Nighty Night?

I've 'written' several blogs in my head while I've been MIA these past two weeks, but unfortunately I can't post them from the shower (which seems to be the place where I think about writing them). 2010 has had us pretty busy already, and I already have that feeling of being two steps behind.....Forgive me in advance for this long, rambling blog full of many subjects. It's a doozie....if you continue to read, consider yourself warned :-).

I spent last Sunday-Wednesday on a work trip in Orlando (with a little Monday morning shopping time built in before getting down to business). I don't typically write much about work on this blog, mostly because I really do shut it off after hours and honestly don't think at all about work accept when I'm actually working. While I could complain about some aspects of work (I mean, it is work), I'm grateful to have a low-stress, flexible job where I can dedicate the time I want to to my family. I do what I can to impact my business during the day, but don't have to work long, painful hours to do so. And apparently, I've been doing an okay job at it these past few months.....I'm ranked number 5 in our region for the third month in a row, and am hanging tightly onto that spot (maybe, maybe even inching into the number 4 spot). This ranking has been motivating, especially since the top 6 sales people in each region win a trip to Hawaii (1-3) or extra cash (4-6). We still have four months of sales data to go before the end (and I could easily, easily slip all the way to the bottom in this timeframe), but I do know that the mere prospect of a week in Hawaii makes me want to be sure all my physicians are comfortable prescribing my products for the patients that will benefit from their respective therapy.

Okay, that is enough about my work....

This weekend marks the official beginning of "tax season" for Blaine. He is off to the office bright-and-early tomorrow morning, and we won't count on him for weeknight dinners anytime soon. We will certainly miss having him home in the evenings and on Saturday mornings, but are so, so grateful for him working so hard and glad that he enjoys it. The good news is that the countdown calendar has less than four months to go....and we will head to Disney to visit Mickey the day after he mails off the last of the taxes (or whatever he does on Tax Day :-). But, back to today (and not skipping ahead to April 16)....my sweet husband does such a good job with evening daddy duty, and though he will be working long hours at the office, he plans to try to be here in time to read a bedtime story each night.

Speaking of, here is the real purpose of this post - to talk about our changing nighttime routines. As some of you may know, Logan is still nursing at night.....go ahead, raise your eyebrows....I have a nursing toddler! Why, you ask? No, contrary to the belief of several of my friends' husbands, it is not because I don't want to let go of the larger 'cup size.' It is simply because it works for us. From day one, Logan was pretty resistent to the bottle. Once I went back to work, she quickly learned she could 'nip' from the bottle at Nana's during the day, and then spend all night long on mommy's "snack bar." And, since mommy could still get her sleep while Logan nursed on-and-off through the night, this little arrangement worked just fine. However the time has come to break bad habits.....Logan is becoming a "big girl." The fact is, Logan doesn't take a bottle anymore (she could have cared less that we packed those up), and she doesn't need to be nursing at night. During my trip last week, while she woke up several times, she didn't have any milk during the night. And, amazingly, her appetite picked up significantly. This is a good thing for our little peanut....she needs to gain some lbs.

We aren't exactly quitting cold turkey; we are learning a new nighttime routine, and the nursing is getting less and less each night. For some, this could be difficult, but I'm actually enjoying it so far. The thing is, up until two weeks ago, Logan nursed herself to sleep (yes, they say not to do this, but apparently 'they' don't know that this worked just fine for our family for the first 18 months). Her daddy handles bathtime (so mommy can have a few minutes to soak in her own bathtub). He dresses her for bed, gives vitamins, brushes teeth and reads a story. Then, I come in and cuddle up with her while she talks to me, sings with me, gives endless snuggles and is all-around pretty precious. And, while it puts a bit of a damper on the adult evening time, I kind of feel like this moment is fleeting, so enjoy. Tonight, she wanted to chat about "elbows" and "knees" (though her elbow is sometimes located on the top of her head...not sure why), she wanted to thank God for choo-choo, she wanted to sing the Sesame Street "Sing...Sing a Song" song, she wanted to rock Mickey and I will confess, she asked if Mickey could nurse, but I do have to draw the line somewhere. All-in-all, I spent from 7:45-8:45 pm in her room doing this whole routine. After our snuggles, she laid down, said a sweet "night night" and drifted right off to sleep.

Unfortunately, she will likely awaken sometime between midnight and 2 am. On a good night, I will go in to pat her chest or rock her for a few minutes and then put her back down until the morning hours when she can come get in bed with us. On a mediocre night, I will fall asleep in her rocker and wake up with a crick in my neck an hour later. And, on a lazy night, I will just go get her and bring her to bed with us, so we can all sleep soundly until the sun comes up. The hope is that as she stops the middle-of-the-night nursing, her little body will learn to not wake up for it. I almost hate to type this for fear that we will still be doing the same thing in four months, but the hope is that we will wean completely in the next month. I know those of you with children that sleep blissfully for 12 hours at a time are reading this post cross-eyed, wondering why I am so crazy. I know, I know, I could have "sleep-trained" long ago, but it wasn't ideal for us (I just don't have the heart for the tears) and while the pitch-dark trek to her nursery for 18 months seems to be a bit of a pain, it really hasn't been all bad. This process may test my patience at some point in the next few months, but at this point, she seems to be teaching herself to sleep on her own terms.

In other unrelated, "big girl" news....Logan used the big girl potty this week. She has gone one other time, but Nana has been really working on it during the day with her, and we talk non-stop about the potty. She has started to tell us she needs to go, but doesn't typically go when she asks to sit on the potty. She really just likes to stand up and say "all done," and then run away bare bum and all. She spent two days last week in big girl panties during the day....six pairs wet the first day (which really saved us on the diaper front), and she sat up in her Papa Bob's lap and wet her panties and his pants :-). Not really pushing on the whole potty training thing, just discussing it and letting her indicate when she is ready....mostly because the nighttime changes may be enough shake up for right now. I keep thinking she is going to look up at me and say "I don't want to be a big girl....pretty good with the baby thing."

New subject - Logan outgrew her shoes yesterday. Literally. They fit on Wednesday, but not on Thursday. Sad because I loved her cutie-patootie fall/winter shoes. Happy because it means new shoes! I'm exagerating a bit, she only outgrew two pairs of her shoes on Thursday. But, one pair were her pink ones, which means we will need to replace those sooner rather than later. Fortunately, I purchased these black boots in the next size while at the Janie & Jack outlet in Orlando last week. I must confess, when I put them on her the first time, she could barely stand up, and I was afraid I was going to have to write a "These Boots AREN'T Made for Walking" post. However, she figured them out quickly and has been running like crazy in them....and they are waterproof/patent, so they were perfect for the torrential downpour of rain this week.



We had dinner this week at GiGi's. Sweetest part of the night....Logan looked up at GiGi at one point while they were on the floor playing and said "Luv you." Does she just get sweeter and sweeter every day?

Here they are playing with Pedro, circa Blaine's childhood years. GiGi is so good to have hung on to these toys.

Uncle Bryant supplied LE with plenty of giggles.