Little Miss

The little one and I have been having our issues with sleep lately. She's getting her i-teeth, all 4 at once, and some nights she's awake more than she's asleep, more "on" the breast than not if she has her way... Last weekend I decided at 1 AM that I couldn't take it anymore and she wasn't going to be nursing all night long anymore. So I explained my new idea to her, she seemed to understand and back down we lay. Uh huh. She played and fussed and crawled all over me and patted my cheeks and gave me a face anatomy lesson ("eye", "nose", "mouth", etc.) until 6. Not what I had in mind... She doesn't want water at night, like my other 2 did, and so what to do? Something had to change.
That constant struggle, along with mr. P having recently decided that he doesn't need daddy sleeping in his room (something about the snoring keeping him awake and too many bad smells!?!?!) anymore gave us an idea...
How about move the single bed daddy's been sleeping on into mummy's room, make Heidi her OWN BED, and move daddy back into mummy's bed (hallelujah! i think? um, the bad smells???)??
And so the frenzy began, Heidi being kept occupied elsewhere (in order to keep the secret) whilst mummy prepared the surprise...
Heidi was duly impressed. It helped that her brother and sister were cheering their heads off...

Keen to climb right in and have her nap -- excellent progress! She slept soundly and we had SUCH HIGH HOPES for night time!

And so of course we CELEBRATED big time.

Chocolate cake (recipe below -- best ever, truly!) ice-cream, raspberries, candles, songs (happy new bed to you for little miss and happy growing up to you for mr. P) and off to bed for a very sound, healing, deep sleep for allllllll. right? well.....

Alas... it was not a success. She didn't want to be in her own bed. That was fine. But she didn't want to be in my bed either. Not so fine. I spent most of the night sleeping on the crack between our mattresses with her on top of me, her little arms wrapped tightly around my neck! Sweet, I know! but seriously not so sweet around 4 AM with very little sleep in the last weeks... To be fair, she did sleep soundly a few hours until daddy came home from hockey and started snoring so loudly she sat bolt upright in bed and said "mammee? wazat?" And that was it. She was awake more than she was asleep the rest of the night.

So, now what? Patience, I suppose. Patience, albeit, is in much higher supply with a good nights' rest under one's belt!! Perhaps I'll check myself into the lodge at Predator and leave the night's worries to daddy... ? or ???

and yes, the recipe:

Deep, dark, moist, luscious non-dairy Chocolate Cake

1+3/4 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup cocoa

1+1/2 tsp baking soda

1+1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Mix together

Add

2 eggs

1 cup milk (I use almond milk)

1/2 cup veg oil (I use grapeseed or olive oil)

2 tsp vanilla

Beat with mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Stir (with spoon) in 1 cup of boiling water (don't forget this step -- it's still good without but not nearly as good! oh! and don't turn on the wrong burner when you have your food processor on the stovetop and melt that, will you? it doesn't smell nice and makes you awful mad!)

Pour into 2 greased 9" pans or one 13 x 9" pan. Bake at 350'F for 30 to 35 minutes for layers, 35 to 40 minutes for slab, or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes and then remove from pans.

Non-Dairy Creamy Frosting:
6 Tbsp softened coconut oil or Earth balance spread

2+2/3 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/3 cup almond milk

1 tsp vanilla

Big Brown Dog turns 13

Kenai's 13th birthday -- cupcakes and sushi at the beach.

Kal beach = no dogs allowed

but we take Kenai there every year for her big day... It was fun despite Kenai pooping and Heidi falling off the bench and cupcakes falling into the sand and Heidi pooping (into the same bag used to pick up Kenai's poo) and Heidi following Kenai into the water and getting soaked up to her waist... SUCH FUN! he he he Who ever said this mothering gig would be easy?!?! I hope the kids remember the cupcakes part, the laughing at the poop part and not the "why wasn't anyone watching Heidi" yelling part...