It's Been Busy 'Round Here

Well hello. Just wanted to say hi and to let you know that we're still alive over here, just busy. It seems that every day there are so many things to do, places to go, or people to see.  

I wish I could tell you that I've been absent from the blog because I've been working on some wickedly awesome DIY projects or renos..... or that we went on a secret vacation to somewhere spectacular. The truth is that I've just been trying to keep on top of regular, every day mom and house stuff. 

No more baking photo shoots. Wah wah waaaaaaaaah.

And I've been trying to be more present, if that makes any sense. I'm figuring out that I don't really need to have mini photo shoots every time I bake a batch of muffins and then write lengthy blog posts about them.  Don't get me wrong, if there were 72 hours in a day I would love to do just that. Instead, I've been making muffins, and then sitting down and eating one while having some quality time with the Coopster. (Although his idea of fun right now is trying to steal/eat said muffins.) I'm also figuring out that it's far more valuable to spend a half-hour of me-time when Cooper is napping actually doing something rather than surfing Pinterest and dreaming of doing something. 

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Speaking of Pinterest, I think we're starting to have a love-hate relationship. A few images I had pinned recently were just burning in my brain. You see at our house there were dozens of nooks, crannies, cupboards, and closets that were jam-packed with... how do I put this..... crap. They were all in need of serious cleaning and purging. Every time I would go to get the Windex I would look at the sink cupboard and die a little inside. Because all I kept seeing were pictures like this:

Source - BHG

Source - Chez Larsson

So I've been using my spare minutes, when Coops is jumping happily in his Jolly Jumper or licking all the toys on his exersaucer, to clean out the "problem areas". So far I've done: 

- under the kitchen sink

- the tupperware drawer

- the kitchen pantry

- the plates/bowls/cups/mugs cupboards in the kitchen

- the broom closet

- 75% of my closet (I'm having flashbacks to this post)

- 90% of the front entry closet

I've taken three garbage bags of cloths to the donation box and have made two trips to the Salvation Army to drop off old dishes, mis-matched mugs, etc.

Maybe one day I'll make those cupboards and closets "pretty" like the above photos. For now though, just cleaning them out is making me happy. 

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I swear that every single other minute of the day has been working with this guy on his sleep.

You see, he was so used to being cuddled and rocked and nursed to sleep that he became dependent on it.

Yup, mom fail. 

But it wasn't completely our fault. We needed to do those things for him to fall asleep. Just call him Distracto-Joe. Since he was about two months old, he would do everything in his power to stay awake. It was like he was on hyper-alert for any noise or movement or thing that could distract him from sleep. (Even still, his eyelids will be rolling back in his head and then he will force them open, over and over again, until he can't do it anymore.)

Then, to make matters worse, he started jolting awake every time we tried to put him down once he was asleep. I think we tried every technique there was to lay him down in his bed - softly, quickly, head down first, butt down first, feet down first. No matter what we did, he was waking himself back up about 90% of the time when we put him down to sleep. So we ended up holding him for his whole nap. Four times a day. Every day. It was exhausting. 

Since I'm one of those types who is a sucker can't handle the cry-it-out thing, I've been doing some super-gradual sleep training. It's taken about a month and a half but now Coopaloops is falling asleep on his back, in his real crib, in his room, without any crying. Granted, it takes him on average about 30-45 minutes to fall asleep and me there to pop his soother back in or rub his head when he fusses/cries but we are making progress people. 

I am happy to report that today he fell asleep on his own without me having to rub his head or sing him a song. Twice. 

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that he was only sleeping for 20 minutes at a time, too. So I had to hang around for a few weeks and when he stirred after the first 20 minutes, I had to hold his arms so they wouldn't flail around and wake himself up before making it to the next sleep cycle.

It worked because he is sleeping for 40 minutes now and I CAN ACTUALLY HAVE 40 MINUTES TO MYSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

{Cooper would like me to mention that other than the troubles falling and staying asleep, he is a highly advanced, super duper good baby. He told me to say that!!!! I swear!!!!!!}

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And last but not least, in any of my other spare minutes, I've been editing photos. I've done two sets of family portraits and two sets of maternity portraits in the last month. Woop woooooooooooop! I'd post some sample pictures on here but I didn't really ask my "clients" if I could blast their pictures on the internet. :)

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So, it's been busy. And that's what we've been up to. How 'bout you? How does your baby fall asleep? How does your under-the-kitchen-sink looks right now? Do you take pictures of baked goods for fun or am I the only super-nerd around here (wink, wink)?