Little O' This, My Girl

Look Inside and See What’s On My Mind

My gray matter is feeling mushy and I don’t think I’ve got it in me to compose an actual post with real, live sentence structure and thought-out paragrahs, so I’m just going to let the words spill as they may.

After nearly a half-year of fighting the urge to chew off my fingernails and rip my cuticles to shreds with my teeth, I finally caved.  Now my fingertips are raw and jagged and it hurts when I wash my hair.  But I can’t stop biting the stumps, even though there’s nothing left of them.

I thought that the stench of Jolie’s formula poop was the worst smell ever, but since I’ve been eating a steady diet of rice, beans, apples, carrots, popcorn, and high fibre muffins, I think the fumes hotly seeping from my buttcrack have taken the lead. Mercy.  It’s worth it though; I’ve lost five pounds this month.

January has essentially been a write-off.  Anything I had been looking forward to got totally pooped on, everyone has been sick, and I haven’t slept in longer than four-hour increments. A really big shampoo bottle also fell on my nose in the middle of the night and it made me cry.

We still swaddle Jolie up tight like an overstuffed burrito every night (she won’t sleep if she’s not) but I am wondering how long it’s OK to keep on doing this.  Any potential problems with swaddling a 13 year-old?  Will she be unpopular at sleep-overs?

I entered a writing contest.  I am not feeling especially hopeful, but perhaps there are good things waiting in February.

They say it’s common for children to regress when they’re ill. This is within the realm of normal, right?

Crazy Kid

Happy weekends to all!

27 Comments

  • Sorry you’ve all been under some sort of weather as of late.

    We de-swaddled Hola in his 6th month. (it was awful. We figured double swaddling him to keep him at bay was getting old, so we took the plunge. He woke every hour for a good 4-5 nights. Now? I am so glad we went through all that mess to have a sleeper who sleeps in every position possible.)

    De-swaddled his brother in his 5th month. (much easier transition. easy enough that I don’t recall it 3 years later.)

  • This month has been lame-o for you! I’m surprised that all you’ve done is bite your nails. Good for you.

    We kept our girls swaddled until about 5 or 6 months, I think. They seemed coziest that way and it controlled the flailing arms and jagged nails from hitting their faces.

    Here’s hoping you have a FREAKING FABULOUSLY FUN FEBRUARY.

  • I swaddled my daughter for about 8 months. At that point we weren’t doing her hands anymore because she didn’t like it, but she wouldn’t sleep if her torso and legs weren’t swaddled.

  • ha ha ha! as soon as we brought out the exersaucer for the new baby, my 3 year old has been sitting in it. And not only when he’s sick!

  • LOL @ the regression picture. I love how her legs are tucked underneath her.

    When you mentioned the chewing of fingernails, the first thing that came to mind was my truck driving dad saying “I’ve chewed my nails for 35 years. But when I started hauling pigs… I quit.” *gag*

  • I still swaddle Susannah; she’s exactly one year older than Jolie…
    Have a great weekend!

  • We swaddled M until 9 or 10 months – it’s the only way she slept more then 2 hours!

    And I love that photo

  • I still swaddle Abby. The act of tucking the blankets around her seems to put her to sleep. Someone mentioned that they didn’t think it was safe because apparently you aren’t supossed to have blankets in the crib. But she’s survived for almost 4 months so I think she’ll be fine.

  • how come no one else wants to know how a big bottle of shampoo fell on your face in the middle of the night?!? cuz to me…that’s really weird!

  • Sounds like a bad month – good thing it’s over. BUT! You entered a writing contest? Win or lose, it’s amazing that you had the gumption to do that in the midst of it all. Way to go!

  • We swaddled for quite a while and eventually started swaddling him from the waist down only. We still “swaddle” him like that at almost 18 months but it is not a tight wrap. It sure helps him sleep though.

  • That picture of Avelyn is AWESOME. Be sure to show her high school friends when she is 15 and brings them home for lunch. :)

  • I’m sorry things have been poopy!

    However, I LOVE the photo. Especially how she’s on her knees. It made my day!

    Good luck with the contest.

  • Bleh…I totally understand. We swaddled my youngest daughter for close to 6 months cause she would not sleep any other way either. And honey when you need sleep you do WHATEVER you have to do to get it!

  • Let’s just say that when my daughter grew out of the Miracle Blanket, I had someone make me a larger one! Whatever works, you know?

    Here’s hoping February is fab!

  • Ugh. I hope you get to feeling better!!

  • Love the picture. I think Isabella and Brooklyn played in the exersaucer more than Kathryn, even though it was out for her! And they are totally fascinated with her sippy cup, Brooklyn constantly tries to steal it from her. Hope February brings you much blessings, January is always just BLAH!

  • Great photo!!! I love those little ringlets! Hope everyone is feeling better!

  • That picture is GREAT! B and Micah love playing in Isaiah’s exersaucer as well and they’re 5 & 3. :)
    As for the swaddling. They tend to grow out of it themselves. My sisters girls were both babies that HAD to be swaddled. Sawyer (the younger of the two) wanted to be swaddled up tight until she was 14 months or so. Looked funny to see such a big baby wrapped up like a new born, but if it means you can sleep….who cares? At this point sleep is more important than what’s “right” in the eyes of everyone around you. :)

  • Hi! Thank you for this post. Actually, I’m not very familiar with this topic but after reading your post, it’s clear now! Keep up the good posts like this. Take care!

  • Brenda and I are wondering how a bottle of shampoo fell on your face?

  • Have you been sleeping in the bathtub?

    You know… you might need to take a winter break like Angella. We could fix you up with some sunshine in a jiffy.

  • you make some excellent points, something for me to think about

  • I have the same questions about swaddling. Madison will be 4 months on the 5th of Feb, and we’re still swaddling. She sleeps through the night (i know, we’re EXTREMELY lucky), and my selfishness for wanting to continue to sleep through the night makes me keep putting off trying to put her to bed without swaddling!

  • I was told it’s good to swaddle as long as you can…and as long as they like it. It’s good for development or something…
    Good to know about the Boston Pizza thing too! I wonder if that will work for me??LOL

  • I was told it’s good to swaddle as long as you can…and as long as they like it. It’s good for development or something…
    Good to know about the Boston Pizza thing too! I wonder if that will work for me??LOL

  • Your blog is seriously the funniest thing I have ever read! Your honesty and ability to laugh at yourself is refreshing :-)

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