My Little Love,
Last night was very difficult for your mother. You have not been sleeping very well at night and I decided it was time to do something about it.
You woke up at 11p.m. and started crying. I had finally determined in my mind that I needed to do what was best for you no matter how difficult. I let you cry and periodically I'd go in and check on you and comfort you.
Your little arms reached up to me and my heart broke. You wanted me to pick you up, to hold you, comfort you. I wanted to too, in the worst of ways! I even cried with you.
But I started to realize last night that you will be better off if mommy has boundaries and if mommy is consistent. As much as I believe I'm showing my love to you by doing what you want me to do, I'm loving you more by doing what's best for YOU!
Tonight, we tried something new. You ate your rice cereal, played on the floor, got your pjs on and read a book. We said good night to daddy and then I laid you in your crib. You were quite happy and I stood there for a few minutes reassuring you of my love. Then I left.
Sweetheart, you only cried about 5 minutes and then you fell asleep.
My little love, you are my first and therefore, my experiment. I'm so sorry for all the things I will mess up! I'm so sorry I don't know what I'm doing! I'll try to do my best, because I love you more than anything!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Hard at Work!
I made a list at the beginning of my spring break of things we need to get done in order to put the house on the market. No, not exactly my idea of a fun, relaxing spring break, but you gotta do whatchya gotta do.
It's actually been quite a productive week thus far! We've accomplished a lot, especially considering we have a six month old!
We raked the front yard and Caedmon watched.:) He doesn't sleep long enough during the day to get a whole lot done , so we just have to do things with him, or take turns watching him.
It's actually been quite a productive week thus far! We've accomplished a lot, especially considering we have a six month old!
We raked the front yard and Caedmon watched.:) He doesn't sleep long enough during the day to get a whole lot done , so we just have to do things with him, or take turns watching him.
He looks thrilled with his plight, doesn't he!
Sleep? What's That?
O.k. So I thought solids would be the cure all for sleeping through the night. WRONG! Caedmon is capable of sleeping through the night; has done so plenty of times before we started eating solids. I figured solids would just give him that little extra he needs to make it through the night. But he continues to get up 1-3 (yes, sometimes 3) times a night. We had three good nights over the weekend, in which he went 8 - 9 hours! That didn't last long.
I was determined to take my spring break week and work at getting him to sleep through the night. I have failed miserably! I have so much trouble letting him cry. I'll start out good, but then when he gets extremely upset, I can't take it anymore. I am so different from the mother I thought I would be!
So last night, he woke up at 1:15a.m.! Ridiculous! I fed him on one side and put him back to bed. Not 15 minutes later, he wakes up. Corey goes in, picks him up, gets him back to sleep, lays him down, and once again he wakes up. I say, we're just going to have to let him cry; he just ate. He fusses half-heartedly in spurts, and for 5 minutes, is completely quiet and I'm sure he's gone to sleep.
All of a sudden, he starts crying pretty hard. I only let it go a couple minutes before I go into his room. I'd hardly gotten in there when he throws up the entire contents of his stomach all over himself, his face, his sheet. I feel terrible! He gets himself so worked up sometimes, or it was the excess mucus from crying that perhaps made him gag and then throw up??
I've learned in my 6 months of parenting, never say never. I tried hard before I became a parent not to say, "My child will never do that." I didn't always succeed. I was always so against children sleeping in bed with their parents. I thought it was dangerous as well as bad for the husband/wife relationship. Well, I've lost track of how many times Caedmon has ended up in bed with us, and last night it happened again. I was at a loss for what to do, but mostly just too lazy to stay up and rock him back to sleep.
Anyone have any advice? I'm pretty sure I can't handle consistently letting him cry. Sometimes he's perfectly happy when awake and laid back down at night and he'll go to sleep on his own in a short time without even fussing. And the other night I let him cry himself back to sleep, but he never was that upset.
He's so inconsistent. Is this a phase we're going through?
Today, he fell asleep eating, stayed asleep through the whole diaper changing process, but as soon as I laid him in his crib, his eyes pop open and he's wide awake! AGGHHH!!
I was determined to take my spring break week and work at getting him to sleep through the night. I have failed miserably! I have so much trouble letting him cry. I'll start out good, but then when he gets extremely upset, I can't take it anymore. I am so different from the mother I thought I would be!
So last night, he woke up at 1:15a.m.! Ridiculous! I fed him on one side and put him back to bed. Not 15 minutes later, he wakes up. Corey goes in, picks him up, gets him back to sleep, lays him down, and once again he wakes up. I say, we're just going to have to let him cry; he just ate. He fusses half-heartedly in spurts, and for 5 minutes, is completely quiet and I'm sure he's gone to sleep.
All of a sudden, he starts crying pretty hard. I only let it go a couple minutes before I go into his room. I'd hardly gotten in there when he throws up the entire contents of his stomach all over himself, his face, his sheet. I feel terrible! He gets himself so worked up sometimes, or it was the excess mucus from crying that perhaps made him gag and then throw up??
I've learned in my 6 months of parenting, never say never. I tried hard before I became a parent not to say, "My child will never do that." I didn't always succeed. I was always so against children sleeping in bed with their parents. I thought it was dangerous as well as bad for the husband/wife relationship. Well, I've lost track of how many times Caedmon has ended up in bed with us, and last night it happened again. I was at a loss for what to do, but mostly just too lazy to stay up and rock him back to sleep.
Anyone have any advice? I'm pretty sure I can't handle consistently letting him cry. Sometimes he's perfectly happy when awake and laid back down at night and he'll go to sleep on his own in a short time without even fussing. And the other night I let him cry himself back to sleep, but he never was that upset.
He's so inconsistent. Is this a phase we're going through?
Today, he fell asleep eating, stayed asleep through the whole diaper changing process, but as soon as I laid him in his crib, his eyes pop open and he's wide awake! AGGHHH!!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Corey and Vacuuming
I asked Corey to vacuum yesterday. Our room always seems to get skipped in the process of cleaning the house. It's one of the dog's hang out spots, so you can imagine how disgusting the carpet in there was!
After the excellent job Corey did, I think vacuuming will be his job from now on!:)
After the excellent job Corey did, I think vacuuming will be his job from now on!:)
But I think he only did it so he could torture the dog. Our mutt his HUGE, but the biggest baby ever! And as if just having the vacuum present in the room isn't bad enough, Corey decided to test it on Neo himself, 'cause he's too lazy to brush the animal.
Neo was not at all thrilled, but was quickly distracted with a treat after the ordeal.
6 Month Well Child
We went to the doctor on Thursday. I played hookie from school so I could take Caedmon myself.
His off the chart measurements are 23lbs.2oz. and 30 inches long! Wherever I take him, people are always in disbelief of his size!
I found out that I have a form of tendinitis in both hands and he is definitely not helping the healing process!:/
Doctor says he's more off the charts for his height than his weight, so he's nicely balanced and his baby fat is nothing to worry about. I've never worried - aren't babies supposed to be fat?! They're definitely cutest that way!
Unfortunately, it was another check-up with vaccines included. I usually end up feeding him in the office while waiting for the doctor or nurse, and I did so again this time before the nurse came back to give him his shots. Little did I know, this wasn't a good idea.
She started out with the rotavirus, which is a liquid taken by mouth. Now that he's started eating solids, he's figured out how to close his mouth to something distasteful. Needless to say, he was not digging the medicine! He started coughing and choking and then projectile vomited EVERYTHING he'd just eaten. He was soaked, I was soaked from picking him up to comfort him and the nurse said in all her 16 years, she's never experienced the like! Well Bravo Caedmon! Not really. I felt horrible. He was quite upset and hadn't even gotten poked with a needle yet. And this time, I had to hold his legs down.:( Thank goodness they didn't make him take the liquid all over again. They couldn't be sure whether he got it or not, although we're pretty sure he didn't. The vaccine was for the stomach flu, which hopefully we're at the tail end of the season for that anyway.
Once again, I'm not sure how I feel about the vaccine thing. Working in special education, I am continually hearing about adverse affects vaccines have on children.
But once he was done being poked and mommy comforted him for a few minutes, he was fine, and you never would have known the rest of the night that he'd even received shots that day!
We don't have to go back till he's one year old because the doctor has no concerns with his growth!:)
His off the chart measurements are 23lbs.2oz. and 30 inches long! Wherever I take him, people are always in disbelief of his size!
I found out that I have a form of tendinitis in both hands and he is definitely not helping the healing process!:/
Doctor says he's more off the charts for his height than his weight, so he's nicely balanced and his baby fat is nothing to worry about. I've never worried - aren't babies supposed to be fat?! They're definitely cutest that way!
Unfortunately, it was another check-up with vaccines included. I usually end up feeding him in the office while waiting for the doctor or nurse, and I did so again this time before the nurse came back to give him his shots. Little did I know, this wasn't a good idea.
She started out with the rotavirus, which is a liquid taken by mouth. Now that he's started eating solids, he's figured out how to close his mouth to something distasteful. Needless to say, he was not digging the medicine! He started coughing and choking and then projectile vomited EVERYTHING he'd just eaten. He was soaked, I was soaked from picking him up to comfort him and the nurse said in all her 16 years, she's never experienced the like! Well Bravo Caedmon! Not really. I felt horrible. He was quite upset and hadn't even gotten poked with a needle yet. And this time, I had to hold his legs down.:( Thank goodness they didn't make him take the liquid all over again. They couldn't be sure whether he got it or not, although we're pretty sure he didn't. The vaccine was for the stomach flu, which hopefully we're at the tail end of the season for that anyway.
Once again, I'm not sure how I feel about the vaccine thing. Working in special education, I am continually hearing about adverse affects vaccines have on children.
But once he was done being poked and mommy comforted him for a few minutes, he was fine, and you never would have known the rest of the night that he'd even received shots that day!
We don't have to go back till he's one year old because the doctor has no concerns with his growth!:)
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Solids Part 3
Last night, he seemed like he'd caught on to our little game and he wanted nothing to do with it. I had to slip in the first couple bites while he wasn't paying attention. Then he started opening his mouth for the next bite!! It was very exciting! I think we got about a teaspoon in!:) He didn't sleep quite as long, but still only woke once during the night.
Tonight, he was ready and opened his mouth for the very first bite! He ate everything I fed him tonight, probably about 1/2 a tablespoon or so. We'll see how the night goes. He was so very fussy tonight. He ate the rice cereal, then nursed right away and fell asleep. I haven't heard him peep since I put him to bed. Hopefully it'll be a good night!
Here he is enjoying his bowl after his meal.
Tonight, he was ready and opened his mouth for the very first bite! He ate everything I fed him tonight, probably about 1/2 a tablespoon or so. We'll see how the night goes. He was so very fussy tonight. He ate the rice cereal, then nursed right away and fell asleep. I haven't heard him peep since I put him to bed. Hopefully it'll be a good night!
Here he is enjoying his bowl after his meal.Monday, March 31, 2008
Solids - Night #3
I was out and about yesterday - day # 3 of looking for the right size of pants for my husband. Why not bring him with, you might ask. Well, Corey does NOT go shopping with me. If he enters a store at all, it's by himself and it's in and out as quickly as possible - unless, of course, we're talking about Menards, and only then is it a long trip because he won't ask for help. You might also ask why he doesn't buy his own pants. Let's just say, he came fully clothed when we met, but he was also constantly mistaken for a man in his 30's.
All that aside, I was in Target and guess what I found?! Whole Grain AND organic rice cereal! YAH!! And for only $1.64! I was so excited - for that price, we can definitely put away the blender for now. It'll probably come back out when he starts eating his veggies and fruits, only to save some money though, because I'm pretty sure baby food is now perfectly healthy and free of all preservatives.
So we used the store bought kind last night and got some pretty good pictures of his face! Last night, he definitely wasn't digging the rice cereal. After a few bites, his mouth was not open for business! Hopefully he'll get used to it at some point - we'll keep trying! And the best part of all - he only woke up once last night!!! WAHOO!!!:) And it's 7a.m. and he has not yet woken again!
All that aside, I was in Target and guess what I found?! Whole Grain AND organic rice cereal! YAH!! And for only $1.64! I was so excited - for that price, we can definitely put away the blender for now. It'll probably come back out when he starts eating his veggies and fruits, only to save some money though, because I'm pretty sure baby food is now perfectly healthy and free of all preservatives.
So we used the store bought kind last night and got some pretty good pictures of his face! Last night, he definitely wasn't digging the rice cereal. After a few bites, his mouth was not open for business! Hopefully he'll get used to it at some point - we'll keep trying! And the best part of all - he only woke up once last night!!! WAHOO!!!:) And it's 7a.m. and he has not yet woken again!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Six Months and Solids!
Yaahhh, Caedmon's 6 months old as of Friday, March 28th and can now begin the next phase of food - solids! My doctor told me that babies need nothing more than breast milk till they're 6 months. Sounds good to me - it's so easy to let him be in charge of his food intake - eating when hungry and eating until he's full, not having to think about what to feed him or how much. Except this one little problem: this past week, all week, he was up two and three times a night and yes, he wanted to eat. So, Friday could not come fast enough! I talked with a friend who is very health conscious and natural and she told me how to make whole grain rice cereal myself. We attempted it and in the end, the consistency wasn't much different than my milk (which is what we added, and lots of it). It was kind of a pain and I'm trying to figure out how we can minimize the work involved. I'd like to feed him whole grains, so I might see if the local health food store sells it, or I'll keep attempting to make my own.
So, his first experience with "solids" was fairly uneventful. He didn't really make any faces and seemed pretty indifferent to it all. And unfortunately, it didn't help him sleep through the night any better. We fed him again last night, but the same thing. He didn't want too much, but then scarfed up my milk when I nursed him again.:( Not sure if he doesn't like it, it wasn't good leftover, or it's just going to take some getting used to..? Lots of questions.
Anyway, here are a few pics.
So, his first experience with "solids" was fairly uneventful. He didn't really make any faces and seemed pretty indifferent to it all. And unfortunately, it didn't help him sleep through the night any better. We fed him again last night, but the same thing. He didn't want too much, but then scarfed up my milk when I nursed him again.:( Not sure if he doesn't like it, it wasn't good leftover, or it's just going to take some getting used to..? Lots of questions.
Anyway, here are a few pics.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
My Little Model
Caedmon turned 6 months yesterday, and I finally decided to go ahead and take him to a studio to get pictures. I kept telling myself we really didn't need to go to a studio; his 6 week pictures were just fine and I took them myself. But, I guess I wanted the experience and the professional pictures at least once!
So we went to JC Penneys today and Caedmon had his picture taken...a few times!
It was great fun, he did wonderfully and the pictures...well, it was terribly difficult to decide which ones to buy! And the lady helping me wasn't any help in the decision process. She couldn't bare to delete any of them.
I spent too much money and decided it was worth every penny!
I'm hoping I'll be able to post some of them because I bought the "smile by wire" package in which they e-mail you everything and you can use it for screen savers, download them as a slide show, e-mail them to friends and family. So I'm thinking I'll be able to upload them. I can't wait!
Everyone thought he was adorable!:)
So we went to JC Penneys today and Caedmon had his picture taken...a few times!
It was great fun, he did wonderfully and the pictures...well, it was terribly difficult to decide which ones to buy! And the lady helping me wasn't any help in the decision process. She couldn't bare to delete any of them.
I spent too much money and decided it was worth every penny!
I'm hoping I'll be able to post some of them because I bought the "smile by wire" package in which they e-mail you everything and you can use it for screen savers, download them as a slide show, e-mail them to friends and family. So I'm thinking I'll be able to upload them. I can't wait!
Everyone thought he was adorable!:)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
First Easter
We made the trip up north to visit friends and family over Easter weekend. We stayed with some friends of Corey's from his school days who have become good friends of mine as well. They were wonderful hosts, treating us to delicious breakfasts, accommodating our baby's needs, even gave Caedmon an Easter basket!:)
We spent Saturday with Corey's family and enjoyed an excellent Easter meal Saturday evening.
Sunday, Corey had to preach in Bellaire. I can't comment on the service because my son doesn't make it through much of it.:/
On our way home, we treated ourselves to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays.
Here are a few pictures from our fun weekend.
Caedmon and Papa (Corey's dad)
Caedmon and Nanna (Corey's Step-Mom)
Caedmon in his "Easter" outfit - the most dressed up he's ever been.:)
Yes, it's still Sunday and yes, we had to change the outfit.
Daddy and Caedmon "playing the piano" together.
We spent Saturday with Corey's family and enjoyed an excellent Easter meal Saturday evening.
Sunday, Corey had to preach in Bellaire. I can't comment on the service because my son doesn't make it through much of it.:/
On our way home, we treated ourselves to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays.
Here are a few pictures from our fun weekend.
Caedmon and Papa (Corey's dad)
Caedmon and Nanna (Corey's Step-Mom)
Caedmon in his "Easter" outfit - the most dressed up he's ever been.:)
Yes, it's still Sunday and yes, we had to change the outfit.Daddy and Caedmon "playing the piano" together.
Extra Day
I am now working an extra day a week; that equals 4 days a week now - Monday - Thursday.
And as a friend commented on my last post, yes, this may mean more time lapsing in between posts. I'll do my best to keep up, but life is going to be very busy, between work, house work, spending time with Caedmon, trying to sell a house, and going up north.
I told Corey the other day that I really like our set up. It's only logical that I work considering Corey would probably have to work double the time to make the same amount of money (sorry Babe). He's bringing in money through a Bible class he's teaching this semester and refereeing soccer games. And he does a wonderful job as a "male mom," in his words.:)
Our current situation is not what I grew up with or what I thought would ever be the case for me, but I've learned that there's not just one way to do things. Every family should go with what works best for them! And it's working for us!
And as a friend commented on my last post, yes, this may mean more time lapsing in between posts. I'll do my best to keep up, but life is going to be very busy, between work, house work, spending time with Caedmon, trying to sell a house, and going up north.
I told Corey the other day that I really like our set up. It's only logical that I work considering Corey would probably have to work double the time to make the same amount of money (sorry Babe). He's bringing in money through a Bible class he's teaching this semester and refereeing soccer games. And he does a wonderful job as a "male mom," in his words.:)
Our current situation is not what I grew up with or what I thought would ever be the case for me, but I've learned that there's not just one way to do things. Every family should go with what works best for them! And it's working for us!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Boy's Best Friend
Caedmon absolutely loves Neo! He talks to him and laughs at him, and when he's crying, we'll call Neo over and make him sit by Caedmon and Caedmon stops crying so he can talk to him. It's hilarious. Neo gets more belly laughs out of Caedmon than we do!:)
So far, Neo doesn't seem to mind his fur being pulled.
And Caedmon is strong!
So far, Neo doesn't seem to mind his fur being pulled.And Caedmon is strong!
An Evening of Fun
Monday, on my way home from work, I received a surprise call from a friend telling me not to start supper, he would be bringing food. I never turn down the opportunity to not have to think about supper! Yah!
I love to see how guys shop! He had quite the assortment of food when he showed up at the house. Steaks, Funions, and everything in between! He bought Corey's favorite beer and coffee and got Caedmon a cute little sweat suit, which he said would not have been as cute in his own size!:)
I love to see how guys shop! He had quite the assortment of food when he showed up at the house. Steaks, Funions, and everything in between! He bought Corey's favorite beer and coffee and got Caedmon a cute little sweat suit, which he said would not have been as cute in his own size!:)
We finished a lovely supper, continued the evening in the living room watching our favorite shows of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy and finished the evening with a movie. I love when Ben comes to visit. Loyal comes to mind when I think about his friendship.
Eating his new sweat suit!
Eating his new sweat suit!
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