7 Quick Takes: Sleep, Wine and Valentines

1. Last night was another sleepless night in our house, bouncing between both kids' cries from the hours of 11:00pm - 6:00am. I'm amazed at how well I'm operating on no sleep. I used to be someone who required at least 8-10 hours every night and now I'm lucky if I get 2-3 hours in a row. I see no light at the end of the tunnel and accepting that fact has helped my mental state immensely. This isn't getting any better! Get used to it, lady! When my mom visited a few weeks ago, she asked me when I thought Tory would finally start sleeping through the night. "She has to sleep eventually, don't you think?" Honestly, no, I don't. I've given up on trying to crack the case of sleep with that girl. (It should be noted my awareness of Starbucks drive-thru's in a 20-mile radius of my house has increased vastly in the last two months. God bless liquid energy.)

2. On a related note, last night was Aden's first time sleeping in his crib. My big boy has nearly outgrown the baby bassinet and as I mentioned in my Day In The Life post earlier this week, I think Tory's waking him prematurely in the mornings with her loud yogurt-demanding, tantrum-throwing ways. Part of the reason I slept like such crap last night was because he was in his own room. We have a video monitor and I could see him sleeping peacefully in his crib, but I still felt nervous about him being so far away from me. The good news is, I think he'll transition to sleeping in his crib just fine. He was still up to eat every three hours regardless of where he slept. I, on the other hand, was more awake having to physically get out of bed every few hours (x2 because I was already doing that with Tory). Also, it breaks my heart a little bit that my baby boy is already sleeping in his own room. If I could, I'd probably let him sleep next to my bed forever. Okay, that's a bit of an over-statement; more like, a few more months.

3. A dear friend made us a meal after Aden was born and included these homemade chewy granola bars. I've made a few batches myself since then, and it's safe to say I'm addicted to them. They are so good and the recipe's almost impossible to mess up. I used almonds and dried cranberries in one batch, chocolate nibs and raisins in another. One time I used honey and another time I used maple syrup. I want to make some with coconut flakes and pistachios next time (not necessarily together). These granola bars are the only breakfast I can fit in some days and are almost always my go-to snack mid-afternoon. I've been using the Pampered Chef brownie pan my mom and dad gave me for Christmas and it works perfectly for this recipe. I decreased the cooking time to 15 minutes because the surface area is much smaller than the pan suggested in the original recipe.

4. Yesterday, Tory and I made Valentine's Day cards. We painted her hands red and stamped them on construction paper and I did the same to Aden's feet. Surprisingly, he was a really good sport about it! Later, I assembled the hand and footprints into cards and made one for myself to save in my scrapbook of stuff from the kids. (Yes, I made my own valentine. Ain't no shame in my game and if I don't do it, who will?) The card to "Mom and Dad" (aka: me) was sitting on my nightstand last night and Tory picked it up. "I make this for you?" she asked. I told her she did and we recapped how we'd painted her hands earlier in the day. She opened the card, held it up close to her nose and read, "Happy Valentine's Mommy." I nearly died from the cuteness.

5. My birthday's coming up next month and I've decided to ask for a Sonicare toothbrush. I feel super old requesting such a lame birthday gift, but I think I'd really like it. I'm also going to ask for a new iPhone (just because) and an imaginary gift card for babysitting time from my in-laws. My most cherished thing lately (aside from my husband and kids, obviously) is to hole up in a quiet corner of a coffee shop and just be by myself for a while. The mental recharge is gold.

6. Nine weeks: nine weeks is how long it took Tory to take a chill pill with Aden. Things are by no means perfect around here, but all of my advisements to "be gentle" have finally started to sink into her brain. Sometimes, Tory still pesters Aden on purpose just to get a rise out of me but 80% of the time now, she's being more gentle with him. I hope (hope, hope, hope!) this means his allure is wearing off. Aden's becoming more tolerant, too, and the other day I even caught him smiling at Tory. Big improvement over shrieking at her very sight. Because of this, Tory and I have had the best few days. It's such a breath of fresh air to not be constantly calling her down all the time. Prayers for patience = answered.

7. Andi joined a wine club last month and it's been something new and fun to do. We already drink plenty of wine, so at least this helps me creatively step outside my Apothic Red comfort zone. This club's different in that you get a minimum of three bottles of wine a month. You rate them based on your liking and by the sixth month or so, supposedly you're only receiving wines you absolutely love because the palate profile is refined to your personal taste. So far, we loved two of the three wines we tried last month and I'm excited to see what shows up on our doorstep for February.