Monday, September 9, 2013

Heebie jeebies for DAYZZZZ...

My husband went to BBQ some steaks last night and found a NEST. Of mice. A mice nest in our BBQ! Omg gross. I couldn't even open the back door today for fear one would come in the house. 

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law came over to see Madeline today and I convinced them to deal with it for me. Lol. 

I'm still so creeped out. Has this ever happened to anyone else????

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Baby Sleep Part 2: Dealing with an overtired newborn!

In part 1 I dispensed my greatest piece of advice about baby sleep. I truly believe that relaxing about baby sleep is the key to a less stressed out Mama and Papa, especially in the early days when you are just trying to survive. Anyways, next up I wanted to talk a little bit about the issue of an overtired newborn/infant. I'm not sure the time cap on this little bit of "advice", since things are so new, we're only 4 months in after all!!

When we started trying to get Madeline to go to sleep earlier, we started also battling a little with her actually going to sleep. My instinct told me she was overtired, which is a vicious cycle because instead of falling asleep from exhaustion, babies seem to just scream and scream and be unable to actually do the thing they need the most when they are overtired. Sleep. So I decided to implement a sleep "regime". I became obsessed. I read that little babies should not be awake more than 1-2 hours at a time before going to sleep.

My plan was to do whatever it took to get her to sleep after she had been awake no more than 2 hours. In the early days she always fell asleep in the stroller, and in the car. So, every two hours, if I couldn't get her to nap by nursing or by putting her in her swing, I suited up and got out of the house with her. I know it's hard to believe, but on day one this made putting her to bed a million times easier. She was no longer overtired! Yay! I did this for weeks, it was a little exhausting because I was still in that place where I wanted to sleep when she slept, and if I was out pushing the stroller, or driving the car, I couldn't do that. Mama sacrifices though, right?

Eventually, around 8 weeks, Madeline no longer needed the movement to go to sleep, so I could nurse her and put her down in her crib at the 2 hour mark, which was such a HUGE milestone to me. I could finally get some stuff done around the house, and nap!!! Oh sweet naps. We have been blessed with a good sleeper though, I am not sure if she really falls in the realm of normal for her age. I am so so so grateful. However, I do think that creating a good nap plan can really help every baby. I hope that this might help someone that's reading.

I gotta say though, people don't like unsolicited advice (I certainly don't either!), so writing about this here is kind of therapeutic for me. I can advise, advise, advise, and not worry that people are annoyed :)

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

101 in 1001 List Update!

It's about time for another list update. I've managed to cross off and start quite a bunch of things! I am kind of running out of time for some of the bigger goals, like the ones that involve doing something for a year. This list ends in December 2014 so I should really start attempting those ones now or they'll never get done. It's sad that some things just won't happen. I can't see us taking a trip to Vegas before next December, or seeing a Green Bay game. We might try to go to a Buffalo game next year, so I might call seeing an NFL game at all good enough to cross that one off! It's also going to be hard to go on a girl's weekend with my sister, but maybe we will make it happen near the end of my deadline... We will see where the next 16 months take me :) Updates to the list are in GREEN!


  • Start blogging (Started in May 2012)
  • Take a photography class
  • Take a cake decorating class (Completed in April 2012 at Michael's)
  • Blog every day for 30 days (Completed December 2012)
  • Go to NYC (Went for our 1st anniversary in May 2012)
  • Plant a vegetable garden (Planted a veggie garden with my mom in June 2012 and 2013)
  • Sell 1 item a month from our Etsy shop (My mom and I had to temporarily shut down our Etsy shop so she could sell her stuff at Christmas craft markets!!! Hopefully soon we'll be up and running again)
  • Lose 20 pounds (get to 160 lbs) (In progress! I'm about 6 lbs from pre-pregnancy weight, and 21 lbs from 160 lbs)
  • Maintain weight for 6 months (see above)
  • Refinish a piece of furniture - if anyone remembers my post about the box my papa built, that's what I am planning on refinishing :)
  • Reupholster an old piece of furniture 
  • Go to Las Vegas
  • Take a knitting class
  • Knit a winter hat
  • Take one photo I am really proud of (See the photo at the end of the list! I'm breaking the "no Madeline photos on the blog" rule for this one :) )
  • Take a photograph of a rainbow (This was actually code for "get pregnant again and carry to term!" She's now 4 months old!!)
  • Say “yes” to something I wouldn’t normally
  • Host a dinner party for 8
  • Go a week without buying anything
  • Read 40 books (I am only 5 books in... Really need to ramp this up asap!!)
  • Don’t say anything negative for one day 
  • Complete a 365 day photo challenge
  • Try a sport I've never tried before (My husband and I played flag football summer 2012!)
  • Donate money to a charity
  • Kiss in the rain
  • Make spaghetti sauce from scratch - as soon as my tomatoes ripen out in the garden I'll be tackling this!!
  • Bake and decorate a birthday cake for someone (Baked my husband's birthday cake in June 2012)
  • Try a new recipe once a month for a year
  • Find out my blood type (easy! Had to do this when I got pregnant, I'm O+! August 2012)
  • Go to the gym 5 days a week for a month - probably not going to happen since I'm not renewing my membership! I think working out 5 days a week for a month will be good enough :)
  • Take a cooking class
  • Send a hand written letter
  • Spend a weekend without the internet (We did this when we went camping! August 2012)
  • Make bread without the bread maker
  • Train Leroy to come when called (HAHAHAHA. I highly doubt this is going to happen!!!!)
  • Learn how to cook fish!
  • Finish the photo wall going to the basement - just need to add a few photos of Madeline and this will be completed!
  • Go to a wine tasting
  • Make homemade ice cream
  • Watch Gone With the Wind (Loved it! July 2012)
  • Carve a pumpkin
  • Figure out what to do with my wedding dress (I donated it to a charity here called The Breast Dress Project which raises money for breast cancer research - October 2012)
  • Send in the paperwork and get my PEng - working on my experience diaries! Blah!
  • Have a blog post published on a well known blog
  • Have my blog redesigned to have a more personal style (Thanks to Emily at oh hello, love! this has been completed, July 14, 2012)
  • Make a meal with all ingredients bought at the farmer's market
  • Throw a surprise party for someone
  • Go on a girl's weekend with my sister
  • Have a will written
  • Try being vegetarian for one week
  • Write 100 thank you notes
  • Meet an internet friend in person
  • Go on a picnic (We went to a park downtown for a nice picnic in June 2013)
  • Go camping with the dog (We went camping in August 2012)
  • Go to trivia night
  • Be professionally fitted for a bra
  • Send at least 3 letters to the editor of our local paper
  • Move my blog to self hosted
  • Give up Facebook for a week
  • Try 10 beers I have never tried before (Rickard's White, Molson Canadian 67 Sublime, Upper Canada Lager, Prison Break Breakout Pilsner, Big Rig Gold, Flying Monkey, Propeller IPA)
  • Go to an exercise class that makes me feel awkward
  • See 45 movies in the theatre
  • Go for a ride in a helicopter
  • Get a promotion
  • Eat at 10 new restaurants (In progress - Must Wine Bar, Pocco Pazzo, Don Cherry's)
  • Host Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner (planning to do this for Thanksgiving this year (2013)!!!)
  • Make a surprise visit home to see my family
  • Spend 1 day a week television free for 6 months (Started this in July 2012, didn't complete. Starting again now, we are doing Wednesday or Saturday depending on football haha, starting August 21st, 2013)
  • De-clutter our house
  • Go to a comedy show (went to Absolute Comedy with two of my coworkers! July 2012)
  • See The Nutcracker at the NAC
  • Do something nice for someone anonymously
  • Go to a spa (Had a lovely pedicure at the March House Spa, twice! April 2013)
  • Go to a Green Bay Packers game
  • Give a 100% tip
  • Have a booth at a craft sale
  • Take a spontaneous road trip
  • Create a scavenger hunt
  • Decorate Christmas cookies
  • Finish bathroom and back room in basement (Just getting started now!)
  • Finish the fence in the backyard (Last pieces went up in May 2012!)
  • Buy a mouse pad for my desk at work (Just did this! I got a mouse pad AND a keyboard wrist rest. July 2012)
  • Learn how to use all of the applications on my Mac
  • Grow and use 3 varieties of herbs (Grew basil, oregano, and parsley, used all 3 in my roasted red pepper soup! July 2012)
  • Organize all of the documents/photos on my computer
  • Finally load up my digital picture frame... yeah this is not going to happen because I decided to get rid of the frame!
  • Go to a drive-in movie theatre
  • Have someone guest post on my blog
  • Go on a date night once a month with my husband (Edited to add a timeframe - let's go with a year! Started this in July 2012 and epically failed. Plan to restart once Madeline is taking a bottle!!!!)
  • Get 5,000 views of my blog
  • See the Best Picture Oscar winner from the last 10 years. (In progress, Argo (2012), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Million Dollar Baby (2004). I've seen some others, but don't remember them enough so will be re-watching!!!)
  • Enter a photo contest
  • Complete a crossword puzzle
  • Host a poker night (We did this recently, it was so much fun! We had about 8 people and I made homemade pizzas and had some other snacks - November 2012)
  • Buy a bigger TV for our basement den (We unexpectedly crossed this off on Black Friday 2012!)
  • Plant a tree
  • Read a novel in french
  • Make homemade jam
  • Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years
  • Write a list of 101 things I have already achieved in life
  • Celebrate finishing this list!

  • Madeline is pretty bored with my goals list!!
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