Our Weekend Visit

I had my work's Christmas lunch in Lehi on Friday. **Love you girls.** Avery was going to go down to work at his dad's for the weekend. Being the geniuses we both are, why not go down as a family and stay over Friday night.

It's important to remember at this point in the story, we now live in Ogden.

I arranged to have us sleep over at my dad's, Ave's mom was going to take the little one, so we would even get a free night without a child. Date night? What's that? I scheduled a hair appointment for Saturday with my basically S-in-L. It was all coming together so perfectly.

I should've known then...

First, Ave's mom had to cancel on us. Okay, I can deal, arrange for Audrey to stay with us at my dad's, ask dad if he will watch her, so we still get our date night, and find someone to watch her during my hair appointment.

Crisis averted.

Enjoy Christmas party whilst wrestling toddler. Pfft... I have been a mom for all of 18 months now, no sweat.  Buy movie tickets for date night... James Bond is sexy. Get kiddo settled down for nap at my dad's. Then Ave's mom calls un-canceling begging for chance to watch Audrey again. Tell her she can have her Saturday. We're working on sharing. Pick up Avery, enjoy dinner with extended family, make sure Bug is taken care of, kiss her good night, and off to alone time.

'Skyfall' review: AWESOME, plus sexy.

Get back to dad's, Ady-bug has been asleep for maybe an hour, contemplate going to bed early too. Then I hear the crying. No worries. Comfort child, feed bottle, let say 'hi' to mom and dad for a little bit. That's all it was, she missed us. ;)

Tuck child back in pack 'n' play, get into pajamas, lay down on brother's stolen bed, blissful sigh...
**ONE HOUR LATER** crying... no screaming, 'I'm-going-to-die-if-you-don't-pick-me-up-now' shrieking. Gently cuddle baby, attempt to soothe, offer bottle, offer binky, rock, bounce, threaten, bribe, worry, cry a little too **TWO HOURS LATER** no joke... still crying. Let me clarify, would stop crying if laying on my shoulder, then would sniffle, and relax enough to trick me into attempting to lay her down... then all hell would break loose again, someone was clearly ripping her arms out of her body, had to be to warrant that much screaming.

There comes a time when in attempt to soothe the poor child, you kiss, you rock, you whisper sweet things... it's not working. Then you grab then by the arms, explain calmly why they should be sleeping, tell her that she is going to wake the entire household with her banshee cries, try to plug it up with a pacifier... it's still not shutting up. Then when you see yourself covering her mouth, only to not let go, just so that she would just be quiet... it's time to wake up daddy.

Don't judge me. You know you've all been there.

I can recall every single instance that I've had the distinct feeling that I can no longer handle the crying, and I will do something I regret if I don't walk away. Luckily, those nights can only be counted on one hand. Most were in the first few months of her life. But, last night, she was determined to remind me why we don't yet have a second child.

Avery took over, tried everything I did. I laid on the bed going through scenarios in my head. She wasn't hungry. I had changed her diaper. She might've been teething or in pain, but I didn't bring any infant pain reliever with us. More than likely, it was a new place, not her bed, not her nightlight, with strange noises, and she was really, really tired. Why she wouldn't just relax and go to sleep then, is still beyond me. I suggested a car ride, and Ave braved the cold and drove around for a little while to no avail. I cat napped, ears still perked for them to get home. Calmer, but still not allowing us to lay her down, they watched television for about an hour. Finally, at about 3:00 AM, he was able to put her in her bed. Whatever it was, she had exhausted herself beyond the point of caring.

**THREE HOURS LATER** yep... oh, man. This time the comforting and binky worked until **ONE HOUR LATER** when it didn't. No consoling the child, no laying her back down to sleep. Avery begged me to take her for an hour or two so he could get a little more sleep before he went to work. I felt for him, most likely I would try squeezing in a nap at some point, but technically I had been up with her more/longer. Just for score keeping purposes, you know, I win. I attempted the whole routine for about another hour, finally bagged it and called it what it was, an early morning start to a seriously crappy night's sleep. We watched SW: Clone Wars until Ave woke up.

We all survived the 'Night the Toddler Would NOT Sleep at Grandpa's'. Avery dragged himself through work, I got my hair all did, and then got my little nap. **THANK YOU LORA** As did Audrey, sort of. She was still super ornery and tired all day. Gee, I wonder why? And after finally making it home tonight, promptly went down for the night at 7:30 PM.

If she wakes up tonight, she can just cry it out.

18 Months

She's not a baby anymore. We've got a full fledged toddler on our hands. Complete with temper tantrums, talking, and running away from me at the store.

 Awesome.

I have yet to take her to her 18 month appointment yet, so I'm not sure on her stats. But I'm sure they won't be good and I'll get in trouble for her weight. She's so tiny. I know she's only barely over 20 lbs, because we weighed her weekly on our scale until we knew we could switch her to the forward facing carseat. We did a dance when it finally hit 20. What do you do? Unfortunately, she is still drinking a lot of her calories by taking bottles. At least we're down to whole milk only, not plus formula, we finally were able to break that money draining need. I'm dreading weaning off the bottle, even though I know she should be old enough to just do the cup, the daycare gets kind of annoyed, she's the only one on a bottle still. But that's the only way she'll take milk, and the only way I know she's getting some calories. Ugh. She's getting better at eating, but not great.

Currently she eats lots and lots of goldfish crackers, string cheese, red bell peppers, greek yogurt, popcorn, cooked carrots, potatoes, any kind of pasta, small bites of chicken, and big bites of beef. She likes her red meat.

And chocolate chip cookies.

Along the lines of weaning... she still uses the bink to sleep. The orthodontic assistant in me cringes every night, but I haven't had the nerve to get rid of that either. It's like the immediately-fall-asleep push button.

She started nursery last week and was a champ. Didn't even look back, just like when she started her new daycare last month. She does so well. She loves being in new places, being with the big kids, and doing the activities. She's really started getting into drawing and has been found with a pen in hand drawing me a pretty picture on important papers. She loves books.... loves!!! She brings me a Boo-boo (book) about every two minutes to read, then turns around and backs her bum right into my lap.

She loves her doggies, says hello to them every morning. Lately, she's been enjoying Yo Gabba Gabba (cringe) while I get ready in the morning. Along with the standbys of Phineas and Ferb, Sesame Street, and My Little Pony on Netflix. The other day we were listening to music and Aristocats played which made  me immediately have the desire to watch it with her. Quick rental online at Amazon and stream to the XBOX (I love modern technology) and we had ourselves a movie afternoon. She sat through the whole thing, almost, but super close. She really only gets about one 'show' a day, but she won't just watch any old boring thing.

We've both enjoyed the new home and all that goes with it. She helps me put the clothes in the washer, unloads the dishes, helps me cook, and vacuum. Our routines for meals, cleaning, and playing are starting to get figured out and I love it. It feels so... normal. We're planning on getting her the Ikea play kitchen for Christmas. I've been saving links for felt food, to test out my sewing skills, we'll see if it happens. I'd like to try to put together a apron and mitts too, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Post shot of a busy day playing

Her speech skills are coming along, she's got the normal Ma-ma, Da-da, Dogs, Kitty, Turtle, Fish is more like -ish, Car, Cracker, Nose, Socks, and Shoes. I'm sure there's more, but that's good enough to prove she's smart. She knows most of her body parts, loves the belly button, as most kids do.

Basically she's just super amazing and the cutest dang kid you ever would have the privilege of meeting. You are welcome.

'Hi!'