Graby Photo by Buttin (Daddy)

Holidy Card Photo

I'm not sure what to do for our Happy Holidays card photo this year. Usually, I just do embarrassing things to our pets. I'm sure this year's photo will include Cub in some kind of silly outfit.

We tried taking some photos near our new (non peed on) tree.

Easement Into Sleep - - Week One

((Warning, post may be too long and too boring for most readers. This is really just a post that I'm using as a "diary".))

One of the big debates for parents regarding sleep is let them cry vs. never let them cry.

I've mentioned before that I'm a lot more sentimental as a parent than I expected. It's difficult for me to see Cash make a pouty face and I'm pretty much mush if he starts crying, especially when tears are involved.

As some background, I would say that Cub is probably an average sleeper. He's not sleeping 12+ hours at a time, but he's not waking up every 2 hours either. However, he has developed this bad habit of waking in the middle of the night (or sometimes 9PM or 3 AM) and not wanting to go back to sleep for a couple of hours.

I will always attend to his needs; however, he does not NEED to be awake for two hours in the middle of the night (and neither do I or Buttin). As much as he may want to be with us, we have to be tough - this is not a decision he gets to make. (He can make other very important decisions like to chew on a keyboard or a remote or a sophie.)

Buttin and I have pretty much read ourselves into confusion regarding baby sleep (or not sleeping as in our case) and gotten advice from other parents we trust (including my mother).

We developed our own strategy that will hopefully make this transition more of an "easement" and less of a "training". I abhor the term "sleep training" - my child is not a dog.

We do not mind tending to his needs for comfort or eating in the middle of the night - the real issue is Cub being awake for hours at a time in the middle of the night.

Here is our plan:

Phase I - Week 11/22 - 11/28

• I will nurse or pat Cub to sleep for all naps and at night.

• If he wakes up anytime between when he initial goes to sleep and 1:00 AM - we let him fuss (after initially making sure he's OK) until he goes back to sleep - up to 45 minutes of fussing.

• If he wakes up anytime after 1:00 AM - I will feed him and put him back to sleep by either nursing him or patting his back (up to 20 minutes). If he does not go to sleep after 20 minutes of back patting, I will leave him and let him fuss for up to 45 minutes.

• If he wakes up anytime after his nighttime feeding, but before 6:00 AM - we let him fuss (after initially making sure he's OK) until he goes back to sleep - up to 45 minutes fussing.

• Anytime after 6:00 AM, he can be awake for the day.

• For naps, he must stay in his bed for one hour. If he wakes up any earlier - we will let him fuss (after initially making sure he's OK) until he goes back to sleep - up to 45 minutes of fussing.
  

If he ever fusses for the full 45 minutes. We call the night a "bust" and just do whatever we can to make him (and us) happy. If he ever escalates to a "losing his shit" - level (as Buttin likes to call it), we go get him and call the night (or nap) a "bust".

Buttin and I are both nervous about our plan. He has wonderfully volunteered to be the listening parent - while I put on my headphones. I will get stronger. I (with Buttin) have made this decision to let him cry, so I need to be prepared to listen to it.

Day One: 11/22

Nap

1:45 - Cub is asleep in his bed.
3:00 - Cub wakes up.

Well, that was easy - I didn't have to do anything.

Night

6:15 - Cub is in bed after being nursed to sleep.
6:30 - 8:00 - Cub makes a couple of peeps, but nothing lasting longer than 30 seconds.
2:00 - Cub wakes up and I feed him, pat his back to sleep.
2:25 - Cub is back asleep in his bed.
2:35 - Cub wakes up & I go onto the couch to listen. I've told myself I will let him cry till 3:15.
2:45 - Buttin comes out to the couch and sends me back to bed (and to my headphones).
3:00 - I go out and check on Buttin. Cub has been quiet now for a couple of minutes.
3:05 - We go check on Cub & he's fast asleep.
6:30 - Cub wakes up for the morning.

Pretty successful and not as difficult as I expected. We know it'll probably get more difficult, but are encouraged by the first night.

Day Two: 11/23

Nap

1:30 - Cub is asleep in his bed (after being nursed to sleep)
2:00 - Cub wakes up, cries and I'm at home alone. I've told myself I will wait till 2:45.
2:15 - Cub is back asleep and adorable.
3:45 - Wakes up from nap extremely happy and playful.

Night

6:30 - Cub is asleep in his bed after being patted to sleep.
6:35 - Cub wakes up and Buttin and I plan to wait till 7:15.
6:50 - Cub is back asleep.
7:30 - Cub wakes up and Buttin and I plan to wait till 8:15.
7:40 - Cub is back asleep.
5:30 - Cub wakes up (that's right 7:40 - 5:30 straight). We decide since he didn't eat at all during the night, it's OK to go get him.

It was better/easier than even the first night. I'm starting to feel slightly empowered by our decision. We can identify his cries and so far, he hasn't "lost his shit".

Day Three: 11/24

Nap

1:30 - 1:50 - Cub is exhausted, but does not go to sleep on the boob, he wants to play.
1:50 - I put him in bed awake and tell myself, I'll give him till 2:30.
2:10 - Cub is zonked out.
3:30 - Cub wakes up (maybe a little too soon, but the rule is that he only has to be in bed an hour for naps.)

Night

6:45 - Cub is asleep in bed after being nursed/patted to sleep.
6:00 - Cub wakes up (over 11 hours of straight sleep without a peep!).

Day Four: 11/25

Morning Nap

8:30 - 8:50 - Cub is fighting sleep (after being awake almost 3 hours).
8:55 - I put him in his bed, give him a toy and kisses.
9:00 - He is fast asleep, holding his rings.
11:00 - Cub wakes up, well-rested.

Afternoon Nap

Kind of a bust because we spent it out of the house, so it was difficult to get and keep him asleep.

Night

6:20 - Cub doesn't want to fall asleep via boob, so I put him to bed, give him kisses and leave.
6:21 - Cub is fast asleep.
9:30 - Cub wakes up and starts to cry.
10:15 - (after what feels like forever) Buttin goes to check on Cub - he's dry and not in some funky position.
10:21 - I soothe Cub and he eats a little. I put him back in his crib and pat his back for a few minutes. I leave before he is asleep.
10:22 - Cub is fast asleep.
11:00 - Cub is awake and crying (yuck, my heart is breaking)
11:30 - Cub is finally back asleep.
6:00 - Cub wakes up.

Night was a little more rough than I wanted, but Buttin and I are encouraged by the amount of uninterrupted sleep we are all getting.

Day Five: 11/26

Both naps were a bust because we were not at home.

Night

6:10 - Cub is exhausted and falls asleep while eating. I put him in his bed fast asleep.
6:52 - Cub wakes up crying.
7:05 - Cub is back asleep.
5:20 - Cub wakes up, crying. It's too early to be awake for the day, but maybe he needs a snack.
5:30 - Cub is back in bed after a quick snack.
5:35 - Cub is back asleep after a couple minutes of fussing.
7:30 - Cub wakes up, playing with his calculator in his bed.

This is getting easier and easier. Buttin and I cautiously wait for the shoe to drop.

Day Six: 11/27

Morning Nap

10:20 - Cub is sleepy so I put him in his bed.
10:30 - Cub is asleep after about 10 minutes of fussing.
11:40 - Cub wakes up.

Afternoon Nap

1:55 - I put Cub to bed after he almost falls asleep (but wakes up) on the boob.
2:15 - Cub finally (after about 20 minutes of pretty dramatic, but not "shit losing" crying) falls asleep.
2:55 - Cub wakes up, crying a little.
2:58 - Cub is back asleep.
3:40 - Cub is awake, still a little sleepy but poopy so it's time to get out of bed.

Night

6:25 - I put Cub to bed tired, but still awake.
6:27 - Cub is fast asleep.
5:30 - Cub wakes up, I feed him and Buttin puts him back to bed.
5:35 - Cub is back asleep.
7:10 - Cub wakes up for the day.

Buttin and I comment to each other how we no longer fear bedtime. Before we started this experiment, I would dread bedtime. I would wonder, what if he doesn't fall asleep on the boob? how long will we have to pat him to get him to sleep? how long before he wakes up?

A couple of weeks ago, Buttin was at a concert and Cub literally work up every 5 - 15 minutes from about 8 - 10:30. It was exhausting.

Day Seven: 11/28

Morning Nap:

9:40 - I put Cub to bed awake, but tired.
9:45 - I leave the house (to go by Christmas decorations) and Cub is talking a little, but calm.
9:55 - Cub is still talking and has a little crying fit (Buttin told me this).
10:00 - Cub is asleep.
11:00 - Cub wakes up.

Afternoon Nap:

1:45 - Cub is exhausted and falls asleep while eating, I put him in bed already asleep.
2:15 - Cub wakes for about a minute, but quickly falls back asleep.
3:15 - Cub wakes up.

Night:

6:20 - I put Cub to bed awake, but very calm. I sang him a song and he just laid his head down in his bed while I was singing.
6:25 - Cub starts to cry, a little.
6:35 - Cub is fast asleep.

In Summary:

So as you can tell, we ended up modifying our rules a little as we went (flexibility really is key as a parent). We discovered that Cub didn't need (and sometimes didn't want) to be put to sleep via boob or patting. Phase I kind of blended into Phase II (which was going to include just putting him to bed without being asleep) and that ended up being OK.

Overall, Buttin and I were extremely pleased with our first week of "easement into sleep". If you would have asked me about doing anything like this a couple of months ago I would have said, NEVER. I had so much anxiety about letting Cub cry (about anything, for any period of time) that I actually had nightmares about it.

During the past week Buttin, Cub and I have gotten more sleep than we have since Cub was born. I no longer dread bedtime and naptime. I know that we may have some periods of regression and I'm sure Cub will have some nights/naptimes when he fights it, but the past week was REALLY, REALLY encouraging.

Inflatables Invade Our Yard

I love the tacky inflatable holiday yard decorations.

Since most of the ones I used last year got peed on, I bought some new ones today.

I'm starting to feel like an older person because I found myself saying, They sure don't make things like they used to, while I was setting them up. Just look at the Santa in the picture below - can't seem to keep him upright.

We put Graby in the front yard next to the inflatables, but he wasn't very impressed.

Don't believe me? Here's a close-up of his face.

Some Days

You just want to be a lazy, couch potato.

Cub was perfecting his craft today while eating Christmas ornaments. I love what the static was doing to his hair.


In running news, I was able to go for a nice (slow) 8 mile run this morning. Brrr . . .it was chilly, but it felt so good.

Leaves Suck!

All week long, my mother and I have been planning the perfect photo-op for Cub.

We'd put Cub in his bear costume and lay him in a pile of leaves - what could go wrong?

Cub kind of hated the leaves.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year, more than any other year, I have so many reasons to give thanks.

I am thankful for . . .

My husband, Buttin, who is a better man than I deserve.
Our son, Cub, who really does make everything better.
My friends, who laugh, cry and make fun of other people with me.
My baby mama friends, who without, I don't know how I would have made it through the last seven months.
My family, especially my mother, who mean even more to me now that Cub has arrived (like I said, he makes everything better).
Our misfits, who make everyday at work entertaining.
Cookie dough, sweet yummy cookie dough.

I'm also very thankful for the cool front that came through this afternoon. This morning I went for a run in a tank top and shorts, but by this afternoon - we had to bundle Cub up to go for a walk.

Buttin & Cub

Some days, I take really sweet pictures of Buttin and Cub.

Yesterday was one of those days and I got really pissed at my computer when it wouldn't download all my awesome pictures.

Today, I gave up on my computer and used Buttin's. Here are a couple of my favorites.

YIKES!

I felt unprepared for Christmas last year.

I feel about 100 time less prepared this year than I was last year. I'm also feeling a little sad because most of my Christmas decorations (the big ones - tree, blow up snowman for the front yard, etc.) have been peed on! I just don't know how to even start replacing all that stuff.

The practical side of me says, Go easy this year and go out shopping for decorations the day after Christmas, but the Christmas-freak side of me says, This is Graby's first Christmas - do it up big!

So conflicted.

Right now, I also hate my computer. I took a ton of cute Cub photos today, but after downloading only 18 of them - my computer decided to stop working.

Two Things We've Discovered

1. Our heater is not working - we learned this last Friday when it was actually freezing.

2. Our AC is not working - we learned this today when it got in the low 80s. It actually feels better outside than it does inside.

Because of the AC situation, Cub and I spent most of the afternoon outside playing. He showed off his teeth some more.

Another Try

So last night Buttin and I went to see Harry Potter.

It was our second attempt with a babysitter.

We had a new sitter - she came highly recommended from another mother at Cub's school. She (Julie) stopped by on Thursday to meet us and I liked her instantly.

I didn't have high hopes for Cub staying asleep while we were gone, but I felt very confident in Julie's experience and her willingness to work with Cub to get back to sleep (in the event that he woke up).

Buttin put Cub to bed while I went to wait in line.

When we got back home and walked through the door at 9:45 - Julie greeted us at the door WITHOUT Cub. He had slept the entire time!

I had left her a mini-manifesto of Cub notes and she left me some "House Notes".

Here they are:

• Wiped down counters and oven.
• Washed dishes (bottle stuff in bowl clean & dry).
• Threw out old banana.
• Folded laundry on table.
• Folded clothes on chair - not sure if clean so left on chairs.
• 6:40 - slight peep from Cash.
• 7:35 - Mouser in front door.
• 8:30 - Molly out, back in at 8:35

That's right! She had folded all the laundry on our table (which if you know me, I always have a ton of laundry on my table waiting to be folded), washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen!

Julie and I talked for about 10 minutes and then she left.

I thought *hopefully* Cub had gotten over his waking up for 2 hours every night, but about 10 minutes later Cub woke up and stayed awake till about midnight. Little stinker.

Here are a couple pictures today of the little stinker. First one is him playing with his new favorite toy - a keyboard from Aunt Jen & in the second picture he's showing off his teeth.

Thirty Second Movie Review - HP7-1

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows - Part 1

Four cookies - was there any doubt? The movie was - AWESOME! I can't wait for Part 2!

Double Cold

Cub and I both have a cold.

In an attempt to keep away dehydration, we are feeding cub from a bottle.

He is still very happy and playful, I am considerably less happy and playful; however, I'm really looking forward to HP7P1 tonight.

Baby Free Friday - Harry Potter Alliance

I was driving into work a couple days ago, and I heard a story on NPR about the Harry Potter Alliance.

How I managed to go this long never having heard of this organization, I'll never know - but now I'm a member.

The goal of this non-profit is to take themes from the Harry Potter books (i.e. house elf slavery = fair wage campaigns) and make community/political activism accessible to younger people. J.K. Rowling has said she's extremely flattered by and proud of the organization.

This is just yet another reason why Harry Potter is so much awesomer than Twilight.

P.S. I'm going to see the movie tomorrow night, be prepared for a four cookie review!

When Bears Attack!

Chair!


Lens Cap!


Water Bottle!



Look at these bear teeth!!

School Picture Day: Fail

Today was picture day at Graby's school.

The plan was to have his picture taken sometime between 8 - 9:30AM.

Graby, in all his wisdom, decided he needed to take a morning nap (which, he really did need - he's teething, in case I forgot to mention it).

After waking up at 5:45, he fell back asleep (after quite a bit of coaxing) at 7:15 and slept until 9:15!

We rushed through the door just as the photographer was walking out.

When I told Buttin that we missed picture day, he said, It's a shame that we don't have any pictures of our son. Smart-ass Buttin.

Good thing - she's going to be there again tomorrow, so we can try again!

Here's a little preview of Cub in his "picture day" outfit.

Quick Run

Graby is teething.

Teething Graby = Not sleeping Graby

Non-sleeping Graby = Non-sleeping Me (and Buttin too)

Non-sleeping Me = Non-running Me

Non-running Me = Feeling-sorry-for-me Me

So I haven't run since Friday morning. I was starting to feel a little sorry for myself, but then I was reminded of this and I decided that feeling sorry for myself wasn't such a good idea. Buttin had a better idea. He came home a little early from work today and I went for a little run.

It was only a short little 2 miler, but it's amazing what just a little running does for my soul.

This afternoon, I had to take Graby to the doctor to get his flu booster shot. While we were in the waiting room he was climbing all over everything. Right now, he only wants to stand. He still can't gracefully get from sitting to his stomach, but he has master several yoga poses in his attempts. (By the way, he was a real champ when he got his shot - just a little squishy face, but no tears.)

Also, since one Cub picture is never enough, here's another one - wearing his little winter hat.

Interviews

I would make a horrible HR or recruiting professional.

I don't hate interviewing people, but I hate knowing that there are many intelligent people out there and only one position to fill.

We are hiring another sales person and while some might think having a wealth of candidates is a small business owner's dream - for me, it's just kind of sad.

I feel badly knowing there are qualified people who don't have jobs. I think it's the little socialist in me, but I wish that people who REALLY wanted to work could find jobs. I take some small comfort knowing that our position isn't for everyone - just wish I could help them all.

My dear friend Liz has a highly successful resume writing and career coaching business - I wonder if she gets a little sad for some of her clients (most of them are all high-level mangers and executive-types) when they cannot find a position worthy of their talents.

Here's a picture of Cub playing "teething necklace" with Mouser.

Cub vs. The Cake Ball

CAUTION post contains pictures of kids (specifically mine) with food.

So - I made Cake Balls!


Cub didn't quite know what to do with the cake ball. I don't think he liked it very much, but Scratch did.

Aunt Jen's Toys

My parents left early this morning, so Cub and I are on our own till Buttin gets home tomorrow evening.

We spent the afternoon at Aunt Jen's house.

Aunt Jen has a lot of toys.

Cub's favorite toys (besides Aunt Jen's hair and jeans) were a red truck and a crinkly cat toy.

Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Baby Free Friday - Mexican Food

Today, we (me, Barbie & Patty) ate Mexican food for lunch. I was going to write about another topic for Baby Free (hint: it involved the making of cake balls, but I'll write about it over the weekend) Friday, but decided to write about my love of Mexican food instead.

Reasons I love Mexican food:

• It's yummy. Bread + cheese = good.
• It's cheap. I almost needed help getting in the bags of food. We got tons of food (honestly, we're all in our offices moaning right now) from an actual restaurant (not Taco Smell) and it was $29! That included tax and about 50 bags of chips and 22 containers of jalapeno ranch dip.

The only real downside to Mexican food is BEANS - yuck. Thankfully, you can pretty much request anything without beans. Sometimes they still give you beans (and I gag) and the worst is when a bean is touching something else on my plate (double gag).

Here is my drawing of my love for Mexican food, combined with my hate of beans.

Dear Cash - 7 Months

((Sorry for the tardiness of this post - sheesh, where does time go?))

Dear Mr. Personality,

You are so loved. You make Buttin & me laugh constantly (except for when you don't sleep and then we're not really laughing, but we're still kind of smiling).

Two BIG things stand out for me this month:

1. First visit to the ER/being admitted to the hospital - we really could have done without this "first" milestone, but now that we've been through it we're better prepared as parents in the event that you ever need (please, don't ever need) to go again.
2. You're moving! Not real efficiently yet, but everyday you reach a little more and scootch (is that a word?) a little further. You love to dive after Cartman (gross). He doesn't like you so much and snaps, but you haven't learned to stay away yet.

I know I say this every month, but this month has gone by the fastest. Everyday you do something new or better as you get stronger and more curious by the minute.

I love watching you eyes light up as Mouser gives you a little love-tap with his head. You are such a fun child and your father and I love you more and more (cheesy, I know) everyday.

Please be sweet to your dad and me and please don't grow up too quickly.

Love you more than Cake Balls,
Mom

Swimming!

Dadoo and MorMor are in town to help me out while Buttin is in Las Vegas.

Here's a little picture of Cash swimming today:

Seriously Teething

No, seriously I see two teeth coming in (actually Candy saw that there were two before I did). Today, during our Baby Mama's get together, Cash was eating everything.

My iPhone:


His friends' toys:


His friends (poor Henry):


Here's a cute picture of three little buddies (Cub, Henry & Isaac):

Three Days In A Row

Today marked three days in a row for working out.

Sunday - 8 mile run.
Monday - Zumba with Liz. It was a very technical class and I felt a little stupid, but it was still fun.
Today - 3 mile run.

I'm doubtful I can make it four in a row, unless I can count playing with Graby.

Speaking of Graby, he is now officially teething. He's still pretty happy, but at night we can tell he's a little uncomfortable as he tries to chew on everything. We've been giving him some Tylenol the last couple of nights and that seems to be helping.

Here's Cub crunching leaves in his hands. It's his new favorite game.

Christmas, Gigi Style

Gigi visited a couple of weeks ago.

She brought a car load of Christmas presents (for Cub only) because if she didn't bring them up, she wouldn't have room for Nana (or my presents, because those are very important too) when they come for Christmas.

On the Saturday she was here, Buttin was installing Cub's new car seats in our vehicles. Cub and I were playing outside on the front yard supervising Buttin's work. Gigi drove up (returning from one of her many Barnes & Noble trips, no doubt) and I told her that since Cub was getting new car seats, we really needed one of those mirrors that played music and stuff so that he could be entertained.

Gigi said, wait a minute. And walked back to her car. She brought back an interestingly (as in, looked like her dog did it) wrapped present. It had no less than 500 little pieces of tape, but was still only partially wrapped. Cub didn't quite know what to do with it, but I helped him open it and whadda know? It was a little mirror with lights and music for his carseat! So this morning, I got an email from Gigi . . .

I loved your blog….Just wanted to say I am so happy that Cash liked THAT PARTICULAR little swing……

Cash had such a good time on the swing yesterday that we were planning to go buy him one this week. Turns out, we already have it wrapped (kind of) in Christmas paper on our guest bedroom floor. Apparently, all we have to do is think about a present for Cash and it magically appears via the magic Gigi Christmas mobile.

Gigi said we could go ahead and open it.

Here's present opening, Cub-style

Open Present

Inspect Present

Taste Present

Decide Present Is Fantastic

Eat Box Present Came In

Somebody Is Gonna Like Rollercoasters

. . . and a few other things from this weekend.

OK, here's my weekend update - in bullet point form.

• Friday night was strange night for Graby. He was wide awake at bedtime and decided he didn't want to go to sleep until about 8:30.
• Saturday we went to my aunt and uncle's house. My cousins are in town and they have a 3 year old and a 2 month old. It's hard to believe that Cash was once that small (and smaller). I actually didn't take any pictures - I'm a little disappointed in myself.
  
• Saturday night we relaxed and Graby fell asleep hard around 6:30 (thanks to very short/non-existent naps) and a busy day.
• I went for a run this morning! Eight chilly miles!
• This morning, Cash ate leaves.

• Today (Sunday) we went to Isaac's (one of the little boys in my baby mamas group) baptism reception. Cash dressed up for the occasion.
  

• At Isaac's house we discovered that our little boy will one day enjoy roller coasters.

• Cash almost feel asleep on Candy's (Henry's mom) shoulder.

• This evening Cash ate meat and potatoes (chicken and sweet potato)! He really, really liked it. We also learned about this new thing called - a bib.

• Scratch likes meat and potatoes too (apparently).

• While we were playing before bed, I felt Graby's first tooth! I can feel the top little sharp point. This may explain some of Graby's strange sleeping (or lack of) this past week.
  

I'm still working on his 7 month letter. I hope to have it done tomorrow.