"We're women, honey, the strength finds us"

"Where do you find the strength? We're women, honey, the strength finds us."
Wise words come from strange places sometimes. This one was from an episode of what I'm sure Bill would call a ridiculously overdramatic hospital soap, Private Practice. And he probably wouldn't be wrong, but nonetheless when I heard the quote in the episode, I leapt over a pile of toys and stuffed animals (being careful to avoid the deadly legos) to write it down in my phone. It was one of those quotes that you hear and you go "Gawd! Amazing. So true."
I'm not saying men aren't strong, but the female brand of strength is different. Maybe because we take it for granted. A text conversation that I had recently had sprung to mind. We have been dealing with a chronic ear infection with Lucia on and off for the past two months. We have tried 4 different antibiotics, including injections when both ears became infected and she started vomitting. Yesterday she stopped eating after having a good couple of days, so I had assumed she was on the mend. But when she stopped eating and napping we headed back to the doctor who gave us one last antibiotic to try and a list of Ear, Nose and Throat Doctors because we can't keep pumping her full of different antibiotics. I was still hopeful but worried as well. That night, the strongest woman I know, said "I can't imagine what you're going through." I was taken aback because I realized I hadn't even thought about it. And that's what we do, as women and especially as mothers. Is it biological, the way we just react?  We do what needs to be done without thinking about it rationally. We get up 4 times a night (or more!) to feed and soothe. We nurse. We bleed. We birth. We get covered in all sorts of bodily fluids that in no way belong to us. We forgo showers. We are way too good at sweeping our fingers down our kids' throats to get whatever strange item they have decided to injest. We jump when they cry. We sacrafice without thinking about it. I thought about the night we took callie to the ER. In that moment I would have done anything to keep her from bleeding. To keep her from fear. And maybe that's where the real strength is. To adapt when everything goes sideways. So I think that quote is true. When the situation arises, the strength does indeed find us even if we never even considered it before.

The Mama Drama Reading Round Up: Halloween Edition

It is my favorite time of year! Halloween! And this year it meant stumbling into Hicklebees and dropping a serious dime on books for Callie. So here are some choice picks for your little pumpkin.

Ghosts in The House by Kazuno Kohara
A very cool book with unique illustrations. The use of orange and white has a lot of contrast so it would be good for itty bitty ones too, not just toddlers. It follows a little girl and her cat who enter a haunted house until you discover she is a witch and she knows exactly what to do with ghosts. She cleans them and turns them into useful items like tablecloths and blankets:)

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
Great illlustrations, fun rhyme. And a good message of cooperation and how to help your friends.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
This is one of my favorites!! Callie received this one from her Grandma Tere last year and we love it! This is a wonderful read aloud book about a little old lady who finds some creative uses for items that are chasing her on a spooky night.

Who's There on Halloween by Susan Nipp
This is a great board book. Callie loves this book all year long, especially now that she can label all the characters, owl, spider, ghost, witch etc.

Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard
This one is probably better for a little bit older kids but it definitely has a good halloween feel to it when misbehaving students get a new teacher who is a witch:)

Bedtime for Boo by Mickie Matheis
This is a great bedtime book, maybe the perfect choice after a night of trick or treating with your own little boo. It is all about a mother getting her little ghost to fall asleep even though he is wide awake after a night of haunting.

Just a Minute by Yuyi Morales
This is the only book out of the bunch that I wasn't 100% on, but I am so glad I bought it! It has become Callie's favorite by far. The reason I had a little trepidation was because the story is basically about death coming to take Grandma Beetle to the afterlife, but I thought to myself "Is Callie going to get that? Mmm. Probably not. I'll give it a whirl." And she really doesn't, I think only a much older child would grasp that. It has some of the most beautiful illustrations and is a great counting book to introduce some spanish to your little one. As Callie has recently mastered counting to ten in spanish (more or less) she loves it. This book is a great tribute to Day of the Dead celebrations and folk art.

Hush Little Monster by Denis Markell
This one is silly and cute. Another good bedtime book as it can be sung along to Hush Little Baby.

So there you have it, there's my list. What is on yours? Add to the comments and have a wonderful halloween with your little pumpkins this year !

Taking Toddlers and Babies Camping

This post is long overdue, but I felt it was important to get it down eventually! But let me say this right off the bat. If you are someone that can't handle your kids getting dirty, stop reading right now and go do something else. Anyhoo...
Last month we took the girls camping for the first time. To say I was intimidated was a bit of an understatement. I am not much of an outdoorsy type, unlike my husband who would be totally happy going all John Muir. We didn't camp all that much when we were kids, mostly because my dad wasn't that into it. But of the few times we did go, I have wonderful memories of those experiences.
As I prepared to take my girls, I discovered a lot of those memories hovered around the campsite experience itself. The cooking, the eating, the camp fire. When our friends who have a little boy about 9 months old invited us to camp with them at Big Basin in their tent cabin I was definitely interested, especially since Big Basin was exactly the place I had camped with my family as a child.
I started emailing friends that had taken their kids camping and doing a bit of internet research on camping with toddlers. The friends I talked to had a mixed experience. The first night was terrible for most of them with very little sleep happening. So I decided that we should do two nights when initally we were only going to do one. And after all, why do all that packing and planning for one night?! And well, I thought to myself, we can deal with one night of little sleep. Been there done that! (In the end, sleep ending up being fine. Took her a while to go down but once she did she was out! So don't let the sleep question deter you!)
 So the packing list began. And oh my. What a list! And here it is for you, kind reader.
-Camera!!
-Jeans: seriously, why would you deal with anything else?
-long sleeved and short sleeved shirts: the days started out quite cool but by the time the afternoon rolled around it was quite warm so definitely plan on layers. Bring extra clothes for diaper mishaps or if the dirt is out of control. Onesies for babies, and extra jeans and shirts for toddlers. This camping is dirty business.
-Fleece sweatshirts and PJs. We ended up not sleeping in the cabin with our friends, mostly because I had zero idea what callie's sleep would look like and I didn't want to wake up their little man too much! I was very glad I was able to find some fleece pjs in early september since we were sleeping outside in the tent and it obviously got a little chilly! But I admit it felt funny buying fleece when we were dealing with 90 degree weather in september in California!
-Shoes with good tread. This was my biggest challenge! Callie has a lot of shoes, some of them even athletic type shoes but they all were geared towards urban living not hiking in the woods! After a great deal of searching I settled on a pair of merrel shoes  that had a good solid tread on it. They were a little more expensive than I usually spend on shoes for Callie, but I figured it was worth it if she could keep her footing. I ended being very thankful for that because she ended up taking quite a few tumbles while we were there.
-Socks: bring extra. You never know where toddlers will find water sources! REI and other stores like that sell special socks for hiking/kids but really you don't need them. Just use your normal socks. Carters and Target brands are just fine.
-Towel: our campsite was directly across from the bathrooms and showers. This was part of the reason I was open to this camping experience in the first place! The funny thing is I never used the showers. Everytime I tried, one of the girls was flipping out and it was either shower or risk not being able to go hiking before naptime nightmare began. Any anyway, it's camping. If there is one time to be stinky this is it! So in retrospect, this item isn't a necessity, but if you think you will use showers then obviously bring one.
-Hats: bring warm ones for the morning/cold and sun hats for the afternoon/hikes. One of my favorite pictures of the trip was one of me and Lucia in our matching Sharks' hats:)

-Books/Toys/Stuffed Animals: if any of these items are part of your bedtime routine, for the love of all that's holy don't leave home without them! Don't think to yourself, we will be camping they won't want to do the normal stuff. Wrongo Dongo. Routine is crucial for kids, much more than for you and I. They are going to be pretty out of their element anyway so bringing anything familiar is key. I actually wish I had brought more toys for Callie. There was a lot of downtime when we needed to clean up meals or get cleaned up to go hiking and it was hard to keep her entertained.
Tent and Beds: DUH. Unless you are staying in a cabin, bring a dang tent. When you think your tent is big enough when it was just you and your sweetie. THINK AGAIN. No really. Think again. And find a tent that is at least twice as big. The amount of shit that you will have in your tent is unreal. For little beings they come with so much stuff!! We ended up finding a nice roomy tent at Mel Cottons that was used as their rental tent, so it was a smokin deal! $50!

And yes, that is a lot of timbuk2 bags. But they are amazing!! 

If you are doing car camping like we were/are, you really don't need a backpacking style tent. They are a lot more expensive. The backpacking tents that would have been about the same size were going to cost us around $550-$600. Now, if you really want to save space in your car and don't want to lug a heavy tent around, then go ahead and get a backpacking tent. One of the things that really helped us was to have a little light hanging from the top of the tent to work as a night light for Callie. If you don't have a battery powered lamp, you can use glow sticks. They have a nice little loop that is perfect for hanging and it lasted most of the night. Yes, you don't NEED 25 of them, but you will be surprised at how entertaining they are to a toddler especially around the campfire when you just want to enjoy your hot chocolate and smores. Plus you can use them for Halloween. We used an inflatable toddler bed that has "rails" on it for callie to sleep in. It is great for traveling!

Not the greatest shot of the bed, but you get the idea...

We have used it twice since and it is perfect! We bring sheets from home to put over it for a little more security for her.
For the baby, we brought the pack and play but quickly realized it was pretty silly. I would try to get out of bed as fast as possible to get her into bed with me to nurse so she wouldn't wake up Callie which is a little like trying to do ballet on a waterbed. A pack and play is useful if you have a non-mobile kid for in the campsite. It is nice to just stick them in there with a few toys and prep dinner.
Camping Chairs: one for everyone! We actually ended up buying Callie one at the store at the camp headquarters. She loved having a cup holder for her water/milk/hot chocolate.

Special cup: I bought a special camping cup for Callie. She is still talking about it!
Diapers and wipes. Again. DUH. But what might not be duh, is when you think you have enough wipes. Pack more. Trust me. If you are not at a campsite where there is a place to dispose of your trash, bring a container/wet bag like these from planet wise.
Toiletry items: bring your normal stuff, but just the basics, because the car is getting pretty full at this point! Comb, toothpaste, hair products, etc. Within reason. No need for makeup or anything crazy. It's camping people!
Hiking backpack/baby carrier. We brought the Ergo for Lucia which was invaluable as always.

Our friends brought a pack for their little man and I sorely wished we had brought one for Callie! 

But we did not bring a hiking backpack for Callie and I really wish we had. We had some VERY long (in time not distance) hikes on this trip.
Waterproof blanket: Like this one is a nice idea. It was nice to be able to plop Lucia down and let her play there. I'm not sure you need it with an active toddler who will just crumple it up anyway!

Screen House: again, not really a necessity unless you have problems with bugs like I do. That is why I don't usually camp:) We used an old one we had which we promptly left in a trash can before we left. We had gotten decent use out of it, but this one looks pretty good.

The screen house was the perfect place to feed daddy some smores

And to watch your toddler smoosh her face into it and laugh hysterically! 

First Aid items: I almost didn't bring anything. I thought "She'll be fine. She won't get hurt." Then I looked at her and remembered, oh yeah. This is Callie we're talking about! The number one item: foaming neosporin. This stuff is amazing! I keep it in my diaper bag now. I am sad to say that we had to use it the first day. Callie was climbing a tree stump and slid down scraping up her belly pretty badly.

 Poor thing was so upset! Other items to include would be bandaids, compresses, sunscreen, bug spray and venom kits/epi pens if you are allergic to bees like me.

Food
This was where I focused a lot of my energy, because I think the fun of camping is the time around the campfire and a lot of that time involves food! And like I kept telling my camp mates when they were shocked by the types of things that I had stashed away in the cooler, "I don't rough it!" I scoured the internet for recipes that would be easy to prepare while camping but that didn't involve freeze dried beef stew! That did mean, however, that it took a bit more prep time on the day before we left, but it was definitely worth it while we were camping. For your toddler, bring lots of snacks that you already know they like. You will just be annoyed if you spend valuable car space hauling a snack they won't eat. For us that meant, triscuit minis, rice cakes, bunnies and dried fruit. Also bring some backups for dinners if they are picky. A box of mac and cheese went a long way to cheer up a grumpy girl.

The first night, I wanted something we could just reheat and eat since I knew we would be spending a good amount of time getting the tent set up and getting Callie adjusted to her new surroundings. So the night before we left I made a batch of my minestrone and put it in a gallon ziplock bag. All we had to do was heat and serve. Sliced up some bread and got out a bottle of wine and voila! Awesome dinner.

Here's me. Roughing it. 

For breakfast, it was your typical fare, eggs, potatoes and sausage. I found this lovely little contraption at REI to hold the eggs. It was genius! No worries about your styrofoam egg container falling apart in your cooler. I even dropped the damn thing and no broken eggs. The breakfast plan was lumberjack foil packets. We learned that this would work beautifully over a campfire/bbq but on a campstove the bottom got too hot too fast. But it was still pretty tasty! When I think of campfire breakfast, I'm pretty sure this is the image that will always come to mind for the rest of my life.

My happy camper enjoying her breakfast

The plan for lunch was to make chicken tacos, but we really didn't need a full lunch. We had some cheese and crackers and that was really all we needed until dinner. For dinner I made my Veggie Chili which is an adaption of this recipe. Again, a really easy one for camping. I chopped up my garlic, peppers, onions and put them in a sandwich sized ziplock. Another one for the spices. Packed up the cans and beer. Then you basically just toss everything into a pot and let it cook! We added some soyrizo since it was on hand. I had made some cornbread muffins ahead of time to go with the chili but they got smooshed in the car, but it worked when we just crumbled them up and put it in the chili. That night I got to try out my platypus wine preserver. Worked like a charm and so easy to pack! If you are "roughing it", more so than we did anyway, this would work great! No bottle to worry about breaking and it lays pretty flat. 

Breakfast I brought a shake and go bottle of pancake mix. We got out the griddle and made our pancakes and finished off the bacon and frozen hashbrowns. Again, no real need for lunch. About then it was time to pack up and head home. 

Make sure you have lots choices for snacks/beverages. We had packets of hot cider, hot chocolate, beer and wine for the mommies and daddies, marshmallows, fixings for smores, etc. Don't forget a container of milk for your little ones. I put some milk in a tupperware so we didn't have to worry about it taking up too much room or cardboard leaking milk everywhere. We are serious coffee drinkers so we brought some ground coffee from our favorite coffee shop and this coffee system. It was a little tricky getting the ratios right, but it was so nice to have good coffee in the morning!

Preparation
Besides getting all of this CRAP together, the big thing you need to do is to get your toddler excited/prepared to go camping! We talked a lot about what camping meant: sleep in a tent, go hiking, collect rocks/sticks, see lots of trees, carry a back pack, smores. I picked up a couple of books about camping including Callie's favorite character, Maisy. Some other possibilities are Olivia, Caillou and George. There are some lovely picture books as well. I opted for S is for Smores by Helen James. There are gorgeous pictures for kids Callie's age and there is a bunch of text about each letter for older kids. Another popular title is When We Go Camping. Also, try to involve your toddler in the preparations. We all went to Mel Cottons to find a tent and a sleeping bag for Callie. While it was the equivalent of herding cats, trying to get everything done there, she had a blast checking out tents, climbing in kayaks and when it came time to get in her sleeping bag, she knew it was hers and was already excited about it. I also bought her a special pillow. In our case it was a sharkie pillow pet. I think it is helpful, like with any trip, to bring out something new/special to keep them interested.

Hiking
We did "hike" both days. I'm not sure a lot of people would call what we did hiking, but come on! Two year olds have little legs:)

Don't underestimate what has entertainment value to toddlers while hiking. I bought her a backpack that you can see in the picture above. She loved collecting fallen pinecones and a few rocks. We also found an old disposable camera that should have been developed before 2000 in our camping box, but we gave it to Callie and she had a blast!

A word of caution. Be wary of naptime. Both days, by the time we got done with breakfast and cleaned up we were getting dangerously close to naptime. Next time I might just say screw it to cleaning and just get our butts on the trail! 

Changes for Next time
I will most defintiely take the girls camping again! 1 month later and Callie is still talking about going camping. Next time I will bring some sort of hiking pack to carry Callie in. Taking her hiking was really fun and it was awesome to see the joy of discovery on her face but when she got tired she was a total pill! It would be great to toss her in a pack and head back to camp. I will also probably bring more things like toys to keep her occupied when we are trying to clean up and get going. I will bring a bug box for her to examine her treasuries more closely. Luckily Grandma Tere has already gotten her one for our next adventure. Next time, I know that we won't need the pack and play for the tent. Lucia just ended up sleeping with me/nursing anyway.

Final Thoughts
This is one of the happiest memories I have of us as a family.

This is by far the happiest I have seen my husband with my daughters. 

He is most serene and at peace when he is in nature, so for him to be able to share that with all of us was an amazing experience. Camping is an experience. Don't let all the preparation and shit that you have to bring dissuade you from this adventure. It was amazing and I would do it again in a heartbeat. To hear your child squeal with delight about trees and birds and the sky and the stars is priceless. She still every now and then talks about how "I go camping! I sleep in a tent!" 

The Reading Round Up Part 1

For a while I have been telling myself "I should make a list of all of Callie's favorite books thus far," because there definitely have been some surprises along the way. I have definitely been surprised how long we needed to do board books versus picture books. And some of the books that I was so excited about, she could care less about.  I think when I found out I was pregnant with her I automatically started thinking about what books we would enjoy together. Books were the most common item on our baby registry. Reading is always something that has been crucial in my life. I remember very fondly spending summers reading with our whole family together in the living room and I hope to do the same for my girls. I do find that times when I am not able to read as much as I would like, like...say...now, when I am balancing a toddler and a baby, I feel a little out of whack. But I do get to read a lot with Callie during the day. The books that I thought she would be into she isn't necessarily. And some books. Oh my dear god. Kill me if I have to read them one more time. So here you go. Here is the list in no particular order.

Anything and everything Maisy. But especially Maisy Goes Camping. We definitely need a new copy since the cover has completely come off. Sadly, we haven't even taken Callie camping yet! But hopefully we will rectify that soon. Haha. In finding the link for Maisy for you, sweet reader, I came across a new one for our collection, Maisy Goes to Preschool. Thank you Amazon Prime!

Click Clack Moo. This is a recent favorite and I couldn't be happier! One of my favorites. And to hear hear exclaim "Quick Quack Moo!" is pretty darn adorable.

Little Helpers. This is a nice one. Callie loves it because it has birds, butterflies and other things she can name. Good book on being "green."

Awake to Nap by Nikki McClure.  Very cool illustrations in this partial alphabet book. I wish it went through all the letters, but it is beautiful for what it is. Apparently the author made these block prints while her son napped. Guess he didn't nap quite long enough!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin. I love love love reading this with Callie. She loves to reply with Boom Boom when I say Chicka Chicka.

Anything by Eric Carle. These books are wonderful for little ones. The pictures are engaging and beautiful. There are a lot of titles to choose from but Callie's favorites are The Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear, From Head to Toe, TheVery Busy Spider, and 1,2,3 To The Zoo.

Ten Little Monkeys by Eileen Christalow: I will admit it. I hide this book all the time. We got it from a friend and Callie loves it. But after reading it a gazillion times, good god. Kill me. I want to tie those monkeys to the bed. No more jumping! Oh well. At least it isn't ten little monkeys. It's only five.

Where is Baby's Belly Button by Karen Katz. There is a whole series of these books. Where is baby's puppy, where is baby's mommy, etc. They are great books! Especially for the early stuff. The flaps are easy to grab for little hands and can stand up to a fair amount of abuse.

On The Night That You Were Born by Nancy Tillman. This is a GORGEOUS book. Buy it. If you know someone having a baby. Buy it. I was in the Santa Cruz Bookshop with Callie when she was teeny tiny and I was looking at it, most likely not going to buy it when a random mom came up to me and said "You HAVE to buy that book. You will love it. If you don't buy I'm going to buy it for you." That was enough for me, to have a complete stranger offer to buy you a book. That's a keeper. There is also On the Day That You Were Born, but I like this one better.

Peek a Who by Nina Laden. This is another recent favorite since Callie is pretty obsessed with owls at the moment. But this would be a great early book as well.

Tickle Monster by Josie Bisset. Yes that Josie Bissett, of Melrose Place fame. But don't let that stop you. It is awesome!  We LOVE this book. Bill's cousins gave it to Callie for her first Christmas. It is awesome! Make sure you buy the set with the tickle monster gloves. It is worthless without them, in my opinion. We have had so many fun tickle fests because of this book. This is another great one for gifts.

Press Here by Herve Tullet. We have bought this book for pretty much every birthday party we have gone to for the last year. It's at the point where I can't remember who I've given it to we love it so so much. It is wonderful! It is vibrant and colorful, interactive and tactile. Kids get to shake the book, blow on it and clap to make that wonderful little yellow dot do some amazing things. This is one book where I don't think you need the board book. The hardcover has a very sturdy cover and the pages aren't very fragile either.

The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood. I am so glad Callie got into this one recently. I have always had a special place in my heart for the incredible illustrations of this team of author and illustrator.

Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann. Callie really likes this one. This is a good beginning book as it is very visual and not too dependent on words.

Doggies by Sandra Boynton. Another good early one since it depends on counting and funny noises.

A Lot of Otters by Barbara Berger. I bought this for Callie the first time we took her to the Monterey Aquarium. Absolutely gorgeous. This is another one that she wasn't into for quite a while but is now.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I love reading this with Callie. She wouldn't go to bed without reading it for a good long while. And I was happy to oblige. I read it so much that I noticed on one of the pages where you can see a picture hanging on the wall. That picture is from one of her other books, Runaway Bunny. Unfortunately I can't seem to get Callie into that one yet. But seriously, it would be a crime if you child's reading library didn't include this gorgeous classic.

Time for Bed by Mem Fox. This is another one that makes a great gift, especially for a new baby. The pictures are beautiful and they all show parents with their babies. For whatever reason when we get to the page with the fish Callie points to one and says "mama fish" and points to the other and says "callie fish."

Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert. This is especially great for when your little one starts eating solid food. Callie always gets very excited when we get to W. And I think you know why!

Elmo. Ugh. The red devil himself. These are another series that I tend to hide every now and then. Callie loves them so I bring them back out occassionally. See. I didn't even give you the link. There. That should tell you something. And yes, it was a gift.

Bark, George. We discovered this one at a storytime day at the Rosegarden library and we both love it! Callie loves most books with dogs:)  Like...

One Pups Up by Marsha Chall. Another counting book. Very cute illustrations.

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Williams. All his books are really cute and clever. This is a great one! A good, cautionary tale (especially for daddies) about taking good care of lovies! He has some other great ones like Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and There is a Bird on your Head. And no, I am not making these up.

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. I love love love this book and I so glad that Callie finally got into it!

Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. I have no idea why Callie likes this book (it's very words which normally doesn't fly with her!) but she does. Go figure.

Dr. Seuss. Get these for the early stages. In my opinion, the window of enjoyment for these is fairly small. Callie is way over them. With the exception of The Cat in the Hat and Go Dog Go. She never gets tired of that one. And of course the one that I liked the best, she could care less about. My poor sneetches with stars upon thars.

Hugs All Day. This is a random one. There isn't really even an author listed. We got it as a gift for Callie's first birthday. Callie loved loved loved this book for months. This is another really great early book. The pages are very sturdy and the pictures are great.

I'm a Big Sister by Joanna Cole. This is a must if there is a sibling on the way. We received 4 copies! But Callie loves it. Don't ask me why but the only version available on amazon is the one is spanish. But apparently this book is everywhere! Well, except on the internet.

I Kissed the Baby by Mary Murphy. This is a great one for babies since it is black and white so the high contrast is easy for them to see. Callie still digs it.

The Paper bag Princess by Robert Munsch. I love this book. Callie is sort of into it and seems to be even more so everytime we read it.

Dog Dreams. Another one with very cool illustrations.

Z is for Zamboni. Come one. You saw that one coming didn't you? Pretty sure we'd have to kick Callie out of the CG clan if she didn't like this one. The best part is at the end she jumps up with her hands in the air and yells "GO SHARKS!" That's my girl.


Misses:
These are books that I love and thought Callie would to, but she doesn't. At least not yet. I am going to keep trying!

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss. This is a very simple book, it has been described as "zen like" so I thought Callie would be into it. But not yet.

Stella Luna. I even tried getting this for her in a board book and nada. Crushed. Totally crushed.

Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. This one is all me. I fully admit it. I remember loving it because of the way my mom read it to me. But when I read it as an adult the ending kinda creeped me out. I should probably get over it.

Books by Kevin Henkes. I registered for at least 4 of his books for Callie and she isn't really into them. Although I haven't brought them out in a while. Might be time to try again! My favorites are Wemberly Worried, Julius Baby of the World and any of the Lily Books.

Oh and here is one just for the mommies and daddies. Seriously dude. Don't read it to your kid. It will help you get through some tough nights with a little laughter! If they ever go to sleep that is!  Go The F**k To Sleep by Adam Mansbach. The illustrations are surprisingly gorgeous too. I haven't heard it, but Samuel L. Jackson also does the voice for the audio book:)

Oop. here is another one. I forgot about this one! We got this as a gift and we still love it:) Baby Mix Me a Drink by Lisa Brown. There is also Baby Fix My Car, Baby Make My Breakfast and Baby Do My Banking.

That's it for now! I'm sure there are a gazillion I am missing, especially from the early stages. Parents, Teachers: what are your favorites? For the early early stuff, you can't go wrong with high contrast or tactile like touch and feel.

The Cloud of Resentment

A friend sent me this article the other day. It's a little old, well, two months old. But that's an eternity when you are talking about controversies over magazines and breast feeding! The main idea is, as a mom, if you hate doing something don't do it. It sounds so simple but nothing is simple when it comes to parenting. You may hate baby wearing or breastfeeding (or any other parenting trend) but we feel compelled or almost forced to do it because, well, giant pointer fingers seem to always be jammed in our faces at any moment. The list is endless: breastfeeding, extended breastfeeding, cloth diapers, swaddling, co-sleeping, baby wearing, stay at home, go back to work, attachment parenting, making our own baby food, Ferberizing, look out! BPA is going to kill us! , sleep training, cry it out, oh no-- don't do cry it out it will damage your child forever. It's enough to make you crazy and add it with some good old fashioned stress and sleep deprivation and there you have it. Nuts. Totally nutso mama. So not doing something because you hate it is a little more complicated when you are a parent because you are responsible for another human.  Plus if they fail in any way,  the pointing begins even if it's not physical or real, we feel it. Maybe we are just pointing at ourselves but the pressure is real.

So it got me thinking what do I hate about parenting. My first thought is my two year old but that's not totally true. She has moments of real sweetness and hilarity mixed in with her particular brand of crazy. I hate bedtime. Can't really get rid of that though...I did get to a point where I just had to let some of it go so we put up a gate in her room. I hated doing cloth diapers with Callie once she turned two so I stopped. But I felt compelled to have someone else tell me it was ok. The cloth diaper thing is so hard for me because I feel strongly about the fact that we should try to help our planet as much as we can and diapers last forever in those landfills! So I feel sometimes that I have to do it because there are so many other people not doing it. But it got to the point with Callie that it was just making things so much harder. I texted a couple people as I struggled with it and  they gave me the permission I was craving. And then I thought to myself, I made it two years with only a disposable diaper at night. That's pretty darn good. You know what else I hated? Reusable baby wipes. What a mess. Loved the idea but damn Gina, I already have mountains of laundry! I will admit, I buy into most of the parenting trends but I don't feel that I go overboard. It works for us. But when I have let things go, like Callie's cloth diapers, the wave of relief was palpable. What a relief! And there is the value of letting things go. I love when the author says "A woman cannot live a life or raise a child in a cloud of resentment. Resentment is life-threatening. It's enfeebling. And it's everywhere." It is so true! Resentment is a destructive force especially when coupled when the enormous amounts of pressure, guilt and finger pointing that comes our way. So let's do ourselves and our kids a favor. Let's ease up a little bit and try to remember why we had kids. For the fun, for the love and to redisover some of what we have lost as we have become responsible adults. Because let's face it, every morning is more fun when you start it with your pants on your head or wearing a strainer for a hat,  like my girl here. 

Our Sleep Adventures Continue

Our trouble with sleep continues. Things were going well with Callie in her bed for a while and then...well...we screwed it up. We moved Lucia into her room at four months  because our pediatrician had recommended we put her in her crib rather than the co sleeper in the hope that having more room would allow her to sleep for longer periods. And since we have such a small house we tried putting her in her crib, which was in Callie's room. The first night went ok. Still 3 hour stretches. The next night was better 4-5 hour stretches. We were feeling good, like we had it under control. Which as any parent will tell you, is the kiss of death. Because that is when it will all go to crap.
The worst of it was a couple of days ago. I wrestled with Callie for 2 hours to take a nap during the day. I tried everything. Bribery, cajoling, pleading, demanding. I ended up screaming at her (again). She rolled over and went right to sleep. And I went right into my room and sobbed. Again. I hated myself again for not being the mom she needs me to be.
 That night we spent four hours getting her to go to sleep. So around 12:45 am she finally went to sleep. And then we got Lucia down as well. We thought: "Okay. That sucked. But it's done. They are both asleep."Again. Kiss of death. Callie was up 3 hours later. Bill got her back to sleep, slowly but surely. And promptly fell asleep himself in the chair in her room. 1 hour later I went in to get Lucia because she was awake and crying, so I woke Bill up, since I knew he would wake up eventually with a sore back at the very least. After that, Callie stayed asleep but Lucia was up every hour. In between each hour I was crying and finding that my rope had yet another end just when I thought I had reached it already. I started looking into sleep consultants because I couldn't handle this. AT ALL. I knew one of the madres had used one so I emailed her at 2am to find out who she had used. I found a couple of other names as well. I knew that we could handle it with two of us but with the amount of traveling Bill will be doing, the reality is that there is no way I could handle it on my own.
In the morning when I had a grand total of 3 hours of sleep under my belt I received a great gift from my mom. An offer to take Callie off my hands so I could get my rest. Sweet relief! I took the girls to our usual storytime gig on wednesdays and deposited Callie into Grandma Tere's minivan for the afternoon. Lucia and I came home, nursed and went to sleep for a glorious two whole hours! I knew that I probably could have gotten her to sleep more but I wanted some ammunition for this new battle. Off to google I went!
So now we are armed with some good information about toddler sleep patterns. The first thing we did was move Lucia out of Callie's room. At the moment, Lucia's crib is right smack in the middle of the dining room! We are planning on moving it to the back bedroom which means we have to get rid of some other furniture to make it work but that's ok. After doing a fair amount of research I discovered that  we were spending too much time on her routine. The experts recommend 1 hour tops from bath time to nigh nighs. I would wager that we were spending at least double that time, which would be one of the many reasons that I hated bedtime! So now we are working on maybe 20 minutes for bath rather than waiting for her to tell us when she was done. I am going to utilize a timer on the phone. So the timer can be the bad guy instead of me. Lord knows I've played that role enough. PJs and then storytime. This one was the hard piece for me to swallow. Being a teacher I was thrilled that Callie liked reading so much, but doing 8-10 books before bedtime was just taking too long but I tried not to let that one show because I thought it was so important. So now we are limiting it to three books at night but I am going to try to read with her throughout the day a little more. We also had been using a lamp in her room but I think it was too bright so it was opening up all kinds of adventures to her after we left the room and closed the baby gate. So now I am turning off the lamp and turning on her twilight turtle so she can see the stars. Some other ideas I read about was to just be as calm as possible when I tell her to go to bed a few times. After that we can move into consequences like taking away a blanket or a stuffed animal for a short period of time (2 minutes or so). Or because we have a gate in her room we can just let her do whatever in there til she passes out. Another idea was to give her a high carb snack before bed like cheese and crackers. I am torn on this one because the other big battle we have is over dinner. I'm afraid that if she just waits me out she gets rewarded with food that wasn't for dinner.
Anyway, so lots of changes. We implemented them for the first time last night and BAM! She went right to sleep! Could be beginners luck, but I know that being consistent is the key.

Callie's Sleeping Adventures

It has been quite some time since I have been able to blog. Sorry fair reader! But I have been in single mama mode for a while. More on that in another post (hopefully!). The last couple of months we have been dealing with Callie's sleep adventures. A couple of months ago Callie started climbing out of her crib. The girl is pretty spry and coordinated but I was worried that at some point she would fall and hurt herself, so we took the side of the crib off and bought a crib rail. Then the "fun" began. She was in and out of her bed, and this is no exaggeration, at least 20 times a night before she would fall asleep in strange places.
 Like...

Here

Or here. Hey. At least she is sleeping on something soft. Sorry Milo. SOL.

She even did it at a friend's house

It actually got to be super freaky. I am easily freaked out I will admit. Callie would scare the bejesus out of me at night. She would sneak out of her bed and I would look up and she would just be standing there in front of me staring straight at me. I admit it. I screamed once. It was like she was just appearing out of nowhere. She was making almost no noise, which is a feat for my little monster who usually sounds like a herd of elephants.
The worst part was nap time during the day. I would need a break after dealing with a crazy two year old and infant all day.  So I look forward to the time of day when I am down to one and I could focus on feeding Lucia or trying to get her on a semblence of a schedule. I would inevitably end up screaming at Callie to "GO TO BED!" It was quickly becoming a war. And I felt horrible. I felt like I was becoming a Joan Crawford version of myself. I would hear myself screaming at the top of my lungs at her, my little girl who made me a mother, who made me someone new. And I would see fear in her face as she started to cry. And then I was crying too. And let me be totally clear. This was not a raised voice. This was not yelling. This was screaming. No holds barred, top of my lungs screaming. I can honestly say I have NEVER in my entire life screamed at someone like this. I was doing it daily. Sometimes more than once a day. And how could I do this to her? How could I do this to our family? I needed to get my shit together and I knew I needed help to do it. I was time to put my pride on the shelf and admit that I needed help and I needed it fast.
I reached out to the moms that I trust the most for advice on what to do because what I was doing sure as hell wasn't working. I got some really good ideas and we are/have been implementing some of them. We are basically throwing a bunch of darts out there and hoping some of them stick to the board.
We have changed how we do storytime. Instead of reading in the back room and then trying to get her to go to her room to settle down and go to sleep we are doing everything in her room. That seems to help to get her in the right mind frame. And it is also making our reading time more enjoyable because she is more focused on the books not on all the random crap in the back room. I cleared off a shelf in her room to put her puzzles and books so her room can be a fun place for her not just the evil place where she has to go to sleep.
We also installed a baby gate on her door. And oh boy did she know the jig was up. She screamed bloody bloody murder when I put it up! But I knew part of the problem was that she was going into other rooms and staying too alert. I thought if I could at least keep her in her room that would be half of the battle. It definitely has helped. The only problem is that her door opens into the room not into the living room so there was one night when she fell asleep in front of the door and I had to push her gently away to be able to get into the room and pick her up and deposit her into the bed.
We  bought a lamp for her room. We tried to do a night light but all of her outlets are covered by furniture. We opted for an extra light because one night when I was trying to calm her down she kept pointing to a corner of the room and saying "Yook (her way of saying Look) Mama. Yook!" I turned slowly, because as I said I am easily freaked out. Obviously there was nothing there, as I told her and tried to comfort her. Eventually she said "I scared Mama." Which anytime my tough chick says that she is scared breaks me just a little. So to target we went for a lamp. We found a nice one with stars that she liked.

So that is part of our new routine. Bath, PJs, she chooses books, we read, turn on the lamp and I turn out the light in the room and say goodnight. She was still sleeping on the floor so I bought a rug so she would at least have somewhere soft to land. In theory as you can see:

Hey Callie! Try the rug next time!

I was pretty excited when she finally fell asleep on the rug!

Now it is at the point where when I turn out the light and say goodnight she will climb up on the changing table, turn the light back on and climb into bed and go to sleep.

In bed! But she wouldn't stay in bed unless she could wear her happy hollow hat. Inside out. Duh mama. 

Not a total victory, but good enough for me! Nap time is still the tough one but sometimes I just try to tire her out during the day at a park or happy hollow or something and then transfer her from the car to her bed.

Thank you Happy Hollow. I am pretty sure they could double the price of membership and I would still consider it a  bargain.

Which is funny because I NEVER use to be able to do that when she was a baby! But whatever. The target is always changing! I also want to give a big shout out to Susan Stone Belton. I got to see her speak this past week and it just solidified that yelling doesn't work. So I will keep trying to not yell and to talk to Callie instead even when she is making me bat shit crazy. I am hoping to do another post on her talk because it was so incredibly eye opening. So hopefully more posts coming soon!