Insomnia

For those of you who know me, know I love to sleep. I'm pretty good at it too. But something about being pregnant makes me a raging insomniac. I don't really remember it happening with Charlotte, but I definitely remember with Benjamin. And now this baby. I do pretty good from about 11:30-3:30. Then it's fair game. Sometimes I sleep. A lot of times I don't.

So...I've been up since 3:30. It's almost 6:00. Ben will be up in a little more than an hour. You get the picture. It makes for one tired mama. On Will's days off he is absolutely fabulous about letting me sleep in (after I fall back asleep) until whenever I need. But on days he works...I almost always have to take a nap...which seems to perpetuate the cycle.

When I was pregnant with Ben I used to go downstairs in our apartment and "do stuff"...but now Melanie is sleeping (well, living) in our downstairs...so my options are limited to reading/computer/watching tv on volume 1.

So tonight (this morning?) I've been online, reading people-I-don't know's blogs. Finding things I want to buy. Like this and this. I'm seriously considering buying both. Which is sad, because 9 times out of 10 I wouldn't even buy an actual dress for my daughter for $10. But I'm thinking about buying patterns to make a dress...

I keep seeing things online and wanting to make them. I saw this website and wanted to make Charlotte a tutu. So I did. And I have material for two more. Pictures will come soon.

I want to make Ben a cape too. Charlie and Bella (the little girl I watch) were playing dress-up and Ben definitely wanted to join in. It was so cute.

Irony of ironies. Ben sleeps through the night in his own crib now. For those of you who don't understand, this is a huge deal. Charlie was 2.5 when she finally got out of our bed...and she slept on our floor for months. Back to Ben. He did great while we were away in Iowa over Christmas...but when we came home he had a cold, etc. and the routine wore off. I decided about two weeks ago to try to train him to go to sleep in his crib (I wanted him to ideally have a firmly established routine when baby #3 comes). So, I put him in his crib...kissed him a million times...told him I loved him (I felt like I was abandoning him)...and told him, "nigh, night." Then I went to my room and set a timer for 5 minutes. He cried the whole time. I went back in his room, repeated the process. He fell asleep! Just like that. The crying only lasted for 3 nights! It's like a miracle. He does brilliantly at nap time, too.

Yep, and I'm awake.

A few reasons to be thankful to not be sleeping:
1. It's so much better than morning sickness
2. You learn to navigate the house in the dark
3. You get some quiet time
4. A baby! Coming soon:)

A New Year

Well I've had this blog for a year...can you believe it? I don't keep up with it the way I want to, but I'm still glad to have made the effort. This past year has brought drastic changes to our lives (home ownership, anyone?) and this next year promises many more (another April baby!). I am so blessed with the life that I lead, and thankful to be able to share it (however randomly) here.

I've decided not to do any "New Year's Resolutions." I rarely stick with them (I did stop drinking pop for a year once...I should probably take that one back up) and who doesn't find failure discouraging? Instead, I've decided to go with "New Month Resolutions" - smaller (and hopefully more achievable) goals to work on each month. I'm excited about it. So, for January, my goal is to get my house organized in such a way that I can maintain it for the rest of the year (a.k.a. forever). I will let you know how it goes.

In an effort to begin (and stop small children from eating fake bark) I've finally cleaned out the planter in our front hall. This picture should have been rotated, sorry. The splotches on the stone are from me washing it, it doesn't normally look like that. I have no idea what to do with this space....well, I have ideas, just not very many kid-friendly ones.

Just for fun :)