I'm still here!

Pete has been reminding me lately that I haven't blogged in awhile, to which I reminded him that I was only going to blog when I had something interesting to blog about. So, what cool, hip and exciting things have we been up to? Not a darn thing! But it has been just over a week since my last entry so I thought it was due time.

Update on the kiddos: Addison is fantastic. He cracks us up everyday with the words and phrases that come out of his mouth. I should keep a notepad handy just so I can jot them down whenever he spouts them out. I could fill another blog with those! I have begun the process of looking at preschools as he will be 3 in June. Everytime I type it out it still amazes me. I can't believe he is going to be 3 already! And starting preschool?!? YIKES! How can I make him stop growing up?!

The latest issue we are working on with him is yelling and patience. How the heck do you teach a 2 year old patience? He wants what he wants when he wants. He also doesn't quite get the concept of time. He thinks that when he wakes up from his nap in the afternoon that it is the next day and it's time to have breakfast at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Hey, can't blame the kid for trying. Breakfast is great anytime of the day!

Amarah has been a bundle of fun lately...or not! She's been such a grouch potato and I started to think that maybe she was teething so I felt around her mouth...nothing. She does seem to be drooling alot more as of late, either that, or she has become rabid. I don't know. She will be 4 months in a week. We are going to start the sleep training by the end of next week. She sleeps so well when she is swaddled but then absolutely hates being in it. I don't recall at what age we started sleep training with Addison. He did so well with it. Can we get just as lucky the 2nd time around? Hmm...what else? Amarah still hates tummy time. I'm sure she thinks it's mommy's form of torture, or at least that's what she acts like.

Not much else is new. My parents are coming up tomorrow to visit for the weekend. Looking forward to that. They were supposed to come up last weekend but the beautiful Chicago weather put a stop to it. Well, that's all for now. Gotta go enjoy the wonderful silence that is naptime!

My Morning

I would like to share with you a short play that I wrote titled, My Morning:

The scene opens to a couple sleeping soundly in there nice, warm bed. The alarm clock on the dresser reads 6:15am. Suddenly the couple is awakened from their slumber by the rattle of a bedroom door. They both realize that their young son has opened his door and is ready to begin the day. The father tosses off the covers and slowly walks to his young son's room. The following conversation takes place:

Father: Buddy, it's not time to get up yet. The sun is not up yet. It's 6:15 in the morning. It's still dark outside.

Son: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Father: Time to get back in bed bud.

Son: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

The father places the young son back in bed and pulls the covers over him.

Father: Close your eyes buddy and try to go back to sleep.

Son: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!

The father comes back to the bedroom and trudges into the bathroom to shower and get ready for work. The sound of silence can be heard from the young son's room. The mother rolls over, pulls the covers up to her neck, closes her eyes and listens to the sound of the shower running.

Cue baby girl

Baby girl: WAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

End Scene

Sleep Deprived

When Addison was born, he was a very unhappy and difficult child for the first 3 months. If he wasn't constantly in motion, being walked around and around and around, he was not a happy camper. The swing didn't work. The bouncy seat didn't work. Car rides didn't work. If he was awake, he was fussing. He was what we labeled our "high needs" child. The only consolation we had was that he slept through the night almost immediately after being born.

Once I became pregnant with Amarah, we both hoped and prayed that we would not have another "high needs" child for the first 3 months. We figured there would be a trade off. Addison was fussy during the day, but slept through the night. There's the trade off.

So what would the trade off be with Amarah? Well, I think we have officially figured that out. She is a pretty laidback, easygoing baby during the day who rarely fusses. She likes her bouncy seat. She likes her swing. However, she does not sleep through the night.

She had been doing okay. We got the Miracle Blanket and started using it right away and that seemed to help. There was a period of time where she would sleep from 7:30pm to 6:30am and this seemed to be the norm for her. I thanked my lucky stars and went on my merry way.

Right near the 3 month mark, she started waking up in the middle of the night. And what made it worse was that it was never at a consistent time. It could be 12:30, 3:00, 4:15, but never the same time.

I figured she had reached the 3 month growth spurt so I attributed her night wakings to that. She seemed to settle back into a more predictable pattern a few days later. Within the past few days, she has started waking in the middle of the night again. What the heck?!?

Now in all fairness to Amarah, she does currently have a cold and is really congested so I am crossing my fingers and toes and eyes that this too shall pass once she is better. If not, then we will have to come up with a new plan of attack.

Zzzzzz.....

Comments

Okay, so I was having a minor glitch with my comments section. If you tried posting a comment, you know what I'm talking about. It appears that I have this issue resolved, so for the 2 of you that actually read this blog, feel free to post away!

My love/hate relationship with breastfeeding

Let's get the negatives out of the way first:

1. I hate that I am the only one that can feed her. (I realize that I can pump but what's the point when I'm right there anyways.)
2. I hate pumping. There is nothing more unattractive than using a breastpump and feeling like a dairy cow.
3. I hate how long it takes to breastfeed. Don't get me started on roadtrips!
4. I hate the first 6-8 weeks.
5. I hate the breastfeeding Nazis that make you feel like a failure because you gave up or didn't even try at all. Why should it matter? As long as the baby is fed is the most important thing, right?
6. I hate having to NIP (nurse in public). Sorry, I'm just not comfortable enough to whip one out and start feeding my baby. If you can, more power to you!
7. I hate that I can only be gone by myself for a few hours at a time. Yeah, the pumping thing again. I know!
8. I hate nursing bras and nursing pads and all the other junk that goes along with breastfeeding.
9. I hate waking up with a wet shirt and a soaked bed.
10. I hate trying to breastfeed and take care of a toddler at the same time.

And now for the positives:
1. I love that I am the only one that can feed her. (I know...HYPOCRITE!)
2. I love that I am giving her the best.
3. I love that she is growing and gaining weight all because of me.
4. I love when she looks up at me and smiles.
5. I love how excited she gets when she sees me first thing in the morning because she knows it's chow time!
6. I love when she wraps her hand around my finger when she is nursing.
7. I love that I get to be lazy sometimes because I'm feeding the baby. (Yeh, I'll admit it!)
8. I love that I still get to eat extra calories because I am breastfeeding.
9. I love that breastfeeding has helped me shed weight. (Still have a long way to go!)
10. I love that I've stuck with it this long.

I exclusively breastfed Addison for a month. No, actually, I think it was less than a month. He just never seemed satisfied after nursing and I was becoming more and more frustrated with breastfeeding and not enjoying any part of it. We started supplementing with formula. When he hit the 3 month mark, I went back to work and he went to daycare. Gradually, the number of bottles with formula started to outweigh the number of bottles with breastmilk until he was switched completely over to formula by 6 months.

Do I regret that decision? Not one bit! He is currently a very happy and healthy 2 year old and still has that insatiable appetite. However, once I quit nursing him completely, I did find that I missed that one on one time with him.

So, when I became pregnant with Amarah, I decided that I wanted to breastfeed her as well. The first 6-8 weeks were rough. I'm not going to lie. Breastfeeding is a learned process. I don't believe those people that say it just comes naturally.

Part of me thinks it's going alot better this time around because I educated myself more on the topic. Part of me thinks it's because I'm staying at home now. Whatever the case, 3 months, 1 week and 1 day and still going strong! Go me!

Happy Wednesday!

Yuck! It's such a blah, rainy day out today, but I guess I should look on the bright side. It's raining rather than snowing.

We had a rough night last night. Addison got up twice in the middle of the night. The first time Pete heard him, I didn't, and got him back to bed. The second time I heard him, Pete didn't, and I got him back to bed. He's so funny. I heard his door open. Don't recall what time it was. I go to his room and he's just standing there in his doorway. As soon as he sees me, he turns around, heads back to his bed and climbs right in. Maybe he was sleepwalking, I don't know.

Then Amarah decides she's going to fuss all night. Not to the point of me actually having to get out of bed and check on her but just enough to keep me awake. You know that feeling. You're laying there nice and cozy and you start hearing this little whimper coming from the monitor. You start silently chanting in your head "please go back to sleep! please go back to sleep!" in the hopes that the Gods of sleep will hear your plea and grant you a few more hours of shut-eye just this once. All hail the Gods of sleep!

So Addison finally got up for good at 6:15 this morning. UH! And Amarah followed shortly thereafter. Now it is officially naptime! The time of day that parents look forward to the most. Ok, maybe second to bedtime. I'm sitting here salivating as I smell the freshly baked strawberry cupcakes that I just took out of the oven. I'm delivering a meal tonight to one of the moms in my mom's group that just had a baby. Mmm...chicken tortilla soup and strawberry cupcakes. Good thing I made double!

Did I mention I hate winter?

So it's an absolutely gorgeous day out today. In fact, the high today is supposed to be a lovely 64 degrees. Not too shabby for February 10th! However, Addison and I have both come down with colds so once again we will be stuck inside. It must have been from all the traveling this weekend and the fact that we don't go out too often. Addison's nose started running on Sunday and I woke up yesterday with a sore throat and stuffy nose. Oh joy!

Addison has a wonderful way of letting me know that he needs his nose wiped. I was at the kitchen sink this morning washing up our dishes from breakfast when I hear what sounds like Addison spitting. I go into the living room to check on him and he's sitting there playing with his toys while snot is dripping from his nose down to his upper lip and he was trying to "blow" it away, thus the spitting sound that I heard. So now anytime I hear this wonderful sound, I know it's time to grab a kleenex!

Hopefully Pete and Amarah will be spared.