It's February! And therefore, time for me to blog about my New Year's Resolutions... if for no other reason than I need some accountability! My main goal for the year is to be INTENTIONAL and probably the area where this is going to be the biggest challenge is being a parent. Though Finley is young, I know that I'm still laying the foundation for the future and that mistakes at this stage are still mistakes and still have consequences.
For instance, I recently discovered that during the holidays I engaged in some "accidental parenting". During Finley's naps, I would run all the errands I needed to... we were always on the go looking for presents, buying groceries, etc. Well, after the holidays, I discovered that Finley would not take naps at home in her cradle. She would sleep for 10-15 minutes whereas while in her car seat on the road, she would sleep an hour and a half!
I've been praying for wisdom and parenting resources and recently began reading The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems. It was such a blessing to find this book because I instantly felt that the author, Tracy Hogg, had the parenting philosophy that I was looking for. I've read other books, but this was the first one that I really felt good about. I immediately began trying to apply the Baby Whisperer's (BW) methods to solve the nap problem... the first few days were ROUGH! Partially because I was trying to implement something that I hadn't thoroughly read through (She has a whole sleep routine that includes 4 steps) and partially because I wasn't being as consistent as I needed to be. We had a major breakthrough when I discovered the importance of white noise! Finley sleeps great at night with little to no white noise so I didn't think she needed this for naps (even though it was encouraged by BW). Thankfully, out of sheer desperation and the fact that my blow dryer was in the middle of the floor, I turned it on and found Finley deep asleep in minutes. Now naps are pretty much a breeze. I guess she just needs the white noise to block out the extra distractions that occur during the day. Anyway, I feel like I'm once again parenting with Intention and that is such a good feeling! It's hard to explain how amazing I feel when I'm in tune with Finley and am able to meet her wants and needs. It is so powerful to really KNOW her. I love being a mom!
My other resolution was to read a big a month... obviously I'm reading the Baby Whisperer book, but I also finished Sunset by Karen Kingsbury. I love her!
As for craft projects, I finished a bolero sweater and hat that I had started for Finley before she was born. Here's a picture of the back to go with the picture at the top of this post...
I also started and completed a pale pink hat for her though I'm not in love with it... I need to work on the pompon on top.
