New Digs (Kind Of)

So we might be getting somewhere on this whole going to sleep thing: last night Lily only fussed for about an hour before drifting off to sleep. We've been in this routine of letting her cry until her screams break me down, then I hold her until she's calm enough to put down and we repeat until she falls asleep. Last night I put her down at 9 and she was soooo tired so I thought she'd stay asleep. But no... 45 minutes later she was crying. I thought she might not be tired after all, so we tried to read some books and play but she was too tired and cranky.

We finally put her back in the crib at around midnight and she cried for about 15 minutes and fell asleep. I'm trying to keep her awake for longer periods in the morning and between naps so we can move the whole process forward by an hour or two so we'll see... I think she's starting to learn that when she cries, I hold her so I'm trying to be more firm about not responding when she's in the crib. All of you parents out there know how difficult this is. There's something so wrong about hearing your baby cry and not responding. One minute I'm firm and telling Matt "We need to let her cry" and the next I'm saying things like "I'll just go in and give her her paci." The most recent episode of Modern Family really struck a chord with us!

Lily still LOVES her candy jar. Kim commented that she looks like a boy in this outfit that Matt assembled. Matt's retort was that she's got little hair and no hips so unless she's only in pink, she's going to look like a boy. I don't really mind because she looks so much like Brian when he was a baby.

Rocking one of her new Christmas outfits. Lily had a video chat with Grandma Judy last night that lasted over 30 minutes! I've never seen Lily that interested in the computer before but she really seemed to remember my Mom and looked right at the screen while she was smiling and gurgling.

Our lease is up on May 1st and although I'm very excited to get some more space, I will definitely miss our awesome city view of Broadway.

This weekend has gotten off to a good start- I was able to work from home yesterday and get mad cleaning done in between work emails and phone calls. Matt and I are both generally good about not accumulating "stuff" but I am on a mission from Unclutterer.com right now. I'm being absolutely merciless: if we haven't used it in 2009, it's not essential and needs to go. I just feel weighed down by crap that we don't need. I have this urge to simplify my life in every regard. Since most of the big-picture things are somewhat out of my control right now, I'm settling on changing the things I can control- the clutter and our consumption habits being the main ones.

I think we're pretty good about our spending to begin with but I also think it's good to take a step back and look at what we need versus what we want. My Dad and I talked about this a bit over the holidays- it's so hard to stick to the needs when you're constantly bombarded with the wants. Every website, magazine or newspaper is filled with ads and articles that try to convince us that we need way more than we actually do. I find myself thinking ridiculous things like "this [fill in the blank] will make my [____] collection complete; I will never want another [_____] again so I am justified in buying this one." It's a lesson in idiocy since I've had that conversation with myself endless times.

My subscriptions to Vogue & Glamor just ran out and I'm actually relieved because I find that the less I know about what's "in" the less I care whether I have what's "in." And I'm trying to focus on making the clothes I already have work for me instead of adding new ones to the pile. I really want a pair of slouchy rolled boyfriend jeans and that pair of jeans would make my jean collection complete and I would never want another pair of jeans again... but I am going to try to roll an existing pair of jeans and see if it looks at least somewhat comparable. I knew that having a baby would put an end to discretionary spending but it's still no fun. I just keep reminding myself that the rush of having something new always fades and you're forever chasing the dragon of fashion.