We Got This!

12-7

Last Monday, Matt had to travel back to Canon City for the week to attend a training. He left around noon on Monday and got back late afternoon on Friday. I ran Charlie to the doctor on Monday morning to get one last shot before dropping him off at school. I then ran home to pick up Hattie to bring her with me to the Mom's Connection Christmas brunch. Molly and Alanna stayed home to soak up some Daddy time before he left. The brunch was really fun - and success! We made it in the door without being such a clown act! Then again, I only had Hattie with me... When I got home after the brunch, we said goodbye to Matt for the week. My motto for the week: challenge accepted!

Charlie wanted to hold Hattie before we left for his doctor appointment. Can't say no to that!

Alanna is so quick to lay down and play with or talk to or just be by Hattie. Hattie has the best older brother and sisters!

My mom sent out this Christmas craft kit a month ago. It's all felt so the pieces stick to the Christmas tree. In theory, anyway. :) I believe this is the only time we actually had all of the pieces on the Christmas tree! We had fun assembling the tree together

With Matt gone all week, I knew that I would be a better mother if I could somehow have an hour to myself every evening without staying up super late to get it. Combine that with the fact that Hattie had an exceptionally gassy and fussy day on Monday and I had a great chance to get her to bed a bit earlier. For her first four weeks, we were putting her to bed around 11:30ish. Then we backed up her projected bedtime to 10:30ish, and last week I upped it to 9:30ish. It actually worked really well. She is sleeping such a long stretch (like a 7-9 hour stretch at a time!) that there's really no reason I can't be putting her to bed around 9. With Hattie in bed earlier last week, I was able to get my hour of time to myself to either take care of things around the house or work on the blog. Either way, it's a chance for me to unwind! Plus, I feel like it takes a bit of pressure off during the day. Like I said, I know myself well enough to know that I would be a better and more patient mother if I could have an hour alone every evening. :)