~~I try not to use labels for myself. I see a lot of people introduce or identify themselves by labels. Crunchy. PickYourFavoriteCauseActivist. Liberal. Frugal. Junkie. I'm just me. If you want to know about me, just ask or spend some time with me to learn about me. You, the final 12 readers of Pleonast, probably couldn't care less. Labels tend to get judged. I think people are more complex than finite labels. And complex is more exciting.

~~I am le pooped this week. Grant is KIND OF a better sleeper than Elinor, as in he was a beautiful, glorious sleeper for about the first 8 weeks of his life. Nice 6-7 night stretches, 4 hour naps...ah. We got along fabulously. Then my husband had surgery. And the sleep broke. Possibly forever. This week his afternoon nap has gone from 45 min - 30 min - 15 min - 5 min. After today's "nap", he just chuckled at me. I don't want to whine about fatigue. Like, dude, I have a baby!! I knew I would be tired. I can handle it so much better this time. But I do feel like I'm on a long roadtrip and the gas gauge is approaching E and there are noooooo gas stations anywhere in sight. He's a sweet lil fella, though. I do lub baby head smell.

~~It is like so hot. But August is here and fall is so close I can taste it. I love fall. I love to make my house clean, cool and decluttered. You can laugh now.

Greetings, Pleoland! I don't know exactly what possessed me to log on tonight, other than semi-regular stalking of a few people I don't keep up with on FB.

What's new with me? Well, I'm a mommy of two now - Elinor (3) and Grant (5 months). I stay pretty busy and kind of wonder how exactly my house was not TOTALLY SPOTLESS before I had kids. It's amazing how much you can wring out of 24 hours. At least I get to ramp up gradually. :)

For a few weeks, we have been working towards the goal of cleaning out our freezers. I love to buy in bulk on sale, i.e. meat, and I did a fair amount of freezer cooking before Grant was born, and it is time to clean it out! It started because we heard some gripping, raw, personal accounts of people actually starving to death in Africa (or meeting other cruel fates due to the strain), and we thought...we grumble when we have a freezer-valanche because I have too many frozen vegetables! How sad is that?! So we decided to see how long we could go just buying the minimal items at the store (produce, milk, coffee, dry goods as I run out). I have been making our bread in the breadmaker and that has been a treat. We pledged to go a week buying almost nothing and only eating out once with our friends on Sunday night. We've been doing it for three weeks now, and it is kind of fun! I love getting creative with what we have! We have been so overwhelmingly blessed...we have so many options, and have barely made a dent in the food available. Don't know why I got off on that story, but it was on my mind!

Ok, I have a little who needs me...till next time!

Ok, I don't have time for this anymore. When I do get on here, I just get frustrated by people.

It took forever to clean out my friends list. Which should probably let you know why I was so awful at keeping up with everyone's blogs.

Toodles!

People always tell you that - sleep when your baby sleeps. I don't know about you, but I used to think it was just for those first few weeks, when you are stumbling about unaware of what time a day it is, or even WHAT day it is.

But 6 months later, it still holds true. I get the best sleep when I sleep when my baby sleeps.

Elinor really didn't improve on her crib sleeping habits. I was pretty tired of shuffling to the nursery 2-3 times a night, so I brought her to my bed. I resisted that for a long time despite wisdom of older mothers telling me to do it. I was worried about the battle later to get her to her own bed, my mind filled with images of a whiny 5 year old clinging to me, begging me to not leave her in her own room. But...who knows if that will happen. All I know is that I get sleep now. And it is grand.

Elinor has also entered a clingy phase of life. So her attachment to Mommy (and can you blame her? The little tiny thing lived inside my tummy for longer than she's been on the outside of it) + sleeping in the big bed (for night and most naps) = I am holding or actively caring for her upwards of 22-23 hours a day. I usually get a shower later in the day, when Aaron finishes work, or in a brief break when she will take a very short nap in her crib. It's ok, since I shower fast.

It's amazing how non-stressed it makes me, though. I don't dread bedtime - I used to start the night with optimism, but it was dashed completely by the 2nd trip to the nursery. I go to bed LOTS earlier, which is better for me. I get to watch my little sweet thing drift off to sleep right next to me. I get to watch her wake up - so sweet - her long dark lashes against her chubby little soft cheeks. Watching her expressions is like watching time-lapse photography of clouds in the sky - all sorts of emotions flicker across her face, wrinkling her brow and changing her breathing. My favorite, of course, are little lingering smiles. Those few minutes make the whole experience worthwhile.

There is much less crying in the house - no sad baby crying out for me in the middle of the night or the morning. She sometimes protests if I put her down to go do something for a few minutes, but today was better. I don't know what her little baby needs are, but I try to meet them. She is happy when she goes to sleep and happy when she wakes up. That's a good thing in my book.

So...I'm busy. I don't have time to keep up on here like I used to. I don't want to fritter away the tiny baby moments killing time on the interwebs. Not falling off the face of the planet just yet but revamping online communication. The new version of Pleonast will take getting used to anyway, and I just don't have the time. I'm also on Facebook!