Life in the Trenches

I'm not going to lie, life around here has been an absolute living hell as of late. I feel like its all Jody and I can to do get out of this alive. Honestly, I realize lots of people have kids closer in age than ours, and a lot of people have more kids than we do. The only explanation I have is that these people have lost their damn minds. Between potty training, sleep training, the terrible twos, and reflux Jody and I are absolutely exhausted and usually in a pissy mood.

Taylor usually starts the day with at least 2-3 mini-meltdowns before we even make it out the door to daycare. The poor kid just gets so overly emotional that all I know to do is sit her in time out until she chills out. Sadly, she spends so much time there that now when she starts getting going on a fit she'll usually put herself in time out to calm down. Kinda sad, but kinda handy at the same time.


One of the rare moments where she's not screaming and crying.


Pa-corn Daddy!!!!!


Ava's doing great for the most part, I still can't believe she'll be three months old next week! The snafu with Ava is that she has begun waking up every night at 3:00 am. We have tried like hell to troubleshoot this issue, is she hungry, poopy, wet, etc. When none of these were the solution, in my state of exhaustion I just stuck her in bed with us for the remainder of the night so that we could at least get a little more sleep.


Spooning with Daddy.

Enter problem #2. Now, I'm pretty sure she's waking up just to get moved into the warm comfy bed with Mom & Dad. The minute I pick her up out of her crib, she snuggles up and goes right to sleep. Unless I put her back in her crib, that is. Now, I realize lots of parents do the whole co-sleeping thing, but that's just not how we roll. For one, it makes me terribly nervous having such a small person in the same bed (one of my biggest fears is suffocation because we rolled over on her). For two, I've known way too many people that had the hardest time breaking this habit and getting their kids back in their own bed. We already have enough battles on our plate, and I don't wanna add one that's entirely my own fault. So, what's the solution, you ask? As mean as it sounds, we've just been letting her work it out on her own. After about 10-15 minutes she usually settles back down and goes back to sleep. And about 10-15 minutes after that (because I have to go and obsessively check to make sure she's not maneuvered her face into the bumper), I usually finally fall back asleep myself. So, guess who's utterly sleep deprived?



This is how I find Ava sleeping most nights. Really doesn't appear to be the most comfortable position......


So, needless to say, we've got more than our fair share of excitement around here. To be honest, I'm ready to be boring again. At this point I feel like we're living in the trenches of Vietnam, just trying to stay alive and keep our sanity intact.



Charlie everywhere!!!!!!!!