Sunday, January 31, 2010

Sunday

We kicked of the morning with a maternity photo shoot for baby#2. All the good pics are on Matt's camera, of course. I'm psyched to see them because we got some cute ones with Jack and some cute ones with Jack and Matt and then some of just me and baby.

I'm officially announcing that the bathroom is done. I have mixed feelings about this because this is the 'cloth diaper' bathroom. Since it went out of commission nearly a month ago we've been using disposables. It's been easy (lots more trash generated, but easy) though it hasn't helped with the potty training because the cloth allow Jack to feel minimal wetness, which is a step in the right direction. So now we have a fancy new bath and we are ::sigh:: back to cloth.

We helped Daddy make the pizza dough for tonight's dinner.

We also tried to do some cooking ourselves. As I took this picture I was yelling "Matt, Matt, Matt, oh no! Matt!" He was standing just to the left in front of the sink. That measuring cup did end up in the mixing bowl, splash! Neither of us could act fast enough, and it makes for a cute shot, no?

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Thank you's

Thank you husband. For taking super cute pics and scanning them. Can I get some copies for FB? Thanks.

Thank you, Target for having a 'backhoe' in your parking lot. You made Jack's day!

Thank you GiGi and PaPa, for the super-cool train table! Jack saw it and immediately knew exactly what to do with it. Mommy is also very psyched about this birthday present because he now can't get pissed when he accidentally pushes his train track on the floor (where it of course breaks apart as it falls all over the floor). There will be no more train wrecks in this house.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

No Restrictions

After yoga on Monday morning and yoga tonight I feel very bendy and very tired! I asked my teacher if there were any poses that they don't recommend in the 3rd tri because they're known to shift the baby's position. I've been told by multiple sources that downward facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) is known to help a breech baby move to head-down. So that made me wonder if something like a headstand or handstand would make a head-down baby flip. Nope. Apparently not. If I can still get into a head or hand stand at 40 weeks I might die or shock....

I did, however do this tonight (vashistasana).

But the fullest expression of the pose is this. Oh, yeah, sure. No problem.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Some New Perspective?

After my 'midnight' rant really all I needed was a little perspective. Like a fancy dinner out with my husband. (Blue cheese crusted fillet... drool.)Done.

Lunch, deep tissue prenatal massage and yummy wine-colored pedicure.
That too.

Dinner pre-gaming at the hotel.
Oh, yes.

Fancy dinner out with the lovely ladies.
Check. (This place, The Smithville Inn had some of the most delicious food ever. The company was faboo too!)

The next morning I slept in till 10. I haven't done that in AGES! Even when I sleep in at home I don't sleep past 8 or maybe 9 because it's a long time for Matt to watch Jack without some help (so says him, not me I have full confidence in him.) After my lie-in we had breakfast and headed Back to the Historic Smithville town area which has many cute and funky shops, like this one:
My personal favorite, of course.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

The Problem

The problem with a child who has, by the skin of his very cute teeth, survived a sleep problem is any regression can take his innocent bystanders, erm parents, into an endless cycle of despair instantly. Thursday night he didn't wake up once (except at 5:30 to pee, which he hadn't done in his diaper all night, and he promptly went back to sleep and slept till 7:15. SCORE!). Friday night Matt and I went to The Candlelight Inn for dinner. Delicious, by the way. I still feel full and pleasantly satisfied even now at the wee hours of the morning. We came home. We Wii-ed with my Mom for an hour. We were in bed at 10, asleep by 11. Promptly at 2:00 Jack was awake and screaming. Fun. He finally stopped needing us about 30 minutes ago but it's 5 freekin 30. I'm too depressed to go back to sleep now. I'm thinking about all the ways we'll never have a normal life as parents because he can't sleep like a normal human being. We can't invite friends over to have dinner and play games and put their kiddo down at our house. Why? Basically any activity after 6pm screws up the whole night. We can't have house guests. They're too exciting. Maybe if we had a bigger place and a guest house and we never actually saw them..... We clearly can't go out to dinner and have someone (who followed the routine to a T, BTW watch him) because that's just too different. Maybe it's TV... TV could be the enemy. I mean it's the new cause of autism, according to non-medical research articles.

Now in his defense, he did bite his tongue, kinda bad today. Maybe that hurts, maybe it's waking him up. He also had his hand in his mouth most of the day, maybe it's his teeth. Maybe there's a pea under his mattress.

It could be anything. And what sucks is we'll never know what we've been doing so HORRIBLY wrong all this time.

And I'm going away. Leaving Matt to maybe solve this problem... or suffer through it. He can handle it, but when I deal with HIGHLY UNDESIRABLE situations such as these my coping mechanism is to exert as much control as is humanly possible. How can I do that from NJ? Frack!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Bye-Bye!!

Tonight, Mommy and Daddy have our first date-night, since Sleepgate 2010.

We are VERY excited.

...but, that's not all!!! (Said in my very best Bob Barker voice).





Tomorrow morning Mommy has to wake up early to get on the road, because GiGi is taking her to a spa. Yes, SPA!!!

Massage? Yes, please!

Pedicure? Yes, please!

Lunch and dinner out with my mom, aunt and cousin? Yes, please!

Sleep in the next morning? Don't mind if I do....

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Quiz time!

Fill in your best guess to the following internet abbreviations. No googling/ looking at blogs with term keys allowed!

BRB = be right back
LOL = laughing out loud
DH = dear(darling) husband/damn husband
DD/DS = dear daughter/dear son
KTFU = knocked the eff up
PG = pregnant
EBF = exclusively breast fed
FF = formula fed
BF =breast fed/feed
KWIM = know what I mean?
ITA = I totally agree
KTHXBI = okay, thanks, bye

some have similar meanings or are related in 'topic'.

I have temporarily enabled comment approval for the next 48 hours to keep you from cheating... not that you'd cheat, I'm sure! GL! (That means: Good Luck!)

The Crivella Family is the winner!!! Congrats, Susan!

Daddy and Me

Normally this is Jack's Mommy and Me swim class. Well, this week it was Daddy and Me. Enjoying some free time.

Kicking.

The other baby in Jack's class was there with a daddy too (seen holding the noodle).

Monday, January 18, 2010

Good News!

I bring you good news on this MLK day 2010! MLK 2006 was the night that Matt proposed. MLK 2007 we were about to buy this house. MLK 2008 was Jack's ::cough:: Due ::cough:: date. I have no idea what MLK 2009 was, but this year I have some very exciting news:

Jack is officially sleeping better!!!!

We tried everything. We tried sitting/standing in his room till he fell asleep (which mean nap/bedtime was a 45 minute ritual), we tried bribery with treats, we tried time-outs, we tried yelling at him and there may have been a butt-swat thrown in once. All to no avail. Finally for nap on Wednesday I decided rationally explaining to him what was happening.

"Jack, it's time for nap. Mommy is going to be downstairs. You're going to be OK. It's time to lay down and go night-night."

As I'm explaining 'the plan' to him I'm thinking to myself "This is NEVER going to work." As soon as I was done explaining to him I shut the door. Silence. I went down stairs waiting for him to change his mind and start screaming... silence. I couldn't believe it.

In all our attempts to get him to go to sleep, treating him like an adult and just explaining to him what 'the plan' was never occurred to either of us. We did it for bedtime, and for the midnight wake-ups. And each night was more and more drama-free. He's still waking up maybe once or twice a night but Matt just goes in and says "It's time for night-night. Mommy and Daddy are right here, we're going night-night in our bed, you're going to lay down and go night-night in your bed." To which Jack replies "Okay." And he lays down and Matt leaves and comes back to bed- 3 minutes or less. Every nap and night time since Wednesday has been the same (or maybe even a little better). We really can't believe it.

I haven't written anything about it for fear that I might jinx myself. And even still I'm wondering if nap and bedtime today will be as great as it has been... but I think it's commonly accepted that kids need 3 days to change a habit (where adults need 21) so since we're on day 5 I'm feeling 90% hopeful that we can expect continued success.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Nevermind, then

After 5 failed attempts to upload photos from the weekend I'm now giving up.

The tile is down! The marble is sealed; we'll grout tomorrow and then we'll reinstall the toilet, vanity and pick up the new vanity top from Lowes and voila, we'll have a whole new bathroom. The master bath now looks fugly (which is a contractor technical term) in comparison, but that will just keep us motivated to keep working.

Big thanks to GiGi and PaPa for their help this weekend and the use of their oh-so-vital tile saw!

Link is proving to be a big help keeping Jack entertained. We have a few of those cat-toy-on-a-stick toys and Jack just holds the stick and runs around the house, which of course drives the cat nuts- causing the cat to burn some excess energy off and causing Jack to erupt in uncontrollable fits of giggles.

Some updates on #2:
-I'm still not swelling!! I can't tell you how pleased and proud I am of this fact. At this point last time it was just about Thanksgiving. I was so swollen I couldn't wear my wedding rings. I couldn't wear any cute shoes and my feet were in a constant state of cankles.
-My prenatal yoga class is awesome! I saw Marla again this week. She said she's been feeling YUCK all day and she's hoping that these early labor signs will hold off till Leora's Birthday party this weekend! Good Luck, Marla!
-I also learned that I spent the last 2 months of my pregnancy with Jack I tried to 'help prepare' my body with different exercises and body positions (i.e. tilted pelvis) well apparently everything I did was closing off my pelvis not opening it as I thought. No wonder he never descended and engaged!
-I'm tired, a lot. Maybe tomorrow a certain husband will let me sleep in and he can be 'on duty'. ::fingers crossed::

Friday, January 15, 2010

Tusks

Prime real estate.Apparently my lap is prime real estate. Toddler, fetus, kitten.... the only one missing is the full-sized cat. There is so not enough room for that.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

On the lighter side

Jack dresses up in Mommy's clothes as often as he dresses up in Daddy'd. I find this desire to emulate mommy VERY endearing!

With no teaching, prompting or coaching from me Jack has started to attempt to color inside the lines. I'm pretty impressed that not only does he like to color but he spends a lot of time choosing which crayons he'll use and trying to get the color to fill inside the line!


Jack has learned the wonders of low-gravity in the pool. In bigger news he is now blowing bubbles in swim class. It's only the second week!
As a once-upon-a-time swim instructor, getting a kid to blow bubbles can be the hardest part. Some are too scared to put their face in but when you can convince them to do it they inhale instead of exhale which starts the fear all over again. I'm such a proud water-mama!

ISO: Sleep

I am in search of sleep. Have you seen it? Did I accidentally leave it at your house? Is it lost somewhere among the many toddler toys? It might be in the same place I left my sanity.

For about 4 weeks now we've been dealing with varying sleep problems, unpredictable bed&nap time behaviors, and most unpleasantly: hours of wakefulness usually between 11pm and 4am.

Sometimes he goes to sleep within 30-45 minutes of being put to bed (including reading stories). But, we have to stand there, in his room or in the doorway so when he 'prairie-dogs' (pokes his head up to look for us) he sees we're still there. Which means the bedtime-parent (Matt) and the off-duty parent (Me) are both stuck sitting or standing in silence in the darkened house until Jack falls asleep. Am I setting Jack up to only sleep in silence? Yes. But, you know what, I'm so desperate for a few hours to myself that I'll basically do anything to get him to fall asleep so Matt and I have enough time together to watch a movie or 1 or 2 DVRed shows before we have to go to bed because we know it's inevitably going to be a long night.

Sometimes Jack only wakes up 2 or 3 times a night and falls back asleep within 1-2 minutes. We call that a good night. Sometimes Jack wakes up and talks to himself for 1-4 hours (loudly, so we can't sleep) but he doesn't need us. So we lay in bed and pray that it will all be over soon.
Sometimes he waked up distraught and requires 30 minutes to an hour of consoling, bribery and yelling to get him to lay down long enough to relax and thus fall back asleep. If this happens it's usually an indicator of a very long night, because it never happens just once.

Jack hasn't slept through the night in 4 weeks.


I cannot believe I have only 12 weeks to solve this problem before I'm going to have to split my eye-twitching frustration between a toddler and a newborn. Do I feel alone? Yes. Do I feel helpless? Yes. Do I feel like it's going to be like this forever? No. But I do feel that even if we came up with a workable solution to this problem when the baby comes Jack will regress, and he'll probably regress on sleep, because that's the kind of luck I have. Do I feel manipulated by my toddler? Oh hell yes. Do I feel terrible that I have tried to put him in time out, bribe and scream at my toddler all over sleep? Yes. I feel bad for my neighbors who have to hear it every night.

Honestly, I've tried damn near everything, twice. I've Googled the shit out of this problem and I've tried every solution suggested, even the ones that don't apply because my less-than-2-year-old isn't in a crib anymore. I think my 'favorite' part is Matt and I are both so desperate at this point for some real measurable change in this behavior that we're at each others throats about how to solve it. Not because he believes in one solution and I believe in another, but because we oscillate between believing we just have to hunker down and wait it out and we have to 'do something' to solve the problem and thus get impassioned to the point that we'll defend our stance on general principal.

I'm seriously considering buying some plywood and building a cage.... erm, crib around that twin bed. It could totally work, right? That wouldn't be weird at all.

I don't really know what the point of this blog is. Normally I'd share some news or ask for advice, or poll the readers but I feel like I've already tried it all, so unless there are any guaranteed solve your problem in 3 days solutions out there I haven't already tried I'm not really looking for suggestions (unless you can actually guarantee them.) I'm just so stinkin tired of spinning my wheels, spending my money and resenting my completely innocent toddler all in the name of sleep.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Very Cool

Daddy and Jack screwed down the second sheet of Hardi Backer. (the other day)


This is a great example of old and new.

The red 63 Corvette needs a hood, bumpers, antenna and front seat to look like the silver one. He doesn't seem to mind too much though. Thank goodness!

How cool is this?!?! Since I am 28 weeks this week I had to take my glucose test and get my rhogam shot. I know what you're thinking, eeeewww! that orange drink was so gross... well not me! I got to drink these juice boxes (thanks Jack) and this banana. One hour later they drew my blood, which they do right in the office, I don't even have to go to a lab! But then they gave me my rhogam shot, what a pain in the @ss!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Self-Reflection UPDATED

I am constantly self-reflecting. This often means I'm self-critical, second-guessing and hyper-analyzing who I am, what I do and how others percieve me. Last night Matt and I ended up deep in a "what type of parent am I/are you" conversation. Which thus has inspired this week's quiz. How do you see YOURSELF as a parent?

Also, if there are any traits that I missed please feel free to leave them as a comment!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Lit. Review

This is going to be a piece of cake compared to the Lit Reviews I did in my previous life. The one where I was a student and a professional with a career...
Laura (my roomie from college) got Jack this book a few months ago and we've recently been reading it. Now Jack has started requesting the "Baby Book". It's VERY descriptive, but since I'm not one to skirt around concepts like 'uterus' and 'contractions' anyway it's very interesting to read about these concepts to my son in a way he'll actually understand them (as opposed to the overly-wordy age-inappropriate way I would).

With his interest in that book I got this one:
He likes it. I like how it explains potty training, or as they say "potty learning". I have hopes and dreams about this potty training experience, but for now I'll settle for Jack being interested. Maybe we'll throw in some mornings or afternoons with his big boy pants on.

Hold me, I'm scared.

Apparently running away and hiding to poop or pee in a diaper is a sign of readiness. Since Jack has been doing this I guess we should try. I just assumed the running away was a sign he was not ready. Shows what I know!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Busy Saturday

We:
Woke up
Went to Lowes
Hit up the TJ (pronounced Teege) because we were out of milk, eggs and a few other essentials
Came home, tore apart the bathroom We had some highly-skilled help, of course.

Then Emily and I watched the boys play.

Then Emily and I watched the other boys play.

And now we have a room with a bathtub in it.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Back to School

Yesterday morning was pretty much adorable. I was lugging the swim bag, and the Goodwill donations out to the car, leaving a crated cat and a fully dressed toddler for the second trip. Jack saw me leaving carrying many things and decided to pick up the cat carrier and follow me out the door. Too cute! (Too bad the carrier was too big for him to actually manage himself.)


Jack is back in swim class! He's so much better about following instructions and although he's a little apprehensive this time I'm hoping that over the next six weeks we'll learn some new skills!


Then we learned what a time out at the Animal Welfare Society is like. Kidding! He put himself in there, and was talking about the puppy dogs. I hope he doesn't think he can get adopted out! He's not for sale (most of the time).

Later Mommy escaped for a night out! Woot woot!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Play Group

Emily 1 hosted the group today. For more cool pics of the whole bunch go here.

Jack was mostly willing to pose for a pic with mommy.


Towards the end things got a little silly.
Like I said, silly.

I will not yell at my kid(s) for making funny faces.
I will not yell at my kid(s) for making funny faces.
I will not yell at my kid(s) for making funny faces.
On another note, as an official member of the third trimester of pregnancy I'm so not looking forward to getting uncomfortable and being unable to tie my shoes, but hey... I have a maximum of 3 months and 13 days left. CRAP! I better get to work. There's lots to be organized and so little time!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Monday, January 4, 2010

Bit Crowded

It's a bit crowded at bathtime.

(Yes, in an attempt to get out of the corner Link did fall into the tub. Again.)

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Snuggles

Apparently being at home for so many days in a row leads to an increase in snuggles.

Sometimes we borrow daddy's fuzzy hoodie.

Sometimes we snuggle Monkey.

Sometimes Link.
It makes us very snuggly.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Silly PaPa

As seen here. PaPa is the one holding the palm tree; yes, I said palm tree.

There is also an emberassing video of mommy Wii-ing, but we'll save that for later, for an entry that no one will read.