Mental health update...

So, I thought I'd share a quick update on M. She actually took a 2 1/2 hour nap the other day, which was seriously a miracle. However, she is continuing to fight her naps. Ugh!!! Everyone always says to just let them "cry it out"...which I totally get, but at this point I wonder how many thousands of times I have let her "cry it out"...without permanent success. It's getting old, but I'm trying to stay positive. It is just hard when she cries for 30 minutes straight...then starts crying about going "poo poo"! I had to get her up and change her diaper and now she has been crying for at least 20 minutes and she is still not asleep! I just hope that our next child is a good sleeper, or there may not be a #3!!

On a positive note, she is such a sweet girl and she has been so much better about sharing lately! Yeah! Now instead of beating up her friends when they play with her toys, she actually gets excited when friends come over and shows them all of her toys. So much better than hitting. :)

Here are some cute pics of M from my last photography class at the park:

Mentally unstable?

I don't normally go off in my posts, but I am so frustrated right now. I am just so tired...soooooo tired...and I've had it with Meredith's sleeping issues. You would think dealing with a baby getting up 3-4 times in the middle of the night until she was 14 months old, would be enough for one mom to bear...but NO! I feel so pathetic saying this, but it seems like EVERY time she actually starts to sleep better and nap better and I am feeling SOOOOOOoooooo truly grateful that I finally don't have to deal with the stress of trying to put her to sleep and the stress of wondering how long she is going to sleep...she relapses into her terrible sleep habits again!!! I really wish I didn't have to deal with this anymore!! It makes me wonder if she is ever going to be a "good sleeper"...

I realize that for some reason I have very little patience when dealing with this issue, but I am literally SO TIRED from the last 20 months that I don't think I will ever feel "normal" again. I look at so many of my friends whose kids sleep until 8 and take 2-3 hour naps every day and I feel like such a failure. I have the cutest little girl in the world and she is such a good girl when she is awake, but for some reason I have done something to ruin her whole sleeping thing. I spoiled her when she was little or something. Who knows??????

Right now as I'm writting this, she finally just fell asleep after 30-40 minutes of crying and the stupid dumptruck is here. She is going to wake up screaming any second and I can hardly think about it without feeling like I'm going to have a complete mental breakdown. You may laugh, but I'm not kidding...at all. I am so sick of this stupid garbage truck waking her up and so sick of my stupid neighbors that all have loud obnoxious trucks and anything or anyone else who has disturbed M's naps or sleep. Now that you have heard all of my pathetic ranting and raving, do you understand the title of my post?? I had all of these ideas in my head of what a great mom I would be before we actually had Meredith...and today as she kept screaming and crying and refusing to go to bed...I just wanted to smack her bum so hard. Ugh!! I didn't, but I was seriously angry. So much for the great mom dream.

By the way, she actually didn't wake up from the garbage truck, luckily it was one of the quiet recycling trucks...but unfortunately, I'm just sitting her feeling tons of anxiety waiting for the moment when something else will wake her up. With my recent luck, I'm sure this much needed nap will not even last an hour.

Sorry for the sob story. Promise I'll stop feeling sorry for myself now and try to cheer up. :) At least she is the cutest thing and sweetest thing about 95% of the time. It could be worse, right?

Surf City

At my photography class today we took pictures at the cool "Ice House" that has been around since 1945. I usually only take pics of people, so it was fun to try something new. There was also this really cool old car next door to the ice house...I snapped a few pics of that as well. Look at the hood ornament on the car, isn't that the hugest thing you've ever seen! We went to lake park and took a few pictures there, too!

I love the park!

We went to the park on Friday with Sherri and her kids. It was seriously such a perfect day for the park! The weather was perfect and it was so fun to watch the kids all play together.

I also stuck in 2 pictures from my photography class for fun. We went to the beach and the first picture of me walking on the beach...my teacher took, pretty cool pic. The other one I took...I love the way all the lights are lit up so well and I also love the people walking on the beach (you can hardly see them...they look like little blurry ghosts).

My sweet Curious George lover

Some of the best pictures I took of Meredith when she was a baby were when she was watching her Baby Einstein videos. Now that she is older, Curious George is her FAVORITE...I had so much fun taking pictures of her while she was watching George. If you can't tell from these pictures, Meredith is such a sweet girl. I love these pictures so much because the captured her sweetness so well!

Cute kiddies

With such cute subjects...I couldn't help myself...we even had a mini-photoshoot with Ellie & Porter. So fun!!

Labor Day

We went to Arizona for Labor Day and stayed for a little over a week. It was so HOT...but we just put on our fire-resistant clothes and had fun anyway! It was so fun to see my family, I miss them! It was fun to catch up with some friends, too!

The family!

Cousins!

Happy birthday, Chris!!

The AZ Gang (Jen, Felicia & Teesh)...unfortunately Teesh and family were sick so we missed them this time around! We can't wait to see them and meet little Colton!

Me and a good childhood friend, Heidi! We were both visiting our parents in Arizona and had a chance to meet up. It was so fun to catch up with her since it has been a decade since we've seen each other!