A couple of weeks ago I was feeling overwhelmed and full of worry about Lamp’s condition. I found myself thinking things like, If only she a hand…just one hand… or if her left arm were just a little longer, then she could probably do so much more… I know it’s natural for a mom to worry and...
Someone had her first day of pre-school this week! She loved it. Of course that’s also because mom got to go with her the first day… hopefully she’ll still be excited when she goes all by herself next week. Wish us luck. And while we’re doing firsts, I might as well show...
- GoofyJSeptember 12, 2010 - 6:12 pm
So CUTE! I love Lamp's little almost-smile – but the part where the smile stands out the most is in her eyes – so adorable :-D. Good luck with preschool – our Jacob loved going (of course he has older sibblings so he was feeling left out of the school scene and it made him feel more grown up) – hopefully she adjusts well and has a wonderful time! Good luck!ReplyCancel
- AnonymousSeptember 13, 2010 - 12:09 am
Forgive me if I sound like a broken record, but motherhood has been on my mind lately. Now I have to say, Lamp is quite the sweetheart. I was struggling a few weeks ago, but things have gotten a lot better (knock on wood). She’s a delightful baby. So this isn’t so much about Lamp,...
- LikelySeptember 7, 2010 - 12:02 pm
Oliver pretty much cried all day for three months when he was first born. nightmare. I remember trying to get MAx to take his nap but he couldn't sleep while Oliver was screaming and the only way Oliver would stop crying would be if I stod while I rocked him back and forth and sang. Do you know how many songs I sang in a row? Many times I would get out my little pocket sized hymn book and sing hymn after hymn after hymn until they both fell asleep. Sometimes it was like 20 hymns. It sure beat having to come up with song after song or singing the same one over and over.ReplyCancel
- mjSeptember 7, 2010 - 2:11 pm
I have a really great partner, so this is really about "parenthood." When my nine month old was a colicky newborn, we developed this big ol bag of tricks for getting her to sleep. This is because nothing worked consistently but everything worked sometimes. Some of the things that worked more often than others are: holding out one high-pitched note as long as possible over and over near the baby's ear (sometimes a harmonica instead), jogging around the house while carrying her, and of course the time-tested non-stop nursing with the baby sleeping in spurts on your chest. Probably my favorite one (that we still do sometimes) was singing at the top of our voices in the car all the main parts to a song (meaning vocals AND music). The best was the one time my husband and I together managed to sing most of the parts to Radiohead's "Paranoid Android." By the end she was out cold.
(I hope you don't mind me commenting even though I don't know you. I love finding good mom blogs to commiserate with.)ReplyCancel
- Carri, Lou, and JosieSeptember 7, 2010 - 3:17 pm
My goodness I can relate. We always think back on that first year as pure survival. We lost touch with longtime friends, barely made it out of the house, and (ha) even bought white noise tracks off of itunes so we'd have entire CDs of hair dryers, washing machines, car noise, etc. What's interesting is that we all think every other mom has it together but when we open up, we realize we're all struggling. (Another reason mama-blogs are great!)ReplyCancel
- MelancholySmileSeptember 7, 2010 - 3:21 pm
All my boys have had painful reflux, but E was the worst. Doctors dismissed it as 'colic', so for over a year {a YEAR!} he cried day and night. Once, he cried so hard he turned blue and passed out. I thought he had died. It was terrifying and emotional and bone-deep tiring. He would sleep in 20 minute chunks if I sat in a reclined position and laid him on my chest. Or if walked the floor endlessly with him. I would have tv or dvd's playing in the background just to try and trick my mind into thinking I wanted to be awake in the middle of the night, but mostly I remember hiding in a closet with the baby so as not to wake the household and alternating between praying and sobbing. To this day, if someone mentions E's first year, my breath catches and I have to try hard to remember how I had the courage to have more children.ReplyCancel
- MigonSeptember 7, 2010 - 3:56 pm
Jill–Oh man. See those are the moments other moms never see…thanks for sharing.
Likely and MS–oh geeze. Nightmare! I have thought over and over if Heavenly Father sends me another fussy baby I'm done! Having a fussy baby is hard, having a fussy baby when you have other kids is impossible. MS–a WHOLE year?? Seriously, it's amazing you went on to have other kids. Truly.
Rachel–amen. That was also how I survived Beanie.
MJ–I know what you mean about a bag of tricks–none of them work all the time, but something works most of the time. I love that singing at the top of your lungs actually worked!
Carrie–exactly. I think we're so lucky to have mom blogs as a means of connecting to other moms and knowing we're not alone and that other moms have their struggles too.ReplyCancel
- bechtold clanSeptember 7, 2010 - 6:14 pm
Ah- what a question youve raised! I tell my hubby everyday that I couldnt do it without him. Seriously being a mom is hard but when you have a colicky child its harder still! Im glad to read others comments as it really helps. My first son was PERFECT! LOL ate well, slept well, etc that I was totaly unprepared for #2. He was colicky for a year or more. Never napped, didnt sleep more than 2-3 hours at night( up crying the rest of the time) I commented to the doctor how he could survive on such little sleep. It was a miracle we didnt get fired from our jobs. We took turns because literraly for 18 months the kid didnt sleep. Hes now 2.5 and still has a hard time.
What got us through- was white noise, singing, and bouncing him while walking around. He didnt like confinement so carseats, car rides, rocking didnt work. It was the methodical singing, while bouncing up and down for hours that he would finally sleep. We also had to pat his bum while he was on his stomach to sleep so he bounced. And if you stopped expect him to wake. Those arm muscles were very developed!
(Thanks for letting me read 🙂ReplyCancel - MalesaSeptember 8, 2010 - 1:20 am
Katelyn lived in a Moby Wrap for the first 8 weeks of her life. People in NYC were surprised to see that she indeed have a face after two months because they never saw her. I still felt pregnant, but it was literally the only place that she would be happy, and it gave me my hands free for Aubrey. It was the best way to get her to sleep too. It was exhausting to haul her around all day long and find myself at midnight putting the Moby Wrap BACK on just to get her asleep, but whatever works right? It really did work like a charm. And, we bought a noise machine from Walmart. We do shut it off when we go to bed though.
I'm glad things have gotten easier with your little one. It really is a good thing that babies come so dang cute, because they are so dang hard.ReplyCancel - Jen BennionSeptember 8, 2010 - 1:56 am
Oh man! Sometimes Collin and I play the "remember when" game when we look back on Violet's first few months. Thankfully we can laugh abbot about all the craziness now! And it was crazy.
She was a sad girl. The only way she slept was swaddled tight in her swing with a pacifier and white noise blaring from the iPod. We went through D batteries like sliced bread 🙂
As hard as it was I feel like I'm reaping the rewards now. She's such a joy and I would do it all over again! You're a great mom, hang in there 🙂ReplyCancel - amandaSeptember 8, 2010 - 5:35 am
we put our newborn in a carseat and swung her until she sleeped. sometimes, it seemed like she would fly into space–we would swing so hard out of fatigue and anger. yes, anger. i'll admit the lack of sleep made us extremely edgy, and i'm glad we had some gospel principles to help us get thru the craziness. if you're wondering why we didn't use a swing, we did. the carseat just had more "confinement" that mimicked being snug.
i also happened to have the child who hated swaddling, so everyone's surefire solution to swaddle was like a slap in the face for me every time i heard it. i eventually gave up my ideals of "no co-sleeping" and just did it. it helped all of us sleep.ReplyCancel
- Miss MollySeptember 8, 2010 - 3:16 pm
I have to admit, I've never done anything drastic or crazy. Just the text book suggestions: swaddling, shooshing, etc, which isn't really like me. I mean, I go to all sorts of extremes to sleep. But for some reason, I never tried anything crazy with my newborns. I've gotten some rad ideas now though, thanks to this blog.
- GoofyJSeptember 8, 2010 - 9:25 pm
Hi Amy! Fabulous blog! (this is Julia, by the way) As far as babies go – we've been pretty lucky – other than sleeping numerous nights for the first few months in a recliner and playing online games for a few hours in the middle of the night with our oldest, or a few middle of the night drives to put baby to sleep in carseat – (and no, we didn't try to transfer – once asleep we left them asleep out of sheer sanity for us) we haven't had to pull too many tricks with them (I do realize I am hugely blessed with that – I don't think I could handle what you and some of the other moms have had to handle). It's when they've gotten older that they turn beastly on us and I kick into survival mode.
I think one of our craziest survival stories was when the three girls were young – 3, 2, and newborn and every time we got in the car they would just scream and fight and pull hair – it was awful – and we didn't wan them picking on the baby. So in a moment of sheer desperation my husband grabbed a hunk of cardboard and shoved it between their car seats. (We had a station wagon at the time, so all three car seats were in the back seat) They couldn't see or touch each other – we drove around like that for years until the station wagon died. Of course we got to the point where we just carried the cardboard in the back in case they started to go at it, but for a while it was quite permament.
Some people thought we were brilliant, some people thought we were horribly mean, but all I can say is for the peace it gave us anytime we were on the road it was SO worth it.ReplyCancel
- MigonSeptember 9, 2010 - 4:41 pm
I'm still loving these stories…
Amanda–Totally get the anger part. It's FRUSTRATING when you have THAT baby…the baby that doesn't just sleep even though they are dead tired and you have to do a whole song and dance just to get 20 minutes of snooze time.
Jen–It really is great when you can look back and all those crazy times are a distant memory. It's hard, but so good to remember that it all passes….somehow.
Molly–maybe you were just lucky and your kids didn't need all that crazy stuff?
Deb–Love it. I remember thinking "yeah right, like I'm going to turn on a blow dryer or vacuum to get my baby to sleep…" Of course my smug attitude went out the window when Beanie slept for 2 hours at a time with the blow dryer running while swaddled tightly in the swing.
GoofyJ–I LOVE this story. I think that's hilarious and brilliant. And pretty much any parenting tactic that keeps you from wanting to beat your children I think is brilliant…so whoever thought you were being mean should reconsider. (And lucky you for having great babies! No wonder you have 6… 🙂 )ReplyCancel
- AmberliSeptember 10, 2010 - 7:04 am
ah! so happy i made the blog! oh those long nights with an aching back from rocking, rocking, rocking…but at least i got a lot of chick flicks in.
and white noise – such a blessing, such a curse. atticus has slept with a white noise machine since he was a few months old. i decided to get one after a full day of rocking him and he only fell asleep once i turned on the vacuum and rocked him in the glider for a couple HOURS with that blasted vacuum blasting in my ear. i left it on so long it blew out and shut off and was too hot to touch!!! i'm not even sure it ever turned back on, come to think of it.
also, real quick – i thought of you when i saw this on etsy, since you're a master seamstress (boo on not getting the serger!) and like to remake old shirts into beautiful creations. check this out! if only i had a little girl!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/55875860/the-upcycled-t-shirt-dress-icons-no-2ReplyCancel
- AmberliSeptember 10, 2010 - 7:16 am
- ErinSeptember 10, 2010 - 11:41 pm
- Robert BaroneSeptember 28, 2013 - 1:26 pm
We just got back from a fun little day trip…our second this weekend. Hope you had a great weekend as well. p.s. I didn’t win the serger. But congrats to Tabitha the winner….she did a great job and was very deserving! (And they sorta gave me a shout out with a mention to the parents...
The girls and their cousins a few weeks ago We’re alive. Wednesday was a dreaded family sick day. Luckily the baby was spared, but the rest of us were sick. Puking. Achy. Tired. Sick. I think it was the plague. The 24 hour plague. The hubs stayed home from work while we alternated sleeping...
- Carri, Lou, and JosieSeptember 3, 2010 - 2:12 pm
- MelancholySmileSeptember 5, 2010 - 3:13 pm
Another great thing that happened this past weekend was the completion of a (very small) project! As a mom I really treasure my ‘me time’ for creative outlets like painting and sewing. I knew having a new baby meant projects would be on hold for a while, but this past weekend I got a little...
- Miss SummersonAugust 31, 2010 - 1:41 pm
- andrea galeSeptember 1, 2010 - 1:31 am
- k e n d r aSeptember 19, 2010 - 2:46 pm
my big bro and I “It’s no big deal, so don’t get your hopes up.” My brother tells me about a week ago. “But I sent you something in the mail and I want you to call me before you open it.” Hmmm. Very cryptic….and mysterious. Two things my brother is not. Which is why...
- Yours, SincerelyAugust 25, 2010 - 1:35 am
- JulesAugust 25, 2010 - 3:40 pm
I came across this quote that reminded me of you and what you're going through:
It doesnt happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. Thats why it doesnt happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been rubbed off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things dont matter at all, because once you are Real you cant be ugly, except to people who dont understand.
- MarloAugust 25, 2010 - 9:38 pm
Your brother sounds COOL. I know you don't know me, but I read your blog sometimes. And I love Gilmore Girls. Tonight I watched a few episodes (from Season 4 if you must know) and I was wondering where that town was that Stars Hollow is based on, so I turned to your blog. This led me to the homepage of Washington, Connecticut where I signed up to receive the town newsletter – just for fun. So that I can know when they are having weird town meetings. Just wanted you to know – from one addict to another.ReplyCancel
Hey, I'm Amy!
I'm an author, artist, and disability advocate. I live with my handsome husband and three beautiful daughters in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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I remember seeing the news story when they first adopted him. I am so glad to see how well he is doing.
Oh man, TEARS!! Why did I have to watch that AFTER putting on my make up? What a great story. It's so neat to see examples of kids like that (and moms). I have a feeling your little family is going to do great things too. We're rooting for you!
Wow! What an inspiring story. Thanks for sharing. It was the answer to a prayer I had.
That was awesome. I just watched it with my kids and they were very impressed.
I also think it's cool that they talked about scripture study and prayer on the news. Only in Utah, let me tell ya. 🙂
Gabe is amazing! And so is Lamp, I am certain.
Have you seen this guy too?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4HGQHgeFE
incredible. i needed that. thanks for sharing!
I wish I was a mother like her too. We all need to instill in our children such confidence. I don't think I would make my child without arms or legs climb the stairs, but look at how much more independent he is because she has taught him that he can do it and he does have a smile on his face. I want to be like that. We all should help our children to be so confident and happy.
I finally found the time to watch this and I'm so glad I did. What an inspiration to anyone.
That was awesome, Amy -thanks for sharing the video! 🙂 I think we'll see many amazing things from Lamp as well – I think she has an amazing mom too 😀
By the way, Amy – would you mind if I added you to the links on my blog? (I always like to ask before adding 🙂 )
wow, this was amazing and so uplifting. I love his outlook on life. Thank you for posting this.
Oh man, I'm never complaining about anything again, ever! Seems like that whole family has such a great attitude. Truly inspiring.
I heart Gabe.
Made oatmeal scotchies today & thought of you. Totally addicting.
I personally know Gabe and he is as AMAZING as ever…my daughter had 1 grade with him (we have since moved). What an adorable little man…he's now in the 6th grade and I just saw him the other day coming home from school in his scooter/chair…such an inspiration!!