Hard days & Harder nights.

It has been rough around here lately! Maeve is not just A handful- she is TWO handfuls. I can't look down for a minute (just to be clear I am looking down right now as I type this- but she is "napping.") without pure destruction or chaos happening. It's making me incredibly nervous to add a second one into the mix. Here are a few issues we've been having lately. ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!

-throwing her food on the floor (a HUGE ONE!)

-not saying please or thank you (although she CLEARLY can- the girl says "octopus" and she says please occasionally- but it has to be on her own terms- if you ASK her to say please or thank you she will NOT DO IT.)

-hitting, kicking, slapping, grabbing, etc.

-complete defiance- for example- she will go to her book shelf and just start pulling piles of books out. When I say "Maeve no- one at a time" she briefly stops- looks at me and then continues with the madness.

-I've been trying time outs as a form of discipline- (I don't want to yell or grab or smack her- out of fear it will condone that behavior even more) so I try to keep my voice really calm but firm and then sticking her in her high chair, wheeling it into the middle of the kitchen and then leaving her there for a minute or two. She thinks its a game. WTH?

-everything- and I MEAN EVERYTHING is a battle. From bath time, to bed time, changing her diapers, getting her dressed, brushing her hair- its all a fight. She screams, throws tantrums....

Well i think that about sums up our issues- any ideas??? :)

Also- I took her into the doc. yesterday afternoon because she's been waking up in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep unless she's in our bed and she's had a dose of motrin. Why motrin you ask? Because she isn't just up for 10-15 minutes- she is up for on average, 2-3 HOURS. And finally after exhausting every effort to get her to go back to sleep, we try motrin, thinking she might have an ear ache or headache, or something physically wrong that is preventing her from sleeping. Good news & bad news I guess at the doc- good news- she is fine- bad news- there is NOTHING we can do at this point to help her sleep better. We just have to bite the bullet and know that 2-3 hours out of most nights (about 5 nights a week) one of us will be up with her. BLAAAAAH. THIS IS HARD!!!!

Oh- something else I've been meaning to ask/update with is about this BRUISE on Maeve. It's a disappearing bruise- its there one day and gone the next- always in the same spot (the small of her back) and we've noticed this bruise for about a year now- YES, A YEAR. I had taken her in for it around November or so, was told that it was fine- no big deal and it looked like it was healing. (I wanted to say, "yes doctor the problem is it heals and then comes right back- in the SAME EXACT spot!) To say the least its freaking me out! So yesterday when I took Maeve in to get her ears checked I also asked about the bruise. I reminded Dr. Williams that I had asked her about this months ago and that's how long it has been an issue. She told me that they usually worry about a bruise that won't heal- so since her's heals and then comes back, she must be getting a new bruise every few days. My question is "HOW???????????" I've checked everything she sits in on a regular basis- her high chair, stroller, carseat- there is nothing that is sticking out that could cause a bruise. I KNOW for a fact she does not fall on her back every few days! So WHAT is causing this??? Anyone have any ideas on this??? It's not a big bruise- its about the size of a dime... and its always a browny-yellow color. Strange huh?

Oh Ma Word.

Haha that's what my friends and I used to say all the time- instead of "Oh MY word" haha get it... okay anyways. Tonight was a really, really LOW night for me. To begin with, I feel like road kill that's been run over 30 times. My head is pounding and there is so much pressure in my head I could scream, but I'm afraid if I screamed it would make it worse. My throat feels like its bleeding and my nose really IS bleeding along with draining all the yuck out of it. Anyways, I decided to transfer my prescriptions that I got today (for my bronchitis and sinus inf.) to Target because I had a coupon for a 10 dollar gift card with any new prescription transfer. Well I got to Target, after a really intense and stressful hour of teaching (i know its only an hour- but try teaching 12 four year olds while their parents are all sitting there watching you- plus I have no voice... so yeah it was bad) I got Maeve a soft pretzel and some juice at Target thinking that would keep her happy. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. It was such a horrible nightmare I'm having a hard time writing about it right now... to make a long story short, I didn't get my prescriptions OR gift card because Maeve screamed bloody murder for about 10 minutes before I decided we needed to get out of there (yes I tried to entertain her with toys, anything, etc.) On the way out she pulled off her socks and shoes, threw them on the ground... and as I picked them up and started putting them back on her feet she gave me a slap across the face. Now the slapping isn't anything new- I get slapped daily. But this was so embarrassing- it was in front of a ton of people and my very out of control child had snot covering her face from crying so hard, she was barefoot and me- looking like death warmed over, was in tears trying to get her boots on. After a good 5 minutes of pushing and prodding, I managed to get ONE boot on- the other one she kept kicking off- I just couldn't get it on well enough. SO out the door we went in the 20 degree weather with one bootless foot and a screaming kid.
So now we're in the car. I had cranked the music up for my own sanity and now Maeve is laughing. ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.... I was sooooooo mad. As soon as we got home she got a diaper change, pjs and a bottle. She's now in bed. I told her that I loved her very much but she made me very sad tonight and I hoped her behavior was better tomorrow. HAHA like she understood a word of that! :) Oh well it made me feel better.
No meds for me tonight. Oh yeah, did I mention its Ryan's late night at school? So it is ALL me on Thursdays. Since the whole Target thing didn't work out, I am going to have to wait and get my meds tomorrow.

Anyways good night and if any of you have any tips on how to get your child to stop slapping you in the face let me know. Seriously- its a problem!!!!

Princess Night

Princess night was in full swing last night at the studio. About 75 kids showed up, ranging in age from 4 to 12-ish. There was cookie decorating, tiara making, finger nail painting, make overs and dancing. What a party huh? Our own little princess got tuckered out around 7:30 (the party started at 6:30) and there wasn't much "Maeve-friendly" food. So we decided to go to Cracker Barrel for a late night dinner- BAD IDEA. Maeve was an absolute disaster- people were staring and I was shoveling food into my mouth as fast as possible so we could get out of there. Mid-way through our meal two old ladies came over and commented about how unhappy she was. I wanted to be like "YEAH thanks for pointing that out- I didn't notice!" UGH drives me crazy in those stressful moments when people decided to make comments about my unruly child.

Anyways Ryan and I are having some issues with disciplining Maeve. She is hitting, saying "no" to just about everything and she has this thing with slapping me across the face. When we tell her "NO" she laughs. Hmmm... what to do? I was told to flick her hands when she slaps me, but she then grabs my hand and laughs- like she wants to figure out how to flick too. Nothing really seems to faze her!