Poor Littlepixie has just recovered from a UTI and a round of antibiotics. She had to have a kidney ultrasound yesterday, it’s a standard part of the treatment for a UTI, to rule out any possibility of kidney-related issues, thankfully all was clear and her most recent urine sample was clear too so she seems to be on the mend now, still a wee bit cranky, but who could blame her?!

Needless to say all thoughts of nightweaning were shelved while she was sick so we are now back on Square One and my little creative project is on a go-slow for the moment while she gets cheerier. But it’s not too bad, because we now know that we can do it, nightweaning is possible! We’ll give LP another week or two to get fully better and then if she’s ready, we’ll try and get the nightweaning back up and running.

In the meantime, we are reading LP’s favourite book “Don’t you feel well Sam?“, it’s so gorgeous and it makes me feel better about night parenting, I’m just like Mama Bear, I am!

Actually I must do another “Books we love” post soon, we have so many favourites!

Apologies for the lack of posts recently, I am working on an exciting crafty project which I hope to share with you all very soon! Stay tuned

In the meantime, enjoy this snippet of wisdom from Littlepixie on the subject of bras…

Mama wears bra over boo-boos in case boo-boos float off into the sky like a balloon, then mama have to fly up and catch them then I (LP) have to stick them back on with a plaster.

Back soon, oh and there will be a giveaway here soon too!

A big “thank you” to a certain ShinyHappyGirl who noticed that a certain HPP had set her blog to “private” yesterday That’s what I get for playing with the settings while Littlepixie is wandering nearby

Two posts in one evening!

Another thing I plan to make with my newly acquired industrial skills are some dolls’ clothes. Littlepixie has many teddies and animals who are all sporting various crazy looking outfits I have made for them over the last few months. It is time consuming to sew little doll outfits, so most of them were just cut out and not hemmed, naughty me!

Along with all the teddies and lovely fabric dolls, LP also has two of the type of dolls we all hope our daughters won’t fall in love with, but somehow they do… A Sleeping Beauty doll which was a gift from my parents and a crazy looking falling-apart doll whom LP named “Giant Pretty” for some reason. Giant Pretty’s legs fell off and she now wears a 24-7 girdle made of sticky plasters and sellotape which not only keeps her legs on, but also allows her to sit and stand (see, my engineering degree wasn’t wasted after all), LP loves her and won’t part with her! Giant Pretty also spends a lot of her days in her nudies (well as nudie as one can be in a massive plaster-girdle), so I shall make her some new clothes (she is smaller than a Barbie doll so she only has one raggy dress that she arrived in).

Sleeping Beauty has a good few pieces of clothing as my mum gave LP a treasure trove of Barbie-sized clothes she made for us when we were young. They are excellent, all crazy polka-dot 80’s fabric and puffball sleeves!! LP loves them and it is amazing seeing her dressing her dolls in the outfits I can remember playing with so, so many years ago!

In my pre-industrial days (a few weeks ago) I made a beach outfit for Sleeping Beauty and then got bored of the tediousness of hand stitching hems on doll clothes, but now I shall make more, hurrah! I also made her a fleece cloak to cover her princess dress as LP was concerned that she would get cold while playing on the swings outside, such a thoughtful child! Here is her beach outfit, oops I notice that she is wearing her netting underskirt, that’s not part of the beach outfit!

And yes, I know, Barbie-esque dolls are just not really what I had envisioned for LP, but at least Sleeping Beauty and Giant Pretty will have clothes that don’t make them look like hookers, no thigh-high mini skirts for these ladies (thigh high mini skirts wouldn’t fit over Giant Pretty’s giant girdle anyway!).

Yes, I got a sewing machine! Woo hoo

No sooner was it unpacked than Littlepixie ran into the room with a pile of her mermaid fabric demanding a bag, so I made one, and it only took 10 minutes, unlike the hand-sewn ones which took me 1.5 hours! And so fast to make the handle tubes, ah bliss! I think I shall make up a few more crayon rolls next to practice my straight lines, they are pretty cool gifts, so I’m sure I will find someone to give them to.

I also whipped up a splendid black out cover for our bedroom window. I cut the blackout fabric to size then sewed velcro on all 4 sides, then stuck velcro onto the window frame et voila, instant custom easily removable blackout blind! And I hemmed some pyjama bottoms too, very industrious indeed.

I find this machine very easy to use, it’s a Toyota SPA15, I was so confused googling all the options, but then I read U-handbag’s review and I was instantly sold. It is very easy to use, and has little diagrams all over to help you if you get lost. There is also a handy flip book on the front of the machine in case you get stuck and the manual is so easy to follow. It’s also good at thicker stuff, the velcro was sticky backed so I was a little worried that it would be too much for the needle but it was fab.

Here’s a peek at the machine midway through the sewing the mermaid bag, yes, I was using the red thread that came with the machine as I was too lazy to thread a new bobbin!

I suppose I have a little advantage over other sewing machine newbies in that I had been extensively tutored in the art of sewing by my mum when I was a wee lass, only I had forgotten most of my sewing machine knowledge and had become very reliant on hand stitching. However, I did find that once I sat down at the machine, the hand moments and stuff-placing just came quite naturally, I suppose because I spent years watching mum doing it and “helping” out. I showed the machine to her and she thought it was great and shared fond memories of almost sewing my finger onto a dress she was making many years ago! I must keep LP away from it while I work!

I bought this with money that my parents had given me for my birthday (months ago) and with the remainder of my birthday cashola I ordered lots of fat quarters of fabric and lots more felt to increase my fabric stash. I think next on my list of things to make will be a patchwork skirt for LP, and perhaps one for me too. Also a few funky tote bags for my good self too would be fun. I’m off to look up more ideas now!

Happy Summer Solstice folks

I got a lovely little email from a bloggy buddy today just checking up to make sure I was ok, thank you bloggy buddy, it is so nice to know that faraway folk think of me

I am well and happy, my blood test results all came back good (what shockingly bad English I am now writing!), my iron, b12, thyroid, liver and cholesterol are all fine apparently! So that’s good, it seems my tiredness was just from lack of sleep, good to know! Littlepixie has developed an unerringly accurate ability to wake with the rising sun to tell the boo-boos to get up and feed her. The sun rises at 04:30 or thereabouts, ugh. But LP is sleeping from about 21:30 to that 04:30 wakeup so I really can’t complain, if I’m getting less sleep now it’s because I am a silly monkey who stays up late digiscrapping when I should be sleeping

Yes, that darn digiscrapping hobby monopolises a lot of my limited computer time, but I am loving it. Also we took a wee break in Dublin last week (and met up with some wonderful friends and their wonderful sons & daughters for the bestest funest day we’ve had in a long time!).

And I finally managed to make some time to read “The Good Earth” by Pearl S.Buck, over a year after it was recommended to me here by CanCan! It’s a good read, not enjoyable as such as it is quite a melancholic story, but lots of food for thought and well paced in that by the end you too feel as old and tired as Wang Lung. It’s one of those stories that rattles around in your brain for days after you read it and keeps you thinking.

One point though, if in your youth you broke the bones in the arch of your foot, then please don’t read the Wikipedia entry on foot binding, ever. Stupid curiousity got the better of me, and although I had already read more than I ever needed to read on foot binding after reading some other book set in China a few years ago, my little pea-brain forgot the details, so I googled it, and I swear, I can still feel a phantom pain in my old broken foot-bones after reading that Wikipedia entry… shudder.

Oh, there’s a movie of it, I shall get my hands on it, I love movies from the 30’s!

It’s been 7 nights, some ups, some downs, but overall very positive and I am absolutely amazed to be able to write this but here it is…. Littlepixie is nightweaned!

We decided to attempt nightweaning to address some of my exhaustion issues, and (very surprisingly indeed) it has gone really well! We have had the most insanely hot sticky weather, and everyone has had a hard time sleeping because of it, I am so thankful that we started the nightweaning this week because nightlong feeds in that heat would have been very hard! Anyhoo, here is a night-by-night account for those of you who are interested. I posted my updates on one of my local forums to get feedback each morning, so I shall copy & paste the updates here (I was afraid to jinx it all if I reported on HPP too soon )

Night 1 (It begins):

It wasn’t too bad at all! I spent the day telling Littlepixie about how the boo-boos were very excited to be getting to sleep tonight and how they would be making good milk for her morning feed.

We all went to bed at 21:30 (nursed LP to sleep) so we all slept from 22:00 to 02:00 (which is a big stretch for her so that in itself was a treat, 4 hours sleep for me!).

At 02:00 LP woke and remembered the boo-boos were asleep (and well hidden in my high necked top!), she had some water and a bit of bread. She did get a bit upset for a few minutes and cried a bit sadly about the boo-boos, but then we sang songs and told stories and at 04:30 we were all finally back asleep. Unfortunately LP gets occasional restless legs when she is tired (another gift from my family) and they were at her big-time last night, so most of the 2.5 hours was spent massaging the jumpiness out of her little legs.

04:30-06:00 then LP awake and looking for boo-boos, I fed her then and we had one of those morning feeding sessions (on and off feeding) till 09:00. And then into town for the samosa & icecream picnic

So, I think the likes of Gina Ford & co. would be very unimpressed at that result, but myself and Mr.HPP are very happy so far, hopefully tonight will be restless-legs free and LP can get back to sleep sooner.

Night 2 (the very difficult night):

Ok so, night 2 was not as positive.

We were out & about in the sun yesterday so LP didn’t nap till almost 4 (not good!), so bedtime was again put off till 22:00. We nursed to sleep and she eventually fell asleep. And woke up crying an hour later, but (and here is the really good bit…) I rubbed her back and she turned around and went straight back to sleep, yay, I am supermammy!!!

And then 03:30 arrived, LP woke again, and as earlier I rubbed her back, she half sat up and leaned her head on my lap and was dozing back to sleep as I sang “jingle bells” (don’t ask!), until I noticed she had wet through her nappy & vest completely. So we had to do a full change. And she woke up fully. And what followed was very upsetting, I have never seen her so angry and upset, she had her worst tantrum ever, kicking, screaming, yelling, it was really very hard to get through. She was shouting for boo-boos but also she just wanted to get up and her legs were at her again (they get bad when she is overtired).

At 05:00, she opened our bedroom door and noticed it was bright out (we have blackout blinds in the bedroom), so she started screaming that it wasn’t nighttime anymore and she wanted to get up. So, myself & Mr.HPP decided that seen as it was daytime and she knows the boo-boos wake up with the sun, we would attempt to get back on top of the situation, so we turned our attention to the blinds, checked to see if the sun was out, checked to see if the boo-boos were awake, and then (pretending she wasn’t throwing herself around in a temper) calmly suggested that the boo-boos were awake if she would like some.

Oh it was so hard, and I was so close to giving in. I felt like we were doing Cry-it-out or Controlled Crying or something really mean. I know we weren’t, but it felt like we were. She went straight to sleep once the boo-boos woke up, and she is in great form this morning. She was a bit clingy when she woke and keeps making funny faces and funny voices which is her way of saying sorry (poor pet), and has been calling for “family hugs”. We’re all good now and we’ve talked over what happened with her, but what a night

On the plus side, that wake-up and rollover back to sleep at 23:00 was very encouraging. Onwards & Upwards, right?

Night 3:

(after lots of encouraging comments from my forum-friends, we decided to keep going, but how we were dreading it!)

Last night (night 3) was so much better, although might I ask what crazy person decides to nightwean in the middle of a heatwave? Myself & Mr.HPP barely slept last night as it was so hot. But LP did sleep and that’s what counts. Actually, with the heat, if she had been nursing all night I think would have had a mental breakdown. So it was great that the booboos were asleep and I got some space to overheat and try and sleep!

So, we didn’t get to bed until 23:00 (very naughty, but we had a day at the grandparents’ house followed by BBQ so no-one wanted to go home early!). LP nursed to sleep and woke again at 02:30, she was a bit cry-y when she woke but I think it was mostly from the sticky heat and uncomfortableness. She had some water and then I started my trick of telling her an exciting story that gradually winds down into an incredibly boring repetitive tale which soothed her back to sleep. I had to tell my tale over her crying first but then she settled to listen and fell asleep. She was asleep by 03:25, which is very important, as that was only 55 minutes later, less than 1 hour!

Up again at 06:30 for the marathon morning nursing session, by then the room was getting so hot, so we were up altogether an hour later. Galway people are never pleased with the weather (it’s too hot now, last week was too wet!)

So, I think that was good! LP did suggest once that I should wake the booboos but she knew she was chancing her arm, and when we were going to bed she was a bit worried in case they would fall asleep before she had her bedtime milkies!

Night 4:

Night 4 saw several wakings, but all for only about 5 minutes each, it was so hot LP was thirsty, but she just asked for water then turned around back to sleep, hurrah! We are getting there!

On an aside, went to my new gp today to get my bloods checked coz of my tiredness and she asked me seriously “what has you so attached to breastfeeding at LP’s age?”, she wasn’t aggressive or anything just curious like she had never seen such an insane woman in her office before, sad really.

Night 5:

We are so happy! It is scorching hot here at night, nobody is sleeping well, but LP is really content to have a sip of water and then lie there getting her legs rubbed while I whisper-sing random Disney songs. She woke lots last night, but no crying or asking for milkies, she just asked for water and then rolled over! Poor mite is covered in sweat, it is so hot! I would be insane by now if I was still night nursing in this heat.

Another interesting side effect to the nightweaning: Last night she had her bedtime nursing then finished it without falling asleep, rolled off me and said “rub my legs mama” and was asleep in seconds. interesting and something I shall encourage!!!!!

Night 6:

I forgot to write a night 6, I do remember it was shockingly hot and icky sticky.

Night 7:

Well it’s been a week now and I am so amazed! LP slept from 21:30 to 04:30 last night with only a 3 minute wakeup around midnight for a sip of water. 21:30-04:30 is, by my calculations, a whopping 7 hours, yes? So night 7= SPLENDID Success

So it can be done, if my boobie-monster can nightwean then there is hope for everyone I’m guessing that the reason she accepted it was that she was ready, so it all feels good and not-forced, and everyone is happy. And it’s great that we seem to have found a solution that allows us all to get some sleep but keep co-sleeping! Now, hopefully we’ll get cooler nights soon so we can all get some decent sleep!

Galway is in full swing this weekend for the boat race, and town is crazy busy. The weather is meltingly hot and there are a few too many bare man-nipples wandering around the streets, why people, why??

A good time for a samosa & ice-cream picnic. We acquired some samosas from the market and some new icecream from the healthfood store, Booja-Booja Pompompous Maple Pecan icecream, a bargain at 10 euro for a wee tub (eek!) but it was well worth it. We camped out by the river under a shady tree and people-watched as we scoffed our delicious picnic. Littlepixie is obsessed with samosas and she loves ice-cream so it was a good combo!

Look at that icecream, doesn’t it look decadent? I don’t think anyone would ever guess it’s vegan from looking at it and the ingredients are :

Pure water from reverse osmosis, Agave, diabetic friendly syrup from the agave cactus (contains 74% fructose with low GI. Raw), Cashew nuts, Maple Syrup 16%, pecans 3%.

So I guess we can see why it costs more than icecream made from sugar & cow’s milk, eh? It is so rich though, a very occasional treat especially for riverside shady tree samosa picnics, methinks

Just in case anyone is wandering by and wondering “I wonder what I can say to my friend to make her understand that she is doing a wonderful job as a mother, and to let her know that I am there for her, and support her breastfeeding & cosleeping choices even though I really do not agree with them and would love to help her out as she is so very tired these days”

well if you are, may I suggest you NOT say the following:

“You’re tired? Well, it’s your own fault really, if you didn’t insist on keeping DD in your bed and let her have her own room then none of this would be happening” and then laugh like it’s really funny while your friend sits like a stunned mullet, unable to formulate a response.

Yeah, it’s not helpful, it’s not, at all.

Oh, and if you do decide you still want to say it, then please at least do your friend the courtesy of saying it face-to-face not on the phone, if you are so convinced you are right then it shouldn’t hurt you to voice your opinions in person, now should it?

The sun setting on the bay as seen over our back wall tonight, it felt almost tropical!