Cabbage Patch Baby

A number of people have told me that Elena looks like a cabbage patch baby doll.

What do you think?

I do think Elena's cuter.

This little girl is 10 weeks already. Time is flying by, I can hardly believe it. She's smiling and cooing, holding up her head and neck, and she seems to really enjoy watching Edwin. She's sleeping like a champ overnight, and takes two short morning naps and one long afternoon nap. I'm feeling like life is normal, and we've gotten into a groove. I'm savoring her sweetness and littleness because I know time is going by, and she won't be this little for very long.

Double Duty

Believe it or not, I've been spending a lot of my time at my sewing machine over the past 2 months.

It looks like this:

When Edwin was little I didn't bother with a changing station on the first floor. I just counted my

many trips up and down the steps as exercise. With two kids in diapers, however, I knew it was time to set something up. I discovered that the sewing machine desk is the perfect height and size for changing Elena.

I did, however, unearth the sewing machine last week, and I began sewing the top of a comforter for Edwin's bed. It might actually become a duvet cover, but I haven't quite decided on that. We already have a lot of comforters and quilts (and I have a feeling we will acquire more over the years what with Dan's mom being an expert quilter), so I thought I might make something a little different. I got hooked on down comforters after spending some time in Germany, and I figure we'll have some on hand for the children's beds most likely.

So the sewing machine is doing double duty these days. It's definitely earning its keep!

Nap Time = Party Time

That seems to be Edwin's philosophy these days. On a normal day, he goes down for a nap between 1:30 and 2. And for the past week or so he's been having a high old time up there in his crib. I really think he's partly reliving whatever activities he took part in in the morning, especially if we've spent time around other children. For the rest of the time he's throwing things out of his crib, or attempting to stuff them between the wall and the crib. He won't fall asleep until at least an hour has passed, and he's been known to be in there for 2 hours before succumbing to his tiredness.

I did learn that sometimes the reason for the delayed falling asleep is due to his needing a diaper change, but that's not always the case.

I really, really like some quiet time for myself, so the fact that he is taking a long time to fall asleep is making me want to pull my hair out some days. On those days, I keep reminding myself that he is not unhappy, he's enjoying his time alone in his crib. So far he hasn't attempted to climb out, so I know I need to just relax a little bit.

However, I am baffled. He is usually obviously tired, so I can hardly believe that he will stay awake for so long. And I wonder, is he too distracted by the few stuffed animals in his bed? Should I take them out? Is he over-tired and can't settle down?

What happens when we switch him to a non-crib bed? I don't even want to think about it. I read blogs and see those facebook posts about kids getting out of bed when they shouldn't and I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with all that. (But on the other hand, I am getting excited for him to be done with the crib because I'm making him a big boy bed comforter and have already bought some cute sheets with "diggers" on them.)

Experiences like this where I find I don't have control over how quickly Edwin falls asleep are really frustrating for me. Then I wonder why in the world am I letting it bother me when he's clearly happy to hang out alone in his bed for a decent chunk of time.

Deep breath, let it go. I'll even laugh about some of it when I tell Dan about it later on.

Nap Time Breather

Nap time. Wonderful, wonderful nap time. So far Elena takes a nap around the same time Edwin does in the afternoon (and I plan to encourage this forever), so I have a nice chunk of time to do everything I want to do when I don't have to keep an eye on any little people.

Now that our meals from friends have come to an end (except for the few things I threw into the freezer for some day when I just don't have the time or energy to make supper), much of nap time is spent getting as much supper prepared as possible. But of course I want to look at facebook, check e-mail, sit and read a book, eat a snack, do some laundry, update the blog and take a nap myself, etc. etc.

You can see one thing that took priority today. I'd planned to post some pictures, but I cant find the camera cord. Next time.