Happy New Year's Eve

Don't worry, Charlie was only in the sun for the time it took to take these pictures.

Bedrest

Remember how I posted a bunch of baby pics on Monday and then never gave any updates?  Well, this week has not gone exactly as expected.  I am on bedrest. Apparently there was a complication in my epidural where I leaked some spinal fluid and now I have a spinal headache that is suppsed to last for 5-7 days.  If you're not familiar with that, it's a massive throbbing pain that comes on any time you lift your head.  For me, it sucks.  For those around me, it's quite entertaining.  I still have to get up to do things like go to the bathroom, but I can only do it bent over so that my head isn't upright.  So just imagine me walking around like I'm trying to touch my toes.  It's cute.  And to think I was looking forward to a speedy recovery...

Luckily, Charlie is awesome.  I was worried about having to nurse a newborn baby while being physically unable to sit upright or lift my head, but he figured out how to do it while I'm laying down.  Last night he woke up only one time in an 8-hour stretch, so I'm surprisingly well rested, too.  Violet is having fun with her aunt right now so the only thing I really need to worry about is entertaining myself while on my back all day.

This is the fourth day since my epidural.  If all goes well, I will be fully functional within the next couple of days.  But there is a chance that I may have to experience Christmas horizontally this year.

Welcome to the world

This is Charlie.

8 lbs, 4.7 oz.

Eats like a lion, sleeps like a lamb.

Delivered by the best doctor ever.

Loved by everyone.

And about to meet his big sister...

The ghost in the house

It seems that Mom has been going crazy.  Brandon and I may not have helped with that.  Every week we drive out to my appointment and afterwards spend awhile at her house when no one else is there.  So this week, Mom came home to her Christmas lights already turned on, her packages on the kitchen counter instead of at the front door, some cookies eaten, and her leaves raked.  I would like to say that Brandon was just being a good son-in-law and raking the leaves for her, but he actually did it so that he and Violet could play around in them.  And they did.

But it left Mom a little confused.  Oh well.

Some holiday cheer

Just in case my last post makes you think that I'm about to lose it...

Violet has actually been very good lately (during hours when she isn't supposed to be sleeping).  She loves everything about the Christmas season and I'm thrilled to be sharing it with her this year.

 Oh, and I may have forgotten to mention that Brandon did get an internship lined up for next summer.  And as if a job offer weren't enough, his company sent us a "holiday package" with a bunch of treats in it.  Just for kicks.  It's like they knew he had a pregnant wife and a toddler to eat them all.

 On Saturday I went to the nutcracker with Mom and the Peterson girls.  It was beautiful, as usual.  During intermission I took a picture of Santa on this giant gingerbread house they had out in the lobby.  I showed Violet and she loved it, but I think she expected Santa to be small and plastic when we took her to meet him last night.

 Alas, he was large and human.  Here's how meeting him went over:

 Didn't catch that?  Let's get a close-up of that face:

It was actually a funny story.  As soon as she saw him, she made it clear that she didn't want to be near him.  Brandon walked her up to him and he gave her some candy.  She was ok with that.  But when Brandon tried to sit her on his lap, she thought "Is this the price I have to pay for getting candy?  I don't think so!" and she threw the candy (quite forcefully) back at Santa and screamed, NOOOO!!! MOMMY!!!!!! 

"You can have your stupid candy back, Santa, just don't touch me!"

Help

What do you do with a 2-year-old who refuses to nap, can climb out of her crib, won't stay in her room, and doesn't play quietly by herself? Seriously, this is not a riddle, I'm really wondering what to do with Violet.  Several weeks ago, Violet would go to bed without a fight at about 8:30 and sleep until 8 AM.  She would fight her naps but eventually fall asleep in her crib and nap from 2-4 PM.  This schedule was bliss. 

Since Daylight Savings ended, she gets up at 7 (Brandon gets up with her, thankfully) and won't nap until 3 or later.  One would think that naptime would be at 1 now, but that failed. This is because she figured out how to climb out of her crib, so the only way to get her to bed is to lie in bed with her and sing songs until she falls asleep. And this only works if she is REALLY tired; otherwise, I can be singing songs for up to an hour and she just stares at me.  Not going to happen.  People tell me that she's outgrowing her nap and just needs to have quiet time in her room, which would be fine if I could keep her in her room.  That is not the case.  I have spent 45 minutes holding her door shut while she pulls on the handle and screams, "Mommy read a book!  Mommy do blocks!"  On Friday I got her to stay in her room while I napped on her bed (I broke down and said that she could stay up as long as she let me nap) but it required me to fall asleep while she stuck blocks in my face and said, "After finish the blocks you can take nap."  When she does nap, it's so late and she's so tired that she will sleep until 6 if I let her.  So, I have to wake her up no later than 4:30 if I want her to go to bed at a reasonable hour (which is actually not reasonable for a toddler).  An hour of fighting for an hour of napping does not seem justified to me.

Bedtime is just as bad.  The same ordeal happens, except that she falls asleep around 10.  SERIOUSLY?!?!  This can't be healthy for either of us.  I feel like I've tried everything, but what works one day doesn't work the next day.  I don't consider myself the kind of mom that would be ok locking her child in a room; I don't want naptime to be a traumatic experience. But I'm running out of ideas.

I need to figure something out soon.  I have 10 days or less until I have another child.  I'm afraid that if I have to deal with this and a new baby, I will develop post-partum depression and end up throwing myself out a window.  Or maybe I just need to have this baby so that it will force me to stop treating Violet like an only child.

Nesting

You know how some women get a burst of energy before they have their baby and do crazy things like make meals for a month and deep-clean their bath tubs? Well, that hasn't happened to me. I have no energy, I still don't like to cook, and no amount of pre-labor hormones could make me bend over far enough to scrub my bath tub. Violet and I have been taking it easy and this Friday we went to the zoo.

 But even taking it easy can be hard.  After walking around the zoo for an hour, I could practically feel myself effacing with each step.  My body doesn't seem too eager to push this baby out, but at times I feel like it could fall out at any time.

Even if I haven't been deep-cleaning my whole house, I've been getting ready for baby in my own little way.  The car is cleaned out and the car seat is installed.  I put the bumpers I made in the crib since Violet has figured out how to climb out of it and no longer naps in there.  I'm making a Christmas coming-home onesie. Brandon even painted my toenails and put an avocado mask on me last night.  He sure loves me.

And you're probably wondering what an avocado mask has to do with preparing for the baby.  Honestly, who is going to notice my toenails and pores when I am in labor?  Probably nobody.  But I've just gained 40 lbs and will soon have a roomful of people see me half naked.  It's just my way of doing anything to make myself feel a little better.

And that is how nesting happens for me.

(Yeah, I know, the AAP doesn't recommend these. If baby figures out how to roll, I'll take them out so baby doesn't suffocate on them. I mostly plan on using them during the time that baby can crawl backwards and get his/her legs stuck between the slats.)