Megan Tietz :: SortaCrunchy

With so much thanksgiving

I joyfully and intentionally spent most of Thanksgiving and the days that followed away from the computer.  I've been craving reconnection with the flesh-and-blood-and-leaves-and-twigs world around me, and I admit to now feeling quite satiated.

This did mean, however, that I didn't quite get around to writing up The Thanksgiving Post.

Understatement alert: I have so much for which to be thankful.  Our life is far from perfect, but the abundance of amazing in my life is staggering. 

Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside. *

Absolutely.

One area of my life in which I don't think I could ever express my gratitude enough is to you all.  It is with so much smiling disbelief that I step back and look at this year for SortaCrunchy. 

When I first started using Feedburner back in April 2008, sixty-three (blessyourheart) readers subscribed to silly ol' SortaCrunchy.

This time last year?  On this very last day of November?  The approximate reader number was about 191.

Why on earth so many of you have seen fit to add me to your reader or invite me to your email inbox in 2009 is just beyond me.  Why you would come forth with resounding support for the project that is so close to my heart . . . why you would turn out in full force to come alongside the Vega family . . . why you walk with me through the controversial and the mundane . . .

It's all just too much.

I know that your time is precious.  That you would spend a few minutes with me on a (completely not daily) basis renders me as close to speechless as my loquaciousness-prone self can get.

Thank you. 

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.

Times infinity.

* closing lyric from my life hymn - Great is Thy Faithfulness

picture from D Sharon Pruitt

SortaCrunchy's November Sponsors

As November ends, I want to take one minute to say thank you to my sponsors for the month of November:

We received some samples from Boiron's Children's products line, and both Kyle and Dacey have found the Chestal cough remedy to be extremely helpful.  One dose for each of them was enough to nip some pesky coughs in the bud.  (Although the Chestal is technically for kids, Kyle really did find it to be quite effective.)  We haven't had cause to use the ColdCalm or Oscillo yet (knock on wood), but it's so nice to have it on hand!

and

Moo Cow Momma and Love for Earth were AMAZING sponsors for my Ditch the Disposables challenge.  Both women were incredibly helpful and friendly and just out-and-out lovely.  These two shops are shining examples of why I love to shop handmade.

As the holidays approach, you might be looking for reusable gift bags as a non-disposable alternative to gift wrap.  You can find reusable gift bags at both Moo Cow Momma and Love For Earth, as well tons of other items to support and encourage you on your journey towards waste-free living.  

Again, so many thanks to these sponsors!

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Would you be interested in running an ad on SortaCrunchy?  I am offering a special reduced rate for the month of December.  Email me at sortacrunchy at gmail dot com for details!

Baby Week: On Four-Month-Olds

This will be brief.  Thanksgiving preparation and all that.

As I mentioned earlier in the Baby Week series, I've so been enjoying reading the new baby chronicles at O My Family.  Allison has been very open and honest about the rocky time they are going through right now with BabyO - particularly where sleep is concerned.  It can be outrageously frustrating to go from having a baby who sleeps so soundly at night to having many wake-ups many times a night.

(I mean, not that I would know from from personal experience with my babies.  Neither of my babies slept all the way through the night until they were well into toddlerhood, but AJ has been waking up quite a bit with teething pain recently, so I can completely empathize with Allison's sleep deprivation.)

So, AllisonO, you smart, pretty, lovely mama, you - this post is for you!

Here's the deal about four-month-olds - YIKES.

So, so many changes are happening at four months that even the most steady of mamas can go into meltdown mode.  In the interest of brevity, I'm just going to point you towards what other mamas who are far, far wiser than I have said in other places:

ON SLEEP:

AskMoxie (whom I totally admire and totally want to be when I grow up) has written several times on the four-month-old sleep regression.  Here is an extensive post explaining what is happening with four-month-olds and how it affects sleep.

Here is another post at AskMoxie where she just opened up the comments for people to share their four-month-old mama woes.

And one more link to an article at kellymom regarding whether or not wakeful four-month-olds need to eat at night.  My pedi said no.  Jan Barger, LC, disagrees.

ON NURSING:

Lots of mamas of four-month-olds get frustrated because this is the phase when once super-focused, efficient nursers will begin to unlatch and look around and fiddle around at the breast. 

This is totally normal.

(And it ties into the sleep thing, too.  Alert, healthy babies who are hurdling through cognitive development are so busy taking in the world during the day, they simply haven't the time to focus on filling tummies.  Many will wake up to tank up at night.)

Finally, breastfed babies may experience some weight changes at four months.  Here is a fantastically helpful article at Light and Momentary on breastfed four-month-olds.

Allison, I hope that in some small way this is encouraging to you - if for no other reason than knowing this is all completely normal and it will pass.  I promise.  The time Dacey was four to five months old was the height of my Dark Days as a new mama.  Six months forward?  OSoBlissfull.  (sorry, couldn't resist)

(You would never know from the picture above that my Dacey Girl was such a handful at four months, would you?)

Any other words of advice or encouragement for those weathering the four-month-old days?