BIG times 'round here!

Hope you all have had a great weekend!

As I am typing this right now, Mr. CalBoy is sleeping away at nap time in his BIG BOY BED!  I kind of can't believe it!  He has been talking about his big boy bed for a while, but he loves his crib so much, so we didn't push it at all.  Truth be told, I was totally not ready for him to move to the bed yet.  He is so happy in his crib; he is CONFINED in his crib... why rush him out of there?!?! Not to mention, everyone who knows Cal can't believe he has never attempted to crawl out of the crib.  He is my wild dare devil and he is perfectly content to not escape, for whatever reason!

Well, today at nap time, he was put in his crib and started crying like crazy.  I went back in and asked him what was wrong and he said he wanted to sleep in the big boy bed.  Sometimes, if he wakes up from his nap a little early, I will let him get in his big boy bed with the iPad to rest a while longer.  Today, I told him he needed to stay in his crib to nap.  I walked out of the room and he started screaming "BIG BOY BED! I WANT BIG BOY BED!"  Okayyyyyy, fine. 

As soon as I put him in his big boy bed, he asked for the iPad.  I explained to him that if he was going to be in his big boy bed at nap time, he needed to go to sleep.  I walked out and checked on him 5 minutes later and he was sound asleep! 

Several weeks ago, I bought the side rails that go on the bed to keep a kid from falling out.  They have been in the box, leaning on the wall outside Cal's door every since (ahem. don't get me started).  So today, when he napped, I took the box apart and assembled the rails-- now I just have to attach them when he wakes up!  He also needed some kind of a blanket to go in between the sheet and comforter.  If he throws up or has one of the episodes like we did a few weeks ago where I was changing ALL bedding every morning, I would be SOL because I can't wash the comforter.  So, I headed out while the boys slept and bought him a new blanket!  When he wakes up, I am going to transform his bed and make it super cozy so he will want to continue sleeping there.

If tonight goes well with sleeping, we will take the crib down tomorrow....!  CRAZY!

It is such a mix of emotions for me... how can my little man be old enough to be in a big boy bed?? 

Remembering some fun time in the crib with some throwbacks:

who can forget this one?

PS- Cal took a 3 hour nap in the bed and woke up drenched in sweat-- the comforter is too hot for him.  Glad I got the other blanket for tonight!  Will update tomorrow!

Happy Friday, y'all

"miracle" might have been the wrong word

well, maybe I was a little overly excited in the last post.  Andy DID sleep through the night...but the following night he was up for his regular 3 am wake up call! DANG IT!  I let him cry for 2 hours (!!!), and then finally decided to go in.  Right when I went in he was on his tummy, fingers in mouth, about to fall back asleep on his own!  He heard the door creak open and he jumped up.  I was watching him on the video monitor, but I couldn't tell that he was almost asleep....shoot!

He was not soaked, however, when I went in, which makes me believe cutting back nursing him was the ticket.  He just wanted to kind of visit with me.  I changed him, just so he'd be dry, and then quickly nursed him and put him back down. 

Last night, I vowed to myself that he was going to cry it out.  I knew he was fine.  If I had only waited just a little bit longer, he would have done it the previous night. 

So, last night, right on cue, at 3:00am, Andy started talking/crying/screaming.  I refused to go in there.  I just laid in bed (hacking) watching him on the screen.  He put up a pretty good fight... cried for an hour and 45 minutes... but then he went to sleep!  WOOHOO! 

This seems so harsh, but I know he can do it... if you are reading this thinking I am an awful parent, please do not tell me.  Just keep that little tidbit to yourself.  We had to go through this with Cal and now he's a great sleeper.  It WILL be worth it. 

Just a few more nights.... I will survive..... I can do it.  Right??

it's a miracle

little nugget slept through the night...happy 8 month birthday! woohoo!!

(disclaimer: I think he slept through the night.  Cal woke up at 6 and I couldn't remember going into Andy's room the whole night....so I am assuming he slept through and not that I am sleep deprived and don't know my up from my down)

EIGHT MONTHS OLD!

WOWZAS! Andy is turning 8 months old tomorrow, and I had a few minutes to blog so I wanted to do his monthly post today...

I realize I say this every month, but seriously, y'all!  How can he already be 8 months old?!?!?! Time is flying by and I am trying so hard to just hang on to each minute with these sweet, wild, and loving little boys.  There are so many days where I just feel like I can't kiss him enough.  He is unbelievably lovable. Look at this face! He smiles like this every time the camera comes out-- he cracks himself up!

Andy continues to be a big boy.  I am not sure of his measurements right now and we will find them out next month for his 9 month check up, but everyone that sees him assumes he is one.  A lady at the gym last week said he looked like he was big enough to walk right out of there-- crazy.  He isn't fat-- he's quite lean, actually, but he is loooooong.  And his hands are HUGE.  I think he is going to pass Cal height-wise before too long (crazy to think about!). 

how about those for some kissable cheeks??  He looks sooooo much like my brother did!

Revelation this week: I wrote before about him soaking through his night time diapers... I went back to read some of my posts about Cal at this age and I realized I wasn't nursing Cal as many times as I am Andy.  I have been nursing Andy when he wakes up in the morning, when he goes down for morning nap, when he woke up from morning nap, when he went down for afternoon nap, when he woke up from afternoon nap, and then before bed at night.... NO WONDER HE IS PEEING SO MUCH! He isn't eating on both sides for each of those feeds (ex. I would feed him on the right when he woke up in the morning and then on the left when he went down for nap...), but still... so I have been cutting out the waking up nursings and the past two nights he was NOT soaked when he woke up at 3am... he just woke up to visit with me.  Who is a sucker.  Who will be letting him cry it out once this illness leaves our house. 

no teeth yet, but everything goes straight to the mouth!

Eating: other than nursing, Andy is loving baby food.  He hasn't turned down anything yet.  I am feeding him lunch and dinner and he is eating roughly 2 jars of food at each (!!).  This seems like a ton to me, and I don't remember Cal eating that much, but maybe he was. 

Andy still does not have teeth, so he can't eat anything other than baby food, but I gave him some of those little yogurt puff things and he really likes those.  I also gave him a biter biscuit and he liked that, but couldn't figure out what to do when he broke the thing in his mouth. 
I am trying to find a sippy cup that he likes.  He is basically just gnawing on the mouth piece now, but I think he will get the hang of it eventually.  I have a feeling teeth are coming soon....

still a finger sucker! and how HUGE does he look in this picture?!?! SUCH a big boy!

In an effort to start weaning myself down from nursing, I have stopped pumping.  I don't want my body to think it needs to make more milk.  Because of this, I have stopped trying to give Andy a bottle-- we haven't tried in a while.  We did this same thing with Cal and he took cow's milk from the bottle fine-- he just wouldn't take MY milk from a bottle! At our next doctor's appointment I am going to ask about weaning him down and starting milk... I'd like to skip formula all together if I can.  Cal started cow's milk at 10 months... that's right around the corner!

Moving: Andy is not crawling yet, but he sure wants to.  He will get on all fours and try hard to crawl, but then tires and drops to the floor.  He can roll anywhere he needs to go, though, and he is speedy at it! I have a feeling this will be happening soon too...

last night he was standing while leaning on the chair and he thought that was pretty cool-- just as long as he crawls FIRST...sheesh!  I am not ready for him to be walking running away from me!

Andy LOVES watching his big brother and always wants to have eyes on him when they are in the same room.  He is so happy all the time and we just love him to pieces.  He wakes up happy and stays that way until bed time-- when he's happy still!  I've been putting him down away for naps and bed time and I love listening to him chat away in there until he crashes.  Best sound ever.

I am not sure what I did to be blessed with these amazing boys, but I am beyond grateful for them.  I adore being their mom and I feel like the luckiest person in the world to get to love them.

A SUPER(man) birthday

Jackson, my sweet nephew, is turning FOUR this week and he had a birthday party this past weekend.  Don't even get me started about him turning four.  I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday.  How can he already be four?  CRAZY!

The theme of the party was super heroes and it was such a cute idea!  I wish I had taken more pictures, but I didn't, sadly.  This was when Cal started acting like he wasn't feeling well, and we had to wake him up from his nap to go to the party, and Andy didn't take a nap, so he was exhausted and I ended up putting that big boy in the bjorn so he could sleep-- so my hands were a little full!

When the kids arrived, they all got to make their own capes, which was such a cute idea-- the kids loved it!

brad was there too! brad never disappoints when it comes to wearing a costume!

Happy birthday, sweet Jackson!  We love you so so so much and we are "SUPER" proud of you! (you see what I did there?? haha)

Sickness strikes: blah

blah blah blah.  Sickness has struck.  Blah.

I was all set for round two of crying it out for Andy last night (although my mom called to offer me advice and said "he's just too sweet...don't let him cry...it breaks my heart!"  softy ).  When Andy woke up from his afternoon nap (which was a killer nap since he was up so much the previous night and then refused his morning nap), I didn't feed him.  Instead, we just kept right on moving along until it was time for his baby food at dinner.  Hoping that would decrease some of his liquid intake, therefore cutting back on the exploding diaper.... it seemed to work too-- he wasn't soaked when he woke up at 3.

Welllll.... Cal was acting a little funny all day yesterday.  He had a little cough and was kinda clingy to me.  He also didn't have much of an appetite, which is a sure sign that something's up.  We went to my parent's house last night to play with Jackson and Cal was acting okay, but you could tell he just wasn't 100%.  When we got home, he felt a little warm, so I gave him some advil and we got him ready for bed. 

At 9:30, he was in his room whimpering, so I went in to check on him and he was pretty warm.  He asked to "snuggle with mommy in mommy's bed" and my heart about broke.  I brought him into my bed and we snuggled... he was having a hard time falling asleep, but finally we all crashed at 11.  I tried to take him back to his crib soon after he fell asleep, but he woke up crying each time, so we just kept him in our bed.  He had a pretty good fever at this point, so he was tossing and turning while fighting the fever and he was coughing pretty good too. 

Oh-- also, I have some kind of a bug thing too... I have a cough and my voice is about gone.  So every time Cal would drift off to sleep, I would have to cough, which would wake him up. 

When Andy woke up at 3, I decided immediately that I couldn't have two kids awake and crying, so I just went in and fed him.  He was back down by 3:30, but at that point, Cal's fever was even higher. I had my hand on his chest and his little heart was racing-- scaring me to death!  He was taking shallow breaths and I could literally feel his heart going super fast.  Well, then the worrier in me kicked in, so I didn't want to fall asleep, so I just laid there with a hand on him making sure he was okay. 

He woke up at 6:45 this morning really crying.  He kept saying "I hurt, I hurt..." and when we would ask him where, he would point to his head and his chest area. 

The doctor's office opened at 8, and I called at 8:00.1 to get the first appointment.  Cal and I went in and he had a fever, but it was on its way down thanks to the advil I'd given him when he woke up, but it was still 101.  He was starting to perk up a little bit, but still really wanted me to hold him and snuggle him. 

The sweet doctor checked him out and discovered that he has an ear infection in both ears!  His first ear infection! The cough is just a result of the dripage going on and should clear up with the antibiotics given for the ears.  Poor little bugger!  His ears didn't seem to be bothering him at all, but I guess when he was saying his head hurt, that could mean ears too... and his rapid heart beat and shallow breaths?  You bet I asked about that-- he said that the body naturally does that when you have a fever.  And for every degree the temp goes up, the heart rate per minute goes up and your breaths are faster.  He said when this was happening in the night, it was probably when his fever was spiking, which makes total sense because he was soooo hot at that point. 

So, anyway, we have our first ear infection-- pretty lucky considering he is 2 years and 4 months! And the crying it out for Andy is going to have to wait... this momma is WORN OUT!

I need to go try to take a quick nap... but there's laundry to do... and I have to change the sheets on my bed since my kid sweat through them last night.......... ahhhhh...........

Sleep Wars

It's like de ja vu.  I went through this battle with Cal and we are going through it now again with Andy.  Those of you who have read the blog for a long time might remember my constant posts of frustration... they are baaaaackkkk!!!  (Just kidding...I'll try not to post about this too much...)

Sweet little guy was sleeping through the night until just before Halloween when we took a trip to Texas- that little bit of traveling really threw him off and he was up in the night again.  Now, he only gets up once-- usually around 3-- and will eat and be back down again in 15-20 minutes.  Sometimes he is up for longer than that, but typically, I can get him back down pretty quickly. 

Last week, he was up for a few hours in the night and I decided it was time to try the ol' cry it out technique that I was preaching about before our Texas trip. 

Well, the first time he was crying, his screams were awful, so I went in to check on him after 20 minutes and he was soaked-- completely wet. I felt like the world's worst mother,  letting my soaking wet kid cry it out! So, I quickly changed him, and sat down to nurse him. Cal had problems with this too when we were starting this process with him.  I upped Andy's over night diaper size (he and Cal are now wearing the same size over night diapers-ha!), and hoped it would help.

The next night, he was crying it out, and he was getting louder and louder.  I was worried that he was soaked again, so I went in after about 10 minutes and he had a poopy diaper... again, I felt terrible for letting him cry while sitting in his own mess! Again, quick change and nurse...

Well, this pattern kept happening: I would be determined to let him cry it out and then something would happen: he was soaked (the over nights are not helpings), he pooped, or, one night, he had his arm stuck between the crib and the wall.  Talk about feeling terrible!

Last night I had dinner with a bunch of friends and we got to talking about me getting up every night around 3 and then having a really hard time falling back asleep.  One girl in the group is a self-proclaimed sleep nazi and she started coaching me through it.  I know I can do the cry it out method-- I have done it before...with BOTH kids!  I also know it is really hard the first few nights and then it's over and done...

so last night, I was ready.  BRING IT ON.

Andy woke up at 1:30, which is a little early for him.  I went in to check on him, and his diaper was soaked (side note-- how on earth is his diaper getting so filled in that few hours??  Is it because he sleeps on his tummy and it pushes it all out?).  I changed him, without saying one word, as per the sleep nazi, and then put him back in his crib.  He was  mad.  Ohhhh, buddy was he mad.  He screamed for about 15 minutes and then fell asleep.  I thought it was a miracle.  I rolled over, snuggled my pillow and got ready to zonk out. 

Welllll, 15 minutes later, he woke up suuuuuuuuper mad.  His screams were LOUD and he wasn't giving in.  He was HOT mad!  I let him go for about 20 minutes, then went in and patted his back and gave him a paci-- this made him even madder.  I left and came back in another 20 minutes later to try to calm him down and he was really upset, but I was determined!  I turned on his little projector box thingy that puts images on the ceiling, hoping that would distract him into falling asleep.  No luck. 

This routine went on- with him never stopping to even catch his breath- for 2 hours.  I was exhausted.  I think the hardest part is knowing that if I just go feed him, he will be out in 15 minutes and I can get to bed.  I was so adamant about this last night, but I finally gave in around 3:30... his face was wet from tears and he just looked so hurt that I wouldn't pick him up and love on him. 

So, night one of crying it out: FAIL.  Maybe tonight will be better?  Any suggestions on what to do to reduce the soakage would be great also.  He nurses before he goes to bed, but I can't cut that out, right?  Don't kids take a bottle before they go to sleep? 

I'll update tomorrow with hopefully some good news on the cry it out front.  Wish me luck!

it's a good thing you are cute, you little nugget.

Happy boy

seriously, y'all.  I swear Andy is such a sweet little thing.  Couldn't you just eat him up??

(he refuses to wear bibs....)

I got in trouble

At school on Tuesday, the director was laughing when I went to pick up Cal.  She told me that he just cracks her up... uh-oh.  What did he do??  She said they were playing in the auditorium and he took a ball from another kid and took off running with it.  The other kid was upset and was chasing after him.

She said to Cal: "Cal did you..." and before she could finish the sentence, he dropped the ball, and dropped his head down and said "I so sorry."

The director is telling me this story and just dying laughing because she said it was completely obvious that Cal knew that he shouldn't be doing that, and it was funny to see his conscious kicking in.

We got in the car and I started asking Cal some questions about his day:

I didn't have a chance to talk to Eddie the whole day, so when he got home from work, his first question to Cal was: "How was school today?" And Cal took a bite of his dinner and said, "I got in trouble, daddy, because I tooka the ball." and then he took another bite of food!  Eddie about fell on the floor!  He looked at me like he couldn't believe that his kid a) really just said that long of a sentence, and b) really got in trouble at school. 

I sent my dad the video above and he called that night on facetime to talk to Cal.  When Cal saw him, my dad asked about school, and Cal said "oh, I got in trouble.  I tooka the ball." hahahaha

We are not laughing because he took someone's ball, of course, but it is pretty funny to hear him admit that he got in trouble! Eddie and I both talked to him about getting in trouble and how it's not nice to take things and that we share toys... he kept saying okayyyyy! But I know that will not be the last time he gets in trouble at school!