Sleep lessons for baby

So, call me a wuss, but I have never been able to handle letting my little babies "cry it out". It just seems cruel to me. Because of this, I haven't been able to answer in the affirmative when asked "oh, is she sleeping through the night yet?" before any of my girls hit 18 months. I realize that some of you may be picking your jaw up from the floor at the thought of not getting a full night's sleep for at least 18 months and I honestly have to admit that it really can become a pain in the...well, you can insert any appropriate body part you want here. I can assure you that my older girls sleep peacefully through the night and have for quite a while, but Zion, she's another story. She's only 14 months old and theoretically I have another few months before the night wakings really start driving me nut, but I've decided to try something a little different. I am teaching her now to go to sleep on her own and in her own bed (keep in mind that we co-sleep, so her bed is attached to our bed). Today is day two and so far so good. Yesterday she'd get up, I'd lay her down, she'd get up, I'd lay her down, she'd cry, I'd shush, she'd get up, I'd lay her down and so on for about a half an hour (which isn't bad when it comes to my girls). Tonight, she only cried for a few minutes and then laid there until she fell asleep. Maybe she's a fast learner or maybe I'm more patient than I used to be or maybe she's just exhausted at the end of the day from battling the slings and arrows of being the youngest four. Whatever the case, I'll take what I can get. Keep your fingers crossed for continuous restful nights from now on!

Rebel Youth

Tonight was my night to lead the project in our local craft circle at the library. So, I chose to do freezer paper stencils. There were only one or two people in the circle who'd done freezer paper stencils before, but everyone was really pleased with their finished products. I wanted to do a little something for Zion mainly because little clothes are so flippin' cute and because I really haven't done any clothes for her yet. I think this onesie turned out really cute. I think I will make one for each of the girls.

My little rebel youth in her robot sneakers.

Rebel....without a cause!

If the shoe fits

Well, all of the little ones are feeling much better. There is still quite a bit of snot flowing around here, but the fevers and infections all seem to have passed. I think we will take Bijou for allergy testing. I'm pretty sure what we thought were bites on her stomach, legs and feet in the ER were actually hives! All of the swelling is gone from her face and the cough has pretty much subsided, but yesterday she was complaining about her stomach and feet itching. I looked under her shirt and her stomach was covered in HUGE red hives. Hives the size of the palm of her hand. So were her feet and her back. They looked terrible, but other than the itching she seemed fine. Today, they are gone, so I think we will make an appointment on Monday to have her tested.

I am thrilled that all of the little people are feeling better and I can put the baby down without her screaming. As much as I enjoy loving up my babies, I want to be able to go to the bathroom without them screaming. One positive did come from being pinned under a feverish baby for 36 hours. I learned how to crochet baby shoes! Everyone who knows me, knows that this whole crochet thing is new to me. I learned how to crochet hats from a youtube video and making things up as I went along. I learned how to make the shoes the same way. I found a SUPER cute pair of crocheted baby shoes on Etsy and they were selling the pattern for $4 or $5. Unfortunately, on top of being incredibly cheap, I also can't read crochet patterns. Well, i can read them, but I have no clue what they mean. So I found a video on youtube showing how to crochet the sole of a baby shoe. After I worked out the sole, I used what I've been able to figure out about crochet stitches and what they do to wing the rest of the shoe. They turned out very, very cute. The sole is a soft, brown alpaca wool (thanks Ingrid!) and the upper is a deep red cotton. I'm not very good with sizing things yet and they were a bit roomy for Zion's little feet, so I added a drawstring around the top (sort of like the elastic that ballet shoes have to keep them on your feet) and they fit perfectly! A little strap and button and she has a sweet pair of soft, warm Mary Janes perfect for autumn.

My goal is to work on all of these little baby accessories that I do over the winter (while we are trapped under the cold, rainy, Mississippi winter) and by next summer be able to start a small business. Keep your fingers crossed that I get a sewing machine for my birthday. Hand sewing is incredibly time consuming!

Sick baby = sad mommy

So, Zion has had a runny nose on and off for a couple of weeks now. There have been colds passed round and round the house since the weather changed. On top of the fact that she has been teething for weeks (current tooth count, 4. 2 on top, 2 on the bottom), she has been a snotty mess. The runny nose returned a few days ago and initially I thought it may have been something that she was eating, but yesterday I noticed that she was breathing pretty fast and as the day progressed she began to wheeze and was running a temperature. We decided to take her to the ER just to be on the safe side. Of course with the whole swine flu madness going on there were a bunch of people in masks sitting in the waiting room. I opted to wait my turn out by the elevator. After 6 hours in the emergency room, one nasal swab, an albuterol treatment, a shot of antibiotics, a dose of Tylenol and a chest x-ray, we were sent home with a diagnosis of RSV and an ear infection in both ears. All of that seems like enough to make any adult crabby, but my sweet little angel took it all in stride. She has been in good spirits and if it wasn't for the runny nose, you wouldn't even know she was sick. She cooperated and fussed very little (even with the shot), she laid still for the x-ray, only fussed a little for the swab, but she did spit Tylenol on the nurse. But after all she'd been through, I think it was warranted. Today, she has been doing pretty well. She's still all over the house and she ate dinner this evening (she hadn't been eating much). Her breathing sounds much better after tonight's nebulizer treatment and we have the humidifier going near her bed. Hopefully by the end of the week we will be back to 100%. I read somewhere that babies display new abilities after they've gotten over a fever. I'm afraid that she will be walking or talking in sentences when she does get better. I think I would take walking over talking right now. I don't know if I could handle another talker in this house. I haven't been able to hear my own internal dialogue in years!

A labor of love

For years I have said that knitting and crocheting are skills that were completely unattainable for me. It all seemed so complicated and time consuming (two qualities that I do NOT look for in a project), but I could not help drooling over all of the super cute crocheted baby accessories that I came across perusing Etsy. I am self proclaimed baby hat fanatic. Add ear flaps and/or a pompom and I am hooked. A few months ago, a friend, who was relocating to the Bahamas (lucky!), was cleaning out her stash of hand dyed alpaca yarn. I left her house with 6 or 7 skeins and absolutely no idea what I was going to do with it. On that day I decided that I would learn to crochet if it killed me. To be honest, I stored the yarn away and didn't think about it again for months. A few weeks ago I came across the yarn and Jena's plastic crochet needle from her potholder kit. That discovery sparked my newly reawakened desire to crochet. After much stress, many cramped hands and many, many youtube how to videos, I successfully completed my very first hat for Bijou. It took me a total of 3 full days. 3 DAYS!!! Now, a secondhand felted Goodwill sweater can be reconstructed into a very cute hat (and matching boots) in about an hour, so three days was a bit much for me. I declared Bijou's white and blue hat my first and last hat attempt.
(She was not happy about being photographed on this day for some reason, hence the extra attitude in the face.)
But being the determined (and sometimes insane) mama that I am, I decided to keep trucking and give it another try. Today, I am proud to say that I can officially crochet very cute little hats for my babies (complete with ear flaps AND pompoms) and it only takes me a day. Two if the children are being uncooperative. I've shaved off 2/3 of my crochet time. Not bad if I do say so myself...

So far, all of the girls have hats and I'm still making more. If nothing else, they will have warm heads for the rest of their days. But don't worry unwanted, secondhand, felted wool Goodwill sweaters, I am still making hats and boots with you too!