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| From blog photos |
As usual, it's been a crazy time since my last post. It just goes by so fast! I really need to stop saying that. It's just a given.
So, what's new (now old)? Oh! One thing I forgot to mention in my last post was having to kick the co-sleeper to the curb awhile ago. Here's what happened...I put Jr. down for a nap and went to the living room to make a phone call. Just as I finished up, his monitor beeped (we have an Angel Care), which indicates there's no movement in the co-sleeper. As I swiftly walked toward the bedroom, it started beeping furiously (Hey!! There's no movement in here!! Your kid may not be breathing!!), so I ran the short distance there. I looked in the co-sleeper. It was empty. WTF?? I glanced over and Sam had crawled 2/3 of the way across the bed. He apparently was trying to make a break for it through the bedroom window. He looked at me almost sheepishly, as if to say, "What I do??!" So, we're done with the co-sleeper. I dreaded the day coming. I loved having my little guy right next to me. But the head-cracking potential is too great, so sadly, we said goodbye and put him in a maximum security facility. Also, Jr. has decided he likes sleeping on his stomach now, which initially TERRIFIED me. I tried rolling him over in the middle of the night. All that did was piss him off and he'd eventually end up on his stomach again after falling back asleep. I learned to turn his head without waking him so he wasn't face planting. Now, he is finally sleeping in acceptable positions and I'm not worried he's going to suffocate himself.
Sam has been partying in his pack n play. It's a nice place to plop him when he needs to be contained while I get stuff done around the house. We'll see how long this lasts. Lately, he loves to hang off the side rail and try to climb out. His feet will literally be off the bottom and on the side of the pack n play Spiderman style. Sam is standing up on his own quite a bit and balances pretty well. He'll crawl over to me and grab my legs, then shirt to pull himself up. Then he stands and lets go. He looks at me like, "Mom! Can't you even believe I just did that?!" It's neat to see him so excited about it! I think he's going to take off running any day now. He's already climbing on/over stuff and has made it over the back of the couch. The kid is fearless. Maybe he needs to wear a helmet. Here he is demonstrating his new skills:
On the topic of skills, Sam is becoming quite the chatty Cathy these days. He very clearly said dada the other day (not even close on mama). However, he said it to me, so he obviously doesn't get what it means yet. He will soon though! One thing he says very consistently is Bob. We don't know who Bob is. Maybe an imaginary friend? :-P Or I do play alot of Bob Marley during bath time. In any event, it's his favorite word at the moment.
The mystery that is Sam's hair took a new twist, literally. He has exactly 1 curl! A tiny tendril just behind his left ear. It is so freakin' cute. He still has blonde hair growing in, but combined with his darker hair, it all looks kinda sandy.
Sam broke the control button on my laptop. I think he's trying to tell me something....
Craptacular 4.0 was in full effect this week. It was epic. Unfortunately, Aunt Maggie was Sam's victim. She kept an eye on him the other day while I ran errands. Sam was standing up holding onto the couch and Maggie could hear him lettin' loose. In a split second, he managed to get both of his hands down in his diaper and they came up poopy. Maggie grabbed his arms to keep him from getting it everywhere. Well, where he did manage to get it was all over her. There was sh*t EVERYWHERE. She got him to the changing table, destroyed that. Clothes destroyed. Oh, and here's the fun part..He grabbed her hair with his sh*tty little hands. DOH!!!!!! She stripped him down and bathed him. Then it was into the pack n play with him while she showered and shampooed the crap out of her hair. Awesome, right? It's actually kinda hilarious, but in the moment, not so much :-P Sorry, Maggie! When I arrived home, there was a pile of crappy clothes and stuff on the back patio. Um, sorry I missed the fun? Meh. Maybe not!
Sam had a brief funny period where he'd give me raspberries on my legs. We both thought it was hilarious. Then one day I felt his teeth and that was done. By the way, he is growing teeth like a champ. He has FOUR all growing in at once on the top. Maybe 5. He seems to still be pretty good-natured about it all, then he was a monster a couple of days ago and whined alot, so they may have been bothering him. I gave him a little dose of ibuprofen to ease the pain and help him sleep better. He definitely slept more soundly that he had the past few nights.
And now, on to a controversial subject - SLEEP TRAINING!! Sam's sleeping through the night hit the skids when he got his first cold. He also wasn't eating or drinking well. He briefly got another short cold not too long after. He was waking up every 90 mins to 2 hours for weeks and we were BEAT. One particularly bad night, when I heard him getting started at 2am, I literally started to cry, I was so exhausted. I was worried I was going to drop him. Some nights, a shorty was the only thing that would calm him, but that made us feel like we were taking a step in the wrong direction and establishing a bad habit, a crutch. After consulting with his pediatrician, we initiated sleep training once he was well. The routine we established was putting him down at his usual time around 7:30-8 after his last bottle of the night. He generally goes down well. Then he'd wake up 1-2 hours later screaming. I'd go in, give him the remainder of his bottle if he wanted it, cuddled him, then put him back down and let him cry it out. It was horrible. Steve and I sat on the couch feeling like crap. Exhausted pieces of crap. But guess what? After 3 nights, it got way better and he really hit his stride on the 4th night. After his first wake up, he'd whimper for a couple minutes then was out for the night. Now, he's not waking up at all until morning. I've even been able to dial back his bedtime to 7. He generally sleeps through until 6, though this week, he's been pulling shenanigans around 5:30 just for kicks. I'm trying to counter that by going to bed earlier. Over all though, he's a smart little dude and he has this program down. Even through his last cold, when he had a majorly snotty nose, he ate, drank and slept, well, like a baby. Last weekend, I struck up a conversation with a mom at Whole Foods whose daughter just started sleeping through the night at 14 months. I can't even imagine.
Mother's Day this year was fantastic! So much better than last year's! Steve and Sam really did right by me. I got some cute cards (one with an outline of Sam's hand), an enlarged framed photo of the boy and me. Also Steve managed to get me a pair of shoes that match some that Sam has, so we can be twinsies! Very cute. We will model them for you below. We also had a great brunch at the Empire Tap Room in Palo Alto, my old stomping grounds. It's funny that I spent much of my 20s at the bar there and am now returning for Mother's Day Brunch. And I'm the Mother!! I ran into the owner, Josie, and we talked about the good (?) ol' days. I've decided Bloody Marys are the Mother's Day drink of choice and the Tap Room's are only 2nd to the Zuni Cafe's.
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The best gift of all though was Steve's parents being in town! Yipppiiieee! We had SUCH a good time hanging out. I love watching them love on Sam aka Puddin' according to Grandma. We did some fun stuff. Headed up to Napa for the day for winetasting and a classic car show (right up Grandpa's alley). Grandma and Grandpa got to visit a couple joints seen on Diners, Drive Ins & Dives. Other than that, we just relaxed on the patio and played with Jr. Steve's Dad asked, "So, what was your Dad like?" He was truly interested and asked alot of questions about him. It was so nice for me to have the opportunity to talk about my Pop. It meant alot to me. Seeing Sam with his Grandpa was wonderful, but also made me wistful, missing my Dad, imagining how he would interact with Jr. ::sigh:::
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I was super sad to see the folks go, but will look forward to seeing them in the Fall. Sam will get to meet his Uncle Erik and Aunt Lynola, his first cousins, Lukas and Emma and a whole bunch more folks that have been cheering for him from afar this last year. I absolutely can't wait.
Next up, Father's Day! Hopefully I won't be writing about it a month later! I have a couple up things up my sleeve and hope Daddy will be pleased.
When I logged on to the blog this morning, I learned we welcomed our 10,000th visitor sometime in the past month! That's just amazing to me! Thanks for popping in. It means the world to us that you check in to see how Jr. is gettin' along. We love ya!
I leave you with this treat....
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| From blog photos |
