Archive for the ‘Abigail’ Category

I’m breaking up with online shopping.

4 Comments
Posted 28 Feb 2011 — by Mrs. Jenna
Category Abigail, paparazzi, RAD, retail therapy

I know, I know. Really, I’m okay. I’m not having a psychological break, nor do you need to phone the authorities.

I’ve thought this through, and it needs to happen.

When I was pregnant, I started browsing sites like babysteals.com and mamabargains.com. When something seemed useful, I’d buy it. Abby was born, and I joined Gilt Groupe, One Kings Lane, Zulily, Mini Social…the list goes on and on.

Instead of buying things I needed to prepare for a baby, I started to buy things that were cute. That I convinced myself she (or I) would need. Or, OMFG THAT IS SO CHEAP I HAVE TO BUY IT.

Don’t get me wrong, most things I purchase are usually for Abby, and she does (or will) wear them. However, Abby currently has 9 pairs of shoes. And clothes going all the way up to 4T in her closet.

And last month alone I spent almost $200 shopping online. It grosses me out to admit that. The worst thing is that I’m constantly living paycheck to paycheck. Now I know why.

The first step will be to unsubscribe to the daily emails I get from those member sites. THAT is what gets me. The second, much bigger step is to not allow myself to buy anything online. I’m going cold turkey for at least this month, if not another. (This does not include paying bills or buying plane tickets, this is about retail purchases.)

If I can do that, I’ll allow myself to browse when something is needed to find a better price, but I need to practice restraint.

So, there’s my challenge. Anyone care to join me? If there’s enough interest, I’ll make a badge that we can wear proudly. :)

And now, I’ll leave you with some pics of the Abs Cadabs.

 

Sick Day

9 Comments
Posted 12 Feb 2011 — by Mrs. Jenna
Category Abigail, motherhood, paparazzi

Abby’s got a really bad cold and more than likely croup. We’ve had a day full of back to back “GOGO,” or Yo Gabba Gabba. She slept like crap last night and ended up in our bed so we could keep her head elevated and minimize the stridor & snot. Tonight I think we’re going to try her pillow pet in her crib to keep her elevated so I can possibly get some sleep. I’m a crabby lady today, I’m not going to lie.

Anyway, sick…and still cute.

The sick-day-do

Just keeping it real.

6 Comments
Posted 02 Feb 2011 — by Mrs. Jenna
Category Abigail, baby business, motherhood, The Hubs

I’m writing this post to serve as a reminder, mostly to myself, that I typically take this motherhood gig with a grain of salt. Abby is a really, REALLY easy kid. We rarely have any major issues or crazy stories to tell. Then there’s nights like tonight, that can be described as nothing short of a comedy of errors.

The hubs was running Abby’s bath, I was in the kitchen getting ready to do dishes. Abby’s been in the tub for a little bit when I hear, “uh… Jenna? Can you come in here?” I’m expecting a funny Abby trick or to grab a washcloth.

I get in the bathroom to find Abby standing on the bath rug naked, the tub with stuff floating in it. My first instinct is that she finally pooped in the tub (something I’ve been weirdly expecting for a while), but the hubs explains differently; Abby’s new hobby is sticking her open mouth in the water and getting water in her mouth. Something I’d like her to stop doing, but you try telling a 1 year old not to do something. Tonight is no different, and she does the same, except this time she gets a mouthful of water. And chokes.

She starts choking and gagging, coughing the water up and suddenly starts barfing her lunch (not her dinner, HER LUNCH) into the tub. The hubs pulls her out of the barf bath and stands her on the rug, where she immediately commences pissing all over.

I walk in to find a tub full of half chewed hotdog pieces and a really wet bathmat. Abby is squealing “BATTTHHH! BATTHHH!” because she wants to get back in (gross) having not been impacted AT ALL by just barfing and peeing within a minute of each other…and the hubs is just standing there, half laughing and half shell-shocked at what a complete fail this bath has become.

The water drains out, I fish all the hotdog pieces out of the tub with a paper towel, rinse it and all the toys off, and we start filling it again. Except now there is no hot water. We filled the tub and the sink up at the same time 10 minutes before, and apparently have a five gallon water heater.

So, there is no hot water for another “BAATTTHHHH!!!,” or to wash the piss out of the rug.

And this, friends is what parenthood is all about. May I never forget.

For a quick sleep training update – Abby cries when she knows she’s about to be laid down to sleep, but the minute she’s in her crib she’s quiet and sleep within seconds. It’s been going really well. My parents will be in town starting tomorrow, so we’ll see if that has any affect on her nighttime routine. (They are staying at a hotel, so I don’t expect too much of an issue.)

It would only figure.

No Comments
Posted 30 Jan 2011 — by Mrs. Jenna
Category Abigail, baby business, not so much

It’s 9pm. We already put Abby down for the night because she seemed extra tired today and a little sniffley. She was fast asleep, and now she’s awake, and crying hysterically. She has a cold. Sleep training night three? FOILED.

(For the record, last night after she fell asleep, she slept for almost 12 hours.)

**Update**
Abby did eventually fall back asleep thanks to the excellent rocking & soothing skills of her dada. And she slept through the night. Turns out she not only is sick with a cold (and the runniest nose on the planet) but she’s also got at least one tooth coming in as well. Poor girl.

Sleeeeeep, my pretty.

6 Comments
Posted 26 Jan 2011 — by Mrs. Jenna
Category Abigail, baby business, motherhood, not so much, other people are awesome, The Hubs

Just to get it out of the way – my insides are much better, thank you for asking. I’ve managed 3 meals without any, eh…distress, so that’s awesome. And I came into work this morning! Well, maybe more like this afternoon since I got all purdied up and came to work only to realize my laptop was still at home. (This SO isn’t the first time I’ve done this.) So I had to walk back to my car and go home and get it. BUT I WAS AT WORK TODAY, DAMMIT! And it felt REALLY good to be there. Mostly to be out of the house.

SO. Where do I begin this story? Hmmm. Hokay. So, since the dawn of Abbers we had ONE way of getting her to sleep, and that was in our arms. Sitting on the couch, walking her in circles around the dining room table, rocking her in her room, you name it – it happened in our arms. This wasn’t too big of a deal. When she got to be about 9 months, I asked her doctor about it. Her response? “She won’t need to fall asleep in your arms when she’s going off to college, so I wouldn’t worry about it.” She also referred me to a few books, including Ferber and others. So, we let it slide some more. If it ain’t broke, why fix it? (See also: I’m scurred of sleep training.)

Fast forward to a few months ago, suddenly Abbers has her nighttime bottle (shut up about her having a bottle, we’ll deal with that eventually) and instead of passing out in our arms, she’s a little ball of energy. And BOOK! READ ME THIS BOOK! I DON’T WANT TO BE HELD! And I’ll scream if you suggest sleeping! This was usually lasting us until 10, even 11pm sometimes. We resorted to laying her in our bed while one of us lays with her in the dark. (Probably a bad idea.) She’ll pull out every trick in the book, laughing at nothing, pulling her socks off, testing gravity, but eventually will quiet down and fall asleep (pseudo on her own). AND NOW, she will wake up in the middle of the night, will not fall asleep or allow you to put her back down in her crib, so she ends up back in our bed because WE NEED SLEEP SOMETIMES TOO, little girl.

We’ve been battling this for a while. And with the holidays, vacations, random nights out – it’s never been a good time to attempt sleep training.

Until this weekend.

I’ve been asking interweb friends, twitpeeps – you name it, I feel like I’ve gotten advice and encouragement from every last one of you. For some reason, it wasn’t until I read this blog post by Melissa at Dear Baby that I felt like I might actually be able to do it.

Abby is not going to do well. She will cry until she gags and maybe even barfs. She does that a lot if she gets hysterical. I’m preparing myself for that. I’m also preparing for having my own little meltdown since I’ll be extra hormonal by this weekend, likely crying at Disney World commercials I’ve seen a fafillion times.

Abby WILL do this though. I know she knows how to fall asleep on her own, I watch it nearly every night in our bed. She’s a smart girl. And she knows we are here. So, please, if you have any extra good juju to pass our way, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD pass it our way. It’s going to be a long weekend.

I’ll report as I can after Friday night, aka DOOMSDAY FOR ABBERS.

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