"This is Dinner; Your Next Meal is Breakfast"

...That should jog some memories for my brother and sister. I would say the phrase "This is Dinner" would rate in the top 10 that my mother repeated to us growing up...and you know what? She had a good reason. Last week, John and I were starting to get frustrated; Audrey went from sleeping until 6:30 or 7am to waking up at 5:30 and not wanting to go back to sleep. Blerg! For someone anticipating a large sleep deficit in the near future, this was not good news. We thought at first it might be a fluke, but after five days of the same thing, we were trying to identify any possible factor that might be causing her to wake up early and we narrowed it down to her probably not getting enough to eat at night.

For someone so schedule-oriented, I've been surprisingly cavalier with Audrey's eating habits; I would offer her food when we sat down to meals, but if she was hungry or asked for food in between, I always let her have it in the past. It also doesn't help that there are plenty of adults in the house who succumb to her cuteness and let her mooch food off of them when they're eating too. (Trust me, it's hard to resist the "Coo-coo? Please?" face) Anyway, I decided it was time for a change--I'm a fascist dictator about nap time, why not meal times too? The first day of "This is Dinner" was pretty brutal; scheduled meal and snack times? No treats in between? Audrey did not understand why all the rules had suddenly changed and she was not happy with her Mama or pretty much anyone else in the house...but she slept in past 7am the next morning...and the three after that too. So, I'm back to being cool with being the bad guy and Audrey is adjusting pretty well too.

It's always in hindsight that these things seem so glaringly obvious; why would you exhaust yourself, feeding your toddler on demand, worrying that she's getting enough to eat when you could create sanity in a simple schedule? I guess I was just holding on to some residual feelings from babyhood and worried that, yes, she might indeed starve to death between meals. Even though she's a "big girl" in so many other ways, it's hard to move on from that fear that you're not providing an essential need for them.

Anyway, I guess I could count that as something off the To-Do list too, right? I'm so darn close to getting it finished. John cleaned out my car for me this weekend and we installed Bailey's car seat, My friend April came over on Saturday to help me put the crib together and I have at least a week's worth of grocery's in the kitchen. Check, check, check! On top of all this productivity, I'm starting to get much more uncomfortable. Even Audrey is getting uncomfortable; she flat-out refuses to snuggle with me before nap time anymore since my belly has gotten so big. Instead, she finishes her milk, points to her crib and says "Bun?" (That's Audrey for "bed") and proceeds to snuggle with her lovies in her crib before falling asleep. I've never been so jealous of a stuffed monkey in my life.

I'm supposed to go to the chiropractor again today, so maybe I'll be a little less bitter about feeling like I'm toting a boulder in my belly and my hips are falling apart once I get adjusted again. Did I mention I'm uncomfortable? I'm not complaining...I would never do that. I just need Lex Luthor to fix me.