Brotherly "Love"

This is the first of many, I am sure. I almost cried when it happened -- along with everyone else involved. Of course, the Squeaker cried/screamed/held his breath during screaming... the Little Man saw the look on my face and cried huge crocodile tears that stopped as soon as the phone rang and I answered it.... and I welled up knowing that I cannot protect my children from each other every single second of the day.

Further away from the crib

and still, we are doing well. After an icky day of sleep yesterday, we are back on track and the Squeaker is doing really well. I am hoping that our progress continues this week as I am finding it challenging to sit by the Squeaker until he goes to sleep while a 2 year old runs around the house like a crazy man. :) Actually, he is glued to the tv during this process, which I feel guilty about on a daily basis. Anyhow, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to post this picture of the Squeaker after he fell asleep yesterday afternoon:

Summer is here

Hazy, hot & humid today, but a good day nonetheless. We feasted on a breakfast casserole with friends this morning, and then broke out some 'new' toys for squeaker (although Little Man felt they were really for him). Squeaker can just about pull himself up to a standing position (with much cute grunting and straining). The 'new' toys should be good practice for the new skill.

Squeaker took about 10-12 minutes (with daddy - boy, daddy sure is great and everyone loves him) to drop off to dreamland during his morning nap. In the afternoon (with mommy), he played for 15 minutes and cried for 4. In the late afternoon, we took the boys to a great new (new to us) playground, which they loved, and got out of there just before some evening thunderstorms hit. After a quick visit from Grandma and Grandpa, who were on a road trip, squeaker topped off the day with just a 10 minute going to sleep session (with daddy - boy, daddy sure is great and everyone loves him).

mini update

The first nap today took 15 minutes (with mommy), then 20 minutes with daddy (for second nap) and then third nap was maybe 12 minutes (due to short 2nd nap). Then tonight, Mommy did it in 7 minutes. Let's keep this up, Squeaker!

Progress already

Last night it took the Squeaker 35 minutes to fall asleep on his own, in his bed. I really wish I had video taped the whole thing, because it was HILARIOUS! He cried, whined, screamed, etc intermittently, but during the first 32 minutes... he did not stop moving. He sat up, rocked on hands and knees, rolled this way and that, rearranged his animals and blankets, tried to pull up to standing, tried to grab at me, played with the rails of the crib, played with the bumper bad, rolled over and over and over... it was hysterical. My guess is that if he had let himself lie still for 30 seconds, he may have fallen asleep sooner. How young can you be and be diagnosed with ADHD? (kidding, of course)

This morning, 15 minutes of pretty much the same behavior before nodding off to dreamland. Yay! Already he is figuring it out. Daddy is in charge of the pm nap and bedtime so we'll see if he continues to progress or protests that it isn't mommy and drags it out even longer. I am hoping for for the former!

Let the 'shuffling' begin

So, as we did with the Little Man, we are starting sleep training with the Squeaker. He is 7 mos old and still requires us (I really mean mommy) to hold him while he screams himself to sleep. Enough is enough already. :) So, starting this evening, we will begin. We love the book Good Night, Sleep Tight by Kim West. It worked like a charm with the Little Man. Cross your fingers that all works out well for the Squeaker. We will keep you posted!

By the way, the baby is now on the move. He is crawling.... slowly... but crawling. Holy cow!!!! How did he get that old already.

Little Man's Musings

So, today Daddy was planning on mowing the lawn after dinner. The Little Man either a) doesn't have his appetite back after being sick or b) is being 2 and decided not to eat dinner. I finished my dinner as the LMs was still untouched. I was trying to show how exciting it is to be finished with dinner. Here is the conversation that ensued:

Mommy: Yay for me, I finished my dinner. Now I can go outside and mow the lawn.
LM: No, Mommy, you can't mow the lawn... mans mow the lawn.
Mommy: (after the laughter died down) What do you mean? Why can't I mow the lawn?
LM: Mans mow the lawn, you are a girl.
Mommy: Well, if I can't mow the lawn, what can I do?
LM: You can go outside and edger and then come inside and watch "Squeaker".

I had no idea that we have instilled such gender divisions in our house. Wow!

No more encore's, please!

We are home and as recovered as it gets. To put and end to the suspense, the Grand Finale mentioned in my last post was indeed 'grand'. Needless to say, I won't be taking the boys on a red eye by myself again.

Here is a recap:

• The Little Man was sick on Sunday, but seemed to recover in the evening. Went to bed around 7:30pm. The Squeaker, who was healthy, decided to throw a fit, instead of going to bed.
• Woke the LM at 8:30. Put both boys in car and headed to airport.
• Ga-Mommy went through security with us, to help out... luckily... since I was flagged for extra security screening (includes a puffer machine and checking my bags, shoes and clothing for explosives) - if I was holding a child, that child would also have to be screened (as well as their belongings - we had a lot of carry-ons, so luckily I could go by myself)
• We board plane at 10:30pm. LM hasn't fallen back asleep and Squeaker took a 20 min nap on way to airport.
• beginning of flight - LM in car seat awake, uncomfortable and crying for me to hold him because he can't sleep. Squeaker asleep in my arms.
• LM has spiked a fever again and is REALLY tired. I change car seat around and swap kids.
• LM whining and complaining and for good reason - he throws up what little food he has eaten during the day. After getting cleaned up, changed clothes and settled down, he still can't sleep and watches part of Finding Nemo. Falls asleep (quite uncomfortably) in his own seat halfway through. Squeaker wakes up.
• Squeaker is tired and keeps trying to put himself back to sleep -- um, that should have said - keeps trying to scream himself to sleep. (This is 'normal', we will be working on that in a couple days, stay tuned)
• Screaming Squeaker, being seated in last row next to bathrooms and brightly lit galley wake up LM frequently, who whines and gets into a different awkward position to fall back asleep for 10 min or so at a time.
• Squeaker finally sleeps for another hour or so, uninterrupted. Mommy wishes she could have slept then. LM thrashing around, moaning and complaining.
• End of flight - LM is soooooooooooooooooo excited to see Daddy he starts crying tears of joy. "My Daddy, my Daddy, he waiting for me, my daddy is at the airport." The airplane could not have got to the gate soon enough.
• Daddy takes his comatose family home and tucks them all in bed for a 3+hour nap. yeah.
  

That day was shot, as we were all tired and useless. Everyone felt better Tuesday, or so I thought. On the way to playgroup, LM throws up again... so, after getting cleaned up, we turn around and head to the doctor to check ears and chest for both boys.

Today was pretty good... Squeaker is quite snotty and LM's off and on fever has not appeared since last night, and we seem to be caught up on sleep. So, now on to sleep training for Squeaker and getting healthy for both boys.

Whew, glad I got all that off my chest. I am sure that all future flights will seem uneventful after this excursion, right?!

A grand finale in the making

Yesterday we went over to our family friend's house for a BBQ. Having kids sure does change things. It was great to see them, but it was sad that we had to leave at bedtime. Late night outings now means 8pm when you have little tykes along :). Anyhow, we got home and the kidlets went to bed. I slept well, the Squeaker slept average, and the Little Man and Ga-Mommy... well, let's just say that I am so glad they slept at the other end of the house. Apparently, the Little Man is sick. Does he know we are flying back home tonight, I wonder? I guess not, because if he did, he would not have gone and gotten himself sick! :) poor little guy. Not quite himself all day which is a little worrisome, given our late night departure. Hmmmm... I sure hope there are at least 2 pairs of closed eyelids on this flight. What a way to end our absolutely wonderful trip!

Here are a couple of cute shots of the little munchkins:

Really not fair

... for Mommy and for Ga-Mommy. The Squeaker has been sleeping horribly at night since we arrived in CA. Two nights ago, he was up at 9, 11, 12, 1, 5 and 6:30. That was the worst of it. The Little Man has been a sleeping wonder child. He has been taking 3+ hour naps every day and has been sleeping well at night, too. Well, all that came to an end last night. We should have known it would be a bad night when both boys were still awake at 9pm. And, believe me, it wasn't because they weren't supposed to be. Bedtime was at 7:30, as usual. Go figure.

So, last night, the Squeaker decided to sleep the sleep mommy has wanted him to sleep... FINALLY. Then, at 4:30am, there was a crash outside my door. The Little Man (who was sleeping in Ga-Mommy's room) was up and wanted to come into my room (where the Squeaker had been blissfully asleep). The crash not only woke up Mommy, but of course, the baby. So, after he was fed (because you can't wake up at night and not be famished), I put the Squeaker in his pack-n-play, trotted the Little Man back to his room, where I found out that he had been up since 3am. (hmmm...) and then put the Squeaker back to sleep. We all slept until 7am.

My one chance at a full night's sleep... FOILED! And, Ga-Mommy quickly remembered what it was like to be up in the middle of the night -- just like old times, eh Ga-Mommy!

Cute Little Fella

Says the Little Man to Charlie, in the sweetest, softest little boy voice:

"Come here you cute little fella"

He wanted Charlie to come sit by him. So Cute!

At the Beach

How cute is the Little Man with his Ga-Mommy???? All I can say is Ahhhhhh....!

It's going to be so excited

The Little Man could hardly contain himself all day yesterday when he found out it was FINALLY the day we would be headed out west to visit Ga-mommy. He kept repeating his new favorite phrase, "It's going to be so excited!" in a very cute voice. He did soooooooooooooo well on the flight. No carseat and sat in his seat the whole time. He didn't sleep and still did sooooooooooooooooo well. Yay! The Squeaker, on the other hand, apparently needs more practice. He was already sleep deprived and hardly slept on the plane. He already has a very hard time going to sleep (which we are planning to tackle on our return) and it was doubly difficult when sleep deprived, and triply difficult on an airplane. :) Oh fun! But, despite that, the boys, and thus I, had a great flight!

Some things to remember for next time:
-charge the battery for the DVD player ahead of time, or fly in the morning when there are cartoons playing on DirecTV. (we flew JetBlue)

-buy a seat for the Squeaker

-drink coffee, lots of coffee - it is a llll0000nnnnggg flight.

-fly JetBlue

Random Squeaker Stuff

Um, can a 6 month old have ADHD? He will not sit still. I know, I know, he is a baby, but come on. He won't even sit still to nurse! And, at 3 in the morning, the urge is so strong it wakes him up -- 30 minutes of razzberries, cooing, and 'talking' to himself before we spoiled his fun... he was on his hands and knees rocking back and forth. Cute, but not nice at 3am... two nights in a row!!!!!

On another note, I tried all day to get a good picture of him doing a baby version of yoga's plank pose. My camera (well, Daddy's camera) is way too slow, and I missed it -- about 40 times. Here is the closest I got. He is seriously going to crawl in the next couple weeks (check out the last picture), I just know it.

Here's a close up of the baptism outfit that the Squeaker wore on Sunday. Sorry, no live model, dressing him nowadays is not so fun.... too squirmy.

Holy Baby

The Squeaker is now a blessed baby. :)

Here's hoping

Here's to hoping that our third day of wild and crazy Little Man behavior was the last. I am not sure what else I can do but let him run wild and cover my head in a paper bag so no one associates me with this out of control 2 year old. A full night's sleep might help, but the Squeaker isn't up for that quite yet. He has done it a couple times in his life, so

here's hoping we get a stretch of several 12 hour nights in a row. This is not likely given that we just finished a bout of antibiotics due to an ear infection (discovered at his 6 mos check up) and then 3 days later, we discovered that his ear is again infected (not sure if it just didn't go away or if it is just bad luck). So,

here's hoping that this round of antibiotics works so that we can fly to CA next week sans ear infection!!! :) Speaking of traveling to CA, I am starting to wonder if I am nuts... the Squeaker is a serious 'mover and shaker' all of a sudden. At the playground today, he tried as hard as he could for like an hour and a half to climb out of my arms to jump into the mulch. My arms are sure tired! So,

here's hoping that he thinks that airplane trips are for sleeping since I will be by myself on this trip with the boys... oh boy! And, speaking of sleeping... both boys are out cold at the moment due to a very eventful outdoorsy day. Check out this picture of the Little Man at the Big Truck Day in Herndon. What fun that was... but not for the Squeaker, who couldn't sleep with all the honking and banging going on as the kids played on all the big trucks. This was followed by a playgroup picnic, a nap at home, a walk around downtown Herndon, playing on the old caboose (in downtown herndon), and some playground time (and walk) with our friends. whew, that wears me out all over again just thinking abou it! I wish I had taken a nap during the boys' naps.