The Nighttime routine...

The last few weeks night time has been a chore in our house. Jay used to just get in bed and go to sleep. It was nice. We'd have him asleep by around 8:30 or at the very least confined in his room with the babygate and he'd just play. So he stopped wanting to go to bed and learned that he could use the stool for his "big boy" bed to climb over the gate. So that was no longer useful. Now we start a little before 8:00 and we're in and out of his room. The worst is the "potty" excuse. I don't want to discourage him from using the potty, but he rarely actually goes. Then it's back again. Jack and I have to take up "post" in our room so that when he gets out of his room we can direct him back. Nell, on the other hand, fusses a little, then she goes out. It's nice. I just hope that by the time she reaches this stage that he's out of it!

Hit up The Fresh Market in Macon for the first time today. I'm so glad there isn't one of these in Milledgeville because I'd shop there every day! I got this smoked salmon salad that is so tasty. And I loved their help yourself snack mixes and nuts. So fun just walking around and looking at everything. Also found some new non-dairy foods to try. a non-dairy rach dressing (looks terrible) and a block of cheddar vegan cheese (I can have pimento cheese now) and mac & chreese. Now just to see if they're any good!

This has been my last week of maternity leave. Monday Nell is going to go to daycare for a little while so that I can wrap up some things before I go back to work. Then Tuesday it's back to work again! Sad and relieved at the same time. Good to get back to a schedule, but I will miss time with my little girl. I can't believe she's eight weeks old now and I have to go back to work. Le sigh...

CIO and Crest Spinbrush

So there are a lot of people these days who think that CIO is of the devil. Really I'm not downing those people, but they believe that babies cry for a reason and CIO is ignoring that. Now, if I didn't have to work outside of the home, I might feel differently, but CIO worked with Jay and he's a well-adjusted (although crazy) three year old. So over the last week, Nell would wake up at night and I'd go nurse her and she'd nurse about ten minutes and fall asleep. Nothing like her 20-30 minute marathons during the day! So I had decided that she wasn't really needing those night feedings. Night before last I started to let her CIO. We did three cycles of fifteen minutes of crying and settling her down in between. She was not calming and by this time Jay was up so I got her up, nursed and got both kids back to sleep. Last night I decided to try again. This time she had to be settled after two fifteen minutes of crying, then next thing I knew it was 5:30 and she was barely stirring! She actually didn't start fudding to get up until about 6:30 and even then wasn't crying to be fed right away! It was amazing. Not that I thihnk it'll happen that way every night from now on, but there's hope! Maybe I'll be getting good sleep when I go back to work. With the things facing me, I'll need it!

I'm going to start out by saying that I have not received any compensation from the Crest company, but if they want to send me a check that will be fine. I switched to a Crest Pro Spin brush this morning. That thing is so strong that it makes your whole head vibrate! My teeth hqaven't felt this clean!

So on tap for today, I'm walking with Julia and Ada, need to hit the store for diapers for Nell, get some schoolwork done. I have my finaly from Administrative Law last semester that needs to be finished, plus reading for my current Issues in Nonprofit Managements course. All the reading for this class is going to kick my butt!

I go back to work a week from tomorrow. It's coming. I'm ready in some ways, but will really miss spending this time with Nell. Also trying this week to get up early so that I'm used to it. Going to try to get back on counting calories this week too. The weight is not coming off as quickly this time around as it did with Jay. I think part of it is that I'm eating crap these days! Just munching alld ay and not watching my portion sizes. One thing that will help is that I've had to cut way back on dairy. It seems to upset Nell's tummy and she's not as happy when I've been eating it. I take Lactaid every morning too and that seems to help, but I could tell a difference yesterday since I was weak and had some ice cream on Saturday. Yesterday I hit up Kroger and found some soy ice cream and also some other non-dairy foods in their limited selection that I'm trying. I'm also going to hit up the natural food store when I go to Macon Friday and see what I find.

Guess that's it for now. Later taters!