2 Months

Rachel is now 2 months old! Okay, so I am a week late on this post, so now she is 2 months and 1 week. I've been busy, I tell you! And really it has nothing to do with 3 kids, it is the other things. Now we are at the time where I should fill you in on Rachel. Everyone keeps telling me how good of a baby she is. Of course they see me when we are out and she's in the sling. She's lovely in the sling, all her needs are met in the sling. She can eat, poop and sleep in the sling, probably all at the same time, if she decided too, she is that skilled. We are coming to the time were people like to see the baby, because she is really starting to respond to people and smile (besides being so cute)! They assume that now she is developing personality and they are excited to see it shine through. She seems really has a special place in her heart for our printer and the fans and lights. Mommy tries not to be offended that she spends just as much or maybe even more time smiling at animate objects as she does smiling at Mommy.

 Rachel is still a fabulous night sleeper. I really can't complain, we put her down between 6-7pm, she fusses and then sleeps, getting up 1-2 times a night, most often sleeping until 7:30-8. She doesn't really make a lot of noise sleeping and doesn't really fuss when she wants to eat, unless I am out cold and she's super hungry! Seriously can't complain! She spends her days making up for that awesomeness by wanting special attention-to be held ALL day and not sleeping unless we walk with her, within 5 minutes of stopping the walk she starts crying and wakes up. I can put her down for short periods of time for tummy time, in the bouncy or swing. But she doesn't really like it. She likes to be held and she will let you know it.

She continues to be very alert when she is awake, she studies everything. She tries to mimic us and is free with her smiles. Her smiles light up her whole face, which I love. And she looks at me a lot and seems like she has something to say based on the movement of her eyebrows. I don't know if all babies are so expressive with their eyebrows, but my kids seem to be and it makes me smile!

We went to the Dr and they are pleased with her growth and her attention. She was 13lb 5 oz and 22.5in long. She gained 1lb 1oz and 0.5in. I think she is staying on her curve for weight 80% and dropped a little on the length curve, but I imagine she is in for a growth spurt soon-length wise. I do wonder when she will get a neck and Eric wants to know when she will start to laugh.

I tried to get a picture of her smiling, but it was difficult to do it while holding the camera, so the next day she was really smiling at Eric and I started snapping. Some great smiling pictures there!

R2Months - Free Slideshow Maker

(Sometimes I look at her and think "why did I put Nate in that dress?" I think the resemblance between them is strong, what do you think?)

Miss Rachel

I haven't decided what to do about the blog, but I have deleted some photos, which I don't think will be a problem, but I realized I have some pictures to post, so here we go!  Pictures of Rachel.  Mostly sleeping, some awake.  She's a great sleeper at night, but sadly she seems to need to scream to fall asleep. And she doesn't really like it when I stop walking during the day, which makes me tired, because she is heavy.  I have perfected the use of the sling and I've tried to rock her after she's fallen to sleep, but the dang kid still wakes up!  I am looking forward to having the mornings free, with just Rachel to work on some of this sleeping thing, she'll be 2 months in a couple days, which means in at least a month or 2 she should be more receptive to a schedule. 

Misc Rachel - flash slideshow maker

Hi

I've been really busy lately, newborn + starting of school + renter leaving = very busy!  Sorry about the blog not being updated regularly.  Today, I am going to post a blast from the recent past, Rachel's first bath.  The poor kid, wasn't particularly fond of the bath, and really still isn't, but mostly because I really can't get the temperature right, or maybe because she is like, why aren't you feeding me ten minutes ago!
 

Rachel's first bath! - slideshows

The kid is 6 weeks now, and I think that we are getting the hang of her. I mean we can now mostly get her to sleep without crying and she will fall asleep, only at night. We've learned that even though she is awake and alert she still needs TONS of sleep during the day. I spend most of my day making sure she hasn't been awake for more than a half an hour or so, if she has I start trying to get her to sleep. Because, if she is awake more than that it is impossible to get her to sleep and stay asleep. She is a fabulous night sleeper, for 6 weeks and I couldn't be happier about that. I still wish she could sleep during the day, not on top of me or in the sling. I only hope all this walking around with the almost 12 pound baby is helping get off the baby weight! I am pleased that she no longer cries all day, that she is calming down and is starting to smile. Hopefully things will continue to get calmer around here, especially as I get all this school stuff taken care of.

I am out of titles

This newborn thing is harder than I expected.  I remembered that I have difficult babies, but somehow that didn't translate to the fact that the baby wouldn't just slide right into our routine or we would have a slightly different routine, but I didn't expect that we wouldn't have any routine.  Which truly is ridiculous because what newborn has a routine?  She sleeps well at night, of course that is after Eric walks her, to get her into solid sleep.  She seems to enjoy movement to help her get to sleep, she doesn't have the ability to self-soothe yet.  But, all of this is familiar territory for us, both Gwen and Nate had the same problem, I just seemed to have blocked it out. 

Gwen and Nate really enjoy holding her.  I took these pictures during the day one day, Rachel was better positioned, but it is hard to take pictures and monitor, but I think it is important to document this for all of them.  What was funny about this picture is that Rachel was sucking on his arm, Nate thought it was hilarious. 

Here is a picture of the sleeping princess...

This picture from today, I was making lunch, Gwen decided to read to Rachel.

In a couple months, I guess we'll get into a routine and she'll learn how to self-soothe and go to sleep on her own.  The kids will lose interest in her and life will be at the new normal.  I just hope I remember to re-button my shirt! 

Poor boy

I feel pretty sorry for the little guy, his sister makes him be a little sister or a baby. The little guy seems to have allergies and this terrible cough, chesty and with clear mucous. He had the same thing last year at this time, even though the doctors told me last year it was cold after cold, he was too young to be diagnosed for allergies. So today, poor kid was tired and this happened.Bless his little tired heart!
It was at this point I decided to put him in his room! What if he fell of his chair?
He has been coughing a lot at night, so I suspect his sleep at night hasn't been very good. Poor kid...guess we should figure out what to do about the allergies!

A conversation

Gwen: Can you share the book with me?
Nate: NO!
Gwen: If you don't share it with me I won't get married to you or play with you at bedtime.
Mom: Gwen, you have to make the consequences something more attainable.
Silence
Gwen: Nate can I have the pirate book?
Nate: This book?
Gwen: Yes!
Nate: YES!
Gwen: Thanks!
Nate: Will you still marry me?

I guess they still like each other...

Interesting

Grandma's gone, we are all a little sad. We had a busy time with her, I am not sure the whole time she was here was busy, but the last 3-4 days were packed. I will likely spend a couple posts on her visit. Today was a busy day, but yet I didn't leave the house, interesting, isn't it? Ok, maybe not. I drove Gwen to school and then did some entertaining of some children. I feel bad for my friend who drove back and forth from school 4 times, at least once with an accident blocking her path. But let me get to the kids, kids are funny, aren't they! It is very convenient to make this new friend, my kids are the same age and gender as 2 of her kids. Gwen got a new bed and I wanted to get the bed together and set up before they arrived because Gwen, not so good with change, but I knew she wouldn't make a HUGE fuss with her friend over. My friend dropped her son off and he is not pleased when she drops him off, let me tell you. I thought today was a success because he only cried for about 10 minutes. She came picked him up after she volunteered and then picked up the girls from school and dropped them all back off and went back to school, conferenced and then picked up the kids. WOW! Busy. The kids were funny though. Her daughter wanted to know why our table was in our living room. I had to explain to her that it wasn't our living room. But 4 kids, wasn't so bad, if the 2 youngest weren't 2. The girls are all about princesses and we didn't have enough dresses/accessories for them both. Gwen hasn't shown much interest in dressing like a princess, but now that she has the new friend she got all accessorised up and her friend was rather disappointed to not to have a crown, so I fashioned one out of 2 hair bands and a plastic bracelet. Not much to look at, but when she put it on her head she was a princess! There was a point when the princesses wanted to dance, so I played some music on the piano and they danced with their "princes" which weren't their brothers. It was fabulous for me, I could play and no one would interrupt my playing, or so I thought, I might of played a little too long. I wish I could have played and taken video, but I couldn't do both, needless to say, I picked songs I could crane my neck and watch the cuteness. Fortunately this time, Gwen did not ask to go to her house next time because she wasn't having any fun. Success, for me!
We have set up the room in a new arrangement. Eric spent some time trying to get the kids excited about there new beds (technically Nate is getting Gwen's old bed), but I decided to keep Nate's mattress in there because, well Gwen doesn't like change, and we want this to be a smooth transition. Sadly Eric spent time making Gwen's old bed into a fort, who would want to sleep in the boring new bed when you could sleep in your old comfortable bed, which was made into a fort! But, now Gwen has a twin bed, Nate has Gwen's crib, we'll be securing him some non-pink Dora sheets for him, at some point.
So now that Mom is gone and Halloween is over we will be getting the kids back on schedule, Nate took a late nap, intentionally, but he really needed it! I just wanted him to have quiet time, finished my book and he was asleep...oops, but he really needed it, I tell you, he could use another nap tomorrow!
I think that is enough random babbling for now, I think I might need to go to bed, but Eric is doing school work in our room...

No Naps

We have started the transition to no afternoon naps for Nate. He totally needs them, and wanders around her from about 3-7p in some kind of crazy 'I need to sleep, but I gotta keep moving or I'll fall asleep' daze. This is pretty terrible for me, he loses all ability to listen and if Gwen looks at him the wrong way he cries...and then she cries too, because she is overtired also. I've decided to go with it because then he goes to sleep really early, and Gwen goes to sleep really early and he doesn't wake her up. It is pure silence around here by 8, 8:30 at the latest, it used to be much later than that...
Gwen sometimes likes to help out with cooking. I have gotten a sesame street cookbook from the library so she could help me cook, but of course she didn't want to help tonight, but we did get everyone to eat dinner, so that's a start.

My kids are pretty affectionate. Gwen goes through these moods where she wants to hold her "baby" Nate often obliges. (I can't help because I'm slaving away over dinner)

Eric has become quite the waffle maker. We seem to be having a lot of waffles on the weekends and occasionally during the week, if it is a special occasion. Gwen takes her syrup pouring very seriously! Nate is apparently taking lessons.

I don't know what is going on here, but it appears Nate wants to cut up one of Eric's old GI Joe's. He actually told me what he was going to do, but needless to say, I took away the scissors.

We also have ghosts in the house, so if you come to visit, PLEASE be watch out!

Sometimes having an intelligent child is a problem, or maybe it is having literal children. Never tell a literal child you want his peas in his belly, cause this is what he does!

I guess if we didn't want these shenanigans at the dinner table, we shouldn't have pulled out the camera.

Sleeping

Oh full night of sleep, how we miss you! We are still struggling with this whole sleeping thing with Nate. It is pretty terrible at this point, not a single person in our house got a full night of sleep last night. UGH! Nate is suffering from what, we don't know, but seriously wish we could figure out. What we do know is that he missed full sleep in bed naps because of VBS last week and is having problems staying in the room to sleep. The boy is tired, so tired! And we don't know quite what to do. I think last night was our limit. And while it was terrible to be sitting up with Eric last night at 1-3 in the morning (I don't really know what time, I'm just guessing) we were able to work some things out. I think without realizing it, we turned Nate into a kid who needs us to get back to sleep. We should have known the signals, but I think we were too tired to notice! We are going to try to remedy the situation tonight. I think we have decided to split up the kids so Gwen can still sleep and Nate can thrash about in their bedroom while he relearns to put himself to sleep and more importantly go back to sleep if awoken.
Nate is cute though...despite his stubborn nature. And really I wish the poor kid could remember to fall asleep on his own. But last night when we were in the midst of the lack of sleep deciding what to do while listening to Nate repeatedly say "can you tuck me in?" He would say really funny things. I was in the bedroom researching our options and Nate stops crying and really sweetly says "I need to come in". Eric tells me he also said "Daddy hit me". I am now immune to the he/she hit me thing from the kids. So sad, sorry!
Here's hoping that we have a better night tonight, but I think it will be a while before I sleep through the night again.

What are you doing?

How's it been going with you? Well, we are surviving, I think a little better this week than last week. Everyone seems to be getting over the colds. I don't think the colds were all that terrible, and the kids have runny noses, but everyone appears to be on the mend. YAY! I haven't heard from the U.Haul people, I need to call and find out if I still owe them a trailer. GRRR! I don't have your trailer!
Eric finished his first rotation and has started orientation for his graduate studies. He starts classes and his second rotation next week.
This weekend we had a garage sale, our neighbors actually had a garage sale and we just jumped on the bandwagon. We sold some stuff, got more stuff out of the garage and hey, guess what, we can now walk out into the garage and get stuff out. WOHOO! No opening the garage and then walking out the front door to get the stuff that we need.
As you know we put the kids together, but then we stopped because of the colds. Today we decided to put them back together. They both cried, but fell asleep after maybe 30 minutes! I guess it helps that we tired them out. I think apart of the problem is Nate, I think it usually takes him a long time to get to sleep, sometimes over an hour. I think Gwen goes to sleep almost immediately. This I think causes problems, but I guess they will work it out.
Gwen has started taking naps without wearing a diaper. Wohoo! One night she decided not to wear a diaper, but we didn't get to her fast enough in the morning. :( I am still working on getting her to go to the bathroom, but I forget. Fortunately, when she has to poop, she doesn't try to hold that! We'll get there, but we are throwing a lot of change at the poor girl and she is doing remarkably well, as long as I can keep her getting enough sleep I think things will continue to go well. Gwen wants to spend all her time outside riding her bike. This weekend the kids were very cute Gwen was riding her bike and Nate was standing behind her pushing her...when he thought she was stuck. Unfortunately when I pulled out the camera Nate changed his mind and wouldn't do it again. Gwen is getting very good at riding her bike, Eric moved up the seat for her and I think that made all the difference. She loves it though, in no time I envision family bike rides!
Nate, what can I say about that little guy, besides trouble! I feel like that is a reoccurring theme around here. He still is as cute as ever and if he hears anyone say anything remotely close to "outside" he runs to the door and says "side, side, side" and tries to open the door. This is only a problem if we have forgotten to lock the door and he falls out (oops!). He is into everything and is always moving. He is saying more words and understands everything. Did I mention he was watching Gwen pee in the bathroom and tried to put his hand in the stream...ewww. And seriously he has watched her pee a lot, why wait until this week!? Why!? probably because we were totally unprepared for it and I think for some reason all 4 of us where right there! That boy is going to be something else.
I think that is all I can remember for now. Life is moving on, we are settling in. I have decided to try and find a different Mom's group, the one I am currently in is online and does forums and such, I am not really into checking that to see and comment on what is going on in the area. I just don't have the time/energy/inclination for that. I hope that now that school is starting around here I will be able to find something for the kids. Maybe one day when Nate is on a 1 nap schedule we will be able to do things, but this 10am nap really doesn't make it easy for me to do things with others! GRRR!
Oh, I almost forgot I made another batch of this yogurt, this batch, with 1% milk...much better, I think. I am just not used to whole milk yogurt! Although with this batch I used gelatin to thicken the yogurt, but I used entirely too much and now it is like jello yogurt. Which actually isn't a bad thing, because if you blend it with some fruit then it has the right consistency as long as you eat it right away, it will thicken up anytime it is in the fridge. The kids don't seem to care and I think it tastes a little like those whips yogurts. I guess I know their secret!

Happy Birthday, NATE!

Well, we knew it would happen, Nate would eventually turn 1! And that he did. I think that turning a year old is a momentous occasion, not always for the kid, but for the parent, it is hard work getting through the first year, there are huge milestones and things to deal with, where you are convinced that you will never make it through, but we did, and we went from this... too this: Here's a picture of him first thing this morning...look already happy! Excited to start the day. He is definitely the happiest baby that I have ever birthed...I know you think that is not saying much, but seriously, it is one thing that almost everyone comments on, how happy he is.
So how has Nate changed in the last year. Well, he's walking! And man you better watch out because when he makes up his mind to get you, well he is going to get you. Although it is quite funny, because I don't think his steering is up to par yet, I took a video of him today (that i will hopefully download tomorrow) that shows that he wanted to come to me, but just kind of turned and didn't know what to do!

I have learned that I can't just put him down now, I have to put him down near the toys, so he can have something in his hand to walk with, he doesn't like to be toyless.

Nate "talks" also. He jibbers and jabbers and cares on. He says "hi" alot. He really likes it when people say it back. He is doing some signing also. He really seems to like it when you try to talk to him or communicate with him and he does know what you are saying. I have had to start telling him no and he will now walk away...it only took 1-2 days of positive reinforcement and much cheering!

You might be able to tell he now has 8 teeth, 4 top, 4 bottom. He LOVES to eat, and I am pretty sure he would eat all day. He is getting a little fussier about it, but he never really complains and he still prefers to eat himself, at this point I don't think he has any allergies. I also started him on a sippy cup of water. He is still nursing, several times a day. I am not convinced he is actually wants to nurse, I think he enjoys the quiet time with me, he often chats with me instead of eats.

I know, this is not of Nate, but I was trying to get a picture of all of us, and well, I am not so good with the self portrait.

Nate is sleeping pretty well, but our schedule is crazy right now with all these showings. He is sleeping from about 7p (ish) to 3:30 nursing and then waking up for the day between 6:30-7:30. Although I have been so busy with the moving stuff, I think I often sleep through when he actually wakes up because he just chats to himself when he wakes up (see previous paragraph on happy baby!...I mean toddler!) He naps 1-2 times a day depending on how often I can get them in.

He is in this very generous phase where he wants to feed me what he is eating. I remember the books talking about that, it is a sign of something I don't remember. I am more than willing to let him feed my because I think it is so sweet. Although really I wouldn't mind if he had a little less food in his mouth. Sometimes he does tease me and eat it himself, he gets a big kick out of that.

Nate adores his sister. I think he knows how to push her buttons and although I am not encouraging it, I definitely think it is something that he should do to her, because well frankly she has been taken advantage of by her for a while. He loves chasing after her and squeals with delight. I know the fighting phase will start soon, but I am definitely enjoying the adoration phase.

Now onto the cake slideshow. As expected Nate enjoyed the cake, dug right in, no questions asked. Several of my pictures wouldn't upload correctly, I don't know why. Also, I think the godfather got some good pictures. One day I will hopefully hit him up for those pictures.

update, bullet style

There is a lot going on, a lot I would like to document, but I don't have much time these days. Also missing the cord for the camera, so there won't be any pictures for a while!

• Nate took 5 steps today! He has been taking steps for a while, but that is the first time he tried to do more than one and maybe was conscious of what he was doing. There was much cheering and celebrating!
  
• We are cleaning out and packing. What we didn't realize is that we haven't emptied the file cabinet in months, we have a stack of papers to toss that I can not believe! Seriously, do I still need my utility bills from CA? I think not!
• We are doing the community yard sale, this is the first time we have done a yard sale and are selling stuff at rock bottom prices, ok maybe not, but we are selling stuff that doesn't fit into the next house.
• Nate is not yet sleeping through the night, but he will put himself back to sleep if something disturbs his slumber...which means if I hear him in the middle of the night I don't have to get him right away, he will put himself back to sleep. He has been sleeping to 5/6am. Nursing and then going back to sleep.
• Nate LOVES corn...and corn on the cob, you would think it is the greatest thing he has ever seen! He gets so excited and eats it all up...Gwen on the other hand, tasted the corn on the cob, still doesn't really like it, but she tried it, with no prompting, actually asked for it! YAY!
• I do not love the house that we have put an offer on, but there are several things I am excited about:

1. Although the house is smaller it is on one floor, this excites me because less space to clean, but means that when a child is crying in their room, I will be able to hear it.
2. Although I don't like that the front door is on the side and so therefore a side door, I will likely be able to open it during the day and still have privacy but be able to have a breeze.
3. The washer and dryer will be more accessible during the day...it is nice that laundry is upstairs by the bedrooms, it is a pain to get to during the day with the kids around...someone little man tries to eat the edge of the washer (it is a front loader) and will NOT be distracted from his target!
4. A YARD! small that it is, it is our own space

• We have a lot of packing to do. I have almost finished the kitchen of non-essentials, things we can live without for a while...I hope no one visits that wants coffee!
• Gwen is starting to remember her letters and recognize them, if she thinks there is a reward involved.
• I love having Eric home, but I am looking forward to doing some deprogramming, I kind of feel like he is cramping my style. This will likely be a time we look back on fondly and say remember when you were unemployed and we could run to the store and pretend like we only had one kid...do you remember that, it was lovely?
• Gwen is T-2 months from 3!
• Nate is T-1 month to 1!!!!!
• We have yet to finalize the details of the move...do you know crazy this makes me?!?!?
• We have yet to find out if we will get the loan...this does not drive me crazy, it makes me nervous!
• I have been reading a book that discusses interpersonal relationships and how to deal, it is fascinating to me and I hope that I am able to learn from it.
• Nate appears to be getting in 3 teeth, 3! That seems bizarre to me, shouldn't teeth come in pairs, this will bring his grand total to 7, 4 on top, 3 on bottom.

Off to get more stuff done on the house. We know how to live it up!

No name

We have been incredibly busy around here. I mean super busy, we have put an offer down on a house, thanks to my Mom she watched the kids while Eric and I looked at houses and we found a house. We put down an offer, haggled and have a contract. Now we have to secure a loan and figure out what to do around here. My Mother also packed up the house, and would have gotten a lot more done, if we had more paper and boxes, and we had a lot. Fortunately today I got a lead on more (free) paper and we will just keep going back to the liquor store and the grocery store until we get enough boxes to continue packing.
So now we are catching up around here, Nate is causing some havoc to my sleep schedule. I am tired, it is all his fault. He is waking up and not settling, well I am done! I don't know if he needs to start sleeping through the night, but I am tired of this and that is usually all it takes to start training. Nate is such an eater during the day, I don't know that he needs the night time eating, we will see how it goes! I might be up late again tonight writing blog posts. Don't hold your breath, I will likely be upstairs reading while he is screaming/crying. I forgot to mention Nate now has 3 more teeth, 2 on the top, 1 on the bottom, do you think that explains the chewing on anything and everything!?
Gwen, well I think she is suffering from a lack of sleep I think, acting not quite herself, tomorrow she WILL be going down for a nap. Remarkably both Gwen and Nate were both very good on the trip (baring that incident where Nate decided not to sleep at night, see sleep training!) we were very proud of them. I am sure Grandma enjoyed her quality time with them while Eric and I were gone...no meddling parents to bother with. Grandma could teach Gwen wonderful things, like "Nate's got a Mullet" (which I contend that he doesn't, but I guess I will have to take a picture and then upload it.)
Ok, well that is a small update, maybe one day I will upload pictures again. But I don't know if you can count on that being anytime soon!

Home from our walk

Sometimes, if we are having a good day, ok our walks are not dependent on good day, our walks are more dependent on whether we have enough time after dinner and Nate is not screaming FEED ME and put me to sleep. Usually I would put Nate in the sling, but Eric has been taking him in the Snuggli. Nate is so cute, I can't help but take pictures. Here is the walk from a couple nights ago. I am certainly not used to having a child whose head is not huge, Grandmom bought a hat for Nate that should fit 3-9mon and it is too big for Nate! But have I mentioned he has grown out of 3-6m sleepers! But anyways, look how cute he is!
As you can tell, he loves to eat on the Snuggli! Here we are coming back from today's walk.

You can't tell from that picture that Gwen tries to run us ragged on the our walk, she was full of energy today!

Nate has had a difficult time sleeping the last couple of nights, I don't know what is going on. I guess it is not technically a difficulty sleeping it is more of a difficulty staying to sleep. He was waking up every 3hrs or less. This causes problems for me, I am only used to 1 -2 times getting up, I don't readjust well, esp 3 nights in a row. Eric came home today and announced that Nate was larger today. One of the theories was that he is going through a growth spurt. He hasn't woken up yet, so hopefully I have fixed whatever has been his problem. I hope he is not having a teething problem!

Nate!

Since I have devoted some time to Gwen I guess it is only fair I speak of Nate also. He is certainly my sweet boy. He is getting to be a good crib sleeper. We are still working out a schedule. I am not sure what is going to be, we'll let you know! Nate is now able to roll from his back onto his front from either the left or right side, but he seems to have no desire to roll the other way (front to back). He seems to love tummy time, so much so, that he now sleeps on his belly. This is causing some problems for us, he keeps peeing through his diapers!

I am beginning to suspect that Nate is starting to teethe. He is drooling a lot and prefers biting on my finger a pastime that never placated him before. This is also causing a problem, because if he hasn't peed through his diaper he has drooled all over the sheets! Blast him! I don't have that many sheets and I don't want to do that much laundry. But if this is his only transgression, more laundry, than I will keep him and snuggle with him, 'cause he is a good cuddler!

Isn't he just the sweetest thing ever! Look at how he sleeps with his tush in the air! I was going to not post anything about Gwen today, but when I downloaded the pictures I must say, how cute is she...I could not resist posting Gwen checking out Nate's Baptismal gifts.

She loves that cross, and I am super concerned that she is going to break the lamb right off!

Eric believes she looks like a doorman in this outfit. I think she is super cute, what does he know!?

Busy week

We have been a little crazed around here this week. Not for anything that is out of the ordinary. Nate is having issues sleeping, which is cutting into my schedule. I just don't understand why he will sleep perfectly happily in the crib at night, but during the day he refuses. I think I figured out why he wasn't sleeping in the swing like he had been. We will see. We are down to less than a week to our big flight to FL. I guess I should start preparing. I am completely unprepared, I will probably be running around here like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to prepare around Wed night.

Last week I tried to get pictures of the kids made together, well it was an abysmal failure. So, we tried again today. This time we went to a women's house (instead of the conglomerate Sears) I haven't seen the pictures yet, but I think the calmer atmosphere might just be a lot easier, and the fact that we apparently had a newbie, that had no clue at Sears! Gwen is definitely a hard sell, the photographer assured me that Gwen's behavior is typical for a 2 year. The exact same thing the hygienist told me. I wonder if I exude the attitude of some one who thinks her child is adding inappropriately for her age.

In other news I tried to take my own pictures of the kids together. I am not sure it went well. How am I supposed to get them both happy and looking at the camera and snap the picture AND not have Nate crushed by Gwen's over zealousness.

(By the way she is explaining to me that "Baby Nate in there")

Sleep

DUDE! My son just fell asleep on his own, without any walking, rocking or nursing...do you know how excited this makes me? Apparently so excited that I can't fall asleep myself, but I need to sleep, tomorrow Gwen and I both have Dr's appointments so I need to sleep. (although I know this might not happen again, so easily, I now have hope it can happen again.)

Crazy Gwen

I often Gwen my crazy baby, mostly 'cause I think she is nuts! Ok, not really, but she is so unpredictable I often don't know what to do. For instance, last night I made a casserole with penne, tomato sauce, spinach, and cheese. My kid refused to eat the pasta and tomato sauce but the spinach with some of the tomato sauce with cheese, ate that up...of course not off her plate, but when Eric offered it to her, she ate it up, she also ate the spinach part for lunch. You can't predict these things. And for the last 2 days, will she go down for her nap at 1p...no! Yesterday she went to sleep at 3p. This causes me a huge problem and a little bit of guilt. She is not screaming in her crib, she's just hanging out, but she will eventually fall asleep. Now, do I go get her, because she will sleep until 5 and then I won't be able to make it to the grocery store and we won't really get a chance to play, if we don't have to go to the grocery store. Does this mean that she needs a later nap time? I mean by 1p, I need a break. I am so tired during our nap time routine. Oh well, I guess I will try again tomorrow and see what happens. 3 is so late for a nap when you put your child down for bed at 7-7:30. Which in other news we have found if you put Gwen down after 7:30 she sleeps until 6, but if you put her down before 7:30 she sleeps until 8! I tell you the kid is counterintuitive! I guess that is what parenting is all about.

Packing-theoretically

So, we still haven't started packing, I know we have to be up really early, but the laundry is almost done and Gwen is napping. I think the later nap time helped her. She was asleep by the time I finished my shower! So, I hope this has been the problem with her naps, later nap time, not that she is giving up her naps.
I got some good ideas from the ladies today in the exercise group for what to do with Gwen on the trip. I had made her some pumpkin muffins for the flight, but today she refused them...dang kid, so now I don't know what I am going to transport for her that is more 'healthy'. I certainly don't want to feed her graham crackers and cheerios all day!
I think that I am pretty unprepared for this trip, I am not the most prepared person in the whole world, as my Mother can attest I am a pretty big procrastinator. I would like to get in bed before midnight, because since we will likely be getting up at 4am, because at that point, shouldn't I just stay up all night? I think it might take all night for me to pack all the stuff I want to bring on the plane for Gwen. Well have a great weekend, I am sad that I will most likely miss the AU-UGA game! WAR EAGLE!

Saturday check-in

Today the most exciting thing around here is this. Life is all about who you know, isn't it?
Last night the scrapbooking was a success! I of course didn't get anything done, but we ladies had a good time. I guess I should clarify, I got some stuff done, but I never actually put anything in a book. I think I can start that today. I have had some problems locating some pictures and that has made me pretty upset. I can't find any of the pictures from my baby shower. I know that I used to have them. I have searched both laptops and the external hard drive, but to no avail. I also have not been able to locate the pictures from my 30th birthday celebration with Jess. Such a pain! After I finish this post I am going to get started on the scrapbooking, the problem with creating these albums is that sometimes it is hard to get started, the vision is not always there and I need a vision before I get started for sure! I have so much stuff, "accessories", it is overwhelming, but last night was good for me to go through my stuff and organize. I think I finally have the vision, I have a couple more pictures to print out and then we can get this show on the road.
Gwen woke up twice last night, once because the girls were so loud...they wanted to go up and comfort her, which was actually good for me, because then I was like, nope she'll live! Then she woke up around the time they left, which was the same time she woke up the night before. We all agreed that I was doing the best thing for Gwen in the long run, even if it is heart wrenching! Gwen woke up this morning at 6ish. I have decided that 6 is too early and I didn't go get her right away. This morning we get up and went for a walk (the 1 mi loop) and I let her stop and play at the playground that she loves...man she knows when we are getting close to it she perks right up and starts pointing. We came home and I let her play around the house, around 10:15 she tries to open the gate at the foot of the stairs, then put her arms up for me to carry her, I thought she was looking for Eric, but nope she walked around to my side of the bed and held her hands up and started to fuss, so I put her down for a nap and she is still sleeping. It is nice that even though I don't always know what she wants, I can seem to stumble into it! I would imagine she is pretty exhausted with all that crying and waking up early. Hopefully she will take 2 naps today, I am going to need one this afternoon! I think we will have to move to the 1 nap thing after we get that sleeping through the night thing down.
Have a great weekend!