Thursday, March 31, 2011

Houses and mouses and sleep. Ok, mice. Screw up my rhyme!

In the big news of the day, our Albuquerque house is funded, closed, sold, and GONE! We are so relieved to not have that place weighing on us anymore.

We caught our fifth mouse on the patio today. Yuck! This guy was full and fat. He was on a sticky pad but who knows if he had been eating Decon. They gross me out so bad, with their awfully mousy crawling around and Hanta virus having. I'm not sure if I'll ever be comfortable with our patio again. Blech.

Gage is doing well with sleeping on the air mattress in his room. He is still pretty attached to me in the night though. We'll start working on that over the next few nights! Hopefully we'll continue to see progress. Still undecided about crib v. toddler bed; we're just kind of wingin' it right now.

I had a very nice, very long talk with the Editor-in-Chief of the mag today. I think we got some issues sorted out, on my end and his. I talk a good game about wanting to quit sometimes, but when it comes right down to it, I like being a part of the magazine and being a part of the car scene through it. It makes me happy, but I need to get back to putting my heart into it. And I need some help with that, and the EIC seems willing to help. Which is good, because we lost a few more advertisers and I got another pay cut. Not performance based but simply to help keep the mag afloat a little longer. I don't like it, I think it's my third or fourth pay cut since the economy started tanking, but I can live with it. It isn't about me.

I also got more done on the writing for Brian's uncle. I will make my self imposed deadline of tomorrow! I'm so glad to have been given the motivation I needed to get the project underway, and wrapped. If you're interested in learning more about Sox Place, check out www.soxplace.com. Believe me when I say it is an amazing, worthy ministry deserving of your prayers, if nothing else. Doyle (Sox) and crew really are doing great things for this world, and being the hands and feet of Jesus here on earth. They love the unlovable and reach the unreachable with their drop-in center for street youth in downtown Denver. I'm trying to put together basically a promotional packet so that potential investors have some info about the program all in one place. It is a ton of work, but it is finally coming together. I was asked to do it, of course, because of my writing background... Doyle believes in utilizing the talents that God has placed around him, and I fully agree with that!

So, it has been a big day for us! And tomorrow is Friday which is most excellent because this is Brian's weekend off. Most excellent reminds me of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. I loved those movies. Wonder if they've been redone in Bluray? I should check that out, or at least get them from Netflix. Quite possibly the only movies where the sequel was more excellent than the original, at least to me. Bogus Journey blew Excellent Adventure out of the water. Anyway, enough of that tangent.
We are no longer home owners! Hooray! Things I like Thursday will be back next week with some things I like. I just wasn't feeling it this week, too much extraneous stuff going on. Y'all have a good night, now, ya hear?

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Sleep training + sickness/allergies

Last night Gage slept pretty well, except for when he woke up for a bit and vacantly lay there, staring off into space, around 3:30. He was pretty hot, and I figured he had a low grade fever. I got him back to sleep til later morning; when he awoke about 7:30 I took his temp. He had a VERY low grade fever of 99°. Nothing to worry about but he was pretty congested as well.

And so was I. I am super congested and have itchy sinuses with a lot of drainage. Maybe a little cold, maybe allergies. We'll see how we feel tomorrow. We have been pretty miserable today, and just laid low. We both took copious naps. And now I'm hoping he will sleep well tonight, with all his napping today. Seems he is getting used to sleeping in his room, on the air mattress at least. Soon I'll start taking my arm out from under him and edging away from him gradually. The hope there is that he'll start getting used to sleeping without SUPER close bodily contact, i.e. cuddled up against me. Once we get that under control, we will decide if we want to keep trying to get him into his crib, or if it would be easier to really childproof his room and convert his crib into a toddler bed. We shall see what the next week holds.

But I know one thing for sure - I miss my own bed. And going to sleep beside my husband. It is worth it if it works for Gage though!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Brief sleep update

Maybe you're wondering how last night's sleep training went. It didn't go great but it could've been worse. Gage did sleep mostly through the night; he woke up every hour or so and needed help to fall back asleep. I think he was cold though. I underestimated how cold his room gets and dressed him in short sleeved PJs. I got about 4 hours of sleep, myself, so it wasn't such a good night for me. Tonight, Gage has fleece PJs and socks, and I have an extra blanket. Gage refuses to sleep under blankets so he has to have sufficient sleepwear.

He refused naps all day. He slept about 45 minutes in the car, and I would've let him sleep for hours in there and just read in the car myself, but we had to meet maintainance at our apartment. And of course, by the time they were done working, Gage wouldn't go back to sleep.

But we persevere. Hopefully tonight will be a better night and our tomorrow should bring about our Albuquerque house's closing!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Sleep training, new method, part 1

Tonight is our first night trying what our pediatrician recommended, which is gradually transitioning Gage to sleeping in his own room by me sleeping with him in his room. So here we are, on an air mattress, trying that method. Tonight I plan to mainly work on him getting back to sleep in his own room, without breast feeding. The main moral of this method is to make me as lonely as possible.

Oh, I kid. The real point is getting Gage to understand that our room is not his room, and his room is just as comfy and safe. Well, as comfy as going from a memory foam to an air mattress can be, anyway. So while I will surely miss sleeping with my husband, this will hopefully be a means to an end. Besides, we created this behavior so it is up to us to break it. We made our bed, now we have to lie in it. Oh I couldn't resist. Sorry about that.

We had a nice, productive weekend. We got a lot of organizing done in our tiny kitchen that makes it much more bearable. Organizing a tiny kitchen, especially after downsizing, definitely takes some work. We got shelving to go inside of our cabinets, under shelf baskets for our pantry and an awesome hanging basket system for behind the pantry door. I also put up some Command hooks for my aprons. I am much happier in the kitchen now!

We also found out that the short sale on our Albuquerque house hit a little snag. Hopefully it'll be easily resolved; it doesn't seem to be a big issue, but we just can't wait for that house to be sold. Hopefully tomorrow. I can't express my appreciation of our realty team enough. If you're in Albuquerque and facing short sale, give Dawn and Brian Fossa of Coldwell Banker a call. They have been helpful, kind, friendly, and professional during what was otherwise a miserable time for us. When we discovered short sale was our only option, we didn't know where to begin, we got calls from scammy agents, and we were pretty nervous about how to proceed. Brian and Dawn have gone above and beyond, especially with us being out of state sellers. We couldn't have asked for more from a realty team.

I'm also feeling pleased for finally making good, honest progress on my writing for Brian's uncle. I've had a really hard time with it, but after much attempting to do it on my own, I lifted it up in prayer, and what do you know, now I'm getting somewhere. I've totally blown a couple of self imposed deadlines on it, so I'm really thankful that I will make it this time! I've given myself to the end of the week and that is 100% doable. Sox Place is a worthy ministry, and deserving of my best. I'm so glad that I can give that.

Well, Gage is sound asleep and I guess I'll try and catch a few Zs myself. Alone. On my air mattress. It'll all be worth it if Gage learns to sleep on his own! And if he doesn't, there will definitely be some crying. Gage might be a little upset, too. Wishing everyone a peaceful night's sleep, whatever you're sleeping on. And remember that the kids of Sox Place aren't sleeping on mattresses at all, many of them, and many may not even be under roofs. Please remember them in prayer.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Weekend update

I'm mainly just posting this today because I really wanted to try out SwiftKey on my Droid 2. It was today's featured application in the Amazon App Market so it was free.  So far I rather like it! It offers tactile feedback, which I had on my LG Dare before my Droid 1, and I loved it.  Still getting back used to it so we'll see. 

I had lunch with my friend Alecia today.  As always, we had a blast. It rocks to have her as a friend! But she already knows that.

I think I forgot to tell you last weekend, the Subie got a new clutch. You should've seen the old one. It was so torn up it was amazing how well the car still drove. Now I am basically learning how to drive it all over again. Sometimes I kill it and that is really embarrassing! I learned to drive in a stick shift so you'd think I'd know better but it really is very different. I miss working on my own car. But oh well; having Gage around is pretty awesome, which you know if you read yesterday's post. He is one cool guy and I wouldn't trade him for anything, even the time/flexibility to work on a car. 

I guess that's really all I have for today. There is nothing any more exciting than any of that. Haven't even seen any mice around recently, so hopefully they're gone. Hope you are having a terrific weekend!!

Friday, March 25, 2011

This is my 50th blog post!

So, in the great tradition of blogs and lists, I will tell you fifty things about Gage that I absolutely love.

1) Gage knows his name.

2) He knows the word for "doggie" but he says it more like "dad-gee." This is a step up from his previous saying of "gee" which was really cute.

3) He can show you his nose, ears, eyes, head, hair, fingers, hands, feet, toes, arms, and legs.

4) He can also show you where two other things are that aren't appropriate for me to tell you about on the internet.

5) He loves to eat by himself, so most of what he eats gets put into tiny, bite sized finger portions so he can feed himself.

6) But he really loves if you share what you're snacking on with him, even if it means you feed him with your spoon.

7) He knows the words for most of his stuff, even if he can't say it. If you ask where his truck or ball is, he'll go find them.

8) If he can't find what you're asking him about, he'll put his hands out and shrug his shoulders. Oh y'all, it is ADORABLE when he shrugs.

9) Gage has a very definite sense of humor. He'll do stuff he knows you don't want him to do just because thinks it's funny.

10) He cracks himself up doing ornery things.

11) He is SUCH a climber. He'll climb anything and is totally fearless.

12) He is totally over being carried. He wants to walk anywhere he can and will get very restless after a very short time of being carried.

13) Anything that isn't a toy is far more interesting to Gage than anything that is a toy.

14) He is still resisting sleeping in his own crib.

15) When he gets tired and cranky, he bangs his head on stuff while he tantrums. That is how we definitely know we missed the golden time for bedtime.

16) If you tell him it's time for breakfast/snack/lunch, he'll usually run right over to his high chair and wait for you to lift him up.

17) If Brian or I tell each other "chair him up" and he hears it, he'll usually run over to his high chair.

18) He can give awesome high fives.

19) But only if he knows you and isn't feeling overwhelmed by strangers.

20) He will not give strangers high fives (which is awesome.)

21) He will not perform on command; if you ask him to show you nose, mouth, etc. and he is, in any way, not feeling it, he will not do it.

22) He went through a phase where if you asked him where his hat went, he'd put his hands on top of his head. He doesn't do it anymore.

23) He went through another phase where he'd shout "GEE!!! GEEEE!!!!!" every time he saw a dog. He doesn't really do that anymore either, and I really miss that. He still does say "WOOF!" when asked what the doggies say.

24) He loves to mimick what adults do. He'll rub his hands together if he sees you putting on lotion, brush his hair with a hairbrush, etc. It is very cute.

25) He sure hates having his diapers changed, and fusses nearly every time he knows a diaper change is coming his way.

26) He knows how to give eskimo kisses, but he frequently won't do it with you. Just because he's like that.

27) He pretends to surf/snowboard on his tray from his high chair.

28) Throwing things onto hard surfaces makes Gage's day.

29) Making noise makes Gage's day.

30) Banging loud things together makes Gage's day.

31) Stomping also makes Gage's day.

32) Gage loves to chase Chevy. Chevy does not like being chased. We have to keep them seperated some of the time.

33) He loves to go for walks and see the world. As long as it isn't windy.

34) He hates the wind; it steals his breath.

35) He loves the DirecTv remote more than anything. If he so much as sees it, he goes crazy trying to get it.

36) You can totally tell if he is really upset or just mad when he fusses. If he's really upset, big fat tears roll out of his eyes. And you hate your life just then, until you figure out how to fix it.

37) If I cry, Gage cries too. Good thing I rarely cry.

38) He knows how to give good hugs. He'll put his head on you and squeeze you with his arms.

39) Gage has a fake laugh and a real laugh. Both are adorable, and both are happy. Just one doesn't really sound like actual laughter.

40) Gage has a way with people that I have never seen. Every one who meets him comes away with a smile on their face. I hope and pray that he stays that way because he'll make friends really easily if he stays that way. He could have such an impact on others if he remains so friendly.

41) He is SUCH a light sleeper, just about anything will wake him up. It is pretty difficult to keep him asleep. But this just means he is spirited and sensitive and I can live with both.

42) He is crazy stubborn.

43) He dances by jumping up and down, then he'll stop and wave his arm back and forth. It is silly and cute.

44) He claps his hands when he sees/hears others clapping.

45) Gage loves to crawl behind and around things.

46) If he knows you're going to do something with him he won't like, Gage will back away from you while you try to pick him up. It is hilarious and adorable.

47) Gage loves having a bath. He'll try to climb in while you're still putting water in, even if you're not ready for him yet.

48) He does NOT like to be washed in the bath. Just play.

49) When you put him in the car with socks and shoes on, he'll promptly remove both his left sock and left shoe. It is likely he'll leave the right sock and shoe on for the duration of the ride.

50) Gage's favorite food is mandarin oranges. Sometimes, they're the only thing he will eat.

Whew! Fifty things about Gage that are awesome. Ok so a couple of them aren't awesome per se, but just cool facts about Gage. For example, I would love it if he would sleep in his own bed. But he loves to cuddle, so that's just part of who he is right now. I also don't think it is awesome when he bangs his head, so you get the idea. I hope you enjoyed reading about them as much as I enjoyed writing about them. He is such a great, happy-go-lucky kid.

Tonight, we're having barbequed pork that will have cooked in the crock pot all day (8 hours) for maximum tenderness. I made barbeque sauce myself to cook the pork in, so hopefully it'll be extra delicious! We are really looking forward to some pulled pork sandwiches tonight.

Happy 50th blog post! Woohoo!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Things I like Thursday: I got nothin' edition

It is Thursday again, so here's another jaw-droppingly boring edition of Things I like thursday. I'm pretty tired from not being able to sleep last night so this may be a little shorter post than usual. So without further ado, let's get started! Edited to add: all views expressed in Things I like Thursday are my own. I am not employed, compensated, or paid by any of the companies I'm talking about here, just letting you know what I'm into right now.

1) The American Academy of Pediatrics. These guys have come out and said kids must rear face in their car seats until the age of 2, or have a 5x greater risk of things like internal decapitation. I will do anything to keep my little guy safe, but jeez, AAP, did you have to make this public such a short time after we joyously celebrated Gage being big enough to front face? He was so excited to have a seat with a view. But, safety wins every time. We turned his Air Protect back around to rear facing last night.













2) Pest control. I know, I know, this one is a total cop-out. But, c'mon, the mice are dominating my brain, along with my balcony. Seriously though, the guy they sent was friendly and helpful. He really liked Chevy and even tried to guess her breed. Haha, silly humans, she says! Her breeds are unknowable via guessing. I don't think anyone has ever accurately guessed what she is. She's a half-n-half! He put bait in our storage and water heater rooms. He didn't actually have a key to the water heater room so he just went ahead and picked the lock. He thought the mice were here when we moved in, so that's a big in-yo'-face to the maintenance guys who implied we brought the mice. Oh I really did just go there.


3) The Upside Down Show. Have you ever seen this nightmare on Nick Jr? It is on pretty late so probably not. Oh and late in my world is 9:30. Anyway. Gage doesn't watch very much TV at all, but from time to time we turn it on for him. He looooves this show. And I mean loves it. He laughs, he talks to it, he dances, etc. It is insanely cute to watch. I find the show to be grating, annoying, repetitive, and chronically unfunny. Guess I'm not in the target audience. But humorously enough, the show was a flop. They should've targeted young toddlers, not preschoolers. Anyway, leave me alone about Gage watching TV. He averages about 30-45 minutes a day, TOPS.

4) Hempz Pomegranite Sugar Scrub. Oh it is heavenly! It smells lovely and really does wonders for my skin. I love how soft it makes my skin. I use it every couple days on the rougher skinned areas, and it makes them soft and smooth.

5) The Oil Cleansing method. Have you heard of this? It is a method of facial cleansing that involves mixing sunflower oil with caster oil and massaging it into your skin for a minute once a day. Then you take a very warm washcloth and lay it on your face til it cools down, then rinse and repeat (the washcloth part) 2-3x. Supposedly the castor oil dissolves oils and dirt in your skin while the sunflower oil moisturizes. I have terrible skin so the thought of rubbing oil into my face made me nervous. But I finally worked up the courage to try it, and my skin is radiant! It is clearing up and is so smooth and soft and glow-y. I'm gonna keep at it and see if it keeps working. So far so good! And for fairness sake, I will tell you I (obviously) did not create this method, I have read about it at length on the interwebz. If I knew who to credit I would, but the best I can do for now is say it wasn't me!

That's all I've got for today. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading the happenings from around my house today. Tell me yours if you so desire... what things do you like this Thursday?

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

I can't sleep. So here is a mouse update!

We've now caught two and have the patio practically lined with sticky paper. Way gross. Brian went through the cardboard boxes and put it all in plastic tubs, so that is done. A blessing in disguise, he actually really cleaned up our patio while out there. I'm fighting the urge to go do a mouse check now, haha.

The pest control person from the apartments is supposed to be out tomorrow so hopefully they'll do some work. We have some decon in the storage room so hopefully they're nibbling on that. Sigh... this whole experience has totally deflated me about this apartment. And I was so happy we chose this one! Ah, well. What can you do?!

I'm off to try and sleep for the 15th time tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with Things I Like Thursday. Hope y'all are sleeping well!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The mouse chronicles continue (and a little on hard times)

We got some sticky traps set out last night and so far got nothin'. Brian did see them scampering around out there this morning, but not around the storage closets. He saw them running in and out of our stuff that's been removed from our storage closet. So he moved one of the traps over to where our stuff is, and I can't see that one from the door. I'm sure as heck not going out there to check it. Blech!

I'm going to look at WalMart today for sticky papers... the sticky traps we got may not be as encouraging for the mice to just run right over, and I figure the more sticky stuff out there, the better. We want to pick up some more plastic tubs because I feel like everything that's going to be stored in the storage room outside should be totally secured in "chew proof" tubs. Brian has to go through all of the boxes and be sure the mice haven't nested in any of the cardboard boxes. As he does that, he can just replace everything into a plastic tub and not have our stuff laying all over the patio. He is pretty excited to go through possibly Hanta virus infested boxes.

On a totally seperate note, I was reading Facebook this morning and read a post from a relative about feeling ensnared in misery and failings. I think this is a feeling we all know so well, and this particular person is a pillar of faith, strength, and giving to others. He is such an inspiration to me and countless others, it is hard for me to imagine that he feels this way. But as humans, we all go through this! Because without the darkness that lives in each of us, could we ever truly know the goodness of the light that we are offered, free of charge, in the love of Jesus Christ? We are washed as white as snow in His sacrifice for our sins, failings, and misgivings? For He knows each of us better than we know ourselves; He sees our inner failings and hurts and petty grievances. He loves us in spite of these things because we are all made exactly as we should be.

"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling." Psalms 46:1-3

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

Monday, March 21, 2011

There's a mouse in the house ... or why it's good to talk to your neighbors (update)

I went downstairs this afternoon because I felt like our neighbor below us needed to know about the mouse issues. Amongst other talking points about how badly the maintenance team here sucks, she said that around midnight-1 most nights they hear thumping/scratching coming from the wall between their living room and bedroom, high up toward the ceiling... a. k. a. our floor. I told her that that is definitely not us, as we are usually in bed by 9:00, 10:00 if we're feelin' wild and crazy. She was very nice and friendly and it was nice to chat with her a bit, even if it wasn't the most fun of topics. Sure did make me feel like, once again, we got had moving in here though. Sounds like they take maintenance issues about as seriously as I take baseball. Which is to say, not at all.

So, I'm a little frustrated but also a little relieved. I am totally wigged out (yup, I said wigged out) by the thought of mice in the floor/walls. I am definitely going to have a lengthy chat with the office tomorrow, because seriously? Ew. I want pest control ripping into the external walls if necessary. So why relieved? It was nice to have a friendly chat with the downstairs neighbor, and get to know her just a bit. Makes me feel a little better to have someone else in our building to comiserate with. And it's nice to know that when she came up here that night to complain about how loud we were being, she was just at her wit's end trying to get her daughter to sleep. And boy, do I know how that feels, and the frustration that comes with it.
And hey, she was probably just hearing mice in her ceiling anyway.

Thanks to all the birdseed

When we first moved to New Mexico, some friends of ours recommended a place to live that were some older townhomes in the part of town we wanted to be in. They consisted of one little pseudo-cul-de-sac, so there were only a handful of them. At one end were one bedroom units, and at the other were two bedroom units. They were pretty popular, our friend told us, and we would be lucky if they had a two bedroom available. They had little yards and attached one car garages. We got lucky, I guess, because someone had just bought the three end units, all two bedrooms, done a basic rehab on them, and was looking for tenants. The price was right, and we loved the end unit, with its extra parking and larger yard. We had two dogs at the time, so a larger, fenced yard was something that not many apartments in area could offer. We had a few issues during the almost four years we lived there, not the smallest was being overrun with crickets a few times of the year. But we'd clear out with the dogs for a day and bug bomb, then spend the next few months disposing of cricket carcasses wherever we would find them.

We certainly never had problems with any actual vermin, like mice or rats or anything. We did discover that somehow, our little townhome "community" was in a pocket of ghetto, located in a rather nice, older neighborhood. We made some really great friends there that were neighbors, and we enjoyed many summers of end-of-block cookouts, parties, and just having friends nearby to chat with. We are still friends with those folks, even though most of us have moved away.

But we never had mice, or rats. We moved when we bought our house at the west end of Albuquerque, and had our fair share of fat, healthy spiders, wind spiders, and an occasional baby cricket, having had the house built. So we dutifully took the baby and the dogs, and got out, and bug bombed.

Imagine our surprise when Brian peaked out of our patio door last night and discovered, horror of horrors, baby MICE running around our patio! We are on the second floor! How do mice even get up here?! We figure the previous tenant here must have had something in their storage closet that had mice, and they took up residence in the hot water heater, located off of our deck. Can I get an "EW, gross" right about now? We figure they've been kept alive on a steady diet of birdseed and never seen any reason to attempt to jump ship. Or, you know, die. I had some serious creepy crawlies last night, let me tell you! I called our complex's emergency number, got a call back, and was informed that while they definitely want to handle our vermin issue, it does not constitute an emergency. Try falling asleep when you know that all that stands between you and violent, Hanta virus death is a sliding glass door and a wall. Not easy, my friends.

They're coming out this morning to address the issue by pulling everything out of our storage closet and killing the mice. I don't want to be around for that, so Chevy, Gage, and I will spend the morhing at my parent's house. 

Then I will go home, and never trust that anything coming out of our storage isn't mice and/or Hanta virus (hantavirus?) infected. I just got a call from maintenance informing me that (surprise) they didn't find any mice. Uh... yeah. Mice are nocturnal and they hide when there's commotion. So you wouldn't see them, genius. He said they pulled all of our stuff out, cleaned behind everything, and didn't find any bite marks. He suggested that they would leave everything out so "my husband" could look in all the boxes and make sure no mice had gotten in. Lucky for Brian, he really wanted some Hanta virus today. He also informed me that pest control comes Thursdays, so that's when they'll be here. I told him that isn't acceptable and he basically told me take it up with the office if I don't like it. UGH!!! Really feeling disappointed with the apartment. We thought we picked really well. Starting to wonder if we foster unrealistic expectations for our living environments. You know, like they be built well or have toilets that flush or showers that don't scald, then freeze, then scald you. Or, you know, a home free of disease ridden, destructive vermin. Perhaps it is all just too much to ask.

My dad recommended that we get some of those sticky paper traps to put down all along where they were running, and see how that goes. I can tell you who'll be clearing the mice off the papers when we catch 'em... and it won't be Brian or me. Gross. My dad thought he had some, but he doesn't so I guess I'll be making a trip to the hardware store. I hear they're cheap. I'm just irritated and grossed out, and a little sad.

And so appreciative of the mouse, er, bird food falling from the balcony above us.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Weekend update (without Kevin Nealon)

Some of you may be too young to remember Kevin Nealon doing weekend update on SNL, back when it was actually funny. He had a great deadpan delivery. We watched SNL religiously back in those days, with my brother and I glancing nervously at one another during particularly off color jokes, wondering if my parents got it. Usually my mom's raucous laughter and my dad clucking his disapproval signaled that they did, but on rare occasion the joke would sail over their heads and we'd snicker knowingly, feeling like we got one over on mom and dad. At my parents house, you'll still hear reference to those days; Farley's motivational speaker ("I live in a van, DOWN BY THE RIVER"), Schneider's pothead ("you put your WEED in here") and Richmeister, the Copy Room Guy ("heeeeey, it's Gina! Ginameister! Makin' some copiiiieees!), or Franken's Stuart Smalley ("I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people LIKE me"). It was a Saturday night thing. We'd all stay up late and watch. Nowadays (eh? Speak into my ear horn. My hearing isn't what it used to be, whipper-snapper) SNL doesn't get a snicker from me, and that is if I have, by some odd chance, actually 1) stayed up that late, 2) turned the TV on to that channel, and 3) not found something better to watch. That never happens. So I am nostalgic for those days, when Saturday Night Live was funny.

Anyway. This has, thus far, been a productive weekend. Yesterday I got my Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes started (recipe from Erin at BringUpBurns), and my yogurt dill bread completed. I also did the dishes about four times due to all the baking. We had absolutely no success with sleep training but it does seem Gage is getting two lower incisors, and possibly a molar or two. So I can't feel too failurific about the sleep training right now.

I got a start on the newsletter for the magazine, which was good because by the time the Editor-in-Chief called me to bug me for it, all I had left to do was convert the text and email him the draft. Not that my text matters. The Editor-in-Chief rewrites everything I write for the newsletter anyway. Then, when I send out the draft to the rest of the "upper" staffers, I get told by the Managing Editor that the newsletter does not reflect "my voice" enough and toes the company line. Well, it is very hard to put my voice in something that is being rewritten by someone else. Makes me feel 100% useless. But enough about those guys. The magazine makes me feel sad and doubt myself pretty regularly. I miss the good ol' days with the magazine, when I worked almost exclusively with the Managing  Editor, who wanted my writing to look and sound like my writing. He also used to tell me I was a genius on a regular basis which never hurt. But that aside, the bane of every month is 65% complete; the hard part is out of the way.

I got up this morning just after 7 after being awake with Gage since 5. He was refusing sleep unless I would let him do something mildly disturbing and wildly uncomfortable. I wouldn't and he refused sleep. Brian took the Subie to our friend Mikey, who is going to put a clutch in it today. I made the ganache and icing for my cupcakes, filled, and iced them. This was my first time piping icing with a bag and they are not particularly pretty, but they are delicious. The yogurt dill bread, I'm really nervous about, it was a new recipe (new/old; I've had it around forever but never made it) and I want to taste it to make sure it is edible, but I'd feel weird taking a partially eaten loaf of bread to a dinner. So we'll all have to wait and see. And if it is gross, we'll throw it away, haha. There is never a bread shortage at my parent's house.

Now Gage is napping, and I'm relaxing. This afternoon we'll go look at some Reebok Zigs for Brian and some Vibram FiveFingers for me. Oh how you'll laugh when you see Vibram FiveFingers... but they're supposed to really help your form when running and I could use that. If I get a pair, I'll post pics.

I guess that's about all I've got for now. Y'all enjoy your weekend, I know I'll be enjoying the rest of mine.
And that's ... news to me.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Things I like Thursday: St Patrick's day edition

Happy St Patrick's Day! As a somewhat Irish lass, I really love this particular holiday. In years passed, I haven't done much to mark it, but this year Gage and I have done the St Patrick's day parade and we're all going to enjoy a somewhat traditional dinner with my folks on Sunday. More about that in a bit. Did you know that the shamrock is symbolic of this holiday because it is said that St Patrick used the three leaf clover to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish? The wearing of the green was a political statement amongst the Irish army in the rebellion of 1798. The drinking associated with Mar 17 is a result of the lifted ban on Lenten fasting and drinking. Random trivia I, for one, (and probably only) find very interesting!

Tomorrow I'll be baking Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes and Yogurt Dill  Bread for my parent's St Pat's celebration on Sunday. It'll be a largely traditional celebration with corned beef and cabbage. Yum! Hopefuly the cupcakes will hold being refrigerated for an extra day. I know the bread will be fine.

On a totally serious note, please pray for Japan. In the midst of your St Pat's revelry, keep the Japanese people in your heart. So many folks misplaced, missing family members, homeless, etc. And they are so stoic about it... I've yet to hear of any looting or rioting. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers as you go about your day, knowing where your family is, having a home to go to, having a hot dinner at the end of the day. That's all I have to say about that, if you want more info on Japan there are 1,000,000 blogs at least with more info about it, by people more knowledgeable than I.

And now... back to your regularly scheduled drivel.
Gage and I have been hard at work this week, tracking his schedule. I have started waking him up in the morning as I think he is largely adjusted to daylight savings time. We haven't officially started the new sleep training method yet, as the first week is largely the tracking part. Figuring out his optimal time for sleeping and naps. I've been working on trying to have dinner ready at or close to when Brian gets home, that has largely been a failure on my part. If we eat when he gets home, we can focus our evening on figuring out Gage's window of sleepiness for optimum bedtime.

But the screwed up week is not entirely my fault. Monday, maintenance was supposed to come fix a host of issues, so Gage, Chevy and I cleared out of the house ALL day. Brian beat us home and found that maintenance never came. Needless to say, when I called the office, I was a little displeased. I didn't get shopping done and completely threw off Gage's schedule because of having to remove Chevy from the house. So Tuesday, maintenance was supposed to call before stopping by. They didn't, just showing up at 3:00 PM. Fortunately, I was somewhat prepared, having grocery shopped in the morning/early afternoon and packing a bag for Gage to take to my mom and dad's house. Good thing, that bag... I didn't get to change Gage before leaving, with maintenance at the door, and there was some serious diaper overload by the time we got to my folks'. Suffice it to say, the change of clothes I had brought wase necessary.
They did get most of our issues addressed though, which is 75% good. It'll be 100% good when all is fixed.

When we shopped yesterday, Gage found a stuffed Circo dog for $4.99. He was getting really fussy and the dog was misplaced in the chips and cracker aisle. Gage does not typically like stuffed animals, but the misplaced stuffed pup caught his eye. I figured we could tote the dog around for a bit and if Gage lost interest, we wouldn't buy him. After 10 minutes of watching Gage chew the dog's nose, I knew we'd be buying it. 10 minutes later when he ripped a chunk out of the dog's paper tag, I pulled the tag off and tucked it in the cart so we could pay for it. So far, Gage loves it. We've named it Gee, Gage's awesome word for doggie. Gee kept Gage happy and smiling for the rest of the shop, so I owe Gee a debt of gratitude. So... here's a few things I'm into right now, after all of that! ETA: Standard disclaimers apply; I am not being compensated or paid in any way, shape or form for these comments, nor am I employed by any of these companies. Views expressed are my own.

1. Grocery shopping at Super Target. I saved a boatload of cash. I am not kidding you. The amount of stuff I bought did not equal what I paid. If you have a Super Target near you, shop there! And don't be afraid to try out Archer Farms, the Target brand. Their generics are as good or better than name brand.

2. Springtime. I love the transition seasons. Fall and spring are the best, and I get a wicked case of spring fever each year. I wish we had a nice grassy yard for Gage to play in, but alas, we've never actually had a grassy yard. So I take Gage to the community areas and hope everyone is as diligent cleaning up after their dogs as we are.

3. Home baked bread. I love it, y'all. Not to blow my own horn but I love eating my home baked bread. And it makes me feel proud to feed my family delicious bread I've baked.

4. My column in the magazine. Provided it doesn't get too heavily edited, it may have been one of my best. Seriously. Three and a half years of writing for them and for once it didn't feel like drivel. Too bad I think about as many people read my column as this blog! Today I have to work on the mag's e-newsletter, which will take away all of these warm fuzzies I currently feel for that job.

5. Windows 7. Yes, I know this was on last week's list too. But we actually did get it, and install it. It took forever, but totally worth the wait! It has all the awesome parts of Vista without all of the annoying glitches and bloat. I really do like it. If you have Vista and hate it, you should definitely consider Windows 7. Brian just downloaded IE9 and says it is awesome too. I'll probably try to get it today! So maybe next week you'll see Internet Explorer 9 on this list.

That's all for today. Top of the mornin' to ya, enjoy your St Patrick's day, and the upcoming weekend! I'll let you know how those cupcakes turn out, but I know they're gonna be awesome.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

This and that and other such nonsense

It has been a pretty nice weekend so far! I can report that the bird feeders from the patio above us are gone. So that's positive. Bird seed so close to our living environment is a total health hazard. I got my phone warrantied for a host of little issues and the replacement phone has screen issues. Go figure. Gotta call them again today.

We got Windows 7 installed on both computers yesterday so that was nice. We decided to not worry about upgrading memory at this time since Windows 7 isn't the bloated memory beast that Vista was. So we'll wait and see what happens before we make a decision on memory. So far, having Win7 is pretty nice. We both really like it.


I talked to our realtor over the weekend and she said they're looking to potentially close our house March 16. Can I tell you how happy that would make us?! We just want that place gone. We are anxiously awaiting an email with our closing docs. Looking forward to that!

Last night we had German food at Helga's, and Brian had a mini-boot (litre) of beer. It was a lot of fun, though unfortunately we were early (for once) and so Gage ran out of fun times just after dinner and we had to cut it short. It was a really good time though. We also had some pretty terrible wait times for our food, so that was a bummer.

Today we went and checked out Ultimate Electronics going out of business sale. It was a little sad to be in the store with all of the fixtures and stuff being sold off also. We did get 5 blu-rays, two ink cartridges (cyan and magenta) and two drinks for under $90, so good deals were had. We looked a little at TVs and cameras, but we were, as we have been, unable to pull the trigger. We also hit up Barnes and Noble so I could pick up a couple parenting books. I bought another book about sleep, written by a lady who writes a book about raising your spirited child. As Gage is QUITE spirited, hopefully that book will offer some insights.

Speaking of sleep training, a few of you have inquired into how it is going since I haven't been posting about it. The truth is, I quit posting because I felt that every night had varying degrees of sameness, and I got tired of typing the same thing. Also, with no success, we've called it off for last week to regroup. We'll start again this week, hopefully with some new tactics.

Hope y'all are enjoying your weekend. I am, even though I have to write for the magazine here soon. Not excited about that so much but it's gotta happen!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Things I like Thursday

Here's a list of things I am really enjoying this week. Or excited about, in the case of one of these things. Most of these are kids things but a couple are momma things. I will try to do this every Thursday, but I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to come up with this many things!

Standard bloggy disclaimers apply: I am not working for or being compensated by any of the following companies (although I wouldn't tell 'em no if they offered, haha!) All of these "reviews" are done because I feel like it, and I have/will be using my own money to buy these things. Anyway.

1. Safety First Air Protect Car Seat
Brian and I saw this carseat on display at Target back when Gage was a tiny guy riding around in the bucket style car seat. We had a Graco SnugRide32 because we just sort of liked it. We were so freaked out about registering for our impending baby, we didn't do much research. So when it came time to shop for a convertible car seat, we did a lot more research, not being freaked out anymore.

Now, like anything else, you can find negative info out there on the Doral group, who owns Safety First. But their Air Protect system seemed really advanced to me! It is meant to reduce the ride down time in an accident, basically meaning it slows down the time between hurdling ahead at 45 mph and coming to a complete stop. The more I read about it, the more I liked it. So before we moved back to CO from NM, we picked up the Air Protect for Gage. After taxes and all, I believe it was just shy of $200, making it kind of a mid-range car seat.

It is also super easy to install and remove. It has a push button LATCH release, and if you have experience trying to dig a little clip into your seat cushions trying to fasten or unfasten onto the LATCH anchor points, you know that's an awesome feature. It seems pretty comfy for Gage, and we've had it rear facing up until a couple days ago, when he finally was big enough to turn around. Having him forward facing rocks for all of us. I'm back in love with it right now since we just turned it around. I also really like that its top tether strap is plenty long, as the Subie's top tether anchor points are actually at the far back of the hatch cargo area. Yes, this is a pain in the rear. Thanks, Subaru.

Not to say that it's the PERFECT car seat, I do need to buy/make some covers for the straps because they bite into Gage's neck a bit when they are secured. Also, the fabric has balled just a bit on the seat cushion so it isn't quite as beautiful as it was. But the positives far outweigh the negatives. When we purchase a second car seat for the Max, it'll very likely be another Air Protect.

2. Target brand disposable diapers
I won't have nearly as much to say about these as I did the car seat, because well, diapers. They aren't a safety thing, they either absorb pee and hold in poo or they don't. Oh, y'all. Is there anything I don't have much to say about?!

So you know we started on cloth diapers, and things were awesome, then we moved. We went back with disposables during the move for obvious convenience reasons. And we've been using them at night too, because Gage still does too much milk drinking at night to be contained by the cloth diaper. But the past couple weeks, I've been laundry lazy so I haven't had enough clean cloth. We've been depending on disposables more than I want, so when we went to Target recently for our usual Pampers, I said, "hey, let's try Up and Up, the Target brand!" We have had good luck with most everything Up and Up we tried, but I was nervous about diapers. We bought a small pack.

To start with, their green and blue dot pattern is WAY cuter than Sesame Street themed Pampers. Seriously cute. And they don't leak. We tried Huggies once and Luvs once, and man, did we have leaks. So Target disposables for us it'll be, when we aren't using cloth. See, lots to say about anything. 

3. Camelbak Kid's water bottle
If you aren't familiar with Camelbak, they started out making backpacks with a removable bladder, hose, and bite piece, so that you could drink water hands-free while participating in activites of all kinds. I have a Camelbak that I bought many years ago for bike riding and it ROCKS. Now that I'm starting to run, I may start using it again. Anyway, sometime in the last few years (I have no idea when) Camelbak put their bite guard technology into water bottles. Brian and I loved them for the gym. You bite down on the bite guard and suck, and you get your water. Great for running on elliptical, treadmill or outside because you don't have to stop and unscrew a cap.

When Gage started drinking water, we struggled to find an actual sippy cup he could use. He could suck, but he couldn't get the fact that he had to tip back traditional sippy cups. We wondered if he could drink from a Camelbak kids water bottle, but at $15 per, it was a more expensive gamble than we wanted to take. He couldn't drink out of the kid's Nalgene bottle we got him, but at least he can feel like a Colorado native, having his own Nalgene bottle and all. Our Camelbak water bottles were in storage, so of course we couldn't have him try ours.

One day Alecia and I were hanging out, and Gage snatched away her bright orange Camelbak. We were laughing about how cute it was, wondering if he could actually get water out of it, etc... when we noticed he had water running down his chin. So, yeah. He could definitely get water out of it! Now he's the proud owner of a green bottle with dinos on it and an orange one with skateboarding pirates on it. He loves them and they don't spill. These water bottles state that they're meant for kids 2 and up. I'm not sure why as there are no small pieces, but we always supervise Gage while he eats and drinks anyway.

4. Windows 7
Here's where I get off baby stuff for a moment simply because I'm  easily distracted. We bought new laptops about 3 years ago, at the time we did our research and came up with two really awesome HPs that got great reviews, had lots of space for expanding memory, etc. They ran the Dreaded Vista. We'd heard lots of negative stuff about Vista, but we liked it ok from playing with the computers in store. So, Vista, no big. Anyway. We have gotten tons of use out of our laptops and generally, we love them. Hewlett Packard makes a good laptop. But as Vista ages, and you pack more stuff onto the computer, it gets glitchier and glitchier until I want to throw my computer straight out the window.

But everything else is so good with my computer and me, so I don't want to replace it. And while three years is aging along in computer years, it has got tons of life left in it. The solution? Windows 7. We're upgrading both computers this weekend and I CANNOT wait!! I love so many of the Windows 7 features and it is so much less bloated than Vista! Now I just need to start backing everything up to our Western Digital book hard drive. Yay! I'll tell you next week how much I love Windows 7. I think we're also going to try adding memory as well, just maxing them out on RAM while we are working on them. Yes, I have morphed into a computer dork. No, I don't know when it happened, but sometime in the last few years. No, I don't play Dungeons and Dragons. But if you do, I bet it makes your life enriched and magical. (Get it? Magical?)

5. Lovey Duds Wrap (Etsy version of Moby wrap)
I really wanted to get Gage a new jogging stroller for Christmas. That's right, he would have loved it. It wouldn't have been sort of for me in the slightest! His old jogging stroller was a Craigslist buy and... it is a little sad. Faded, noisy, etc. But then we decided to move into a second floor walk up and I wondered how I would wrangle Gage, Chevy, and a jogging stroller down the stairs, every time Chevy needed a walk. Which is multiple times a day.

So instead, we bought Gage a fixed side crib for Christmas (his old crib was a dropside) and put my stroller dreams on hold. Instead, I spent $50 on the handmade equivalent of a Moby wrap from Lovey Duds, an Etsy seller. Along with supporting a WAHM rather than a company, I got a beautiful handmade wrap. So when Chevy needs a walk, I strap on my shoes, wrap up, put Gage in, leash up Chevy, and off we go. The wrap is comfy and soft, distributes Gage's weight across my shoulders and back, and he loves to be in it. I also use it when I bake, and plan to use it to vacuum as well, so I can keep Gage off the floor and safe while I vacuum. It is an awesome thing to have and very versatile! 

6. Couch to 5k for Android
I have been trying to break into running since we lived in Albuquerque. At that time, we were trying to get up before Brian went to work and walk/run. It didn't work. I recently learned of a program called Couch to 5k, meant to get even the most out of shape beginners off the couch and to a 5k in just 9 weeks. I thought it seemed cool, but had no idea of how to incorporate it into my days. Until I found C25kPro in the app market. For only $1.99, it will tell you when to walk, when to run, post your training to Facebook if you want, AND, my favorite feature, incorporate your own music. Not what someone else thinks is motivational but what YOU think is motivational. Very cool! Hopefully in 10 weeks or so I'll be telling you how I completed the program. I started yesterday but the wind in Gage's face forced me to cut it short.

I guess that's all for this week. I loathe ending on six things, but I've got nothin' else! Enjoy your Thursday!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Rocky Mountain Health Plan managed to screw us again

We got notification from them in the mail yesterday that they weren't going to cover Gage's well child check up even though he did have their coverage at the time. I guess since they credited back his totally exorbitant premium they figured they wouldn't cover one little, under $200 charge.

I can tell you this much - I would've probably taken my telling everyone I know in Colorado to avoid RMHP like the plague down a notch if they'd covered his well-child check. But now, I loathe them even more. They're everything bad about the insurance industry. All I wanted was TWO months of coverage for my healthy child for a reasonable premium. Not a ridiculous premium that was never disclosed before they took it straight out of our bank account.

So I'll say it again. If you're in the market for health insurance in CO, run, don't walk, away from Rocky Mountain Health Plan. They will lure you with the promise of low rates then raise them as soon as you've signed up for coverage. They're a slimy, predatory company. Stay away!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sleep training... night whatever this is

Well, tonight and last night are pretty much just like every other night has been... no new developments, no further progress. And we're getting really discouraged.

It doesn't help that I'm having some hormonal issues that may or may not be related to my IUD and I'm exhausted all the time, feel crazy emotional, and nauseas more often than not. Ugh. Just a discouraging couple of nights filled with stressful moments.

Fortunately, my clogged milk duct seems to have worked itself out with the homeopathic methods, hot and cold compresses, etc. So that's something to be thankful for. If you have any insights into sleep training, I would be happy to consider them.  We're just feeling like no improvements are going on at all and we're wondering when if ever we're going to see progress.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Sleep Training, Night 5... Great success!

So if I do say so myself, I'm feeling pretty proud of the way tonight's sleep training went. Now don't get me wrong, the truth is in the amount of time the little fella stays asleep - but the putting to bed part was remarkably better than it has been in the past two nights.

We went through our bedtime routine (which, in case you're curious, consists of putting on clean diaper/pajamas, brushing teeth, reading some stories, then rocking and nursing in the dark) but tonight, Gage was really drowsy during and after reading books. I decided to try doing lights out, and then just rocking him to sleep. I'm at the point where I believe he's about ready to wean, so I'm not too concerned about any time he doesn't nurse. He gets nutrients from the foods he eats each day; he eats a variety of solids and tries new things virtually every day. He is a great water drinker. We need to bump up his milk intake, but as of now he doesn't much like milk, and since he's still a strong breast feeder, I'm not yet terribly concerned. So, back to the matter at hand, his sleep training.

He got cuddled into my arms about 9:00, after reading stories, saying goodnight to his daddy, and turning off the light. It was much later than we usually like to start his bedtime routine, but today was Brian's late day at work, meaning by the time we ate dinner and whatnot it was already about 8:30. After only about 10 minutes of rocking, Gage nodded off to sleep, and I started my internal 20 minute countdown to trying to put him down.

As a side note (or two)... the reason for the 20 minute wait to put him down is sleep cycling. After 20 minutes, he will have passed through the first sleep cycle to the second, deeper sleep cycle. It is much easier to get him to stay asleep through the transition if he is in this deeper, second part of the sleep cycle. I know that putting him to sleep and then putting him down is not optimal, rather, the goal is for him to be able to put himself to sleep. We're not at that point yet. Right now, we are much more concerned with getting to sleep in his crib than getting him to GO to sleep in his crib. We are also more concerned with getting him to be able to soothe himself back to sleep. Second side note, tonight I was trying a variation on the last two nights. See, the first two nights we started sleep training, I would just sit quietly for the twenty minutes, then put him down. The last two nights, I played with my phone catching up on blogs, surfing the web, etc. Now, if you're familiar with Droids in the dark, you know they emit a pretty powerful light... so I wondered if maybe the presence of a bright light close to his face was causing trouble with him entering the second sleep cycle.

So tonight, I took my iPod in instead of my phone. I put on a sermon from Sagebrush Community Church in Albuquerque (really liked Sagebrush teachings when we lived in Albq) and listened to that for the twenty minutes instead of playing with my phone. The time flew, I enjoyed the first part of a really great teaching, and there was no light, as my iPod screen was turned off.

At the end of the first twenty minutes, I was able to turn off my iPod, take off my headphones, and move Gage carefully from my lap to his crib. He woke up just a little bit as I lay him down, and I patted his tummy to relax him back down. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Then I moved my arm out from under him, and he woke up a bit more. I patted his tummy for a little while longer, and he relaxed back to sleep. I was able to turn on his monitor and get out of his room without any stirring.

He has now been down since 9:30. It's 9:53. 30 minutes is the true test to a somewhat lengthy sleep, and if you've been paying attention, you know two hours is OUR true test. We'll see how the remainder of the night goes... I hope it goes well! Sure would love to have a good night's sleep for us all! We're all beat.

On a totally seperate note, I had phone drama today. If you know me, you know that I loooove my Motorola Droid 2. It is absolutely awesome as it does just about everything. Incidently, the fact that it does everything is also an issue in that it makes the phone all kinds of glitchy. If you're familiar with smart phones, you know they all have weird little things that they do that isn't quite what you'd like. Today my phone started locking up like crazy and I had to do a master reset. I ended up with a Droid 2 after I bricked my Droid 1... by doing a master reset. It took me a little while to get my phone back under control, so there was a little bit of nervousness. It all worked out though, and I got the perfect opportunity to do a little home screen redesigning. Ah, Droids. I sure do love them. So exciting, my life. Just how I like it!

I baked bread last night, delicious Amish white/wheat bread. It didn't rise quite right, but it sure is tasty. Baking at high altitude is a bit tricky, and back when I baked four loaves a week in Albuquerque, I had the yeast quantities down to a science. Now... I'm quite rusty. I can't seem to quite get the yeast quantities just right, even for a single batch. Tonight I made some delicious spaghetti for dinner, and some garlic bread with my homemade bread. It was a very tasty dinner!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Sleep training, night 4

Last night was pretty much a bust, due to my milk duct and need for sleep. It was a pretty crappy night of sleep all around anyway, but at least we'd all go back to sleep when we awoke.

Tonight, starting at 7:10, I rocked and held Gage and watched his eyes get drowsier and drowsier. I thought we'd have a victory of his falling asleep without breastfeeding... it didn't happen. I tried BFing him for another 15 minutes to no avail. So at 7:50, I lay him down to much crying and sobbing as soon as we got close to his crib.

I laid him down and tried rubbing his back, also to no avail. He would jump right up, clutch the sides of his crib, and fuss. So now, it is 8:22 and he is just quietly fussing from time to time. I'm hoping that what that means is that he is laying quietly and falling asleep. He is being very quiet now, haven't heard him for a few minutes. Here's hoping tonight will be the magical night that he stays asleep on his own. Just heard a little fuss from in there, but no more angry crying. Praying for resolution for our little guy. He needs the quality sleep that comes from sleeping by himself. The cosleeping has worked for so long but it needs to come to an end, especially for Gage's sake!

Pray for Gage to learn how to sleep on his own quickly, and pray for us to have the wisdom to help him through this tough time and do right by him!

Oh how I love my life

Despite the sleeplessness, despite the struggles, despite it all... I love this life that I've been given. I love this path I've been placed upon. I love being Brian's wife, I love being Gage's mother, and I even love our little tiny apartment! It's just so nice to finally start our life in Colorado. It seems like a brand new beginning.

I don't have any other news of import, just feeling grateful for this life I've been given.

I'm finally adjusting to Gage's new haircut though, so that's nice. I have thought it was cute since Sunday, when it got cut, but I've been having trouble bidding goodbye to his adorable crazy baby hair. I'm finally at that point where I think I can be happy about how good his hair looks without mourning the baby hair look.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Sleep training... night 3

And it's pretty much just like last night. We got about 2 hours last night before he cried and we took him back to bed with us. I have a clogged milk duct, so one very sore right breast. I needed a little rest! He had a VERY poor night of sleep last night and therefore, I did too. So when he woke up at 7 this morning, it felt pretty darn early. We were both exhausted, him so much he didn't want to take his morning nap.

He fought it for an hour and a half which killed me because I really wanted to nap, too, as well as alternate the cold and warm compresses on my boob. When he finally fell asleep, I thought it would be best for both of us. We had a nap, and awoke feeling much better.

Then... he refused afternoon nap. He wouldn't stay asleep when I tried to put him to bed tonight. He'd fall asleep, but as soon as I'd move him, he'd pop up, wide awake. So now, we're back to him crying in his room. So awful! Wonder how things will go for the rest of the night? I'm sooooo tired and I know Gage is too. A good night's sleep for all of us sure would be nice!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Sleep training... night 2

Well, last night was both encouraging and a total failure. After his 25 minutes of crying, Gage fell asleep. I went to check on him, and accidentally woke him back up. I picked him up and cuddled him, and he went right back to sleep. I held him and rocked him for 20 minutes, and then laid him down. He awoke briefly, and then fell back asleep - a good sign! He slept from 8:10 to 10:10, when he awoke crying. I cuddled, rocked, and breastfed him off and on for another two hours, but I couldn't get him to stay asleep. At that point, it was after midnight, we all needed solid sleep, so I took him into bed with us. He slept until 7:30 this morning.

I'm not starting naps alone until next week; I feel it's vitally important that he has quality of naps this week to avoid overtiring. So tonight, after we went to free pancake night at IHOP (please don't let your jealousy of my exciting life get to you) we came home and started bedtime a little later than I'd hoped for. It is now 8:49, and after 20 minutes of rocking, breastfeeding, and cuddling, he was still refusing sleep. So I told him it was time for bed, and lay him down.

In 13 minutes, he stopped crying. I am not going to go check on him tonight, because I don't want to risk awakening him again. He's been quiet approximately 10 minutes. He does wake up and fuss a bit, but I am hoping that he'll go back to sleep and stay asleep in a comfortable position. We shall see what the remainder of this night holds for him and his sleep training. I so badly want him to learn to sleep all on his own. I wish we'd have done this when he was an infant.


Update: he would not calm down and go back to sleep. So I'm trying to cuddle/rock him back to sleep then I'll lay him down. It is 9:34 right now so we'll see!