More Auburn News!

This is Laurel Libby, reporting again from her Auburn neighborhood. A flurry of activity has followed yesterday's wind storm, and you can catch all the craziness here. Don't forget, we bring you the most exciting news, within at least 48 hours of it all happening.

The Auburn News

This is Laurel Libby, reporting (not live) from Auburn. Yesterday's wind tore thru the neighborhood, sending small pets flying and tree's crashing. Here we go up close and personal with a look at the destruction.

Back to front . . . finally!

Alright, folks, the time is now. Sophia has finally mastered rolling over from her back to her tummy. I am SUPER happy about this because I am hoping her sleep will be a little less interrupted now. (Not because of being stressed over milestones because really who gives a crap as long as they have the basics down by the time they head out the door for college. Ha. That's a lie. Every parent stresses about their kid's milestones at some point. And I say you are lying if you say you never have.)

Ever since Sophia learned (months ago) to turn from belly to back, she has done it in her crib, usually at naptime. Now, I don't really care which position she sleeps in at this point, as long as she sleeps. Which is the problem with her turning over. Once she is on her back in her crib, she is like a little turtle, waving her arms and legs in the air, and occasionally slamming her legs down on the mattress, which is all very cute.

Except.

Once she is done being all happy and cute (which doesn't usually last long), then she turns on the waterworks. At which point I have to try to figure out if she is crying because (a) she doesn't want to be in bed taking a nap, (b) she is poopy, or (c) she has flipped over and can't get back on her tummy to sleep. And if I don't figure it out and go flip her back onto her tummy, she just won't sleep. And by the way, the cries for options a, b, and c all sound exactly alike, it's just that (c) lasts until it is resolved. Even if it were an hour. Or more. Because I have tried the Mean Mommy thing, and that little stinker can cry for the entire duration of her naptime if left on her back.

So my hope is this:

Now Sophia will realize that she can flip herself back over, and I will not have to be Supermommy anymore (because that was NOT working), but just have to discern between Unhappy-to-be-napping and I'm-poopy cries from here on out. Those two are tough enough to figure out on their own.

Sophia and Mr. Bear

John has joined the video-making world, and here is his debut! (Starring Sophia, of course . . .)

DD

In my house, the letters "DD" don't stand for Dunkin Donuts or any kind of bra size.

What "DD" actually stands for is "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food." Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica wrote it after trying to get their kids to eat nutritious food with not a lot of success. Nowadays, "DD" followed by a page number is listed very frequently on my week's dinner menu. For instance: Chicken nuggets with mashed potatoes and a veggie (DD pages 75 & 80).

The premise is that you can add puree'd veggies to just about anything, and then not have to coerce your kids to eat said veggies on the side. Instead, they just gobble down whatever it is (mac and cheese, etc) and are non-the-wiser that you have tricked them into eating something that is good for them.

Now, John doesn't need to be tricked into eating healthy foods, and Sophia isn't quite old enough to require tricking, so I am just practicing for when that day comes. I have decided that a couple things would make cooking with DD a bit more practical, so by the time I really need to hide food, we'll have a nice big freezer in our basement, and a nice big food processor in the kitchen. My little food processor does the trick for Sophia's baby food, but not so much for big people food!

Jessica suggests making a batch of purees once a week, but I am thinking that is going to wait for the someday when I have a bigger freezer. For now I will be happy with making as I go along. For example, the mashed potatoes that were on my menu? I made them last week, and John was very surprised that they were half potatoes and half cauliflower. Really, DD says to add 1/2 cup cauliflower puree to 1 pound potatoes, but I went for it and boiled half and half right in the same pot. Didn't have to make puree, and had even more veggies in the potatoes. And, John really liked them!

Hmm. As I write this, I can hear the ice cream truck driving by for the first time this spring. Think DD can help healthy up one of those treats? I guess that is a situation where spinach puree really wouldn't fly.

Blah?

Blah.

That describes my run today. I didn't want to go at all, actually. I am tired. And when you are tired running doesn't sound fun. And when you are tired, it doesn't just sound not fun, it is in actuality not fun.

So Sophia and I headed out, her in the jogger to enjoy the ride, me watching the odometer like a hawk, hoping we were going further than I thought we were. No luck.

And then I realized I had forgotten about Patriot's Day, and the library (my incentive) was closed.

Blah.

Time to head for home. Slogging along like I was running in mud. No runner's medium, just runner's rock bottom.

Got home, 1.84 miles. Should get in an even two, we run to my sister's house. 2 miles. Whew, I can stop.

We go in, say "hi" and "bye." Head home for real.

Blah.

Stash jogger in basement. Then realize . . .

It may have sucked, but at least we got out there! And did two miles! And finally, this brings a smile to my face.

No more blah.

Feeding yourself . . .

. . . is delightfully messy!!!

Vacation

Here we are, back from our very first vacation as a family of three. We had a wonderful time visiting with friends (Thank you, Matt and Helene!!!), relaxing, and generally being very lazy. John got in some time at the driving range, and I went on two runs without the baby jogger and felt light as a feather without it.

And here is what I learned on vacation:

Your 8 month old baby is not going to sleep like she does at home, and it is not worth sweating it.

I spent the first two days stressing that she was not getting good naps and not going down easily at night like she does at home. Worrying = not productive, and not enjoyable. Helene tried to tell me that she just would not sleep quite the same (or at all the same!) as she usually does. But that she would settle back into her routine when we got home.

Helene, I think you may have been too diplomatic! You probably should have grabbed me by the shoulders and shaken me while saying it so that I would get it.

We arrived in Buffalo on Wednesday night, and it was not until I was out on my run on Saturday morning that I finally realized that me stressing was not doing any good. So I finally said "OK, God!" and let go of the sleep worries. Sophia did not sleep any better, but I really didn't care.

We got home tonight at 5:30 p.m. tonight, threw the kid (not literally) in the tub, nursed, and she was in bed at 6. She lay her head down, stuck her finger in her mouth, and I haven't heard a peep since. No re-settling once or twice over the next hour . . . just beautiful silence.

Have any other advice for me, Helene? I promise to listen this time!