am no longer a nursing mother and I did not ask your opinion.

Time to count the blessings

Blessings I have:

Matthew has been home so much more to help with the crying baby
Don't have to get up to go to work outside the home
Able to nap during the day since I work at home as a mom
Matthew has been home so much more
Have friends who know that when I say I want to throw the baby out the window say they understand
Have a dad and stepmom who have a 1 year old baby so they know how I feel
Able to use all of the baby stuff at my parents' house since they have a baby so I have to pack nothing to go to their house
Matthew is home so much more
L has been an easy baby up until this last week. So thank you God for all this easy time we've had
L still gives me a few smiles a day
Last night L slept through the night
Matthew is home so much more
Matthew is going to be promoted
We are probably going to Japan for our next tour
We get to see family at Thanksgiving and Christmas
Japan will be warmer than NJ for next winter
Thank goodness for Baby Oralgel!
Matthew has been home so much more
My computer died, does that mean I get a new computer?
Overall health is good -- no longer sick and no terminal diseasae
MIL is going to be ok. She is healing well so far.
Brother is safe in Iraq and LOVING his job
Reconnecting with not-seen-for-a-long-time family members
Matthew is home so much more
Matthew has been cleared for his ankle, healing going well


Okay, so these blessings are what I need to focus on. Even if we do have a fussy baby.

These are the great and wonderful things we have going on. I am thankful for my life!

Head against the wall

Today I actually knocked my head against the wall. You know when you see someone in the movies who is so desperate... bouncing their head against the wall. That was me. It has been a very frustrating couple of days. L continues to cry. She was up from 3 to 5 last night. She has got to be teething. So tylenol it is. A squirt of tylenol and she seems to scream less intensely. It is 3:30 pm and I am finally ready for a shower. She napped twice today for 5 minutes but has finally fallen asleep. Poor baby. She must be in pain and I feel so bad for her. She is so precious when she is asleep. That is my new favorite time with her. When she is finally asleep in my arms and she is at peace. I feel so bad, but don't know what else to do. She won't take cold or frozen chew things, so I keep offering her room temp. things to chew on and tylenol. Why would a parent not use any sort of medicine when that is the only thing that gives them some relief? After the tylenol she is able to calm enough to give me 1/2 smiles. So its got to be teething right? I see no teeth. I feel no teeth. But its got to be the teeth. Oh, this guessing game. Enough being on here. I've got to shower before the cranky baby awakens.

I really do love her and M says I do a good job with her. But these last fews days have been a struggle.

Better

Things are better. L went to sleep last night before 9 pm. She was up on Saturday night until 1 am. Today and yesterday, though, she was so much happier. She seems to be a little more back to herself. Thank goodness.

Frustrated

So the last several nights L has been screaming! Screaming bloody murder. Last night she was up from 12:30 am until 3 am. I laid her down at 3 and immediately ran to the bathroom where I got sick. This has been a "not fun being a mom" weekend. As K.B. said on her blog recently, isn't there a rule about moms getting sick!?!?!?! I proceeded to get sick every hour until 9 ish am. What an awful night. The other bad part, I didn't go to bed until 11:30 because I thought "L is sleeping more at night." I can be up a little later. Yeah right. So on one hour of sleep we started our day.

It is now 10:41 pm on Saturday night and L is still awake again. She has screamed for almost 3 hours (just like last night) and I am FRUSTRATED! She has always gone straight to sleep. Lays down and closes her eyes! What in the world happened to my going to sleep baby? I want to trade for the baby that went to sleep when placed in her crib!

Between being sick Friday night/Saturday and L screaming for 2 days, more kids is OUT of the question. Thank you God for Matthew who has been the most amazing daddy and husband while I have been sick. But enough already.

Some of the reasons I suspect for the crying:

She is getting stuck in on her knees and then getting frustrated. It is so hard to be so little and have no voice. Maybe after she figures out how to lie down from being up on her knees, the crying will stop.

Daddy is at home so much more than he used to be. There is so much going on with her fun daddy so why would she want to go to sleep?

Teething?

She is so much more aware of what is going on and doesn't want to miss a thing.

She has new skills that she would rather practice than sleep. (crawling, sitting up, kneeling, etc.)

A touch of the stomach virus I have?

Otherwise, who the heck knows. We will make it through tonight and we will one day soon have a talking girl who can tell us all about her troubles.

You know you're a mom when

I went to lunch yesterday with a friend. She made the comment "You know you're a mom when you use your finger as a spoon."

So the following are a couple of ones i thought of as well.
You know you're a mom when:

You can change a poopy diaper using only 1 to 2 wipes

You can be barfed on and not flinch

You stop changing your shirt every time the baby spits up

You forget to wash your hands after changing the diaper. I have forgotten for a minute or 2, but have been able to remember to go back and wash ;)

You forget to eat

You forget to shower

Nap time for baby means either getting cleaning done, or finally getting to sit down

Wash the binky that just fell on the floor by sucking on it before sticking it back in the baby's mouth

Have been peed on, pooped on and spit on all at the same time

What can you add to the list from your experiences?

Sunday Recap

Patti at asked some gals from church to summarize what we heard and learned at her class this morning. Since September some of the women from our congregation have been sharing their experiences as mothers in raising their children. This class has been called Treasured in our Hearts. This new mama appreciates women who are willing and able to help new mommies along. By the way, when am I no longer a new mommy and an experienced one? Maybe when Matthew is gone for 6 months and I do this mom thing on my own?

Well, Patti taught today and here are some of the blessings she shared...

Honoring the Differences in our Children
***Mothers pray for wisdom to know the differences in their children and honor those differences

*Teachers are trained to teach to the average -- average intelligence, average ability, average
People who are not average are often plagued by Satan to feel left out, as if they don't fit in because they are different. Differences are not celebrated when the differences are outside of the norm.
We as mothers have the joy of discovering the differences in our children, helping our children to recognize their differences and teaching our children to embrace the differences because those gifts are given by God.

*Start storing up the positive moments you have.

*There was a time when Patti stopped treasuring her children and life blessings. It was a black hole for her and the hole bled into her children's' lives. During trials we have to especially treasure the small moments. Not giving up in times of trial...this changes the lives of our families.

*Patti's father was such a smart man but couldn't read. His struggles and triumphs shaped who Patti and her siblings were. Watching her father's persistence in learning shaped who Patti is today because of what she saw in her father. Our life's journey shapes the future of our children's' journeys.

*When Dr. Sikes and Mrs. Sikes were married, they had not one thing in common except their love for the Lord. As the years have progressed, they now share spiritual gifts - Shepherding and teaching.

*The only thing to sustain the 4 Sikes children through their struggles was and is that they (the kids) know Jesus. They know who Jesus is and Jesus is an integral part of who they are.

----Teach your children to treasure the gifts they have because that is who Jesus has made them to be.

*As mothers/grandmothers, we are tempted to limit the differences our children have and to compare on child to another. In honoring their differences we lift up our children's' differences as strengths.

*J. Keesee Sikes is the answer to their prayers for their son J.

Hope you gain something from this post.

Gun Control

Patriot Post

Tuesday, 4 November 2008, is a date which will live in infamy. While most presidential elections are followed with calls for unity by both candidates, Barack Obama issued no such call in his speech last night, with the possible exception of his observation, "I may not have won your vote tonight, but ... I will be your president, too."
Of course, none was expected -- liberals have elected a Socialist with deep ties to cultural and ethnocentric radicalism, and his executive and legislative agenda poses a greater threat to American liberty than that of any president in the history of our great republic.
Obama has twice taken an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" and to "bear true faith and allegiance to the same." He has never honored that oath, and, based on his policy proposals and objectives, he has no intention to honor it after again reciting that oath on 20 January 2009. Obama seeks to, in his own words, "break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution."
For that reason, this morning, the symbol of our national heritage of liberty, the American flag atop the 35-foot mast at our editorial offices, was respectfully lowered, inverted, and raised to full mast as a sign of national distress. It will remain inverted until next Tuesday, when we right it in honor of Veterans Day.
Today, at least 55,805,197 Americans are concerned for the future of our nation's great tradition of liberty. Some 63,007,791 Americans have been lulled, under the aegis of "hope and change," into a state of what is best described as "cult worship" and all its attendant deception.
One of our editors, a Marine now working in the private sector, summed up our circumstances with this situation report. It aptly captured the sentiments around our office: "It's been tough, fellow Patriots; tough to stomach the idea that more than half of my fellow citizens who vote, have booted a genuine American hero to the curb for a rudderless charlatan. What a sad indictment on our citizenry that some are so eager to overlook his myriad flaws -- his radical roots, his extreme liberalism, his utter lack of experience or achievement. Barack Obama is the antithesis of King's dream: He's a man judged by the color of his skin rather than the content of his character. If it's God's will that Barack Obama is our next president, then so be it. We Patriots will pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and wade back to the war front, intent on liberty or death."
This battle is lost, but the war is not. Let's roll.
Mark Alexander,
Publisher, Patriot Post