The Great Nap Rebellion

We are in the middle of a crisis. To us. Mostly to me.

Phoebe is 19 months old. She is in the middle of the 18 month sleep regression. She and I both are exhausted.

Now, granted, she sleeps through the night. But she wakes up before dawn and is ready for the day. Where she was sleeping until 8 or 9 am, the last few days, she's gotten up before 7AM.

She was taking 2-3 hour naps. Now, she won't nap. Rather she'll lay down very peacefully for 30-45 minutes and then becomes hysterical. No amount of comforting will make her rest.

And oh the crankiness. She's exhausted. She makes this low moaning noise that grates my nerves.

And she's starving. I literally cannot fill her up.

Sleep regression is defined as:

Sleep Regression (Noun) Several points in an infant's early development, usually around 4, 8, and 18 months of age, in which the child develops sleeping difficulties, wakes frequently and sleeps fitfully, often in erratic spurts.

It also seems to be the time that everyone loses their ever-lovin' mind. Or maybe that's just me.

I don't function well on little sleep. I get cranky. I get anxious. When Phoebe went through other sleep regressions, I was able to crash when she crashed. She didn't sleep consistently through the night, but she took good naps during the day and I would follow the best advice ever and "sleep when she sleeps!" but this time? Not so much.

I've just got to adjust my own bedtime to make up for all this not sleeping.

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THE KNOTS PRAYER

I love this!!

Dear God,

Please untie the knots
that are in my mind,
my heart and my life.
Remove the have nots,
the can nots and the do nots
that I have in my mind.

Erase the will nots,
may nots, and
might nots that find
a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots,
would nots and should nots
that obstruct my life.

And most of all, dear God,
I ask that you remove from my mind
my heart and my life all of the am nots
that I have allowed to hold me back,
especially the thought
that I am not good enough.

Amen.

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I hate feeling like this

My darling daughter has some sort of stomach virus. She was sick Saturday morning in the car which necessitated removing the car seat from the car for spot cleaning and then again Monday morning in her bed. Additionally, she's had a couple of diaper disasters requiring baths and clothes washing. So not fun.

Last night, Moo joined the fun of losing his dinner repeatedly and with such gusto that I grew concerned. He says he feels better today so that's good.

I now have this nastiness. I am not a person who deals well with nausea. I want to avoid the whole thing and will lay in a cool, dark room until the feeling passes if I can.

Here's to hoping this is over soon.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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Passion

Have you ever heard that saying "Follow your passion"?

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I became a demonstrator a few months ago for a rubber stamp company. But it just hasn't been fun. Oh getting the stuff is fun and learning a lot of new stuff is fun, but I'm just not having fun selling the stuff. I'm not enjoying it at all.

I'm always self conscious about doing stuff for the biz but I'm out of ideas there so I end up doing nothing. I've been thinking of just quitting and doing something else. What, I have no idea.

Things I'm passionate about:

• My daughter
• My husband
• My home
• My faith
• Friends
• Being creative
• All things Disney
• Taking a vacation
• Finding new ways to eat healthy

So I am passionate about things, it's just how to turn those passions into something that will make a little cash?

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My mother always told me that sewing would be useful

When I was about 11 years old, my mother and grandmother decided it was time for me to learn to sew. I was taught to hem and baste and was put in front of a sewing machine to start learning the basics. My grandmother put me to work making dish clothes and pillow cases out of inexpensive muslin and terry cloth. I ultimately made a blouse and skirt. And that was the end of my instruction.

I wanted to know more but was told that if I could master dish clothes and pillowcases, then I could sew anything. What I did not know was that these lessons were the extent of my grandmother's and mother's knowledge.

My daughter has been graced with my father's figure: long waisted, thin and tall. At her 18 month appointment, she was 35 inches tall - the 99th percentile for her age. She was also just under 25 pounds, putting her in the 55th percentile. So she's fairly thin but beautifully proportioned.

This is great but not fun to buy pants for. If I buy for her weight, the pants are too short. If I buy for length, they are too big in the waist.

So when I found a really cute pair of pajamas that only came in a 2T, I did what I never thought I'd do: I bought them and hemmed them up and took in the waist a little - by hand!

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Crock Pot Cranberry Chicken

This is an awesome dish!! The flavor is delicious and it is SO easy.







Ingredients

• 2 cups bbq sauce (I used honey bbq sauce - whatever is on sale is fine)
• 1 10oz can of cranberry sauce
• Chicken breasts (3-4 fits perfectly in my crock pot)

I also added 4 Sweet Potatoes - more about them in the notes below.

1. Spray your slow cooker with non-stick spray
2. Mix the bbq sauce and the cranberry sauce in the slow cooker
3. Moo has a tendency to gag with chicken so I tenderize it by putting the pieces in zip top bags, sealing them and BEATING THE FIRE out of them with a mallet. I get a lot of frustration out like this.
4. After tenderizing, put the chicken (take it out of the zip lock bags) in the sauce. Use tongs or a spoon to make sure the chicken is covered in the sauce.
5. Cook on low 8-9 hours or high 4-5 hours

I also added sweet potatoes to this meal. Poke the sweet potatoes with a knife or fork, wrap in aluminum foil and just place on top of the chicken.

The verdict: Moo and I REALLY like this meal. This is the first time I added the sweet potatoes and they WERE AWESOME!!! The potatoes came out tender but not overcooked.

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2010 is my year

I haven't mentioned it here, but 2010 is my year.

It is significant for two major reasons:

1. Moo and I celebrate 10 years of marriage this year. I plan to tell y'all the whole story closer to the anniversary in April for keep watching for that.

2. I celebrate my 40th birthday this year. I am both excited and anxious about this.

I started 2010 with a few goals in mind, including eating better (read: REAL FOOD) and maybe losing a few pounds. I'm succeeding with the few pounds thing. And Moo and I have found we really like REAL FOOD.

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Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup

Here's an awesome recipe that is perfect for a cold windy day!

Cheesy Potato Soup

4 slices bacon
1 1/2 cups onion chopped
5 cups potatoes peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
32 oz chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups half and half or milk
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

1. In 12 inch skillet, fry bacon until crispy. Remove cooked bacon from skillet and reserve bacon grease. Drain bacon on paper towels then refrigerate

2. In same skillet, brown onions over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until tender

3. Spray slow cooker with non-stick spray. Mix onion, potatoes, celery, broth, salt and pepper

4. Cover. Cook on Low for 6-7 hours

5. In small bowl, whisk flour and half and half until well blended. Stir into soup.

6. Cover and cook additional 30 minutes or until thickened

7. Stir cheese into soup until melted and smooth

8. Garnish soup with crumbled bacon.

Servings: 6

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Thursday's Child has far to go...

I have to make a confession to all of you.

I started a life changing chapter of my life about a month ago.

I decided to tackle my weight again.

It wasn't part of some crazy New Year's resolution because I started it before Christmas.

I'm just tired.

Tired of the weight.

Tired of the way I look.

Tired of the judgement.

I know, I shouldn't care what other people think. But it's hard not to.

I have a long way to go - physically and mentally to win this game.

I intend to win this time.

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My 2010 resolution

I have resolved that this year I won't make any crazy resolution about losing a certain amount of weight or completely reorganizing my life or running a marathon. Instead, I am resolving to simplify my life and one way I plan to do that is by only eating real food.
So this year I will read more food labels and watch out for partially hydrogentated fat and high fructose corn syrup. I learned a long time ago that margarine wasn't real food so I'll continue to stay away from that and from anything that doesn't list real food in the first 3-5 items on the label.
I'll let y'all know how it goes. What is your new year's resolution?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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