I enjoyed a lot of “unplugged” time over the past couple of weeks, but I guess it’s time to get back to real life. It takes me about three or four days of being mostly offline to really feel free, and then once I’m free I really don’t want to go back! :)
So, I should give you a report on our Christmas tree. I’m still glad that we saved money and bought a $50 tree at Whole Foods, but this tree ended up being a bummer. About a week before Christmas, it started drying out (not due to being empty of water) and you could really see it drooping. By the time we took it down a few days ago, it was brown and super duper dry.
Now I understand what people mean when they talk about real trees drying out before Christmas (though this one wasn’t a needle-dropper, really). In the past, we’ve always either cut our own tree or gotten one that was cut in Colorado just a couple of weeks prior. Those trees lasted well into January, so there is a huge different in a real-tree-that’s-fresh-cut and real-tree-that-was-cut-a-few-months-ago.
I took the ornaments off the tree and Jeremy took it out to the garage. We offered the 7yo a quarter for every strand of lights he took off. He got to $1.75 and called it quits. After Jeremy tried his hand at it, I was summoned out to finish what I had started, so to speak. I am the lights person for the tree, and I take great care in wrapping the cords around the branches and the trunk so there are lots of lights with minimal loose cords showing. Jeremy thinks it looks great but always forgets what a pain they are to take off so I usually have to be the lights-taker-offer, too. ;)
PSA for all of you first-time pregnant ladies: one of the things they don’t tell you about pregnancy is that your hair will fall out and grow back in during the first year postpartum. For me, I start losing my hair around four months, maybe, and it gets bad enough that the shower drain has to be cleaned out weekly.
It’s all good for a month and then the hair starts growing back in around nine months postpartum. You may think this is no big deal, but you have probably never experienced hair re-growth quite like this. You’ll have annoying baby hairs sticking out from your ears, your forehead, and the nape of your neck. Think about the wacky ways your baby’s hair has grown in and that’s about what it will be like for you.
I complained about the postpartum hair thing to a then-childless friend and she thought I was crazy. After she had her first child, she came back and told me she understood what I was talking about. Be warned! You may lose your baby weight and feel normal by six months, but the hair will haunt you for an entire year! :)
So far, I’ve set one big goal for 2013: sleep through the night. It might sound like a silly goal but I haven’t had eight straight hours of sleep since 2005. (OK, spot me maybe two days per year.) The baby will be one and weaned soon, and I’m not pregnant, so I’m hoping this will be a reality in the next few months. We have some other goals (launch my new From Garbage to Gourmet ebook, pay off the van, and move to a new house) but the “sleep through the night” one is top priority. I just hope that it will be as awesome as I think it will be to sleep through the night!
I love reading your comments – feel free to jump right in with your own daily chatter! :)
$1.25 for Lucerne (half gallon) at Safeway, Fri-Sun Only
We got a pre-cut tree at Lowe’s and it’s still going strong. We meant to take it down yesterday but time got away from us. I’ll miss it…I really do like seeing the lights at night. I find them cheerful!
We just took down our fake tree that sheds. For some reason it started losing the green a few years back. We laugh about it, say we will buy a new one on clearance every year but here we are and still vacuuming every day around the tree while it is up. I was happy that my husband let me keep the tree up so long this year. Usually it comes down a few days after Christmas. He is not a clutter person.
Sleep is over-rated! Since being a mom, I can never sleep through the night because I always feel like I’m “on alert” for someone to wake up. Even if I’m away from the kids, I’m a very restless sleeper.
I am 27, mama to three boys ages four, two and ten months. My husband said the other day, “you can totally rock the hat”. No doubt this “teasing” comes from how often he has heard me complain about balding! My post partum hair loss is- severe. Has anyone tried biotin? I have read it causes acne? I have long since surrendered my dream of luxurious, flowing locks- but goodness, at age 27 I’m not ready to go hat shopping! I feel like the good nutrition, prenatal vitamin just isn’t going to be enough to bring back this head of hair. On a positive note, Carrie- be glad it’s growing back! :)
Oh no! I guess I should be grateful for those annoying hairs! I hope yours returns!
I feel for you Carrie! That is a LONG time since you have slept through the night!! My kiddos (2 & 3 years old) typically let me sleep through the night at least five nights a week. If my son is teething, then that goes out the window. Those 8-9 hours of sleep are priceless, so I will be praying for you! Is it just the baby who wakes you up on a nightly basis? I weaned my daughter from nighttime feedings by 4 months and my son by six months, and it was such a blessing…for everyone!
Yes, on a nightly basis it’s just the baby (though of course there’s always another kid waking up here and there!). Even once my babies have slept through the night, I’ve been up due to pregnancy, but now that I’m not pregnant and the youngest is nearing one year, I think sleeping through the night is finally a realistic goal! :)
Carrie—I really recommend the book, “The Sleepeasy Solution”. To sum it up, this was the only book with info. that worked for my 2 kids. I checked it out at the library so it cost me nothing and saved me from being a zombie everyday. I could go on and on about how much it helped our family!
Well, all of my kids have slept through the night after they weaned at 1 year – the in-between problems have been me being pregnant (my last four are 1.5 years apart) and not being able to sleep well or having to get up to go to the bathroom! So I’m not sure a book will help that, LOL. I really like The No Cry Sleep Solution – read it too late with my first child, but it did help with the others.