How Blackout Curtains Saved My Sanity

I'm not a parenting expert by any means, but I am a parent, and I absolutely must share this tip. Over the past several weeks, Micah has begun waking up earlier and earlier. She used to sleep until 8:30 or even 9 every. single. morning. Without fail. Sigh.

I didn't know how good life was.

Then she began waking up at 8 a.m.

Then 7:45 a.m.

Then 7:30 a.m.

Then 7:15 a.m.

Then 7 a.m.

Until finally, Monday morning, she woke up at 6 a.m. As I stumbled sleepily {I've never pretended to be a morning person} to her room, I marveled at how bright it was in the house.

Then it dawned on me. Literally.

Micah was waking up with the sun. As the days have gotten longer and longer, Micah's sleeping hours have gotten shorter and shorter.

Later on in the day, I rummaged through our linen closet and came out with a dark brown sheet. I hung it over her curtain rod and crossed my fingers.

The next morning, she slept until 8:30 a.m. And the next, 9 a.m.!

Victory!

So, for what it's worth, here's my parenting tip of the day: If your baby is waking up with the sun, shut the sun out of his room. It's that simple. Life is much better now that we're back on our old sleeping schedule. Pulling out that sheet was the best idea I've had in a while!

Until next time, grace and peace.

Bits & Pieces, Vol. 1

Life has been so busy lately. I'm not complaining, but the busy-ness has kept me off of here and running around like a chicken with my head cut off instead. In lieu of writing a lengthy post to bring you up to speed, I thought a few snippets from the past couple of weeks would be appropriate. In baby news, Micah has become decidedly more adventurous in her eating choices. Last Thursday, she ate about a quarter of an avocado for lunch. Let me just say that I never imagined my child would voluntarily eat something so green and squishy, but she did, and I was shocked.

When I was in Girl Scouts, we sang a song about friendship. It went like this: "Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold." Now, I'm not sure which group of friends is silver and which is gold, but I'll take both. This past week, I got to spend some time with some of my best high school friends. On Monday, Micah and I took a roadtrip to Memphis for lunch with my high school bestie, and we traveled to Nashville over the weekend for the wedding of another high school friend. It was so nice to spend time with people that I haven't seen in ages, and I enjoyed myself immensely. Since none of us {that I know of} are planning on attending our 10-year high school reunion {oh my goodness, are we that old??}, I'm glad that we were able to spend some time catching up and visiting with one another.

It. Is. HOT. Oh my goodness. The aforementioned wedding was outside. On the evening of a day that had been pushing 100 degrees. I took pity on Dennis and let him remove his tie, unbutton his collar and roll up his sleeves. Yesterday, Micah and I walked outside for a few minutes to rock on the front porch, but before I even sat down, I decided that it was time to go back inside. It's only June, people. I know that I live in Mississippi, but seriously. It's not supposed to be 100 degrees until July.

Speaking of the porch, we've taken to taking Micah out to swing in the evenings just before bed. She loves the Little Tikes baby swing we bought for her. She giggled and giggled when we put her in there for the first time. Baby laughter is such an addictive sound. There's no sweeter sound in the entire world. See {and hear} for yourself:

Just a Swingin' from Leslie Ann Jones on Vimeo.

I think that's about it for now. I've only got a bit more time before Micah wakes up from her nap, and there's work to be done between now and then. I've got cards to print, e-mails to send, and orders to package.

Until next time, grace and peace.

Adventures in Babyland

I have been meaning to sit down and write all week long, but every time I logged in to begin writing, something else popped up, and I was unable to get my thoughts down in written form. Ah well, such is the life of a modern homemaker. Speaking of which, my friend Annie over at Sister Wisdom is running a series of posts on Modern Homemaking over the next few weeks, and I was happy to contribute a post for the series. Look for my entry on Monday. It was nice to spend a few minutes reflecting on this crazy life that we live, and I very much enjoyed writing the post.

In other news, Micah has gotten very adventurous lately. It's as if someone wound up the key stuck in her back, and she came to life. Her voice box has been turned over, and she babbles incessantly. She's in full-on creeping/crawling mode, and she's started pulling up to her knees. She's mastered the art of sitting back up after she's been rolling around on the floor, and she picks up finger food all by herself.

She's a cute little booger, and she doesn't stay still long enough for the camera to focus on her sweet face most of the time, but I managed to capture a few good ones for her monthly date with the sock monkey.

She's cute, but she's stubborn like her mama and daddy. And a picky eater. Like her mama used to be. Like her daddy still is.

Starting solid food with her has not been the most fun thing in the world. I've given up on baby food and have started giving her table food. At 8 and a half months, the child eats bananas, bread, grits, mashed potatoes, applesauce, and puffs. She despises apple juice, but she'll sip water. She occasionally tolerates peas, but they're not her favorite. She refuses to eat any form of vegetables. When she decides she doesn't like something I've given her, she refuses to close her mouth and swallow the food. She doesn't spit it out, she just sits there with her mouth hanging open until enough saliva drips out of her mouth to carry the food with it. It's just as disgusting as it sounds. But kind of funny at the same time.

She's a trip, that's for sure.

She's changed so much in the past few weeks, it's unreal. We're hitting some major milestones, and I'm watching my baby become a little toddler, which is exciting and scary at the same time.

Look out, world. Micah's on the move, and she's coming to get you!

Until next time, grace and peace.