Adult time: Not sure I can hang

To say I live in mommy world is an understatement. Jeans are my uniform and tennis shoes are my footwear. Feeding others at dinner and relaxing after 8 p.m. are my standard evenings. Doesn't matter what day of the week it is. Monday through Sunday it is pretty much the same.

I would love to say that Bob and I get out on a date once a week, but a date to us is watching a movie after the kids go to bed cuddled on the couch. No need for fresh makeup or high heels.

Don't get me wrong, I do get out of the house and I do go and do things with our family, but I get to stay in my regular uniform and keep the same bedtime.

December always seems to shake things up and it is filled with event after event. Tonight, Bob and I are headed to his company work party. He has been at his new job for about a year and I have yet to meet anyone. Tonight I make my first impression. I am nervous.

Tonight, I have to get dressed in a dress, put on high heels, and carry a clutch. All things that use to feel so natural to me and now make me feel like a little girl playing dress up.

I am sure tonight will be fun. I am sure that I will find things to talk about that don't include my children. I am sure that I will be able to act the part of an adult.

And tomorrow it will be back to jeans and tennis shoes.

Sleeping doesn't come easy

Do you have a good sleeper? Did it just come naturally for your child or children? Or was it, like me, a fight to the finish?

I have mentioned many times in blogs my napping up and downs with Calan. It seems every time we get into a routine something like teeth or a growth spurt or Calan's just plan stubbornness got in our way.

I am a believer in sleep training. I do think our children naturally want to sleep, but they don't know how or when and that is where parenting comes in.

There are a lot of sleep transitions in a baby's first year. It seems like you are always preparing to drop another nap. Currently, Maisie takes four naps that with three about 90 minutes long and an evening nap about 60 minutes. Calan takes one 3-hour nap. Obviously, in the early months napping is directly linked to eating. By that I mean, how many times I feed Maisie during the day is basically how many naps she has up to 7 p.m. After that, it is night sleep and just eating and sleeping without waketime.

At our house, our days are based on an eat-play-sleep cycle. This breaks the needing to nurse to sleep that many mothers get trapped in. However, with Calan, he was never one to go down for a nap without a fight. If I put him down to early or to late, he would play in his crib for his whole nap. This literally started around 4 months when he discovered his feet and couldn't get enough of them. Maisie is actually a pretty good day sleeper naturally. She does require a few extras like a blanket in order for the nap to go smoothly, but for the most part, if she plays during her waketime, she is out like a light when it is nap time.

On the flip side, Calan was and is a pretty good sleeper at night where Maisie's night sleeping is less than desirable. But, until her weight is where it should be, I'm not working on extending her night sleep. I take it for what it is.

It took me awhile to except the fact that I just can't make my children sleep. I can do everything to make sure that they have the best opportunity to sleep (well fed, dry, comfortable, etc.), but I can't make them sleep.

Calan is a decent sleeper (minus his annoying body-rocking thing), but I wasn't a lucky mom. It was hard fought. It took time and consistency.

My advice is to hang in there for any mother who is struggling with naps. Don't let your children decide their naps. You know how important sleep is for them and they need it. Even being in their crib playing is more restful than being overstimulated with their toys, and let's be honest, you need the break too. Don't stress if there are ups and downs with naps. As long as you stay consistent and expect age-appropriate napping, things should work out.

Now I'm off to get Miss Maisie to sleep.

Which didn't take long and didn't require a blanket over her face. 

17 month / 4 month update

The holiday season is upon us and life is getting pretty busy around here. The days just seem to wiz by between meals and naps, it is getting a little harder to get out of the house. Plus, I'll be honest the rainy, cold weather hasn't helped.

Thanksgiving went really well. The kids were pretty adorable and behaved very well. Calan wasn't the biggest fan of turkey, but since I can't stand turkey, I didn't blame him.

Here's what's going on with the kids:

Sleeping

• Calan - He has successfully transitioned to one nap a day. He usually sleeps from 12:30 till 3. It is great how consistent and predictable that nap has become. However, it does limit my time to run errands in the morning, as well as lunches with Bob during the week. On the bright side, he wakes up pretty happy, rested, and content. It also gives me a full wake time with Maisie just her and I. At night, Calan is still rocking way too much. He seems wake up to a half sleep and rocks back and forth against his crib. He wakes up happy and does seem rested in the mornings, so it doesn't seem to affect him there, but I just wish he wasn't doing it all.
• Maisie - She is getting a little harder to get to sleep. She is starting to not want her blanket on her face, which I would totally be OK with if that meant she could fall asleep with out it. We are about half and half falling asleep with a blanket over her face and half without it. Hopefully by next month, she will totally not need it at all. You can tell she has developed more of an awareness to her world because it is a little harder to get her to sleep and she is very much more awake when she is awake. As for night time, she is no where close to sleeping through the night. Because of her lack of weight gain, anytime she wakes up in the middle of the night, I am feeding her even if she probably does not need to eat. It is important for me to give her as much food as I can until she starts to show gains. I usually feed her 10:30/11 p.m. before I go to bed and she is waking 1:50ish and 4ish in the morning. She then wakes in the morning between 7 and 7:30.

Eating

• Calan - His appetite seems to have tapered off a little. He eats pretty decent meals at breakfast and lunch and then a smaller dinner meal. His dinner meal is probably smaller because I try to feed him more vegetables during that meal and he usually fights me on it. However, he is still a fruit lover and bananas are definitely his favorite. He can down a whole banana in about a minute.
• Maisie - If you are following along with the blog, you know that Maisie is not gaining weight like she should be. She has only gained 4 ounces since Sept. 27. We are now supplementing my breastfeeding with formula. She is nurses and then I give her a 2 oz. bottle after her day time feedings. I just nurse in the middle of the night. We are suppose to also be mixing a little cereal in her bottles, but she refuses to drink a bottle that has cereal in it. Since it is more important for her to take the formula, I have forgone the cereal for right now. But, my mother just offered a new way to try and get her to take the cereal today, so I will try to give her the cereal again tomorrow. Hopefully, it works. We go in for another weight check Dec. 14.

Milestones

• Calan - His vocabulary is jumping leaps and bounds. He seems to pick up a new word every day. He is really working on communicating with us and is realizing that words get him what he wants or needs much better than whining. We have also transitioned Calan to a booster chair for meals. It isn't too much different from the high chair, but it is nice to have the 3 of us around the same table and I don't have to sit sideways to feed him as well.
• Maisie - She is really becoming aware of everything around her. She is exploring touch and grabbing things pretty easily to her mouth. She takes her pacifier out and holds on to and then tries to get it back in her mouth.

Activities

• Calan - He is successfully doing blanket time for 30 minutes. He stays and plays and reads his books and I rarely if ever have to remind him to stay on the blanket. Our next step is to test blanket time out in public to see how well he listens. Calan loves to sing and dance as well as play with his golf clubs and trucks.
• Maisie - Her activities are still a bit limited. Because her feedings take a bit longer and then so she doesn't spit everything back up, she is still not on the ground as much as she should be. However, she does love to play on her floor mat and playing with the toys. She is getting pretty good at grabbing the toys with both hands.

Schedule

• 7 a.m. - Maisie wakes up and eats.
• 7:30 a.m. - Calan wakes up
• 8:00 a.m. - Calan eats breakfast has milk.
• 8:30 a.m. - Calan playtime in his pack and play. Maisie starts her nap.
• 9:30 a.m. - Calan dress, helps with some chores with me.
• 10 a.m. - Maisie eats, Calan sits and "reads" books or puzzles
• 11:30 a.m. - Maisie naps / Calan eats lunch
• 12 p.m. - Calan blanket time
• 12:30 p.m. - Calan naps;
• 1 p.m. - Maisie eats / Maisie & mom time
• 2:30 p.m. - Maisie nap
• 3 p.m. - Calan wakes up / snack
• 4 p.m. - Maisie wakes and eats
• 4:30 p.m. - free time (this could be errands, dinner prep, sibling time, anything to fill till dinner)
• 6 p.m. - dinner
• 6:20 p.m. - bath time
• 6:40 p.m. - Calan gets ready for bed; drinks milk
• 7 p.m. - Calan bedtime/Maisie eats
• 7:30 p.m. - Maise bedtime
• 10:30 p.m. - Maisie eats
• 1:50 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.- Middle of the night feeding for Maisie

Overall

• Calan - I can see why toddlers are so exhausting, but it is still such a fun time. I love that he is talking more and more. I can't wait for the day when we are having conversations. He is still very much a daddy's little buddy. He loves me, but there is no one like dad for him.
• Maisie - We will continue to feed, feed, and feed some more till Maisie starts gaining weight like she should. While eating formula has made her a little more fussy, she still is easily settled by me. Just like Calan adores his dad, Maisie is quite the mommy's girl and I am loving all the cuddles and snuggles.

After a little bit of a battle, Maisie is taking a bottle from me.

Calan loves playing outside. I, however, can't stand the cold. 

Calan looking through and singing with his favorite book. 

She might be little, but she is pretty cute.

Always trying to be like daddy. 

Lazy no more!

Bob and I are officially exercising again. It is amazing how easy it is for both of us to just be LAZY.

We make excuses after excuses why we can't work out, but the truth is there really isn't a good reason. I personally was afraid of being sore after exercising and the fact that my butt is in pain right now, my fear was legitimate.

Bob and I are both the type of person who 1) can't be disciplined enough to work out solo and 2) can't workout first thing in the morning.

So, basically that meant that we both had to be on board to start working out and we had to make it a date night 3 times a week. Instead of crashing after dinner and the kids are in bed, we are popping in a DVD and working out. We are starting off slow because we are THAT OUT OF SHAPE. We are both incredibly sore after one 25-minute workout.

But, you have to start some where and now is just as good as later. Now the question is will we stay committed. My waistline sure hopes so!

(And for those wondering, I am back to the same weight before I was pregnant with Calan, but definitely not the same body.)

Love

He seriously loves being a big brother and I love watching the 2 of them. They are amazing. 

Long and lean and stubborn

Despite my best efforts, Maisie just isn't gaining the weight she should be. 

Well, despite me feeding Miss Maisie around the clock and despite what seemed like a growth spurt this week, Miss Maisie only gained an ounce in 2 weeks. She should be gaining an ounce every 1 to 2 days. So gaining an ounce every 2 weeks not so good at all.

She is long and lean and only 10 lbs. 12 oz. Our plan now is to supplement.

The doctor thinks that I have enough milk, but it might just not have enough calories for her. Since I have been feeding on demand and she has been sleeping well and she still isn't gaining, I think our doctor might be right. When Calan was 4 months, he didn't gain as much as he should have too, but I thought that was because I was pregnant with Maisie. At about 4.5 months, I was feeding Calan two formula bottles a day and probably breastfeeding him 3 times a day. By 5.5 months, I was full-time, formula feeding him.

The goal is to have Maisie drink at least 8 oz. of formula a day on top of my breast feeding. I also am to mix a little cereal into her formula to help with her reflux instead of increasing the dosage on her medicine. The formula and cereal will be heavier in her stomach so it will be less likely to come back up. So in theory, that should help with her reflux pain that she seems to be still having. I really, really, really hope it works.

I know that there are probably some hardcore breastfeeding mommas who probably would suggest something different, but I have decided to go with our doctor. I just can't keep trying different things. I need to go with the sure bet, which is formula. She will get the calories she needs from that without a doubt in my mind. Our little girl needs to gain weight and quickly and that is what is most important right now.

I do hope that I have enough will power to continue breastfeeding on top of bottle feeding. I gave up with Calan sooner that I feel like I should have and I don't want to have the same regret this time.

I have tried the last 2 feedings to give her a bottle and she is not taking it from me. She is being quite stubborn only wanting my breast, which is pretty common with breastfed babies. In the past she has taken bottles just fine from my husband and mother-in-law. She is stubborn, but she doesn't realize that she gets that from me. I am pretty sure I will win out. We go back to get her weight checked December 14. Praying for a chunky baby by then.

On top of her weight stuff, we are also going to get her eyes checked. She is showing some signs of have less eye control than she should. She focuses well, but when her eyes are relaxed they roll back. While most likely it is nothing, we are still going to get it checked. Her appointment isn't till January 5. So, maybe by then it will have corrected itself.

Holiday season is here

We just had such a wonderful week as a family. It was great having my husband home all week. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and the kids behaved for the most part.

We just had such a wonderful week as a family. It was great having my husband home all week. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and the kids behaved for the most part.

Our Christmas decorations are up and I'm really getting into the holiday spirit. 

Christmas is a big discussion right now for my husband and I. While this year is still a free year because Calan is still too young to understand, we are starting to figure out what our traditions will look like.

For me, Christmas was mostly about presents like most children, but there were a few traditions that I really do hope to continue with my children. The first being special morning breakfast. My mother always made and egg bake casserole, which we called "egg junk" because it was usually made with whatever was leftover in the fridge. The breakfast was served on my mother's China. She always said what good are special dishes if you don't bring them out to use. I am not sure how many dishes if any we broke, but I personally loved knowing that my breakfast was on my mom's special dishes. Another thing she did was that she never put Jesus in our Nativity season (which she gave me when I moved out) till Christmas morning. 

Some things that we are hoping to do is to limit the amount of presents our children get. We want the holiday to be more about giving than receiving, so from us each child will get 3 presents. As they get older, we will incorporate them into adopting a family for Christmas that Maisie and Calan will help buy for. 

While Santa is still being discussed, I think that we have decided not to push Santa (and that includes Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny, too). We want Christmas to be about who it is actually about Jesus and his birth and that God loves us so much that he sent his only son, which is the only present that we actually need. 

Now, don't think in anyway that we plan to deprive our children. It is just that we want to center Christmas around Jesus and family, which is what we have centered our lives around. So, to be honest, it isn't any different from our daily lives. 

Did you have a hard time figuring out what Christmas would look like for your family or did it just fall into place? What traditions did you incorporate?

Nothing to announce

It is a running joke in our family that November and Thanksgiving is our month for milestone events. We got engaged the day after Thanksgiving, we got married at the beginning of November, my hair started to fall out on Thanksgiving after my second chemo treatment, and we announced both pregnancies on Thanksgiving.

This year, I am happy to say that November is going to pass without any life changing events or announcements. I am thankful for a year to just be. To say, that we have had some busy years over the last 6 years would be an understatement. I am ready to just let life happen and to see where God guides us to be.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy the day and family time. I know that we will eat well and sleep sound tonight.

A lot to be Thankful for

But no time to write about it, so I'll just share some pics.

What vacation?

My husband is on vacation this week, which is so wonderful, but last week I had to break the news to him that real vacations are a thing of the past. The days of sleeping in or taking off on a whim are just not what vacations are anymore. (He did sleep in a little today.) Instead, they are filled with doctor appointments, haircuts, home projects, and all the other things that we put off till there are 2 of us home during the week.

That doesn't mean that they still aren't fun because it is just so nice having him home with us. Calan is absolutely in love with his dad and to see the joy on his eyes when Bob is around is absolutely amazing and something that won't last forever. I have the privilege of spending time with Calan everyday while Bob gets glimpses during the week.

Vacations might not be what they use to be, but life is just better that way. This time in our lives is just a short season that is too amazing to miss.

But that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying my night out tonight getting my hair done while Bob is at home with both kids trying to get them dinner and put to bed by himself.