On Sleep and Things

A few days ago, my cousin wrote a blog post about a decision her family recently made to do something she thought she'd never do.  We had a similar situation here last week and the results have been wonderful!
As you probably know, my son never sleeps...well unless you're willing to hold him and even then...It is not abnormal for him to wake up every 2 hours or even sooner all night and then turn around and only take 3 20 minute naps the next day.  No joke.  And his bed? HA!  Don't even get me started on that.  I tried and tried to get him to sleep in his bed and sometimes I succeeded but earlier this month he woke up every. single. time. I would try and lay him down in his bed.  Out of exhaustion, I just let him sleep in his swing which he loves.
Earlier in his life, we'd tried the crying it out method twice.  Both times he screamed for at least an hour.  I decided that I wasn't a fan of the method.  It is one thing to make your child cry it out for 5 minutes but an hour?  That seemed a little extreme.  I decided that I would just wait it out.
However, out of desperation, I decided that it was time for him to learn how to sleep in his own bed even if it involved screaming.  One night a couple of weeks ago, he woke up as normal. I rocked him to sleep and then laid him back down in bed.  He immediately woke up and started screaming which was also very normal.  I told him that I loved him and climbed back into my own bed.  He screamed for an hour straight.  Finally, he started to doze off and I thought he'd given up.  But no, he dozed for 30 seconds and then screamed for 30 seconds for another hour straight.  Finally, I just accepted that I had failed and I went in and fed him and got him back to sleep.  I was kind of sad the next as I felt that he was immune even to the extreme version of  crying it out.  Boy was I wrong!  Starting the next night we heard him crying in his bed.  Aaron and I were talking so I planned on finishing my conversation before getting him up.  3 minutes later, he calmed down and put himself to sleep.  We were dumbfounded.  Ever since them, I just lay him in bed and if he wakes up, I make him cry himself back to sleep.  A few times I've even just laid him in bed when I knew he was tired and let him cry it out.  Sometimes he cries for 10 seconds and the longest he's ever cried is 15 minutes.
I still get up with him at night if he wakes up but I think he's been waking up less than he used.  Last night he only woke me up at 10:30, 12:30 and 5:30.  Do you know how wonderful it is to get to sleep for more than 3 hours in a row.  I feel so amazing that I don't even need coffee in the mornings!
I guess I write this just to say that don't say "I'll never do that."  Sometimes that is the very thing that will save your sanity.

Purple Skirt

EDIT: I just now noticed that there is a small potty in the background.  Don't you just love potty training?
I needed new skirts.  Some of the ones in my closet I've had for approximately 8 years.  No joke.  Others were stretched out.  Others out of style and some just didn't fit well.  I dragged my sister along with me to Goodwill and found one new black pencil skirt but I wanted to get at least one more without having to pay big bucks for it.  Our fabric store recently had a huge clearance sale and this material jumped out at me and I knew it was meant to be a skirt.
I'm not a fan of a lot of the current fashions but one I do like is lace.  I decided that since I dislike most of the others, my best bet for looking at least kind of in style is to embrace the little that I do like.  So here is my attempt at a purple skirt with a lace overlay.  I sort of used this tutorial.
Without further ado, I would like to present to you my purple skirt with a lace overlay.

The hardest part was the zipper and the sad thing about it was that after I put it in very poorly, I discovered that I didn't even need it as the skirt was stretchy enough that I could slip in and out of it without unzipping it.  

I can't remember exactly how much I paid for the fabric but I think it was $4 or less.  I'm pretty pleased. 

Homemade Christmas Roundup

Ah, Christmas...it feel like it all happened years ago.  I took down our tree by New Years and all the new presents have found homes around our house.  I wanted to show off a couple of handmade presents.  Maybe it will inspire you for next year.

I made these simple teacup candles for my sister Sara and my mom.  They were super simple and fairly inexpensive to make.  I bought the teacups from Goodwill and some wax and wicks from Hobby Lobby.  I melted the wax and poured it into the cups.  The best part is that they can reuse the cups when they are finished with the candles!

I made these pieces of state art for my sister-in-law.  She has lived in KY, is currently finishing up her degree at Auburn and has plans to move to TN after graduation.  I wanted her to have something to remind her of her time in both of those places.  It is hard to tell in this photo but each of the states are made out of paper covered with glitter.  It is super sparkly and cool. 

My sister Abby is a PotterHead.  What better way to represent than with a customized piece of Potter art?  I painted it in colors that match her room. 

I also made a couple of necklaces but forgot to take a picture and a drew a picture on a canvas in pencil for my sister Jubilee to paint over.  

Right now I'm launching full tilt into baby presents as I know 5 different people having a baby this year.  Stay tuned for those pictures...