Calling All of My Parent Friends:

I AM A SLEEP DEPENDENT HUMAN BEING....and I am struggling.

Help!  I need some advice...  I am fearful that I have created a bad habit over the past 5-6 nights.  My child has created a new sleep routine for himself.  This routine consists of him waking up between 1:30-2:00am every single night.  I mean it's like clockwork.  He wakes up, stands up and will not go back to sleep.  Period.  Unless he is picked up, in which he will immediately fall back to sleep in the arms of one of us sleep deprived parents.  And then if we try and put him back down, he wakes up again - right away.  It's a horrible, horrible, vicious cycle that has me carrying him to the couch, where I proceed to fall asleep with him in my arms.

I have done sooo good for the first 9 months not putting him in the bed with me.  I have blogged in the past about how easy he has been to put down in his crib.  But now it's not happening.  He wakes up and pulls himself up and stands facing the door screaming.  He gets in the camera and knocks it around as though he knows I am staring at him...trying to will him back to sleep.  If he woke up before, he couldn't get up so he would just tire himself out until his head dropped.  But now that he can stand, it seems as though he will never give in.  It's me that always gives in.  And I absolutely cannot stand to hear him scream the way he does for so long.  Regardless of whether or not I get him out of the crib, I am still awake once I hear him cry.  It's like this terrible feeling in your gut that you can't get rid of and only a mom knows.  Honestly I don't know if dad's feel it too but I know Ed can sleep through the alarm going off in his ear every morning so he can sleep through the baby screaming across the house...at least for a little while and then it finally wakes him up too.  I can hear him from across the house with his door shut and ours...without the monitor turned on.  It's heart wrenching.  It's unbearable.  And I need to fix it.  I need to fix me, really.

I spoke to the doctor about it on Friday and he said it is normal for sleeping habits to change around this time.  His gums are probably bothering him plus his body is changing so much so that is normal.  I get that.  I get that this is just a phase and that he will eventually, most likely get over it and will get back to sleeping all night long.  What I don't get is how to not let this bad habit keep happening every night where the only way I can get him (AND ME) back to sleep is by picking him up and sleeping with him.  I am sure some people can manage but I cannot function on 2 hours of sleep a night from battling the baby.  Repeatedly.  Actually, not ever.

So help me...let me know your thoughts or what you did when you were in my situation.  Or just let me know that you let your baby sleep with you too and he didn't turn out to be a 10 year old that wouldn't go to sleep without you and I will feel much better!

9 Month Well Visit

Deuce & I went to visit Dr. Davis this morning for his 9 month well visit.  Today he is 9 months and 6 days old.  Everything went great!  At his last appointment with Dr. Davis he was 6 months old and I was still nursing.  He weighed 14lbs 12oz and was in the 10th percentile for weight!!!  As of this morning he is now 20lbs 8.5oz and is 50th percentile for weight.  He is 28.5inches long (55th percentile) and his head circumference is 18inches (44cm - 15th percentile). 

He has no problem eating and often acts like he is starving but I promise he is being fed.  A LOT!  The other day we ate Bojangles and I had just fed him.  He proceeded to crawl over to us, pull up on the table and pitch a fit.  He grabbed a handful of Ed's fries and I made the mistake of giving him a bite of my mashed potatoes.  It was a mistake because he ate the whole thing!  And then cried when it was gone!  He is a mess!  As of right now we have no problem with him and foods.  I'm sure he wishes that his teeth would hurry up so he could start eating some better food!

Speaking of teeth, he still has none!  But today Dr. Davis said that his gums do look a little swollen so hopefully they will pop through soon!  He assured me that 20% of all babies do not have any teeth by their 1st birthday so there was nothing for me to worry about.

Deuce's heart beat is great, his breathing is great, his eyes look great, his ears are clear and his hips, legs & feet are developing nicely.  We have not been sick yet (I am knocking on a humongous piece of wood right now) and we are hoping that we don't have to go back to Dr. Davis until the 1 year check up.  He received 2 shots today, the 3rd hepatitis shot and his 2nd flu shot.  He cried for just a second and I didn't cry at all (Carrie you were right that it does get a little easier each time) so I consider this a successful doctors appointment for Deuce AND for me! :)

We are working on the sippy cup so that by 1 year we can get him off of the bottle.  He likes to pick it up and throw it but hasn't quite figured out how to drink from it.  He will figure it out with more and more practice, I'm sure.  He crawls super fast and pulls up on everything!  He enjoys showing us that he can let go with one hand and does it with so much pride.  It freaks me out but I try and let him do what he can.  When he does fall I try really hard not to rush over to him or act like I'm worried.  I take my time and console softly and tell him he is just fine and he usually gets over it really quickly.  He is a boy and I am going to need him to be tough for football!  When he "walks" with us he doesn't really walk, it's more like a run.  And he giggles so hard while he does it.  I love it.

His sleeping patterns kind of suck right now.  Sometimes he will sleep for several night in a row all night long.  Then when I think we are forming a good habit, he will hardly sleep at all the next night.  I hate that we have the long drive home after work because he always sleeps and it messes him up.  That extra nap keeps him up later.  Last night he wouldn't go down until like 11pm.  Then he only slept until about 12:30am (which was right after I finally fell asleep).  So I got up with him and he was up off and on until about 4am.  UGH!  I finally got him back down in the crib about 4am and he woke up again at 5am.  It was Ed's turn.  He got up with Deuce and he never really went back to sleep until after the Dr this morning while I was on the way to work.  So my eyes are bloodshot all the time.  Somebody at work asked me if I had been crying the other day.  Uh, nope...that's called having a baby at home.  I went to the bathroom and sure enough, my eyes were sooo red!!!

Anyway, he is healthy and happy and growing right on track!  His first birthday will be here before I know it and I just might start crying now thinking about it!  Maybe I should invest in some Visine???

I just woke up so quit taking pictures of me!

He's on the Move!

Here is a video of little man crawling around the house last night.  He has become a speedy little guy in just the one week since he "officially" first crawled.  TJ is beyond excited that he can move around now because Deuce is already following him everywhere...the bathroom, his bedroom, the kitchen, etc...

Man things are really going to get hectic from here!

(Please excuse the dirty floor.  This was pre-vacuuming.)

Deuce stayed with my mom on Monday since it was a holiday and she was out of school.  She called me to tell me that she went in to the bedroom and found Deuce standing in his crib!  Luckily she had already lowered the mattress!  But we hadn't lowered ours at home.  So I told Ed that had to be done immediately when we got home from work.  He's had some trouble sleeping still this week but I think it finally caught up with him last night.  He slept from 10pm to 7:30am.  I heard him making noise on the monitor and I went in to get him after I showered and there he was...still swaddled and standing in his crib, staring at the door.  He smiled at me like he was so proud of himself.  He is so fun right now!

Mashaka the Monkey

My eyes were opened to the website babysteals.com a little while back and I have fallen in love with it.  For any of my momma friends, you MUST check it out.  They release a different product twice a day (11am/11pm est) and it is drastically reduced in price, sometimes by up to 80% off.  Yes, I said 80%.  I check the site every day and I made my first purchase last week.  I bought a Baby Zoobie, Mashaka the monkey, for Deuce.

The retail price is $25-$30, depending on where you buy it.  I purchased Mashaka from babysteals for $12.99.  Say What?  Oh yeah!!! 

Mashaka at home in the nursery.

Let me show you what Mashaka can do...

Did you notice in the first picture that Mashaka's belly has straps across it.  Well not only is Mashaka a super soft stuffed animal, but he is a pillow for Deuce's little head.

Not only is Mashaka a super soft stuffed animal and a pillow for Deuce's little head, but he is also a warm fuzzy blanket.

The blanket is attached so Deuce can be covered up while holding on to Mashaka when he naps.  There is a zipper attaching the blanket to the Mashaka so that the blanket can be removed for easy washing.  Plus, there is a silky corner...I used to love the silky parts of my blankie when I was little.

Deuce already loves Mashaka!  On the way to Grandma's this morning I turned around and saw him kissing Mashaka's face (or maybe just self soothing sore gums & gnawing on it a lil' bit, lol!)

(and mommy loves target apparently)

Mashaka the monkey is not the only Zoobie there is.  There is a huge collection!  Click here to visit the Zoobie site and BEWARE: lots of cuteness ahead....

Like Father, Like Son...

So the other night Deuce was having a rough time sleeping.  He would wake up after every few minutes that I put him down.  He was so exhausted but just kept fighting.  My gut tells me his gums are really bothering him.  At about 4am I got up and even tried to put him in the bed with me (GASP!  I know, I know... I've been really good about not doing this but seriously how can I function at work the next day if I have been up all night with a crying child?)  He wouldn't even sleep in the bed with me.  I tried to put him in his swing, rocking him...nothing was working.  By this time, I was wide awake.  So I gave him some Tylenol & Orajel and got Ed up and told him I was going to just go ahead and get ready for work, there was no point in me trying to get a little bit of shut eye.  I knew the alarm would have gone off as soon as I got in to a deep sleep anyway so I passed him off to Ed.  When I got out of the shower I opened the bathroom door to check on them and I saw this:

Seriously adorable.  Both knocked out.  So I went back in to the bathroom to finish getting ready.  After I dried my hair I checked on them again.  I was sure the dryer had woken up Deuce.  Apparently it had woken both of them.  But only briefly enough for them to simultaneously turn over.  I'm not sure who turned over first but this is what I saw:

Even though he was fast asleep I couldn't bear to move him from his sleeping with his daddy.  I went in the living room and watched TV until it was time to leave.  And there is something to be said about sleeping with daddy I guess...

Daddy duty now exists EVERY NIGHT!

Where Has the Time Gone?

Seriously, have I been asleep for the past 14 months?

Somebody please tell me how to make it slow down.  We were just planning each others baby showers and now we're planning 1st birthday parties. ACK!

November 15, 2009

January 15, 2011

Kelley & Logan (3/17), Me & Deuce (4/22), Leigh Anne & Weston (1/13)

We celebrated Weston's first birthday on Saturday at Kevin & Leigh Anne's in Youngsville.  This was Deuce's first birthday party and he had a blast!  There were tons of kids there and plenty of toys to go around.

As to be expected, Leigh Anne had everything set up just perfectly.  Weston's room is themed with giraffes & jungle animals so it was only fitting that the theme be carried over to his first birthday party.

There were party hats for all of the kids.

And homemade chocolate suckers that Leigh Anne made herself.  Super Cute!

Deuce & Logan got to meet for the first time.  Logan lives in Charlotte. :(

The birthday boy really enjoys playing with measuring spoons.  Look at that sweet face!

Quick family shot before cake!

Weston had his own jungle themed cake that was made with lots of love by his nanny.

He never really dug in to it though.  He enjoyed picking up the animals one by one and licking the icing off.  Leigh Anne started to clean his face after each one and I had to remind her that he was supposed to be messy while eating his own 1st birthday cake...

There was also a yummy cake made for everyone else.  It was delicious with a custard filling and whipped icing.  Yummy!

Weston got lots of great toys and he decided to be proactive & read the instruction manual before playing with them.

He was very kind and let all of the kids play with his new toys.  Deuce returned the favor & let Weston try out his bottle.

  After everyone had left, we stayed for a little while and just let our 3 boys play together.  I guess Deuce just couldn't take anymore of the fun! (note: the middle of the picture, he kinda blends in)

Happy 1st birthday Weston!  I guess next week we will start planning y'alls graduation party!

The Sound of Basketball

Basketballs bouncing, Whistles blowing, Horns buzzing, Coaches directing, Parents yelling...

This is the type of music that plays in my head on a daily basis.  This is the type of music my baby heard during the entire 37.5 weeks he was in my belly.  This is why he doesn't flinch when we sit next to the scoreboard and the horn sounds.  This is why he isn't bothered by a continuous stream of bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce.  This is why, out of all of his toys, he picks up the basketballs first, at just 8 months old.  He will be a gym rat, I can tell.  He already plays in the bleachers quite comfortably.

He will follow his daddy & brother everywhere.  He will probably run out on the court (when I turn my head for like 1 millisecond) chasing TJ during the middle of the game just like his daddy did when he was little, stopping play and causing me to turn beat red & curse, which most of you know if very unlike me.  So serious.  This is why I will have an eternal hatred towards bleachers for the lifelong back pain I will develop.

This is why I love that I had a boy.

Because, I love to watch my husband play basketball.  Because I love to watch him coach & teach the little kids.  It makes him so happy & that makes me happy.

This was taken in Memphis last July at AAU Nationals.

AND, I love the competitiveness of the sport.

Oh yeah, I will also love it when this little guy hits a good growth spurt...

TJ is playing with the NC Gaters again this season on the 9U team.  They played a tournament this past weekend in Dobson (outside of Mt Airy) and won the entire thing with a 4-0 record.  They were far better than their competition, holding one poor team scoreless, while even rotating in the less experienced players.  It is still good for them to participate in these small tournaments because it gives them the opportunity to play together as a team in a real game and it allows them to make mistakes & learn from them, while not costing them the game.

As for TJ, his skills have become far more superior than they were last season, at least for an 8 year old.  Part of this is just having 1 AAU season under his belt.  He is learning to play the point position without being totally selfish, as most 8 year olds do.  Don't get me wrong, he doesn't always pass the ball when he has an open look like he should but he is actually starting to look down court and pass more often.  He is also playing more aggressive on defense which resulted in quite a few steals this weekend and his free throws are unbelievably consistent.  I mean don't touch the rim, net whiplash consistent.  And he is doing better dribbling through traffic and getting to the bucket.  He just needs to GROW!!  I have some video footage that I would like to piece together but we'll see when I actually have time to do that.

Does this make sense that I was supposed to have a boy?  You know, my jargon in the above paragraph, I mean.  Congrats to all of my girlfriends (which is like 99.9% of you) that actually read this part.  At least my dad will probably enjoy it though, lol!

Anyway, the tournament was two days, all day long & Deuce was pretty content playing in his spot on the bleachers.

And as I have mentioned before, you can see in the next series of shots the ungodly amount of drool the child is producing...

Hence the need to have multiple burp cloths on hand and mini rashes on the neck & chest.  I try to keep a bib on him a lot but it's not really that fashionable.  Seriously.

Watching so much basketball makes him hungry and I swear if TJ doesn't grow soon, Deuce is going to be bigger than him in no time.  The other day, TJ went to pick him up and almost fell over.  Honest to God.  He is half of TJ's length and probably half of his weight.  I need to video him getting a bottle because he goes ballistic as soon as he sees it and rips it out of your hands to stuff it in his mouth.  HILARIOUS!

And these long days wear him out but you know what?  He sleeps soooo good at night!

PS. We have a crawler!  Yesterday marked the first day that I count that he "officially" crawled.  I will post a video soon!

And Happy 1st Birthday to my best friend's baby boy (and one of Deuce's future best friends) Weston!

Meeting of the Cousins

Here are some more pictures from our trip to Tennessee.  We spent the remainder of the trip visiting with family.  Actually I didn't leave Aunt Rita's house from when we got home from the basketball game on Friday until we left on Sunday morning.  Ed & TJ went to play basketball on Saturday.  It was so nice to be around my family, be a grungy mess and not have anywhere to be or anything to do.

This is Chris with his cousin Jaycie.  He is just 6 days older than her.  This is their 2nd time meeting.  They were sharing a hug.

 Jaycie gave him a quick peck on the cheek.  I caught it but didn't have time to focus it... sad.

Playing in one of the play rooms with Ricky.

Jaycie made her way over to Deuce & Ricky.

 Deuce's first New Year's.  He loves his cousin Chanler!

 Uncle Jeff

 Yeah he's up and awake for his first New Year's. 
There was just so much excitement at the house!

 With his cousin Jami Grace

 With his cousin Haley.  This was their first meeting and she loved him!

 TJ with some of his "new" cousins, as he calls them.  They belong to my cousin Robby & his wife Ashley and it was the first time TJ had met them.

Carter - 2, Haley - 5, TJ - 8, Dylan - 9 & Hayden - 6

 The boys had a good time playing pool & Wii together.

 Y'all he is so close to crawling!  He rocks back and forth and locks out his legs in a push up position and then hops his knees under him.  He gets where he wants to go but it takes him a while and some rolling over and he gets frustrated.  ANY DAY now he is just going to take off!

 He loved Aunt Rita's Christmas tree.

 He enjoyed their hardwoods too because it was easy to slide everywhere.  He rolled his way from the tree down the hall where he was playing peek-a-boo with me.

 Time for night-night in his new jammies Auntie gave him for Christmas.