Potty Training: Tackling Nighttime

I seriously cannot BELIEVE we've waited this long to start potty training Mia overnight. Every month, I still dutifully add a pack of training pants to my Honest Company order, and every month, I tell myself that this is the last time we are spending that extra $14, or whatever it is. It's starting to get a little ridiculous that my completely verbal and communicative 4 year old wakes me up on weekend mornings telling me that her diaper is "melting". A couple of weeks ago, Mia and Lucy went to a babysitter's house and I had to include Mia's overnight diaper in the instructions -- while the babysitter's 2 year old was completely diaper-free.

I've had a million reasons not to start. First, because Mia has never, not once, woken up with a dry training diaper. I keep reading that night training is physiological, that the kid's bladder capacity will be the indicator that she is ready to go all night without going. Well, I think I'll be waiting forever if I do that. And, it's impossible to know when she actually goes... does she hold it for most of the night and then just go in the morning when she wakes up? I have no idea. Second, because Mia has historically been a terrible sleeper. Mia didn't regularly sleep through the night until she was at least 18 months old, and even then, bedtime itself was a nightmare until recently. So, I've been dreading rocking the boat.

So, it was perfect timing when I was asked whether I was interested in reviewing Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki with the promise that there was a whole chapter on nighttime training. I mean, when I started potty training Mia a few months after she turned 2, I had a self-imposed deadline of her 3rd birthday to start nighttime training, and that year came and went with a few meager attempts, during which Mia wet the bed within an hour of falling asleep.

So, now we're doing it. I've read the chapter (and a couple of others) and am going to start putting things into practice. Jamie says, right off the bat, that there are two things you have to do to night time train: 1) limit water intake and 2) wake them up to pee. So, OK. We're forging ahead. We're up at least once every night with Lucy anyway, so we (by WE I mean B, since I'm the one doing the feeding) might as well wake Mia while we're at it. Anyway, I've liked reading the parts of the book that I've read so far. I don't usually find Potty Training books terribly helpful; I've checked a few out of the library, but I've liked the instructions she's given so far! Her writing style is straight to the point, simple, but funny!

We've done 2 nights so far -- night 1 went well, completely dry. Granted, it was a Saturday night so we were up late and super vigilant. We woke Mia up 3 times, and she went twice. The second night... didn't go as well. Despite waking her up twice, and having her go twice, she wet the bed, twice. Once within 10 minutes of her being in bed -- I'm not sure she was even asleep so I'm a bit puzzled on that one. But the second time was in the morning. Again, I'm not sure if she was even asleep when it happened, since she came into my bedroom to alert me to the fact that her bed had "melted". I honestly think she might have forgotten she was sans-diaper and followed her usual habit of going first thing. Bumps in the road, for sure, but we aren't getting discouraged just yet.

Oh, and let me share this one trick I found on Pinterest or something to make middle of the night sheet changes easier: cover the mattress with a water proof protector under the fitted sheet, natch. BUT then, put a couple of puppy training pads down, and cover with another fitted sheet (and repeat as many times as you like). If there's an accident, remove the fitted sheet, and hopefully your puppy pads will have caught the "wet" and kept the next layer of sheet dry!

Like I said, I was sent a copy of Oh Crap! Potty Training for no charge if I was interested in writing a review - which I was! Opinions and execution is my own.

These two

There two. Together. They kill me. The sisters.

6 months in, and I cannot believe how much they love each other. Every morning, Mia wakes up racing into our room looking for Lucy (whose wake up is often around 5am, and Brian plops her down next to me while he goes off and does this thing called "exercise"), and the three of us spend the first few minutes of every day cuddling and giggling. Mia does everything she can to make Lucy laugh, Lucy doesn't take her eyes off Mia, and I... supervise. Lucy is always in the best mood in the mornings, and Mia takes full advantage. This has also helped getting Mia out of bed, who used to resist weekday wake ups.

Every Monday, Lucy goes to daycare with Mia. Mia reported stays in the baby room for the first few minutes of the day to "make sure Lucy isn't sad", before heading out to join the big kids. When the daycare teachers told me this after the first day, I had to hold back the tears.

On days that I can barely keep my eyelids from closing, I realize that the best thing I could have done for Mia was to give her this baby sister. And I often think about how lucky Lucy is to have three people to love her.

Very wet, but not so wild.

Now that Lucy is 6 months old, it feels like we have our lives back again. Before the past few weeks, it has felt like there was a bit of a timer on us leaving the house. Lucy would need a nap, or I'd need to be able to go back to the car to nurse her (I'm not VERY comfortable nursing on the go, and neither is she). But, on a very hot Las Vegas Day, we slathered ourselves in sunscreen, and headed out to cool off at Wet n Wild!

I have the best memories of water parks are a kid. I remember coming back from a field trip to a water park without realizing the butt section of my bathing suit had gotten so worn out from the constant sliding that there were actual holes in it! Mia loves the water. We don't have a pool, but a few of our friends do, and as soon as she spots the water, she will go in no matter what the water temperature is. So, I thought a water playground would actually be the perfect fit for her. 

We got the use of a shaded cabana for the day, which included an ice bucket, waters and a personal attendant who was charming but a bit overwhelmed on his second day of work. It was so nice to have a base camp to settle in for the day, and a play to draw some curtains and have complete privacy, which is a total dream for nursing. I was able to recline on the lounge chairs, and Lucy didn't have to be covered up (which she hates). As soon as I realized that she was comfortable, I knew that we could stick around for as long as Mia wanted to. I hate taking her away from fun just because Lucy needs a proper nap and feeding. 

The rarest picture of me in a bathing suit - I was so happy to be there, it had to be documented, flabby belly and all.

I get the impression that many of their employees are high school students out of school for the summer, and I absolutely love that. I would have loved to have this job as a high school student! B and I joked that when the kids were older, we'd just buy them season passes and meal passes and send them to Wet n' Wild for the summer instead of paying for a summer camp! It's certainly better than having them laze around the house all day.

How much would you have loved this as a little kid?

Our cabana was right in front of the "little kid" section of the park. Smaller slides, splash pads, waterfalls, etc. Mia ran towards the play structure as soon as we had our stuff down, but our little wimpy kid was terrified when she realized that there was a giant bucket of water that periodically spilled out over the whole play structure! The first time it dumped water on her, she rushed right back to the cabana with her Papa. There were also a set of toddler slides (unaffected by the giant bucket of fear) that she was much more content on.

Escaping the Bucket of Fear

I was itching to get on a water slide, so as soon as B and Mia came back, I left B with the baby in the shade (where he belongs) and headed out to one of the tandem water slides. I scanned the lines to see whether there were little kids in line with their parents, and took Mia to that one. Once we were installed in our tube with Mia ensconced safely between my legs, we went down. Little did I know, the whole ride would be in the dark! Mia was again terrified and vowed never to trust her parents again. 

From our cabana, Mia (now fearful of any words her parents said) hadn't yet spotted the lazy river or the pool. We convinced her to put on her little puddle jumper and head to the lazy river, so that Lucy didn't have to miss out on all the fun. There were little lifevests available for babies, so we strapped one on Lucy and settled into an inner tube for seven a couple of laps around the river. Mia swam around, B flipped over, and everyone had a fantastic time going around and around and around. I didn't bring my phone (since... water) but I got a few giggles out of Lucy sticking her feet in the water and watching her big sister splash around. I think we even managed to get some of Mia's trust back.

Mia, Lucy and I headed back to the Cabana to order lunch, while B went and had his own fun at the Slideboarding ride which he explained was a combination video game/water slide and while the whole process took kind of a long time, he came back grinning so I think he had a great time. He said something about needing to go back later on and try to beat his time, but I just smiled and nodded. I knew perfectly well that I wouldn't be able to get Mia back on any water slides, but I had my eye on the wave pool and wanted to spend the rest of the day bobbing up and down on a tube. Mia and I headed over there for a good long time. She loved loved loved the wave pool, and gained a bit of her bravery back. She even had me let go of her several times, and kept on asking to get closer to the big waves. I love me a wave pool, only second to a lazy river. 

Alas, B's second turn on the sideboard was naught. Mia and I were signaled out of the wave pool because there had been some thunder and lightening, because Las Vegas wanted to choose the one day we were at the water park to rain. 

We felt slightly guilty for being so sheltered while others gathered around the umbrellas. I believe umbrellas are general admission, first come first served, but cabanas require a reservation and extra fee. They also have some cool looking day beds, and some umbrella rentals that you can set up on the grass.

After waiting it out for a little bit longer, it didn't look like it was going to clear up. Since the 4 year old was tired, the husband was not yet sunburned, and the baby had yet to take a nap, we decided to call it and pack it up.

Mia fell asleep on the way home, a rarity now a days and a sure sign of a good time.

I was given complimentary passes to Wet n' Wild for my family to experience the new attractions just opened this summer, they did not require a blog post in exchange, but we had a great time! All opinions are my own.

Call me Four girl

Mia's birthday was so anticipated this year. As soon as the month of May hit, I would remind Mia that it was her birthday soon. Inevitably, after 20 or so days of reminding her, she had finally had enough. Mom, you always say that, and it's never my birthday yet. The day finally did come, and was celebrated with a "pool" party, and by "pool" I mean inflatable kiddie pool that was a hit with the 4 year olds nonetheless. On her actual Birthday, I woke her up and said "Wake up, Big Girl!", and she corrected me: "You can call me Four Girl, Mom".

According to Mia's 4 year old well check, she weighs 33 lbs, and measures 41 inches. Her weight puts her in the 3rd percentile, which is... not great, but she is about average in height. The weight did startle me a bit, but considering what a struggle meal time is, I shouldn't have been surprised. Mia is often left at the table as the only person not to have finished her meal (and that includes the baby sister whose little ramekin is empty of whatever puree she was having for dinner). While I'm not going to change too much of my cooking habits, I will stop expecting my 4 year old to eat quinoa (B and I have been trying not to eat too many carbs, but that's a bit difficult since I am still nursing) and I have been making her a handful of buttered noodles as a side dish since we found out she was totally skinny.

At 4, Mia's personality is quite her own. She likes to watch movies, play with her legos, play with her doll house. She still colors, but not quite as much as she used to. Her legos and doll house are the main source of play, and it's gotten quite imaginative. Eavesdropping into her storylines have become quite a favorite of mine, though I am startled at how often her dolls get in trouble (I'm always asking B-- Do I sound like that?!). Mia has really taken to being a big sister, maybe more than I thought she would. She plays with Lucy a lot, supervises her in her little exersaucer while I'm cooking. She is mostly gentle, though will accidentally hurt or startle Lucy once in a while, but nobody is harder on herself than she is when Lucy cries because of something she did.

She likes everything princess, refuses to wear anything but dresses (the longer the better) and is a bit of a outdoor play wimp. She loves going to the playground, but is scared of the slides and climbing high. It kind of surprises me, because she was much more adventurous when she was smaller, but we try not to force it. She's still very sensitive, doesn't respond well to yelling or harsh discipline, and is shy, but friendly and caring to those she knows.

I often joke that Mia is my best friend, but now that she's 4, she's so interactive and grown up, that it's hardly a joke anymore. So Happy Birthday to my darling girl, my sweetest big sister, my little best friend.

Grand Canyon take 2

Somehow, we've managed to take two trips to the Grand Canyon since Lucy's birth. The first time, she was completely asleep the whole time, and this second time, she screamed for about 75% of the time we were visiting the different viewpoints. This time, we brought the kids, the dogs, and my sister in law and in all that wrangling (and there was much wrangling -- I had the baby and the chihuahua and B had Mia and the lab mix), I managed not to snap a single picture with my Phone! I am a big disappointment to my blog.

It was both incredibly pleasant and incredibly stressful. It was a 4 hour drive either way, during which I was stuffed in the backseat with two carseats and two dogs, but we listened to Serial the whole drive (and finished just as we were pulling into our neighborhood!). The first trip (right around Christmas time) we went to the West Rim, which is an Indian reservation with an organized bus tour and limited stops. This time, we took the longer drive down to the South Rim, where the actual National Park is and it was so very very nice. The weather was perfect, it was sunny and warmish the whole time. We only spent one night (we considered doing 2 nights, but now that we're back I'm glad we stuck to one) at the only pet-friendly lodge in town, which we were once again stuffed into like sardines (had it been just us, without the SIL, it would have STILL been cramped), but we were all together and that was nice.

We very much intended on doing some actual hiking, but in the end we just did the paved walk around the rim, and I'm quite proud of us for managing even that. I had to stop (twice! and covered) to nurse while sitting on a boulder with basically the most spectacular view while pretending I was completely comfortable so as not to draw too much attention to myself. I'm all for breastfeeding and everything, but I still have a hard time nursing without being behind closed doors. Despite the paved terrain, it was still the most exercise I've gotten in a long time -- especially since I was pushing a double stroller up and down inclines.

On the second day, did the 25-mile drive, with various lookout points and stops along the way. It ended in a lookout tower, and Mia was very disappointed that Rapunzel was not there. I took 2 days off work to bookend the weekend, and B took a while week to hang out with his sister while she visited, while giving me some alone time at work. Today, we're all back to our regular schedule, until my other sister in law visits in 3 weeks!!

Overdue Update

This post title may be a bit misleading, considering there isn't much to "update". Things are very much the same now as they were at the time of my last post. That isn't a bad thing, normalcy is certainly something that many families with an infant may crave, and it does feel like we've reached it. The days may be long, but the months feel very short.

Lucy's a relatively easy baby as far as it goes, though she does have her moments. I am continuing to nurse her exclusively, something I didn't do with Mia and I feel proud to be doing this time around. I didn't like nursing Mia, I didn't like feeling like I was the only person that could feed her, but this time around, since I have a good pump, it still feels like I have some flexibility. Besides, not having to wash bottles is a positive point for breast feeding!!

I am taking this Friday and following Monday off of work, and we are headed out of town for one night. It kind of feels like I haven't had a break in ages, and I certainly don't count my maternity leave as a break, considering the difficult recover plus the huge number of family members that were in town. And, with taking Lucy to work with me, I feel like I am constantly juggling my different roles. In the evenings, B will do most of the baby-entertaining which I am absolutely grateful for, but when she fusses, boob is almost always the solution, so I never really do get much of a break. It will be nice not to have to think about work for more than just a weekend and focus on having a nice time with my family, who I have been enjoying immensely recently.

Mia goes back and forth from being so helpful, independent and sweet to being needy, whiny and rebellious, but such is life with an almost 3/4 year old, I suppose. Our after work routine is so predictable, and she'll just do things like refusing to get out of the car, refusing dinner, and lying. So much lying! About nothing atrocious, just things like saying she washed her hands when they are clearly filthy. I've turned into my mother and told her that her tongue would be cut off if she continued to lie (my Mom told me that Jesus would be cutting my tongue off, but I'm leaving that out of this one...), but I was at my wits end in the moment.

The Night of Three Times

Life with a newborn is constantly changing. You get few days in a row of sameness, and and you let your guard down. You think to yourself, "Hey! If this is how it's going to be, this isn't so bad." And then, things change again and throw everyone (your newborn included!) for a loop.

Lucy gave us 4 days in a row of good sleep. She'd go down between 10pm-11pm after a couple of hours of fussing and cluster feeding, stay down until around 3 or 4 am, have a quick feeding and be back down until around 7. A really great schedule that made perfect sense, allowing me to feed her until she fell back asleep and letting me get up and ready for the day. I've even learned to start loving the middle of the night feeding  now that I'm back at work, where we get to just cuddle quietly together without anything else to do.

Of course, everything changed last night. She did her cluster feeding a bit earlier than usual, and fell asleep an hour earlier than usual, at 9pm. So, I went with it. Put her down for the night and headed back downstairs for a full hour of hands free, boob free time! "Maybe we are inching towards getting our post-bedtime evenings back," I thought to myself, like the fool that I am.

All was well, even an hour later when B and I came up to sleep. She stayed asleep in her bassinet, breathing heavily. B and I fell asleep at 10, also perfectly contentedly. Of course, OF COURSE, Mia chose this night, this beautiful night, to start screaming at midnight. For absolutely no obvious reason once B went to investigate. And of course, OF COURSE, said screaming also woke our perfectly sleeping baby, messing the whole schedule up.

We may have gotten an hour of freedom, but we certainly paid for it in the middle of the night. Because Lucy's middle of the night wake up was so much earlier than usual, she woke up a second time at 5am, and this time, screamed every time I put her down, which meant we  dozed while she was in my arms for 2 hours (I couldn't even put her down next to me until 7am!).

Thank goodness it's Friday. It certainly makes these prickly eyes easier to bear.

Lucy's Birth Story

Since my office was closed on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, I scheduled my maternity leave/vacation to technically start on the Monday following, December 1st. At the time I made my schedule, I thought there was absolutely no way I would make it to then without a baby, and while I wasn't completely off, I was pretty frustrated to find myself sitting in my office that wednesday morning, triple checking that everything I could wrap up was in fact, wrapped up.

That afternoon, I had my 39-week Doctor's appointment. I was fully prepared to get my membrane sweep, which my Doctor with Mia also did at my 39-week appointment, and I went into labor very very shortly after. B kept making jokes that he didn't want me to get it done that day because he wanted to be able to watch the Bears game on Thanksgiving. I told him very nicely to go screw himself, and secretly hoped for my labor to make plain my feelings on the NFL taking over way too many days of the week. But, as my Doctor walked in, she informed me that a membrane sweep was not recommended for someone who had tested positive for Group B Strep (which I did). I was basically enormously pregnant and enormously disappointed that I actually needed to wait for this baby to come out completely on her own. She did tell me though, that as soon as I was in any kind of labor, I should come in to the hospital to get my antibiotics started (because of the Group B Strep).

Thanksgiving came and went with absolutely no signs of labor, and I decided that I would no longer be relaxing. I bought one of those big pilates balls, bounced on it for hours a day, took long brisk walks, went shopping for our Christmas Tree, and decorations with my Mom (she insisted on an all-pink tree this year, to please her first grand daughter and celebrate the birth of her second). On Friday night, I contracted regularly and painfully for a few hours, but they weren't close enough together to be considered active labor. Plus, once I went to bed, they spaced out and let me fall asleep pretty soundly. The same thing happened Saturday, and Sunday night. By Monday, two days before my due date, I was exhausted and decided that if I contracted regularly again, we'd go into the hospital and at least see what they had to say about these contractions that were seriously getting on my nerves.

As predicted, it totally happened on Monday night as well, and B and I headed to L&D. I was fully convinced that as soon as I got strapped to the monitor, they would stop and I would be sent home. They did stop, but I was dilated to just shy of 4cms. My Doctor was on call that night, it was pretty slow, so he poked around down there a bit vigorously, told us to walk around the hospital for about an hour and see if my contractions could get regular enough to be considered active labor. Whatever he did down there definitely put me over the edge, and the contractions started coming strongly and closely while I walked. When I was rechecked, I was past the 4cm threshold for admittance, and I was put in a birthing suite and my antibiotics were started. An hour later, my antibiotics were in and my water was broken, which REALLY made things painful and quick.

I got my epidural after about 3 hours of post-water contractions. I didn't remember the epidural much from last time, but it was an incredibly unpleasant experience this time around. I do remember my first epidural completely numbing my bottom half and legs, so much that I couldn't hold myself up in my hospital bed. This time, I was told that I should continue to feel my legs, and that the only thing that would go somewhat numb would be my abdomen. I should continue to feel pressure, but no pain. 

It was actually kind of amazing. I could move my legs, not so much that I could walk, but I could shift in bed as I wanted to, lift my legs as needed, etc. I could feel that two hours later, my contractions were close enough together that I wanted very much to push through them, and alerted my nurse. Of course my labor would choose that specific moment to want to push, since it was shift-change time at the hospital and my Doctor (who had the overnight shift) had just left, so his partner (who I had met, but didn't particularly like) was now on call, but was in the middle of a scheduled c-section at a different hospital about 20 minutes away. 

Based on my history (with Mia) of a nurse delivery, quick pushing, and significant tearing, my Doctors wanted absolutely no pushing or pressure of any kind until he was in the room. I sat there, breathing through but not pushing through the strong (but not painful) contractions for AN HOUR AND A HALF before he came in the room at 9am.

He was as unfriendly as he was in the office, but he turned out to be really great at his job. He had me push once, during which I tore an inch (1st degree tear) along the line of my first tearing scar, and he immediately stopped me, gave me very specific leg positioning and pushing instructions, had me push three more times and by 9:05am, Lucy was born very gently into the world! I could feel everything but pain and felt very much in control of the whole situation. 

Within 2 hours of delivery, I was on my feet and going to the bathroom with a bit of help from my nurse, who was also awesome. Somehow, I got her all to myself and she was basically with me at all times which was really great. I felt like I got such better care at this hospital than I did for Mia's delivery across town. On that first day, I felt absolutely great, declined the stronger pain medication (until that night... when things were not AWFUL but pretty painful when sitting up). 

Lucy was wide awake for a few hours following her birth, she latched several times and was taking really REALLY strong and painful pulls almost immediately. Around 2pm, B left the hospital to pick Mia up, we did the initial introductions and Mia was absolutely thrilled and sweet. Lucy brought Mia a "big sister" gift, which was an Elsa doll (since Elsa is the big sister and all), and Mia was totally charmed and impressed. By the end of Mia's visit, we had Elsa glitter all over the hospital room, but it was worth it. 

We were discharged from the hospital the next day, and while we had a rough first night, we've settled into a pretty good sleeping and feeding groove, so things are going well. At Lucy's first visit to the pedia (and during our meeting with the lactation consultant in the hospital), we found that Lucy had a tongue tie that was snipped right then and there, with absolutely minimal bleeding and 100% improvement on the painful latch. Other than that, I've felt so happy and fulfilled and incredibly satisfied with my two girls. More on her first days soon!

Throwback Tuesday: Mia's birth story

This blog post was written (and published) on my [now defunct] family blog, and I thought it would be fun to repost it here while I wait (and wait and wait) for Baby #2 to make her appearance.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Mia's Birth Story

Mia Jennifer
 7 lbs, 2oz, 19"
May 25, 2011 at 4:56pm

By now, I am hoping that nobody is learning of Mia's birth for the first time from this blog. However, B and I are proud to announce the birth of our daughter, Mia Jennifer, on Wednesday, May 25th, 2011. For posterity, and other people's curiosity, I'd like to share Mia's Birth Story.

On Tuesday, May 24th, I had my final appointment with my OB. I had a morning appointment, but Dr. K was busy at the hospital again, so I didn't end up being seen until around noon. He did an exam, and found that I was about 2 centimeters dilated, but manually pushed me to 3 cm (which hurt like crazy, btw). He warned that I might have some mild cramping and bleeding.

After stopping for lunch at Jimmy John's, my cramps started to become a bit of a nuisance, enough so that I decided not to go into work that afternoon and lay down. The cramps "progressed" and became what I would consider contractions around 3 or 4 pm, and I began timing them at 9 minutes apart around 5. I decided to call B at 6pm, so that I could catch him before he left for his softball game that night. I didn't tell him that my contractions had progressed from 9 to 8 minutes apart by then, but that I'd like him to keep an eye on his phone in between innings. No use in him rushing home if the contractions went away, like I expected them to.

By 2 am, we decided this wasn't a false alarm, and it was time to head to the hospital. After gathering some essentials, taking a shower, we headed to the Hospital, car seat already installed. Mom followed us shortly afterwards. It was a very busy night at the Labor and Delivery, so I spent the first few hours of my hospital stay in a large triage room which lots of people would periodically walk through. I was at 4 cm dilated by the time I was checked by Cindy, my very nice overnight nurse. She had the exact attitude that I needed, especially since I was so nervous about getting the all the little procedures done (like the IV, epidural, etc.), and the fact that I was still not in my own room.

Dr. H, my very nice anesthesiologist came in and put in the epidural around 5 am. It was every bit as unpleasant as I expected, but B and Cindy coached me through and soon enough, I could only feel my toes. My contractions almost stopped once the epidural kicked in, so I was given pitocin after all to speed up my dilation. Cindy put in an internal fetal monitor, which is a little probe that gets stuck to the baby's head, and we had our first clue of what Mia looked like. Cindy had to put in two probes, because the first one got so tangled in her hair that the readings were not coming through!

By the time I was 6 centimeters dilated, they decided that I definitely needed to be moved into my own room. Since there still were no labor and delivery rooms, I was put in a makeshift room by adding the necessary machines/baby nursery/delivery table/bed with stirrups to a postpartum room. It was a bit crowded, but luckily, I wasn't moved again for the rest of my hospital stay.

Once I was settled in my new room, my day shift nurse named Haze started. B and I were thrilled to find that she was the nurse assigned to us, because she taught the birthing class which we attended a couple of months earlier. Haze has been a labor and delivery nurse for about 30 years. She was no-nonsense and efficient. Even though she was basically a 180 from Cindy, she was exactly what I needed as a coach during the actual delivery.

Around 4pm, after laying numbly and miserably in my bed for the whole day, I was finally 10 cm dilated. Mom, B and I asked whether Dr. K had been called yet, since we assumed he should be there before I start pushing. Haze said that Doctors don't get called until crowning, so we had a little work to do first. Dr. K had already stopped by to check on me a few times, since he had 8 women in various stages of delivery at the hospital at the time.

Apparently, I was unexpectedly efficient at pushing, because after about 30 minutes, Haze urgently called for Dr. K. When he still hadn't arrived 5 minutes later, Haze made a "NURSE DELIVERY" announcement into my call button and about 5 different people came rushing in to "catch" our little girl. Dr. K came in about 30 seconds later, welcomed by a crying baby. Unfortunately, Mia came out with one of her arms up by her face, rather than it staying down by her body as most babies do, so Dr. King arrived just in time to fix the damage. Luckily, it was nothing too serious.

Our first family photo!

At 7 lbs, 2 oz and 19 inches, Mia showed everyone that she was quite a bit trimmer than she was expected to be. She also had a full head of dark hair, very chubby cheeks and an adorable round nose. Our new little family spent the next two nights in the hospital, to make sure Mia was feeding properly and I was healing well.

Shopping and Pumpkin Patches

The weekend was one of those weekends where things that seemed important before waking up on Saturday morning just stopped being so. Even though no floors were cleaned and no loads of laundry were done (something I am sure I will regret come Tuesday morning), it was just a really lovely weekend of quiet and togetherness.

I have a (short) list of essential baby items to purchase, something I fully intended on taking care of this weekend, but completely ran out of steam by the time I got to our first of three stops of the day. So, I only came out of my Saturday of planned shopping with completely non-essential baby items. Both of which are so pretty, I don't even care.

Vera Bradley Paisley Meets Plaid Messenger Diaper Bag

Vera Bradley Tutti Frutti Baby Shoes

Las Vegas finally decided to stop being so darn warm over the weekend, and while we didn't need jackets or scarves, it was nice enough to open windows and doors, and just let the cool-ish breeze go through the house. The freshness of spring that you get in your house on the east coast when opening your windows after a long winter of being shut in is what we experience around here during the fall. While I remember this happening much sooner in previous years, waiting until the end of October for temperatures to dip below 85 seems a bit ridiculous. But nonetheless, it is here and it is wonderful.

We were able to get ourselves to the neighborhood pumpkin patch as a celebration of fall. And while we had no turning leaves in the background, we were able to be outside for over an hour without creating a single drop of sweat, which really is incredibly pleasant at 8 months pregnant. Really, really pleasant.

On the need to be a Princess

Every morning, for the past couple of weeks, it's been the same requirements from Mia in picking her outfits. "I wanna be a princess." Evidently, "being a princess" means wearing a skirt or dress. The poofier the better, of course.

In the midst of my nesting fervor, I've already packed up the majority of her summer clothes, and while the highs are still in the 90s, the mornings have been quite chilly and I've been steering her in the direction of shirts with sleeves, rather than the whispy little tanks and summer dresses she may prefer to fit her "princess" requirements.

Usually, by about Wednesday, she runs out of "princess" items, and has to resort to shorts or pants. I insist to her: "Mia, Princesses can wear pants too!". Well, apparently not. Mia came home from daycare yesterday and informed me that Charlie (an older girl) told her that she was NOT a princess because she was not wearing a dress. I told her that Charlie was wrong, and that she didn't make the rules. Anyone can be a princess, no matter what they are wearing. Even boys can be princess if they want to be!

Really? Are we dealing with this kind of peer pressure in the 3 year old classroom? I knew that raising daughters would mean facing body image issues, self-esteem, judgment from other girls, etc. But I didn't realize we'd be getting a glimpse into those adolescent issues this early on.

This morning, she asked her father to dress her. Undoubtedly because B lets her wear whatever she wants. She's no dummy. She found a tutu and a pink t-shirt. Both were weather appropriate, and while I can't imagine it's comfortable to run around a playground at daycare in that outfit, it's her choice.

B dropped her off at school this morning, and reported that as soon as she entered her classroom, she went straight up to Charlie and said: "I'm a princess today." I'm still pretty baffled by the whole situation, but B said it was very much of a warning. Don't give me any shit today, I'm a Princess. At least she's standing up for herself.

Toddler Sleep Habits, Volume Umpteen.

A few weeks before turning 3, Mia became a total rebel. 2 was a super fun age for us, and while she threw her fair share of tantrums, she wouldn't push her boundaries the way she does now. During the day, she'll be incredibly opinionated, mostly in demanding yet charming ways. Her opinions are strongest when it comes to food choices, cutlery choices (BIG FORK!), plate color, and clothing. It's not been completely easy to deal with, but as long as you give her a semblance of a choice, things go over relatively well (Mia, would you like to wear a skirt or shorts today?).

But at bedtime, the charm is gone. It became most apparent to us when my parents were around, and she would scream (oh yes, SCREAM) requests at us from the door of her room (blocked by a baby gate). "I NEED ANOTHER BOOK!" or "I NEED SOME WATER!" or "I NEED ANOTHER [STUFFED] ANIMAL!". Nothing earth shattering, but certainly a great delay tactic. At this point in the day, B and I just wants some G-D peace and quiet, so whatever she was requesting, within reason, she would get. My parents pointed out that during their visit last year (at this exact time of year), she went to bed with absolutely no complaints, and they were always so impressed with that. Not too many circumstances have changed in her bedtime routine -- she had free reign of the room though she was sleeping in a toddler bed, she got the same nighttime routine of bath, toothbrush, and book. She's still napping at daycare, but rarely does on the weekends, but that doesn't affect her nighttime transformation into a tazmanian devil.

Reenter sleep training. While she was a baby/toddler still in her crib, we used a simple method recommended to us by her pediatrician. Put her to bed, leave. If she cried, go back to her immediately, soothe, and exit. If she didn't calm down, return 10 minutes later, soothe, exit. If she didn't calm down then, return 20 minutes later, soothe, exit. So on and on with 10 minute increments added on. This worked for us, and by 2 she was going to bed without protest or delay.

This time, things are a bit different since she's not actually crying, and I assume, doesn't need the reassurance from us any more. She just doesn't want to go to bed yet. On Monday, we started the method recommended by AlphaMom, of walking her silently and without emotion  back to bed every time she gets up, without acknowledging any requests and with 100% consistency. We've done three nights, and while I'll admit the time between initially putting her to bed and her actually falling asleep (or at least, no longer protesting) has shortened considerably, her reaction to us following this method has taken us entirely by surprise.

My sweet girl turns into a bit of a devilish monster when her parents do not acknowledge her. The first night, she screamed. Not scream-cried, but screamed in anger. But, we did as we were instructed. No emotions, no acknowledgment. We are permitted to repeat a single phrase of our choosing (We went with "Stay in your bed"), and that is the only thing we'll say to hear when bringing her back to her bed.  She screamed, demanded a book, demanded water, kicked her blankets off. I mean, she was seriously awful and I was so glad nobody else was in the house to see this transformation. We must have gone up a total of 8 times and returned her to bed, and things were finally quiet upstairs about an hour after initial bedtime.

The second night, she got angry before we even said goodnight for the first time. She lost her story privileges, and was seriously mad about it right away. She hit me, several times. Nothing painful or violent, but clearly testing limits. The AlphaMom article didn't address what to do in this kind of situation, but I powered through and simply told her to stay in her bed. This time, we went up about 5 times, but it only took about 20 minutes for her to settle down. The next morning, she was seriously cheerful when she woke up, and I was secretly doing a victory dance -- I could at least tell myself that we were doing the right thing by forcing her to sleep, despite her obviously hating us for it.

Last night, night 3, she got mad, Mad, MAD as soon as I pulled out her pajamas. So, I figured we should stop showing emotion right away, and go to "Stay in your bed". She demanded another pair of pajamas, she demanded a different overnight pull up design, and she hit me again. Repeatedly. At first, without any kind of violence, but then, she hit me in the face, SO HARD that my glasses actually flew off my face. I nearly lost my ever loving mind. I grabbed her by the shoulders, put her in bed, told her she was NOT a sweet girl, and left. [PARENT FAIL] It was a seriously heartbreaking scene, and I think I will remember this night for a long time. She was so irrationally angry, and I was so angry and shaken up by her violent reaction that I didn't know what to do. She screamed, kicked her blankets off, continued demand different pajamas, etc. There was, at least, a small victory. She did not get out of bed. She may have been writhing around in anger, but at least she was doing it in her bed. About 10 minutes later, after I had calmed down, I heard her calm herself down. She had gotten out of bed, but she told us from the door of her room that she was ready to be a sweet girl now. So, I went up, wordlessly walked her back to bed. She repeated that she was sorry, and ready to be a sweet girl. I broke our own rules and told her that I was sorry, gave her a kiss and a hug, and she rolled over and let me tuck her in.

The time frames are certainly shortening, but the training has certainly intensified. If things don't go well tonight, I'm not sure I can keep this up much longer. I've never seen this side of her, it's so raw and disturbing to see your sweet little child flip a switch so drastically. I'm hoping we get things a bit more under control tonight and tomorrow. And if we don't, then I'm going to pull the plug on this method.

Mia at 3

Today (backdated... I blame pregnancy) Mia is 3 years old!

I can't believe it's only been a short three years since she's been with us. But at the same time, I have no idea how B and I were ever busy before she was around. Mia's birthday may be today, but the celebrating has gone on for what seems like ages. We started off the month with a little birthday celebration in Chicago, with the in-laws. Mia and her cousins were the only children, but they were certainly entertained and thrilled with the cake. All Mia asked for was a "pink" cake, and her request was granted three separate times!

So far, three seems like it will be the most challenging age we have faced. I doubt we are the exception to this rule, but I have a feeling that "Terrible Twos" are a misnomer. Three seems to be the age where opinions turn into demands, and there is no logic to those wants. Bedtime, mealtime, playtime... everything has been turned upside down in the past few months, and B and I have yet to get the hang of it.

Mia continues to be very sweet, but cuddle time is scarce. She'll still sit on our laps on occasion, but only when television is involved. If you ask for a hug, she'll happily oblige. Her sweetness is still there, though. She has a lot of empathy, and this part of her personality surprised me while I was in the thick of my morning sickness. She would be very concerned if I wasn't feeling well, and brought me various stuffed animals and blankets to make me "feel better". She's been a Mama's girl for the longest time, but it looks like her attachment to her Papa is getting strong. B has been training for the past couple of months, so he leaves earlier in the mornings and gets home later in the evenings. This has not slipped by her, and she often asks where her Papa is. B is never home past 7, and she always welcomes him with so much enthusiasm, I'm almost jealous. But mostly grateful, considering the shift in attention she'll be getting about 5 months from now.

Frozen started the Disney Princess obsession, and while we have thankfully gotten the Frozen viewings to once every few weeks, Mia has gone full blown princess. I don't know how this happened, or whether we encouraged it at any time, but Mia is now a princess, who only likes to wear skirts or dresses. I can still get a pair of shorts on her, but she prefers sometime that has a little twirl to it. Oh, and did I mention PINK?Because it must be pink.

While the newness of being a Mom to Mia may be wearing off, I am still the happiest I could be. I still get pangs of missing her during the day, but no longer feel any guilt about having put her in full time daycare. She loves her friends and teachers, and is clearly secure with her life and family.

Mia, we love you so much. Happy 3rd Birthday!

A 10 day whirlwind

10 days is actually a really long vacation, in the grand scheme of vacations. Mia and I weren't even gone that long when it involved a 10 hour plane right to get to Paris and back. And yet, our little summer trip to Chicago had us away from home from 10 days.

This is basically how I felt the entire time we were away!

We spent a lot of good family time with both my brother and B's family, and I think Mia really got to know that side of the family. I always lived far away from my extended family, but my parents always made an effort to have us spend plenty of time with them when we did travel back to their respective home countries, and I think B and I are doing a good job so far making sure Mia bonds with her far away family members.

We had 2 reasons to make the trip this time. First, for B's younger sister's second baby's Baptism, for whom we were the Godparents. It was a really nice event, and the grandparents really went all out and got their little granddaughter a limo for her grand entrance, much to Mia and her cousin Tyler's delight. Apparently, no car seats are necessary for the 5 minute limo ride!

The rest of the time was basically packed with family activities. Aquarium, tons of restaurant visits (B's idea, not mine since... I am still not keeping all my meals down), and much cousin bonding time. B's family even threw a little early birthday party for Mia (for which we are very grateful, since she now has a full summer wardrobe!!)

Then, B and I drove (yes, DROVE) from Chicago to Charleston, South Carolina for one of my college roommate's weddings. The drive there was pretty miserable, since we were under a time crunch to get there in time for the welcome dinner. We ended up leaving at 1am, for a variety of reasons including bad weather, and its lucky we did, because the drive took about 2 hours longer than google maps said it would. My first trimester sickness gets worse if I don't get enough sleep, so poor B was stuck driving the whole way while I... was just miserable. But! We did manage to get a very good night's sleep, a great day of Charleston sight-seeing, and pulled ourselves together to look dapper at this very fancy, very beautiful wedding.

The only picture we managed to get of our carriage tour. Highly recommended if you go to Charleston!

My most telltale sign of pregnancy: swollen face.

Beautiful Charleston double house

The drive back was significantly better, since we got a full night's rest before embarking on the drive, and made it back in the scheduled google maps time (including 3 hours driven by yours truly). We got back to Chicago with enough time to sleep another full night, pack our bags, drive around to say our goodbyes, load onto our last airplane ride for the foreseeable future, and pull into our driveway by 10pm.

All in all, an excellent trip, with not much drama or controversy to report, and a happy almost 3 year old!

In which I become a single parent (for 4 days) plus bullets.

• I was so focused on our big trip, that I totally forgot to anxiously work myself up for B's little training trip to Arizona this week. He leaves today, and doesn't come back until Friday night. 4 whole days! I certainly hope the garbage doesn't fill up in that amount of time, or I will be very grumpy when I carry it twenty feet to the outside garbage. I didn't get married to take out my own garbage! Anyway, it's not much of a big deal, right? I realize that there are parents who do this, all the time, with many more children. But you know, it's new to me and all that.

• Also? It turns out that I have to do some serious CLE programs as a 1st year licensed Nevada attorney. Something involving a development plan, a mentor, and completing an unheard of number of hours doing things like "Discuss techniques for finding a balance between career and personal life, putting daily pressures in perspective, reconciling job expectations with actual experience." I'll fill that one in with "See Blog". I met my mentor late last week, and she seems very knowledgeable, though somewhat impatient. She seemed pretty annoyed that I came in to this meeting completely unaware of the program, but I will make up for it in our next discussion about "substance abuse and mental health issues, including possible warning signs of substance abuse or mental health issues" (another requirement). 
• Otherwise, we were all sick (again). I got myself another ear infection. Apparently, it can be a thing in adults too. Ear infections every time you get a cold. Mia has just started to get over hear automatic ear infection every time she has any congestion, so now, it's my turn. 

• We bought Mia a twin bed, and it got delivered late last week. The first few days were absolutely without issue,  but last night, she started asking to get back in her crib. We left the crib in the room, though we bought the gate back onto it. In my opinion, it should be disassembled and brought back down to the garage, but B thinks we should keep it in the room because of the BUGS. In the long run, I will win this argument. But for now, I'm letting him think I believe his reason is good.

Air Travel with a 2 year old.

This trip involved 4 separate flights, three of which I did with Mia on my own. To be frank, this is the part of my vacation I was dreading the most. I would have panic attacks at the thought of running out of snacks, running out of batteries on the various entertainment devices I packed, or worst of all, having a potty accident, juggling carseats, checked luggage, carry on luggage, strollers, etc. I was nervous about the whole thing, and honestly, things went pretty well with very few minor hiccups. Mia is almost three years old, so she had her own seat. I've flown (solo and accompanied) with her before 2, as well, but those were different times. If you want my input on flying with an under 2 year old, I'm happy to give my input on that as well, just comment below!

I had a little backpack for Mia, and a large shoulder bag for myself. I packed:

-Pulls ups
-Mia's LeapPad
-Coloring Book: I used the Color Wonder ones, just to be safe.
-Children's earphones: I had bought these a while ago, when Mia was starting to watch TV. I didn't think she would tolerate the earbuds that I already had, but at this age, Mia used the ones provided on the international flight (for no reason other than wanting to WEAR THE BLUE ONES) and they went in and stayed in her ears just fine.
-iPhone with several movies loaded onto it: If you have an iPad, obviously, that's better, but the iPhone very much did the trick.
-Snacks: I skipped the apple sauce pouch, because the last time I flew with some, they had to take us through the additional security area to wipe them down for explosive residue. I was eventually allowed to bring them with, but I honestly just didn't want to deal with the hassle. I packed loose Goldfish in a container, and then bought Chex Mix at the airport. I also let her choose her own snack at the airport.
-Empty children's water bottle: I filled it at the water fountain once we passed security, and then asked the flight attendant to put a splash of juice in it from the drink cart.
-Change of clothing for her; change of shirt for myself: I didn't end up needing either of these, but I was still glad to have them.
-One burp cloth: This ended up being incredibly useful. Not for burping, but for cleaning up and wiping down anything and everything.
-Travel pack of wipes: noses, butts, hands.
-Blanket: Most international flights give you a blanket and a pillow, but I thought that Mia would settle down better if she had her own blanket. I stuck with the airline pillow, though.
-Stuffed animal: Mia has a bunny that she sleeps with, and has slept with for as long as I can remember. This was a no-brainer carry on item.
-several dollar store items that she had never played with before, to use as bribery: If you take a nap, you can have a prize when you wake up! If you eat your dinner, you can have a prize!

At this point, Mia was old enough for me to explain to her that we were going on an airplane, and that we would be on this airplane for so long that we would be sleeping on it. I explained to her that we'd have to stay in our seats, that we could get up and go potty, and I showed her the fasten seat belt sign, explaining to her that if the light was on, we had to stay in our seats.

I was surprised to learn that American Airlines doesn't including persons travelling with small children in their priority boarding, so we didn't have the benefit of settling in before everyone else crowded around. This would have been incredibly helpful -- on our first flight, I took Mia to the lavatory as soon as we found our seats, and we were stuck in the back while everyone else boarded. We managed to get seats on our own, though. The two seats on the side of the airplane, the window seat, and the aisle for myself. I realize that most airplanes flown domestically have a 3/3 split now, but we got lucky. And if you're going to be flying on our own with your kid, I highly recommend lobbying the check in agent to get you that kind of seating arrangement (or pre-selecting your seats). If you're flying with your spouse (or another adult), you'll want the row to yourself, too. I'm honestly not sure how Mia would have reacted to having a stranger on her other side, but I was glad to have avoided it.

For the first flight, I left Mia in her underwear. I figured, three and half hours was long enough for her to hold it, and I slipped a pull up on her (right in the seat) when she started looking like she might take a nap. On the long flight, I had her in a pull up straight away -- but she still went to the potty in the lavatory just fine. It's a tight fit, but we both managed to squeeze ourselves in there several times.

I held off on giving Mia her entertainment devices until after we'd taken off. During the taxi, and the actual take off, I pointed everything out to Mia. Like: Look out the window, we're moving! Here we go, up up up! We're flying! Look at the ground, look at the trees! Etc. I figured the more "exciting" portions of the flight would be entertainment enough, and I saved the precious battery time until she started looking for things to do. This is true for any "exciting" portion, like when the drink cart came around, I put away whatever she was doing and we had our snack together. When she seemed to be getting bored, she'd first watch a movie on my phone, then, I'd pull out my other tricks. Snacks, leappad, coloring book, skymall, etc.

Since I had already warned her that she would have to sleep on the longer flights, she was totally prepared. On the International Flights, once they pick up the meal, the lights are dimmed, and it was a clear enough sign that it was time for sleep. At home, I usually give her some time to transition to bedtime, so I tried to stick to the same thing here. I told her that as soon as her movie was over, she'd have to go to sleep. I'd pull out her blanket, her stuffed animal, and she would lay down and go to sleep. On the Chicago to Paris flight, she slept for about three hours. I honestly expected her to sleep more, but she woke herself up because she got a bit tangled in her seatbelt and blanket and got herself upset. This was probably the only time I started getting really anxious that she was disturbing the passengers. But honestly, she didn't cry much, mostly whimpered, and this was muted by the airplane noise. (Plus, there was an older girl a few rows ahead of us who was airsick and was crying much more than my toddler). Since we were halfway through our flight, I snuggled her up and she calmed back down (though she didn't go back to sleep).

What is challenging, though, is the in-flight meal. I usually love the meal! Ever since I was a kid, I would get excited about what they were serving, eating the little portions of mostly not great food. I really thought Mia would get a kick out of it, but she was not into it. This is when the bribing was most effective, and while the meal itself was totally something she would eat, it was a struggle to manage the tray, the drinks, and the tray table without spilling everywhere (BURP CLOTH!). I also wasn't able to eat my own meal until the flight attendants came around to collect the trays. And then I had to keep my tray for a REALLY long time before they would come back around and actually collect mine. But this is where those adorable wine bottles help also help. This was also a lot easier on the return trip, because I already knew that Mia would have to be force fed, and that I would have to wait to eat my own. It's all about expectations.

So! In conclusion! The thing to do is to pack mindfully - don't bring anything that won't be used, don't waste precious bag space on something that might not be needed. I can honestly say that we used everything I brought, except the change of clothes. I also think that explaining the whole thing to Mia ahead of time helped - next time, I might even go a step further and pack pajamas to change into to make it really feel like bedtime. It really did go quite smoothly, and Mia was left completely charmed with air travel. She's asked to go back on an airplane every day since our return!

Friday Bullets!

Working on Fridays really stinks. Yesterday, when I was shutting down for the day, I seriously, seriously considered taking a vacation day today. But, I've got two 10 day trips coming up in the next few months, so my non-impulsive side won out. I've spent the morning enumerating the things I need to get accomplished this weekend, and am really wishing I could get started.

• Mia starts in the 3 year old room, today! Officially! I guess they had started moving her up for part of the day earlier this week, but I was told that today, it would be permanent. How did this happen? It feels like she was just moved up to the 2 year old room. Mia's birthday isn't until the end of May, but I think we are starting to get a taste of what three looks like. Two wasn't bad, I think. While there were a lot of irrational reactions, she was still very happy and sweet. As we approach Three, we are definitely seeing some strong opinions, but she is getting easier to reason with.
• Have you shopped TWICE yet? I just realized that I have a package of two beautiful sweaters waiting in my mailbox that I FAILED to check yesterday. Another thing to look forward to at the end of this workday. Sign up through my link and we both get a $10 credit! I sent in some handbags that I no longer use (and will not use again since they are not baby-snack or emergency diaper friendly) and got $60! At this point, I think I am shopping there almost exclusively, and feel zero guilt about it. (also, free shipping this weekend)
• We leave for France in exactly two weeks and I am obsessing slightly about my packing list. There's the myriad of random things I need to bring when traveling with an almost 3 year old, but mostly I'm focused on the clothes. I always feel unhappy with the outfits I have available to me at about day 2 of traveling, so this time, I am determined not to let that happen (for me, or Mia!). I may or may not have a chart. I'm also a little bit worried about the weather - this Las Vegas winter has been seriously mild, and March in France can be cold, snowy or rainy, and we are just not equipped for such weather conditions.
• B is having a going away party with his co-workers while I am gone. Initially, I was all for it. It's nice that he'll have a little thing to do while we're gone, a few people to have dinner with. Now, it's turning into a big party that ALL his co-workers are going to, they're coordinating designated drivers and asking him with his favorite drinks are -- and I'M MISSING IT. Oh, it's not about me? I forgot for a second there...
• I've been reloading my Etsy Shop with some new items, so swing by a take a look! 

Happy Weekend!