Best site ever

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf576594.tip.html

That's the best site ever in terms of information for skunk smell removal. Let's just say that there's at least one that's set up a den under our front steps (concrete steps.. it dug under it). I wasn't in a huge panic to get rid of the skunk because I didn't think it would spray near its home. It was a nuisance to be afraid of taking the garbage out.. We didn't have a confirmed sighting of the skunk until the night before last.

But now that I've read more about skunks (more than I've ever wanted to know).. the female will sometimes spray a male if she's not interested. I suspect this is what happened.

Now the problem is the smell in the house. I don't know how to get rid of it. I'm trying lots of different things, but the smell is coming from the front of the house, under the front steps.. likely inside the skunk's den. I think it's seeping in through the walls.

So this is what I've done. I've put out bowls of vinegar, I'm burning scented candles, I'm boiling coffee, I'm baking coffee grounds and cinnamon in the oven at 250, I've got all the windows open, I've got a fan going. I'm very, very sensitive to smell so the only reason why I haven't run from the house screaming is a pair of swimmer's nose plugs (while sitting next to an open window). Thank goodness. Before I thought of the nose plugs, I was shaking from the smell. I had sat myself and my infant daughter beside an open window. It's pretty cold outside.. close to freezing.

Strangely enough, my husband doesn't seem to be too affected by the smell. I wish that I didn't have my super olfactory senses. It's good for detecting spoilt milk better than anyone I know, but this is ridiculous.

What am I doing about the skunk? Previously, we put mothballs in the den and the skunks left. My husband got some heavy wire to block off the opening and covered it all with lots of gravel. That was the one side that was easily accessible. The other side, he put gravel down it, but it was difficult because of the roots of a bush. I thought that would be enough. At the time, it was the middle of winter and my husband asked if he should pour concrete down it. It was very cold, so I told him not to and that we could do it in the spring. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb!

So that's our plan. As soon as they/it leaves, we will pour concrete down the side. Might also dig up the other side and pour concrete down that side, too. I don't know. I don't want to have to go through this again.

It's so bad that my plans are to go live with my sister temporarily. This will be a huge pain because it will mess up both my kids' sleep. I don't know. Maybe the house just needs a day to air-out.

I'll be heading to the store to pick up some vapor-rub to put under my nose. I can't live like this.

So in love

I'm so in love with my son. He's adorable. I could do without the night time wakings and the tantrums, but he's just the sweetest little boy. After a tantrum, he'll seek you out for an extended hug. Same with the night time wakings. And I gotta tell you, he gives the best hugs in the world. There's something about the strength of the little arms holding your neck that's the most precious feeling in the world. And then there's the funny little things that he does. If you've got your face cuddling his head and you lift your head before he's done with his hug, he'll pull your face down.

It's a pure, innocent love that's simply intoxicating.

Even the times when he's not cooperating, it's very cute. You can almost see his toddler mind working. There is no malice, no negativity behind his intentions. He wants to play, he wants to laugh, he wants to feel loved, he wants to feel important, he wants to feel independent. It's all very sweet and endearing.

I'm shocking myself with this sudden change in attitude. Previously, I found his tantrums exhausting. I'm not sure what's happened, but for the last 24 hours, I've felt nothing but love for the little guy. Maybe it's baby-sitting my niece that's changed things. He used to get irritable starting around 4 or 5 in the early evening, but we've been picking up my niece from daycare at that time and the two of them have a blast until it's time to go to bed.

Maybe it's because I see him interact with her. He's totally in love with her. He'll share everything with her. He follows her around and imitates her. She, being older and wiser, tries to "teach" him things. Mostly, she'll read to him and point out the names of items and tries to get him to repeat after her. She also goads him into doing things that he shouldn't. It's sweet watching them play.

Terrible two's aren't so terrible

Tonight, I saw a side of two year old's that make them far from terrible. Okay, they've got those tantrums and they're impossible to reason with. The other day, my son threw a tantrum because he couldn't defy gravity. What can you do about that one?

As a 2 year old, my son's intentions are completely pure. His motives are clear, for the most part.

Unfortunately, my 7 month old has bed time needs that I can't ignore anymore.. so perhaps I'll post more on this later.

More sleep training

I went and tried the sleep training again. This time, it worked better. Last night, she was put to bed at 8 and woke at 10 and midnight. Then she slept until 7:30, when my son woke her. Unfortunately, my son woke up at 1 and I didn't get back to sleep until 2am, but I still got a nice 5 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep. And I got to do a bit of reading... something that I've missed since she was born.

Today, we're sticking around home because both kids have colds and it's snowing. I didn't feel like working so hard to get them out. What's the etiquette when your kids have colds, anyway? Do you still take them out? My kids got their colds from someone who didn't keep their kids at home.. so I keep them home for a week until they're better and then go out for 3 days (how long it takes for symptoms to appear) and repeat?

They've got runny noses and my son has a mild cough in the evenings. No fever, no crazy green stuff coming out of his nose. Just clear runny noses. No changes in behavior. They're both still active and eating well. I'm not that worried about them when other kids around them are sick. It seems like if you keep kids home when they're sick, you're going to be home a lot. Kids are constantly sick, right? I had taken them out yesterday to a parenting group and (maybe it was my guilty conscious, but) it felt like the person doing childcare wasn't impressed. It was probably me feeling guilty. What childcare person doesn't accept the fact that children are sick for most of the time? They're kids. They share toys, they touch their faces, they eat from each other's plates.

Sleep training

We tried the sleep training, but it was a disaster. We held strong and she eventually fell asleep in her crib. And woke an hour later. Again, we did the same thing. Again, she work after an hour. By this time, 4 hours had passed and I was getting really tired. I also felt really bad because we were sleep training her at 6 months, whereas we didn't sleep train my son until he was over a year old. So after she woke again, I just took her to bed with me.

When we used sleep training on my son, it wasn't so bad. He was over a year old and no longer nursing. Both my husband and I were tired of having him sleep with us because he would kick us throughout the night. So we were all ready to have him move to a crib. He cried a lot of the first night, but by the third night, he had accepted that the crib was the place where he'd be sleeping. It's been fairly smooth ever since.

With my daughter, there are a number of issues. She's just over 6 months, so she's still quite young. She's still nursing. She's getting better at eating solids, but it will be a while before she derives a majority of her calories from solids. She's very attached to her soother. And she's got a cold right now. And I hadn't realized that she had a cold, so I got her immunized, so she's suffering from a fever, too. It doesn't sound like now would be a good time to start the sleep training. While I'd really like to get a full nights' sleep, I'm not convinced that I'll get that even if she were sleep trained.

Last night was worse than usual. I went to bed with her at 11pm. She had been napping in her crib. At 1am, my son woke up and was crying. Soothing him took about 30 minutes. Then, another 15 minutes to sooth my daughter back to sleep. I lost track of time at this point because I was so tired, but I woke up another 2 or 3 times between 2-6am. At 6am, my son and my niece woke up and were running around the house. My sister slept over, so she entertained the two older kids and I woke up an hour later at 7. Wow.. that's not a lot of sleep.

Attachment

It's been very different this time around. My second child is much more attached to me than my first ever was. I'm not sure if it's a boy/girl or firstborn/subsequent child thing. On the one hand, it's provided me with a level of baby adoration that I never had with my first. Sorry, you can't be ga-ga over a baby when it hurts every time you feed the little dear. Even then, I still have fond memories of my son.

So my little one is 6 months old. She doesn't seem too interested in solids so I've been trying, but I haven't been pushing it. I only weigh her when she gets her immunization or when she goes to see a doctor, so I'm not exactly sure how much she weighs. My arm/shoulder hurts more than it did a month ago, so I suspect that she's putting on weight just fine.

I had been considering sleep-training her before Christmas. My husband felt bad for my son because he's the only one who has to sleep alone and he didn't want my son to feel like he's been singled out. As well, we only have the 2 bedrooms on the main floor, so my daughter's crib is out in the living room. The plan is that we'll sleep train her in the living room and once she's sleeping most of the night, we'll move her into the room with her brother.

When we used sleep training on my son, the situation was pretty intense. He was sleeping with us and would wake up every 3 hours to kick someone, not intentionally, but it still hurts to get kicked. Not only that, but he insisted on sleeping on people.. his father in particular. So that's how we slept for over a year. My husband finally had enough and decided to sleep train my son. It wasn't bad. The first night was bad, but after that it's been fine. Even when we moved him to a toddler bed, he was fine. He was definitely ready to sleep on his own when we started the sleep training.

My daughter is a different story. She's 6 months and seems so small. She's so attached to me and I'm not sure whether I'm ready to risk losing that attachment. She's never slept very well on her own. Some nights, I'm ready to sleep train her, but other nights, it's not so bad. I know that if I wait until I reach the end of my rope, that's likely not going to happen. My daughter lets me sleep 4-5 hours at a stretch if I'm with her. That's enough sleep to keep me going and not drive me insane.

Postpartum depression

I went through (am going through) some mild postpartum depression. I suspect that many mom's go through it, too, but perhaps don't recognize the symptoms. I was lucky enough to have someone tell me a bit about it and to admit that she went through it, so I was more open to admitting that I had the symptoms.

I went to a drop-in today and another mom (who I had been acquainted with during my previous maternity leave) was going through something similar. It's nice to have someone to talk to.. even if you don't get any solutions or plans-of-action. It's nice to know that you're not completely alone.

For me, the PPD partially stems from a feeling of distance between me and my husband. Another part was the lack of sleep and lack of exercise. And of course, top all of this with feelings of isolation. But, like network troubleshooting, finding out what the problem is more than half the work. When stigma is added to the mix, people tend to brush off their feelings instead of dealing with them.