As part of the BlogMe mixer, I have the honor of interviewing the fabulous Izzy! I first “met” her many months ago when we were assigned to be partners as part of the first monthly Blog Exchange. I started reading her blog to get a feel for who my partner was, and I was hooked! She’s been a part of my daily reading list since then, and she’s one of the coolest bloggers I know. Not only does she blog, but she also does blog design as well. If you’re looking for a new blog design, check her out!

And now, on to the interview:

When did you first start blogging and why?
I started in November 2005. I had a cursory knowledge of blogging and didn’t have much interest in it. It was my husband who kept bugging me to start one. Once I looked into them and saw that you could customize them and really put your stamp on them, I became more intrigued. A personal place on the web to call your own and write your thoughts began to to seem very appealing so I started one on Blogger and here I am!

Who do you read everyday, rain or shine?
There are so many great blogs that I read all the time but I try to mix it up a little or else I get behind on my blogroll and though it’s ridiculous, it kind of stresses me out.

Why did you choose to share that piece of yourself in a photograph?
Well, the request was to take a picture of a part of myself but it’s not like there are a plethora of interesting things on my body if you’re not into scars or freckles so this is a tattoo right above my hipbone. I got it on my honeymoon, when I was young and wild and thought I’d be that way forever. Notice that it’s all blurry now. That’s what happens after 12 years and two babies. Our 12th anniversary is Sunday : )

How would you describe your writing style?
It’s a lot like how I’d talk if I took the time to weigh my words more carefully and could edit myself endlessly. So maybe I’d describe it as real-ish?

What don’t you write about? Anything considered a no-no in your book?
Though I sometimes want to, I try not to write anything bad about my spouse. I may get over it but the reading public will always remember him as the jerk that did this or that. I just don’t want to portray him as an ass even if he can be one sometimes. I’m very protective of my loved ones.

How do you feel about meeting bloggers in real life?
I like it!

Are you nervous?
Oh, hell yeah! I’m afraid of turning into a mute idiot dunce in the presence of such collective greatness.

Will you have great expectations?
I try not to. For better or for worse, real life never lives up to my very active imagination.

What do you hope to take away from the BlogHer experience?
Well, I’d like to glean some knowledge or wisdom if at all possible but beyond that, friends and good memories would make me happy.

So soon we’re going to meet each other at BlogHer. Important question: how do you party?
I used to be a Jack and Coke kind of girl way back. Then I mellowed into a Guinness drinker. But for this event, I think my strategy for not getting too wasted (it doesn’t take much) is to buy the worst tasting drinks I can come up with and nurse them. Something really gross like scotch and water…lol

What is your favorite thing that you wrote? What got a strong reaction from your readers?
I have lots of favorites (is that bad?) but “Don’t Take the Pot” tops the list because it recounts something that absolutely happened and it was just so damn funny. Not many of my posts get strong reactions but this one and this one seemed to tap into something with a few people. I’m not very controversial so I don’t have any good examples of those real hot-button kinds of posts.

Are you and your blogging persona the same person?
I think so although I’m probably a lot less articulate in real life and I’m pretty sure I say things like “Dude” and “I know, right?” just as much, if not more than I do in my blog.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
The ability to time-travel!

Thanks for the interview, Izzy! I can’t wait to meet you in person at BlogHer!

I swear I’m not writing this to brag. Aaron told me it was too amazing not to blog about, and well, he usually doesn’t get a say in what I write, so I’ll give him this one. But if I become the new mommyblogger pariah, it’s all your fault, dear.

Yesterday around 1pm, Cordelia was being a cranky monster. You know, a typical toddler. We were an hour away from her normal nap time. It was going to be a long hour.

I changed her diaper, and she was making it as difficult as possible for me. As soon as the changing of the diaper was completed, she stood up and huffed at me with a scowl on her face. I was tired of the attitude.

“Do you need to go take a nap?”

Pause. “Yes.”

Stunned look from me. “OK, go get your froggie and Blue and you can take a nap.” I figured she had no idea what she was agreeing to, and it would go no further than that.

But Cordy walked around the downstairs, gathering her Blue and her froggie, and went to the base of the stairs. I offered to carry her up, like I normally do, but she pushed me aside. Still holding her toys, which took up both arms and made it harder for her, she climbed the stairs.

Once at the top of the stairs, I expected her to run off into the guest room, which is where she likes to try to hide from me. But instead she walked right over to her bedroom door and waited for me to open it. I opened the door, and she walked in.

She waited at the CD player for me to put her sleep music on (yes, she still has a CD I play for her at nap and bedtime). Once the music was playing, she walked over to her crib, still holding her toys, and waited for me to lift her into the crib.

I put her in her crib, and she laid down. I left the room, shutting the door behind me, and walked down the stairs. At the base of the stairs, I stopped and listened to the monitor: not a peep from her. And standing there, I asked out loud:
“What just happened here?”

She slept for nearly 2 hours.

My 22 month old daughter put herself down for a nap.

I’d like to say I’ll soon be publishing my book of sleep training tricks for all of you, but she did this herself. I have no secrets to share, really. She used to be a horrible sleeper, who woke 2-3 times a night, refused naps, and screamed like a banshee at bedtime.

I guess I do have one secret to share: bedtime is non-negotiable, and always has been. Once she’s down for the night, she’s not coming out of that bedroom. When she would cry when put to bed, we’d let her cry for 10 min., then go in to check on her, but not take her out of the room. Once it’s bedtime, she’s there for the night. Repeat 10 minutes later, and another 10 min, later if needed. Usually she was asleep before the end of the first 10 minutes. I know many feel crying it out is cruel, and I can say it wasn’t easy and isn’t the only way to do things. But she knew we were right there, and if she really needed us, we’d be in within 10 minutes. It worked for us.

Now she doesn’t even cry – she seems happy to go to bed. I don’t know if she just accepts bedtime now, or if she’s finally developed her mother’s love of sleeping. Either way, she blew my mind yesterday when she put herself to bed for her nap.

This time next week I’ll be doing a final check that I’ve packed everything and getting ready for my 1pm flight to San Jose. I don’t know what makes me more queasy – the thought of getting on a plane (terrified of flying) or the thought of being surrounded by the top women in blogging – my role models.

Last night I got to have a practice run of how it will go, only on a smaller scale. I found out that Kristi from Life with Aveline has a monthly meet-up with a group of women she went to college with. Turns out, many of them read my blog! I was invited to this month’s meet up, and even though I was a little scared of outing myself and looking like a big dork, I accepted.

It’s a little strange showing up to the restaurant and telling the hostess, “Yes, I’m here to meet up with a group of women I’ve never met in person. Can you tell me where they are?”

But I soon found the group: Kristi, Laura from Cheerios and Chickens, Laura’s friend Bonnie and her guest Tammie, and then my two blog stalkers Emily and Chris. (I say stalkers because they’re regular readers but don’t have their own blogs and never comment. Maybe this will make them come out of lurkdom.)

The result? I had a great time! It was a little unnerving at first to be the stranger among a group of women who have known each other for years, but soon we were chatting away about topics from our three blogs, discussing other blogs we read, and sharing fun stories of our lives and those we know.

Stranger than anything were the coincidences we discovered. Laura did her student teaching just up the road from where I live. Emily used to work right across the street from where I used to work, and Chris is also a university student advisor, just at a different university. It was eerie.

I hope I wasn’t too different from what they expected. I’ll admit I suffered from my common nervous habit of not being able to shut the hell up. Remember how I’m an introvert unless put in a situation that requires me to open up? I kept talking and talking and talking. I had ordered a drink, hoping the alcohol would mellow me out, but no, I just kept talking. Maybe that means I’m getting my alcohol tolerance back, which could be good for BlogHer. (Or maybe the Rusty Bucket just makes weak drinks?)

Despite my motormouth, I did manage to learn a lot about each of them as well, and I felt like they were old friends. We all have children close in ages. Chris has a brilliant little boy, who is already pooping in the potty at 15 months old! (Cordy prefers to put her toys in her potty.) Laura is the superwoman raising toddler twins with the awesome new teaching job, and Emily has one of the cutest little girls I’ve ever seen (the fuzzy head is to die for). Emily looked amazingly good for having had sinus surgery a week ago. I had sinus surgery once, and I certainly wasn’t out for dinner and drinks with friends a week later.

Kristi is currently 32 weeks pregnant with a little girl who was breech at her last doctor’s visit. As the mother of a breech girl, I gave her belly a strong talking to, ordering her to be good to her mother and turn head down. Hopefully she won’t be stubborn like Cordelia. If she is, well, I’m sorry Kristi – buy lots of earplugs for the rest of the family.

It was a fabulous get together, and I left feeling relaxed and renewed. Hopefully I’ll be invited back, because I really enjoyed meeting all of them. Besides, I’m the only one who knows where the all-male strip club is in town.

I’ve been interviewed! As part of the BlogMe mixer, Dana grilled me with some great questions.

Check it out here.

Recently, Aaron and I have been debating whether we should convert Cordy’s crib to a toddler bed or not.

Part of me wants to move to this next step of her development, letting her have the freedom to get out of her bed if she wants. After all, she’s growing up, and I’m sure she’d appreciate a little freedom. Besides, it’s only a matter of time before she starts to figure out how to climb the thing.

The other part of me wants her to stay in her crib forever. Or maybe at least until she’s 18.

Why?

Because my daughter currently has no sleeping problems.

Around 7:30pm, we change Cordy into her PJs, and then she sits in the recliner with Aaron and they read board books. (Our previous routine of giving her a bottle was retired this month when we boxed up the bottles.) She holds her froggie toy and her Blue’s Clues beanie, and helps daddy turn the pages and counts whatever is on the page.

Then, when books are done, he tells her, “Now it’s time for bed,” and as he carries her upstairs, he recounts her day for her. He puts her in her crib, tells her goodnight, and closes the door. At that point, she either lies down and goes right to sleep, or quietly talks to her stuffed animals and then falls asleep. She then wakes up generally between 6:30 and 7:00am.

As for naps, they’re just as easy. Around 2pm I tell her its nap time, carry her upstairs, put her in her crib, and close the door on my way out. Again, she sometimes talks for a little while (not complaining – just chattering to her toys), or she falls right to sleep and sleeps for 1-2 hours.

Yes, you all hate me now. I understand. Although I could point out that I paid my dues when she was younger. Four months of colicky behavior with another 12 months of resisting naps and night wakings has earned me my Sleepless Mommy merit badge (dude, we really need mommy merit badges). I should be allowed to enjoy my sleep now.

(Of course, we’re now considering #2, which would reset everything. Damn.)

So the thought of disturbing her sleep routines by switching to a toddler bed is a terrifying thought. Being able to leave her bed might be so new and exciting that she would decide to not sleep, ending up as a cranky, overtired toddler each day who would then fight sleeping each time so she could play in her room.

Of course, the side note to all of this is that we would also have to baby-proof her room before the toddler bed. Yes, of all of the rooms in the entire house, hers currently poses the greatest danger to her life. Aside from the crib, it’s a baby death trap. We’ve never used her room for anything more than her crib, so there is a myriad of junk laying around including tools used to put all her furniture together, the outlets are still uncovered (except behind the crib), and the cord to the window blinds hangs low to strange a curious toddler. The room needs work.

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the matter. When did you make the switch, or when do you plan on making the switch? How easy was it? Any tips or tricks to share?