Radical Mama Me: New Camera! And Another Wonderful Day! :)

*EDIT* I mention in this blog post the effectiveness of Bach's Rescue Remedy to aid with settling down for sleep at night. I just want to express that during this time, stress was a common daily factor. Now that I am feeling better, I want to say that I think RR is ideal for those crazy and stressful days, but not just as a general bedtime routine.**

Today was good. It did not go the way yesterday went as I had hoped, however I see why, it makes sense, and it is totally okay.
A lot of what I believe worked so well with sleep patterns yesterday was that I intentionally set aside Quiet Time, both for T and myself. Surrounding this was thought and timing. I set this time aside after lunch, a time which has been a usual nap time(at last!). I explained that it was time for a quiet time, suggested what quiet things she could do, and stated that she was free to do what she wanted with this time, while the intention was to take some space and be calm. It worked wonderfully.
Today, we had a busy morning visiting a farm, a nursery and a grocery store. This morning easily became an afternoon as well, and we did not return home until about 1:15 pm. I pushed the little monkey too far, and she fell asleep not long before our bicycle rode up to our house.
I think that if I am going to use Quite Time as a down-time in place of naps, I need to be mindful of her needs timing wise for it to work. I need to be consistent and watch her cues.
The long and the short of it is that I feel it reasonable to expect a bit of a nap on Wednesdays(which I want to be our regular shopping day, which means a bicycle ride to the farm stand and then the green grocer down the road). On other days, however, I would like to mindfully incorporate the Quite Time as I did yesterday.
So I am excited!

Oh, and having mentioned the Nursery, we finally picked up some lovely plants for the house! Now to set T up for caring for them! Photos to come! ^.^

Today's Nurse Report:
In the early morning hours(she crawled into bed with me just after I went to bed last night) she nursed quite possibly every 20 mins towards the end of it, until finally awaking herself and me. That felt a bit tiring, esp. since there was nursing through the night. It was okay though.
She nursed back to sleep as she woke groggy when I placed her in bed from her bike seat.
She nursed to sleep.
It was manageable and good, though I could live without the hour early half-wake of nurse-nurse-nurse.

Bed time went alright, though later than I would like(for my own reasons of space and time to myself/my own decent bedtime). There is one lovely thing I've done for the past two nights now to encourage relaxation for my little one. During her bath I have given her a few drops of Bach's Rescue Remedy (homeopathic flower essence) on the tongue. I would recommend this for winding down at the end of stressful days. Tonight I also added Lavender essential oil(a favorite around here) and a dab of coconut oil(for lovely oiled skin, and heat retention during the night). I also would like to begin the ritual of post-dinner tea drinking. I found her an amazing little cast-iron tea pot which I am beside myself about! I am thinking Lavender, Chamomile and Lemon Balm. (We have Lemon Balm growing in the garden that we dug up and brought over from our last house and she LOVES it. She loves to visit it, to water it, to pick and eat it. She has often talked/asked about Lemon Balm water, so this will be a welcome drink, I think.)

And some exciting news!! My memory stick came in today and does in fact work!!
And so, with no further adieu, my photographs from today! (I will add more tomorrow. I would like to find out how to upload them without having to wait so long. I tried uploading 5 at once and none of them ended up working. Any suggestions??)