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Renee's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 5/8/02 -------------------- 7/11/01 4/26/01 4/18/01 4/9/01 3/13/01 2/1/01 1/24/01 1/11/01 -------------------- Renee's Introduction

January 11, 2001

The holidays are over, but I'm not feeling the letdown that I usually feel this time of year. Probably because as a mom, the holidays are a lot more work than they used to be, so it's kind of a relief that they are over. But also because I'm really excited about starting to try for another baby in a few weeks. It always helps to have something to look forward to!

Kara got really upset the other day, though, and I'm a little afraid that it's because she heard me talking about having another baby. Maybe I'm nuts to think that she could understand something that complicated, but she had a major meltdown, and was almost inconsolable, right after I mentioned it to a friend. We were on our way out to the car, and Kara was still crying and couldn't tell me what was wrong like she usually does. So I asked her if she wanted to nurse. She did (I almost never get a "no" to that question!), and we sat in the car all cuddled up together, and nursed until she felt better. Once again, I was so glad that she still breastfeeds. It's such a great tool to have in your back pocket in that type of situation. We hadn't nursed in the car in quite awhile, though. Her feet kept kicking at the door handle and bumping the auto-lock button! I don't remember that being a problem before, so she must have grown a lot since our last car nursing session. After she finished nursing, I told her that I would always love her and that she would always be special to me, even if I had another baby. She gazed up at me quite calmly, and seemed to understand my feelings if not my words.

Tomorrow we are venturing out to the mall to return some Christmas gifts. My goal is to get an early start so we can make it back for naptime. As a baby, Kara was not a napper. She'd cat nap here and there in the car, but that was it. Otherwise she was awake from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.! It was quite a challenge keeping us both happy and sane in those days. She didn't start napping regularly until she was over 14 months old. So now that she does nap, I treasure that one to two hour break in the middle of the day even more than most moms. It seems like such a luxury! I'll do whatever it takes to ensure that we are back home so she can take her nap and I can read a book, or do some yoga, or have an uninterrupted phone conversation. (Now and then I even do some chores! But, I try to avoid this, if at all possible!) Sometimes, though, it's a real challenge keeping her awake in the car as we're driving home from wherever. Even just two minutes of car sleeping will prevent her from going down once we get home, so I'll do whatever it takes to keep her awake. I've gotten some pretty weird looks from other drivers who see me bouncing up and down and singing along with the radio, or doing the "Itsy-bitsy Spider" one-handed in a desperate attempt to keep those little eyes open. It's amazing the things we do as moms, isn't it? I've definitely lost whatever "cool" characteristics I might once have had! Anyway, I'm hoping we have fun at the mall and finish our errands in plenty of time, so that I don't have to do too much frantic singing in the car on the way home!

Have a great week, everyone!