HEADS UP

The Children’s Place has their winter coats 50% off and then an additional 30% off. The sale is online and in the stores, which is where I got Maddie a bad-ass new coat for $18.92 with tax. It was originally $49.50. You may be asking yourself “why does she need a big honkin’ winter coat in Texas?” Well, we were out Christmas shopping today and it was 35 mofo degrees. And all Maddie had was a hoodie. I felt like CPS was following me, just waiting for the right moment to take me down. And the coat I got her has a removable liner/shell thing, so it doesn’t have to be honkin’.

So shut up about it already.

Anyhow, now’s the time if you’re in the market for a winter coat for your wee one.

Super Pee-er

I’ve mentioned that Maddie is a great sleeper, right? She routinely sleeps 12 or 13 hours every night. This, in and of itself, is fantastic. However, lately we’ve been having some unpleasant mornings.

Maddie’s a super pee-er. She now fills her diaper and then some every night. In the mornings, I have to change her diaper AND her jammies AND her sheet AND her mattress pad. Dude. DUDE! That is way too damn much work for first thing in the morning.

I blame it all on the sippy cup. Maddie loves her sippy cup and has recently been boycotting the bottle in favor of the sippy cup. She was only having two bottles a day, but is now drinking the equivalent of three or four. All thanks to the sippy cup.

Do they make overnight diapers like they make overnight maxi pads?  Because I’m seriously tired of PEE LAUNDRY. Maybe I should wake her and change her diaper before I go to bed? Deny her all liquids? Wrap her ass in plastic wrap? There has to be a solution that doesn’t involve PEE LAUNDRY.

For the record…

I was reading through your suggestions on the treatment of Maddie’s inconveniently-located-boo-boo and it appears as though we have a slight miscommunication. I’m not trying to get Maddie to stop sucking her thumb. As a matter of fact, she can do it as long as she needs to, in my opinion. My only goal is to heal her thumb and/or to help her stop cutting it up in the first place.

For some reason, it’s really important to me that you know I’m ok with her sucking her thumb and I’m not trying to discourage it in the least. I even carry a “travel blankie” in my diaper bag for her. It comforts her and makes her feel safe in strange situations. How could I not be ok with that?

Chistmasy Goodness

This is Maddie’s first Christmas and I found the perfect way to commemorate it over at Maybe Painted Pink. I made salt dough ornaments with her hand print in them.

First, I made the dough. Not hard at all. Then, I separated it into two batches and added food coloring. Red to one batch and green to the other. This worked well, but since I’m not at all crafty, I soon messed it up. I got red dough in the green and vice versa. So, I ended up painting them when they were done. But the food coloring helps mask any spots I missed with the paint. Finally, I sealed them, labeled them and added some ribbon for hanging.

It’s kinda hard to read in the pic because of the shiny sealer, but it says “Maddie’s First Christmas 2007.” We have one on our tree and we’re giving one to the grandparents and great-grandparents for Christmas. I’m hoping to start it as an annual tradition and to one day have years and years worth of hand print ornaments.

And in other Christmas-related news, Gerald came home with a present for me yesterday. A new phone! And it’s red! I love it!

Yes, I’m an idiot.

So, I thought I’d be all cool and change my template today. I did surprisingly well, except for the word verification crap. I had Gerald install it last week because I was getting 1,000,007 spamments. Apparently, there was some code-y thing-a-mah-jig I was supposed to do when I moved over to the new template and I didn’t do it.

Sorry if you tried to comment today and couldn’t. It’s all fixed now, so please feel free to comment on the below post. I’m still looking for answers. And comment again to tell me what you think about the new look. kthnxbai

Another post in which I turn to the Internet instead of my pediatrician

Dear pretty readers,

I once again require your help. How do I dress a wound on a baby? Maddie’s a thumb-sucker, and since her bottom teeth have come in, she’s been cutting her thumb with them. This morning I noticed it was red and inflamed and open. I’ve been hesitant to do anything to it, because she has that thumb in her mouth frequently. I don’t want her to swallow a bandage or neosporin or whatever.

I finally bit the bullet when I saw how painful looking it was this morning. I dabbed a little peroxide on it, wiped it off, applied neosporin and wrapped it in the smallest bandage I had. She immediately pulled it off. So, I put on a new one and immediately gave her toys to play with. So far, it’s working, but it’s almost nap time. That means thumbsucking. What can I do to sort of protect it and let it heal and still let her suck her thumb?

Man, am I gonna hafta call the damn pediatrician on this one?

7 Things

No one has tagged me for the 7 Things meme, but I’m out of ideas for posts, so you’re getting it anyway. I’m sure that violates some rule of the Holy Order of the Memes, but we all know I really don’t give a damn about that, don’t we?

1. My feet are claustrophobic. I hate wearing shoes and socks. I much prefer flip-flops or bare feet around the house. Coincidentally, my feet also get really cold, so I need socks or slippers or something. It’s no fun at all.

2. I’m a better mother than I thought I would be. I find that I am much more selfless than I ever thought possible. Don’t get me wrong… I do have my fair share of “things sure were a lot EASIER before we had THIS BABY” moments, but they’re fewer than I had anticipated. I also don’t lose my Fire Of A Thousand Suns Temper with Maddie nearly as often as I do with other people. *coughGeraldcough*

3. I really miss my dad. Since he’s gotten married, he’s never around. It’s like he started a new life and I’m not a part of it. Have I told him this? Are you stupid? Of course I haven’t told him. Unless passive-aggressive snotty comments count. Then, I have totally told him.

4.  I’m a singer. I sing along with every song playing in the car. I try not to because I’m sure Gerald’s sick and freakin’ tired of it, but I can’t help myself. It just happens. And I’m not one of those poseurs who stops singing at a stop light because they’re too cool for that shit. I keep right on singing.

5. I was a bad kid. Well, a bad teenager, to be more specific. I lied, stole, and wrecked havoc with abandon. I lost more friends than I care to remember. And rightly so, I might add. (However, I still have ONE friend from those tumultuous years and I treasure her above all others.) (Hi Becky!) Even though I’m no longer that person, I live in an almost constant state of regret. I’m an insomniac, and every night as I lie awake in bed for hours, my mind replays scenes from those days. It’s my own personal Hell. One day, I’d really like to forgive myself and move on. Enough already, you know?

6. When I FINALLY lose weight, I worry that I won’t know who to be. Now, I’m the funny one. The typical funny fat person. Will I still be funny when I’m skinnier? What happens when I don’t need humor to protect myself and distract from my size? How will I fit in?

7.  I’m glad I waited to get married and have a baby. We got married eight days before I turned 28 and I had Maddie when I was 30. Sometimes, I regret being an “older mother,” but not often. I’ve lived my life, done the things I want to do. When I met Gerald, I was ready to settle down. When we had Maddie, I was ready to be a mom. I think the life experience that I have is invaluable. My mom was 23 when I was born, and I cannot imagine being a mother at 23. I was still getting my shit together at 23. Ok, so I’m still getting my shit together RIGHT NOW, but you get my point.

So, there you have it. 7 things you probably didn’t know about me. Feel better now?

Some semblance of order

Historically, Maddie has been an Excellent Sleeper and I am one spoiled mofo. But when sleeping goes awry, I’m a wreck. It consumes my every thought. How do I fix it?? What did I do wrong? OMG, what if it stays this way FOREVER?????

Lately, napping has been broken. Maddie will go down for a nap just fine, but 30 or 40 minutes later, she wakes up screaming. This is the girl who routinely takes 2.5 hour naps, so this isn’t normal. I thought maybe she was just getting older and didn’t need as long to nap, but, we quickly noticed a change in her temperament, too. She was whiny and cranky and sleepy all the time.

So, I’ve started a more regimented schedule for her. I used to be pretty lax about everything. She went to bed sometime between 6:30 and 7:30 and woke up whenever she wanted to. I put her down for naps when I noticed she was tired. Now, bedtime is the same, but I’m getting her up at 7:30 every morning. Naptimes are at 10:00 and 3:00. I’m hoping more structure will help her settle in. Now, I’m not being all Nazi about it, so don’t get huffy. If she’s tired before naptime, then, she goes down. If we have something to do and she’s up past her bedtime, it’s ok. But, when it’s just the two of us, chillaxin’ at home, then I’m trying to stick to the schedule.

(The one thing I haven’t scheduled is meal times. Maddie eats when she’s hungry. She still sleeps 12 hours a night, so it’s important that she eats enough during the day.)

Tell me, do you have a schedule for your kids? Or, do you let them tell you when it’s time for things? Does it work for you?

AD = she-beast

This weekend, Maddie and I met Tessie and AD, and while other posts may refer to AD as a “she-beast,” let me put those rumors to rest. Both Tessie and AD are just as fabulous as you’d expect them to be. AD is so adorable it made my eyes hurt. Plus, she gives great suspicious face. She gave me the eye all through lunch… when she wasn’t spitting ice at hapless passersby, that is.

As we were leaving lunch, Tessie gave me that old “this was fun, we’ll have to do it again!” line. (To which I agreed, of course. Because it was and I’d like to.) All the way home, I felt like I had just been on a first date. I kept analyzing the conversation trying to see if I made an ass of myself at any point. And then wondering if she meant what she said about doing it again, or if I had just been dumped. Mad social skillz? Yeah, I got ‘em.

Sunday, we went to our first Christmas party of the season. They had one of those Chinese Gift Exchanges. Those are always fun, right? Unless you get a super awesome gift stolen from you. Or end up stuck with a crappy gift. Anywho, I got a $25 gift card to Starbucks and Gerald got a gift card to Toys R Us; amount undetermined. Suh-weet, huh? Of course, we stopped for Starbuck-y goodness on the way home. I love the holiday drinks so much I want to marry them.

So how about you? What’d you do this weekend?

This has made me laugh for three days:

moar funny pictures