Separation Anxiety

I thought I had it bad when Piper was a babe, but Willow is another story. We like to sing, "Might as well face it, she's addicted to mom." She has always been a momma's girl, but lately, is has become out of control. I know it's the age (she will be ONE in a couple weeks) and separation anxiety is common, but it is exhausting. Literally, she is crying right now. At 10:23PM, in her bed, after I've put her to bed 3 times. I've sang to her, rocked her, scratched her back and rubbed her head, the child hates sleeping in her own bed. She was doing pretty good for a while, she finally slept through the night at 10 months. I'm tired. I've tried everything, the aforementioned routine, crying it out...you name it, I've tried it. The only thing that will make her happy is sleeping with me. We did that in the beginning, but I just can't do it anymore. I need sleep, not to mention she is SUPER mobile and could fall out of the bed at any time. It's just not working for us anymore. Night time is not the only issue. She follows me around crying, literally pulling at my pant legs. She freaks if I put her down and she isn't ready. If I'm in the room, I am the only thing that will console her. Some days are better than others and she does like to play and toddle around. It seems more often than not lately, she is Clingy-McClingerson.

I have to constantly remind myself that she is still a tiny human. She NEEDS me to be there for her and give her the attention and affection that she craves. There are times that I want to say, WTF child...what else can I possibly do for you. Then I remember that she has no control over her emotions. She does not have the mental capacity to understand what she is feeling. Piper was similar in this regard. She cried A LOT. She wanted to me hold her ALL the time. The only difference is that Piper slept like a champ (at least in her own bed). I knew with Piper that after I put her down, I was home free. Now, with Willow, I'm on my toes just waiting for her to wake up screaming; you know, right as I flick off the bedside lamp and lay my head down. I know this will pass and I probably won't remember this time in a few years just like I don't dwell on those moments with Piper (who is independent and social now), but currently it is super hard.

Sometimes I think a lot of these feelings come from the intense pressure we put on ourselves and on our kids. I think we expect a lot out of our little ones these days. What should we expect from our tiny humans? Why do we expect them to be so independent so soon. Here Willow, here's a cup of coffee and a copy of Leviathan, now leave me alone! Maybe if I cut them slack, I wouldn't be stressed and exhausted. Maybe if I didn't spend my days lamenting over the fact that I have to carry Willow around most of the day or scratch her back until she falls asleep, I could see more joy in my days spent with my kids. I mean, I'm 26 years old and I still ask Ian to scratch my back until I fall asleep. Willow has been on this earth for 347 days, why should she be any different?

This may seem like I'm complaining because I actually have to hold my child...that's not my intention. My children bring me intense joy...but as other stay-at-home-moms can attest, some days are really freaking hard. Some days are a breeze and fly by with laughter and ease! Other days are never-ending and no matter what we do our kids are just not happy. We can easily get caught up in the muck of staying at home. Lately I've been trying really hard to not focus on that muck, but enjoy every moment with my kids. Instead of being annoyed that Willow woke up...again...I focus on her chubby little cheeks pressed up against mine and her little-tiny hand falling limp on my arm, and trying to remember that she is growing and won't always need me like she does now. Someday she won't even let me rock her to sleep, like Piper. Sometimes Piper puts herself to bed and basically pushes me out of her room. I ask her to snuggle with me and she rolls over, says goodnight and reminds me to leave the door cracked.

VOTE!

Perhaps you thought this was a political related post about, I don't know, voting for the next president of the United States...nope. It's way cooler than that. JK, voting in the 2012 election is pretty dang important.

Voting is open!! Please vote for our room to win the Epic room Makeover!

Click on the button link below and vote for #41 the Adobe Living Room!

THANKS!!

A little visit

Ian and I tend to be a little spontaneous. Some would call us anti-planners. Potato - patato.  One of my closest friends from college is getting married in October and her bachelorette party was over Labor Day weekend in Las Vegas. I was planning on going, until everything in the universe happened to make it impossible. I was super bummed, as this was going to be my first time away from my kids. The first time in 2 1/2 years I was going to have a weekend alone. It was the light at the end of the tunnel for me. Well, as us moms do well, I quickly accepted the circumstances and only pouted about not being able to go for about 48 hours. Since it was a long weekend (4 days!) Ian and I did not want to sit around doing nothing. So, we decided to take a quick drive to Fort Collins to visit the sis and the rest of the Knecht's.

As is the usual, the weekend was a blur. With 8 kids and 2 dogs, the days fly by pretty fast and everything we touch turns into a disaster. We like to call our brood the "tazmanian devil." Restaurants are never the same after we leave. We gave up trying to make it look like we didn't completely destroy the table/floor a long time ago. If my memory serves me correctly, Jetta and Piper were tightwalking a bar-height table at one point while at Chipotle. Some would call that parental neglect...when in the presence of burritos, anything goes. We were also able to celebrate Hannah's birthday! Woohoo for sushi. I don't get sushi very often. I just don't trust sushi in the middle of the desert.

My camera didn't leave the car, but Hannah snapped a couple of great moments with all the kids. She is a talented photog and you should check out her blog and website! Not only that, but her email used to be "hlhfly@hotmail.com," take that as you will...

Here is a sneak peak of Willow's 1 Year pics! Her birthday isn't until October 2nd...the rest will come out then!

2 Cups of Sugar??!!

I love to eat. And I love to eat really good, cheesy, bready, rich foods. I freaking love pizza -- it's my favorite. I know you only say that when you are filling out a survey about yourself on the first day of 4th grade, but it's still true for me. I also really like to eat well and feed my kids well. And by well, I mean loading our meals with lean proteins, veggies, fruit, and lots and lots of greens. Don't get me wrong, because if you know me and stopped reading here, you would call me a liar. I also eat way too much crap. Do I eat McDonalds? YES! I also really love fries. Do I eat the occasional frozen corn dog? YES! Do I have a slight addiction to Diet Coke? YES! I'm trying here people. The point to all of this is that I haven't always cared about what I ate or when I ate it. I have learned better habits along the years from various sources and also from having kids. I think having Piper and having to learn to feed her the right things made me try harder than ever. I like to call our family additionalists when it comes to food (as opposed to exclusionists, of course!). As in everything I try to do in life, I like to have a balance in my food choices. So I add good things as much as possible without taking everything out that I enjoy, but know is bad for me. Sounds like a horrible excuse when I put it that way, but oh well, we aren't all perfect.

I'm sure I'm not alone as a mother of toddlers when I sneak vegetables in anything and everything possible. Ian thought it was cool at first, until I made an "ice cream treat" the other night for dessert. Did I put kale in a chocolate-raspberry shake? Why yes, yes I did. I mean, if the kids are going to have sugary ice cream I must put something in there to make me feel better about it. It's crazy that I used to think a salad was a plate filled with iceberg lettuce, drenched in ranch (ok, I still do this) and topped with a bag of croutons. I attribute a lot of my food choices to things I learned while working at a holistic dental office in Las Vegas. I learned the uber importance of eating leafy greens every day, eating protein for breakfast (not sugary cereal or nothing at all!), and what fruits and veggies are important to buy organic. I started paying attention to my sugar intake, something I never cared about before! And I especially watched my artificial sugar intake (something I still need to work on tremendously...see above Diet Coke comment). Now when I make anything, like pancakes or cookies, I search the web for healthier ways to make them. And by the way, what did anyone do before the internet? We are so flippin' spoiled.

So, tonight when I was getting ready to make some no-bake cookies for a little play group tomorrow, I thought, "Do I really need 2 cups of sugar in these bad boys?" That is a lot of sugar. I searched around for a bit and found this nice little website {http://www.eatingbirdfood.com/healthy-no-bake-cookies/} that gave me a solution to this sweet predicament. It's a great blog with tons of recipes, one of which I used tonight! I will for sure be following this blog from now on. I tweaked the recipe a little myself..

"Healthier" No-Bake Cookies

3/4 C sugar
1/4 C cocoa power
1/2 almond milk
1/2 C peanut butter
1 mashed, ripe banana (mine was frozen)
1 tsp vanilla
3 C oats
Some chopped up almonds

picture a nice ripe, frozen banana in there. 

 mix everything except the vanilla and oats in a saucepan and bring to a boil, add in vanilla and oats and almonds and VIOLA! spoon mixture into little balls, let them sit, and then eat them. A lot of them.

Please ignore my cookie sheet from 1981. When something isn't broken, don't fix  it!

You want to know my absolute favorite part about all of this? They are so easy and hardly any mess! I'm talking 10 minutes and one pan. I don't know about everyone else, but I am such a messy cook. Even if I am using my mixer to make cookies, I end up with a sink full if dishes, egg yolk on my glasses, and flour on the ceiling. It's a gift, don't ask how I make it happen. This is all I had to do after I made these cookies, and yet, there they sit --still-- They will most likely remain there until the morning, or afternoon...or dinner time...