Thursday, April 30, 2009

Secure Attachment

Attachment parenting is exhausting. Stephen and I are doing a variation of attachment parenting mixed in with other styles. I study early childhood and have taken many classes over parenting. I find it fascinating. As a parent, there are a million different things you must decide upon (or not decide upon). During Ian’s first few months (5 and ½ so far), we have chose to try and get Ian to be a securely attached child. This method involves more work.

The idea is to respond to your child’s every need BEFORE they start crying. Now, Ian had colic so of course this did not work out. It was constantly holding him and trying to comfort him. I remember trying EVERYTHING to get him to calm down. He could cry all day long. He would cry himself to sleep. I remember being in the bathroom with the shower on (this calmed him down sometimes), just sitting there, hoping he would stop. It was miserable. I felt terrible for him.

Ian is a little bit older now. He’s grown out of his colicy period. This is where I was beginning to question my parenting practices. In school we read millions of articles on parenting. The idea of having a securely attached child is that they will be more difficult to handle as a child and will even be more rebellious, but it pays off because they are more secure. I could go on and on for pages and pages about this. Needless to say, I will not bore you will all this information.

I try my hardest to respond to Ian’s every need. In return, he is very attached to me. If he’s crying and I pick him up, he smiles at me, he grabs my face, he’s the happiest baby in the world. This is exhausting because I cannot do anything without Ian right there with me. I have reverted to wearing him around in his sling. This works out great except for when I try to sit down. He gets cranky. So, I try and keep busy at all times.

Recently, I have found myself with a weird routine. I put Ian down at about 7-8 at night. I then will work on homework, shower, have dinner, etc. until his first nighttime feeding between 11-1. After that, I stay up and get my “mommy-time” until about 2 or 4. Then, I wake up between 7 and 8 depending on Ian. Sometimes I feed Ian one more time before then. EXHAUSTING. This routine continues day after day.

I was beginning to doubt that I was doing this correctly. I took class time on Tuesday to talk to my professor about this. He says it sounds like he is a very securely attached baby. You read that it is exhausting. In practice, it is way more exhausting. It's nice to know that I am doing my job... at least at this point.

So, sorry if my blogs, especially this one, is a little oddly written. Give me some credit. I function off of 3-4 of sleep every night.

Have a nice day!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

We Built this City on Rock and Roll

I have never actually attended Austin City Limits and I have lived here a while now. The first year, I was just nieve, so I didn't go. The second year, I was about 8 months pregnant. We decided it would be a bad idea if I went. This year... it is all different. And I'm glad it is. Have you seen the lineup?!?! GO LOOK NOW! Here is the link.

It is a beautiful lineup. I'm glad that this year is the first year I am going. Yes, Stephen and I already have our tickets. We are either going to bring Ian (not during Dave Matthews) or politely ask Stephen's parents to come up so that they can watch Ian all weekend.

People, the excitement is in the air. I cannot control myself. Hopefully, they aren't douchebags and put the awesome bands against the awesome bands. I feel like I'm going to have to make some serious decisions. They will be difficult decisions. I'll probably have another blog about it then. And then I'll have one more on how it went. That is lots of ACL. But, it's okay. It is awesome. Everyone should attend.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Excitement

Things that excite us change as we become adults. I have realized this through my relationship with Stephen. Sure, he stills gets excited when he gets his new computer, just as I’m sure a child would. But, when you are younger and your parents get a new washer and dryer, they are super excited. You think that they are insane. Who would ever want a new washer and dryer and actually be excited about it?! I would. Little me would not be, but big me would.

 

I can to this realization the other day. I was getting our bulk food at Cost Co. I was with my mother and Ian. We walk by this trashcan. Yes, a trashcan. Mind you, this is no normal trashcan by any means. This trashcan has batteries. It has an “open” button and a “close” button. Not only that, but itt has motion sensors. This trashcan senses your arm when you have trash and opens for you! Could this get anymore awesome? Yes, it can. And it does. It is stainless steel AND it is fingerprint resistant. What?! It doesn’t stop there. It comes with a mini one for the bathroom. Of course, I buy it.

 

I was so excited about it that I would get several things of trash and stand there throwing one parcel away at a time. I would wave my arm over it, throw trash away, and repeat. Stephen was just staring at me like I was insane. I’m not insane. This is an awesome purchase. I’m sure anyone else would have been just as excited over it, minus Stephen.

 

I wonder when my tastes changed. When did motion sensor trashcans become cool? Were they always cool to me? Eh, I do not know. However, I do know that this is the purchase of the month.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Only the Beginning

Good morning readers! This kicks off the first blog. It took me about a week to set this up. I couldn't come up with a name. I like the play on Tattle Tale.

Welcome to Tattles and Tells.

Hopefully I won't bore you too much.

After being an avid reader of Chelsea's blog, I begin thinking in 'blog' format. I decided that I had to begin one as well. I've been working on the colors and layout. I don't know if I like it too much though. My blog will probably change appearances a lot. By the end of May or June, I'll probably have it figured out. Hopefully.

Onto the next topic. I have been trying my hardest to take awesome pictures of Ian. I cannot stop.
Isn't he adorable?


My older brother, Aaron, ran in a 5K over the weekend. We went and watched. Here is one of my favorite pictures from the event. 


He did pretty good. It was fun. I love going to events like these. It is exciting to have to find the points to intersept  your runner. Then, you wait and wait. When you  finally see them, you cheer. Then you race to the next 'meeting' spot to see them again, cheer. And so on and so forth.  It is always exciting though. And I love people watching. Watching people run is interesting. I want to start going more often now that I've been using my camera. I want to get into a picture-taking mode. Hopefully I'll start taking good pictures soon. 

Watching people run is kind of inspiring. It makes me want to run a 5K. First, I have to run. We'll see if  I can do it. I'll keep you posted. Don't be disappointed though, it'll probably never happen. I'm not on The Biggest Loser, so I don't really have any motivation to do it. Though, I do have a wedding... but nobody is filming that and putting it on TV. Motivate me!

Have an awesome day!