Getting Crafty....Kind of

I want to start by saying I am not a baking, crafty, DIY kind of girl. I am an accountant for my day job and that pretty much sums me up. I love and understand numbers.

For Carly's 1st birthday I thought it would be special if I did the decorations and baking. Plus, it would save me a ton of money. Accountants don't make a lot of money contrary to popular believe. Hahaha 

Why did I think doing it all myself was a good idea? I don't know, I guess it just sounded good at the time. 

I have a cousin, Jessica, who is the baking, crafty, DIY kind of girl. I figure I could recruit her help and things would work themselves out. Unfortunately, my cousin lives in Mexico and was not able to make the trip. 

I also had Carly's godmother, Julia, help me with decorations. When I told her my cousin was not going to make it, she called me as soon as she could to let me know that I could totally count on her and that everything was going to look beautiful. Let me tell you she was a total blessing!  She immediately put her helper hat on, and we started brainstorming. We started with decorations and trying to figure out what I wanted as the main centerpiece. I had no idea what I wanted, but with her help we came up with an idea similar to something we saw on Pinterest. She came over to my house one night and pretty much had them done that night.

My house was a mess but the decorations were looking great!
 

 

That idea eventually turned into...

 

 

Then for baking, Julia's daughter, Nichole, was a big help. She baked all the cupcakes, and her cupcake inspired me to make some cake pops.

 

 

Julia did all of the chocolate coating on the cake pops,

 

Oreos, 

Pretzels, and marshmallows! 

Nichole and I put almost everything in individual clear bags and tied them up. 

One of the things I wanted for Carly's birthday party were mason jars with pretty paper straws. The more I thought about it I figured it was a bad idea. Little kids running around with glass mason jars? Not happening. So I did the next best thing. 

 

How cute are these?!?! There was a chalk pen at the party and people could write their names on them. It was a big hit at the party and helped me save cups minus the dishes ;) 

Sleep Training Part 1

That's right ladies and gentlemen, you read it right, Part 1 of 2. Sleep Training was a long journey for us.

Sleep Training. Probably the hardest thing I have done as a mom. Even harder than the no sleep thing. Ok, I won't push it, but they are kind of one in the same.
First, I want to say that I was that person that said, "I will never co-sleep." HAHA. Yeah right, when you have to work the next morning and the only thing that will get your baby to sleep is sleeping in your bed, we'll see how good you are at "never co-sleeping."

When Carly was about 6 months old, she was only waking up one time at night and sometimes she would sleep through the night. It was great. I felt like God had actually blessed me with a great sleeper. Then one night Carly had her first fever, and was up and crying most of the night. As a first time mom I wasn't even sure what to do, or if what I was doing was the right thing to do. She slept with us for the next 2-3 nights, and then just like that she was herself again. Smiling, playing, and happy. I felt like she was good to go back to her crib. Boy, was I wrong! She was like "No mom, I like sleeping here." I wasn't getting her in her crib for the life of me.

Excuse me, that's my side of the bed.

Fast forward to Carly being 1 year and 1 month old. I was done with co-sleeping and frankly, I needed my sleep back. I have never been a good sleeper, but not sleeping at all is torture. I asked my husband to move the crib out of our room and into her room upstairs. He didn't move it for the next 3 months. I honestly think he was having a hard time letting go of our baby. Still to this day he tells me that he misses her with us, but he loves that we get to cuddle again. 

Can I have my husband back?

 

At first I was all about the no tears method. Putting her to sleep in our room and once she was asleep, taking her up to her room. Well at 3am we would get a screaming baby and no sleep. Then we tried the "let her cry it out" method. She cried for 2 HOURS, and I just ended up feeling like a crappy mom. I was in a terrible mood at work, she was tired and cranky most of the time, and there was really no progress. The anticipation of bedtime was so stressful for me. I didn't know what I was going to get that night. That lasted for about a week.

Then I got serious about this and the last week of September I made it my goal that by the end of October this baby would sleep in her room, in her crib, and all night. I did some research online and honestly, after reading a bunch of articles, I just ended up feeling like I was doing everything wrong and like a crappy, crappy mom (Yes! Double crappy!).

Sleep Training Part 2

Finally I watch a YouTube video by Shaykeeandbaby. I really don't watch her often, but her labor and delivery story was very similar to mine. She also had a hard time sleep training. In the video she said something that changed everything for me. She said that she would kiss her baby good night, tell her baby that she loved her, and just let her cry it out. She was letting her baby cry it out before she went to bed, not at 2-3 in the morning. I don't know why that never occurred to me. Apparently, it took her baby 3 nights to finally stop crying at bed time. I got home and told my husband about it and we both agreed to try Shaylee's method that night.

To prepare for that night I made sure Carly was SUPER tired. I took her to such a long walk that she was pretty much begging me to put her in the stroller on our way back. Poor baby! 

So that night at 8pm my husband and I took Carly to her room. We both kissed her good night, told her that we loved her, put her in her crib, and walked out of her room closing the door behind us. At this point I am freaking out feeling all kinds of guilty, and telling myself that maybe she's not ready to be sleep trained. In reality I wasn't ready. I promise she cried for 15 minutes before she fell asleep! She slept through the night and I didn't sleep a wink because I was so worried about her. She was fine. She didn't need me anymore. Tear! 

Now every afternoon no matter how tired I am from work I make sure to take Carly out for a walk. Once we are back she has dinner, then her bath, and finally goes to sleep.

Both my husband and I take her to her crib, and I think she loves seeing us together. What child doesn't like seeing mommy and daddy together? I also started reading her a book before we walk out of the room, and that has just made our night time routine more special. It is now October 15th and I can say that my baby is sleep trained. In fact I am writing this blog as she sleeps in her room, and I am in my bed! I have my bed back! Definitely the most rewarding thing about being a mom so far. Next potty training hahahaha It should be another fun blog.