Monday, May 23, 2011

well, our computer is on the fritz (again), so i'm blogging via cell phone. needless to say, it's probably going to be a shorty. also, if anyone knows a good (and cheap) computer fixer, let me know! :) thanky!

it's been a while since my last blog, but I just don't feel like i've had much to say, so you got a nice little break. :)

we've been hard at work dealing with two random yuckies on our little guy. one seems to be clearing up. the other seems to be slowly getting better (maybe), but i'm still not convinced of the diagnosis...so we wait for labs (forever...). neither is a serious issue. nolan hasn't seem to really notice either one, just yucky and a bit of a hitch in our days...minimal to no playground so we don't pass anything along. :(

anthony and i (well, more i really...have been wrapping up our training for our impending mud run 10k at camp pendleton that is coming up in two weeks. i'll be sure to post pics...should be some good ones. and everyone, please cross your fingers and shoot up some prayers that noly is sweet to his grandpas while we run!

yesterday, our little boy turned a whoppin' 15 months! today is the big pediatrician appointment that i've been working my courage and confidence up for for three months now. wish me luck! (see earlier post for more info: http://themakingofawomanandamother.blogspot.com/2011/03/building-strength-couragage-and.html)

well, this isn't really working on my phone anymore, so i guess i'm done. please pardon typoes...and the non-working link. i guess you'll have to copy and paste, if you're interested.

Monday, May 9, 2011

dinner for two...

honestly, mother's day was iffy this year.  anthony had to go to work at 2:30 (for the evening...), so we made the best of the little time we had together as a family...and then it was just nolan and me. 

i suppose that is the best way to spend mother's day really, or at least that is how i should look at it.  when you're a kid, you spend it with your mom.  once you have kids, you spend it with your kids. right?  right. who needs a hubby?  (oh...sad-face...i do...) anyway...moving on...

we shared a lovely late morning nap together and a candlelight dinner for two in the evening.  i must say, he is a very handsome date...but a little messy...  :)

late afternoon, we took a walk down the hill to surprise daddy at work.  noly didn't make it home.  (awake...i mean...he didn't make it home awake....)

 at least i was smart enough to cook a big meal saturday and i didn't have to cook on mother's day! leftover spaghetti!  yum!

 "really, mom...pictures..."

 "gimme the food!"

 "ahhh...come on..."

"alright.  but, i'm only smiling once..."

 "yeah!"


 how to eat a noodle...


 don't worry...you can always use your arm for help...

got it!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

transition or just a patience test for mommy?

april 22nd, 2011: my little monkey boy turned 14 months.  it was not our finest day.  an hour and fifteen minute intro to naptime ended in him asleep (finally), but not before i procured some lovely new bruises and broken skin on my arms/shoulders (he's a bit of a biter), i shed a fair amount of tears and then wrote a sad-face blog about it.  many of my lovely friends weighed in with ideas, input and empathy.  thank you all.

april 23rd, 2011: we implemented a new nap plan.  it started with breakfast at 7:30 or at the latest 7:45 instead of 8:00, leaving enough time to finish eating, do the dishes, clean the kitchen, change a diaper and wind down to fall asleep by the 9:00am first nap.  this led to a beautifully happy baby waking around 10:30 and a cheerful mama.  we would then play until 12:30 or 1:00 before eating lunch and again, dishes, kitchen, diaper, wind down, yadda, yadda and asleep by 2:00.  baby up by 3:30pm and sleepy again, ready for bed after dinner and a bath by 6:45pm.  this worked incredibly well for a whopping week and a half.  i was so proud of myself for figuring it out.  not a bite in a week and a half (with the help of henry the hippo as a distraction)...then it all went to crap.

may 4th, 2011: timely wake-up followed by a lovely hour and fifteen minute nap that began with little fuss.  music class at 10:30am and a painting play date with some of my favorite mamas right after.  lunch with the ladies and babies and home in time for a nap at 2:30 (a little late, but not bad and he went down without so much as a peep).  at 4:00, i woke him up (i learned many months earlier that if he sleeps past 4:00, forget about night-night time at any reasonable hour).  anyway, woke him up at 4:00, dinner, bath, etc...sleepy baby by 6:30pm. 

i figured it was a little early considering his relatively late afternoon nap, but it was a big day, so i went with it.  6:45pm: eyes nearly shut.  then...something unknown to me happened.  eyes open.  baby up.  time passes...7:20pm: eyes shut for two full minutes!  i should mention, once nolan's eyes close, that's usually it.  ten minutes from that point it is usually a done deal.  7:22pm: eyes pop open again.  baby awake.  didn't want to read.  didn't want to rock.  didn't want to walk.  didn't want to nurse.  i tried the ergo...tears, tears, tears (our neighbors may now hate us...).  i gave up on the ergo and at 8:00pm, i threw in the towel. 

i decided to get myself ready for bed.  unfortunately, anthony was at work, so i put nolan in his crib while i was getting ready.  five minutes...i took five minutes to get ready after trying to help him for an hour and a half.  the poor kid lost it.  he screamed the whole five minutes.  now the neighbors on our other side probably hate us too.  we went back into the bedroom.  i put away all the books and any other distractions.  i closed the door so he couldn't escape and i laid down on the bed and waited it out.  after another hour and fifteen minutes, a lot of flailing and a little bit of head banging on the wall (honestly, what is with that?) he crawled up on the bed.  he flopped around for another fifteen minutes before FINALLY giving in.  good heavens.  i kept my cool, but below the surface, i nearly lost it.  it seriously sounded like it was using the ol' cry-it-out method...without using the ol' cry-it-out method! 

this was how he finally surrendered...right after this picture, i place a number of pillows in that top left corner, just in case he rolled...he didn't.  :)

i was so worn out, i went to bed too...defeated, but trying to find the positive in the fact that he crawled up on the bed by himself and (eventually) put himself to sleep.

may 5th, 2011: i told myself when i woke up this morning that i would give it one more day of the same old schedule to see if it was just a rough day before figuring out the next plan.  he was crazy sleepy this morning after his three hour late bedtime, but he still managed to fight like a champ.  we started the process at 8:15 since he seemed SO sleepy.  by 9:30am i was irritated (which irritated me further...hehe).  i got us bundled up (oddly chilly day after so much warmth the past few days) and decided to go the park and tire him out and shoot for a one nap day, just to see.  we walked outside, realized it was even cooler than i realized, came back in to get an additional layer when nolan started rubbing his eyes and yawning...soooooo...we un-bundled (pretty sure that's not a word, but whatever) and tried again.  failure.  so, again...i put away all the toys, books, distractions, closed the bedroom door and crawled into bed to wait it out.  at 10:30am he crawled up onto the bed, cuddled me, nursed and fell asleep.  we woke up at 12:00.  we had one nap all day. 

by 6:15 we were fed, bathed and ready for bed.  we went into the bedroom, sat in the rocker, read a few books, he started to nurse and he was out before i finished the third verse of "skinnamarink" (the first song in our lullaby series :p)!  amazing.  amazing.  a fluke?  who knows.  right after his first birthday he made a brief transition to one nap, but then he worked his way back to two...so, is he really wanting one?  i guess we'll see how tomorrow goes. 

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

march for babies 2011 = success!

first off, i'd just like to extend my family's most sincere gratitude and awe for all the amazing people who helped us make our $500 fundraising goal! without you all, we could not have done it.  thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  thank you for helping us honor our sweet sofia in such a beautiful way.

this year (unlike last year), in spite of the fact that we left the house after our desired arrival time (whoops), we lucked out and made for the big kickoff!  even if i had to drop anthony off running to turn in our fundraising envelope, park, load up all the stuff and the baby and run to meet him to do it!  we missed joey lawrence and melissa joan hart warming us up, but we were still off to a good start!

unfortunately, they changed the course and it was a boring straight out and back on a super-ugly street with pretty much ZERO shade, but we made the best of it.  nolan even walked for a second (quite literally, one second...he was much to interested in bending down to pick up yucky stuff off the street...).  he was a little bit fussy-face at a few points, but did remarkably well considering it was his nap time and all.

after the race, we stopped to admire the 2011 family quilt complete with our sofia square (wish we had taken a picture, but they were still assembling it and we were working on borrowed time), fed the baby a bite of breaky and headed home (by way of in-n-out...mmmmmm....).  all in all, a success.

next years' goals:
*arrive by 7:00am
*have nolan walk more of it
*convince them to change the course back to the previous years' course

 the before of our quilt square...
(i really hate when the pictures that are turned when i upload them un-turn themselves and won't let me fix them!)

 the middle...which i was totally unsatisfied with.  who knew it was so tricky to write smooth letters in beading??

 the after...i was only moderately happy with it. our one from two years ago was WAY better.  but, the cool thing about this one was that the heart was a pocket...so, anthony and i wrote notes to sofia and stuck them in the pocket!

 our square being assemled


if you look closely on this one, you can see ours on the old quilt three in from the left on the second row up from the bottom and the new one on the right quilt just above the gal in purple's right shoulder.

me and nolan pre-walk

 the ucs marching band sending us off

 noly clapping for the marching band!

 already out of the stroller...

 no, you don't want the ergo either, how about we walk then??

 back in the stroller for another oh...i'd say 5 minutes

 about to cross the finish...noly's super-excited that we made it!

 our little fam

 daddy and nolan on the big screen...too bad you can't see how hard nolan was laughing!


on the way to the car

 ah...now that we are out of the sun, nolan finally put his hat on...all on his own.  ;)

 where's nolan?

peek-a-boo!
nolan and i played a quick game of peek-a-boo before his full-on meltdown...followed by a lovely nap.