Flashback

Wow, two posts in such close proximity to each other might make you wonder if something is going on in the life of me. Well, there is! My child has become an insomniac.

Lets have a flashback, shall we?

On November 30, 2012, nearly 3 years ago...a sweet tiny angelic baby came into the world. Her mother was so excited, and so prepared for sleep deprivation... "Bring it ON," she would say. So, in the following days, this perfect little baby slept. She nursed, pooped, and slept. She slept so well, in fact, her mother didn't experience much sleep deprivation at all. What a miracle!

My ASS. Fast forward to present time, and NOW the kid doesn't want to sleep. What the heck? How did this get backwards? Sleep was the one aspect of my toddler's life that I could always count on being constant. She naps 3 hours, and sleeps 12 at night. It's perfect, and almost always exact. But, now she won't nap. Instead of napping she has all kinds of enjoyable things to do, such as...

Screaming MAMAMAMAMAMAMA at the top of her lungs over and over and over and over
Pretending her bed is an appropriate place to ride her horse
Stripping off all of her clothes, yelling POOOOOOOOOOOOP, and smearing it all over the wall
Peeing on the floor, and yelling at Suzie the dog to make me believe it wasn't her
Running through the doors, and screaming MAMA  UP TIME
Ripping apart all of her books, then screaming because she can't fix them
Climbing on top of her dresser, to dump out all of her headbands, and rip the pictures off the walls

Anyway, that's my naptime everyday now. Some people say give up on nap time, but then by 5 PM she acts like a rabid hyena, and won't eat dinner, or go to bed at a normal time.

So, once we finally get our rebel down to bed at night, the whole process begins again. Only now Daddy is home, so it's twice as fun. She needs hugs from both of us every 4 minutes for the two hours that it takes her to finally wear out.

So, once again I ask- WHAT THE HECK is wrong with TODDLERS????

This Mama is tired. I mean, it's not my fault that I maybe stayed up way too late watching Jane the Virgin, so I only got like 3 hours of sleep. Not my fault at all. I blame Netlfix. You should also know that this show is so good, I haven't even watched Scandal or How to Get Away with Murder yet..

I should also point out that my sweet little Dementor is asleep, and it's 6:21 PM.

AND I should also point out that it's so cool to me that I am finishing my day, as the bulk of everyone I know is just waking to start theirs!

So, carry on with your Sunday, and send prayers that my Jane the Virgin marathon be short, and my child's sleep be long!

I'll leave with a couple of photos that prove my kid doesn't have what it takes to pull "all-dayers!"

It's True

YOU GUYS. Today was a good day. In the midst of my seemingly never-ending terrible awful horrible streak of bad days, today was decent.

Yesterday, the toddler and I were crying together, and today- only she had tantrums! What a fantastic turnaround!

While I'm certain another one of these days won't come for awhile, I'll go ahead and put it in writing, so I can look back on this 15th day of October and remember I didn't cry!

I'll tell you what I did do! I DID make a custom dress. I decided to make a dress for Annabelle without using any type of tutorial or pattern, and to make it custom fit by using her as the model and pinning the fabric true to her size! And what a liberating idea it was! I didn't feel frustrated or out of control, and I was totally in charge... who knew all I had to do to feel in charge was to create a beautiful Christmas dress?!! Annabelle likes it too, which I suppose matters.

Also, I decided to give the dog a desperately needed haircut,which turned out pretty bad. My clippers died mid-cut, so I had to borrow a pair from the neighbor. Now, her clippers are way better than the ones I was using. so I virtually had to start over, but also didn't realize until it was WAY too late that my dog was getting a hackjob. She has random bald spots, and seriously is a hot mess. But, it's pretty damn funny to see. Poor dog.

I also did something that I am quite certain I have not done since Annabelle was born.  I left the house before bed time, without my child or my husband. That's right, folks, I was away from my spawn while she was still awake. For 3 hours, I was out by myself, having an awesome time with friends. Who I'm pretty sure were quite surprised to see that I can engage in conversation when I'm not chasing horribly behaved toddlers around. Seriously, people should really learn to control their children...I mean, come on, how difficult is it? OH! Lets not forget that I got to miss putting her to bed. I don't think I even felt guilty.

Anyway, I really just thought I should inform the world that on occasion- SUPER RARE occasion- a good day can happen. Don't even think about wishing for another, but write it down, so you can remember that one time, there was a day when you didn't think you might end up in a psych ward because your child is a Deatheater.

A Perfect Day?

This post is so severely overdue! I meant to post weeks ago, I swear, but distractions happen!

Since my last horribly depressing update, I have pulled myself out of the New World Funk I was in, and embraced our new life here in Singapore.Since then, we managed to have perfect days, and very imperfect days.

We took a day trip down to Sentosa Island. This is where the nice beaches are located, and many other attractions, such as Universal Studios, The Aquarium, several fun resorts, and countless things to do for entertainment. Not to mention, there's a Kripy Kreme! YUM! I was so nervous about this day, as Annabelle is sometimes so difficult to take places, and this was a long trip! We made it through the train ride with minimal fussing, and called it a win! After a short walk on the boardwalk to get on to the island, we were stunned at how amazing it was!! There were beautiful fountains, hotels, statues, etc! I remember telling my husband that I can't take a picture because its impossible to capture it all! After a short stop at Starbucks, we were on our way to find a fun beach! We passed some cool places, like indoor skydiving, a really neat chair lift that takes you up to get a panoramic view, and a fun family festival with bounce houses on the beach! We made our way over to a cool area that looked like something you would see in a movie! It was a little inlet area, and even had a wooden hanging walking bridge that you can walk over to get from one island to the other! I must say, however, this bridge was quite a feat! It was so hard to walk on, I felt like I was a little tipsy! HA! I also found some great sea shells, and even a really cool piece of granite! Anyway, after exploring a little, we found this awesome little water park for kids, and Annabelle was in Heaven! She went down the waterslides more times than we could possibly count, and was having the time of her life! The best part? Adults were free admission, and children were only $15! So, after spending hours having a blast, it was time to go home...but not without grabbing a few donuts from Krispy Kreme!! So, after grabbing our goodies, we were saying good-bye to our new favorite place! "THIS," I exclaimed... "THIS was the PERFECT day!"

Since then, we haven't had perfect days, but they've been better. We have a great neighbor, who is so welcoming, and is great at encouraging me to get out and about! She has a daughter that is younger than Annabelle, but they seem to enjoy playing with each other outside! We have gone to the local pool a few times, and enjoyed some time at the community playroom.

We are also learning that we have become hoarders of certain goods. We have learned how awesome the subscriptions service on Amazon is, and look very forward to our shipments of coffee creamer, peanut butter, and coffee. YAY Amazon! I will say, I would LOVE to eat some Chick-fli-A, Chipotle, Five Guys, Papa Johns... I'm so sorry I didn't appreciate you while I had the chance! Oh, I miss my sweet dear friends and family, too. It's so amazing how incredibly helpful my friends are still, even though we are thousands of miles, and 13 hours apart. And how spectacular is technology, that we can still see each other's faces as we speak on FaceTime to family? I'm so thankful that Annabelle can still have a relationship with her Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents! Although, she really enjoys seeing her baby cousin, and the kitty cat...

There are fires in Indonesia that are causing us to have "The Haze." There is so much smoke in the air, that we are told to wear masks, and to limit any outdoor activity, so we have been cooped up indoors for weeks now. Annabelle is getting stir crazy, and her attitude is worsening by the day. She cries at bedtime now, and stays awake yelling for me for hours. The other night, Annabelle decided to wake up around midnight, screaming like she was being held captive by a wolverine. I went in there and laid with her for about an hour, before my arm was falling asleep and my patience was wearing thin. At this point, she was screaming for everything she could think of...

More ice in her cup
More water, because now there's too much ice
More blankets
That's not a baby blanket
I don't want to be covered up
Why did you take that blanket off?
I need more bows in my hair
I don't want a bow
Where are my socks?
I don't wear socks to bed
I need to brush my teeth
I need to pee
and poop
I don't want to sit on the toiler
GO MAMA
Sing Twinkle Twinkle
NO SING MAMA
*Kicks me in the face*
OW MY FOOT
BOOOO BOOOO

This went on for 2 hours. I sent a text the next day to my neighbor begging her for forgiveness if Annabelle woke up her daughter, and explained that we had an unexpected exorcism taking place. Apparently, their house was unaffected by our late night party! Thank goodness.

We haven't seen that poltergeist since, and are hoping we don't have another night like that!

This haze that we are experiencing it awful. It's so hard to no be able to go anywhere. Annabelle can't get energy out, people are so grumpy, and so tired, and sick! So, we are praying every minute of the day for the fires to stop so we can all go out and have fun again!

Meanwhile, I'll just be here- eating chocolate, and watching Enchanted for the 98,765,432,321th time, and wondering if another cup of coffee is a bad idea! Send prayers for healthy air, and no more visits from the underworld! And, I will attempt to write more updates about our always entertaining life!

Until next time, my dear followers!