Soaker Tub

Elliott got his first sinus infection recently. This meant his first ever round of antibiotics. Poor baby got a horrible case of diaper rash in reaction to the meds. So we were soaking his booty twice a day to help. I didn't want him to get cold, so I draped this kitchen towel over him. He thought that was funny and gave me the best smile.

Evicted

There has been lots of changes to the sleeping arrangements at our house lately.

Xavier and Wesley are now sharing what was X's room. Things are going ok. We ditched the idea of moving Wes into a twin bed and just put his crib in X's room. He just isn't ready and sleeps so well in the crib. And frankly, we have enough sleep issues on our hands that I'd be stupid to add one more. Unfortunately if you put them in there together to go to sleep though, they just think it's a party, talk talk talk, and take forever to fall asleep. So, we put them in separately. If one person is already asleep the other has no motivation to stay awake and be loud :)

Almost the day he turned 4 (just recently) X moved away from naps. He'll sometimes still take one, but won't go to bed until 10pm then. NOT HAPPENIN! So, we've been skipping the nap most days and he goes to sleep very quickly at 7pm. MUCH BETTER! This is good too because then Wes naps alone in their room and sleeps longer that way.

We broke down and bought a second crib for Elliott. I didn't want to do this, but now I'm happy we did. I got it from a friend for a good deal and as a bonus, it actually matches the dresser in the nursery perfectly. We NEED Elliott out of the pack n play and out of our room. I love him, but I'm with him sooo much and I just need a little distance at night :) Plus I'm hoping that maybe he'll sleep better if he's away from everyone else. I set it up today in the nursery (Wes' former room) and E has been sleeping in it for 1.5 hours. We'll see how long he goes tonight!

When I set up the crib I immediately moved all his clothes into the nursery and took down the pack n play in our room. I'm loving the empty corner! The clutter was really getting to me :)
 
A little update on E's sleeping:
He went weeks (like over 2 months!) doing only 2 hour stretches of sleep at night. It was KILLING me. And it's really not good for his development. People NEED good long restorative sleep. You would think by the 3rd kid I would have this figured out, but NO. I've been reading more sleep books (I like to read a bunch and then take bits and pieces of what I like) and came up with a new plan. I'm not a "need to schedule my baby every 3 seconds" kind of parent. But I was realizing that E needed more of a predictable routine. This is hard when you have 2 other children that have their own need for a different routine. But sleep begets sleep, and he just wasn't doin it! So for about a week now I've been focused.

The idea is sleep is a 24 hour cycle, not just a night time thing. Good daytime naps are key to helping the nights go better. I'm happy to say it's going well. It's not a miracle by any means. He still doesn't sleep all night, or even half the night, but he's doing 3 1/2  or 4 hour stretches which feels like such a HUGE difference than 2 hours at a time. He's also taking longer naps so on the whole he is sleeping more. And I'm working on getting him to self soothe better. Its a lot of work and I won't lie, I'm sooo jealous of friends who's babies this age sleep all night with ease (which feels like everyone but my kid lately). But we are making progress!


Ok, I'm off to bed in my room that DOESN'T have a baby in it for the first time in almost 6 months. Hopefully I'll get to stay in there a couple hours :)

PS -- I have much more to blog about, Christmas, X's 4 year update, etc... but it's probably gonna be awhile before I get my act together and my pics downloaded in an orderly fashion. This is just my life right now.....

Happy Birthday Xavier {4 Years Old}

Today is X's 4th Birthday. I'm working on a "what's he up to" post, but it's not done yet.

X started the day bright and early at 6am (ugghh!) and wanted a pudding cup for his birthday breakfast. Only today would I agree to that :)

At lunch we put candles in his PBJ sandwich. He loved it. Disregard that fact that he has no shirt on and is wearing a tiny baby bib - ha!

I am by no means a good cook or baker. But for some reason I like to make my kiddos' birthday cakes. X has been into Blues Clues lately, so I decided to make him a "Blue" cake. I found a template and tutorial online. I think it turned out pretty good and X thought it was really neat, which is what matters most!! For those that like the details, here's how I made it.....

Here are my lovely assistants. I let them play with the leftover icing and cake scraps. Please note how Wes is putting an entire knife full of frosting in his mouth.

We were soooo excited  to celebrate with our brand new 4 year old. Xavier we love you!!

Snowmen and Santa

** I realized I posted the wrong video of Wes singing Jesus Loves Me in this post. So I've fixed it. **

======================================

We started off our Christmas Season with by making some table decorations at the Home Depot kids clinic. This was Wes' first build. I was bummed that they were out of the little aprons this month. We'll have to snag him one next time.

The boys made Frosty the Snowman Napkin Holders. It was fun. They have a thing about screwdrivers and glue so this was perfect. Some kids were painting theirs, but I didn't have the energy to supervise the painting and keep it off of them. So we opted for the stickers instead. I think they turned out great and are a perfect addition to our table.

The next day we went to see Santa in our neighborhood. The boys did FANTASTIC and were very excited to see the big guy in red. I must admit though, a good Santa picture just isn't quite as fun as the screaming ones!

After we saw Santa the boys spotted these huge cupcakes. Frosting got everywhere. It stained Wes' face green!

 

And we just won't talk about how it came out the other end EXACTLY the same color :)

In Bed

Wesley is picking up Xavier's love of having things in the bed. Wes now sleeps with 4 stuffed animals (Bunny, Covy, Boots, and Deb-Debs), a big pillow, a little pillow, 2 blankets, and a Clifford book. Somehow there is still room for him! And every nap and night time I have to line up the stuffed animals on the big pillow, cover them with a blanket, and say good night to each one.

The things I do for my children.....

I always find it funny that kids like books in their beds....because it's dark (even for naps because we have blackout curtains) so it's not like they can see it very well. But it makes them happy.

After nap the other day I found Wes reading a little Clifford. He laughs at the same parts every time!

Speaking of beds..... We set up Wes' twin bed in X's room. We tried once to get him to sleep in it. That didn't go well. He pretty much thought it was a game and didn't stay in it. Plus he kept bothering Xavier. He has no interest in the "big boy bed" and tells me he needs to sleep in the crib if I mention the big boy bed. I normally wouldn't rush this, but I kinda need the crib soon :)  But we're gonna wait awhile longer and then try it again. I don't want this to be a bad transition for him. He sleeps soooo well in the crib that if we didn't have Elliott, I'd leave him in it forever.

Talking, Jumping, and Jesus {Videos}

I forgot to post this with Elliott's 4 month stuff. He has a lot to say these days.

Elliott is getting a kick out the exersaucer lately. He's figured out he can jump a little.

I got Wes to sing a little "Jesus Loves Me" too. It's not very clear but you'll get the point.

Wordless Wednesday - I Need to Measure the Sink

Gutter Monkey

(This was a few weeks ago, but I'm behind on posting...go figure!)

The boys enjoy watching the episode of Curious George called where he goes bowling. So, I thought it would be fun to take the boys bowling so they could be just like George.


We found out on Sunday mornings you can bowl for just $5 an hour plus shoe rental. That's a steal!! All those Sunday church go-ers out there free up the lanes for us Saturday night go-ers to bowl without a crowd too :)


Elliott was pissed when we told him he was too little to bowl so he decided to sleep the entire time -- thanks E !! Xavier and Wes had lots of fun. Walter and I got to bowl a few frames as well. I have no clue what any of our scores were because that's totally not the point when you are 1 and 3 years old. And no one really bowled their own frames. We just kept randomly taking turns because they were so excited.

Wes kept saying "I knock-a dose ovow" and point to the pins.
Xavier now thinks that Sundays are bowling days - ha! Maybe we should start making it a routine.

Wordless Wednesday - What is this thing on my head??

Elliott - 4 Months

Nothing says Happy 4 Month Birthday like a white terry cloth jumpsuit!

So, here's the scoop on Elliott:

The official stats are 17lbs 3oz and 26 1/4 inches. He's a big boy! And mommy has a sore neck and back to prove it :) Elliott is wearing 6-9 month clothing  (more 9 than 6) and even a few 12 month things. All our boys have been long so they tend to grow out of things quicker.

Elliott is such a ham. He has the best smile and shows it off all the time. He likes to laugh and I can even get him to do that deep belly laugh. This past week he's started blowing bubbles. E might be starting to teeth a bit. He's taken to chewing on his hands as well as blankets, rings, or whatever he can get to. Speaking of getting to, E has been reaching for things for a couple of weeks now. His grasp is strong once he finally gets a hold of something. Elliott is also starting to pull his head up more and more as if he wants to sit. The boy loves to "stand" and will even "walk" a few steps (with assistance of course). Tummy time is going well and he pushes himself up to look around. No rolling over yet though.

Little man is a good eater. He is still nursing exclusively but has spread out to a more manageable 2-3 ish hour eating routine. But he won't take a bottle. We keep trying, and he keeps refusing. He gave me a total "you are an idiot mom if you think I'm going to take this" kind of look the other day. I'm clearly never getting a night out in the near future! And while he does still spit up every day, it's getting better.

Another thing E doesn't like is the carseat. Ahhhh.....here we go again. He was doing good for awhile but is back to hating it. It doesn't really help that it's dark at 5pm now too because what he hates even more is being in the carseat in the dark. So, we drive with the light on above his seat and are constantly turning around trying to sooth him. I'm trying to limit his time in the car, but sometimes it's just unavoidable.

Elliott is taking a pacifier much much better now, so that is a good comfort for him. He likes to have something soft up next to his face sometimes too. E likes the bumbo, the swing, and the activity gym for a bit. He does strongly prefer to be held though. I'm thinking of trying the exersaucer this week.

I'm sad to report that Elliott is a TERRIBLE sleeper at night. And very hit or miss during the day. You would think with the third child I might have this figured out by now. NOPE. Right now we seem to be in a pattern where he will sleep about 3 hours when you first put him down. After that he's up about every hour or so until morning. The issue is that he wakes up (I think at the end of a sleep cycle) and just can't put himself back to sleep. So it requires me putting the pacifier back in, or feeding him, or holding him, or something. I'm not a fan of cry it out because it just makes me me more upset and crazy at seeing him get upset. He's still in our room so that makes it more of a challenge too. I move him from the pack n play, to our bed, to the bouncy seat, etc. But nothing is magic. It will get better......  In the meantime I will just put on more makeup to cover the dark circles and curse the people who write on Facebook "my 2 month old is sleeping through the night". Yeah, good for you!!! (I'm not bitter or anything).

Elliott loves his brothers. Except when they are too loud, then he cries. But for the most part they are good entertainment because they rarely sit still. Xavier calls Elliott "my baby" and Wesley is very protective of Elliott's things saying "dat's a Eyet's (whatever)". 

We are so happy to have Elliott as part of our family. I can't wait for him to be running around interacting more with Xavier and Wes. How fun it will be!

Happy 4 Months baby boy!!!!

Monday Lunch Time

Not a lot going on lately except a lack of sleep. Walter got a deer this weekend. But the photo of that is pretty graphic so I'll refrain from posting it :)

Here's the boys at lunch today. Wes was not happy that I had the camera out. Maybe because he was being so messy ?? But the other two were ham'in it up!

Happy Monday!

Sleep is a Pipe Dream

Sleep....it ain't happenin at our house lately. And the time change is really not helping our situation!

For the past several weeks Elliott has regressed from his "not even all that great" 4-5 hour stretches of sleep down to 1-3 hour stretches of sleep at night. One night he was up every 30-90 minutes :(  I thought things were getting better a few days ago, but he seems to be stuck at 3 hours or less. We've gone back and forth with swaddle, no swaddle, rock to sleep, put himself to sleep, binker, no binker, etc. Nothing seems to make a difference. And apparently I'm surrounded by people whos 3 month old children sleep all night. Why do I never get those?? You would think that at least 1 out of 3 would be a winner.

Wesley had a cold about 2 weeks ago and was up a lot in the night coughing. He's better now, but seems to be continuing the night waking habit every other night or so. And when he's up, it's for a good 2 hours or so. It's very annoying.

Xavier is a challenge to get to sleep initially. He doesn't fall asleep quickly and has a zillion requests (fan on, fan off, sippy, bathroom, etc) when settling down. More nights than not he does sleep all night. Unless you count last night where I was changing soaked sheets at 4:30am.

On their own, the overnights wouldn't be all that bad. But when you combine all 3 kids it's a miracle if I get one good 3 hour stretch of sleep. Poor Walter is up in the night, then trying to work all day, and go to class or do homework at night. You could take a trip to Europe for a year with the size of the bags under our eyes.

Sometimes I just laugh (in my sleepless delusion) at how many times I get out of my bed during the night to tend to someone. Here's a sample of last night:

X and Wes in bed at 7:45p. (X not asleep until 9pm.) E in bed at 8p.
I went to bed a 9:15p because I fell asleep in front of my computer.
E up at 12a. Back to sleep around 12:30a
Wes up at 2am. Walter lays on Wes' floor until 2:30a trying to get Wes back to sleep. He gives up and brings Wes into our bed. Wes spins in the bed and kicks us both until 3:30a.
E up at 3:30a. Walter takes Wes to the living room to watch a dvd.
Wes back asleep at 4a.
E back asleep at 4 am. Sleeps 10 minutes then up again. Repeat 2 times, and back asleep at 4:30a.
X up at 4:45am saying he's wet the bed. I change his sheets and get him re-settled.
E up at 5:00a
X in our room at 5:20a clearly not going back to sleep.

5:45a. We give up hope of getting any more sleep. Walter gets in the shower and I sit with X and E in our bed.
7a. X eating waffles and watching Curious George. E finally goes back to sleep. I get a shower. My mom arrives to help so I can take a nap. Yep, that's right folks, I desperately needed a nap at 7:30am. How messed up is that!!!

I did sleep 2 hours (and so did E -- little booger!)  THANK YOU MOM!!!!!

I know it's a phase and one day I'll have 3 teenagers that I will probably have drag out of bed every morning. That just seems so far away right now.

Last week, a friend of mine from a few years back watched her 4 year old son pass away after months in the hospital. Her son will never wake up again. I can't even imagine.....

So I may be tired, really tired, but that has put things into perspective for me. My kids wake up. It's a blessing I should never take for granted.

Halloween Festivities

it's November 1st and we haven't carved our pumpkins yet - OOPS!!

I felt a little stressed this year about costumes. I scoured the internet looking for the perfect costumes for the boys to be 2 firemen and a dalmatian. But I didn't find what I wanted for the price I wanted (because I'm not spending a fortune for an hour of wear time) and the sizes I needed. Finally I just gave up, and used some hand me downs we already had for X and Wes, and a costume I'd picked up earlier for E.. The kids are still too young to request a certain costume. They were happy with what I told them they would be.

So I present to you...........Frankenstein, Tigger, and a Puppy.

Walter had school Halloween night so he wasn't home to trick or treat with the kiddos. He was really bummed about that. But, Auntie Donna was in town and did an excellent job helping the boys trick or treat with me. And Gma Debbie was nice enough to stay back at the house to hand out candy. We only made it about 2 streets because then X wanted to come back home and eat his candy!

Back to why we didn't carve our pumpkins.....
We went to the pumpkin patch Saturday morning with our good friends. Saturday evening we had to volunteer at church. Then Walter had to work on Sunday. So carving just didn't happen. I think we'll do it with the boys next weekend (if the pumpkins last). That's the beauty of having small kids who don't really know the difference yet :)

We had a blast at the pumpkin patch. This is our 4th year in a row. Walter has a ton more pictures on his phone, but the likelihood of me downloading those any time soon is pretty slim.

Wes threw a big ol hissy fit when it was time to go. Somebody's always cryin.......

Our little family of 5. Although you can barely see E.

His little white bunting suit blends in with my sweatshirt!

A few days before Halloween we took the boys trick r treatin at the "Old Folks Home" where my gma used to live. They were Frankenstein, Dracula, and Skeleton for that one!

Well, I guess now it's on to Thanksgiving! Maybe I could dress the boys as Turkeys???

"Mama, I Pay Tains"

When X is at preschool I will often run errands with the other two boys. On this morning we were out and about, but I knew I needed to feed E before I picked up Xavier. So, we ducked into the library and I nursed Elliott while Wesley played with the train table they have set up. And wouldn't ya know, it was Wes' lucky day. There were no other kids there so he had the whole thing, all to himself. He was in heaven and very focused on his playing.

The boys are together a lot, and thus forced to share things. I'm glad that once in awhile Wes can have something fun that's just for him :)

(disregard that it's a bad pic with the table in the way. I was multi-tasking at the time!)