30 out of 30

Just got back from taking Will for a walk in the miserable cold rain. But she's asleep now and I can give myself a hearty congratulations.

I can't believe I actually completed thirty posts in thirty days.

I thought it was going to be hard going. But other than a couple of difficult days, it felt really good to just sit down and write every day. I've missed that.

I can't say that I'll be posting every single day from now on, but I also won't be giving up this blog any time soon. So thanks, NaBloPoMo.

Love Actually, but not today

I was going to write about my forming opinion of "Twilight" (which I finally caved in and bought for five bucks at Costco), but I think I want to actually finish the novel first.

What I really feel like doing is watching "Love, Actually." I only saw this movie for the first time last year - after Christmas! - and it was amazing. It has one of the saddest moments I have ever seen on film, when Emma Thompson goes into the bedroom to pull herself together before taking the family to the Christmas pageant, and Joni Mitchell is singing poignantly in the background. Heartbreaking! (As an aside, I had no idea "pageant" was spelled like that, although it definitely looks right.)

It also has the most romantic scene ever, in the restaurant in Portugal, when Colin Firth proposes to Aurelia in his terrible Portuguese, and she answers in her stilted English. I could watch that scene over and over. I love the "second language" grammar we get to see in the subtitles.

It is also highly entertaining to watch Bill Nighy and imagine him narrating "Meerkat Manor," but that's just an added bonus.

Unfortunately, when Will wakes up from her nap I have to go to Buffalo instead, for a last minute family get-together with the in-laws. Maybe tomorrow, and definitely before Christmas this year.

The next day

When I went to bed last night I couldn't breathe and I couldn't sleep, so after Will moved in beside me I decided to take one Nyquil. I told my husband what I'd done and then fell into a deep sleep.

I haven't slept that well in a long time. And I feel a lot better, emotionally speaking. The good part about parenting is that you get another chance to figure it out and do things better the next day. And it's always a million times harder when you and the child are both sick.

Anyway, a couple of pictures from yesterday of a very serious baker:


Maybe not always so serious:

A good day, and then not so much

The day started out fine, fun even, but since then things have gotten steadily worse.

I keep started posts and then hesitating at the "publish" button, not sure what I want to say. What I want to put out there, even though nobody really reads this anyway.

Did anyone know it was going to be like this? Parenting? Such indescribable joy and such crushing, suffocating frustration?

I think I'm in love

Will is still hacking up a lung around these parts. Last evening she was waking up every 20 minutes or so, until I finally took her into the guest room to snuggle. Voila! Not only did she fall asleep and stay snuggled during her coughing fits, she stayed asleep even after I disentangled myself and came back downstairs.

(We won't mention the horrifying thud when she fell out of the guest bed, but even then she calmed right down and went back to sleep.)

So this begs the question: is she ready for a toddler bed?

She loves sleeping in the bed with us, obviously. But she seems to love sleeping in beds in general. Maybe getting her a toddler bed will actually help her sleep better.

I have to say that I have always been against getting a toddler bed. Why get a bed to fit the crib mattress and then another bed when she's even bigger. I have been all for the crib-to-twin transition. But like many (most) things in parenting, it's time to reevaluate my pre-Will ideas to fit my actual child.

I adore her crib set. It's from College Woodwork, the Rossport collection:

There is also a beautiful dresser/hutch combo unit in this same dark wood. I just love it.

When I started browsing for "toddler bed," I was not too hopeful that I would find anything close to this, or even anything I would like.

But then I found this:


Isn't it the most beautiful toddler bed you have ever seen? It's by Storkcraft, and will be available in Canada through Sears and Walmart in January. I would have ordered it today if it was available. I love it.

Let's hope Will feels the same way.

Spasm

I totally did something to my back tonight. Will had the nighttime crazies and was climbing over the coffee table for the third time. I pulled her off and onto my lap to have a "talk," and suddenly there was a shooting pain.

It's right under my left scapula, so difficult to press or massage. And every time I turn or exhale too hard there is more pain. I've just taken 3 advil, so hopefully that will help. Maybe a hot bath after Will is really asleep (her room shares a wall with the bathroom).

She had a difficult night too. She has a terrible cough and kept us up with her tossing and turning. At one point she sat up in bed (yes, with us) like she does in the morning and said, "Up!"

It was 4 am.

So yeah. Today was a little rough. Short attention span, a lot of bumping into things and an almost non-existent nap when she really needed one. Let's hope she sleeps a long time before waking up tonight.

Preparing for cookies

Today was a fairly quiet day. Grocery shopping before lunch, then a trip to the big book depot after nap. It's a huge warehouse where Will loves to run; the only drawback is how incredibly dusty she gets from playing between the stacks.

To prepare for some interactive Christmas activities, I picked up a collection of holiday cookie cutters at the grocery store. They are really cute, but also made of metal. I realized after buying them that they are probably too sharp for toddler fingers. But then at the bookstore I scored four of those plastic cookie cutters (for a buck!) and a kids' cooking kit. The kit has a cookbook, an apron, a spoon and a rolling pin, as well as a couple more generic cutters. I think I'm going to pick up another kit to use with her playdough. (That last idea was really my mom's, but one I am definitely going to use.)

I think we are going to bake gingerbread and sugar cookies. The gingerbread ones are a lot more Weight Watchers friendly - only 1 point a cookie! Will loved decorating cupcakes at her cousin's birthday party, so I am sure she'll have a blast with the cookies. I'm thinking about doing a batch to use as ornaments too. And maybe some rice krispie trees or wreaths that she can decorate too. We'll see how ambitious I am after the first round.