The Great Pacifier Debate

My husband I don't see eye-to-eye when it comes to many parenting decisions. And I love it that way. I am way less of the hippi-type mama I thought I'd be, but instead tend to read every book and blog and article I can get my hands on. Then I attempt to carry out some perfect combination of expert advice with pro-parent precision. Only setting myself, and my son, up to fail.
My husband on the other hand is much less absorbed into the "parenting" of parenting and instead just is a dad. He loves our little dude and tends to choose the path of least resistance. So, in our efforts to "train" our baby to become a "good" sleeper we all hit a wall. One morning nap he woke up and simply would not be consoled. I was crying, he was crying, and finally I plunked in his pacifier. *gasp And you know what, it worked. He slept and I continued to ball my eyes out at the epic fail I was until my husband found me at the kitchen table googling every possible combo of -pacifier -sleep -training -effects that I could think up. My hubs simply did not see what all the fuss was about. If it soothes our son and helps him sleep, big whoop. I, on the other hand, had been grooming our boy to become the world's best sleeper since he was just a few weeks old. No swings, no vibrations on his bouncy chair, set him down in his crib for naps, try to soothe him back to sleep with the least possible intervention and without picking him up when possible, and absolutely no paci expect to aide with napping when he was stuck in his carseat.
I tortured myself over our increasing use of the pacifier to assist with sleep. Then a quick call to my sleep lady and what do you know, Shaun was right. I was never so happy to be wrong. We now have a new, pacifier included, sleep plan that works for us. He now goes down "drowsy, but awake" with his binky. And I am over it. We are not weak for needing a little silicon nipple. And even if we are, we're happy.

Happy Birthday to my Mama turned Grandmama

My mom's pretty much the best. She thinks I'm endlessly funny, even when I'm not. She takes me on spa days and turns me into a lady that lunches. She can just think of a memory and begin to laugh unprompted. She's always, always supported every dream I've ever had and has even given me a pep talk or two, even when I would never admit that I needed one. Heck, she even moved her vacation dream home from "somewhere warm" to Montana, which I'm endlessly thankful for. Bottom line: she's fun and she loves my little man to the moon (and finds him endlessly amusing, even when he's not). What do you get a gal like that on her birthday? Enter Pinhole Press. You know that I have approximately 20 photos for every day that Logan has been on this earth and approximately 19 of them are worthy of higher ground than my computer files. I made my mom/grandma a calender starring her grandson. Everyone can expect photo books for Christmas, including a gift for myself.

Face Lift

We really want to repaint the exterior of our house. And by we, I mean my husband and I. But the actual painting will most likely be left entirely up to yours truly. After all, I'm the only one to ever lift a paint brush/roller in the interior of both our current home and our first home (turned rental). Plus, one of my first jobs was as a painter. AND I'm home all day with the little man. So I've been taking snapshots of neighborhood homes that are inspiring on our stroller walks and I'm also stalking Pinterest. I'd really like get er done before the snow falls and preferably while the weather is still pleasant, so time's a wasting.

Source: None via Cassidy on Pinterest

I love this color scheme but we're leaning towards green as the main color.

Source: younghouselove.com via Cassidy on Pinterest

I'd also like to hang house numbers like this and I'm trying to decide if I should paint the decking/railing or leave it au natural.

Sleeping like a Baby

Yesterday was our sleep consultation and it was not yuck at all. We learned a bit about sleep patterns for our now 4-month-old. He's becoming a little adult and his brain is maturing. As he moves into different sleep stages he has "partial awakenings" (we all do) and he has trouble getting himself back to sleep without our help (i.e. an hour of sh-sh-ing, rocking, soothing measures).

So, how do we teach him to easily slip into a new sleep cycle? We lay him down "drowsy but awake." I've heard this a million times. It just sounds scary. We always rock or lately bounce (on the exercise ball) him into slumber and then ease him into his crib. Our sleep plan is to wait until he's a 9, on a 1-10 scale, and then set him down slightly awake. We'll stay with him and pat him or sh-sh until he's sound asleep. If we need to pick him up to soothe him, we do. The point is to do as little for him as possible so that we give him the opportunity to do for himself. Each time he goes down this way we'll try to scale back to an 8, a 7, a 6 until someday we just set him down and say good-night.
Sounds pretty simple right. Well, in practice it stinks. He's all, "Hey, wait a minute! I'm not sleeping! What do you think you're doing!?" Thus making our simple 10 minute evening rock/bounce, ease into the crib, and tip-toe out routine into a 45 minute ordeal of sh-ing and patting him in the crib then picking him up to rock/bounce him back to a "9" even a "9.5, please Logan you can do it..." followed by more leaning over the crib soothing exercises. Finally we reverted to our tried, but true ways and set him down completely sleepy, a "10," a fail.
Right on cue, my little man woke up 45 minutes later needing our help. So we tried again, we really tried. To not pick him up. We'd think he was back to sleep and then, no. But in the end, success. At the end of it all, he did fall asleep in this crib with a comforting hand on his tummy and he slept through the night.
I'll keep you updated on our "drowsy but awake" life.

The Master List

The intent of this blog is to help me live my life with intention. So, here are my intentions-- in bullet point:

• Begin a Blog
• Yoga on the Regular
• Train for a Marathon
• Gain Photography Know-How
• Throw a Party
• Take an Art Class
• Volunteer
• Cooking-Do it.
• Knitting-Learn it.
• Get Involved with Local Theater
• Shadow Interesting and Inspiring Folks
• Attend Free Courses/Lectures/Conferences
• Flex my Fashion Muscles
• Fuel my Soul with Travel, Books, Spa Days, and Romance
• Love my Entire Home
• Garden
• Go Green
• Remember to Send Cards/Gifts
• Remember to Make Time for my Marriage
• Love that Baby Boy the Best I Can

As often occurs, I make lists and I dream up plans...but the follow-up is lacking. My hope is that my checking back in here I will hold myself accountable and become a do-er.

This week's to-do: 1. Schedule a Massage (I'm gonna need it, because...); 2. Schedule a Sleep Training Consultations (yuck)

A New Start

I'm a mommy. This title is very new to me. My little man is 11 weeks old.

Logan Dean. He's quite amazing. I'm currently trying to calm down and enjoy him a bit more and worry a bit less about parenting (i.e. sleep schedules/training, figuring out how to nurse and then a nursing schedule, providing appropriate social, physical, mental development opportunities) and not completely stressing when things don't go as I believe they should be scheduled. As I'm trying to define myself as a momma, I'm also trying to redefine myself as a wife. Redefine myself without my career (I'm a stay-at-home).

I'm one of those people who can put every one else first, again and again, until I'm no longer sure what it is that I want, what it is that I like, what it is I want to do. I don't even realize that I'm disappearing. I fool myself into thinking that I'm happy and fulfilled because the people I love are happy and I'm a part of that.

With this new chapter of parenthood, the becoming of the mother of my beautiful baby boy and getting to know my husband as the father of my beautiful baby boy, I'm going to make a resolution and document my journey here. I'm resolving to explore all that inspires me. I'm resolving to try something new every month. I'm resolving to become the best mother and wife I can be by chasing inspirations and becoming inspiring.