lately

There is nothing worse than sugar cravings in a house devoid of treats. Which would have been me last night, since David just started a whole foods/low-glycemic diet and I'm not cruel enough to keep sweets around to taunt him, but thankfully I had some lovely homemade white-chocolate covered hazelnuts left from a foodie gift basket from my friend Alissa. I loooove her foodie gift baskets. If I couldn't munch on these delicate, lemony, vanilla-laced goodies, I would have been really grumpy. Normally I would just bake myself some cookies or banana bread when my sugar addiction attacks, but again, I'd place that in the cruel department when it comes to the treatment of dieting husbands. Yesterday I posted about some motivation I've had toward New Years resolutions. I realize how cliche it is to write about resolutions this time of year. Can't help it--I've fallen too deeply into this optimistic momentum so many will shrug off as quickly-fading with the winter into spring, to be long-forgotten. Not so, I say. For one thing, my resolutions will build on each other. It's not like I'm giving up something I enjoy that's really bad for me, like brownies or something; I'm improving the ways I'm already living.    Summed up: //Writing everyday \\Drawing/painting every week //Meal planning/prepping weekly on Sundays \\Paying more toward student-loan principle every month //Cleaning everyday \\Sleep-training Roger Yesterday I did pretty much everything except paying extra toward my loans, but the frugal choices I make each day do go toward that goal. So not buying myself a latte, and eating all my meals in, was essentially completing the list. These habits are things I can keep up fairly easily throughout the course of a month.    And committing to really sleep-train Roger in a consistent way is already way more successful than I had expected. Yesterday, he took not one, but TWO good, long naps, both beginning in his crib without me nursing him to sleep. And last night marks the second night in a row he went to sleep in his crib at home without being asleep prior to being laid down. Last night was rougher than the first night because I put him to bed a little earlier, but the effort paid off. I had to rub his tummy to soothe him a few times (how I knew to do that is one of life's mysteries: mother's intuition) but once he was settled he staid in his crib until his early morning feeding, and then straight back. Hallelujah my bed is mine again! I can't wait to see the fruits of this sleep training in the coming months. Can you say me-time?! How about the thought of rolling over freely in my sleep? Aaaah, wonderful. Roger is such a perfect kid, this sleeping on his own thing is really the icing on the cake.    First drawing of the year! My boys at work had a half-snowday  and we did art together in the afternoon. They asked me if I printed this from my computer. I could have kissed them both, but they are 6 and 7 and wouldn't have appreciated it.   A happy, well-rested Roger. I asked him to clap, and didn't gesture or anything, and he just did it! So smart.