Thursday, April 22, 2010

I can't do it!

CIO attempt = epic fail.

Never in my life will I do that again, lol.

Allie has been having issues at night, and needless to say, I AM TIRED!!! I tried CIO last night, but only lasted a mere 8-10min. Poor thing was so exhausted from crying. I walked in there and she was standing up, half slumped over the railing, with her head lying on the side. She probably would have fallen asleep like that if I had left her!! I scooped her up and wrapped her in a blanket and just cuddled and rocked her. She was out within 20 seconds.

I felt awful! While she was falling asleep in my arms, she was still wimpering! I just kept giving her kisses and rocking her.

I know she was fine and all - she had been fed and changed. She just wanted her mama. And when I think about it, there is nothing wrong with that. She's a baby. She will eventually go to sleep on her own and sleep through the night. While I may be tired, I do like rocking her and watching her drift off to sleep in my arms. I'm going to miss it when she's done with all of that, so I guess I just have to suck it up, go to bed earlier and try to enjoy the one-on-one time I have with her.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Full Speed Ahead! And a bit of a rant...

Our little Allie is crawling like a champ now! She officially started on April 5! She's everywhere and loves it! I, on the other hand, somewhat miss her completely immobile stage. Then again, it's so much fun to see them learn new things! What else?? She's waving hi and bye, she claps and "dances" when she's excited, she's pulling up on everything and cruising along the furniture when she gets the chance.

We just started cloth diapering, and so far I love it! They are adorable and oh-so-soft!! It's a slow process, so we still have sposies around, but I'm hoping to be 100% cloth by Summer time!

She's eating lots more now! She can drink from a sippy, a straw, and a regular cup. I prefer the sippy and straw to the regular cup for clean factor. lol

She still only has two teeth, but she manages food great! I still keep things pretty soft for her though!

She still isn't sleeping through the night!!! It's bad! She's goes to bed around 9:00, wakes up around 2-3am to eat, goes back to sleep, and then wakes up at 5am. I nurse her and she's out within minutes, but the second I lay her in her crib, she's awake and crying. This has led to me being exhausted, which in turn, has led to her sleeping in our bed for the past two nights. I am stopping this now! While I don't necessarily have an issue with co-sleeping at this age, I do believe that mom and dad's bed is for mom and dad. I know people that co slept and ended up having their kids in bed with them until they were 5-6yrs old. Not something I'm interested in, thanks.

She was sleeping through the night up until around 5 months old. Not sure what happened, but I really wish she would revert back to her old ways!!

I've decided I'm going to start her on rice milk when the time comes. I've been drinking it since she was 2wks old, and I cannot go back to regular cow's milk. Aiden drinks it too and likes it, so I see no reason to have two different milks in the house. It's easier on her system and a lot easier to digest for little ones (us as well!). I've felt much better since making the switch too. Not to mention all of the hormones and crap that cows are fed nowadays. I was also reading there are traces of blood and pus in cow's milk. Do I know that to be 100% true? No. But I guess it makes sense - it is breastmilk after all!

RANT ON:

People think it's such a bad thing to not have babies on cow's milk. Really? I'm just not so sure nature intended for humans to be drinking baby cow's milk. We make breastmilk for human babies, cow's make breastmilk for calves. Their milk is made to sustain a baby CALF - to nurture it into a 300lb+ animal within 24months. Makes you go hmmmm! At least I do, lol.

This is just the way I view things. Am I going to scoff at you because you give your kid cow's milk, feed them frozen, boxed, bagged foods, take them to mcdonalds, or vaccinate them? Absolutely not. Your kid, your choice. I respect that. I just ask that people do the same for me.

What DOES annoy me is when I get laughs and eye rolls. To me, that signals that you are insecure with your parenting choices and abilities. Don't out yourself like that. You'll only look like a fool to me, which in turn gives me the right to laugh at you. I won't though - at least not to your face.

I will absolutely not apologize for going against the grain and making sure my kids are healthy and as natural as possible - the way nature intended them to be. So what if I don't do what everyone else is doing! That's not me. I have my opinions and beliefs and I stick with them. If you think differently of me for this, maybe it's time you reevaluate yourself. If you're truly comfortable with the decisions you make as a parent, you won't have an issue with mine.

Random? Maybe. But I've noticed that I've had a few people stop talking to me ever since I have made my parenting decisions a little more known. Online and in real life. Does it bother me? Maybe a little, but nothing I'm losing sleep over. I am 110% confident in the choices I have made as a mother, and I'm damn proud of that. I'm an organic loving, natural practicing, crunchy little mama and I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

RANT OFF

Sorry, got sidetracked there, but it was stuff that was bothering me. And before anyone says anything about how Allie won't get the fat and nutrients that she "needs" from cow's milk - please understand that there are better, healthier ways to get those things. She loves avocodos for instance - those are full of healthy fats! We cook with olive oil, which again, is a healthy fat. Rice milk is enriched with Vit. D and calcium, and even has a bit more of other things than regular milk does. And did you know that 1 measly cup of broccoli juice contains a helluva lot more calcium than milk? Yep, it does. So chillax people, I got this.

Anywho...


Aiden has started tball and loves it!! He's a natural just like his daddy! Chev was really hoping he would love the sport, and it's looking like that's going to be the case. Chev has a lot to teach him, and I can't wait to see them together as he gets older. Chev could have went far with baseball, but had to stop at college because of his hips. He was the best catcher in the this area, but the years of it wore on him bad. I think there is a big part of Chev that would love to see Aiden go far, but he also understands that it might not happen. We're cool with that!

Gotta go! I've got MOUNDS of laundry to fold! More later.