The Perfectly Imperfect Kingdom : New Projects and a Daddy's Girl

Since Joli was born, every time Joe has gone on a trip so have we. Which means we have gone on more than seven trips in the past year in which we have had to drive or fly more than several hundred miles away. So during our last trip I decided that we were going to take a break. We were going to do something new and stay home, get to know people in our area, maybe get involved in some activities. The problem with this is what I have suspected for some time now; when we stay home, Joli knows Joe is gone! To most this may seem like a "duh" statement, but to me it has had a huge impact on my everyday life. We have had a few times when Joe has left and we didn't leave for another week or so, and during those times Joli became much more crabby and clingy. This time she is older, and it is much different. Although she is still clingy, there is now a whole new demension that absolutely breaks my heart. She is now able to communicate what she wants. It took a few nights to realize that Joe wasn't just working late, but last night, I'm pretty sure it sunk in.

Anytime the phone would ring Joli would put her hand up to her ear and say "Hi, Dada. Hi, Dada". Then if I didn't give her the phone she would cry "Hi, Dada!". I tried to explain that Dada wasn't on the phone, so she went and stood at the top of the stairs and pointed downstairs saying "Dada, Dada, Dada". When I explained that Dada wasn't in the garage either, she started hanging on the gate and crying for Dada. So I tried to comfort her and let her know that Dada would be back really soon and he's just working. We have a tape of him reading books to her so I talked her into watching Dada on the television. After the fifth time I thought maybe we should get involved in something else. But when I turned off the t.v., Joli started crying and pushing all the buttons, screaming "Dada". I gathered her up and took her out into the living room to read some books, which distracted her long enough to calm down.

A little while later I put Joli to bed, and although she was still a little upset, she was exhausted and need to sleep. After she fell asleep I searched for a picture of Joe that was fairly close-up and managed to find one of him and Joli when she was just two days old. I wrapped it in contact paper a few times and put it in her crib with her. Even though she didn't get to see it last night, she was overjoyed this morning.

This is when she first discovered the picture. She immediately started saying "Dada, my Dada, Dada". I talked to her about how he's holding baby Joli and how much he loves her, and she just kept saying "Dada".

Eventually I got her to hold it up for me to take a picture. She was so happy to have her Dada.

Joli carried her picture with her all morning until naptime. Then I layed it next to her in crib and told her that Daddy is with her and he loves her. I hoping this helps a little, but the older she gets the harder it gets on both of us. Joe has a hard time with it too. When we drop him for a trip Joli knows if he's just going to work or leaving. She does the whole lip poked out and tiny tears rolling down her cheeks thing. Joe and I usually are holding back tears just seeing her so sad. Last time we dropped him off he didn't even want to take her out of the car, so he wouldn't have to see her upset. I told him if he does that then every time we drop him off for work she's going to think he's going to leave again, and it won't be any easier in the long run. So we got her out and he held her for awhile, and thankfully she didn't cry this time. It's horrible, but I've learned to deal with it and I don't get upset anymore. But how can you help a baby understand and learn not to get upset. And do I want her to be like that? It would be easier on me, but I love that Joli has such a strong bond with her Daddy, and I would much rather deal with my mess of a child, then to have her not even notice. I suppose it's just another part of the package.

In order to keep Joli somewhat occupied, I've made sure we have at least one activity planned outside the house each day. One of the days was to go to Target and get a rod to hang Joli's curtains. While we were there I went through the dollar section and found this cute little coat hanger that I'm using to put all of Joli's hats on.

Then last night I decided to do a project that I've been planning for quite a while. My friend Karina gave me the idea to use some of Joe's old cami's to make a diaper bag. It was fairly easy and I just used the top of the pants so I could use the pockets. I used a leg to make straps and then lined with a red with white star fabric. I used one of the side pockets that didn't go onto the bag and took off the button strip. Then I sewed one side onto the back and use the button on the front to pull it together. It turned out pretty cute and it holds a ton of stuff.

There are also gathers in the back that I can pull together or loosen up depending on how much stuff I have. Plus the name tag was perfect!

I also came up with a solution to my curtain issue. I had some extra scraps of the brown fabric that I used in the back so I just used those as ties. It's way cute and because it's such a slick fabric Joli can easily pull them off if she wants to.

Another thing we did this week was to go to the farmers market. I was very excited to get some more flowers. Unfortunately I think they were bunched too tight because some of them looked a little ragged. But I put them in with the lowers from last week and it turned out fairly nice.