Growing

I often makes notes on my phone, sometimes it's a grocery list or impressions I have, or great quotes. This morning while holding Eden I was cleaning them up and ran across this quote I wrote down...

Welcome the task that makes you go beyond yourself and you will grow.
-Julie B. Beck

Oh crap, that task is absolutely Eden, can I be done growing now? I'm not sure I have the welcoming part down yet.

A Good Day

I talk a lot about how difficult Eden is and our days are really hard. I thought it was important that I report that today was a really good day. Perhaps the best day we've ever had.

Naps went great, she didn't cry for hours tonight, Catie and I played (at the park even) and I got a nap. Dinner was put on the table (even if it was frozen lasagna), I washed and folded laundry and I'm currently spending some time with my husband.

It was a great day.

Start as You Mean to Go On... heh heh heh

I`ve often heard people talk about how before you have kids you make rules for yourself of what you will and won`t do and then after the baby comes those rules go out the window. This isn't really something I understood because we parented Catie exactly the way we wanted to. Everything I wanted before she was born worked out perfectly for her and parenthood was easy... and then came Eden.

My parenting motto has always been, Start as you mean to go on. So if you don`t want to be rocking your two year old to sleep then don`t start rocking your baby to sleep, and then came Eden. This little lady gets rocked to sleep before every, single nap. I didn`t want to use a soother and now it`s my best friend. I`ve always thought swings were sleep crutches and now I`d give anything to have a swing put Eden to sleep. I`m not a big fan of baby wearing but the Moby comes in handy.

Perhaps the one I felt the mostly strongly about was that babies belonged in cribs, not my bed. Never once did I sleep with Catie yet somehow this girl doesn't ever sleep as well as she does right here, tucked between Brad and I.

We`re pretty sure there has never been a more fussy baby and I worry about what happens when it`s time to put an end to these bad habits.  For now we`ll continue to do whatever works, to just get through each day with a little sanity, we`ll deal with the consequences another day.