Saturday, November 28, 2009

Picture Post


Thanksgiving

Again, it's been a while! This past week was busy with the holiday. I got Wednesday and Friday off on top of Thanksgiving so I'm enjoying a wonderful five day weekend. All weekends should be five day =)

My parents came into town for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to see them and I really wish they could have stayed longer. It always feels like vacations are gone before you know it. They came in Tuesday night and stayed until very early this morning. It's a sixteen hour drive from here to Denver which they're hoping to do all in one day. They took two days to get out here.

I miss them already but we'll see them in less than a month. We are going to Oklahoma and Colorado for Christmas this year. Since I have two weeks off work we'll be driving to Oklahoma first and then flying from Tulsa to Denver for the second week. Then back to Tulsa and then driving home. It should be interesting w/ Nathan. We'll see how he does on the plane!

Right now little bean is fussing in his swing. He's tired but wasn't falling asleep in my arms so I put him in there. Doesn't seem to want to fall asleep though...well...maybe he's starting to drift off. I'll let you know!

His fantastic sleeping pattern from last week has been suffering lately. I'm not sure if it was the 12week growth spurt followed by a lot of visitors, but he's been all screwed up the last few nights. Not just that he's waking up again, but he's having a hard time GOING to sleep...something that he hasn't had a problem with for a month or more.

Thursday night we just thought he might be overtired because he didn't get a good afternoon nap in, but last night despite some good naps, he didn't want to go to bed in his crib. At least not on his own. We'll see if he gets back into the routine now that family is gone. I'm really worried about Christmas though. Having to go visit family with a different crib in two places...I'm not sure how he'll do.

Hmm, he's doing his "I'm tired" fussing still...I might try to put him down in his crib. Probably wont work, but worth a try I guess.

One of these days I'll do a picture post. Maybe later today. I have pictures from Thanksgiving I'd like to share.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Babywise

Alright moms I'm calling shenanigans on this one, there is a secret out there that either no one is telling you OR you know and are hiding it for yourself!!!



I knew this book existed because my mom had it when my little brother was born 12 years ago. She failed however, to tell me how magical it is! I should have gotten this before Nathan was even born so I could have started it right away. I didn't though and have now started using the advice within this holy grail of a baby book  this week and within days my beautiful little man has slept through the night. Oh yes. He has.

The main thing I've been implementing (or Caleb has since he's home all day) is the Eat/Wake/Sleep cycle. After Nathan eats he is no longer allowed to immediately go to sleep. We intentionally keep him up for a little while after he eats. The whole reasoning behind it is that we as adults don't go to sleep right after eating a large meal (in the rare occasion that you do, do you ever feel very good?) and so it might help regulate a babies "clock" if they follow the same pattern. Well does it ever!

The first three nights after starting this Nathan skipped his 2/3am feeding and only woke up for the 4/5am feeding (he was waking for both). That means he was sleeping from 10:15ish to 4:30ish. That's a good six hours. Well, last night my little man got to bed a bit late due to a trip out to see friends in Wheaton. I was a little afraid that would screw everything up, but no. He slept in the car ride home, went right to bed once we got home around 12:15 and slept until after 7am!

The other awesome little tid-bit that I like is that they make it okay to let your little one cry for 5-10minutes when you put them down for the night. Now I still am not on board completely with that concept. I don't know that I will ever let my future children cry it out when they're brand new, but at three months I could kinda tell Nathan would be okay with it. It's a different cry. Plus if he cries for more than 10mins I'd go get him, but he hasn't yet. The book STRESSES putting baby down to bed awake so they can fall asleep on their own. It's definitely worked w/ him. First couple nights he cried for roughly all of the 10mins before falling asleep. The last few nights though he's only cried for about 5mins and then it was only off and on as he was falling asleep.

This kid has got it down...I only see it getting better from here!

Again, shame on you moms out there who were hiding this and go get it for those of you still not sleeping at night!!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

a day off...

Wow, so it's been a little while hasn't it? Since going back to work I haven't had the same amount of time to post that I (obviously) had when I was on maternity leave.

My first week back was hard, I'm not going to lie. The actual days at work were okay, not really that bad although by 3:30 I was shot and barely making it through those last 45 minutes. The worst was when I'd leave work. It is only a 20minute drive in the morning, but by 4:15 that drive is up to at the very least 30minutes and with all of the construction going on, it's more like 40-45minutes. So by the time I got home at 5pm, all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and relax with Nathan, but no I have to wash bottles, wash my pump parts, make dinner and get anything else done (laundry, cat boxes, etc.) So while that doesn't really take THAT long, it really eats into my time w/ Nathan. Before I know it it's 9 and time for his bath and bedtime routine. Which is a nice quiet time with him, but still.

This week has been better, partially due to the fact that I FINALLY found a route home without construction. Takes me just a tad over 30mins, door to door. I've also decided that if I do everything the second I come home (bottle washing, etc.) that it makes it a little better. Then I'm not dreading it for an hour or so. I get it done and can relax. Guess I just have to get into one of those little things they call a routine. Not that easy since the hardest routine I've had to master in the last five months has been waking up by 9am, making coffee and sitting in front of the computer. Well, I guess we did get Nathan's bedtime routine going which was a bit difficult at first. Not because of him, but because I had to get used to remembering to get off my butt and start it every night.

Anywho, I have Veteran's Day off today (had last Tuesday off too) so it's been a nice 'easing' into the work week. Next week is the first time I'll have to work every day, and I even get to leave early on Tuesday because of a class I have to take. WIC requires you to take a class at 3mo, 6mo, and 9mo. and for some odd reason they only offer them during the work day. Not sure why since most mom's on WIC probably work a lot less flexible jobs than I do and are most likely stuck taking sick days. Seems a bit counter intuitive to me. Then it's time for Thanksgiving! My family is coming in from Colorado and I'm excited to see them. My sister and brother haven't seen Nathan yet if you can believe it. That's what I get for having a kid right when school starts. That reminds me...I need to see if I can find a card table and chairs since we don't have enough for everyone for Thanksgiving dinner. I really want to use my china and I don't think we can eat Thanksgiving turkey while sitting on the couch! (or floor).

Wow, this post turned out to be a long one. Sorry about that. One more thing then I'm done, I promise.

In Scentsy news: Holiday warmers ARE going fast. The Heavenly warmer that my mom ordered (in time, thankfully) is already SOLD OUT, a week and a half after going on sale. Many of the others are already on back-order too. I've found that Scenty's back-order really doesn't take that long thankfully. But, it is a precursor to the seasonal ones being sold out since they only make a certain amount. ksteve.scentsy.com

Also, I placed my first 'party' order and let's just say I'm pleasantly surprised by the hostess rewards. I was the hostess for this party so I could build my stock for house parties. My four guests placed orders totaling $300 which allowed me to receive two items for half-price and $26 worth of free stuff. So I got two warmers for $13.50 each and 5 bars for free! So, if you're at all interested in a party let me know, it's a great way to get free Scentsy stuff. If you're in Chicago we can do either a house party or a basket party and if you live out of state from me, we can do a basket party! I just send you all of the stuff you need.

Okay, enough. Have a great Veteran's Day! I'll try to update more often so I don't always have long posts!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Holiday Warmers Are Here!!

Holiday warmers are now available! Hurry because they go FAST!!




Also, the November warmer of the month is the Holly warmer. Get it for 10% off today!!