Wednesday, August 25, 2010

I get....

I know this little family who has started a blog. They are trying to turn their hard times into better times for others and always look on the bright side. Recently, the father in this family wrote a post that's been on my mind a lot lately, about not what struggles we have, but about what we GET to do.

Although I generally think things will work out and be ok, I have a hard time looking at the positive. But here they are--many of my frustrations at this time turned into what I GET to have in my life.

  • I get to hear my grandmother's voice light up as she talks on the phone to my 3 year old.
  • I get more outside time than I would otherwise
  • I get extra snuggle time at 1, 4, and 7am
  • I get a husband who not only brings extra money into the house, but also gets to do activities he loves to do
  • I get to jump on the bed
  • I get the luxury of having the internet in my home
  • I get "friends and family that I respect, when I think I'm too good, they put me in check"
Thank you to the M Family for helping me to look on the bright side!

Peanut


E had his four month well visit yesterday. It turns out, he's a little peanut. He's dropped from the 25th percentile at 2 months to the 5th percentile at 4 months for both height and weight. The doctor is a little concerned, but suspects starting solids will change that.

I tried to take his four month picture this morning (it got lost in the shuffle of leaving for Pittsburgh on his actual four month iversary), but he wasn't in the mood.

At four months, E:
  • LOVES Mommy
  • Is amazed by A
  • Smiles so much, he's earned the name of Smiley ER
  • Does a great job of holding up his head
  • Sucks on his middle and ring finger, usually on the left hand
  • Really likes the Intellitainer
  • Loves to be held, walked, and to see the outside
  • Is starting to chew on fingers as well as suck on them
  • Refuses a pacifier
As far as sleeping goes, he is almost to the 6 hour stretch mark. Last night, he went to sleep around 7:30 and slept until after 1am, woke again sometime after 4, then woke for the morning sometime around 7:30. Not bad.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Mommy needs a cocktail.

I remember when A was around 4 months, I felt like he did nothing but scream at me. All day.

Well, here we are. E is "around" 4 months. And I feel like he's doing nothing but screaming all day.

He usually takes a good, solid morning nap. Today? No morning nap. I finally ran to the store while A took HIS nap and got him to sleep. He slept for the ride there, while I shopped, woke up a little bit while in the non moving car, slept again for the ride home, then asleep.

We tried everything--boob, change, walking, more boob, burping, dancing, singing.

I finally got a little of my super sweet boy as we started the bedtime routine--while I got A dressed, I put E on A's bed. He looked at the fan spinning and just cooed. I read a book, and he just smiled and cooed. Figuring things were going well and that A was pretty neglected today, I told A to get another book. As he chose one, the fussing began again.

The good news is that it was fairly easy to get him down to sleep. I like it when it's fairly easy getting him to sleep. I hope that it's not one of those every 2 hours up nights, though.

This face, though, makes it worth it.

While we're talking about E, we baptized him on Sunday and it was a wonderful day! Both boys were so well behaved and we had a wonderful meal. It was so great to see everyone and to celebrate our little boy.

Plus, how awesome is it to have a picture like this?

Monday, August 9, 2010

THREE

A turned THREE last week. What an exciting day; G&G took the boys to see a baseball game and the fireworks. Unfortunately, the game ran into lots of extra innings, and they got home just as the fireworks started (we can hear them at our house).

The big excitement for A was his big party. He chose a Spiderman theme, so I tried to incorporate the theme as much as I could without going nuts and still appealing to the adults in the crowd. I am most proud of my Spiderman cupcakes. A had a great time seeing family and friends, and this weekend kept asking when he's going to have a Cars party.

The big news is that, despite all the cool presents he got for his birthday, he REALLY wanted the (free) Batman I had been promising him if he went #2 on the potty. The day after his party, he got it (despite having an accident that morning). He did it again the next day for another (free) Batman. I spoke with his doctor at his appointment who suggested a few things, both dietary and behavioral. It took a few more days and a few more accidents, but we had a big success yesterday.... but it also took a LOT of rewards.

Yesterday, his rewards included: getting to wear his pants again (hey, I don't like cleaning poopy underpants--it's much easier to clean a hardwood floor!), getting to watch tv again (the doctor's suggestion was that everything stops when it seems like he's getting ready to go. I think this is what REALLY caused the success since we were in the middle of his movie time), getting to pick a prize from "Mommy's bag of tricks"--he chose a Cars bouncey ball, and a jelly bean. At some point, he wanted to be left alone, so I did. Meanwhile, he unrolled the entire roll of TP, BUT this distracted him enough from the task at hand.

YAY, A!