The Prophesy of the Sticker

I have been blessed with two beautiful, healthy, wonderful, sweet, AND HARD HEADED little daughters.

God bless em...

...and me too...

...and Kyle...

So first of all, Juliette. Mommy's little boob addict. I realized that her nursing was cah-razy when even the "crunchy" mom blog talked about her kid being down to three feedings a day at the same age as my Pet. Three feedings a day! Freaking.... Juliette nurses about three times in the hour before bed! Not to mention her morning feeding, her nap time feeding, her dinner time feeding, and the two or three times she wakes up during the night. It's like I'm nursing a hobbit! We've got breakfast and second breakfast and so on and so forth. Okay... this is it... I really MUST start the weaning process for sanity's sake as well as for the sake of my poor, wretched body. You know it's time to wean when the kid can stand WHILE nursing. As in her mouth on me and her feet on my lap all 90 degree angle. And sometimes she kicks her little leg like a dog does when you scratch his belly. This may be part of why her nickname is "Pet."

Also she's been staying awake til almost midnight lately because she just wants to be in my arms. Last night, one of the many times she fell asleep nursing, I put her down in her crib and she started to wimper. It was one of those times where it could go either way, she could wake up or go back to sleep so I ran out of the room all "ninja mommy" like and she started to wail... so I came back in and noticed something stuck to her cheek. It was a sticker from a baby calender to mark a special occasion. It read, "Slept through the night." (Veeeeeeeery funny God. I assume that was You?) Up until that point I had been SO frustrated I felt like I was going to scream but when I saw that I peeled it off her chubby cheek, kissed it, and held her close.

We finally got her to sleep by not nursing her and pacing with her for a while. Not having nursed to sleep she actually ended up falling into a deeper sleep and slept through the night for the first time ever. So I may have to save the Prophesy Sticker From God.

Madeleine, oh sweet Madeleine, wants a "big girl bed" so badly but we told her she couldn't have one OR her princess underwear until she potty trained. This would be encouragement to MOST kids but for my little firecracker it caused evil eyes and an outright refusal to go anywhere near her training potty. We are currently at a stand still on the issue. She is still of the opinon that she runs the house... little does she know that mommy has also been training daddy in the art of "No." It tortures him to look into those green eyes and not give her anything she asks for in her sweet, "Daddy please!" voice but he knows that it will be better for her in the long run to have consistent discipline and to not just wear diapers right through until geriatric age.

If the girls ran the house we'd have a 16 year old in diapers and a 15 year old still nursing someday. They may end up being home schooled but I don't want to let them be THAT weird.

Also, I've realized that Madeleine is associating prayer time with bed time and now no longer enjoys saying her prayers... that or she repeats everything six or seven times to stall. Needless to say we are moving family prayer time to earlier in the day.

Speaking of which, Kyle and I am doing the Total Consecration (St. Louis de Montfort style) once again, so prayers are appreciated as we once again pledge our marriage and our children to Jesus through Mary.

Yay bedtime!

Places Madeleine has redesigned with her crayons...

Madeleine loves drawing pictures. It can keep her occupied for quite a while. Sometimes I sit with her and other times I head to the kitchen to cook or do dishes. When that happens she runs into the room every minute or so to show me the improvements she has made on her picture and after I "oooohhhh" and "awwwwww" to her satisfaction she runs back into the playroom to color some more. Now, this sounds like a nice set up, right? Madeleine does something intellectually stimulating while I get much needed housework under my belt so I can be ready for more "hands on" activities.

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to realize that leaving my darling daughter in a room alone with art supplies is a no good very bad idea... but I blame extreme lack of caffeine with a side of "haven't slept through the night in two and a half years".

These are places Madeleine has "visually improved".... yup... I'm going with that.

1. The art paper. What a beautiful picture from my talented little artist. It is going on the fridge immediately.

2. The art table. Not too unusual. I'm not upset. Maybe she just missed the paper?

3. The chairs on the art table. Okay... I'm having a hard time believe this one was an accident.
4. The toy chest. Alright Madeleine... that is all the way across the room from the art table.

5. The puzzles. How do you clean wood?

6. The wall. ALL OVER THE WALL. In orange. And when I asked her about it she completely denied it. Flat out.

7. The futon. COME ON KID THAT'S NOT EVEN EASY TO CLEAN

8. Bitty Baby. Specifically the left side of her head.

9. Bitty Baby's high chair. Sigh

10. Her thigh. I believe she did that in purple.

11. Her own face. I'm not even mad! That's impressive!

12. Her sister. Specifially her sister's back. I came into the room to find green crayon all over her sisters back. And, of course, both of them were laughing hysterically.

And, of course, if I forget to pick up even one crayon Juliette will find it and try to eat it.

I write this post after hosing down the wall and giving the toddler a time out. It's very hard to discipline when you are trying not to laugh.

Madeleine... did you color on the wall?
Nooooooooooooooooo
Madeleine? Who colored on the wall?
Mommy color. (as I carry her to time out) NOOO MOM!!!

It's probably not a good idea to try to pin your crimes on the accuser. Made me laugh though.

Anyway.... Moral of the Story... art time is now a FAMILY activity.

Tantrums: The story of how I got Madeleine's face to turn as red as a ginger who forgot to wear sunscreen

Madeleine has a severe sweet tooth. She lives, breathes, and dreams cookies. Literally. She talks about them in her sleep.

Weeeeeell, last night she had not eaten her dinner so when she came up to me with that FACE and said, "Mommy... cookie please?" I said no. And that just pissed her off.

She started crying. Sobbing. Begging. Pleading. "COOKIE PLEASE!!!!"

And my answer was still no. Until I got "clever".

"Madeleine," I said naively, "you may have a cookie when you eat your string cheese."

There could be nothing wrong with this idea. String cheese is healthy AND she loves it AND when she does I can give her a cookie AND she will love me again. GREAT PLAN!

Madeleine is pleased too. She goes running off to the kitchen so fast that she trips, falls, and slides into the fridge. But she is well on her way to a cookie so nothing well get her down. She pops up with gusto and squeals, "OH GOSH MOM CHEESE!!!!"

I give her the string cheese. She says, "Thank you", trots to the trash, throws it in, and says, "All done mom! Cookie please?"

Tricksy little hobbit!!!! I say no and then it's all exorcist up in this joint. Heads are spinning, screaming, snot running down her nose, and her face looks like we had painted it to match her Elmo costume.

So naturally I ignored it. I nursed the baby and waited. Soon enough she comes up to me, stretches out across my legs, and sniffles on my lap for a bit.

Then she hops up, goes and gets the baby Tylenol, and comes back. "Mommy... drugs please?"

And before the cycle could begin again I scooped her up and carried her to her crib. Without any cookies. She definitely slept about twelve hours. Apparently shape shifting from precious toddler into full out cookie monster takes a lot out of a girl.

But don't worry. She didn't forget about her cookie. In fact, the first words out of her mouth when she woke up this morning were, "Mom.... cookie please?"

Walking, counting to six, and other very useful tricks

I've been sick for the past week. Nothing serious, just one of the colds that makes you feel like you could probably crawl up and sleep for a week. And I probably would have too but little miss Juliette had the same cold so I was in super mom mode.

There is nothing worse than watching your baby suffer. Praise God my kids have only had light illnesses but I still hate it. She was all stuffed up and giving me the sad eyes. And her sad eyes are particularly powerful because they are huge and brown with her long eyelashes clumped together with tears. And then if you can tear your eyes away from her's you'll notice the runny nose and the quivering lip and you are about ready to sell your spleen to get the money to fund some scientists effort to cure the common cold.

But there were good times too. When we were all happily drugged up Juliette discovered that she could walk using her walker. And boy was she ever proud of herself! The first time she did it I was in the kitchen cooking and I saw Juliette laughing and cruising across the room. At first I thought nothing of it because she has been mobile (of the four legged, crawling variety) for a few months now. But I did a double take and noticed her expectant face and her upward position. She was So. Freaking. Proud. of herself and wanted to make sure that I had seen her big moment. So I ditched the stupid cooking and ran to her clapping and scooped her up.

Now she is hooked, can't get enough of the walking with the walker. I'd imagine within weeks she won't even need it anymore. She spends her time going back and forth across and around the living room, laughing and beaming. And when she finished walking she lets go of the walker and claps for herself. It's adorable. It makes me want to cover her cheeks with chocolate syrup and just nibble on them. But I will restrain myself.

And Madeleine keeps making advances in the prayer department. She now prays grace before she eats anything (calls me on! I usually forget!) and if you ask her who's Mary she will tell you, "Jesus mommy." She can also count to six which she demonstrates usually when she is about to get into trouble. A typical scene goes something like this;

Me- "Madeleine. Give that back to your sister."
Madeleine- "Nooooo mom!"
Me- "Madeleine, mommy is going to count to three."
Madeleine- "One, two, three, four, five, six"
Me- "Madeleine, I am proud of your counting but you need to give that to your sister before I count to three."

Then, depending on her mood, we happily do as I ask and get on with our lives or she is counting the two minutes she spends in time out. But for the most part, she always does as her mommy and daddy ask. She loves to please, that one.

There is never a dull moment around here.

This week was my birthday and I came to the realization that I am ridiculously happy. So I really don't need anything. But Starbucks cards are always welcome if you are asking ;) Just kidding... but seriously... but I'm totally joking.

I am also thankful for the time this week I got to talk to some dear friends. Life gets busy and I often forget how much holy friendships build me up and enrich my life. Especially friendships with holy women. Amy and Sara, if you are reading this talking to you this week was such a blessing. You are both visiting me very soon.

Juliette and I are both doing better today but please keep praying our little bug goes away and that Kyle and Madeleine do not catch it. If we all stay healthy there will be apple picking and petting zoo fun in our near future. And lots of adorable pictures to go with it!

Power outages and other fun adventures

Tropical Storm Irene hit New England. I'll be honest, I wanted to smack every idiot with a status saying something along the lines of "Come on Irene" or "Bring it on Irene". Tropical storms are nothing to be messed with.

Driving around my parent's neighborhood proved that. There was a tree blocking the street going one direction, a tree on a power line blocking another way, and only one way out. And then once you got out of the neighborhood there were more and more trees sitting on power lines. Tropical storms are dangerous. There are tons of people with damaged homes, house fires, no power for at least a week, and then there are the idiots talking about how awesome it is. Those people are lacking a compassion gene.

I was in Connecticut during the storm to get help with the kiddos because Kyle was stuck at the airport all weekend. We lost power early Sunday and it will be out for days. I came back to Massachusetts this afternoon because Kyle was home and our power was back on, but I feel terrible for my parents. They are losing hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of food, their lawn is trashed, they can't flush their toilets, and they have to other people's houses to shower. Luckily, they are far better off than some people.

We spent the day playing card games in the glow of the flashlights (I dominated) and ate whatever was not in the fridge. Madeleine was horribly confused by the power outage and kept asking for the lights.

And Madeleine has started biting. She bit my arm while sitting on my lap and so I put her in time out. She finally said, "I sorry!" so I scooped her up, told her not to bite again, and hugged her. But we may have to play this daily from now on.



The next two days are Kyle's weekend and so we will be restocking our fridge... the one I just stocked last week. But in all honesty I am just so glad that our home is okay, we are okay, and all the people we love are as well. It could have been a lot worse.

And I am also thankful for the little things like potties that flush and showers that run. And the internet. And that the DVR didn't miss any episodes of CSI Miami. Amen.

In the Behr cave... or wherever it is that Behrs live

So it's been a while since I've done a post about daily life with the baby Behrs and since I am apparently an insomniac all of a sudden now seems as good of a time as ever.

My day usually begins around 10 am. Go ahead, be jealous of me. Just know that this means that my kids are up until at least 10 pm every night. With Kyle's schedule it just works best for me so you'll just have to trust that it's awesome and that it won't permanently damage them or cause them to be criminals by kindergarten. I wake up to Juliette pouncing on top of me excitedly. I generally have only a vague recollection as to how she ended up in our bed instead of the crib but I nurse her and after a while she's done and ready to dive head first off the side of the bed looking for adventure.

I catch her and carry her to Madeleine's crib and place her next to her sister. Madeleine wakes up, wraps her arms around Juliette, and says "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABY!" sometimes tenderly and sometimes with a terrifying amount of enthusiasm. I let them play for a few minutes, start the coffee, and check my email. It's about at this point that the girls realize they are trapped inside the crib, grow restless, and Madeleine tries to remedy the situation but yelling, "MOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM" and throwing things out of her crib in protest. I take them out, put them on the floor, and Madeleine and Juliette take off as startling speeds. Madeleine, to see if breakfast is ready and Juliette, to see if there are any small objects she can shove in her mouth before I catch her.

A typical scene is myself, seated, trying to inspire the girls to sit still and join me for story time. Madeleine is in kitten heels, underwear for a necklace, and a purse, pushing Bitty Baby in the doll stroller while Juliette crawls across the room with much determination making sounds that sometimes scare people that don't spend much time with us and don't realize that they come from her. It's this deep growling noise. It's why we call her dinosaur.

Obviously when I start cooking or cleaning that's when they want my attention. Demand my attention. Their very survival depends on my attention. Juliette wants to eat again and Madeleine wants to read or go out. The morning goes on, Kyle gets home around 2:30. The girls are winding down for naps and Kyle wonders why I look so frazzled when they are so relatively calm. All I want to do is sit on the couch while they sleep and spend some time with my good friend Horatio Caine and the CSI team from Miami. Kyle has grand visions of driving the minivan up a mountain. A mountain. With two kids in the back for hours. Awesome plan dude.

I can usually talk Kyle down and get him to relax with me and before we know it the peace we had just begun to enjoy is over and the kids are SO HAPPY TO SEE US. But wait, all of the chores we promised we'd do today are still left undone. No matter! We'll totally clean the car out tomorrow! (It's been months)

Kyle goes to bed around 7:00 and after they finish crying because daddy DARED to leave them to go to sleep, the girls look at me expectantly. GIRL TIME! That's usually when we jet off to Walmart to grab the groceries. Everyone is happy until about the time we reach check out and Juliette starts screaming and Madeleine is trying to shoplift a candy bar and I look exhausted and disheveled as a teenage boy "Mam"s me and I leave the store hurriedly while disapproving older couples look on like their kids NEVER cried in stores. We get home and put away the groceries, play, read, and then (horrors!) I let Madeleine cuddle up to me and watch a show for a few minutes. She starts to conk out, we say our prayers (she loves praying and going to church), get tucked into the crib with our favorite Monkey, and fall quickly to sleep. It's about 10:15 and Juliette realizes that she has me ALL. TO. HERSELF. She can't decide what she wants to do first! Nurse on the left side? Nurse on the right side?

It's ten minutes later and Juliette has passed out drinking yet again. I tuck her into the other crib. I put away the dishes, maybe hang the cloth diapers to dry overnight, perhaps even shower, and finally settle down in front of the TV to make my mind stop. I climb into bed around one thanking God for another wonderful day. My husband and my girls are healthy and thriving and adore me to pieces as I them. I haven't discovered a cure for cancer or fought crime like Horatio but I feel fulfilled.

This is just a general overview of a typical day of the week. We learn, we explore, we eat, we do all the normal things that normal moms do with their kids. As they grow older I will add more and more structure to our days so as to build a foundation for homeschooling. For now though I am trying to enjoy the crud out of them because I hear they don't stay this little forever.

This bed is too... not mommy and daddy's

It's 11:00 at night and my guess is that most of your kids have been asleep for hours. The computer is right by the door to Madeleine's room and as I sit here I can hear her talking to herself.

Now, I'll admit that our bedtime and wake time schedules are a bit unorthodox. I've always been a night person so when Kyle got on his current schedule (4:30 am- 1:00pm) I thought about what baby bedtime would work best with how I operate. Since I'm terrible in the mornings and I love time to myself at night to watch TV and unwind, I opted for the twelve hour block of ten to ten as "baby bed time". It allowed me to stay up til twelve or one by myself and still be able to sleep in. I so no reason why, as I mom, I would want to put them to bed at seven or eight, force myself to bed earlier than I want to, and wake up early as well. With that schedule I'd have seven hours alone with the kids in the morning when I am at my worst. With this one, it's more like four.

With all that figured out I started moving towards this new bedtime/wake up routine slowly but surely. And it worked great at first. Sure, I'd get some looks and comments when we were at Target shopping at eight at night. And my cleaning lady is constantly confused if the kids are still sleeping when she shows up at ten, but it works for us.

However, lately something has gone terribly wrong. During the move to our new apartment I let Madeleine sleep in our bed more and more to get her "adjusted". Really, I just wanted someone to spoon with when Kyle left for work at three. Now Madeleine refuses to go to bed in her crib. Every night is an all out fight.

It's been almost two months since we moved in and it isn't getting better. It is now 11:16 and my stubborn 22 month old is exhausted but not asleep. She believes that she belongs next to daddy and mommy at night and by golly she will fight to get her way. Unfortunately for her, her mommy is stubborn too.

I used to love the schedule I got the kids on but it seems like it gets pushed later and later. It was easy getting them to go to bed later but the hard part is getting them in bed earlier. Somehow I'll make it happen but until then, God bless the people who live above us. Because by this time of night both Madeleine and momma both want to scream.

Everything I need to know about parenting I learned from Jack Bauer

I used to watch 24. A lot. And I learned many things that have helped me in parenting. This is what I have learned.

1. You need to be able to see many things going on all at once.

A fan of 24 knows the shot. The screen is divided into four frames. Upper left, Jack being all BA about it. Upper right, Kim being an idiot. Lower left, terrorist being naughty. Lower right, people typing on computers looking concerned. In the center, IT'S FIVE O'CLOCK!!!!

As a mom, you need to have this skill. For instance in my world it looks a little like this. Mind divided into four frames. Upper left, I'm in the kitchen cooking up some nom noms. Upper right, Kyle is on the computer. Looking at airplanes. Again. Lower left, Madeleine has grabbed a shoe and is walking towards her sister. Lower right, Juliette is happily shaking a rattle. IT'S ALMOST NAP TIME!!!!

The reason this skill is important will be evident soon.

2. Terrorists want to make things explode.

This peaceful scene melds into one and Madeleine is throwing the shoe at her sister's head. (Side note, Madeleine never does this to be mean unlike the terrorists of 24 who enjoy them some killing. Madeleine simply loves shoes. And wants to share. Hard) Juliette explodes in screeching, crying hysteria. Explodes!

3. Terrorists do not want to be caught.

Madeleine hears the explosion and immediately runs away from the scene with a shocked look in her green eyes. The pursuit is on. It usually doesn't take to long as Kyle and I are full sized adults and she is a little toddler but she tries to run anyway. Just as no terrorist can hide from Jack Bauer, oh Madeleine cannot hide from us. Not even in her princess tent. We catch her. Because we saw the whole thing. (Now you get number one!)

4. WE DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS.

After catching a terrorist Jack Bauer usually breaks a few knee caps, snaps a few fingers, shoots someone in the leg. Ya know, standard stuff. We have much, much worse ways. We calmly look her in the eye and say "No Madeleine we do not throw things at our baby." And then we put her in time out. For two minutes. She may cry and say, "Peeze" in a voice that could melt your heart, but she still receives her time out. The whole two minutes of it.

5. Offer redemption.

In Jack Bauer's world it's something like, "Tell me what I want to know or I will cut out your pancreas. In our world it means that we pick up our darling little girl, give her a hug, wipe the tears from her eyes, look at her and say, "We do not throw things at our baby. Can you please go give your baby a kiss?"

And our sweet little girl toddles over to her sister, bends down lovingly, says "Baby!" and kisses her little head.

Jack Bauer may save the world every other day but I have learned to lovingly discipline a toddler. Point, me.

When the day just calls for a little Bailey's

Last night, like many nights, I didn't get to bed until 2 in the morning. Once upon a time, when we lived in our old apartment, getting the kids to bed was a simple and easy task.

Step 1- Pick Madeleine up
Step 2- Put her in her crib
Step 3- Enjoy

Juliette would fall asleep shortly thereafter with a little nursing and a good swaddle and then momma behr would enjoy the peace and quiet and maybe even a shower.

Now, in our new apartment, the little Behrs are not adjusted as well from the confusion of the move, etc. and the process of bedtime goes a little more like this

Step 1- Beg
Step 2- Plead
Step 3- Bribe
Step 4- Cry in a fetal position as Madeleine and Juliette stay up for the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

As much as I love my girls, as much as I enjoy spending time with them, those moments after they had gone to bed and I had the apartment to myself were such a comfort to me. And now they have been ripped away from me by tiny fingers.

Today was a long day to begin with involving a two hour round trip to meet my sister halfway between our homes to give her back her tennis racket and culminating in an argument with the Daddy Behr about where the storage boxes should go and how many will fit in the basement.

So tonight, I am taking it easy. Juliette is on my lap, Madeleine in one arm and I can tell there are getting tired. Soon (hopefully) I will be enjoying Bailey's Irish Cream on the rocks. But for now, instead of games, we are enjoying purely speculative programs about the upcoming Royal Nuptials.

I may be up late tonight, I may not get a shower, but I will fall asleep peaceful. Most days I try to be a perfect mother but tonight, I'm just trying to be a sane one. And tomorrow I will begin on working them into a normal routine once again.

Still, with all my complaining, I know that a few hours after her little auburn haired head hits the pillow I will miss my little monkey and all I will be able to think about will be waking up and loving her all day tomorrow.

I have no idea who she got her strong will from...

The first time I realized that my baby had a temper she was three months old. From the time she was that little she absolutely hated any sort of sort, plush toy. H.A.T.E. While Kyle and I were getting ready for an outing, packing the diaper bag and putting on our shoes and such, we strapped Madeleine into her car seat and gave her a hard, plastic toy that made noise and lit up to keep her happy and distracted. When it came time to carry her car seat out to the car we decided to take her toy away because we are first time parents and don't trust anything that could leave a dent on our child during a car accident. As soon as we took the precious object out of her mouth she began to scream a scream that I had never heard before. I'd heard her hungry cry, her tired cry, her I'm awake cry, and her why'd you let that stupid nurse give me those stupid shots cry. This was different. It wasn't so much a cry as a pitiful shrieking. Kyle and I just looked at each other thinking, "Well, there is no way this is over the toy. She is only three months old. She can't possibly be having a temper tantrum." So, just to experiment, we handed the toy back. The shrieking stopped immediately.

Since we didn't want to be the type of parents that don't discipline our children, give them whatever they want because we are lazy, and have them grow up to be total brats, we took the toy away, carried her out to the car, and let the driving lull her to sleep. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I'd never heard of a three month old throwing a tantrum before. Our child is gifted.

So, flash forward to now. Our daughter takes after her mother. She is strong willed and that temper of hers, it's still there. Normally she is the sweetest, most docile, most wonderful child in the world but when something doesn't go her way all heck breaks loose. We are working with her on different types of discipline. Saying no, saying no and putting her in the play pen without her toys. After a while, she gets it. Yesterday we were getting her one year pictures done and she did not want that to happen. She cried for a bit, lied down on the floor, but eventually we coaxed her out of her mood with swinging hair and peek-a-boo and got some phenomenal photos of her. All worth it in the end.

However, the one thing she has not yet learned, and something I don't think we can or should punish her for, is her need to be on the go. I mean, the child does not want to sit still. Ever. Tonight at mass Madeleine had no patience for being confined to the pew. She wanted to get out, explore, have fun, knock over some hymnals. Kyle and I took turns chasing her around the back of the church. Someday we will force her to sit like a lady, but today she is just thirteen months old and doesn't understand. Having her at mass is always a blessing, even if I am relegated to the back of the church, because she is one of the biggest blessings in my life. If nothing else when she is with me, I am reminded of just how awesome God is and how amazing it is to be able to receive such a merciful and loving God in the Eucharist. I am confident that when I do He will fill me with the graces to be the best mother I can to my little monkey.

Being a mother is full of new challenges all the time, teaching them right from wrong and that veggies are good for them, and I know I am just beginning this journey. One of the things I love the most though is when I see her learn something I have taught her. When I say no and she stops, when I ask her to bring me a book and she does, it's just such an amazing feeling. I love being a mother.

I literally almost drove her to the church with her rubber ducky to bathe her in the holy water.

It is one in the morning. Madeleine went to bed only one hour ago. At midnight.

Every time I put her in her crib she screamed like I was torturing her, as she has been doing for the past week and a half since we got back from New Mexico. She just stands up and screams. And screams. And screams.

So I will get her out, feed her, cuddle her and usually within 5 minutes of cuddling her she is passed out cold in my arms which means she is not sick, she just has a terrible temper. Kyle and I have noooo idea where she got that from.

So now I have to figure out how to get her back to the sweet baby who fell asleep at a decent time in her crib by herself. I have no idea how to do that. I do know one thing though, if this is how it is going to be when we come back from vacation we are never leaving the eastern time zone ever again.

Also, I really wish I had a mom friend near me that I could meet for coffee and talk about mom things with, not just over the phone but in person. Someone my age in my state of life.

So my prayers tonight are please help me figure out how to help my sweet baby get back to a normal sleep schedule and can I please have a friend pretty please with a cherry on top. Thank you Lord for my baby and help me to be a better, more patient mother.