on sleep patterns, pets and shotguns. aka. sunday morning.

I was ready to wax poetically about the changes in our lives that this week last week brought, but alas - instead I will have to make this a bulleted type of post, for we had a rough, rough night last night.

~ We used to have three pets we loved. Now we have one baby we adore and three pets - one of whom we love, but only in moderation, one of which we like in moderation and the other of which we care enough to try to keep alive. I will let you guess which is which, but on a morning like this morning, when between the hours of 7:30pm and 6:40am one of us was holding a baby the entire time (and thus not sleeping), when my nap gets interrupted by a screaming whining cat, and then the baby - who is FINALLY down in her own bed - stirs, that cat should count her lucky stars I do not own a shotgun. For real. I knew that there would be some shifting of allegiance from pets to child when the baby was born, but what I didn't realize was how damn ambivalent I'd be towards those furballs. Perhaps this is the lack of sleep talking, or the fact that I can still hear the cat whining from inside the garage, despite the fact that there is a piece of drywood propped up against the door to minimize said whining.

baby girl loves daddy's thumb. and has some serious morning hair!

Okay, enough whining from me.

more of this, please!

~Miss Eleanor had a rough week. In turn, so did I. Sweet thing has had a little bug for a while, nothing too substantial, but by Wednesday night, when bedtime rolled around, she was having nothing of it. Normally she's a breeze to put down (with only the occasional fit when she's being strong willed), but Wednesday night she screamed bloody murder for several hours while we tried to console her and get her to sleep. Back arching, head flailing side to side, refusing her pacifier, and the second we'd put her in her crib after finally falling asleep in our arms, she'd open her eyes wide and let us have it again. It was rough. The rest of the night was spent with Peter upstairs on the couch and she and I sleeping together in our bed, with her waking a couple times an hour. Needless to say, at the start of the evening I was just annoyed - why wouldn't this kiddo sleep? - but by the middle of the night I was alarmed at her serious change of behavior. By Friday, after repeating this pattern for two nights and showing a decrease in appetite, I took her to the pediatrician, who suggested that she's had reflux this whole time (5 1/2 months), but it's made worse with the cold. Who knew? Also, she confirmed Ellie has croup, which I already suspected. A little medicine made it much better, Friday night and Saturday she slept like a dream, but then last night we started all over again with the whole not-wanting-to-be-put-down thing. Oh well. It's true what they say - they do grow up so fast - and I am already nostalgic for the tiny baby I held in my arms just a couple months ago. When the nights get rough and my baby just wants to be held, I will not only oblige, but count my blessings that she is here, mine and healthy.

~I miss cooking and being creative in the kitchen. I made what I lovingly refer to as "crack crackers" this week and after scarfing them down all week long, I remember why I gained at least 15 pounds from the time we got engaged til the time I got pregnant. Yeah, my "creativity" in the kitchen = packing on the butter pounds. Having a baby is the best diet ever.

best diet AND eye candy!

(For curious minds though - I cannot recommend Crack Crackers enough. Very easy. Line a rimmed baking sheet in foil, then arrange a layer of saltine crackers. Melt together 1 c butter and 1 cup brown sugar til it boils. Boil for a couple minutes, and off the heat stir in some vanilla and a pinch of salt. Pour caramel over crackers and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and dump some chocolate chips on top - let sit for 5 minutes til the chocolate gets all melty, then spread around and top with toasted almonds and a sprinkling of kosher salt. cool. enjoy that sweet, salty chocolatey caramelly goodness!)

~We got a new couch. Now we have two big old leather couches in our living room. My Grandma is coming over shortly to advise on a new arrangement. Poor Peter is learning that he is slowly taking a back seat in home decor, behind not only his wife but all her female relatives (although, he did pick out the sofa and two end tables without me even seeing them...)

One of Peter's favorite female inlaws and one of Ellie's favorite Aunties!

~Halloween is tomorrow. Ellie's costume makes me squeal with delight. Seriously, I squealed when I put it on her.

~I caved to the pressure that is pintrest. Oh dear me. Like I have time to catalog things on the internet that I like. Somehow, I sense that this will take over my life. Last night I was watching the Huskies while playing around on pintrest and my sweet bff from high school texted me about how addicting pintrest was. Turns out, we were doing the exact same thing - on the couch, watching the game, on pintrest. I'm guessing she was in sweats too, but didn't confirm that. :) Love you, friend!

She sits in the cart like a big girl! Kills me with cuteness!