The Rest of the Story

I let him cry it. He finally surrendered. Yeah! Victory for Mommy!!! I didn't end up putting him in the bouncy seat. I could tell he was so close to giving in, so I waited him out. Daddy snored during most of this. Not tonight....the schedule, along with strict instructions, are posted on the frig. I'm off to my Mom's. I'm already dreaming of a good night's sleep.

Persistence....

....is about to pay off for someone...Miles or Mommy. Here I am again, blogging about bed time. I'm trying to distract myself from the fact that my baby is screaming in his crib and has been for just short of an hour. I have half the people saying "let him cry" and the other half saying "just throw him in the bed with you and sort it out later". I tend to side with the first opinion, so we are really trying to tough it out and let him cry.

With that said, Miles is one persistent little boy. A couple nights ago he cried for an hour and a half, nonstop. This lead to me being sick at my stomach and Darrin finally caving in and sleeping with him on the couch. I know, I know....we only make it worse when we do that, but it's hard. Do you remember these nights? During the daytime, it sounds very logical to say that "he's going to cry it out tonight". At 12:58am, logic is gone.

Tonight, we are at 54 minutes. Just plain stubborn. He must be my child. When you pick him up he instantly stops crying. So, obviously there is nothing wrong. He's just spoiled and we've encouraged some bad habits that we are paying for now. This is hard.

It's now 1am. I said I was going to give it an hour. It's been an hour. Now what? Give in and allow the last hour of crying be for nothing? Or, continue to allow this screaming? How long can he do this? He's so tired. I should mention that we gave him a bottle, Tylenol, a pacifier, turned on some music, and I have leaned over his crib and patted him until I thought my back was going to break. I'm at a loss. I just took my blood pressure and it was 141/93. Did I mention this was hard?

Blogging has been very helpful at distracting me, but he's still crying. He seems so close to giving up but then he starts screaming again. I am going to visit my mom tomorrow and Miles is staying here with Darrin. I have a sneaking suspicion how this will go tomorrow night despite my pleading with Daddy to not sleep on the couch with him.

I don't like this option but I think I'm going to try putting him in his bouncy seat, in his crib. Oh wait....the crying has stopped. Could it be? Waiting...still waiting...nope the crying has started again. Hope you all are having sweet dreams as I type this. Good night.

Big Boy Bath

Miles has graduated to the bath tub. I don't think he knows what to think about all the room yet. He just kind of sits there and looks around.

He did enjoy playing with the water as it was coming out. He kept trying to grab it.

I couldn't resist posting this cute little bottom.

Jailbird

On The Move

Miles is crawling! He made his first moves during his play date with Hunt on Saturday. He's really figured it out now. He has to be enticed by a toy, remote, cell phone, etc.....and it still takes a lot of effort. Won't be long and he'll be all over the house.

We figured out what was bothering his stomach....Claritin. We've been giving it to him at night for the last 2-3 weeks. Since that was the only thing that was different we decided to stop and see if his stomach got better. After 2 nights of not taking it, he's all better. His allergies are better also, and the rash on his face is gone. Our little man is back.

Bed Head

I thought I would update on "Operation Back on Schedule", which is no longer in the works. I think a combination of teething and seasonal allergies has made night time impossible. Miles is a happy, content little boy all day long....then something happens at bed time. Sometimes he goes to sleep for a while and then wakes up. Other times, he never goes to sleep. We can't seem to keep him in his crib. He spends a lot of nights with Darrin on the couch. As I type he is screaming in his crib. Neither of us has the heart to let him cry for too long, especially when I feel like he's hurting.

Lately it seems like his stomach is bothering him. He's not eating anything new so I'm not sure what it could be. He has the worst diapers ever and horrendous gas....sorry for the details. I thought it was from teething, but I'm not so sure. I mean....these are really bad. Right now we are just trying to wait it out and hope it's just a phase.

On the weekends he usually gets in bed with us in the morning. This morning he got in our bed around 6am and slept for 2 hours. When I went back to pick him, he had a new "do".

The crying subsided.....must be asleep.....or so I thought. When I went to check on him, he was laying with his Dad on the couch. Sucker.

Guilty

I left the room for a minute and came back in to find Miles trying to escape from his bouncy seat. His face cracks me up. He looks so guilty.

Messy Boy

We are beginning to let Miles eat a few things by himself. He still eats his baby food and bottles on schedule, but at each meal time we give him a few things to feed himself. As you can see, it proves to be very messy.

The point is to let him learn how to do it....but a new benefit has emerged. I never wanted to be one that pacified her kid with food, but turns out that's what I've become. He is so happy in high chair with 10 Cheerios. What could 10 Cheerios hurt, right? I don't want the TV to babysit him either...but I bet that comes next :) I'm sure all you seasoned moms are giggling.

And...

...this is what happens when you leave him there too long.

I had just finished the previous post and then this happened. We don't leave him in the high chair endlessly. He just happened to be exceptionally tired.

Wet Kisses

Miles likes to give big, slobbery kisses. Most of the time it's me receiving the kisses....probably b/c I'm always kissing all over him.


Every day when I pick him up from daycare, he grabs my hair on both sides of my face and pulls me towards him for a big, juicy kiss. It is the most precious thing, and I will be so sad when he is too big to do this anymore.

We've starting reading books every night. His attention span is better some nights verses others. He really likes the book "How Big?".

The book talks about how big different animals are, and then the page flips up and says "So big". The last page has a pic of a baby and asks how big the baby is. Every time you get to this page, he leans in and kisses the baby.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can

I want to crawl...

I just can't figure it out...

Forget it. I'll just lay here....

Catching Some Zzzzzzzz

Miles taking his afternoon nap at the UTM softball game...

Wow

Yesterday, Miles and I had quite a morning. He let me sleep until 7am, which is much later than he has been sleeping. It was much appreciated. Darrin left at 5:30am for a tournament in Illinois and wouldn't be home until the evening, so Miles and I were hanging out together all day. I thought about going to the UTM softball and baseball games b/c it was supposed to be so pretty outside. However, by 11am I was changing poopy diaper #3. Being stranded at a ball field with a nasty diaper boy did not sound like a relaxing Saturday. I opted to stay home, catch up on laundry, and play with little man.


Poopy diaper #4 came soon after #3. We made our way to the changing table again to clean him up. The changing pad no longer has a cover on it. I just change him on the vinyl pad. It's so much easier to wipe off when we are having this many messy diapers, which are from teething, I suspect. He doesn't feel bad and doesn't have any other issues. While I was changing him he peed all over the wall and himself. At this point, it seemed easier to just give him a bath. His hair was even wet. I took him to the bathroom and set him in the floor while I cleaned up his room and got his bath ready.

He was naked, but had just peed, so I figured it was safe. Wrong. He peed on the rug. Seriously? Did he learn that from Bobo?

The day wasn't all hectic. We spent some time laying on a blanket in the yard. The weather was perfect. He almost fell asleep. I kept hoping he would take his afternoon nap outside but the sun was just too bright.

Miles Meets Jayci

Darrin's brother's wife, Jessica, was in town from Florida with their little girl, Jayci. Jayci is 8 months older than Miles. This is the first time they have met.

I think Jayci is a little upset about her mom holding another baby...

Checking each other out...

I guess Miles didn't like her finger in his face...

Aunt Jessica with Miles....

Aunt Crystal with Jayci...

I was determined to get some pics of the kids together. I took 20+ and this was the best we could do. Every kid is looking somewhere different :) The other two girls are Crystal's (Darrin's sister) kids, Ava (green shirt) & Olivia (purple pants). Olivia just turned 6. Ava is 3. Jayci is 16 months. We love them all to pieces.

Jayci making a run for it...

She's out of here....

I like the sunlight in this one...


Love this one too...

Then, we tortured them a little more in order to get pics of Granny & Pa with all their grand kids. Again, every kid is looking in a different direction.

Jayci stayed entertained by hitting Pa in the face...

And then she got Ava....

It was so much fun to see all the kids together. So glad we have the pics to prove it.

Happy Friday

Under Arrest...

...for being so darn cute.

Daddy's Caddy

Even though Miles couldn't play golf with his Dad today, he was dressed & ready for the course.

I'm Not Spoiled, My Husband Just Loves Me

I saw this saying on a car one day and thought it was perfect. I think she were referring to the fact that she was driving a really nice car, but nonetheless I still thought it was cute.

Darrin had practice at 5:30 this morning. So, that meant that I would have to get Miles fed & dressed for daycare. I'm sure many of you do this regularly, and I have to when Darrin is out of town, but it always stresses me out. We have such a good system in the morning. Darrin gets Miles up and fed while I get ready. Then, I get him dressed while Darrin gets his bottles ready for daycare. As you can see, Darrin bears most of the load in the morning b/c no matter how hard I try to get ready faster, it still takes me forever. My college friends can attest to that. I was always the last one ready to go out at night.

Back to this morning...Miles woke up earlier than usual, and had pooped out his diaper when I got him up. Off to a great start. I cleaned him up and made a little play area right outside my bathroom door so I could get ready.



He was pretty good while I got ready. He got a little irritable so I turned on some tunes. He seemed to enjoy the noise. Even though he was fairly cooperative on the floor, I still had to stop every few minutes to either pick him up off his stomach, turn him around, or something like that.

Just when I was beginning to wonder how I was going to get to work on time, I heard the dogs barking. This usually means Darrin is home. He walked in saying "I thought you could use some help." Music to my ears. Yes, I'm spoiled........and my husband loves me.

That's What I Love About Sundays...

Today was filled with all my favorite things. First, we went to church. I love our church and all of our friends at church. After church, I made cupcakes. Look out Jan...don't worry I'm not quiting my day job. Jan is my college roommate and now owns a Gigi's Cupcakes in Murfreesboro.


I love to cook especially when I have a new toy. I got a KitchenAid mixer this weekend. It is awesome. So far I've made mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs and cup cakes & icing. Ok, so maybe the scrambled eggs were a bit much for the mixer....I thought it would make them extra fluffy. While they were good, they still tasted like regular scrambled eggs.

Next came my Sunday afternoon nap....even better with Miles. I fell asleep while watching the Masters. Sunday afternoon golf, especially during a major, is another favorite. Notice that Mack still gets a little attention...

The rest of the day we just hung out with the little man. He got two teeth this weekend and has been a little bit of a handful. He just hasn't felt good. I think teething combined with seasonal allergies is making him feel lousy. One thing that hasn't slowed down is his appetite. He must be going through a growth spurt. The boy is putting away some food.

We took care of the yard work yesterday....weeded the beds and put down new mulch. This is always a job I dread, but it looks great and it's done for the year. I also changed out my winter and summer clothes, getting rid of what I don't want (a.k.a clothes I can't fit in to). I love weekends that are somewhat restful, but productive at the same time. I feel ready for the week.

Miles' New Ride

Check out Miles' new wagon. A friend of Darrin's, Brian, gave us this awesome wagon as a baby gift. We put it together in the living room last night in anticipation of a beautiful weekend.

Taking it for a test drive around the neighborhood...

It also came in handy while Darrin and I did some much needed yard work.

I got distracted every now and then by those cute blue eyes.

Success

Night #4 was a success. I feel like we are finally back on track. I really think laying him down awake is key. We also cut out his 5:30ish nap and just started putting him to bed earlier.

I have been searching everywhere for a swing but could only find pink ones. My friend, Christy, gave me a swing that her kids have outgrown. Miles LOVES it! Thank you Christy!!! We went out twice tonight for him to swing. Side note...the second time we went outside, when I lifted him out of the swing a spider was crawling where he was sitting. It wasn't an innocent looking spider either....it was a furry, yucky kind. I was not happy.

Might Be Onto Something

Night #3 was great. Miles slept all night. He was just waking up when Darrin went to get him out of bed at 6:30 this morning.

The light is so bright...

Good stretch....

Can I go back to bed please?

We are experimenting tonight. So far, Miles has slept all night on the nights we put him to bed while he was still awake. On the night we laid him down already asleep, he was up and down all night. He was so tired tonight. It was a struggle to keep him awake. He drank his bottle in less than five minutes. I talked to him (tortured him to keep him awake) just long enough to lay him in his crib. He cried for less than 2 minutes and is asleep now. I'll let you know if it was coincidence or if we are actually onto something.

Darrin is recruiting in Memphis and won't be home until later tonight. Do I relax and enjoy some "me" time? Or, take advantage of the alone time and do something productive? There's so much I need to do....like clean out my closet & change out my winter and summer clothes....or upload pictures to Shutterfly....or iron my clothes for tomorrow.... I think I might opt for "me" time.

Before I plant myself on the couch, I am going to add my blog list to my site. I've been wanting to do this for awhile. Some of the blogs I read are my friends, and some of them I don't even know, but I feel like I do. I often wonder who reads my blog. Is there anyone that follows me that I don't know? I've always wanted a hobby (besides shopping and reality tv!) and blogging has definitely become one. I love writing on mine and reading some too. Hope you find some on my blog list interesting.