November 25

It appears that we have come back to our tradition of Do-Nothing Monday. Today, like the past few Mondays, was a stay-at-home day. I loved it. I also needed it; last night was Lily's worst night ever as far as sleeping goes.

I was feeling so smug, thinking that I had this whole newborn thing down. All those other parents complain about the sleeplessness that accompanies newborns, but we hardly experienced any of that. I chalked it up to our excellent parenting choices and skills. Then Lily turned 4 months old and forgot how to sleep and Chris and I are finding ourselves pacing the halls in the middle of the night, rocking, jiggling, hushing, singing, nursing  nursing nursing nursing the nursing never stops!

So I take back all those smug thoughts. They may come sooner or they may come later, but the sleepless nights? They eventually come.

Thankfully, sleepless nights bring a tired baby the next day, so Lily slept a lot and I didn't have to be on my A game today. Just B+,  for Caleb and Daisy's sakes.

We made salt dough ornaments this morning; I had no real flour in the house, so we used gluten-free flour. I also had no table salt, so we used sea salt. Like I said - B+ game, definitely not A game. But such are the hazards of being a crunchy mama! Caleb and Daisy didn't mind their gluten free dough, though. They were happy that I taught them how to knead it with the heels of their hands and use the rolling pin. When I let them use real knives to cut it (don't worry, Mom. They were butter knives.) they almost exploded with joy.

This is Daisy's "I know you told me that it tastes yucky and I'm not supposed to eat it, but I totally ate it and you can't stop me" face. The flour all down her shirt and on her lip is another tell-tale sign.

She loved working with the dough!

We made hand print ornaments that didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped, but that's okay. Once they've dried, we'll paint them and they'll be a lovely reminder of this season in our lives when things don't often turn out as well as we hope.

Lily woke up while the big kids were still sleeping, so she and I got some quality time together. 

Right now, quality time is naked time or tummy time. Today, we did both!

She looks so excited in this picture because she's trying her hardest to grab that little yellow bug with green wings.

And she's smiling because she got it!

Now it's time for me to go relieve Chris, who has been shushing and bouncing and walking Lily for the past 40 minutes while I uploaded photos and edited and wrote this post. Dear Lord, please let her sleep tonight!