I know it’s almost over, but everyone wish
Joyce a happy big 25!! Hope you’re having a good one
sister.

Lex has stopped napping. This has been
exhausting and stressful (mentally, physically, and
emotionally) for both of us. For awhile now he’s fallen asleep
only after Alan or I physically restrain him by wrapping him in
our arms in our bed and holding him still until he falls
asleep. We call this “cuddling him to sleep” and he hates it
worse than anything. And when he screams, we sing. So we sing
and cuddle him until he falls asleep. Mean parenting, huh? But
lately this hasn’t even worked and Eve’s nap schedule has made
it difficult for me to lay down with Lex every day. So this
week I decided to try “mommy quiet time” instead. Lex doesn’t
have to nap, but he does have to give me one hour of quiet time
where he sits in the living room and reads books and doesn’t
talk to me. This makes him pretty happy and he’s pretty good at
it, but unfortunately it’s not as restful as a nap so he’s
still exhausted by bedtime. We’ve been putting him to bed by
7pm and he usually goes down in a screaming fury. :( Then wakes
up at 6:30am, still tired. This morning he was rubbing his eyes
at 6:30am, fussing and crying by 7am, and telling me he was too
tired and needs a nap by 7:30am. “Are you tired? Are you tired
and need a nap?” (“you” = “I” or “me” in Lex’s world). So I
tried to get him to lay down on the couch (Eve and Alan were
occupying both bedrooms), but he wouldn’t, so we started our
day (every day, all week) very tired, which results in more
meltdown, more rebellion, and more “wanna just do nothing”
days.

On top of his issues, Eve has
decided that the best, and only, place to sleep at night is in
my arms. Not my just bed, but my arms. I love her dearly, but I
don’t sleep well with babies in my arms. She won’t sleep long
in her bed and she won’t sleep with Alan, just with me. She’s
become quite the momma’s girl. It’s hard to complain about that
:) I guess we’re going to have to do some sleep training soon,
and hope it doesn’t disturb Lex’s desperately needed sleep.
Alan’s idea is to bring Lex in the bed with us instead and
letting Eve CIO (cry it out) in the crib. We did a modified
version of that with Lex around this age and it worked well. It
was emotionally tough, but worth it.

So,
ready for my tired rant? I haven’t had a good one of these in
awhile. I’m also struggling because it’s coming up on Christmas
and I LOVE CHRISTMAS but we are so broke. My daycare business
isn’t exactly picking up as quickly as I’d hoped. The baby got
pushed back two weeks and everyone else I’ve spoken with either
has an infant (I can’t take any more infants) or is looking for
work. I’ve got several people with two year olds who say that
as soon as they find work they’ll sign up with me. But that
still leaves me broke and somewhat in limbo for the holiday
season :( It’s Eve’s first Christmas and Lex’s first that he’s
old enough to understand. It’s also the first year we will be
at our house Christmas morning. I really want to buy them fun
things (not a lot, just a few) so they can have a wonderful
Christmas morning, but we are so broke :( Alan keeps reminding
me that they will never remember this and they’ll get plenty of
presents from everyone else that evening and over the next few
days, but it’s not the same. It’s more about me, I guess :)
Selfish, but oh well. I also really like shopping for others
and wrapping presents and all that jazz. I wanted to take them
to the mall to see Santa and help me pick out presents (they
are both great at shopping), but we won’t be doing that this
year. I just love Christmas! Anyway, that’s just a rant and if
anyone is looking for a gift for Eve, she (hehe… ok, I)
really wants a pair of gingerbread Robeez. Alan pointed
out, rightfully, that since they are holiday shoes she’ll only
be able to wear them for a month or two, but I say they are
just so cute!

Ok, I’m done with my
tired rant and Lex is reminding me that “mommy quiet time” is
over so I’m outta here.

I just noticed that Lex is exactly 2 1/2
today. Happy half birthday Lex! Too bad he’s already asleep so
we can’t celebrate. Oh well.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqQqH_j-Tsw]
One of the similar videos that comes up on
YouTube is called “Jayson wins the baby crawling
contest” It’s hysterical. Check it
out.

We went outside for a bit today because it
was a beautiful day. I got bored pretty quickly though because
Lex decided that he could play with the trucks, and the car,
and the slide, and just about everything else, but all I could
do was stand by the car and hold Eve. Hmm… “Eve gets nothing.
Mommy does nothing. Just hold Eve.” Like I said, boring! I got
some nice pictures at least.

Then we made chocolate chip peanut
butter cup cookies. I have been on such a baking spree lately
that I’m going to be 300lbs before year end if I’m not careful.
Most of these cookies are going to work with Alan in the
morning :) Lex had the job of unwrapping all of the peanut
butter cups. Notice what a nice job he did of lining them up in
the bowl :) He loves to help bake and I’m alway happy when I
find something he can do that is truly helpful.

Well, technically it’s hair yesterday, gone
today. We went down to the Johnson’s for dinner and Eve and I
slipped out to do a little shopping at Old Navy (thanks
Joyce!). Unfortunately I didn’t find anything I really wanted,
and the check-out line was ridiculous anyway, so I got a
haircut instead. The salon people (and by “salon” I mean, of
course, Super Cuts) were hesitant to let Eve sit on my lap, but
they gave in when I said it was her on my lap or no haircut for
me. The lady said, “she might get some hair on her…” and I
said “she could use some hair anyway.” Eve was a perfect angel,
of course, and chewed on my hoodie string while intently
watching the stylist. At the end all of the stylists there were
commenting on how sweet and quiet she was :) Here are two
pictures for you all. The first one shows the haircut well and
the second one is just a cute picture. Enjoy!

Most people are probably over-stuffed and passed
out by now, but not us. We had a very mellow, low-key day today
with no real celebrations. In fact we had left-overs for dinner
:) We will have our big giant meal on Saturday with Alan’s
parents. I grew up with many nice Thanksgiving traditions that
I want to continue, so next year we’re going to have our own
little thing on Thursday. Both kids will be older and I think
it’s a good time to start. But today we just chilled, Alan did
some stuff around the house, I did some baking, Lex read
stories to Elmo and the new toybox in his snazzy PJs (see
photo) and Eve tried valiantly to crawl. A good day was had by
all. Hopefully everyone else can say the same.

We went to our local science museum yesterday
with Aunt Rosy. It was surprisingly quiet, which is how I like
it best. The kids had a blast. When it’s packed it’s really
noisy and Lex gets overwhelmed quickly and I loose him easily.
When it’s quiet he can run around and play with everything and
I can still see him — much more enjoyable for all of us!

Eve discovered herself in the mirror and spent
quite awhile talking to herself. Babies are so easily
entertained :) It will be fun when she’s moving and can explore
on her own, but for now I love having her close. Lex never
wants to play with me (*sniff*) so it’s nice to show Eve the
exhibits and play with her.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z14e7maZlHs]

Here’s just a little movie of Eve doing
her baby thing.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-56ifvcU_o]

We had our first real snowfall today. Our
neighbors across the street have a little hill in their yard
and we joined them for some sledding this afternoon. I think
we’ll be over there a lot this winter. Lex LOVED it! Even when
all the other kids went to play somewhere else, he wanted to
keep sledding :)

Sledding
with Parrish

Down the
hill sideways

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-D4dYd1pxM]