Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Some Other People!

Within the fog of being sick and rundown here lately myself and then having John Michael wake up with croup in the middle of the night last night, thus requiring a trip to the ER in the early morning hours.......this had me absolutley rolling in the floor tonight!



We started to flip through an episode of American Idol on the DVR and noticed how random (and just plain weird) it was that it said and "some other people".  Forget the other famous judges that have been on the show for years, they're apparently just some other people!  So random and just plain funny!

I'm tired tonight and hoping for a decent night's sleep.  I sent Jordan to the ER with JM last night around 1:30 or so and they made it back around 4:30.  I couldn't go with them because I had to stay home with Matthew in case he woke up to eat.  Needless to say, Jordan didn't make it to work today so we have enjoyed a day at home recuperating and resting and trying to get JM better.  He's better today and I think croup won't get him down too badly!  We are hoping Matthew doesn't catch it.  It is highly contagious, so I am just praying that he stays well.

Matthew's sleeping is going a little better.  I've been leaving a CD on very, very quietly along with his white noise and I think it's helping.  We shall see!

And just for fun, here's a picture of our first baby, Jackson!


He enjoyed the beautiful weather today too!

Monday, March 29, 2010

A Sunny Day!

Thanks to you all for your wonderful advice about our sleep situation.  Last night was much better!  Thank goodness.  I finally got some good sleep for a few hours in a row and I'm feeling better today.  I think I have a sinus infection.  I hope it clears up soon!

The weather today is SO pretty!  The sunshine is out and it just feels wonderful outside.  I decided that we should have a little picnic outside!  In theory, it sounded like a great idea...


Except for one certain little white fluffy dog...



who decided to misbehave, try and eat all of our food, and then proceed to roll ALL over our winter grass over and over again....



I spent about 45 minutes cleaning tiny pieces of dead winter grass off of us and then trying to brush it out of bichon frise fluff.  I even tried to vacuum it off of him, but seeing how he is terrified of the vacuum, that didn't go so well!  I then had to vacuum the den and kitchen and change my own clothes!  What a mess!  That simple lunch turned into an hour and a half ordeal, but we had fun!  We've got to get a little toddler table for us to use in our backyard for Spring and Summer!  We love to play in our backyard!


Verse O' the Day:



Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.

Jeremiah 32:17

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Note From A Tired Mom

I've been down this road before...the no-sleep road.  Don't even get me started on all the sleep issues that we had with John Michael.  I could write a novel!  I'm not complaining because I know how much worse it could be, but I'll be the first to admit that I need my sleep!

Yes, it's part of having kids and it might be selfish of me, but I'm just no good for them the next day when I haven't had any good quality sleep.  Plus, I am now sick and I'm an even worse mom while I'm sick because I'm just out for a day or two.  It's days like these that I wish Matthew took a bottle so I could just rest up!

When we had little Matthew I was so surprised because he slept so well ever since he was born.  I was all prepared for the horrible, sleepless nights of newborns, but those never came...

until now.


I am exhausted, tired, and a little confused as to why he has started waking up a lot at night.  So, I figured, who reads blogs...MOMS!  If you've got any advice, I will seriously read it and consider it!



"Who, us?  We would never wake Mom up!"
"Who, us? We would never wake Mom up!"

Here are a few facts to consider:


1) Matthew is probably close to 20 pounds at just 4 mos, so I decided to start rice cereal at night to try and help him sleep longer periods of time.  He does constantly grab our spoons and food and try and shove it in his mouth, but I'm not ready to let him start real baby food yet.



The first bite!  Yum!
The first bite! Yum!

2) We swaddle him.  He has always done well swaddled, but lately he has been fighting it and trying to get his arms out.  Last night we didn't swaddle him and it was a total disaster!


3) We moved him to his own crib because we felt like we were disturbing his sleep (like alarms going off, Jordan getting paged in the middle of the night, those kinds of things)


4) I started a diet 2 weeks ago and within just a few days noticed my milk supply had dwindled down to almost nothing!  I took it easy for a few days and nursed him like crazy to get my supply back up.  This is when he started waking up to eat because he wasn't getting enough to keep him satisfied through the night. 


The problem is now resolved, I begrudgingly got off my diet and things are back to normal, so I know he's getting enough milk!


5) He just learned to roll over this week and he also discovered his feet so I'm wondering if he's just so into his environment and becoming more alert that it's harder for him to want to sleep really well?!



5) I'll freely admit this: I'm so terrified of this turning into a 9 month long sleep deprived problem like we had with John Michael.  I was almost in tears last night (I'm sick as a dog right now, by the way) just remembering how sleepy and tired I was because JM never slept for close to 9 months.  I know I cannot go down this road again and I want to try and get this solved now!


6) Personally, we are not big fans of letting them cry it out at night at such a young age.  They're just so little and it breaks our hearts!  Also, we're not big fans of rigid scheduling (except for naps, of course) for our babies!


I'm pretty good after I finally get good and awake in the morning and I roll over and look at him (he's usually in bed with me by this point!) and he smiles and coos and plays.  It's hard to be mad at him at all!  On really bad nights I've gotten up at : 12, 2:30, 3 or 4, 5 or 6 and then it's time to get up for the day!


Do you have any advice?!  I figure real moms know about getting their babies to sleep.  I've never been a big fan of parenting books so we just don't own any and I usually don't read too many of them!  I'm hoping I can rest this weekend while Jordan is home to help with everything and that I'll be better in a few days!  Now, I'll just sit back and let all your worldly advice come to me!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Time FLIES!!!

Guess who's 4 months old?!



And what a joy he is!



It's amazing how 4 months passes in a flash!



Remember this post, about how I wondered how my heart could hold more love in it for a new baby I had never met?



Well, one look into these baby blues and I laugh at how silly I was to even wonder how God could let my heart grow to love another one!


My, how he's growing and changing...just in 4 short months!







He is such a fantastic little one and I thank God everyday that he is ours!  Happy 4 month birthday Baby Matthew!

Monday, March 22, 2010

A Weekend of Firsts

It's been a weekend of firsts...or this could be entitled "The longest post ever, with the most pictures...ever!"



Let's start out on Thursday.  Maybe Thursday doesn't count as the weekend, but work with me, it's going in with my weekend post!

Thursday was playgroup and it was a first that John Michael didn't freak out and scream at playgroup!  He sat at the big boy (little) table and ate his lunch with the older boys.  Too cute.  I'm sad he's old enough to do this now! He also played well with the other boys (it ended up being a house full of little boys!)  and did just great.  He's growing up and maturing a lot!  We had such a good time!

 



Matthew played on the floor and had a good time!  Some other mamas watched him while I ate lunch and actually got to talk!



Check out this awesome Spider Man 4 wheeler.  JM fell in love!  He wandered off into their playroom and played with it for a while, going vroom, vroom, vroom!



Moving along, Thursday night was Bunco!  I instantly knew Amber (who hosted) was my kind of Southern gal because she served green pepper jelly over cream cheese with crackers.  If you have never had this, you should!  It's so easy and so good.  I have not had it in a while and I was in heaven!


Of course I took Baby Matthew to his first Bunco and he did great!  I brought him in his pjs and Laurie walked around with him and he fell fast asleep!  He's such a good baby.  He just rolls with whatever we do.  Second babies have to be like that, right?!  Oh yeah, and I won a prize for most losses!  I kind of didn't mind, though, because it was a great prize!



Friday was glorious!  I mean, just beautiful!  We took full advantage of the sunshine.  After we came home from our MOPS meeting, we had lunch and then a good nap.  After nap we headed outside to eat snack and play!



JM did not want to share his goldfish with Jack!



Matthew stayed inside with me because it was still a bit windy for him!



I then loaded up our new double stroller and Jack and we took a walk.  I didn't call any of our neighborhood friends to walk with us because I didn't want to embarass myself by getting winded by walking two blocks.  You can tell I had a baby late in the fall and then have been hibernating in a house with two little ones while we wait for Spring!  Out o' shape city.


We were so glad that we took advantage of the pretty weather because of this on Saturday:



Yup, the first day of Spring and we had around 8-10" of snow.  Good times.  I hate the snow now!


Moving on, once more.  Saturday was the first time that I hosted all the neighborhood couples from our Sunday School class for dinner.  We're blessed with a few couple that live just right by...oh yeah, and we've all just had babies!


JM and Braxton sat at Braxton's little table (thanks Jessica!) and ate like little gentlemen!  They did great and they had a blast playing.  JM cried when they left!



We had a packed house, but I love it like that!  I served yummy lasagna and garlic bread and everyone else brought salad, dessert, and veggies.  We had some great desserts and I'm sure no one went home hungry!



We put Matthew in his high chair for the first time!  He did great and it gave Jordan and me a chance to sit and eat our meal.  I can't believe he's almost old enough to be sitting in his high chair eating rice cereal. 



Sunday morning we woke up to tons of pretty snow and no church, so we hung around in bed and played and watched cartoons with the little ones.  Matthew showed off his new skill of rolling!  He rolled from his back to his tummy for the first time!  Although, I do think that the contour of the bed helped him roll!



"Did I just do that?!"



And, of course, Big Brother had to come check it out and see what Matthew was up to.  Oh yeah, and hold his hand!



Call me crazy, but these were the absolute biggest flakes that I had ever seen.  I know I'm from Alabama, but still.  I was in shock at how big they were.  It was almost like tons of feathers falling from the sky!



I just thought this was a precious picture of Baby Matthew getting all warm and cozy on Jordan.  He looks so sleepy!



Only two more firsts to cover!  John Michael drank out of a regular cup for the first time! We usually always have sippy cups, but we tried letting him just hold it and drink it and he did great!  He knew that he was so big and he just kept smiling and smiling!



Also, John Michael began to sing a little over the weekend.  He is obsessed with "E-I-E-I-O" and he always says it, but he started actually singing it and it's right on pitch!  It sounds exactly like it should.


What a fun, exciting, and long weekend we had.  Now, we're just waiting on all this crazy snow to melt so that Spring can officially come!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Jump Around

We decided that it was time for Matthew to try out our beloved jumperoo.  Oh, how John Michael loooved to jump in that thing!  It used to crack us up how he would just jump and jump.  We were proud to pass on the tradition last night to Matthew:


We couldn't believe he could spin the little toys!



He had a blast.  It was almost like he could tell he was being a big boy!  The funniest part about it was that we had to move it up a notch from the lowest level.  I thought for sure we would start at level 1 since he's still so young...not so!  We had to bump it up a notch so his feet weren't flat on the floor!


Not only did Matthew have a blast, John Michael had fun spinning the toys and trying to bounce Matthew around!



Hmmm...he looks like he's doing something he knows he shouldn't be!




It's so fun getting to watch all these milestone again!



I've been pretty tired today.  I think Matthew has hit a growth spurt, so he's been up a lot at night eating.  I have taken it for granted how well he's been sleeping!  I hardly am able to function with so little sleep!  I was just used to it with John Michael because he never slept, but I've been spoiled by having such a good sleeper!  Hopefully I can get my milk supply built back up and he'll grow on out of this growth spurt and then we'll all be happy campers again!


Verse O' the Day:



Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13-14

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Grabber

Matthew has started grabbing things that are in front of him!  He's so much more alert and starting to really focus on objects!  I usually sit him in my lap at the table and lately he has been grabbing at everything he can!  He has thrown the phone off the table and most recently he almost catapulted my cereal bowl onto the floor!


Is he trying to tell me he is hungry for spinach?



I can't believe how fast he's growing.  He's wearing John Michael's 9 month lumberjack shirt; a favorite of his Gamps!



The only problem with Matthew developing into a "real" baby instead of a newborn who sleeps all the time is that John Michael is going to have to start learning how to share his toys.



We've tested the waters a few times and it ain't pretty!  John Michael doesn't quite understand why that baby has his stuff, and he of course wants it just because Matthew is holding it.  Should be some fun times in the next few months!


P.S.  I love it when I get to make a new "category" folder for my blog!  I was thrilled beyond belief to add "Spring 2010" to my category folder!  Yay!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

What's On My Fridge?

I'm working through a great book called "100 Verses Every Mom Needs to Know".  Jordan got it for me for Christmas and I really like it.  I'm trying to put up a verse every few weeks so that I can start memorizing.  So, what's the best place in the house to see it about 45 times a day?!  The refrigerator!

This week it was all about joy!  So, I put up this verse about joy:

These things have I spoken to you,


that my joy might remain in you


and that your joy might be full.


John 15:11


Everyday God gives you many reasons to rejoice.  The rest is up to you.



I didn't come up with that little gem myself...it was from the book!  It's great because I see it a bunch everyday as I make breakfast, lunch, dinner and as I fix snack and juice!  It reminds me to be joyful and thankful all throughout the day, even for little things.

Obviously, some of my most joyful moments everyday come from seeing my two sweet boys interact with one another.  Now that Matthew is getting bigger and stronger it is so neat to see him watch his big brother.  I think the feeling is mutual on John Michael's part, don't you think?




What brings you joy?

Saturday, March 13, 2010

It Was Time

John Michael's Ga-Ga gave him a nice big-boy haircut last weekend.  His curls were starting to turn inward instead of curling outward and thus, it was time for a big haircut!.  His hair grows SO fast and I could probably have it trimmed every 3 weeks!  He looks kind of different...a little more grown up.  He's still my little guy, just more mature looking.



I just love this picture.  It's precious and it really shows how he's still a little guy, but he's developing into more of a little boy!



We had some beautiful weather last week so we played in our favorite place: our backyard.  I loved having our backyard last spring and summer.  We played and played in it!  I made lunch and John Michael came in and out and in and out to check on the progress of his mac n cheese!  He's so much bigger this year.  He can walk in and out of the door by himself instead of me having to hold his hand and help him out!




And Matthew just hung out in his swing and watched his big brother play outside!  He'll be out there with him this time next year!