Alone Time

Last night was the first night I have spent alone since Miles was born. I have spent nights without Miles & with Darrin, or without Darrin & with Miles, or without Miles & Darrin but with my mom....but I haven't spent a night totally alone in almost 19 months. How crazy is that? I really hadn't thought about it until last night.

Darrin was out of town recruiting and Miles spent the night with Granny & Pa. I have to admit that I was giddy all day at work thinking about how I would spend my time. I'm a person that likes alone time here & there, so it's crazy to think I haven't had any in soooooo long. It was quite good for my mind & heart. The best part about the night was not talking. I know that sounds weird, but it felt good to just do whatever I wanted, when I wanted to, without talking to anyone.

So how did I spend my first night alone in a year and a half? Straightened up the house (b/c I can't relax in messiness), blogged, ate dinner (eggs & biscuits), took a bath, made & ate brownie batter, read some Parent magazines, shopped online (a baby gift & diapers, nothing fancy), watched 2 episodes of American Idol, watched 2 episodes of House Hunters, and called it a night. Wild & crazy, huh? Regardless, it was nice....and I decided that I don't need to wait 19 months to do this again.

Miles spent the night at Darrin's parent's house with his cousin, Ava. They had a great time. I thought he would have a come apart when it was time to leave, but I think he was too exhausted to put up a fight. I heard him snoring within minutes....

Happy St. Patrick's Day

What a difference a year makes....

He's Back

I blogged last week (here) about Miles' tantrums. I'm happy to report that we have not hit the terrible twos yet. My mom happened to question how long he'd been taking Singular for his allergies. He'd been on it exactly the same amount of time as he'd been screaming & crying over everything. Definitely a "duh" parent moment. We stopped giving it to him the next day and he's been fine since. Poor baby was miserably irritable. I can't explain what a different child he was for that week. It was like a switch was flipped.

Tonight he came home & ate a great dinner...parmesan chicken, broccoli, carrots, mashed potatoes, grapes, mandarin oranges & marshmallows.....played while I cleaned up....and took a bath where he played calmly (not screaming, crying, & throwing water everywhere). I bribed him with books to get him out. He laid sweetly while I clipped his nails and dressed him. The minute I put him down he said "books?". So we read one book after another for the rest of the night. After 45 minutes of books, he drank his milk and stumbled to his crib. Now this is the Miles I'm used to. Whew! Thanks Mom....I'm not sure when we would have figured it out.

And because I don't like to post without a picture....this is Miles' attempt to stay in the bathtub. The water is gone and his feet are purple, but he's hanging on for dear life.

The Children's Museum of Memphis

Last year during recruiting season, Miles was too little to go anywhere or do anything. By the end of the season, I was bored out of my mind & probably not much fun to live with. This year I decided to plan some fun things to do with Miles to stay busy while Darrin's gone. I asked my Facebook friends for some ideas that were age appropriate for Miles in West TN and also in Nashville, since my mom lives there. My FB & blog friend, Holly, suggested the Children's Museum of Memphis, or CMOM.

Darrin was out of town over the weekend. So, my mom came up and we took the little man to the museum. Between the interstate traffic and a few random food & drink stops, it took us four hours to get there. We were at a crawl on the interstate two different times. Miles did well considering the circumstances. I was about to go out of my mind so I really couldn't blame him.

Before we go any further....I forgot my camera. *sigh* My phone takes great pictures outside, but not inside. The pictures I took are not good, but they are better than nothing, slightly.

The museum was cute. I am not a germ-a-phob but this tested my nerves a little. Between the crawling on everything, playing with toys, trying on costumes, hats, etc, it was a little germy. That would be my only critique. If you have germ issues, I wouldn't advise a visit. Aside from that, it was something fun & different to do.

This little stage has all sorts of costumes for the kids to put on. The green background is like a weatherman's background, in that is actually shows the kids on a tv with different scenes. When Miles was up there the tv had a farm scene on it. He didn't get that, but he had fun in his outfit. There was an older kid on stage with a creepy black outfit on. Miles was a little unsure of him, borderline scared. I think that is the first time I've seen him show fear. It kind of made me sad to know that he has those feelings now.

He's looking at the creepy boy here....

The grocery store was the cutest part. The kids shop with their little buggies. The bigger kids can actually check out by scanning their items at the register.

He really liked the produce section...


He was equally fond of the meat/seafood section. He played with those fish for quite a while. Too cute.

We climbed on a firetruck and I tried to get him to put on a jacket, but he just wanted the dog....

The dentist room was a love/hate situation. He loved sitting in the mouth brushing the teeth. At one point, he attempted to brush his own teeth....eeewww. Thankfully my mom was on it & stopped him.

He did not love the character in the chair. He never did warm up to him despite my efforts to help him overcome his fear.

A little bit of coloring....all with his left hand of course.

This school bus was in a section for little kids. It was a very cute and age appropriate area. It had a little tree house with different places to climb & run. It also had a house with baby dolls and kitchen toys. He liked all the fake food in the kitchen area.

In the car room...

The hub caps parts came off. The museum creators have thought of everything. There are tons of things to see & learn. Very hands on.

This was in the last room. It was a Wizard of Oz exhibit. It was boring and over his head. My mom and I were somewhat over it at this point and ready to go. Miles decided he needed to pick up all these eggs and put them away in the baskets. Right when he finished a girl came over and started putting them in the thing to Miles' right. It has holes and the eggs fall down, kind of like Plinko on the Price is Right. He watched her....she walked off...and went back to cleaning up. We waited for him to finish again and then quickly ushered him out of the room before the scenario happened for a third time.

We left and did a little shopping. First up was the Pottery Barn outlet. I got four Christmas stockings for $8.61! Miles was kicked back while we shopped...sleepy.

We made a few other stops and then decided to head back to Martin. We encountered more traffic on the way back. It was a very long day but fun memories were made. It definitely distracted us from Darrin being gone, which was the immediate goal. I like to get Miles out of the house and go new places. It's exhausting, but fun.

Cozy

Someone has taken over my favorite blanket & my spot on the couch...

Rough Week

It's been a rough week at our house. Dr. Bates says that the terrible twos really start at one b/c that's when the second year of life begins......and after the week we've had, I am a believer. Miles has started screaming & crying over everything. It starts in the morning. Any mention of getting dressed, leaving, daycare, etc....the meltdown is on. Usually he's fine once we get to daycare. However, this morning he went to pieces as I left. I later heard from his teacher that his crying stopped by the time I got to my car. Unfortunately I cried for the next hour. He cries a lot at night too. Bath time is a disaster. Amazingly bed time is still good. Knock. On. Wood.

It seems that we have one of two problems. One...He's spoiled and believes that screaming & crying is the way to get our attention. Two...He's learned our routine and doesn't want to be away from Darrin & me...like going to daycare or going to bed. I'm not sure which I think it is. I cried all morning b/c I thought he missed us. The more I've thought about it, I kind of think he's just spoiled. He gets so much of our attention (as it should be) and his needs are met without much delay.

All I know to do is to stay consistent and wait him out. Eventually he'll figure out that we aren't playing or he'll grow up. I really hope that we don't have many more mornings at daycare like this morning. Not fun & my heart can't handle it. I literally walked out of work at 5pm and sighed b/c it was finally the weekend. It's time to recharge mine & Miles' hearts. I'm not sure who needs it more.

Babywise

As much as I've blogged about bedtime over the last year and a half, I can't believe I've never talked about Babywise. I searched the blog to see if I had, and it said "no results found for Babywise". How can that be? Babywise is the method that we used to teach Miles how to sleep through the night. I am a firm believer and preach it to anyone that will listen. So I'm still surprised that I've never blogged about it.

Reading the book started out as a selfish quest. I do not function well with little to no sleep. In fact, my gynecologist even told me that I needed to find ways to cope with less sleep before the baby arrived. I was a little sleep deprived towards the end of pregnancy. Me without sleep equals a lot of crying and irritability, and trust me, I, nor Darrin, need more of that. I had heard about Babywise and decided to read it.

The principles in the book made so much sense to me. Basically it's just feeding and sleeping according to a routine/schedule that is directed by the parent, not the child. Babies have to be taught how to fall asleep on their own and also how to get themselves back to sleep if they wake up in the night. It does require some "crying it out" but when you stick to your guns, they cry less and less.

When we lay Miles down for a nap or bedtime now, there is no crying 9 out of 10 times. When he does cry, he cries for less than 2-3 minutes. Usually he's very happy to be in his crib. Sometimes he even waves bye bye to us. He's been sleeping through the night since he was 9 weeks old, with a few derailments that were caused by either sickness or our inconsistency (examples here and here and here). He sleeps 11-12 hours every night, and takes 3-4 hour naps on the weekend.

This is how bedtime looks now. He drinks some milk in his chair....

Or on the couch...

Then we tell him it's time for bed. We usually tell him it's time to go see his friends, Buzz & Woody & the other million stuffed animals in his crib. He happily walks to his room...



...and goes to sleep. Sometimes I want to hold him beside his crib for a while as I say a prayer for him....he usually leans towards his crib, wanting to lay down, making it impossible to hug him. Since it means he's happy to go to bed, I'll take it.

As I said, it started out as a selfish quest, but it became more about Miles. I believe that a consistent routine, including plenty of sleep, produces healthy, happy babies. It doesn't mean you have to be rigid. We have to adapt a lot as he grows, but when you have a plan to work from everything seems to go more smoothly.

The actual title of the book is "On Becoming Babywise" by Ezzo & Bucknam. You can buy it for as low as $2.50 and trust me when I say that it's worth far more than that.