A little bit about sleeping!

I was looking back through my blog posts with a friend who has a 4 month old because I was trying to recall Tessa's sleep habits. I have many times talked to friends when we were experiencing a set back from good sleeping routine i.e. "sleep regression" but I somehow didn't seem to post ANYTHING about it in my blogs! Maybe a subconscious way of forgetting it for the next round, or that little bit of you that doesn't admit that you have challenges as a parent...I don't know. So, for what it is worth when I go back to this and try to remember what happened the last time I did this Tessa had a sleep regression at 4 months, 8/9 months and now I think we're entering another at 17 months. They all were crazy hard for a few days to a few weeks, but then just went right back to normal again. Since this is my 3rd round of this I think I've learned to just do what it takes to get sleep for both parties and it will be gone before you know it!

My favorite "real life" resource has been http://www.askmoxie.com/. It always made me realize that MANY others have had the same exact experiences and you are not alone, nor is it anything you as a Mom have caused.

Here is an excerpt from her website that helps me feel o.k. when it comes to sleeping habits in kiddos....
"In general, I think sleep crutches of all sorts, from pacifiers to rocking to loveys, get a super-bad rap. No one has to bring their Mom along to college to nurse them to sleep. And so what if you have to sleep with a white noise machine? If it bugs you when you're 30 you can break the habit your own self, and leave your poor parents out of it. If sleep crutches are working for you as a family, then party on with them for as long as they work, and then figure out the next thing."

As you may have guessed Tessa is rocked to sleep with a cup of milk. We use blackout shades, white noise machine, and she has a lovey. I do have to remind myself some times that she will in her own time not want these things and be all grown up, so I just spend those hours of trying to get her to sleep or back to sleep enjoying her snuggles! :)

New Indie Sisters Blog!

As most of you know my sister Janelle and I have been working on making bags. We started with a "shop" on Etsy.com but over the last few weeks have decided to take a more personal approach in a blog. After all, this is a hobby for us and we just weren't enjoying the formalities of using Etsy (although we still LOVE shopping on it).
By doing a blog we can write about other things we're working on, show new ideas, post sales, etc... so please check it out when you get a chance. We hope to have a "button" you can add to your own blog to help us get our name around, so stay tuned!

www.indiesisters.blogspot.com

Just send an email to indiesisters@gmail.com for any orders of bags available on the blog or for any custom orders!! We are really excited to try this and hope you enjoy. We will soon have a beach bag and another style of purse for sale!

Tessa's 17 Month Photo Shoot

Wow, it is unbelievable that Tessa is 17 months old, but spend a day with her and you will quickly see that she is a toddler and no longer a baby! Many things are much easier at this stage with her, but it has also brought along some new challenges....

The fun side of 17 months:

• watching her "mother" her babies. She dresses, feeds, snuggles, takes them on rides, etc...
• she is communicating better...like pointing to things and knowing where and when she wants something
• riding in the car is easier thanks to her new portable DVD player!
• she loves to be outside and will play out there FOREVER
• taking bike rides
• watching her personality develop... so far she is very strong willed, social, funny, and a cuddle bug
• i love love love when she fixes my hair, gives me hugs, swings spider style... she is able to show love in all new ways which is great!!

Here are the challenges :)

• she doesn't want to be confined or buckled in ANYTHING!!!! including carseat, stroller, highchair, booster seat, shopping cart, or even held in your arms! This pretty much affect everything we try to do. :)
• she loves to do things she isn't supposed to or allowed to do. Such as open and close the stairs gate and climb up and down the stairs. Open and close the screen door over and over and over (it is a huge step down to cement and really scares me)
• stand on things and give you this smirk like look at me
• wants to dress herself, brush her own teeth, and even sometimes put on her diaper!!
• has the melt to the floor can't grab ahold of her temper tantrums :)

I'm sure you can see the trend.....WE ARE GETTING INDEPENDENT!! I've been told that toddler is an indication to teenager and boy oh boy we may have our hands full of a teen that wants to be older than they are, make their own decisions, and do things even if you say not to!

But here are some pictures of our adorably challenging 17 month old!

It is all about her babies. She took a walk all the way around the block (since we have stroller resistance) the other night carrying her baby that is almost as big as her!

They are buddies and Zayne is really great with her, but not so much the other way around...he gets beat and chased by toys, ridden, and used as a step stool.

This is my favorite shot even thought it isn't her cute face!

swinging "spider" style if you didn't know what I was talking about

Dying Eggs... with a 17 month old!

I love doing things with Tessa that I recall from my childhood. One of those we did this week....dye Easter eggs. She was very eager to participate and was also very proud of the end product.

She immediately plunged the eggs into the dye cups...and that equals....

BLUE FINGERS!!!!

But she was so happy how could I stop such pleasure.

I could see her little mind saying "Mommy is really letting me hold these??"

She loves to run to the fridge and get them out to "show" people!