Yoga Sleeper

Alright, let's see if I can bang this out before the wee monster decides to "wake up" again. She's been in bed since around 6:30 (normal-ish bed time) but for whatever reason was making angry sounds within thirty minutes. We typically let her go a couple minutes before intervening unless she is truly pissed. More often than not she is back to sleep in 120 seconds. I suppose I should mention Collin is over at a friend's this evening.

Tonight, not the case. So at about 7:10 I poked my head in and she whimpered at me so I sat and rocked her for a few minutes. I know, spoiling, blah blah blah, don't care. This treatment happens once or twice a month. Otherwise she is a phenomenal sleeper. Put her back down at 7:15, come down stairs, poke around on LinkedIn, and log in here to begin my brain draining. Not even the first letter typed and we have rage baby screaming going on. I know a big part of this is the position she INSISTS on sleeping in. She rolls onto her tummy and curls up; coincidentally the position she sleeps in equates to child's pose in yoga. Picture two is when she is hugging Reginald, her stuffed giraffe.

Seriously, even with the arms tucked backwards. Regardless how many times we put her on her back this is how she ends up, and what sets her off is, as witnessed tonight, she scoots her little head RIGHT up to the slats of the crib sides. If she moves (which this kid TRAVELS in her sleep) she bonks her head, or face on the slats. Can't use bumpers because they aren't safe; she could smother her adorable self.

So, back to the rage baby, episode two. I wait a couple minutes. She's still screaming, okay, not really screaming. She'd break windows if she was screaming. Makes me think of the little girl from the first X-men movie... Again, off topic. So she's pissed, I trudge BACK upstairs, scoop the little demon into my arms and say, "Okay, we're going to try snuggling on the couch, old school style." (like we used to when she was all of seven pounds and twenty inches long) I get My Little Pony: Equestria Girls going because Californication is just not appropriate for her, even asleep, and we do some serious bonding style tummy time snuggling on the couch. She eventually falls into a deep sleep about ten minutes later, and then about five minutes after that begins to attempt "traveling" around me like she is in her crib. Now, keep in mind my daughter is in the 100% for height, and 89-90% for weight for her age. She's about 31-32" tall now, and weighs 22-23 pounds. She's long, lean, and insanely strong. I finally wrestle her back into a semi comfortable position; i.e. not choking me, or trying to make my entire right arm fall asleep from her pinching the nerve in my shoulder.

After a couple more minutes of couch wrestling fun, she's semi awake again, and I am ready for her to want her crib. I decide okay, you're up, let's change your diaper. She was great, laid there all calm, let me change it AND put her pants back on. This is a feat these days because the monster would rather roll over and bolt no matter what stage of the diaper change you are in. Afterwards, I gave her the chance to get up and crawl around, play, whatever so that she would really be ready to sleep. She rolled over, sat leaning on me for a minute, and then crawled a few feet off and got into child's pose. She just laid there looking at the lamp I had on in the living room.

I finally said, "Alright, let's get you back to bed." To which she sat up and held her arms up to me like,  "It's about time... Sheesh...." I scoop her back into my arms for another trip upstairs. I hug her and give her a million kisses. Maybe more like ten to fifteen; I like to exaggerate. Plus if I could, I would give her a million kisses before bed everyday. Then gently, I placed her in her crib, gave her Reggie (the giraffe), and her blanky. Thankfully, this time she rolled only to her side while snuggling her best friend (which is fine to say this for now since she is all of ten and a half months old) and holding her blanket.

I like to think that Reggie is like her Hobbs. It warms my heart when I hear her "talking" to him at night when she wakes up, or when we put her back down after a random 3am feeding. I say random, because normally she sleeps the whole night through.

Now that I have babbled mercilessly about my sickeningly adorable child. See figure three.

I will tell you what's in my slow cooker. Not my actual crock pot, but my rice/slow cooker. My actual crock pot is packed... Along with most else... Anyways, I am making overnight slow cooked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal. I will give a full report in an upcoming post and the recipe (thank you, Pinterest). I have no doubt that as the cooking smells permeate my house I will begin to dream of Thanksgiving. Which isn't too bad because tomorrow we are celebrating an early Thanksgiving with some of my dad's side of the family. It will be the first time they get to meet the wee one. I'm excited.

Unfortunately, my excitement is mildly tainted with the news that Collin's mom isn't doing well, which is a contributing factor to why I am focused on the precious moments with my baby girl. My mother in law has been on a sad and slow decline for a while now, but it is still a blow to hear that she is doing worse. Before the get together with my family, we will be getting together with his to visit his mom. There are so many factors that make this a sad and frustrating situation, but there are other people's feelings I need to consider before blabbing about all of my thoughts. I'm sure there will be more shared on this topic in the coming posts, but for now I just ask you send any positive energy you have to my husband, his sister, his aunt, and his mom.

And, because this year has been sooo boring (baby, new jobs for both me and the hubby, in the process of buying our first home...) I agreed to take the next step in my career with my company. In the coming weeks I will be training to become an Export Customer Service Rep, and saying good-bye to all of my amazing North American distributors. It's an amazing and exciting new learning experience for me. I have some experience dealing with international sales, but with this position I will be focused on some of the company's "far East" OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer). I have no doubt it will be a big change, but as my boss said, it will help round out my experience and help me work towards becoming a lead, should I so choose to stay with this career path.

As we all know, I'd much rather be writing, but I have some pretty strong job security while I complete my education. And my boss is fully aware that my career goals lie elsewhere. Who am I to turn down a promotion or experience though?

What a week it's been. In case there is nothing from my brain until next week; have a wonderful weekend!