If you give a kid a cookie…

I'm a terrible, horrible, awful mother. Yesterday, I did the unthinkable.

I fed my 8-month-old a Mint Oreo Cookie, and I'm not sorry I did it.

What led me to this madness? What terrible events could have occurred for me to do such a dastardly thing? Lack of sleep my friends. Extreme lack of sleep.

You see, Gracie was a little out of whack, sleeping-wise. It started about two weeks ago when she got a bit of a cold. She kept waking up in the night either with a coughing fit or because her poor little head was all plugged up and she couldn't breathe. If she was tired enough, we would rock in the rocking chair until she fell asleep again. But mostly, once she was awake there was no going back to sleep, no matter how hard I tried. So we would be up for a couple hours in the middle of the night until she could sleep again; and then she would need a big nap the next day.

Pretty soon, the daytime naps were getting longer and the night-time waking up time was getting longer too, until we got to the point where she was sleeping most of the day away, then waking up in the evening and not going to bed until 2 a.m., then waking up again at 6 a.m. And Denice was starting to get grumpy. I have a really hard time taking naps in the daytime because, well, I have things to do. And living on four hours of sleep just wasn't doing it for me.

By Sunday, I was at the end of my rope. I needed some sleep. I decided since Gracie was over her cold, I was going to keep her awake for most of the day. And as I was sitting next to her on the floor, eating a couple of Mint Oreo Cookies for a little sugar rush to keep me awake, a little thought quietly ran through my head: "If these cookies are keeping ME awake…"

I pulled another Oreo out of the package, took one of the cookie pieces off and hesitated for a moment as I contemplated if this really was a good idea, or if it was my sleep deprived brain trying to convince me it was a good idea -- and Gracie made the decision for me. She grabbed the cookie right out of my hand and stuffed it directly into her mouth. Well, mostly she just sucked on the icing because she doesn't have any teeth yet, but you get the idea.

So I let my Gracie have sugar for the first time, and boy did it work! She stayed awake most of the day, went to bed at the very reasonable hour of 10 p.m., and slept straight through until 8:30 a.m., just like she used to do.

And I'm not sorry. Incredibly guilt-ridden for feeding my child junk at such a young age -- you betcha. But sorry? Can't say that I am.

Snotty Kleenexes everywhere…

So tired. So very tired. Gracie sick, not sleeping. Mommy not sleeping either. No time to shower, let alone blog. Was I this tired when she was brand new and not sleeping? I don't remember -- so I guess I just answered my own question. Must sleep now. Will write later.

The sweetest word in the English language:

"Mum…Mum…Mum…Mum…," said quietly by your 8-month-old while she's snuggling into your arms as she drifts off to sleep.

Oh, I had the best afternoon with Gracie today. She was grumpy this morning, so I managed to get her to take her afternoon nap early, and she woke up in the best mood!

She giggled and she smiled and she played with me for hours. I gave her a soda cracker for a snack and she took one bite, then shoved it in my mouth so I could have a bite, then a bite for her and a bite for me until it was all gone. We've been working on kisses lately -- usually I ask her if I can have one and then she gives me one, but today she gave me many slobbery baby kisses without being asked. And then she snuggled in when it was time for sleep and just kept saying mum…mum…mum… until she was sound asleep in my arms.

Boy do I love my life. Crazy busy and tiring, yes, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

It's going by so fast…

So I'm shopping at the Real Canadian Superstore the other day, and it was totally New Baby Central. Everywhere I looked, bleary-eyed new mommies were wandering sleepily around the grocery store, and, as usual, I was trying to sneak a peek at all the teeny weeny babies sleeping in their infant seats. Not because I'm nosy, but because I just can't resist a teeny tiny baby.

Anyway, I'm looking at all these new mommies and I realized something very big: I'm no longer a member of the Bleary-Eyed New Mommy Club. My kid is big. Huge. Sitting up in the front of the shopping cart, eating the Gerber Graduates I'm doling out and trying to grab everything I take off the shelf so she can see what it is, then chew on it.

These days, unless she's having a particularly bad teething day and won't go to sleep, the only reason for me to be bleary-eyed is that I decided to stay up to watch the Colbert Report, which doesn't come on until 12:30 a.m. in our part of the country. I'm very well rested, most days I get to have a shower and put on make-up, and I hardly ever have to leave the house in a shirt that's been spit-up on.

And I didn't even notice it happening.

When Gracie was new, other new mommies and I would give each other the look as we passed each other. You know, the look that said, "I don't know you, but I understand that you are as tired as I am and I feel your pain." Then I would look at the mommies with big babies and think that that day was a lifetime away. Good Lord, it only took 8 months.

Where did the time go? And more importantly, is every year going to go by this fast?