Best diaper and wipes deal ever!

I am a little too excited about the deal I just got on diapers and wipes. Amazon.com has a "subscribe and save" feature where they send you diapers and wipes (and lots of other stuff) in whatever quantities and on whatever monthly schedule you want. So, for example, we've signed up for 3 cases of wipes every three months and 2 cases of diapers every month. If you sign up now, you get 30% off plus free shipping for the whole time you keep the subscription! Throw in the fact that their prices are cheaper to start with and you don't have to pay tax, and we're saving nearly 50% from the price we pay at Harris Teeter and BabiesRUs. Woo-Hoo!

Toby just gave me a bit of a condescending smile, but I'm taking that extra $75 a month and getting a massage. Double Woo-Hoo!

Not going to win the Mother-of-the-Year Award

I saw AnnaLeigh for about 1.5 waking hours today, and in that time managed to (1) notice that she clawed her face last night because I didn't cut her nails (2) make her scream by sticking my head out from behind the shower curtain to kiss her goodbye, and (3) make her scream by running her arm into a doorframe.

*Sigh*

Try something different...

"Try something different" has been one of my mottos since Annie's arrival. Baby doesn't like the song you're singing? Try something different. Baby hates the bouncy seat she used to love? Try something different. I feed/clothe/bathe her one way, but her daddy, grandparents, friends, etc. are welcome to try something different.

Why on Earth did I forget all that when we were fighting to get her to sleep last week? Yesterday Toby and I finally remembered the motto, tried something different, and got some sleep. No, she didn't sleep through the night, but she did sleep from 7-2:30 and from 3-6. It felt like a huge victory! The changes? We fed her the dreaded f-word (formula) at 6:30 and we didn't wake her up to feed her again at 10, like we had been doing. Then we went to sleep at 9:30, fully expecting to be woken up at 11, 1, 3 and 5.

Instead, I woke up at 1:30 and was so happy/relieved/excited that I couldn't go back to sleep. I finally went to check on her at 2:30. Though I missed all the creaky spots on the floor, my ankle made a terrifically loud pop on my way out of her room, and I woke her up. Next time, I'll try harder not to check on her. :)

It is too early to say we turned the corner on our week of awful sleeping, but we feel so much better today knowing that it is possible to get some sleep on occassion. Wish us luck tonight.

Making me look bad...

Toby has been home with Annie for the last two weeks, and they have been having a great time together. Back when I was home, I was pretty proud at the end of the day that I had kept the baby alive and maybe emptied the dishwasher. Now, I get home at the end of the day and Toby has done all the laundry, kept the house straight, walked the dog, taken Annie for a hike, and today........

...sewed a felt hand puppet to go with her favorite song. "Five little speckled frogs, sitting upon a log, eating some most delicious bugs. One jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool, now there are four speckled frogs..." etc etc. So he's also teaching her math.

He is seriously making me look bad.

Four Months!

AnnaLeigh turned 4 months old on Friday! She remains the cutest baby on the planet, as evidenced by this photo.


Seriously, she is the cutest baby ever.

Stats from her check-up:
Height - 25 inches - 75th percentile. (Tall!!! Hooray!)
Weight - 13 pounds, 15 ounces - 50th percentile
Excellence awards - she is a "very good sitter" and also rolled over on the exam table.

She had her shots, too, but Toby and I handled them better this time and Annie only screamed for about a minute. She did come down with a fever a few hours later, which I always thought was an old-wives tale but turns out to be an actual side effect, requiring a trip to Walgreens in the middle of a thunderstorm. (Thanks, Toby.)

She's been enjoying driving her car lately, a lovely hand-me-down from neighbors.

Yes, my worry-wart friends - it is a walker, and yes - we removed the wheels.

Tomorrow starts week 3 back to work. Things are going much better than I imagined, thanks mostly to Toby's excellent care.

You are so Nashville if...

I love the annual "You are so Nashville if..." contest that the Nashville Scene puts on every year.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/so-nashville-if-this-years-winner-the-contenders-a-yasni-wave-of-relief-the-weirdies/Content?oid=1656374

The link will take you to the winners and contenders. One day I'm going to actually sit down and think of something funny enough to submit. For now, however, I love this year's #2 winner - "[You are so Nashville if] FEMA bailed out your Tea Party a**."

Most of the time you have to be a hard-core Nashvillian to understand the entries, but we can all appreciate this one. (Okay, maybe not our British audience, but everybody else.)

I know I've said it before...

...but I'm pretty sure that if you took all the babies in the world and looked at them purely objectively, mine would be the cutest.

And not only is she cute, but she's very smart, too. She started sitting by herself today. True, she tripods on her hands, and if she leans any direction she falls, but I'm still pretty sure she's extra-smart. :)