In Honor of Angel Baby

I realized that our baby would be approximately two months old if she were here (I write in the feminine to simplify, as we have no way of knowing). I'm posting this not as a pity party, but as a remembrance of a baby that was so beautiful that she sprouted wings and went to heaven right away.

I've realized that I have a strong desire to name this baby. But there's a lot of pressure in picking the perfect name. But I want my baby to have a name in heaven. Silly I know. And who knows how these things really work in the after life, but it's something that's important to me.

Ani Lucille Tribbett - Estimated Due Date 9/5/09, Flew to heaven around 1/31/09

Ani means "beautiful" and Lucille means "bringer of light". This seems appropriate as she was a beautiful light in our lives for a short while.

In her honor I'm re-posting the original poem that I wrote for her.

Peek-a-boo Angel Baby

Peek-a-boo baby

Oh where did you go?

Peek-a-boo baby

I long to hold you so

Tiny one, did you fly to

Heaven?

Mommy can’t hold you there

But God can.

Peek-a-boo baby

I’ll find you someday

On a cloud, on a star,

Beyond the Milky Way

Dear precious one

Until that time

Bask in God’s love

Which is truly divine

Feeling Lucky

My hubby and I went to a marriage conference recently and I feel very privileged to have taken part. It's called the Love and Respect conference. I think the man who put it together has struck gold.

Anyways, I definitely feel a new appreciation for who my husband is as a person. It's easy to see all of the things that are ugly about a person (and we all have those ugly areas), but wouldn't life be so much more wonderful if we worked extra hard to find the good?

I feel blessed for who my hubby is. He gets up everyday and cleans my daycare area for me so that I can rest before my daycare kiddos get here. He heads to a job that is not really his thing and works hard every day to support his family. He's got a great sense of humor, always wanting to laugh and he has a heart of gold.

Sure we've struggled in our relationship as we're going on seven years of marriage in February of next year. But I think it's in the struggles that we became who we are today. And it's not perfect by any means, but definitely enjoyable and something I would not want to do without!

Cheers - to marriage - sip sip (coffee this time of morning)

The Happiest Toddler

I've been reading The Happiest Toddler on The Block by Dr. Karp. I'm not done with it yet, but I'm riveted. I have to say that I think this man has found a nugget of pure gold through his experience and research.

To be honest, I don't want to go into detail with his theories and techniques because I couldn't possibly do it justice without violating copyright laws. If you have a child under 4, get this book. I'm so convinced of its value that I've already ordered the companion DVD so that I can have that and the book available for check out to my daycare parents when I'm done with it. Amazing, insightful stuff!

The Happiest Toddler

Reminder to Self

Every once in awhile I try to reread some articles and resources that I've posted and/or looked at previously. I read this article this morning.

5 Steps

I try so hard to be loving and gentle in my approach to parenting. But we're all human, myself included. Sometimes I need reminders of how I want to approach mothering and techniques that will help me on my way.

Sometimes I need to be more consistent. For example, despite my love of the above technique, Boo is not always "helped" when he should be. This is especially true when I'm busy with other children during the day, feeding a baby, trying to get lunch on the table, and all of the other things I do in a given day. Or, and this makes me cringe just to write it, when it's the end of the day and I'm too plain pooped out to get up and deal with his discipline. Yes - I have my moments where I'm guilty of barking orders from the couch!

So I resolve to do better today. That's all anyone can do as a parent - admit inadequacies and work on them.

Puppy Training Update

Well, we've had another training session. I must say that already Wally is a new puppy! The nipping problem? Pretty much gone. He still gets too wound up at times and nips, but that's the exception, not the rule. Yay Wally!

Currently we're working on sit, down, name recognition, "come", learning to walk correctly (i.e. no tugging on the leash, wandering off, etc...), "leave it"(teaching him to leave something that he wants alone). The BIG project right now? Grooming. He can't stand the nail trimming process. In fact he throws a little doggy tantrum when we try. The trainer cut his nails for me Monday and he went ballistic. So I get to hold him and pretend to trim his nails every night while he eats a treat.

I am really enjoying my time with Wally. Boo loves him. Boo loves to play fetch with Wally. Wally doesn't really bring the ball back, but he'll stand by while Boo picks the ball up and throws it again for him! It's so nice to see them interact together. Wally rarely nips/jumps at Boo anymore. He still occasionally has to be crated for it, but rarely. And it's usually because he gets too excited and jumpy.

I'm really glad that we decided to work with a trainer. She's really teaching us a lot and it'll be great to have a well-trained dog that can eventually interact more not just with our family but with the daycare kiddos also.

If anyone needs dog training, it's Tip Top Dog Training.

Checking in Midweek

Well, so far so good this week. Even though I ate a lot over the weekend, it came out of my extra weekly points that weight watchers allows. So I'm doing okay. I've been able to stay in my points every day and it's showing on the scale. Also, activity wise I think I'm doing okay. With having 5 children in the house 4-5 days a week I pretty much don't sit down all day. I'm constantly on the move. We still do our morning walk. Granted, this is not at all at a brisk pace. I have two walkers now and that really slows me down. But oh well. I try to go for another walk in the evenings with Boo and Wally. That walk's a bit faster since Boo rides in the stroller!

I'd love to get in some yoga during naptime, but right now I'm lucky if I sit down for 20 minutes during naptime (even though the kids sleep for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours). But there's so many things that need to get done in that time, plus there's a little baby that usually wants fed somewhere in there!

Anyways, it feels good to see some progress on the scale after buckling down and putting forth the effort!

Nursing into Toddlerhood

There's been a lot of change for Boo in the past month. We've pretty successfully night weaned. He still wakes up now and then and cries for milk in the night, but not nearly so often. And it doesn't take him that long to go back to sleep. I'm also working on setting more parameters around his daytime nursing. I'm really wanting to keep it to an "at home" thing now. We have our usual times - naptime and before bed. Additionally, mornings where there's no daycare kiddos when he wakes up and sometimes in the evening when he wants the extra comfort.

I feel bad though. We went out the other night and stayed out past his bedtime. He could not handle the fact that he wasn't getting his milk while we were not at home. And in his defense, it was bedtime. I stuck to my guns, but I'm not sure that was the best decision. He was horribly upset. Perhaps a more sensitive decision would be to not plan to stay out way past his bedtime until he's gotten used to these new rules. At the time I didn't feel as if I was being horribly insensitive...just firm. Looking back on it, I think it was too much too soon.

We've also had other changes in the house. In the past two weeks I enrolled three kiddos in the daycare. Woo hoo - that's good news. And so far I think it's going really well. But of course that's a lot of change for a little 2 year old to handle. Now instead of sharing me with one child, he's sharing with four kiddos. Plus, one is an infant who gets to be held and fed bottles of milk. Boo has definitely noticed this and has tried to ask for his milk when the infant is being fed. A simple "not now...at naptime" or "not now...after daycare" does the trick. He's pretty used to that rule.

"Mothering Your Nursing Toddler" is a book that I read awhile back and it's a great read for anyone who chooses to nurse into toddlerhood. One thing that is great about this book is that it talks about setting limits when children are over 2. The author supports mothers setting limits that they feel are necessary to make themselves more comfortable with nursing their toddler. I think it's important for mothers who choose extended nursing as the right path for them to realize that extended nursing does not mean they have to be a 24 hour snack bar. I've actually felt really great about the limits that I've set. I still enjoy our nursing relationship, but I was starting to feel a bit burned out on it. Having parameters that I'm comfortable with have made a huge difference in how I feel about nursing my little Boo right now.

Well, remember that busy daycare home I mentioned? I must get back to it. No one's awake from nap yet, but there's a few more things I'd like to do before they are!