Shoooowee! Life with a two-year old is crazy unpredictable! I'm not sure what in the world happened to H last night but she woke up like ten times crying--Not just whimpering like she would sometimes do for a second and fall back asleep-- this was full-on crying and yelling for me or her Dad. She got a cold a few nights ago and I can tell she is on the last leg of that but I'm not sure what would keep waking her up like that. I do know that a night of broken sleep makes for a very long morning for me!
Nights with her have been touch and go lately. She has not taken her afternoon nap in a few weeks now and I think that has something to do with her nighttime sleep on those nights like last night. I read a long time ago that some kids can get overtired when they don't nap and it actually causes them to sleep worse at night. Which is the opposite of what one would think would happen. Remembering too, of course, that not all kids are the same. And the quote "They'll sleep when they're tired." is not true in all cases either especially at this age!
Her nap time is the same time every single day. She knows she is supposed to stay in her bed even if she wants to read a book or play with her animals she needs to stay in her bed. Does that happen? Negative. But I got tired of fighting that. She is quiet in her room so I do go in from time to time to tell her to get back in bed and she does. The point to that is that if she is in her bed eventually, one would think, that she would get bored and fall asleep but she hasn't done that in weeks. So I keep her in there for as long as she would normally nap. She is completely content in there too which I am happy for because that time is my time to work on my photography editing which I cannot get done while she's awake.
So it seems every other night she has a rough night where she wakes up a lot and I know it has something to do with her not napping during the day but I have no clue what to do about it. My daughter went from taking naps lasting 12:30-3:30 every single day to not sleeping at all. I am beginning to wonder if it is the potty training. We have been potty training since January. We had her 95% trained but then had to go on a trip to Georgia and it all just went out the window. Sure, it's probably my fault, but I honestly didn't feel like dealing with it over there. I knew it would just be accident after accident since she wasn't in her own element and we were staying in three different places during that week. When we got back home I started over again and this time she was way more difficult to train than that first time. It almost seemed more of a rebellion though and I can't explain why. She would whine when I mentioned sitting on the potty or tell me "I don't have to!" every time I asked if she had to go. I would put her on the potty every hour hoping she would go and she would just hold it. She would hold it until she couldn't hold it anymore and if I didn't catch her cues she would just pee all over herself! We are finally past that and she actually doesn't mind sitting on the potty and she will sometimes tell me. Most of the time I just put her on it every hour unless she tells me otherwise.
Yesterday, I put a potty in her room since the past two days I have found her with her pull-up off in her room. I think she views them as her panties and when she goes in them she wants them off because she doesn't like feeling wet. That's what I think is happening there. So I put a potty in her room in hopes that she'll go in the potty and then put her pull-up back on. We'll see how that goes today!
Anyways, I believe she's going through some sort of phase and will eventually begin to take her naps again. Or maybe that's wishful thinking! But as long as she is happy and content I will continue to use that time for ME and my photography.
Have a great day everyone!
xoxo,
Exhausted in Los Angeles
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Melaina 8.5.86 - 2.2.14
I just recently had to deal with one of the hardest things that I've ever dealt with in my life. Since I'm only 27 I never imagined I would have to face something that is actually quite common in young people. I have had acquaintances die suddenly from car accidents or drug overdoses but never anything this strange and to someone so close to me. I guess it's something you just take for granted. I have a friend who's best friend passed away in a car accident and year after year I see posts from her reminiscing their days together and how heavy-hearted she is on the anniversary of the incident from years ago.
Never did I imagine that I would be put in that position. And I know I'm not alone here.
I look back at the text messages from the last time I spoke to Melaina. She sent me a text wishing me Happy New Years and then the next day asking me if I knew anything about our dental insurance because she had a filling fall out. I just responded "Nope! I sure don't!" And that was it. A month went by and I didn't reach out to her again.
As teens we were inseparable. If I wasn't "living" at her house, she was "living" at mine! We would stay up late gossiping about girls, giggling about boys, watching chick flicks, and eating whatever we wanted. Those were the good ol' days when we could do that! Melaina was so happy all the time! We almost never stopped laughing. We had SO MANY inside jokes! We were certain no one really "got us" and we were okay with that because we had each other. We would fight about stupid things and go a week without talking to each other until one of us caved (usually ME) and then it'd be like nothing ever happened!
Even as adults we did this. We had our differences in many different areas but it never stopped us from communicating to check in and see how things were going. Her and her husband were stationed in San Francisco and me in mine in Los Angeles. As soon as her husband went for training she came down to stay with her Dad and almost every day she was over here at my house. And when she wasn't here she was at the gym by where her dad lived. She even made a friend there! Leave it to Melaina to make a friend wherever she went. Not only that but leave it to Melaina to get into a car accident in the parking lot! LOL!! Her sister, Natalie, and I were laughing the other night about how Melaina never could drive! Bless her heart. hahahaha!
I miss her. I took for granted having her just a text message away whenever I wanted.
And just because the services are over does not mean the hurt instantly goes away. I know there are people in her life who have to deal with that hurt 1,000 times more than myself. I pray for you guys. I pray for the strength of each one of you. The words "I can't even imagine" don't even begin to explain the amount of pain you're feeling.
I am a strong believer in God and I have faith in His word. We all know the saying "God works in mysterious ways." But even as a Christian it is so hard for me to imagine how things like this that happen to such good people could even be turned around for good... but I guess that's where my faith needs work. I will continue to pray for the family of Melaina every single day that God provides them with the strength to get through this one days at a time. There are good days and bad days and I just hope that over time there will start to be more good than bad.
Melaina definitely wouldn't want people moping around and sobbing every day. She'd want us to get up off our butts and get moving... go work out... go soak up the sun...
We miss you, Laine and will ALWAYS miss you. I know I'll see you again and we'll share many laughs together! Knowing you, you'll want to talk smack about the other angels! LOL. You are so loved by all that knew you. Love you, Lainerz <3
xoxo,
Natasha
Never did I imagine that I would be put in that position. And I know I'm not alone here.
I look back at the text messages from the last time I spoke to Melaina. She sent me a text wishing me Happy New Years and then the next day asking me if I knew anything about our dental insurance because she had a filling fall out. I just responded "Nope! I sure don't!" And that was it. A month went by and I didn't reach out to her again.
As teens we were inseparable. If I wasn't "living" at her house, she was "living" at mine! We would stay up late gossiping about girls, giggling about boys, watching chick flicks, and eating whatever we wanted. Those were the good ol' days when we could do that! Melaina was so happy all the time! We almost never stopped laughing. We had SO MANY inside jokes! We were certain no one really "got us" and we were okay with that because we had each other. We would fight about stupid things and go a week without talking to each other until one of us caved (usually ME) and then it'd be like nothing ever happened!
Even as adults we did this. We had our differences in many different areas but it never stopped us from communicating to check in and see how things were going. Her and her husband were stationed in San Francisco and me in mine in Los Angeles. As soon as her husband went for training she came down to stay with her Dad and almost every day she was over here at my house. And when she wasn't here she was at the gym by where her dad lived. She even made a friend there! Leave it to Melaina to make a friend wherever she went. Not only that but leave it to Melaina to get into a car accident in the parking lot! LOL!! Her sister, Natalie, and I were laughing the other night about how Melaina never could drive! Bless her heart. hahahaha!
I miss her. I took for granted having her just a text message away whenever I wanted.
And just because the services are over does not mean the hurt instantly goes away. I know there are people in her life who have to deal with that hurt 1,000 times more than myself. I pray for you guys. I pray for the strength of each one of you. The words "I can't even imagine" don't even begin to explain the amount of pain you're feeling.
I am a strong believer in God and I have faith in His word. We all know the saying "God works in mysterious ways." But even as a Christian it is so hard for me to imagine how things like this that happen to such good people could even be turned around for good... but I guess that's where my faith needs work. I will continue to pray for the family of Melaina every single day that God provides them with the strength to get through this one days at a time. There are good days and bad days and I just hope that over time there will start to be more good than bad.
Melaina definitely wouldn't want people moping around and sobbing every day. She'd want us to get up off our butts and get moving... go work out... go soak up the sun...
We miss you, Laine and will ALWAYS miss you. I know I'll see you again and we'll share many laughs together! Knowing you, you'll want to talk smack about the other angels! LOL. You are so loved by all that knew you. Love you, Lainerz <3
xoxo,
Natasha
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
The Terrible Almost-Two's
Shooooowee! My dear H is nearing her 2nd Birthday (this coming up March) and these past few weeks have been a nightmare. I'm talking mood swings like no man has ever seen from a woman. Pitching fits over absolutely NOTHING. Waking up multiple times a night yelling "Mommyyyyy!" or yelling "MY DADDY!" over and over and over like she did the other night when I went in to check on her. She was kicking and hitting at me yelling "My daddy! My daddy!" She has just started adding "My" to it when she is getting in trouble by me and it's funny how that little word can make something sound so much worse than it really is. Ha!
The smallest things will set her off. Sometimes she will pitch a fit that just sitting in her time-out spot will fix… other times we have to put her in her room and shut the door until we hear her calm herself down. Fighting her seems to only make it worse and stresses us out even more. When we have exhausted all attempts and calming her ourselves it's really the only thing left to do other than being that mom to offer candy to console her screaming child, which I am not.
If I could sum up a child's life in one word I think it would be "Phases". It seems that every time we overcome one phase, another one begins.
Like everything I know that this attitude is a new phase of hers. I can only hope that it doesn't get worse than this. People keep telling me to "just wait"… why do people do that? Why do you only hear "Welcome to parenthood" when it's something negative? Just wondering.
Anyways, it's been one heck of a ride with her lately. In case you didn't already gather that.
I used to think that the "Terrible Two's" only existed for people who didn't discipline their kids. Well I'm proof that I was so wrong. Kids are kids and most all kids go through the same exact phases at some point or another. It can be tough since this is also my first time going through this and finding the best ways to deal with these crazy phases. I've posted before about my worries about how the ways I deal with things now will shape her as she grows. So that fear still exists but I try not to worry so much and just go with what my husband and I think is best.
I guess you could say that parenting goes through phases as well if you think about it!
As far as disciplining methods go I have found that the "1-2-3" method works the best right now. I hope that sticks because it seems to be the easiest for me too! I just hope that it doesn't scar H for when she starts school. I don't want her flipping out every time the teacher tries to teach them to count… ;) hehehe
I know I'm not alone in this war with toddlerhood and most of the time I just have to laugh it off. It's the only way to really deal with the madness!
Keep Calm & Utilize Nick Jr. (It really helps when you need a break)
xoxo,
Sane in Los Angeles
The smallest things will set her off. Sometimes she will pitch a fit that just sitting in her time-out spot will fix… other times we have to put her in her room and shut the door until we hear her calm herself down. Fighting her seems to only make it worse and stresses us out even more. When we have exhausted all attempts and calming her ourselves it's really the only thing left to do other than being that mom to offer candy to console her screaming child, which I am not.
If I could sum up a child's life in one word I think it would be "Phases". It seems that every time we overcome one phase, another one begins.
Like everything I know that this attitude is a new phase of hers. I can only hope that it doesn't get worse than this. People keep telling me to "just wait"… why do people do that? Why do you only hear "Welcome to parenthood" when it's something negative? Just wondering.
Anyways, it's been one heck of a ride with her lately. In case you didn't already gather that.
I used to think that the "Terrible Two's" only existed for people who didn't discipline their kids. Well I'm proof that I was so wrong. Kids are kids and most all kids go through the same exact phases at some point or another. It can be tough since this is also my first time going through this and finding the best ways to deal with these crazy phases. I've posted before about my worries about how the ways I deal with things now will shape her as she grows. So that fear still exists but I try not to worry so much and just go with what my husband and I think is best.
I guess you could say that parenting goes through phases as well if you think about it!
As far as disciplining methods go I have found that the "1-2-3" method works the best right now. I hope that sticks because it seems to be the easiest for me too! I just hope that it doesn't scar H for when she starts school. I don't want her flipping out every time the teacher tries to teach them to count… ;) hehehe
I know I'm not alone in this war with toddlerhood and most of the time I just have to laugh it off. It's the only way to really deal with the madness!
Keep Calm & Utilize Nick Jr. (It really helps when you need a break)
xoxo,
Sane in Los Angeles
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)