all night long

Yea, 3 days now we are 'sleeping' through the night. The squeaker has decided that he eats enough during the day to make it until morning (like 6:30 or so) to eat. The ideal situation would be not waking up during that 'sleep' time... but we can't expect to have everything! He wakes several times in the morning (maybe a habit) but doesn't eat... ahhhh! Also, that 9 hours of not eating comes at a price: fussiness for about 2 hours before he goes to bed for the night... which just happens to be as we are putting his big brother down for the night. Oh well, it will work itself out eventually, I am sure of it!

Christmas pics

I was really really really bad at taking pictures on Christmas. And once I figure out how to work dropshots.com, I will have some video for your viewing pleasure (don't hold your breath). Anyway, here are a couple of pics from Christmas morning. i don't have any pictures of christmas afternoon when Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt and Uncle were here. :( Bad picture-taking mommy!

My kid's a genius!

The Little Man was playing with model magic (from Crayola) and he rolled out some snakes all by himself. Then, he placed them on the table to make shapes. I asked him what he made, and he looked at it, then said, "A House"... I think he might be the smartest 2 year old around!

Little Man and Squeaker

3 days to go...

Exciting times ahead. We are looking forward to a present-filled Christmas. We have had no difficulty covering up our tree skirt with presents. (and Santa hasn't even come yet!) Packages have arrived daily at our house from loving grandparents, aunts and uncles, and dear friends... We really have a lot of gifts to open. It is a good think that Daddy's family is coming over Christmas day rather than us traveling. If we waited until all the presents are open, it might take a day and a half. (especially since the Little Man must play with each present as it is opened!)

I just hope we are well by then. The Little Man has been sick all week and is getting stir crazy. He is rambunctious and mischievous and full of energy. I envy those parents with kids who are wiped out when sick, because that certainly doesn't happen here! Of course, it could be the medication's doing... who knows. I am afraid that we are going to have to head back to the pediatrician for the 3rd time this week, since his wheezing is really not improving... and we are tired of waking him at night to do his nebulizer -- just when he started sleeping all night again (after taking the paci away)! Anyway, as long as it doesn't turn into RSV or pneumonia, we should be okay.

*yes, the tree is slightly crooked*

sleep anyone?

Well, yesterday we had to skip playgroup cuz the little man was running a fever, snotty and coughing like he smokes a pack a day... He wanted to be held all day, but so did the squeaker... that was until they both slept for a couple hours... at the same time... Since the squeaker does nto usually take long daytime naps, i was not expecting this free time, and probably would have been smart if i had taken a nap. I, however, was sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting for either one of them to wake up at any time. Well, once they both woke up, the both wanted to be held all afternoon again. Daddy couldn't have come home soon enough for my liking.

Anyway, the squeaker was up all night eating, and the little man was up all night coughing. It is now 6:30 am and we are all up for the day (not really liking this, however) and since the little man still has a fever, we are headed to the doctor. :( fun times all around. I am not sure how well I do on 3 hours sleep... guess we'll find out. I wish it was my birthday, then i could blow out my candles and wish for 2 sets of arms and an extra lap.

Happy Holidays

Before we put up a tree, we had a pros and cons list going... and in the end, how much damage could a 2-year old really do with a tree? Apparently Daddy rode his trike into the Christmas tree one year... but, we don't have trikes in the house, so no worries there. :) We went with the tree despite our list of cons, because there were WAY more pros... like this one:



What you don't see is that all the ornaments were placed on one of 3 branches. We don't win any awards for symmetry this year. :) This was like 45 min of entertainment, right here. Of course, it has since been several hours of entertainment of Mommy explaining that we look at the pretty decorations and ornaments but we can't take them off until after Santa Claus comes on Christmas. I am not sure if he just enjoys hearing this over and over, or if he is being 2, but it gets less entertaining each time. :)

Quick update

So, it took 5 days... that's it, 5 days. Starting with Saturday's nap, we are back to normal. The Little Man is back to 2 hour(ish) naps and sleeping through the night. We are so proud! He hasn't even asked for the paci and will tell you that he is a big boy and that they are in the trash. Yeah for big boys!!!

The Squeaker is doing great. We had some feeding issues a couple weeks ago that went away like magic one day - and for fear that I would jinx myself, I haven't commented on the turnaround. But, we had a couple bad days this weekend and we are back to normal now -- which includes sleeping like 6 hours (or more) at night. :) He is apparently growing, however, and we are eating every 2 hours during the day. that really limits productivity around our house!

Time to change diapers, I guess.

Sleep... Need. More. Sleep...

So far, the paci has been gone for all of 3 days and the Little Man hasn't asked for them at all. He goes to bed with a little bit of fussing, but all in all, is pretty good. The only problem is that he wakes up at night or early in the morning and can't get back to sleep. So, instead of the 7 week old waking up (which he isn't for the most part), the 2 year old is! We just can't win. We are currently in a downward spiral of being overtired and that making it hard to get to sleep... I hope that resolves itself ASAP.

Lack of sleep makes you do crazy things

I am just going to jump straight to the crazy things, and skip the lack of sleep part -- wait, no I am not, I need to vent! So, the Squeaker, who is 6 weeks old, has been doing such a wonderful job of sleeping... from day 1. He usually sleeps between 4-6 hours in a row at night. 2 nights ago, it was 7! Yeah for the Squeaker!!! (and for his parents who were more well rested yesterday than usual). We should have known that the next night wouldn't be as wonderful. i am not sure why, but our feeding schedule was off just enough to mess me up completely. I fed the squeaker at 1 and, since he has to be upright for 45 min or so after he eats, I ended up sleeping upright on the couch until 5:45am. That was not my intention - I had asked Daddy to wake me at 2:30 so I could put squeaker down and get some real sleep... that didn't happen, for some reason... :( I fed squeaker again around 6 (yea for 15 min of horizontal sleep) and was pretty much up for the day at that point. Oh, I take that back. I slept from 7:00-8:00 uninterrupted. woo hoo. So, that whole paragraph was just about our youngest child.

Our oldest, the Little Man, decided to wake up every couple hours (he is worse than an infant) crying for his paci. Now, granted he is 2 and still requires our assistance for most things, I feel that he is capable of looking around in his bed for his paci if it falls out... it is usually sitting right next to him! After the 5th time getting up with him, I had decided that the paci was more of a hinderance than a help at this point. (yah, i know, i am smart, i have an advanced degree so that i can figure these things out.) The Little man has been super cranky for a week and a half, but shows no symptoms of being sick. I did feel a molar coming in, so i have been giving him tylenol periodically and assuming it is teething. I figured, if he is miserable anyway, and we are tired anyway, and we are getting up repeatedly anyway, why not... GET RID OF THE PACI?!?!

If we were smart parents, we would have done this long ago, but seeing as how we are not, and the advance degree didn't cover pacifier use, we didn't. Tonight was the first night. We have been talking about getting rid of them for a while (like a month) - "One day, we are going to get rid of those pacis and you will get to sleep in your big boy bed without them!" All these comments were taken in without protest. Tonight during dinner, we had the same discussion and talked about throwing them in the trash and maybe using something else to replace it - like another blanket. The Little Man thought it was a great idea. So, after his bath and jammies, he climbed in bed grabbed his paci and sucked on it all the way to the trash, where he didn't need any coaxing to take it out and place it in. On the way back to his room, we talked about how the trash man would come in the morning and the pacis would be gone, but that it was okay, cuz he was a big boy. this was greated with, "yah, i a big boy". We went into his Little Brother's room and stole one of those animal head loveys to take to bed instead. He got into bed and was quiet for like 20 min - we thought we were home free. After about 30-45 min of crying and needing extra hugs and time with mommy, he has been quiet for like an hour! I think we are good! woo hoo, the paci is GONE! and the trash man is coming tomorrow morning and we can't get the pacis out of the trash. Mommy and Daddy won't be tempted either. Baby brother has pacis, however, so that might be a future challenge... we'll see. :)

It just didn't work out

I had it all worked out! After yesterday, I had decided we would be out most of the day today. This plan definitely started out well. We went to the Little Man's 'kayboop' (aka 'playgroup') and had a great time... until he started removing ornaments from their tree, giving the nutcrackers hi-5s, jumping on the couch, and all in all, being a full-blown 2-year old. So, we left. He barely made it into the house due to several meltdowns (tired and hungry aren't a good combo). I managed to feed him lunch and get him off to bed at warp speed. He was asleep by 12:15. At 1:20, after I was just able to eat my lunch and feed the Squeaker, I hear 'mommy, mommy, mommy' (and i really wish i was able to include an audio clip here of just how whiny it sounded) -- apparently his nap was curtailed due to filling up his diaper for the 3rd time today. I tried to get him back to sleep, which resulted in a nice, bed rail shaped mark stretching across his forehead. :( Poor guy. Needless to say, he is off to bed and I am SOOOOO glad. We'll try again tomorrow - Third times a charm, right?

Logistics

Some days work out better than others --
Yesterday was such a good day. We went to church, the park (the best park we have been to so far - dinosaur park), out to lunch, and to the pool. The Little Man got his nap and to bed on time and the Squeaker had his 6+ square meals a day. It was great! And to top it all off, the weather was beautiful!

Today, on the otherhand, has been the exact opposite. We haven't left the house (and it is 1:30 in the afternoon) and there are about 10 things I want or need to do: get the little man a haircut, got to target, go to the grocery store, go to the gym, try a brand new park near our house, clean and decorate for the holidays, laundry.... okay, that is 7, but I am sure there are 3 more things I could come up with if given a moment or two. Anyway, by the time we were up and at 'um this am, we only had an hour before the Squeaker had to eat again, and that would have been difficult to do with the Little Man in tow during errands/playing... so we stayed home. and, it is now naptime and at least I can work on laundry and decorating so the day isn't a complete wash.

The Squeaker has the final word

So, apparently I don't take enough pictures of the littlest one in our family. In my defense, he really doesn't do much more than sleep and eat. In the 2 hours a day he is awake and alert, we soak up some q.t. with him that there is no thought of picture taking. Since I have been chided by more than one person on this matter, I decided to step it up a notch:

He likes his swing most of the time. So far, the Squeaker has spent more time in it than his brother did. Good thing we kept it around for 2 years!


Watching comedy central with Uncle Brad.

He looks so peaceful! I wish he was this peaceful last night. Now Uncle Brad is confident he doesn't want to have kids any time soon.

Please, please, no more pictures...!!!!

Baby Wearing

I am not a die hard babywearer, and not into attachment parenting, but I do enjoy snuggling with the Squeaker and having my hands free to cook, clean, type, play with the Little Man, etc. The major problem around here is that after feeding the squeaker, he needs to remain vertical for about 30 min or so, or else he is in a bad state due to reflux. So, I whipped out the Baby Bjorn. The Little Man loved it when he was a baby, however I didn't have to chase around a toddler at that time. So, I am finding that the Baby Bjorn is not ideal. This brought about a quest for an alternative. I went online and purchased a few candidates: Moby Wrap, Hotsling, Adjustable Fleece Pouch, Maya Wrap sling, and the Ergo Carrier with infant insert. Let me just say, these things are pricey, but I am hoping that it means they work. After experimenting with them all, I still can't decide -- help! I am not keeping the Maya Wrap for sure. The Hotsling and Adjustable Fleece Pouch are pretty much the same, so I am not keeping the hotsling since it is not adjustable and daddy won't be able to use it since he is much taller than I am. That leaves the Moby Wrap, AFP, and Ergo. The Moby wrap is great and we have both used it. The squeaker loves it and it is really comfy. The Ergo is also great and handy, and although the infan insert is not so good for us, the toddler in our family LOVES riding around on Mommy's back. It is quite comfy as well and I can forsee it being quite useful. The AFP is super comfy as well, and not quite as versitile as the others, but it is more compact for sure. Hmmm.... what to do, what to do???

Here's a couple pics of Daddy test driving the Moby wrap:

Me and My Boys

The Little Man is starting to want to share my lap when I am holding the baby. It isn't a problem most of the time and I enjoy having them both so close. Sunday afternoon lounging on the couch is fun sometimes. :)

Growing by Leaps and Bounds

Apparently I am feeding my newborn Hagen Daz because he is growing upward and outward. In the past 3 days, I have noticed a marked difference in his appearance. He is filling out, growing a double chin (adorable) and outgrowing his clothes. So, a quick trip to the pediatrician confirms these observations. Here is our sequence of events:
Born at 6 lbs 14 oz
left the hospital at 6 lbs 4 oz
7 lbs 4 oz at 2 week visit
at 4 weeks (and 3 days before his due date) -- drum roll, please... 9 lbs 15 oz!!!! Wow, I am so impressed! Way to go, little Squeaker!

*Daddy and Squeaker are watching Thursday night college football and someone just scored a touchdown.

Little Kid

Second post of the day:

Well, the Squeaker has officially joined the world of the awake. He is up a couple times a day for an hour or two -- just long enough to soak in the constant ramblings of his brother, sports commentary of his father, and the oos and ahhs from his mother. :) I also should tell you that even when the squeaker is asleep, he still gets these precious gifts, along with a boat load of kisses, especially from his brother.

We have enjoyed every day of his early arrival. My due date has still not arrived, so we consider these past 3 weeks as sort of a breaking in period for us all. We are waiting for the real craziness to present itself - it is bound to happen any day. For the moment, Squeaker is content being shuttled into and out of the car as we keep ourselves from getting stir crazy inside the house, and when we aren't on the go, he enjoys his cozy perch on mommy's chest. I forgot just how wonderful it is to hold a sleeping baby. They are so perfect!

Anyway, the last day and a half have been a little more unpleasant for our dear squeaker. he has had a mild case of reflux since birth, but yesterday he just had a hard time getting comfortable. we probably had more crying yesterday and last night than the previous 3 weeks put together (which really isn't much as he only cries when he gets his diaper changed -- and I am QUICK!) To continue, last night was by far the worst, and instead of typing this message, i should be finding something to do today to prevent me from falling asleep so my boys don't have to fend for themselves all day. The Squeaker at just before i went to bed (like usual) then woke up after 2 hours (unusual) to eat. So, I fed him, burped him, and 2 hours of awake time later, handed him off to daddy to see if his magic touch could soothe his stomach. Then, instead of sleeping, i listened to him fuss and whine for another 30 minutes before he was back in my arms to eat again... he barely ate and fell asleep (obviously needed mommy to insert her pacifier instead of that plastic one daddy had). This was great, however, Squeaker decided he didn't want to be transfered to his bassinette, so he slept in my arms for about and hour and a half until daddy woke up and said, 'want to try to put him down in his bed now'. being the dumb mommy that i am, i agreed and wha-la.. he was up and ravenous! so, after eating, burping and successfully transferring to his bed, his older brother's light came on and this is where we are right now! fun night! i hope we have more of these so i can remember that having babies is not fun all the time. :)

Big Kid

The first of two posts:

The Little Man is making some great 'two year old' developments. He somehow manages to remember to say "NO" after each question or request directed at him, even if he really wants to say yes. For example:
Daddy: "Here is some lasagne"
Little Man: "NO"
Daddy: "okay"
Little Man: "more lasagne" (oh, and he eats it, actually, the whole plateful goes this way)


He is learning how to use his imagination and getting quite creative all around. For example, this ensemble is a combination of Mr. Potato Head glasses, a hat that is too small, a football, and a packing envelope (being used as a glove). - he is getting his sports mixed up, but it is a valiant effort! :) I think the makers of Mr. Potato Head (also known in our house as Mr. Tomato) need to make the glasses a tad bigger, as apparently my son is not the only one who thinks they should fit him.

Also, he is learning when we are the most tired and cranky and turning on the trouble-making switch at that time, without fail. So far, we (mommy and daddy) have managed to keep our cool and continue with our activities without leaving the little man tied up outside for more than a few hours a day (kidding, of course). I can see that today is going to be a challenge, however (see second post of the day).

After the Little Man's exciting trip to the air and space museum at Dulles, we decided to venture into DC to see the original air and space museum as well as the National Building Musuem. What a fun morning! It was our last change to head into town before the blast of cold air hit us for good. It was like mid-70s that morning and it was FANTASTIC!!! We wish we could have stayed longer, but visiting museums with a 2yo who needs a nap isn't all it is cracked up to be. :)

On our own

We are now on our own... after Ga-Mommy's long visit after the Squeakers arrival. We were so happy to have her with us! The Little Man loved having her undivided attention most days and the Squeaker loved to snuggle with her on the couch. And, I loved having extra hands and moral support 24/7. I am sure the adjustment to being outnumbered will be difficult, but we are excited to try. :)

The Little Man was sick over the weekened, but is now 'well', and we hope that his germs didn't get passed along to other members of the family. At the time, I was thinking that this was not so fun, especially given the mood that accompanied the illness - but now I am glad it happened when it did - when Ga-mommy was here. Now, no more illnesses allowed, no more crankiness, no more doctor visits until Mommy is able to manage by herself with her ducklings in tow. :)

OH BOY, Airplanes!

Yesterday, we took the Little Man and the Squeaker to the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Air and Space Musuem. We had been before several times, when visitors were in town. And, although Ga-Mommy (grandma) is in town, we didn't go for her benefit this time (she has already been). This time, it was purely to see the reaction from the Little Man:

"Oh, Wow!"
"Look, airplanes"
"Oh, look at that airplane"
"Lots and lots of airplanes"
"Oh, wow, a hecapoter" (helicopter, for those not fluent in 2 year old)

At times, he couldn't even finish a thought before he would interrupt himself with more oh wows and oh boys... He walked around in a daze, unable to take his eyes from the amazing scene before him. It was AWESOME!!!!! I think his pointer finger must be tired from all that pointing. :) If the darn place didn't cost $12 to park, we'd be there every day this winter! The Squeaker even stayed awake for the trip - which is amazing, in and of itself! Yah for airplanes!

Trick-or-Treat

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays... it is right up there with Christmas. There is nothing more fun than dressing up and eating candy. And, now, even though I rarely dress up, I find myself giddy just watching all the kidlets running from house to house in search of sweets. (except for those few middle/high school kids that come around with grocery bags and no costume... they take all the fun out of it.) Anyway, it turns out that it was our turn to have playgroup and so we hosted an interesting lot: Frog, Angel, Chicken, Bear, Dinosaur, Dragon, Bob the Builder, Fireman, and a Princess -- and 4 little siblings: Devil, Pumpkin, Dalmation, and a Bear. I can't get over how cute they all were!

Halloween was much different this year - The Little Man actually "got it". He figured out the whole knock on the door and get candy idea after just one house. I suppose you could say it was after the second house, because we practiced at our house - a dress rehearsal, if you will. :) Anyway, it was not difficult to get him home after hitting all the houses on our street, we just bribed him with candy. :) Amazingly enough, his eyes matched those of his little brother shortly after his head hit the pillow. Let's hope that it lasts all night... or at least until the sun comes up. We are still working on the time change, we can't do sugar-highs too!

The Big 2!

Hard to believe that 2 years ago I was walking around looking at furniture thinking I had consumed too much fondue the night before and was paying for it. Now, a couple years have past and I now have two little munchkins in our house and am having a hard time believing that I am a mommy times 2. When did that happen that I grew up and am now a 'responsible' adult?

Yesterday, we had some friends and family over to celebrate the Little Man's big day (a couple days early). He was so excited and totally got into the present thing. *Boy, Christmas is going to be sooooooo fun.* oh, except for the fact that he now really doesn't need any toys! When all the guests arrived, the Little Man could hardly contain himself - he wanted to jump right into his chair so that we could sing "Happy Birthday" and he could blow out the candle. I wish I could bottle up this excitement for birthdays and use it for my own. :) Adorable.

Friends

Aren't friends great?

I am finding myself a bit overwhelmed at how much friendship has helped me in life... especially given recent circumstances... and have decided that I am adding that to the list of things that I will emphasize while raising our children. I had in my head that there were some important things in life to pass on to our kids: love, happiness, integrity, education, etc... and now added to that list is nurturing personal relationships. I admit that at times it is difficult to maintain friendships, but in the end, it is SOOOO worth it.

The Little Man has a wonderful friend, one that we see on a regular basis (meaning several times a week) and he adores her. I have never seen him more excited about seeing another child -- you would think he would be sick of seeing her as often as we are together -- but no, it is always exciting. He came home from his gym class today and told me that he climbed the ladder, jumped down and "Ee-ee" was there... "Ee-ee" is what he calls his friend, and this is the name she uses for herself as well. Of all the things they did in the hour, the most important things to relay to mommy were climbing, jumping and Ee-ee. I hope that his friends always rank up there in the top three.

The Life

This is really how it is all the time

All By Myself

I can't believe how big the Little Man thinks he is. Today, we had an early lunch (and a big lunch too), and talked about it being nap time. He says, "I do it myself". So, off he scampers to his room, shuts the door and climbs into bed. I opened the door to turn on the humidifier, and to check on him, and sure enough, he did it all by himself!!!!! Yeah for you, Little Man!

Surprise!!!

Wow, sometimes life catches you completely off guard. I am usually quite organized, as I have been with the impending birth of our second child due November 18th... I have a schedule printed out for the Little Man, babysitters lined up, and meals prepared and to be prepared (yea for Lets Dish - if you haven't tried it, you should!). All the baby's clothes are washed in Dreft, linens cleaned, and room assembled. All we needed was to finish up some odds and ends... like the Little Man's scrapbook (off his first year - yikes, far behind), plan his birthday celebration, and have as much fun doing 2 year old outings while the weather was good and we were quite mobile...

Of course, you know how this ends - Surprise! Wednesday morning, I started having contractions... but thought nothing of it since it was a whole MONTH before I was due. So, I started some laundry and finished tidying up the house. Then decided I had better start timing the contractions. Whadaya know, 4 min apart and getting stronger. Called the doc to 'reschedule' my regular appt to earlier in the day, and sure enough, I never came home. The "Squeaker" - well, that nickname may change, but he sure does squeak a lot- was happily welcomed into the world Wednesday evening via a successful VBAC and we are now home! The Little Man loves his baby brother and checks on him quite frequently. So far so good, but I am sure now I will have a bunch of fodor for blogging. :)

The Countdown

25 days or less to the BIG day... and I am starting to wonder if this was such a smart decision. :) I know there is no turning back, and I really don't want to... but it is going to be 'interesting' for a few months. Some basic reality checks come when the Little Man requires 100% of my attention. For example, walking across the parking lot (with cars waiting for us to cross the street), he decides it would be an opportune time to collapse into a puddle of goo. I know you are supposed to ignore this kind of behavior so it will go away and not be an "issue". but, what do you do??? I just scooped him up, walked across the street, and realized later that I might have pulled a very thin and possible non-existent tummy muscle. How am I going to be able to do these things with an infant??? I am guessing that the Little Man will cut me some slack, and in the next 24 days, figure out that he can't do that, and all the billion other things he has to test out on us parents.

Pumpkins

Our Little Man is a source of so much joy in our lives... 99% of the time, anyway. Today we went to Butler's Orchard in Maryland to get some pumpkins for Halloween. Last year, pumpkin picking was fun, but this year was a BLAST. I can't tell you how many times we heard "More (fill in the blank), please!" And, leaving was not a pretty picture - until the little man got a ride on daddy's shoulders to the car. What a good time we had, except for the reminders that we don't win any parenting awards today. We forgot his jacket at home (but remembered ours)... luckily I had an extra turtleneck (he was already wearing one), so we layered for warmth! :) By the way, it was a bit chilly and windy. He wore his hat, but looking at the pictures, not only did it not match, but I think it looked a bit silly - I still like the hat and he will be wearing it often this winter. And, don't ever walk by the popcorn vendor before lunch... that was pretty much all the Little Man ate for lunch... until it was carmel apple time! :) Like I said, no parenting awards today.

predictable

Isn't it sad that I can tell when the Little Man is getting sick by how loving and doting he is to his mommy... :( all day he has been clingy, huggy, and just adorable (with the exception of about 30-45 min this am)... I went in to kiss him before bed, and he was burning up. 104.5 - YIKES! off to check him again now that they tylenol has had time to work some magic.

Smarty pants

So, are kids getting smarter, or do I have low expectations. My 23mo old and I were playing blocks with Daddy. I was more of a bystander, as blocks appear to be Daddy's new favorite hobby. Anyway, Daddy and I were discussing possible names for Baby #2 (only one month to go!) and the Little Man was chatting away with Daddy. He realized he did not have Daddy's undivided attention, so this is what we heard:

"Mommy! Mommy, No talk a Daddy. ----'s turn!" Following this statement, he directed his attention to Daddy to discuss the building of the next tower... "like this, and this", he says. :) I just got a 'shut-up' from my son! If it weren't such an amazing thing to me that he could be smart enough to plan ahead that I needed to stop talking before Daddy would pay attention to him, I would be so sad.

Amazing his mommy on a daily basis

Sometimes it is amazing at how unpleasant the Little Man can be, but mostly it is at how cute and adorable, and smart, and clever he can be. The last few days have been filled with such moments. For example:

We really have to be careful with what we do and say, because the Little Man imitates most anything... Like how mommy was sitting on the couch.

Better watch what you say when driving. Luckily my favorite is growling at other drivers when the cut me off or do something stupid. And, the Little Man has picked up on this... so much so that he will growl when I am breaking hard while driving - apparently that is when i growl most. :)

He is such a big boy - I took him to the barber, where he usually sits on my lap. However, my lap is diminishing and I know he is going to have to do it on his own eventually, so why not start now... so we did. After a couple initial protests of, "Mommy, sit too", he sat there the whole time the barber trimmed his hair. And to top it off, at the end, tells the barber, "Thank you, Man." SOOOOOOOO cute!

Too Cute for words

And luckily there are more of these times than the others I regularly complain about! Since it is morning, and I am not exhausted, yet... thought i would post a happy picture. :)
We are off to have a beautiful day in the sunshine (it is supposed to be mid-80s today) before it gets cold (supposed to be low 60s tomorrow) and hope that my patience is plentiful. Lucky for me, Daddy took care of the breakfast battle -- now tell me, why is it more fun to dump your cereal rather than eat it??? especially if it is fruity cheerios????

My favorite age....

So far is NOT 2 years old. We aren't even 2 around here and I already don't like it... a lot! the Little Man has discovered how to do things that will definitely get attention (licking (filthy) windows, throwing his dinner plate upsidedown on the carpet (baked beans and marinated meat, by the way), and throwing himself to the floor in a fit if he decides something is not going according to plan). We are worried that 1. we'll have to scrape bugs and grease off his tongue for an hour each day to prevent calls to poison control, 2. we'll have to replace the carpet. and although that thought has entered our minds from day one, we do not have that in our financial plan and do not think it can be done before #2 arrives while house is on market, and 3. he is going to have a serious of concusions that will prevent him from earning his 3 doctorates and taking care of us in our old age. I think I liked the age just before this one the best... any of them! :)

Don't get me wrong, he is still as cute and adorable as can be, and his language development is amazing us each and every day... but, Mommy needs a break. Yeah for naptime. I am off to put my feet up and maybe doze for a while.

A series of unfortunate events...

which was going to be titled - My favorite room in the house - but alas, one long night later, title has changed. :(

Here is what was going to be included in the original post:

The Little Man's room has always been my favorite in the house, from the day we (meaning Daddy) orignially painted it to this bright, fun-loving green. Now that it has been transformed into a 'big boy' room, it might be possible that I like it even more. I am not sure, since the bumper pads and mobile from the crib were cute... Anyway, the Little Man appeared to be warming up to the new arrangement (as of last evening). He finally went to sleep on his own and stayed asleep for the duration of the slumber three times in a row.

Now, for the new post --

Although the Little Man went to sleep on his own last night beautifully, around midnight he awoke with a start! The only explanation I have is that he had a bad dream. Which makes me wonder how a child this young could have a bad dream, or what this bad dream could be about -- a lost pacifier, I can't find mommy...? Regardless, he awoke. After a bit of a cuddle and he had calmed down, we talked about tractors, lawnmowers and edgers, elmo and playing with his friends... he went back to bed and appeared to be heading back to slumberland. About 15 minutes later, a major emergency must have occured down the road -- about 5 mintues of very loud sirens and horns sounded. This was followed by our own little siren, unhappy about being startled out of his state of half-awakeness. Once that was resolved, he went back to bed, a little more awake than before, but appeared to be happy to return to sleep... Then, a neighbor must have returned from a late night job... slamming doors and bright lights in the window... aughhhh.... he was wide awake. It took us about 3 hours to get him back to sleep. He did not think he should have to go back to bed, apparently.

Our streak was broken! :( I hope that we are able to return to our happy little sleeper ASAP! Mommy is TIRED! :)

A quiet child spells trouble!

Daddy just went in to check on the Little Man... guess he wasn't asleep.

Changes underway

After a wonderful visit with our friends, we had some decisions to make. We decided that it was in our best interest to stay in VA until after the baby is old enough to make the trip to CA... and our house sells... That means, we keep the house on the market, hope that someone buys it now, then move in Jan or Feb. We'll see how that goes!

Second decision - since we are staying here for a little while, we needed to reorganize to fit another being in this house. So, the Little Man upgraded from crib mattress on the floor to big boy (twin) bed. After his room is reorganized, I'll post a picture. Then, we moved the office out of the office and into the living room... making room for a nursery. So, the craft/office/guest room no longer exists... it is now a nursery or sorts. We'll wait for a crib until after we have visitors (like grandma for 2 weeks in late Nov/early Dec).

Now, our big decisions include which computer armoire we can afford that looks halfway decent in our living room... although, most anything will be an improvement from a computer on a table with junk piled on it! Oh boy....

That is it for changes, sorta... The Little Man is undergoing some major sleep changes... just when we had him on a decent schedule!!!!!... Now that he has his big boy bed, we have yet to put him down and find him asleep in under 2 hours. He has kept himself up by climbing in and out, in and out, in and out. The funny thing is, he was able to do that before (as his mattress was on the floor) but this must be WAY cooler... he didn't go to bed until almost 10pm last night. We aren't sure he is even asleep now for his nap -- 1.5 hours later. Aughhhhhh....

Once he gets into a good routine, that is when baby arrives... bad timing all around.

Fun with Visitors -- and sleep

Having guests visit is fun... we have been so busy. We have been to Georgetown and Bluemont... crafting and resting. So much fun! The Little Man sure has a hard time figuring out how to play with a 11 month old. He has tried tackling her, sitting on her lap, and stealing her toys. None have worked. We'll try more techniques later, i am sure. We have been using our double stroller and it has been SO AWESOME! What a good purchase. We consolidated from 2 strollers (lightweight/everyday and jogging) to one (phil and teds). Both kids love it, and our friend Biscuit has found it a comfy place for a nap on several occasions...

The little man, however, no such luck. He has not slept in it and thus naptime is a bit scattered. We have been lucky in that he has been using our "Light On" alarm clock soooo wonderfully. We have pushed it back to 7:20am and are amazed at how unstressful this transition was. He has taken to it without a problem! Knock on wood, i hope this continues!

7am and all is well

So, we have been setting the alarm/light back a few minutes each night, and we are now up to 7am... and the Little Man is still asleep. That means, quiet and we don't want to check on him for fear of waking him. :) We are so proud of his accomplishements! I highly recommend this method for early risers old enough to understand how lights work. I have also heard of other methods for older kids, but hopefully we have eliminated the need for that???

We are back to full health, finally, and our normal routine. Our friends are here visiting from Sacramento, CA - Mommy's dear friend and her almost 1 year old! I can't believe how time flies! It has been a while since we've seen them, so it is quiet exciting. We have a myriad of activities in mind, but who knows what we'll actually accomplish on this visit.

As for the house, the market is sill horrible and we are down to the wire -- after this weekend, we can not logistically move before #2's arrival... so, moving plans on hold and baby plans initiated. Since we have most everything from the Little Man, basically we just need diapers, right? I sure hope so!

A wonderful-ish weekend

Friday afternoon, we headed west to Shenandoah National Park and the Big Meadows Campground for some R&R with our friends. The Daddies came after work. Timing the car ride at naptime was crucial, however both Mommies could have used a nap as well... alas, we made it there in good time and without any weather incidents (Thankfully). Mommies and kids set up the campsite on their own with both kids behaving EXTREMELY well!!! Couldn't have done it without them. However, I believe that this good behavior was used up Friday and left none for Saturday. Both were still good, however, sleeping became an issue. The little man's did not sleep well (snot and cold weather?) and his dear playmate did not sleep well Friday night either. Her mommy spent most of the night in the car to prevent waking her once she got back to sleep. Naps Saturday were late and much needed. Saturday bedtime went well, but around 10:00pm, our playmates made the executive decision to pack up and leave and to drive home 2.5 hours in the middle of the night. Of course, Daddy helped and it went pretty smoothly, but we all felt bad that they couldn't stay until Sunday... we missed them!

The Little Man is an expert camper, and although he didn't sleep well Friday night (due to mommy forgetting to provide his allergy medicine at the regularly appointed times) he recovered well and made us all proud. We had a WONDERFUL time and can't wait to do it again... although it probably won't be until baby #2 arrives and is sleeping through the night.

On our way home, we made a quick detour to Luray Caverns -- It was amazing! Glad we were able to check some sights of our "Things we want to do" list!

Happy Days are here again

Well, after a slow (and still continuing) recovery from hand foot and mouth disease, the Little Man is much much more pleasant and much much happier. He is eating a little bit and has decided that he does not need to wake up at night!!!!! At least that was true last night. Tonight might be a different story. The Little Man went to bed before 8pm and slept until 7am, with no stirring!!! YEAH! A restful night sleep for us all.

Now, we are going camping tonight and that will change things, I am sure, but I am hoping he is tired enough to zonk out each night without trouble. I, on the other hand, will still be waking up at night to use the restroom... and I sincerely hope that I am able to do so without waking Daddy or the Little Man. Or, I could just not drink anything all weekend. :)

Sweet Little Man

It really breaks my heart when the Little Man wakes up in the middle of the night, obviously distressed... it is much different than his middle of the night "i am awake and you should be too" wakeups...

Last night, we had just 2 wakeups (of the first kind). The first was an easy fix, Daddy went in and calmed and he went back to sleep in an instant. The second was a little more distressing... it woke up both mommy and daddy. Daddy went in, as usual, and calmed, but that was a momentary fix - the crying persisted and woke mommy. So, mommy got some tylenol and went to help calm. When I lifted him up, he was SOAKED. he has never been so wet in teh whole 22 mos of his life... well, aside from swimming or pouring his beverage on himself. So, a 5:30 wardrobe change and Mommy and Daddy crossed our fingers that it would not be another miserable morning. At 6 he came into the room -- we sent him back, explaining the whole 'light on = wake up' theory and hoped for the best. At 7:30, we woke up to a still sleeping little boy!!!! YEAH! For the first time in MONTHS, he has slept until 8... aside for the wakeups. We are thrilled.

Mystery solved

So, we found out yesterday that the Little Man's mysterious illness is hand foot and mouth disease -- he officially has cooties! :( Unfortunately, he is not happy about it. After a crabby day and stinky naps, he (and mom and dad) were more than ready for bedtime. He woke several times early on, but after about 1am, he slept until 6:30. The light had not turned on, so after a couple of requisite complaints, he stayed in bed for another 15 minutes until the light came on. Good Job, Little Man!

Just when you think....

you have it licked, mysterious illnesses arise. Last night was not our greatest. Yesterday, the Little Man had a fever and a rash all day, and hardly ate anything (which is really not like him). He took his nap in the morning, and never took a nap in the afternoon. He went to bed too late for not taking a pm nap (7:15pm) and woke up SEVERAL times last night. :( This morning, he thought it was okay to get up at 5:30am as long as he slept on the floor next to our bed. I brought him back to bed several times and at 6:00 it was Daddy's turn to put him back to bed. Well, Daddy is not quite as consistent as Mommy, so at 6:20 (we had turned the timer from 6:30 to 6:45am for this morning), he let the Little Man get up and watch the Wiggles... BEFORE the light came on. Then, after the wiggles, the Little Man wanted to go back to bed... and he let him -- the light was on by then, by the way! Oh dear... all my plans...

Well, we'll hope for a tolerable day of doing nothing this Labor Day, try for 2 naps to catch up on sleep, and try again tonight.

WOO HOO... YEAH!

So, It worked! I am pretty confident that this whole waking up when the light comes on thing is working. The only problem is that I think 6:30 might be too early. So, tomorrow we will try for 6:45. Daddy put the Little Man down at 7:45 last night and we didn't hear anything from him until 6:30am, on the dot. He slept through the night and stayed in bed until the light came on. YEAH! Success... It is amazing how quickly these munchkins can pick up on something, especially if it is consistent. I guess they take comfort in knowing that the routine won't change.

That is... until next weekend, when we attempt to go camping again. Cross your fingers for good weather.

Yeah rain!

Well, Ernesto brought a bunch of rain, but apparently we missed the major 'stuff''... a few strong gusts and an adequate amount of rain to water the lawn without drowning it. It was just what we could have hoped for. My inlaws apparently had more 'stuff' and there were power outages, trees down and much more rain! We will talk to them today to make sure that they are doing okay and that they didn't lose any trees at their house.

Light timer update - The Little Man went to bed without a hitch, and woke up at 6:30 -- came into our room with all of his personal belongings, ready to start the day. I would be jumping up and down right now, were it not for the fact that I am extremely tired from waking up at midnight, 1am, and 2am. I am not sure why, but I am guessing he still needs some reassurance and comfort with this transition. At midnight, the Little Man toddled into our room, with his blanket, pillow, and paci... He placed his pillow next to our bed on the floor and told us quite firmly, "Nigh-Night, pillow, mommy's room, floor". And he laid down on his pillow on the floor next to our bed, on his pillow. SO CUTE, but still, not okay. :) So, I put him back in bed. Daddy put him back in bed at 1 (with a little crying), and at 2, the Little Man woke up in tears (for the first time) just laying in his bed. I went in and lay next to him, he put his arm around me and said, "mommy, ohhh, mommy" and was happy as a clam and fell asleep. When I was sure he was out, I climbed out (quite ungracefully, if that is a word) and resumed my slumber next door. I would like to say we are making progress, but we'll have to see tomorrow!

From Pleasure to Work

This weekend is a wash out... no camping due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ernesto. :( We were very much looking forward to it and are quite disappointed. Maybe we can try to go next weekend. So, we have a free labor day weekend to do nothing!

Nothing has turned into - Let's get the Little Man sleeping better in the morning. Last night was the first night using the light timing method. We set it for "6:30am". He, luckily slept until 6, which is much better than 5:30. But, we still had to put him in bed twice and have discussions about the light turning on. At 6:18 (because the timer is very hard to set), the light came on and he came trotting in our room with a, "Get Up!". It wasn't so much an exclamation as it was a demand. The light came on, so now we all have to be up. I can see that once he gets the hang of this, there will be no more sleeping in. :) but, i suppose, once he gets good at this, maybe we can push the time back to 10am???

Just when you thought you had enough

Transitions are always hard, but we have/had been making great progress with the transition from the crib to the bed. The Little Man was sleeping like a champ: 3 hour nap in afternoon and 11 hours or so at night. So, we decided that now was as good of a time as any to get rid of the crib. So, about a month ago, we did it. Things were going swimmingly until about 2 weeks ago. I am not sure what happened, although I suspect he is plotting with his playgroup buddies as other mom's are complaining of the same thing. He started getting up SEVERAL times a night and coming into our room -- appearing wide awake with a "Good morning, Daddy." We would say, "more night night" and trot him back to his room. No complaints, no crying, etc. And, a half an our later, we would be right back where we started.

After 2 weeks, I have decided that I am way to exhasted to deal with this anymore. I have accumulated many bits of advice on the matter -- what has worked and what has not -- and this is what I have come up with:

1. As a temporary fix, put the Little Man in his pack-n-play to sleep so that you can be rested enough to deal with the early morning wakeups.
2. Use an alarm clock, so that he can't get up until it goes off.
3. Set a light timer on his lamp so that when the light goes on, he can get up.

Here is our progress:

1. He can climb in and out of his pack-n-play on his own... surprise!
2. I don't want him to wake up to an alarm clock... if the kid is going to sleep, let him sleep!
3. Haven't found our light timer yet. We plan to implement #3 upon our return from camping, or tonight if he takes short nap.

So, after being exhausted, I complained to all the moms in playgroup yesterday and said I had had enough... what do you know, the little booger slept for 3 hours for his nap and then 10 hours last night!!!!! My take home message on the subject: Complaining is worth it!!!!

Where is my money tree?

I suppose since I am not working, I should be a little more frugal... but no. I decided that this was the time I needed my new wedding band (I had been waiting for 2 years with much buggin' going on), a new tent (since it might be next to impossible to go camping with the Little Man in our two person (barely) backpacking tent), an air mattress (because a 7 month pregnant lady can't sleep on a bed comfortably, let alone the ground - while camping), and this wonderful stroller. We sold our single jogging stroller this weekend since we needed to get a double before baby #2 and let me tell you what a challenge that was.

My husband's only requirement was that it wasn't double-wide, mine was that it wasn't double-long... so, stackable was the only option left. So, if I want that money tree... I have decided that I need to invent a more cost effective option to the double stroller dilemma that I am sure I am not the only one to face.

Injustices in my world

I should not be awake right now, really, even though it is a normal time to be awake (7:30am)... the Little Man decided that for some reason, he wanted to be up practically ALL NIGHT LONG! I didn't hear him until about 2am, but apparently he was up 3 times before that. And, if it was anything like the rest of the night/morning/whatever, he was up every 30 min before that. 30 minutes is just the right amount of time to get back in bed, snuggle in with your 5 pillows (because you are pregnant), close your eyes, think about something nice, and doze off to slumberland. Then, BOOM, a quite little... 'Good Morning, Mommy'... is heard in the back of your mind. It is true, he is up again... 30 minutes later. We did this until 4:30 -- so that makes... 9 times in a row???... not right.

Let me just note that there was no fever, no crying, no complaints of pain or suffering, etc... he was AWAKE! At 4:30, just to make myself feel better, I gave the Little Man some tylenol and water, changed his diaper, and placed him back in bed. I got into bed with him (which is not recommended, I am sure -crib mattress+pregnant mommy) until he started to pick my nose and pull my hairs out one at a time. -- still awake, apparently). Then I told him I would sleep next to the bed (also not so good, quite uncomfortable, especially when you need 5 pillows to fall asleep). I figured, at least he would be in bed and maybe Daddy could get some sleep for more than 20 minutes straight. So, an hour later, and 3 attempts to get up and out of the Little Man's room without him noticing, we did it. He appeared to be asleep, and I got 1 1/2 hours of blissful slumber -- until Daddy started snoring quite loudly.

I can't complain about the snoring, because one of my wonderful 9 month traits is that I snore pretty loud and often, but I can complain about the injustice of this all.

• I do not have a newborn yet, I should be sleeping through the night.
• The Little Man is not a newborn, he should be sleeping through the night.
• When I do fall asleep, I get awoken by the almost newborn kicking things that should not be kicked, I am pretty sure.
• I have been craving lemonade and it is not caffienated.
• Coffee is caffienated, but I am not drinking coffee while pregnant, even though I have been craving coffee, too -- so wrong!

Well, I had better go make breakfast -- we are having eggs since I apparently bought 2 doz eggs at whole foods, and 2 doz eggs came with my safeway.com order about 4 hours later (because I guess I thought I wouldn't make it to Whole Foods???).
I do not drink coffee, and really, really want to.

At the Movies

In our area, there are a couple movie theaters that offer "baby pictures" where moms can go and watch a movie without worrying about their kids crying or whatnot... because everyone there is a mom (or dad) with a little one. We did this a few times until the Little Man became a mover. This was over a year ago... So, we tried again, but this time, a REAL movie. We went to see Barnyard at our local cinema with some friends of ours. It started out being a big hit. But as soon as the (very loud and not really age appropriate for our little ones) previews started, things went a bit downhill. This could also have been due to the fact that it was very close to naptime and lunch consisted of salty movie theater popcorn and milk -- yummy!

Anyhow, I would do it again, for sure, but try to get an earlier movie time, if possible. This picture was taken during the credits... still eating popcorn.

Picnic in the Park

Despite all three of us being quite tired, we decided to head out of the house after the Little Man awoke from his (quite short) nap. We went tent shopping for our upcoming trip to Shenandoah National Park and then stopped by Safeway for sandwiches. Our great find was Claude Moore Park... just 1 mile (or less) from our house. We had driven through once, but didn't find it interesting -- this was about 3 years ago. So, we decided to try it again. We stopped by the visitor center and picked up a trail map and took off through nature for a nice hike. The Little Man enjoyed his ride in the backpack and we had a wonderful picnic dinner to follow. The weather was perfect and all in all, a great Sunday afternoon excursion. I wish we had discovered it earlier!

Whoa... look at that thing!

So, looking back, it seems I have might have had some muscle defnition forming in my abs... but that was short-lived! Now, I have baby-definition... I sure hope there is two in there - with 3 more months to go, I can't imagine getting bigger!!!!!

month 1 month 2 month 3 month 4 month 5 month 6

The picture below is of the same point in my pregnancy with the Little Man as the last picture above... I haven't measured my belly this time around, and honestly, I am a little afraid to! :)
month 6 (2 years ago)