It's all over now...

My days of being forgetful and/or purposefully leaving thigs just out of Noah's reach are gone. He is mobile! And go figure, the day after I told his doctor he was nowhere near crawling. I have a feeling the boy will spend his life amazing and surprising me!!

Pics, pics, and more pics...

For the grandparents, aunts, and uncles!

Finally moose gets the spotlight :-)

Noah had his 9month checkup today. I went in fully expecting him to out-weigh billy (who weighed 24lbs at his last appt). He came close!! Here are his stats:

23lbs 14oz (90%)
29.25in (75%)
18.25in head (75%)

So he is still big, but slowly slipping down the chart. To be honest I'm a little glad about that because I don't want him to outgrow billy just yet! Billy needs a fighting chance against moose's...i cant think of a good word. let's just say moose isn't gentle by nature like billy is.

As for abilities, he's slightly behind In various areas. I think Kyle and I are lazy and thus make lazy babies ;-) I was worried about Billy's slow development, but now that I'm an expert in parenting (I hope you catch the sarcasm) I'm not so worried. He will get there. I'd imagine it's pretty hard for young muscles to lift that much weight around:-)

I'm so blessed to have two happy and healthy boys!

Speaking of healthy, we got Billy's neuro referral in! I'm looking forward to seeing his new neurologist and I hope he/she agrees with his previous neuro that he can come off his meds as soon as we feel ready!

Happy Friday!!!

Mommy's little helper

So yesterday was a rough morning. Nothing too terrible, but just enough to frazzle me for a few minutes. Thankfully, i have the world's sweetest little boy to help me out when things get rough :o) Here's the scoop:

Long story short, i had planned our morning out and NOT ONE THING went according to plan. I tried to put noah down for a nap (not on the plan, but totally necessary) but he wasn't having it. He screamed and screamed. So i caved and brought him back out to the playroom, where he continued to scream and scream. He didn't want to eat, didn't want to sleep, holding him wasn't helping either... so i sat on the couch and put my head in my hands and took a mental break. Billy must have felt my frustration because he walked up to me and said "you okay, momma?" (this is a phrase asked at LEAST 5 times a day. he's just the sweetest).  I said "yes. i'm okay. i just need a little break." He then walked around to behind the couch where noah was crying. I heard him mumble something to noah, but i couldn't make out what it was. Noah immediately stopped crying and started playing. Less than a minute later billy came back to me and sat in my lap and said "you okay momma? want hug?" and then just cuddled with me for another 2 minutes. Thanks to him, i was okay. My 2 year old son had taken care of me.

How in the world did i get this lucky?!?!?

Billy went shopping with me the other day and we decided to grab some pretzel M&Ms at the checkout. When we got home we wet into daddy's office, gave him half the bag, then shut the door, leaving him to study in peace (billy has not learned how to open the door). Billy and I went to the couch to enjoy the rest of the bag. This wa the first time (to my knowledge anyway...aunt michelle...) that he had eaten pretzel m&ms, ad he was in LOVE! We finished our fair share (my "fair share" may or may not have been bigger than his...) billy said "more ca-nee?" I said "sorry sweetie, it's all gone" to which he replied "more ca-nee pwease?". I said "thank you for using your manners, but mommy doesn't have anymore. Sorry."  And he said "more daddy ca-nee?" I said "no, dady is studying. We shouldn't bother him." Billy ran up to me, arm outstretched, ready for a hug. I knelt down and he leaned on my shoulder and said "awww, open da door."


He's so stinkin cute!!

So the first week or so after bringing Noah home went SO well. He slept, we slept, and billy slept. Billy was a good boy thanks to all the sleep he was getting. The world was wonderful!

Those days are (mostly) over.

Billy has decided that 515-530 is a new fun time to start the day. Yay! And, for the last week, Billy (who normally asks for "night night" and goes easily to sleep) has been bawling his eyes out for EVERY nap and EVERY bedtime. I thought teething. Nope. I thought maybe he's having a hard time adjusting to having a baby around. Still possible but probably not. I thought maybe the time change has done some serious damage. Not sure it's a main culprit, but it definitely isn't helping the situation. Why on earth is my sweet boy going crazy?!?!

2 days ago I discovered a hole in his paci. More than a hole. A big gash. He chewed through it! I was immediately hopeful: no wonder he is having a hard time! He can't soothe himself to sleep because his paci is broken! Then, i got worried.

About 6 months ago when we left his paci at home and tried to get him to use an identical paci. He refused it. He knew it wasn't "his" paci. He must have sucked his paci to the perfect softness. Or, as kyle put it, "seasoned" it. YUCK! You see, instead of doing what good parents do and throwing away pacis every few months, we had let him have the same paci for a year (we're not nominated for any parent of the year awards...). AND instead of using that opportunity to either break him of the paci or get him used to using another paci, we continued to let him use the old paci (don't worry, we sanitized it...sometimes...).

The day had come. His old friend had to be tossed. CRAP.

I decided to remain hopeful, and let him use an identical paci. Same situation as before. Complete refusal.

So here we are. Through no choice of our own, we are weaning billy from a paci SO much earlier than we had ever planned. We wanted to wait till he was old enough to understand that he didn't need the paci anymore. He's definitely not there yet. Now he needs to find a new way to soothe, and here is where the real issue starts...

Kyle and I have always said we won't rock our kids to sleep. Rather, we decided we wouldn't allow the rocking to be a necessity (we've rocked him many times, we're not completely heartless). Guess what happens to be the only thing that will peacefully get our little man to sleep...yup.

But we're sticking to our guns. For one week we will be letting him figure out how to soothe himself to sleep. This involves a fair amount of crying, and whining...and not from just billy. It's so hard to hear him cry. But i think it's going to work. We let him cry/whine for 20 minutes, then we go and comfort him, then we repeat. Last night it took 40 minutes to get to bed. He woke up in the middle of the night and it took about an hour to fall back asleep. I know it's a controversial way to do things, and I know it sounds harsh. Trust me. Half of my brain is saying "just go rock the poor kid! he's only little for so long! he needs you!" And the other half is saying "he needs to be able to comfort himself. He's old enough. You're not killing him." I know he needs consistency though, so this is how it is going to be for at least one week. At which point we'll reevaluate.

I knew this would be really hard emotionally, but i didn't really expect it to be so hard physically. See, billy woke up at 315. He eventually fell back to sleep around 415, at which point Noah was awake and ready to eat. Around 505, Noah was back to sleep and I crawled in to bed. 520 rolls around and Billy is up and ready to start his day. I can't wait for nap time :o)

I know this won't last. Things will get better again. It could be so much worse. Instead of a fussy or colicy infant, I have the worlds most calm and easy baby. Thank God for that!

Moose is almost on the loose!

So i went to see the midwives today. They don't typically check you, but i asked if she would strip my membranes to try to get things going. As she was stripping them she said "My goodness, girl. You're like 4.5 or 5 cm and very stretchy. I bet i could throw you into labor today!" Whoa. I've wanted moose to make his arrival for a week or so now, but now i'm freaking out a little. VERY soon my little billy will instantly become a big billy. He'll grow from an only child to a big brother without even knowing it. He'll have to share his mommy's (and daddy') attention and affection... So we spent the rest of the morning playing and cuddling and hugging as much as we could. I know he won't remember his last days/moments as an only child, but I will. It makes me tear up. I know we'll all adjust, but it still makes me sad to think about. I pray kyle and i can do enough to make sure billy doesn't feel alone, or like he's been put in 2nd place. I pray we can do a good job at sharing our time, attention and affection equally with both boys. I have been told it will all work out, but i want to make sure we actively work on it.

I'm so emotional, and it's about to get worse :o)