Uugggghhhhrrrrrrgggguuhhtthhhh

Let's talk about sleep for a moment, shall we? Oh, how I miss it. The last three nights, Milo has decided that going to bed isn't a good idea. He lays down initially, but five minutes later is up, out of his room, and heading downstairs.

We calmly walk him back to bed, kiss him goodnight, and leave. He wails. He gets out of bed, opens his door, and walks out.

I take his hand (which he very willingly lets me do), calmly walk him back to bed, kiss him goodnight, and leave. He wails.

Wash, rinse, repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

It has taken somewhere between one and two hours for him to give up and go to sleep.

Then 5:00am comes, and Olive is wailing in her crib. She's been waking up this early for the last couple of weeks. It's getting old.

This morning we had the added bonus of Olive crying at 5:00am, and either waking Milo up or letting him know it was time to get up anyway, and he opened his door, walked across the hall, and opened Olive's door. Just wanted to say good morning, I suppose.

I'm losing my mind, a little bit. Something desperately needs to change. I know you can't make kids eat or sleep. I'm over worrying about what they eat. I know they're doing okay overall when it comes to nutrition. But sleep? This is directly affecting me. And Andrew. And our relationship. Because when we don't get enough sleep, we get cranky, and when we get cranky, we argue. It's no good.

Any advice for me?

Olive: Seven Months (and Two Weeks)

No official weight/height stats this month, but I'm pretty sure Olive is growing. So at least there's that. Some babies are probably bigger. Some are probably smaller. Eh. Let's get to the good stuff.

My baby is turning into a big girl far too fast for my liking. She can crawl like nobody's business. She can pull herself to standing. She is beginning to cruise along the coffee table. She can hold my hands and walk for quite a long time before losing her balance or tiring out. And she just doesn't fall over that much. Don't most babies lose their balance a lot and go tumbling over? Olive just doesn't do that very often. She's absurdly strong.

Her laugh! Oh how I love it. At first I always think she's crying (when I hear her but can't see her) because it has this breathy quality to it. But then she squeaks out a high-pitched shrieky giggle and there's no mistaking her joy. Things that make her laugh? Tickling. Olive is ticklish, especially on her tummy and under her arms. Also the feeling of free-falling backward and tipping her head upside-down.

Physically, I think she's gorgeous. Big dimples, huge eyes. Her eyes aren't purely blue like Milo's, but sort of blue-gray. Her halo of fuzzy strawberryish-blonde hair that just sticks up enough to make things interesting. Her toothless grin and the way she imitates big smiles and mirrors her own back.

She is eating a lot of different foods, but doesn't so much care for purees. She would much rather pick up her own food. She's extremely selective when it comes to food. For the first bite, she'll tentatively open her mouth, just enough to get a taste. She'll taste, visibly moving her tongue around to get the full effect of the flavor. Then, when offered the next bite, she'll either open her mouth as wide as she can, or she'll clamp her jaw shut. And if she's decided she doesn't want that food, you absolutely cannot get her to eat it. No trick in the book works on this kid. She's a smart one, I tell you. Foods she likes (for now, anyway) include all breads, cheese, peaches, avocado, sweet potato, cauliflower, pasta, chicken, prunes, banana, and oatmeal, among others I'm forgetting, I'm sure.

I'm still nursing her, but she's now also getting one bottle of formula a day. Even though I've been pumping three times a day at work, it's just not enough and I'm only pumping approximately eight to ten ounces a day, whereas she eats about fifteen. I don't really have a plan for how long to pump. As long as it seems worth the effort, I guess. If I only were to pump six ounces in three sessions, for instance, forget it. Not worth the time and effort it would take. So we'll see how it goes.

Olive adores Milo still. He can get kind of pushy with her, sometimes literally. He shoves her over and takes her toys. He hugs her and ends up knocking her over. He yells at her for...being a baby, I guess. But still Olive can't get enough of him, and when he's in the right mood, he can't get enough of her, either. It really is fun to watch them play together, especially now that what they are doing can be considered playing.

During this last month, I have gotten in the swing of being back at work and Olive has gotten used to her new caretakers. First is Tara, our wonderful nanny. Olive adores her. Andrew and I adore her. Second is Kristin, Milo's current full-time daycare provider. She's wonderful as well, which of course we already knew. I will say that Olive has a bit more trouble napping at Kristin's, but that seems to be improving all the time. Bottom line is that Olive is happy and in extremely capable hands, and as her mommy I feel so fortunate to have found people who adore my daughter to take care of her.

A Major Accomplishment

My weight has now fallen below the weight listed on my driver's license. This has got to be the first time this has ever happened in the history of the world. And you know that when I listed that weight, I was at least ten pounds heavier than I claimed to be. Hot damn, I am a mere seven pounds away from my high school weight. High school! And let me tell you, my boobs are way bigger now than they were back then. I'm like a fine wine, continually getting better with age. Right?