to market, to market...

I was in Dallas last week for market, and man, I am happy to be home. Twice a year Beth and I fly to Dallas for four days and wear holes in the bottom of our high heels walking thru market center. Initially, we thought Grace would just trek along with us, but after finding out that they don't allow strollers in the building and thinking thru how difficult it would be to keep a four month old entertained during endless, mind-numbing appointments we decided against taking her. And then Dan had a brilliant plan for me to drive with Grace instead of trying to fly with her and all of her stuff. So my mom flew in Wednesday morning and drove to Dallas with us and watched her while I was at market. (Let me just say that using a hand pump in the handicap stall twice a day is another blog post in and of itself.) I was fairly disappointed in most of what I saw. I think with the economy, lines are really dropping in quantity, so there is much less for me to choose from. I did manage to find a few things for the store that are ADORABLE and I can't wait to get them! Can you tell I'm really into expanding the baby girl department of the store???? Maternity, nursing bras, and baby seems to be keeping up with the rest of store quite nicely so I will keep investing in it as long as I can. Oh, and all the nursing mothers out there reading? (all three of you!) I just ordered a hands free pumping bra so now we can pump and blog with ease!!
Here is a preview of some things I ordered:

cute baby not included



this is all of the cutesy stuff Grace wore in her three month pics and I knew I had to find it for the store!



I will spare you all pics of the lingerie and bras I ordered.

a new smile

Grace smiles all of the time, but lately she has been flashing this new scruched up cheek and eyes and slobber faced smile that is just ridiculous and wonderful. I love it!

Pacifier Boot Camp: days 2 and 3

Well Monday night was a little better. She woke up at 11:15, then at 11:30, and at midnight I decided to let her cry it out. She did. It was rough, but only for about 20 minutes this time. Then she slept until 6:30 and after I gave her the pacifier, I had to wake her up at 9:15. Nice.
Last night was amazing and back to the normal routine. She slept from 10:45 until 6:30 and then back to sleep until 8:30. Hopefully bootcamp is over and we can go back to our regularly scheduled programming. Now that I know it works, I am not as scared to face the night!! Fingers crossed!!
Here are some pics from the last few weeks:

Operation Pacifier Bootcamp

The plan seemed simple enough: let her cry it out. Jen told me about it Sunday morning in the nursing room (which btw, is such a blessing. a flat screen to watch the service, rockers, changing table, sometimes great company, just lovely.) She told me when Garrett was about three months old they put him in the living room and let him learn to self-soothe by crying it out. She told me it would be hard, she told me I wouldn't sleep, and I may even cry myself. She was right on all accounts.
Dan and I talked about it and knew something had to be done. Grace has been an awesome sleeper since around 9-10 weeks. She wakes up once usually between 4:30 and 6:30 am wanting her pacifier and then sleeps until 8 or 9. This is what we are accustomed to. Not her latest ploy to exhaust us both to the point of tears. The last eight nights Grace has been waking up every 15-30 minutes wanting her pacifier. She stirs, we run in there, put in the plug, and the cycle repeats. At first we thought it was her stomach, maybe growing pains, maybe just her being a baby, but it all seemed to revolve around her pacifier. We decided we would try "pacifier bootcamp" and even though we knew it would be difficult, we both agreed we could be strong.
We put her down late, about 11:30, and at 12:15 I heard her stir. I put her pacifier in her mouth, thinking we should at least give her a fighting chance. At 12:28, she started stirring again, so I turned off the monitor and listened for her. She got frustrated, grunted, and then the crying started. It wasn't awful at first, I could tell she was just frustrated and I could handle that. Then the real crying started. It turned from frustrated to this awful, "how could you leave me in here by myself?" kind of cry. I started crying and Dan held my hand. After about 15 minutes I decided to go in and rub her back so she wouldn't feel totally abandoned and break into hysterics. Too late. I couldn't take it anymore and got her out of her crib, thinking I would just rock her back to sleep. No luck. We put her back in her crib and decided to let her finish crying it out. Around 1:10, she finally fell asleep and didn't wake up again until 6:30. We gave her the pacifier and she woke up again at 8:30. Much better. I am stressed about tonight and really don't want to go through it again, but I feel like we have to do this!
Any advice? I feel like a horrible mom!

if you were a fly on the wall...

you might hear this on any given night in the sinclair household:

Dan- what do you wanna watch tonight?
me- I don't know, bullriding or cops?
Dan- well, we've probably seen all of the cops episodes
me- true. bullriding it is.

Dan- are you coming to bed soon?
me- in a minute. I'm gonna go pump and blog.

I have come to realize that Grace has no chance of ever being cool. Not with us as parents.

15 weeks!

When are you supposed to stop counting weeks and say months? Grace is 3 1/2 months old, but I think I will count weeks for a long time. She is such a pumpkin, but we have had a hard few days with her. She usually sleeps through the night with one or two quick "wake-up-and-put-my-pacifier-back-in-my-mouth-or-I'm-going-to-flip-out" moments, but that is not the case this week. She has been up at least 7 or 8 times the last few nights and last night she was up every half hour. I finally nursed her about 3:45 (I can't remember the last time I fed her before 7 am) because I couldn't take it anymore. I thought that might put her back to sleep, but she was up at 4, 4:40, 4:45, 5, 5:30, etc... you get the point. So needless to say I am having a hard time staying awake this morning at work. I can't get motivated. Not to mention the fact that I opened the shop 10 minutes late because when I poured the juice into the blender for my smoothie, the bottom wasn't screwed on right and juice went all over the counter and floor. Good times. I just prayed for a "do-over" and asked God to give me the right frame of mind to enjoy and be fruitful the rest of the day. I hate those days when you are begging for them to be over by 10 am, so I have decided I am not going to have one! Here are a few updates on Grace:
-she smiles from ear to ear in the mornings when I get her out of the crib and change her diaper. Then she flaps her arms like a bird about to take flight. It is so cute!
-she is trying to "talk" and it is precious to listen to! She tried to talk in church Sunday and Dan had to take her outside because she was so loud. Usually after her 7 feeding, she is wide awake, ready to play, and full of cute sounds.
-tummy time is still pretty rough. We do a lot of pull-up/sit-ups and she hates to lay flat on her back. She strains her neck and tries to sit up whenever we lay her down. I'm sure every parent thinks so, but she seems extremely strong in the ab department for 3 months!
-she has a continuous stream of drool coming out of her mouth at all times and loves to blow bubbles. I have to admit, I hate drool, and I thought if it was my baby it wouldn't bother me as much, but I hate it. I keep a bib or burp cloth by her at all times.
Here are pics from the last two weeks.

Valentine Week with the Sinclair's

Most people may not think twice about it, but the second week of February is an exciting one for the Sinclair household. Owning a lingerie store makes for a VERY busy Valentine week and this year was even more busy with Miss Priss in our lives. Because the store does about 75% of its monthly sales in three days, I had to switch over to business owner mode and really focus my attention on the store. It was difficult to be away from Grace but for the first time I was able to be at the store all day and enjoy a huge part of my life that I have put on the back burner for awhile.
Here are some highlights of the week:
1. Dan's birthday was on Wednesday. Don't worry babe, you don't look a day over 28. Grace stayed with nana and papa while we went to Cagle's. Hooray for dates and steak and that awesome cornbread on the salad bar!
2. Grace turned 3 months on Wednesday. Attn time: slow down. please. Here are Dan and Grace on their birthdays!


3. Dan has been printing recipes off of this light cooking website for me to cook. (Funny, none of the recipes call for cream of chicken.) So Thursday night I tried a new recipe for him while he bounced Grace around in the baby bjorn and helped stir the meat. No problem until Grace decided to explode in her diaper. What they don't tell you about in the instructions is that when a baby poops in said bjorn, it has nowhere to go, thus sending the mess up onto your daughter's adorable onesie. Scissors were involved. Scissors. And yes, on top of all her turmoil, she threw up. Fun times.





4. My shop had the highest sales ever on Friday since the opening of the store in 2005!
5. Probably corralating with number four, the AJ ran a great article about the store on the front page of the Local section and we got several new customers! http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/021309/loc_387448169.shtml
6. Valentine's Day was a little slow in the morning but picked up in the afternoon. We ended up with the same sales as last year for the 13th and 14th. This is awesome considering the economy and drop in retail sales from last year.
7. Valentine's night was a bit uneventful, as it has been the last four years. I was exhausted from the week but when I came in, Dan left two sets of roses on the counter- one for me and one for Grace. He also wrote me the sweetest letter and bought me a can opener! (Before you gasp, I asked for one!) He is such a sweetie!
So forgive me if I didn't return your email, text, voicemail... I will play catch up this week, I promise! Hope everyone had a great and romantic weekend!

I know the flower is ridiculous, but...

Just look at how cute these three month pics are. My friend Alisa came over Friday to take Grace's pics and they turned out awesome. So talented! I admit the flowers are as big as her head and a bit much, but they are too fun! www.alisajoyblog.com





She was not having any of this tutu! I don't see the problem!

9 gray hairs

I am unnerved by my latest post-pregnancy finding. A patch of nine gray hairs has decided to take root in my scalp, serving as a constant reminder of how much my body has changed since Grace arrived. I got a hair cut last Thursday and pointed out the said patch to Adrienne. She said that it was totally normal and she has seen all kinds of weird things happen to a woman's hair after pregnancy. That fact doesn't make me feel better one bit, however. You see, I have had my fair share of dealings with gray hair. Actually, one in particular has been a source of contention for me and my scalp for years. I have this random hair that seems to sprout overnight right in the front of my scalp and is most undoubtedly gray. I pluck it, it stays away for awhile, then shoots out again at the most inconvenient times. The point is, I can deal with one rogue hair and its unruly agenda. But nine hairs? Ridiculous. Did this happen to anyone else?

The last twelve weeks...

Grace is 12 weeks old today. Holy cow. It is crazy to me how quickly time flies, but at the same time it is hard to remember life before her. She has dropped the sassy attitude she picked up last week, much to her father's delight, and is back to her happy, smiling self. She is enamored with the television. We watched the Office last night and she laughed and smiled the whole time. (She already has great taste!) This morning I put her up next to a mirror and she loved it. Tummy time is still rough, but we tough it out for at least 10 minutes a day, usually in 10 one minute intervals. Hope that counts. We are just having a blast with her and love being parents. Enjoy the pics!








Could she look any more like Dan in this picture? So cute