Just call me Supermom :)

Today, I'm thankful for whoever invented pacifiers. Neither of my other two girls used a pacifier much. Baby E is technically too young to be using a pacifier, but she loves them. The pacifier has suddenly become a Very Helpful Tool in my parenting toolbox. The simethicone gas drops, too--I discovered you can give them up to 12 times a day (I'm more likely to give them 2-4 times a day, but it's nice to know I'm not in danger of overdosing her).

Last night I fed E around midnight and put her to bed after hours of fussiness and near-constant nursing. She woke up fussing about an hour later, and instead of nursing her again I decided to try the pacifier. She sucked on it happily for about 10 minutes and dropped off to sleep, not to awaken again until 4. After the 4 a.m. feeding she slept until 7 before she became awake and fussy again. I'm guessing part of the issue here is that she's not always hungry when she acts hungry, and her little tummy must be getting overfull.

Despite all my best efforts, though, she was fussy again all morning. Even the gas drops and pacifier didn't work. No amount of holding E upright, on her belly, on her back, patting, rubbing, holding her still, rocking, walking, feeding, etc. ad nauseum seemed to have any effect. It was very discouraging.

After breakfast the girls played outside while I walked the floor with a crying baby. When she finally did sleep several hours later, it was only as long as she had a pacifier in her mouth.

While she was napping, the girls did preschool while I made up a batch of banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. (The recipe called for nuts, but I substituted a cup of chocolate chips instead.) They came out quite well--not too sweet but quite tasty. They're substantial but snacky, and relatively healthy as far as cookies go. I think I'll try making them with brown sugar or honey next time.

I was so impressed with the girls' work today. I got out some new math skill workbooks I'd picked up at the Salvation Army or a garage sale, and they loved them. A buzzed through her entire Pre-K workbook--completing number sequences, writing the correct numerals next to numeric sets, and doing mazes and math games with barely a pause. M did great with her book too, identifying larger/smaller, finding and naming shapes, counting, coloring and tracing. I'm so proud of them. It looks like I'm going to have to find some harder books.

Baby E woke up before I'd gotten halfway through mixing the cookie dough, so I popped her into the front pack carrier with a pacifier in her mouth and she stayed happy for quite a while. I was able to finish the cookie dough, help the girls with their work and unload/load and start the dishwasher before sitting down to feed her.

I found myself thinking, "Well, this certainly isn't easy. But I think I'm actually pretty good at it!"

I'm thinking I might try to get back into doing FlyLady's housekeeping system . . . it seems like with the small goals and 15-minute time increments ("you can do anything for 15 minutes") it might be workable at this time in my life. It's designed for people like me--easily overwhelmed with a tendency toward clutter, distractedness, procrastination, ineffective busy-ness and "wheel-spinning".

While the first batch of cookies was baking I nursed baby E and read to the girls. The book they picked out was a parenting textbook about teaching preschoolers, but they were insistent. To my surprise, they happily sat through 15 minutes of how to teach reading, learning readiness and other skills to preschoolers. Maybe we all learned something. :)

Baby E seemed to really like being in the bouncy seat right next to the running dishwasher. I think she found the noise soothing. She fussed a bit off and on, but mostly looked around and watched us eat lunch before falling asleep.



Between batches of cookies and lunch, I even managed to take out the kitchen garbage and scrub out the trash can. It's amazing how the smallest accomplishments can make you feel successful when your goals and expectations are low. Just something small like baking a batch of cookies makes me feel like Supermom! LOL.

Baby E is finally starting to drop off to sleep in my arms again after another hour of fussiness. A is playing with cars in the playroom and M is "reading" The Little Red Hen aloud to herself in bed. I'm going to try to get a nap while they're having quiet time if Baby E will let me.