This time last year…

Time flies, huh?

Now Andy and I are off to do cool Santa things and get ready for our little person’s very first Christmas.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa…whatever you celebrate…Happy Holidays!

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That’s my girl…

Sometimes words aren’t needed.

Happy Wednesday.

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You’re doing so good…

That’s the phrase I’m trying to eliminate from my vocabulary…no matter how good Charley is doing.  Because once I do…whatever she was doing so good…goes south.  Fast.  Whether it’s a four hour car ride, and Charley has been quiet for over half of it…and I say, “You’re doing so good”…not a minute later I hear crying.  Or when I’m changing her diaper, and she’s still enough for me to get one side snapped…and I say, “You’re doing so good”…before I know it I’ve got a naked baby crawling away…diaper dangling in the wind.  Yep…that phrase is the kiss of death.

I’ve been trying to work on eliminating Charley’s middle of the night feedings.   I’ve gone back and forth with this for weeks.  There are times when I feel like she’s ready…and other times I don’t.  Times I tell myself I’m creating a nursing monster…and times when I feel like she NEEDS her mama time…even if it is at 1:00 in the morning.  I even tried to just not nurse her a couple weeks ago when she woke up, and we both ended up awake for an hour before I caved and just gave her the boob.  It’s so easy to lift up my shirt when I know it will put her right to sleep.  So we went back to the night feedings…until a few days ago when, to my surprise, I didn’t hear Charley until almost 5am.  I was hoping it wasn’t just a fluke, but the next night Charley woke up at 3…and for some reason I decided that was the night to not nurse her.  And once I decided to go for it I needed to stick it out…Charley’s a smart girl, and she knows that if I cave after an hour…then all she needs to do is fight sleep for that long.  So that night Charley got her mama time in other ways.  We danced, rocked…danced some more…rocked some more…and finally after a little over an hour…Charley fell asleep and didn’t wake up until 7:00.  That was a few days ago, and at this point I’m not ready to say how Charley is doing with her sleeping…because if I utter those words…that phrase…surely it will all hit the fan.

There’s a lot of pressure out there for babies to sleep through the night…so many books telling parents to train their little ones to not wake up until morning…and some saying to do so by 4 months.  Me…once again I parent by the seat of my pants.  This week I’m not nursing Charley when she wakes up…but if she wakes up one night, and I feel in my gut she needs to nurse…by God I’m gonna nurse her.  It’s all about listening to your mama intuitions…they are far more wise than any book.

It’s funny…I always knew I’d be a laid back parent…but sometimes I think of things I let Charley do or play with, and I crack up.  I never imagined giving my daughter a box of maxi pads to play with as I get ready for the day (that happened this morning)…or purposely giving her a magazine to rip up while I decoupage some letters for our front room.  Actually, I don’t know why I even buy her toys when she’s most happy playing with a granola bar.

Ughh…this post has been sitting here for the past couple days…sitting here waiting to be published.  I hate that I have been so unmotivated to blog.  Photography is in full swing…taking up any and all of my free time.  Showers have been put on the back burner just so I can get people’s Christmas pictures edited and uploaded.  And in the meantime Charley is smack dab in the middle of the cutest baby phase known to man…into anything and everything.  Her personality is shining through, and while she still has her diva moments she is such a happy baby…grinning 90% of the time (the other 10% reserved for diva moments).

God I love this girl.

The older Charley gets, the more giddy I get thinking of all the fun stuff we’re gonna do…all the memories we’ll make.  I’ve already begun planning her first birthday…which is only 3 months away.  Friends…family…neighbors…you are hereby forewarned.  This mama is going all out.

Oh yeah…it’s gonna be good.

Get ready for a post filled with Christmas cheer and craftiness.

Happy Sunday!

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