Sleep Boot Camp

Well yesterday marked day 1 of kicking Charlotte of her car seat sleeping habit. So far we are having some success. Last night I rocked her to sleep and she slept from 9p-4a without waking up. I then rocked her off and on till about 6a putting her back in crib and rocking back and forth until at 6a she slept till 8:15a when I woke her up! I would call that a success start:) Today she took an hour nap in the morning which is becoming her normal and now she is currently still sleeping from 1p on for her longer afternoon nap:) I am feeling motivated and even more motivated since Kevin is now off till Monday so we can tackle this bad habit together:)

Beauty

What a busy week it has been. We had many visitors and Charlotte got to see lots of her family which is always great. On Sunday Grandma Linda and Grandpa Ty came down from Boardman for a 2 day visit. Charlotte gave them lots of smiles and loving which was great. Then on Tuesday Grandma Elaine and Gramps (Grandpa Kevin) had us over for dinner along with Uncle Evan and Uncle Shane. Then on Thursday, Grandpa Ed and Uncle Joe came down from Boardman for a spur of the moment visit. Whew...that is a lot of action since most of Charlotte and my days are filled with get up, eat, burp, poop, play, read books, nap, get up, eat, burp, take a walk, nap, get up, eat, burp, play, take a nap in swing, get up, eat, burp, play, go to sleep. Soooooo when you add in all the action this week it was BUSY! It is so good for Charlotte to get to see her family and her family to get to see her because at this age she is changing so quickly! 


My new favorite "thing" for Charlotte to play with is her exersaucer for 2 reasons. 
1) She loves it and 2) It does not "turn on" therefore mommy and daddy do not have to restart anything when it times out! Loving that:)

                   A few shots of the beautiful flowers Grandpa Ed and Uncle Joe brought for us

Spring has sprung:)

Well we were graced with wonderful weather for a few days. The bulbs Kevin planted in the fall have started to come up and then today POW! there is a dusting of snow on the ground! Not fair at all. Yesterday Charlotte was laying on a blanket in the yard and today it is too cold to even take a walk:( Oh the perils of living in the midwest. Charlotte continues to be adorable. She is talking up a storm and Kevin rigged her exersaucer so she can reach one foot down and she is really liking that! She will be 3 months old on Sunday! I can not believe it has almost been 3 months..crazy!


I wanted to share this link for all the mom's out in cyber land that read my blog


www.babysteals.com
www.kidsteals.com


These are sites that post new steals twice a day and once a day respectively. They post the "steal" at 9am and 9pm central time...so it is 11 for us in Columbus. The items sell out VERY quickly...sometimes within the hour so I have only gotten to purchase something I wanted once but it is just fun to check. They also have some contests that you can enter for free. Just thought I would share the love of online shopping:)

                                                   During bath time..which she loves!!

                                                               Loving the playmat:)

                                                                       Crazy lady

Why?

Why must people do such loud work outside all the time!!!!????!!! Not that I don't think it is important to maintain your yard/home but when a house sits vacant for the first 3 years of me living in my house and only when I have a 2 1/2 month old that needs to nap do they decide to fix it up and cut down trees with chainsaws!!!! Just needed to rant and get that down since I now have to go rock her back to sleep for the third time today and it is only 9:45am! 


O well....Happy St. Patty's Day to everyone and GO Wildcats!!! C-A-T-S!!!! Cats Cats Cats!!!! 

Update

   Well it has been a while since I posted so I will update...today we took Charlotte to Riverside and did a "weigh in" and she is 12lb12oz:) Everyday she becomes more and more a little person with a huge personality. Smiles and coos and conversations happen daily which we can not get enough of! Today we took a trip to CVS to have Charlotte's passport photos taken!! Crazy that a 2 1/2 month old is going to apply for a passport tomorrow:) We will be traveling to Cancun, Mexico with Kevin's family in November so we thought we would get a jump on the passport process in case there were any bumps in the road. What a lucky girl to need a passport at such a young age:) We are blessed in so many ways. It is currently the Lenten season for the Catholic church. At the Phelan house we have given up soda pop, junk food and unhealthy snacking. I am missing my Diet Coke that is for sure! I am so looking forward to Easter Sunday for some Diet Coke from McDonald's (the best fountain soda for sure!) I am also looking forward to this time because Kevin will be welcomed into the Catholic church and Charlotte will receive the sacrament of baptism. What a long journey and a great new beginning for our family!

   One of my favorite times of the year (sports related) starts tomorrow! I am a big college basketball fan and March madness is here! My worst nightmare will probably happen this year. Ohio State will face Kentucky! My two teams will play and one has to lose and one has to move on....sigh:( If it happens I will cheer for both and hope the team that plays the better game wins. Looks like my not watching TV during the day rule will be "forgotten" Thursday and Friday:) Go Bucks and Wildcats!!!!

I decided I will start a running list of new things I have discovered from being a mother...both good and bad

1. I have discovered the joys of podcasts! If you know me, you know I love TV. I defiantly watched way too much TV before having Charlotte and have really tried to have the TV off during the day. I am happy to say that I have probably decreased the amount of TV I watch  by at least half! I have discovered (thanks to my fabulous husband) free podcasts on Itunes. There are endless thing you can listen to...anything from people talking about sports, motherhood, parenthood, history and the list goes on. I have really enjoyed this new way to be productive and not watch so much TV. 

2.  Two huge pet peeves of motherhood.....1)strangers or acquittance's looking at your baby, learning her age and then proclaiming "she's huge!" ...really people think before you speak! 2)why do the manufacturers of baby items make everything with a timer? I will explain. Charlotte has a play mat that has music and lights that play...but shut off after 5 minutes She has a bouncer that has a vibration and music option...that turns off after 5 minutes. Her mobile will play music and twirl around...that turns off after 15 minutes. Her sleep sheep plays music for 45 minutes!!! It drives me crazy! I had to go to Brookstone and pay $70 for a sound machine with a continuous option! Thank you Brookstone for having some common sense! This mom is very thankful for you!

Cost vs Quality

Well I have discovered that sometimes the less expensive item is not always just as good as the name brand. Example....we have a membership to Costco so we thought we would try their diapers. Now remember when you buy things there...you buy about 300 but we thought we had to at least try due to the fact that are way cheaper then Pampers at Target! Well for your average diaper they are fine. I never really liked the way they fit her but I could live with it for the price. Then this morning happened....when I went into Charlotte's room I was met with a screaming child and the overwhelming smell of poop! My daughter had produced the largest diaper I have yet to change of hers. And due to the low quality of the diaper she was wearing ...she was literally wearing it! I do not know when she decided to leave this lovely present but the poor thing slept from 10:20pm -7am this morning so I am hoping for her sake that it was closer to the end of her night then the beginning! I got her all cleaned up and found the last Pampers diaper we had stashed in the diaper bag, dropped Kevin off at work and went immediately to Target and got a box of Pampers:) I think we will try and use up the rest of the Costco diapers at home but never again for overnight or traveling. Based on how my day has started I am hoping it is all good from here. We are headed to Michigan this weekend to celebrate our friends son's baptism. Please send God's grace to Ryan Thomas McNally as he is baptised and happy thoughts on the weather:)