Confessions/Understanding

Alright I'm going to confess and explain some of my choices in our lives Trust me plenty of this is not the type of parent I thought I would be. But you a lot of times you just have to do what works.

1) Squeaker at 2 1/2 years uses a bottle 90% of the time.
--- Most sippy cups flows are too fast for her to breathe and drink at the same time. At about 2 Squeaker figured out how to use a straw and drink from a regular cup but her container of choice is a bottle. It took me a long time to be okay with that. I talk to her dentist and doctors they all concur nutrition is more important than weening. According to her dentist bottles and pacifiers cause less jaw and tooth alignment issues than genetics do. Whether that is really true who knows but doesn't matter Squeaker will be taking bottles for a while longer.

2) I wish my child took a pacifier
--- If Squeaker took a pacifier to comfort suck in the middle of the night she would drink less juice and have less chance for decay. Two teeth have already been pulled I'll like to avoid more.

3) I carry hot dogs in the diaper bag
--- You may think this is gross but really it's not. Hot dogs are fully cooked when you buy them and are safe for consumption when cold, they are also a great source of calories. Hot dogs range from 80-120 calories each. So it's not uncommon for me to grab a hot dog put it in a ziplock bag while on my way out the door.

4) The TV is almost always on
--- Thank fully Squeaker is a lot like me where TV is mostly background noise to play by. And when a song comes on she likes it's time to dance. Now that we have a bigger place we play in other rooms and forget to turn the TV off. But I'll admit a lot of mornings when we (Squeaker and me, Trey works late so he sleeps in) will head into the TV room and turn on a Veggie Tale. I'll lay down and watch Squeaker dance, or even doze in and out. I am proud of it not really but this is my reality. You spend even one night with Squeaker and you tell me your reality would be different :)

5) I HATE medicine that has to be given more than twice a day.

I want this! She is ready for little legos yet.

--- It's a constant fight to remember them. Plus it is very hard to get your toddler to slow down right after they woke up to sit and do a breathing treatment. Not to mention take an oral med that is really gross. So many days I wish there were different high dose meds that only needed to be taken once a day.

6) When I say I'm tired that is almost always an understatement
--- 9 times out of 10 I'm really exhausted. In the last 2.5 years I have gotten about 14 times where I have slept longer than 4 hours. Squeaker was 13 days old and magically slept 7 hours straight (never happened again yet). The first three days after my birthing repair surgery Trey took over nights. Day three everyone in the house but me caught some sort of flu bug. There have been several other nights where Trey has given me a night off or let me take a long day time nap. Usually Squeaker is up every 2-3 hours and in between she trashes, kicks and needs to be cuddled. It's tough on a mommy.

7) I don't think my child is spoiled by not letting her cry it out.
--- I'll let Squeaker scream and throw a fit. I don't pick her up right away. There are plenty of times when she never gets picked up and she gets over her problem just fine. But there are a fair deal of times when Squeaker will start to miss breaths or make funny sounds. That's when I pick her up. Now to the stranger or untrained ear she sounds like a kid looking for attention. Truth is she is starting to go into distress. So yes I pick her up. Lots of people have told me "She would have been fine, you are just spoiling her. She'll never learn to self soothe" I just smile politely and move on.  Of course in Alabama I get plenty of people who just think it's fantastic I don't stoop to the child's level are start yelling and screaming back. :)

8) I still fear that I'll wake up and Squeaker will be blue.
--- We have been very blessed that Squeaker has never had a blue spell but it is still a huge concern of mine. Especially when she is sick and breathing terribly. Is it a slightly ridiculous fear sure, I know that. But for some reason I just can't shake it.