I think we’ll be okay

YOU’RE DOING IT ALL WRONG

My almost seven month old infant does not sleep through the night. I have no idea if she should be by now. I’m sure this is something I could read in a book or one of those books of ads parenting magazines, but I’ve sworn off of the dumb things. These days, if I get five minutes to myself that I can spend in a book (or other printed media), I’m not going to be thumbing through glossy pages of “Your Baby Could Be a Model, He/She’s THAT Good Looking!”

I have no book to follow or method to implement here. I realized this morning that I have turned into one of those parenting types who just goes with the flow. Sophie sleeps when she’s tired, eats when she’s hungry which lately seems to be all day (the feedbags are getting quite the workout), and generally seems to be a pretty content kid. She seems to be hitting all of those dumb milestones. Have you actually read the sheet they give you in the pediatrician’s office? Can my child grab a raisin with her fingers and pull it toward her? Well, I’m sure she could if I gave my toothless child a choking hazard such as a raisin. Better yet, let’s make it a peanut!

My biggest concern with her sleeping ritual is that she rarely sleeps in the crib. I know, my fault. Most of the time, she naps with me (bad parent) and when she wakes up at 3 in the morning wanting the boob, most of the time she’ll stay with us in bed until we get up for good in the morning. Again, bad parent. But right now this is the only way I can get any quality sleep. And until Scott grows a pair of boobs so that he can help with that 3am feeding, this is how it’s working out.

Still, I can’t help but feel like I’m failing at this whole mother thing, that letting my kid sleep next to me (in our quite spacious king sized bed with her very sober parents) is going to affect her ACT scores or keep her out of an ivy league institution. This all seems very reasonable to me. But that could be from the slight sleep deprivation.

DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE JEWELRY COMMERCIALS

We’re not going all ga-ga this Christmas on gifts because we are one of the statistics: money’s tight and frankly, there isn’t any extra to have us a good old fashioned commercialized Christmas. Every year when the holidays rolled around, I’d think I’m broke, but next year will be different. Enter Next Year, and it’s no different.

It’s not that I’m completely crushed by the whole thing, because honestly the SPEND SPEND SPEND mentality makes me a little ill. When we need something, we buy it. We don’t need a holiday for that. And while I do enjoy giving gifts, we do have everything we need. Last night, Scott made a huge pot of chili. We sat around afterward, groaning about eating too much. It’s moments like these when I realize we are really lucky to be able to stuff our maws with good hot food and watch satellite TV in a house with a working furnace.

I told my mother that we weren’t going to buy any presents this year, and that included any for the baby. “How sad,” was her response, to which I had to explain to her that we knew Sophie would get more than enough gifts from various aunts, uncles and grandparents. Seriously, am I going to spend a wad for a seven month old baby just because someone tells me I’m supposed to? That seven month old baby, by the way, is most entertained by plastic measuring spoons and crinkly packages of baby wipes. Yeah, I’m thinking if she doesn’t have much to open this year, that somehow she won’t be scarred for life. Yesterday, she entertained herself for an hour just chewing on her toes.

WE DID SPLURGE A LITTLE

I’ve been on and off when it comes to the whole holiday card thing. I usually get into the Scrooge McScroogey mode and vow not to send them. And then, three days before Christmas, I have a guilt trip, run to the store, buy a box of overpriced generic non-offensive cards, whittle the recipient list down to however many cards are in said box, and mail them late. I should note that the cards usually say “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings” or “Happy President’s Day” just for this reason.

This year we spent a little more and ordered cards from Tiny Prints*. I had looked at these guys back in the summer when I thought I was going to mail birth announcements. I watched their site religiously for the last few months hoping for a good discount and got one.

On the afternoon before my coupon expired, I managed to take a somewhat decent photo of the baby. I found a card design that could serve as a holiday/birth announcement, because someone whom I will not name hasn’t exactly broken the news to his friends back in MN that he, oh, fathered another child. Another story for another day, perhaps.

I think the cards look great. I’m really happy with the quick turnaround and quality (card stock, printing), but what impressed me the most was the personal attention they gave my order. Later that night, I got a call from customer service. They had noticed we’d made it into a birth announcement and wanted to know if we wanted to add details (time of birth, weight, etc.). I told them no, and within hours I had a digital proof in my inbox. Within a week, they were sitting on our doorstep. And no, we didn’t pay extra to rush the order.

So just to show you I’m not a complete Ebenezer, here’s our Christmas card. I hope I’m not breaking any rules by posting this on the site (we did pay for it, after all). Clicking on the photo will take you to the full-sized version, which looks even better in print.

Many thanks to the guys at Tiny Prints for helping a new tired mom with very little time on her hands produce a nice holiday card for her friends and family to hang on the refrigerator (and put in the baby book by the time the baby’s graduating from college).

* Just so you know, Tiny Prints isn’t asking me (or paying me) to hawk their product on my site. And while I do review products for compensation on my review page, this is simply something I bought, loved, and wanted to tell you about. That’s it!