Sunday, March 1, 2009

Sleep Disorder

Yes...I'm aware once again in my lack of blogging. But seeing as how only about two people look at this blog, I'm sure you will learn to forgive my lazy nature. My finger is still sore, but the splint is off and I'm back to my preferred typing standard. Occasionally I'll hit a key on the keyboard the wrong way and searing pain will overtake my poor finger, but I figure it probably won't cause my finger to fall off, so I'm gonna go ahead and use it.

So we have a bit of a sleep disorder...or maybe sleep disarray would be more accurate. I'm not entirely sure. But as anyone who has kept a close watch on my blog would know, I haven't exactly had two perfect sleeping kiddos on my hand. In this skill department they are...er...lacking should I say? It has been quite testing lately to be honest. In the last couple of weeks, they have poked, prodded and pulled at my last strings of patience. I am sad, and somewhat ashamed, to say that for the last three or four months, I've had to rock both of my children to sleep. Naps and bedtime alike. Please note that one of these children is, in fact, almost two and a half years old and should not need to be rocked to sleep. He should have the confidence it takes to comfortably fall in to dreamland on his very own. Part of me has been oblivious to the true insane nature of rocking said child to sleep. But then, when talking to my friend, Mandy...also a mother of a boy around the same age...I mentioned to her that rocking Alex to sleep has become near impossible because he won't sit still for love nor money. The look on her face was one of utter shock and disbelief. She apparently was unaware of this. This look she gave me made me realize how bad it must sound and my shame surface. Most kiddos seem to fall asleep on their own and I truly feel bad that I have failed to teach him this most important skill of confidence. So here I am at a fork in the road. Alex won't rock to sleep, but when lying on his bed, his brain immediately switches into overdrive and he becomes a total chaotic child. Singing, yelling, jumping on the bed, kicking, etc. It all ends in the same result. Waking of poor sleepy Abby. She does not take the waking of her beauty sleep well and it's back to square one with her bedtime routine. *sigh* My fork in the road goes two ways so it is either go down the right fork in the road and continue to battle rocking him to sleep (which can now take up to an hour or more) or the left fork and let him wake Abby up over and over again until he can finally wind himself down (which can take up to two hours). So um...I'm open to suggestions on this little dilemma. If you wanna leave a comment on this blog, I would be glad to take any and all suggestions into consideration. Until this storm clears, I suppose it is back to the sleep disorder boy.

Here are a couple of pictures. I've started to lag in my picture taking skills. Bad mama...

Abby loves to climb and dangle from objects now...so big.

Alex got a big-boy hair cut. It's so hard to tell in a picture, but he really does look so grown up now.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Welcome Back Bro!

My brother Jeremy is back from Iraq so this video is a personal shout out to him. We are so glad he is home safe and reunited with his family. I can't believe he has been separated from his precious baby boy for 6 months and his wonderful wife for a year. I can't even fathom that kind of torture. I'm SO proud of you bro! Welcome back!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Yeah..The Finger is still broken, so...

Seeing as how I still can't type and all..here is a few items for your visual stimulation.

Alex is being Randy from "A Christmas Story". Mommy's little Piggy! He did this on his own by the way...didn't ask him to do it. funny stuff.




He just looks so big standing next to her.

He decided to put on a pair of Abby's overalls...silly boy.

Abby reading.

Friday, February 13, 2009

I Was Gonna Blog Today, But...

I broke my finger. Yeah...I did...the xray proves it. It hurts and I have too much trouble looking at my fingers when I type to actually spend the time and write this blog. I'm a two-hand only typer...old school, you know? Anyhow, so until my body decides to heal me up, I'll leave you with photo only (or video) blogs. Until then...enjoy the word free photography!

Me and my monkey.

Downward facing dog...lol

10 months old!

Destruction crew.

And Alex being Alex.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

An Unpunishable Crime

So, I was going to post a lovely video of one of Alex's Terrible Two's tantrums. Then he went and did something too cute and this video got bumped up to top priority. Besides...who wants to watch a two year old screaming? I mean...heck...I can't stand it myself and I'm there for the live event. Anyhoodle...I made a nice pan of chocolate-chip brownies yesterday to cure a certain sweet tooth that was achin' in me and...well...the video says it all. Enjoy!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Hi Daddy!

Just a shout out to Daddy from the kiddos. Missin' you!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Giggles and Grumbles: Issue #2

Giggle: Kids say the darndest things and with Alex learning new words daily, he picks up on all sorts of things. But sometimes he just can't get it quite right. Today, in an attempt to take a relaxing moment, I made a nice cup of hot cocoa. While drinking it, Alex asked me what it was and I told him it was hot cocoa. He looked at it, obviously wanting some too and said, "Mommy, I need some hot dog cocoa too!"

Grumble: Josh is gone on yet another trip for work. He is gone for the entire week, so things can get a bit hectic around here with old mom getting zero breaks. So Alex has decided to rebel again and won't take his naps. In a desperate attempt to get him to just stay in his room for a little quiet time, I placed an old reliable baby gate up at his door to keep him at bay. Um...apparently this made him angry because he proceeded to lay on the ground and throw one heck of a temper tantrum....for AN HOUR! That is NOT what I call quiet time. Honestly, I'm very surprised that I have not had curious neighbors knocking on my door to see if someone is being beaten or something. Terrible twos...ugh.

Giggle: Having a boy and a girl is interesting. Especially at bath time. Alex notices there is a slight difference between him and Abby. To save time, they of course get to bathe together. Alex had attempted, in the beginning, to poke and prod poor sissy in her private area and ask what it was. So after a few times of explaining that 'we don't touch other people in their special place', he caught on and it has never been a problem since. But this morning when I was changing Alex's diaper, Abby went to go grab him in his special place, he pushed Abby's hand away and said, "No Abby! No touch my willie! That's mine!"

Grumble: Abby is teething. The poor thing has been teething for months it seems. Her entire bottom gumline in the front is grey-white and swollen. She now has a mild fever and is very grumpy nearly all the time. She has yet to have one tooth bust through. I know I will regret wanting those teeth to come through so badly due to the fact that I am still breast feeding, but carrying around a 20 pound kid all day due to a sever case of the grump-a-lumps is exhausting.

Giggle: Alex has taken to imitating Josh in every way possible, including peeing standing up and shaving. So Josh let him pretend to shave with him. Too cute.

Giggle/Grumble: With the coming of winter, comes giant gas bills. Not unusual, but annoying. But that really isn't the grumble part. As if our drafty house didn't make it hard enough to keep it warm, the cats decided this year to make it just a little harder on the heater. At least two heater vents are covered at any one point during the day by one of our well-fed cat's bodies. It's kinda funny too. You know that they are just trying to stay warm in this lovely winter weather. Each picture is of a cat on a vent...even if you can't really see the vent.



See here for more Giggles and Grumbles that you may have missed.
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