Me, Controlling??

Okay, so yeah, I'm a bit of a control freak.  I fully admit to it.  Since getting married, I've gotten a lot better, since I can see that when dealing with other people there are things you just can't control.  And being a mom of a toddler, whew!  I can't control this little person with her own mind, that's for sure.  But what I could control, I did. 

And now, after being in the hospital for over a week, with two more weeks on the horizon, I have had to give up even more control.  I still have my etsy shop open because it's the holidays, my busiest time.  I've had Brendan bring everything over so I can package it up and then have him send it out.  He brought the wrong business cards and didn't remember the return address labels.  He brought the bigger envelopes instead of the smaller ones.  And I had to deal with it.  No control.  He's doing me a favor, I need to shut my mouth!

Brendan's parents were here this weekend and one night Brendan came to the hospital and had them watch Ingrid.  At first the plan was to put her to bed and then come over, but he came early and said he'd left Grandma in charge of bath and bedtime.  I was shocked!  No one but my mom or Brendan or I have ever put her to bed I don't think!  At first I was all nervous like do you really think they can do it??  But alas, Ingrid can be bathed and put in her pjs by someone other than me...She fell right asleep and what do you know, she's still alive to tell the tale.

It just got me thinking how I never ever think to leave Ingrid with anyone but my mom.  I always think she'll have too hard of a time and things won't be done just the right way, and it scares me.  But then when I have no control and see things going just fine, it makes me stop and think and, frankly, breathe a sigh of relief.  If we want to get a babysitter, we could.  She'll be fine.  She's a resilient little kid, and she loves us but doesn't necessarily need us 24/7.  Stupid as it sounds, that has been a real eye opener. 

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Our Thanksgiving was...fine?  Or it would have been, had any of us been in a good mood.  Which none of us were.  Our day started with Ingrid getting up early and instantly being whiny and crying over everything.  It did not go uphill from there.  Since she doesn't nap anymore, if she's tired at 7:30am, she's just gonna be even more tired at 3pm.

The idea was that we would stay home, be cozy, eat lots of food, and relax.  The reality was that I was exhausted and begging for naps, Ingrid was throwing tantrums every five seconds, and Brendan was crabby because he just wanted to have a day off and watch football. 

We did manage to have a nice afternoon, with lots of good food and pumpkin pie that came out perfectly because I used canned stuff instead of trying to be fancy and cooking a real pumpkin like I did last year.  We were sufficiently stuffed, I got a good nap in, we tried to go for a walk in the rain to look at holiday lights that are already up in the neighborhood.  But none of us were feeling it.  Something was off...

Oh well, it's done.  And today was better.  I am not one for Black Friday, like EVER, I hate the idea of crowds and all that buying stuff no one needs.  You never really get that good of a deal anyway, and you have to fight people over it, or wait in line for hours, or whatever.  Just not my cup of tea.  BUT...Joann Fabric was having a sale on flannel and fleece, both of which I use a lot of in my sewing, for so cheap that I couldn't pass it up.  I woke up early anyway and decided to check it out. 

How naive of me to think I could just zip in and out!  Who really goes nuts at a fabric store on Black Friday?  Aren't they all at Target buying $2 Barbies or something?  Ha, how mistaken I was.  I got there around 6:30am and the place was packed.  I looked through the fabric, luckily I had a list to remind myself of what I needed, then I got in line for the cutting table. 

Fast forward TWO HOURS.  It was finally my freakin' turn.  Two effing hours for fabric, I must be crazy.  I did get some really good stuff and the bottom of my reciept said I saved $109, but really, two hours to wait for cutting fabric.  Never again, I don't care if they're giving away flannel!  I am just thankful I didn't try to lug Ingrid with me, oh my god.

When I got home I washed and dried and ironed all of the fabric I had gotten, all with a little help from my wee helper.  She loves doing laundry with me for some reason, it's awesome.  She played by herself a lot today, which was a nice change of pace.  Brendan and I got to do what we wanted to do.  It was what we wanted Thanksgiving to be, at least it only came one day late.  And now it's back to reality and hoping to hear something from Brendan's job interviews!!   

So Busy. So Tired.

Yep, I've been busy.  I got a bee in my bonnet to make a lot of stuff for the etsy shop, so I have been working on burp cloths and cloth wipes like no one's business.  And I made a couple baby quilts. 

Ingrid has been a huge helper.  She keeps asking to sew with me, which means she wants to throw away my scraps.  Seriously, it kept her occupied for a half hour the other day!  I pink the edges of the cloth wipes and she throws each piece away seperately.  And giggles the whole time. 

We have also done a lot of raking.  And baking.  And being into the fall weather.  And snotting everywhere (she was sick, mine is just damn allergies that will not go away even with medicine I'm not even sure I'm supposed to take while being pregnant...)  And giving the state of Michigan massive amounts of money for expired license plates.  And watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, which is less annoying than I thought it would be.  And looking through catalogs that have come in the mail (wow, American Girl dolls are expensive!!!)  And playing with these Max and Ruby paper doll cutouts (those were a huge hit!)  Just being mellow and keeping busy.

Oh, and being tired because I'm 26 weeks along and Otis is karate chopping me throughout the night.  And when I do fall asleep, Ingrid wakes up screaming for mama to come put her blanket on.  For a little one that has to do everything by herself you'd think she could manage to put her damn blanket back on herself at 2am.  Good thing she's so cute:

These cute Toughskin overalls courtesy of Heather over at 3RingCircus.  Cutest vintage stuff ever!!