Wow

Marissa's vocabulary has already grown in the few days since I came up with that list! Keys, eyes, knee, and boo-boo are among the new additions. It's crazy!

I've been worn out lately. Last Tuesday I started the day by doing two loads of laundry, and two loads of dishes in the dishwasher. Then it was NAPTIME* and I got a shower. Then at 4:15, I found out that we would be showing our house at 6:15 to the realtor-lady who is trying to sell more plots. This couple wanted to see our model, and we have one of very few of this kind in the area. They are mailing us a nice big gift certificate to somewhere for showing it, but holy crap. I've never cleaned anything so fast in my life. We're still unpacking boxes and arranging things, on top of the usual mess of toys and crumbs on the floor. I put everything away, in boxes, drawers, shelves, dresser drawers, etc. Moved boxes out to the garage. Shoved random things into our dresser. Went around collecting trash from every room and hallway. Swept the floors. Vacuumed the floors. Did more dishes. Cleaned the whole kitchen. And I did all that with a toddler clinging to my legs. Lol. Dan came home from work a little early and helped a lot too. So, the house looks amazing right now! But don't open our dresser. Lol. Now we just have to sort all the junk in the dresser, and our house will be amazing, inside and out! I love it even more now, and there's sooo much space! I didn't realize how much room we have, and how much open space there is, because we still had a few boxes sitting around.

*NAPTIME: Holy crap. Well, let me start with the good stuff. I'm in the process of weaning Marissa, but she wants to do it a lot slower than I do. Lol. So we decided it was time for a new bedtime routine. She used to just nurse to sleep whenever she was tired, but sometimes that wouldn't be til 11pm, and it was just really starting to get ridiculous. Also, I wanted her to be able to go to bed on her own before she starts climbing out of her crib, and believe me, she's been trying lately. So we turned bedtime into Daddy-time. At 7:55 (an average of the times she used to just fall asleep on her own), Dan takes her upstairs for a diaper change and pjs. Then they read a book in the glider. Then he puts her in her crib. The very first night she only cried for 3 minutes. So we knew we made the right choice. She's been doing awesome ever since. She still sleeps in til around 7:30-8:30am. It's soooo nice to have the evenings just be adult time. And I'm loving the freedom it's giving me.

But...

NAPTIME. Since Saturday or Sunday (can't remember), naptime has been almost nonexistent. Sunday she slept for a few minutes in the nursery before church (we tried a new church again - Rissa did fine, and I really love the church and it's a lot closer than the other one), and then for a few minutes on Rach's lap in the afternoon. But when we put her in her crib, she was done with sleep. Last Monday at work, she slept for 4 minutes before she woke up crying. And then Tuesday happened. First, let me say that I'm sure most people can understand why I might be losing my patience. At least I hope so. Because I'm a bit embarrassed about what I have to say next. Lol. After lunch, Rissa asked to nurse. Which is fine. That's what she does. She knows when she's tired and ready for a nap. So I nursed her to sleep. But once I put her in her crib, she didn't stay asleep (she used to). So I tried our latest nighttime thing, and just went in her room and told her "I love you, it's time to go night-night. Lay down please" and let her cry for a few minutes to see if it was going to work. When it was obvious it wasn't, I got her out to nurse her back to sleep again (used to work). Only this time she just nursed forever, eyes wide open, playing with my hair. By this time, it was much later than she usually falls asleep, so I knew she was exhausted. So I decided to just put her in her crib (like Daddy does for bedtime) and let her go to sleep. Yeah right! I let her cry for 5 minutes, then went in and told her "I love you, it's time to go night-night. Lay down please" then let her cry for 5 minutes, then went in and told her the line, then let her cry for 5 minutes...you get the idea. I did this for, oh, probably 35 minutes. The funny part was that every time I walked back in the room, she completely stopped crying and her facial expressions were like she hadn't even been crying at all. It almost seemed fake, except for the tears and snot dripping down her face to the crib then onto the carpet. Lol. Finally, I decided it wasn't working (duh) and thought I'd lay down on the floor next to her crib to calm her down. Still crying. At this point, she was completely wiped out, so I knew if I could just get her to lay down, she'd fall asleep. So, silly desperate me, climbed into her crib (don't worry, it was very sturdy and didn't even creak - lol), and held her in a tight bear hug for 15 minutes while I sang to her. Finally, she collapsed. Somehow I managed to extricate myself from her crib without waking her up. I don't think I will be doing that again. But there's got to be a way to get this girl to nap well again!

Thankfully, she's been doing better since then, but it's still a struggle. She's sleeping now, so I'd better get some stuff done before she wakes up!