Updates from Previous Posts

Happy Hanukkah!  After the last night, I'll post some  highlights from the holiday.  Liam has been really excited about the entire holiday season. I suppose it started with Halloween which led into Thanksgiving, and now he's beside himself over Hanukkah and Christmas (at my mom's house.)

But, I wanted to post an update on some of the things I've blogged about over the past few weeks,

Marlo's Physical Therapy: 
Marlo is still seeing her P.T. twice a week.  She's making solid and steady progress each week.  Her P.T. says she should be crawling by the end of the year.  And hopefully, by her first birthday in January, she will be pulling up and trying to cruise around.  She REALLY wants to move - the motivation is there.  She can scoot around quite well on our hardwood floors and is rolling everywhere.  We're focusing on getting her up on all fours unassisted.

I am so looking forward to Marlo moving.  Beyond the fact that she is behind the curve on this milestone, her inability to crawl has taken a toll on me physically.  I carry 23lbs. around all day.  It's nuts!  My shoulder bursitis has come back with a mean vengeance, my lower back is consistently in pain, and by the end of the day, I feel as if I've worked out for hours.  I guess the one benefit is that I've lost all pregnancy weight and then some by weight lifting all day, but I'm done with it.  Moreover, Joe and I have talked a bit about having another baby, but I can't even start to think about having another baby when I have a giant infant on me all day.  Marlo is one next month and in no way does she seem on the verge of toddler-hood to me.  That being said, I can't wait to announce it when she's finally on the move.

The No-Nap Sleep Solution:
Well, the no napping thing is working.  Liam falls asleep by 7 every night.  Sometimes he can't even make it to then and he's down by 6:30.  It's fabulous!  I get an hour to do whatnot in the house before Joe gets home and then we get a solid two hours of hang out time before bed.  Plus, there are no more crying and screaming tantrums because it's time to go to bed.  Although Liam spends less time with Joe, I really think it's been better for everyone, Liam included.  Usually, Liam wakes up early enough to say good bye to Joe before he leaves for work and this seems to make him happy.  And all weekend is pretty much family time so Liam and daddy get plenty of hangout time then.  The house is just more peaceful.  It means more work for me during the day, but so be it.  And I've been trying to use this time with Liam in productive ways.  For example, when Marlo naps, we'll usually use that as our cooking time.  We'll bake something or puree Marlo's baby foods.  Or sometimes we'll use the time to clean up the house.  Liam LOVES cleaning.  I bought a bunch of non-toxic green cleaning products so I'll let him clean the counter tops in the kitchen - one of his favorite chores.  Or I'll let him vacuum - maybe his all time favorite chore.  Although I might need to go over something he's cleaned, he usually gets about 80% of the mess.  It's actually helpful.  He just likes to be busy.  After Marlo wakes up, we'll go to the park or go outside to play with his friends.  And it took a solid week for him to adjust and not to be Mr. Fussy-pants in the evening, but he's there.  No more meltdowns in the evenings!

Dinner: the monkey on my back
I'm still trying to get the whole dinner thing organized.  I really appreciated getting some recipes from my readers.  And I'm ALWAYS asking other moms how they organize dinner.  It's a work in progress.  I got Jessica Seinfeld's book Deceptively Delicious to see if I could sneak in some veggies without Liam turning up his nose.  And it's totally worked, but I've only make snack food items such as banana bread and muffins. (Oh, and I tried the chocolate pudding made with avocado - deceptively disgusting!)  I've also started reading French Kids Eat Everything.  So, yep, still trying to get dinner on a solid role! Now that Liam is always going to bed before Joe gets home, I at least know that dinner will be in two shifts every night. This is one of the major downsides of Liam gong to bed at 7, but it's one that I'm willing to deal with for a more peaceful evening.