Finally This Milestone & One Reason Daddy Rocks

I received this text from Carson's teacher on Tuesday.

My exact response was "Yes hallelujah! Leave him! He's been waking me up at night and I've been waiting for the day that he could roll over and get himself back to sleep."

I've been getting a little desperate lately b/c it seems that his sleep is regressing rather than any sort of forward progress. And, nothing is wrong with him. I've been concerned at times about his belly, but not as consistently as he's been crying out. He doesn't love a pacifier, which I thought might help. We've tried several kinds. A friend told me that her son will only take the MAM brand. Target only had pink, so girly pacifiers it is! He does seem to like them better, but it doesn't help in the middle of the night after he's already spit it out.

It has seemed to me lately that he feels uncomfortable in his swaddle and that maybe it was time to lose it. Now that he can roll and move by himself, the swaddle was restricting him. So, two nights ago, we dressed him in some fleece pjs and put him to sleep on his belly. I was a little concerned, but I knew that he would be okay and that it might be the answer we've been looking for. 

He sleep on his stomach all night, but still woke up 3 times during the night and cried out for several minutes. My routine when he cries is...I turn the sound off the monitor b/c I literally can't listen to him cry. It hurts my heart. I set a 10 minute timer on my phone b/c I will fall asleep and then the sound will be off of the monitor for the rest of the night and you cannot hear him at all in my bedroom. When the alarm goes off, I turn the monitor back on and re-evaluate. If he's screaming at the top of his lungs, I go check on him. If he's barely whimpering, I set another timer for 10 minutes and turn the sound off again. On Tuesday night, he was able to get himself back to sleep during the first 10 minute timer all 3 times. Last night he slept on his stomach again. He only cried out once and was able to get himself back to sleep very quickly. He is already asleep tonight and we will see how he does for the third night on his stomach.

Tonight, I went to eat dinner with the girls that I went on the shopping trip with. We try to go out to eat for every one's birthday and tonight it was Erica's party! While I was with my friends, Darrin took the boys to the basketball games at his school. He managed to pick both boys up from school and daycare, cook dinner, feed Carson food and a bottle, make sure Miles studied and took a shower, and even put dinner for tomorrow night in the crock pot. That's impressive! He said both boys were great at the game.

Carson never made a peep.

Apparently he got lots of love and affection. He's a little heart stealer.

Miles was too busy playing with some new friends to take any pictures. He was 100% worn out and crashed pretty quickly after walking in the door. A fun night was had by all.

Less Words Wednesday

Carson loves daycare!

It's a Big Day & Making Baby Food

It's a very exciting day around here. Miles was chosen as student of the month! He was chosen last year by the guidance teacher, which was really nice, but having his classroom teacher choose him this year meant so much to him. We are so proud of him. I'm hopeful this positive reinforcement will help encourage good behavior for the rest of the year!

In other news, we've started making baby food around here. Carson couldn't tolerate rice cereal or oatmeal, so we started baby food a little before his pediatrician recommended. That's really nothing new for us, we pushed every milestone with Miles.

I knew I wanted to attempt baby food in an effort to make it as healthy as possible and also save some money. As it turns out, making it doesn't really help with either. Baby food is actually made with only the fruits and veggies, no additives. And, making it ourselves saved very little money. I guess over time it ends up saving more than I realize, but it's not enough to make a big difference. I still enjoy making it so, we'll probably make the foods that are easier and buy the rest. I've found that veggies are much easier than fruits. This is carrots and green beans, which were simple to make. 

I've been surprised by how coordinated he has been with eating. We started him at 5 months and Miles at 4 months. That's probably why I can tell such a difference. Miles took a lot more work. Carson just scoops it all up quickly.

We haven't found a food he didn't like. So far he's had bananas, peaches, pears, prunes, applesauce, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, peas, and squash. He couldn't tolerate the bananas at all. They seemed to make his stomach cramp and he was awake quite a bit during the night when he'd eaten them.

It's hard to pick favorites b/c he gobbles everything up, but I would say that he's really fond of applesauce and carrots.

Healthy eating habits for the boys has always been such a thing for me. It's been such a relief to see Carson following in Miles' footsteps. I'm so hopeful that it will continue. Today his teachers called him a chunky monkey when I dropped him off at daycare. He has quite a belly these days :) I can't wait to see how much he weighs at his 6 month appointment next week.

Weekend Wrap Up

My internet is acting up, so the goal is to get through this quickly before I'm tempted to through the computer out the window. M..kay? We got some snow on Friday. School and daycare were cancelled, so Darrin stayed home with the boys while I went to work. This is my busy time and his slow time so it works out. 

Miles played out in the snow for an hour while I was at work, which means I wasn't there to supervise him getting ready for freezing cold temperatures outside. This was Miles' idea of "layers"...a t-shirt and two sleeveless t-shirts on top. Granted, he had on a sweatshirt over them and then a coat, but still. This was the face I got when I tried to explain that his layers weren't really effective.

Just a usual Friday night around here...working jigsaw puzzles. We finished this 1,000 piece puzzle around 11:30pm even though I knew it was a mistake to stay up that late while still having an infant that likes to cry in the middle of the night.

Saturday morning, Darrin cooked breakfast and we all hung out at the table. Carson has been joining us for meals more and more. It's so fun to watch him grow up. I love a baby in a high chair. I don't know what it is.

Playing in the snow falls under my parenting responsibility. Darrin despises cold weather and so I took one for the team.

We invited some friends from church to come play in the snow and sled on Saturday b/c I'm no replacement for three fun friends.

Miles really likes playing with Kaitlyn, Jaiden, and Martin. They are totally his speed, fun, but not crazy wild. 

Even though a lot of the snow had melted, we found a hill that was perfect for sledding. We bought some sleds and discs last winter and never got anymore snow. We were ready this time. The discs are where it's at. I even had some fun. 

Carson enjoyed hanging in the warm house with Darrin.

Saturday night, we got a babysitter and went out with our friends, Rachel and Travis. They have two small kids, so it's been a long time since we've been able to hang out. This picture with the bottles in the background pretty much sums it up.

There are few people in this world that you can be 100% yourself around and the four of us absolutely have that kind of friendship. A good time was had by all.

This morning we celebrated our church's one year birthday. We were asked to speak about what the church has meant to us. I really, really do not like speaking in front of people, but I make exception when it's talking about what the Lord has done for us. He has been so kind to place us in a church that we absolutely love. As I said this morning, our church has made all the difference in our move. 

I managed to get through this post and the computer is still in tact. I better hit publish and run. Good night!

Less Words Wednesday

This kid was happy to be picked up in car line today since Darrin had to stay home with Carson.

Carson still feels about the same. Low fever and puny. He's going to the doctor tomorrow afternoon. Darrin and I are going to split the day home with him.

We had a rare dinner out the other night.

We don't eat out often and even less now that Carson is here. Carson slept most of the time and stared at Darrin the entire time he was awake.

Spent some time hanging with Stephanie the other day...also rare. We got our nails done, ate lunch, and ran some errands. Time well spent.

While I was away, Darrin apparently mistreated my baby. How dare he put him down.at.all.

My view while I was getting ready the other morning.

We had a lot of fun over Miles' Christmas break, which included sleeping in forts. I was sad to see Christmas break come to an end today.

Still working word searches every night, even in his forts.

I made this recipe the other night. I forgot how good it is, especially on a cold night.

Carson is doing a great job in his high chair lately. More to come on all his new foods. He's loving everything.

I'm super excited that half of the work week is over! Both kids are asleep and Darrin and I are off to work a puzzle. Good night!

First Sickness

Carson went back to daycare this morning after being off all last week. I actually thought to myself, I wonder how long we can make it until gets sick now that we are into winter. Ironically, one of his teachers text me around 4:45, just before I was leaving to pick him up, to tell me that he had a 100.5 fever. She said that he had been sleepy and puny all day. He wouldn't let them lay him down. We haven't given him any Tylenol yet, b/c I want to see what we are dealing with and also want to let his fever try to fight off the sickness.

In hindsight, he was probably getting sick last night. His cheeks were red and he cried out several times during the night.

Darrin is going to stay home with him tomorrow. Whenever possible, he stays home with the boys, so that we save my time for when he can't. He was a little restless when we got home today, but he's resting comfortably in the recliner with Darrin now. Here's hoping he sleeps it off and that it doesn't get any worse.

Happy New Year

Hey, Happy New Year from Carson...

I was going to take a picture of Miles and Carson after church, but Miles wasn't cooperating. For fun, here's a picture of Miles' first New Year's Eve. I think Miles and Carson favor, but I don't think they look as similar as I once did. I think Miles looks like me and Carson looks like Darrin, but the boys definitely have some of the same features and mannerisms.

Carson is excited about 2017 & so are we. I can't wait to watch him start sitting up, crawling, eating, talking, and tons of other milestones. 

We have spent a lot of our weekend decluttering and cleaning the house. To me, that's a great thing to do when you take down the Christmas decorations and get ready to start a new year. Today, we went grocery shopping and did some food prep. Now that most of the work is done, I'm looking forward to some downtime tonight and tomorrow. Then, Tuesday it's time to get everyone back in their routines. It's been a great holiday season and now we are ready for 2017.