We have never been guaranteed a full night’s sleep.  Ella got off to such a rough start.  Exhausted from 27 hours of labour, under the lights for jaundice, and then 3 months of starving while the breast feeding ‘experts’ told me she was getting enough.  Ella has never been a good sleeper.  When she was a baby I would spend about 30 minutes patting her back to get her to sleep (every time).  And she was one of those babies that you couldn’t ‘just let cry’ because she would cry till she was sick (and it killed me to listen).

Then she hit the toddler years and had night terrors.  If’ you’ve never experienced those you have no idea.  Ella would sound like she is being murdered or sobbing for me not to leave.  It was like a knife through my heart and I couldn’t get up to her bedroom fast enough.  Through the toddler years Ella would wake at least once every night!

Since Ella hit 5, we seem to be finished with the night terrors and have moved on to just regular nightmares.  I have to be very careful what Ella watches or plays just before bed.  She is very sensitive to that.  Even the Muppets can scare her and cause us nighttime problems.  Ella is always begging me to sleep with her.  I have to say ‘no’ because if I do it once it becomes a habit with her.   These days we can go days with no nighttime waking -sigh, wonderful times.  Even her nightmares are usually not too much trouble.  Most nights Ella just needs a hug and tucked in and she’ll go back to sleep.

And then we have nights like last night.  I get my ‘Momma’ page and head into her room.  Not a nightmare, but one of those nights where she wakes up completely awake and can’t get back to sleep on her own.  These nights I lay down and keep her company until she falls asleep.  Unfortunately, these nights usually take an hour (and boy is she chatty).  Last night it was 2 hours!  Since having Ella I have come to realize that I can function on short sleep, but I really need my sleep in once chunk.  I don’t do well with 2 hours here, 3 hours there.

I really don’t know what to do.  We’ve tried varying her bed time routine.  Lately I’ve been giving her a back rub after prayers before I go for the night.  It was working for the first few nights, but then we went back to waking up.  We don’t do baths before bed, they just get her wound up.  I tell myself she’s only little for a while and will eventually sleep.

So that’s my post from this tired Farm Girl.

This week’s Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real will be a short one because I’m not feeling good today.  I think I’m just going to say ‘to heck’ with housework and such and curl up on the chesterfield with my knitting and try to keep my germs to myself.

Any one who knows my childhood will realize why these pictures make me so Happy!  Look how long my girl looks in her leotard.

11 months till Christmas!!!   Ok, stop throwing things at your computer     Have you started planning your Christmas projects?  I have some ideas.  I have one project ready to pack.  I like to work on Christmas projects all year long, then there is no panicked December knitting.   I’m not sure what Ella’s presents will be yet.

I have the Shalom sweater finished.  Even the buttons are sewn on.  It is light as a cloud and I still have half the ball of yarn left.  Not sure what to do with that.  I’m now working on the 5 Hour Baby sweater to go along with the February Baby sweater I finished the other day.  The pattern is easy and I like the way it looks.  I don’t like the tension.  I’m not sure why but it’s making my wrist hurt.  I couldn’t even knit yesterday 

I’m reading a new book.  It’s The Highly Sensitive Child and it was written about Ella.  It has a quiz and ‘Ella’ answered yes to all but one question.  I’ve always known Ella needed her schedule and got overwhelmed by things (like cleaning up too many toys).  Now hopefully I can find some strategies for helping her learn to deal with all the information/feelings she takes in.  A prime example is how upset Ella gets at the grocery store when she hears a child crying.  When she was little she would actually start to cry until we found the crying child and saw that their momma was there.  Now she doesn’t get that upset, but you can see it bothers her and she is happiest if we can see the child later.   Lori over at Beneath the Rowan Tree has been talking about her daughter and her recent diagnosis of extreme sensitivity.  Luckily Ella isn’t such an extreme, but I see a lot of Ella (and myself) in Lori’s description.    I’m very excited to get more into this book, even if it just helps me to understand and explain to others.

500th Post Giveaway winner was Karen Wirth.  Congrats Karen!  Send me an email with your snail mail address and I’ll get the mittens in the mail.

Ugh, what a  mess outside.  Luckily we have about 10 inches of snow, so hopefully we’ll have some left after this warm up.  It is nice for it to be only -3C (26.6F) instead of the -24C (-11F) it was yesterday.  We were greeters at the door at church yesterday so lets hope we don’t come down with a cold.  That’s what happened every time last year.

Ella and I are heading out for a skate this morning.  It was so cold on Friday she decided we should stay home.  I also want to swing by Fabricland and find some jumper material.  I need a few more dresses before our surprise in February.

Monday:

Manwich

roast chicken

Tuesday:

wieners & beans

l/o braised beef

Wednesday:

chicken sandwich

bbq meatballs

Thursday:

French fries

l/o chicken

Friday:

pb&h for Daddy

l/o meatballs

Saturday:

macaroni and cheese, French onion soup

chicken casserole

Sunday:

??

birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa’s

More great ideas at I’m an Organizing Junkie

I really don’t have much of a post today, but I didn’t want this event to go unnoticed    So here’s a few pictures from the past to share.

This Colin’s Grandma and Grandpa, Carl and Eileen Fletcher.  There’s no mistaking the Fletcher bloodline.  In fact, when I first found this picture I thought it was Colin’s Dad. They had a mixed farm and Grandpa won many awards for his breeding of dairy cows.

And of course, this is the reason we do what we do and struggle on.  Our funny girl, Miss Ella.

So now for the giveaway!!

We’re giving away a pair of hand knit, felted alpaca mittens.  These are so soft and warm.  They are a natural colour and sized for ladies.  The alpacas are raised just down the highway.  To enter, just leave a comment.   The winner will be drawn at random at 9am on January 24th.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas………… oh wait, that was supposed to be last month!

We got another dump of snow (or ‘snow event’ as the weather guy insists on calling it).  It was so bad on Tuesday that dance was cancelled, much to Ella’s disappointment.  The snow makes everything so Pretty and it makes Ella and I very Happy.  Daddy not so much, but that’s because he has to work in it.

Here’s a Funny that makes me so Happy too.  Ella and Daddy playing hair dresser.   She looks so intense trying to get out the ‘grey bugs’ that are turning Daddy’s hair silver.

Our first Real picture makes me Happy too:

We finally got Ella’s toys sorted through and donated a lot of the toys she just doesn’t play with any more.  With her birthday coming up we had to do something.  Now we have to find some way to organize these toys in this corner.  Suggestions?

This picture represents the other Real.   It’s not Pretty and certainly doesn’t make me Happy.  Tuesday night (around 8pm) in the middle of the storm, Colin had to climb up on top of the tarp building (machine shed behind the trees) and shovel off the waist deep snow.  In case you’ve never seen a tarp building it’s horseshoe-shaped!  It usually happens once or twice a year that Colin has to get up there and shovel.  Did I mention that he’s not crazy on heights either?  Newer tarp buildings are designed better and don’t need shoveled.  But ours is an old style and the roof starts to flatten if it gets too much snow.

Asian Stir-fry -serves about 4

250g spaghetti, cooked separately

1 1/2 lb pork cut into bite size pieces, I use tenderloin or shoulder roast or chops

sliced vegetables, about 3 cups of your choice

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 T cornstarch

1/4 c water

1/2 c soy sauce

Brown pork over medium heat in large skillet.  Add in the harder vegetables (like carrots).  Add in the rest of the vegetables.  Stir until vegetables are crisp-tender.  Toss in cooked spaghetti and pour sauce over everything.   Stir over heat until shiny.  Serve.

Of course, I dish up Ella’s little plateful before adding the sauce and I leave out most of the vegetables.

I’ve got some new progress to show this week.  My sister’s Shalom sweater is coming along nicely.  If you want an instant gratification kind of sweater, this is the one.  And the yarn I am using makes it feel like a cloud.  I sure hope my sister likes the sweater.

A certain little princess is having her first ‘non family’ birthday party.  So I’m reading The Birthday Book.   It has some neat ideas/traditions I’m going to try.  One idea is a pair of birthday socks for ‘stepping into the new year’.  I whipped up a pair of these for Ella.  The easy pattern is here.

Now to see what the others are doing for Yarn Along.

Monday:

pb&h

PW bow tie lasagna -didn’t make it last week

Tuesday:

l/o lasagna

Joey’s Only fish and chips -yum!!

Wednesday:

pizza rolls

leftover fish and chips

Thursday:

pizza rolls

roasted pork loin -from Like Mother, Like Daughter

Friday:

pb&h for Daddy -we’re skating Friday mornings now

Asian inspired stir-fry

Saturday:

leftover stir-fry

leftover roast pork

Sunday:

pork sandwiches

braised beef -Tasha Tudor

What’s cooking over at I’m an Organizing Junkie

Just a short post for Pretty, Happy, Funny Real this week.  First I want to ask, how did it become the 12th of January already??  The days are running together and nothing seems to be getting done.  I have some sorting/reorganizing I want to do, but it all has to wait for the new windows.  And making space for the new windows is creating it’s own mess -aaaaaahhhhh!

We made it to St. Barnabas for church on Sunday.  Boy, I wish Ottawa was closer or gas was cheaper.  Did you know that Father apologized to Ella for not remembering her name -even though there are lots of kids and we only go a few times a year?!!!  Our last minister never remembered her name, even though we went regularly and she’s the only child in the congregation.  I hope our new minister at least attempts to learn names.

But I digress.  Sunday was Epiphany so we sang lots of familiar hymns (happy).  Also, the creche/crib was still up.

The picture didn’t capture the cool blueish light surrounding the creche.  It was beautiful.  This is in the side chapel where the priests say the Angelus at the end of the service.   Ella starts getting antsy by this time, but I’m trying to get her to join in with the Holy Mary part.

Aside from the real mess my house is in (and must stay in for the foreseeable future) I’m searching for a knitting pattern.  I have to make myself  a scarf/stole.  I have some beautiful wool (80 wool, 20 cashmere) that’s a DK.  But I can’t find a pattern that grabs me.  I’d love to do something like an Orenburg warm shawl/scarf.  I was hoping to find a pattern so I know I have enough wool.