the census is...

that i am not alone. we are not alone. toddlers; well, they traditionally get a bad rep because they are well... bad! naughty! selfish! difficult! sassy! emotional! oh, the list could go on (and on and on...) i have really shied away from blogging because i have felt so frustrated by jack's attitude and actions. one of my last posts about not saying anything if you don't have anything nice to say... well, i guess now it's about getting the thoughts out of my head, into the keys and onto the screen to rid myself of this drowning negativity that seems to swirl around in my head day after day. i've opened up and reached out to other girlfriends, and we all seem to have similar situations abuzz in our household: toddlers that are trying to take over! it is so nice to be able to share, vent, bounce ideas off each other, but mostly to commiserate. because why? misery loves company. and, i see no better time than such a frustrating stage to attempt to laugh through it!

i think we have reached a plateau with jackie. i don't feel like it's getting worse anymore. i feel we've established a pretty solid routine, and he's beginning to realize that the red head is not going away. dylan usually wakes around 5:30-6 am, feeds and falls back into her slumber for another 4-5 hours. this gives jackie and i our typical morning routine of breakfast, (minor) snuggling and some play time outside. by the time dilly wakes again, it's back inside for snacks, baths and reading. i cannot stress enough how wonderful of a baby dylan is. the screaming and yelling she puts up with out of jack, i mean, how could anyone fall asleep with such chaos? but of course, she heard it for how many months before she ever made her entrance?!

her witching hour has seemed to diminish (am i jinxing myself by writing this now?) because i've just made it a point to hold her in the evenings rather than putting her in the swing or setting her down to be independent. this usually means eating with one arm/hand, sometimes having to reheat meals or even having ben take on dinner prep. what's a little extra salt in our diet now and then?! (sorry, babe.)

she has continued to sleep in 6-7 hour stretches at night so i think i'm ready to transition dilly to her bedroom. (she has been sleeping in a pack-in-play in our closet - as awful as that sounds, without bragging, i have a fairly large walk-in with a window.) the only reason i had her in our room to begin with was because the kiddos bedrooms are in the same hallway. i would hate to have her wake jack up! but dilly is pretty much all business at night. she wakes, letting out a small squawk, i change her sagging diaper, she latches on and that's about it. she often falls asleep after 10 minutes and easy-peasy, she goes back down. gosh, i love her.

speaking of dilly...