Sleeping Beauty

Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer must have been reading my exhausted mind when she designated this as a Backwards Works for Me Wednesday, because I am in dire need of child-rearing advice.

Baby is 10 months old and does not sleep through the night. He has been breastfeeding since birth and is a little boobie-addict. He has been in full-time daycare since he was two months old and he hates bottles. Mommy pumps religiously, but he has never consumed more than 9 ounces of breastmilk in an entire day. Now that he has expanded his diet to include baby food and finger foods, he routinely drinks only 4-6 ounces of breastmilk a day at daycare. He will only drink 2 ounces of milk at a time and he fights those 2 ounces with all his might. He takes 2 or 3 sucks and smacks the bottle away. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes for this kid to drink 2 ounces of milk. Thank God his caregivers love him and have the patience to feed him.

Since he loathes the bottle and refuses to drink breastmilk from a sippy cup, he tries to make up for lost time in the evenings. He nurses with Mommy every two hours until bedtime, twice in the middle of the night, and once in the morning before daycare.

Mommy is exhausted!

Over the holidays, we tried to wean Baby off the middle-of-the-night Milk Fest because we were on vacation from work and had ample opportunity to nap during the day. Our plan was for Daddy to wake up with Baby and offer a bottle of water only. If Baby insisted that he was hungry, Daddy would offer a bottle of formula. Under no circumstances would Mommy make an appearance.

We tried this strategy for several nights and found that our Baby has the endurance of an Olympic athlete. He did not cry or fuss. He did not drink the water bottle. He did not drink the formula bottle. He simply laid in Daddy’s arms in the rocking chair, wide awake, waiting for Mommy to finish whatever it was that she was doing that was keeping her away from him. He waited patiently for HOURS.

Needless to say, Baby outlasted us and we are back to our old night-time routine.

PLEASE share any suggestions you have for helping baby sleep through the night.

P.S. don’t even suggest the Cry It Out Method. We’ve been there, done that, and decided it didn’t fit our parenting style.

CVS Pharmacy Boycott

It’s official. We are ex-CVS Pharmacy customers.

For years, we have been loyal CVS customers, despite the long lines and incompetent, rude pharmacy staff. I have diligently stored Extra Care Bucks on my savings card and filled every prescription at CVS for the last eight years, but I’ve finally reached the end of my rope.

Last week, Baby went back to the pediatrician for a follow-up on his recent ear infection. The doc decided that we haven’t conquered the infection yet, so she prescribed Omnicef. The pediatrician’s secretary called the Rx in to the pharmacy before we left the office, so I decided to pick it up on the way home.

Ordinarily, I run in to the store because it’s faster, but Baby was sleeping so we went to the Drive Thru window.


There was one car ahead of us in line, so of course there was a 10 minute wait. When I pulled up to the window, I told the pharmacy assistant what I needed and she disappeared. I wasn’t certain that she understood me very well because her English seemed a little rusty, but I had no choice but to give her a chance. About 5 minutes later, she reappeared and told me that the computer system was down so they weren’t able to fill any prescriptions. She asked me to return in 45 minutes. I groaned, but there wasn’t really a choice to be made. I took Baby home to continue his nap in the comfort of his crib.

Daddy came home from work, we ate dinner, and Daddy decided to go to CVS to get the Rx because he needed to go to the bank ATM anyway. When he arrived at the store, the pharmacy assistant told him that the doctor’s office never called in the prescription. She suggested that we call the pediatrician’s office. Daddy had the great fortune of talking to the same pharmacy assistant with limited English-speaking ability that evidently didn’t know that doctors’ offices aren’t usually open at 8:00pm on a Friday night in the United States.

Daddy came home without the prescription and was seriously upset. Mommy got on the phone and called the manager at CVS, who was trembling at the sound of Mommy’s pissed off ranting. After 15 minutes of searching while listening to Mommy curse into the phone, the manager miraculously found the prescription. He politely informed Mommy that the prescription would be ready in one hour. Mommy politely informed him that the prescription would be ready in 15 minutes or Mommy would drive to the store herself to meet the manager in person. The manager decided to get the prescription ready right away.

After Daddy picked up the prescription, Mommy and Daddy began to wonder if the prescription really had been found or if the manager filled a prescription based on the information Mommy gave because he was afraid of this apparently-rabid customer. Mommy and Daddy imagined Baby overdosing on antibiotics and decided to call Walgreen’s to confirm the dosage.

The pharmacist at Walgreens was polite, helpful and knowledgeable. We have found our new prescription home.
If you don’t think this experience is all that bad, ask me to tell you about the time CVS filled my prescription for birth control pills and forgot to put the PILLS in the bag…

(No, that is not how Baby was conceived…)

Land's End Diaper Bag Giveaway

I simply adored our pastel Classic Winnie the Pooh diaper bag before baby was born...and then I realized that Mommy and Daddy would be wearing this darling bag. It sure would be nice to have something a little more mature...

I'd love to win a new Land's End diaper bag. You can enter the contest, too, by visiting the Flip Flop Mama Blog.

Too Good To Be True

We successfully made it through the holiday season without one broken ornament on our tree.

Considering that this was Baby’s first Christmas, that he can crawl, and that the Christmas Tree was a sparkling haven of forbidden exploration, this is no small feat.

Since our living room has been conquered by Toy Mountain, you would think that Baby would be too busy playing with his toys to notice the fluffy red felt of the tree skirt, or the glittering gold bead garland, or the sparkling white lights, or the dainty crystal icicles, or the fragile ornaments, or the stray pine needles scattered on the carpet.

In reality, we have been removing fluffy red felt from the tree skirt and stray pine needles from Baby’s mouth on a daily basis. He hasn’t been aggressive about tampering with the tree, but every so often his tiny hand will reach up toward an ornament, just to test whether or not Mommy and Daddy are really paying attention.

Since we’ve been fighting this battle for about six weeks, we are mighty proud to say that none of the tree ornaments were broken this season.

Until this weekend.



The funniest part of the story is that Baby wasn’t even playing with the Christmas tree. He was minding his own business, playing with his Leap Frog Learning Playground. Our future MLB star threw one of the balls from the playground and it bounced off a glass ornament, sending glass fragments throughout the room.

It’s time to put the decorations away.

On My Mind, Vol. 1

If you’re curious to know what is rattling around in my Mommy Brain right now, here it is:

We are still in teething hell right now, with no end in sight. One small comfort we can’t live without is the Razberry Teether by Razbaby and you can get your very own right here.

Baby is 10 months old this Saturday, so it’s time for me to start obsessing about where to send him to Kindergarten. In my defense, we know that the schools in our neighborhood are not the best, so we will probably move before he starts school. If you’re as anal as I am or just curious about how your school district compares to others around the country, check this out.

We’ve all heard stories of young kids saving their parents’ lives by dialing 911 or pressing the OnStar button after a crash, but this kid is amazing. As Yoda would say, “Brave son, he is.”

My only other thought is Thank God It's Friday.

13 Resolutions

In 2008, I will...

Listen

Empathize

Learn

Thank

Shrink

Exercise

Clean

Persist

Finish

Share

Speak

Write

Love


I will take the time to listen with the intent to truly understand what people are sharing with me. I will take a moment to consider how other people are feeling and try to see the world with their eyes. In this way, I will learn more about the people that I love and hate. I will thank the people that support me despite my tendency to take their efforts for granted.

I will shrink as I leave my pregnancy weight in my past. I will exercise for my physical and mental health. I will clean and organize my house. I will stop procrastinating and finish each chore or project that I start.

I will share what is on my mind and in my heart. I won’t keep my feelings inside until I’m too angry to fix my problems.

I will write to those that are in my heart but far away from me.

I will love as much as I can love without reservation or hesitation and I’ll proclaim it as often as I can.

In 2008, I will be the woman that I can and should be. I’ll be the wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend that I have the potential to be.
Thank you, God, for another year and another opportunity.