Thanks!

Awwwww

Yesterday was too busy for us to really talk about it, but when I asked him today what he was thankful for, Jonah said he is thankful for the doctor who rubbed his head when he was in the birth canal and he is thankful that his view is finally way better than the inside of mom’s pelvis.  He is thankful for this bear suit that Amber Thota gave us because he needs something warm to wear when his mommy makes him go on walks to Beans and Brews.  He also said that he is most thankful for his grandmas and his aunt Sarah and the precious time he gets to spend with them.  He is also thankful for Uncle Max, but he couldn’t explain why.  I told him it’s OK, we all feel like that.

I am most thankful that all my son ever wants to do is smile and usually has the above look on his face, waiting patiently for the moment you gaze at him to show you the cheesiest grin you’ve ever seen.

Zoology

We were eating lobster last night (because it was fun and on sale).  Ricky and Toni were over and Dusty decided to give Ricky a pop quiz.

“What kind of animal is a lobster?” asked Dust.

Ricky appeared confused, so Dust clarified, “Like what family in the animal kingdom are they?”

“Mr. Lobster and Mrs Crab.” answerd Ricky.

Quiz over.

A Very Cracked-Out Day

This is one of my last Mondays off before I will again spend them working.  I have been worried about food and how we will eat Monday through Thursday.  I am not one of those people who can just throw something together last second; have a mismatched meal.  Cereal and leftover funeral potatoes?  Very rarely will I do such a thing.  I’m not sure what it is, but I have to have a proper dinner.  (It’s called being a big fat pig… but shhhh, that is a secret).

So, today, one of my last Mondays, was practice.  And Jonah must have gotten the message.  Because last night, he again slept for 5 straight hrs!  From 8 – 2.  Wait, holy hell, that is 6.  That explains a lot.

So since 7 am (it’s now 3) I have done a 30 minute report for work, fed my baby three times (including one bottle of formula, our newest trick), gotten him down for two naps, talked on a conference call for work for 1 hr, showered, cataloged recipes from online that I want to make, swept and washed the floor (by hand), paid some bills, made homemade oven cleaner and cleaned the oven (I hate the thought of baby + oven cleaner), made split pea soup, made a meatloaf, went  for a walk with Beulah and Jonah, put new sheets on our bed and washed two loads, prepared individually packed things in the fridge for this week’s lunches, AND played with Jonah/entertained him sufficiently. Oh, and I pumped twice because Jonah, after putting his nose in the air at bottles when being babysat and opting to spend the time screaming his head off instead of eating, has a new rule:  only bottles during the day.  Kindof a pain when I am home, but worth it.

I told Dusty that it was utterly amazing what I could accomplish when sufficiently charged, and he said “sounds like you had a very cracked – out day.”

ABSOLUTELY!  It’s awesome!!

The Namesake

Grandpa's face shape and receding hairline? Me thinks so.

The Clown House

What? You would like to walk through our  living room?  You’ll have to move the dog bed and baby bouncer first.  Well look, you moved them to the dining room, and now I can’t get to my computer! 

You would like to put Jonah in his pack n play instead of his crib for the moment?  Well, then you need to unload the pack n play and put the blankets, sweatshirts, and Dusty’s laptop somewhere else.   You put them on the bed, but then Beulah lays on all of them and you have to move the blankets and the sweatshirts to the dirty clothes pile.

What helps in this situation?  Well, as I mentioned previously needing to work on Jonah’s sleeping, we have mastered the “sleeping in crib at night.”  However, we have not mastered “sleeping in crib for naps.”  I’m a bit anxious about it, but I am not forcing the issue right now because he falls asleep, and if placed nicely in his stroller, sleeps FOREVER!  (Usually).  He will sleep for over three hours at a time, so I usually end up waking him so we can do a second nap later.  I have found this habit of his to be a blessing in disguise.

You have to go to the bathroom and, I don’t know, want to FLUSH THE TOILET this time?  Why, just push Jonah to the other side of the kitchen and feel free.  Want to turn on the kitchen water, or maybe the dishwasher?  Push him on into my bedroom.  Oh no, it’s time for me to put away clothes or take a nap myself?  Push him back to his bedroom. 

The other night Dusty came home from work at like 8 pm.  I had gotten Jonah down for bed in his crib and would not let Dusty heat up his dinner in the microwave.  He had to leave the house and get take out, that’s much quieter. If he had been in his stroller, I could just push him out to the front porch so Dusty could eat some dinner.

This, my friends, is what all those clowns feel like inside that little itty bitty car.  I know it’s real funny from the outside, but it’s not pleasant having someone’s leg wrapped around your waist, or their claws in your thigh, whatever the case may be. OUR HOUSE IS TOO SMALL but at least Jonah is sorta helping that situation right now by falling asleep in something with wheels. 

Yes, I know that napping babies need to get used to the normal sounds of a house, but let me explain:  Jonah has a bedroom that sits between the bathroom and the kitchen.  He is also right by the back door that leads to the laundry, and directly above the laundry.  I mean he is like 4 feet away from both the toilet and the dishwasher.  The kicker is that his room has the secret entrance to the attic, otherwise known as the Cat Penthouse.  Olive hides in Jonah’s room and in the attic because she is a freak.  So, I can’t close the one of two doors to his room because she will paw and scratch at it and meow and freak the hell out in order to get in there because there is nothing she finds more terrifying as footsteps… or leaves blowing on a window… or breathing.  So  I leave the door to the kitchen open, Preventing me from doing anything in the kitchen or the laundry because the house was built in 1891 and everything is extremely loud!

Also.. said cat has a tendency to have little spurts of energy in the evenings where she meows and hisses and literally climbs the walls.  I was nursing Jonah last night, waiting for him to fall asleep, and she was jumping on his changing table, trying to get into the windowsill which would have knocked everything off the top of the dresser onto the floor.  I chased her out of the room (kid attached) and she proceeded to attack my feet. I then closed the other kitchen door, so there were two closed doors between her and us, so she could freak out at the other door, but not the door to Jonah’s room.

The clown house is getting old.  This is what makes all those clowns go crazy and start killing people.

I’m afraid it’s highly contagious….

I believe my son has come down with a case of rabies…

 

And I’m pretty sure I know how he got it

Team Spirit

Giggles All Around

Jonah can now full on giggle.  Although, like smiles, giggles are hard to capture on film.

 

I LOVE Thomas's smile in this picture. He looks as mischievous as he is

D-Day

I downloaded Lora Jensen’s sleep training book online.  I know, most will say it’s a waste of money.  But, as a first time mom, I just really needed someone to tell me what to do.  I confused myself too much if I actually thought about it.  So, the objective approach was to let someone else just give me directions.

So, I made a plan.  I told everyone this was the day.  I drank a latte in the afternoon. I had gathered my troops.  I wrote down the schedule.  I reviewed it with Dusty.  I re-read it to be sure I knew what I had planned.  I rocked Jonah during his last feeding and asked him if he was ready for D-Day.

First rule: head had to hit the pillow by 8 pm.  It did.  Then terrible noises came from it.  Over and over.  He didn’t really care where I was setting him, but that he wasn’t nursing.  Why wasn’t he nursing?  “LET MEEEEEEEEE NURSE!”  He was worse when Dusty would pick him up – “YOU ARE NOT THE RIGHT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”  Dusty and I started talking, anticipating the hours ahead we were practicing blocking out the crying.

Then his head hit the pillow and he was out.  OMG, he was asleep.  It had only been 45 minutes!  I watched the monitor for about two hours, just knowing he was charging up for his next attack.  Know what he did next?  SLEPT!

It was like Christmas and my birthday all in one.  As if someone were massaging my neck while spoon feeding me creme brulee.  It was 8:45, I was alone, and I did not have to go to bed!  I was given my life back!!!    I drank a bunch of margaritas and laughed at my own jokes!  I snuck out of the house through the back window and hung out around a bonfire with my friends all night!  I dyed my hair!! I smoked some pot while listening to Pink Floyd!  Those 14 years that I had aged since Jonah’s arrival were back!  I was reliving my childhood!!!!!

All I really did was play on the internet and have a conversation with my husband.  But the thrill this brought was unparalleled by any of the above (reckless and horrible) activities I may or may not have ever participated in.  I had been so prepared to stay up all night, and now this wave of freedom washed over me and I could not sleep.  I stayed up the entire time Jonah was sleeping the best he has in weeks just to watch it happen.

This house has been born again!!!!  At least I have been, no one else seems to really get what the big freaking deal is.

Catch a Ride on the Sleep Train

I have recently discovered that it is a damn good thing I have never had to housetrain a puppy.  Mine came housetrained, or she’d be peeing all over everything.  I know this because I am having major anxiety about sleep training Jonah.

If you are a mom, you are REQUESTED to comment, if you feel like it, of course.  So, here is how it’s gone down:  Jonah is 11 weeks and has pretty much been sleeping in my bed and his swing.  Those are the only two things that put him to sleep – boobies or a swing.  Rocking him doesn’t work, it will OCCASIONALLY work for Dusty, but he wakes right up when dust puts him down.  So… he hasn’t even been sleeping in the bassinet by the bed.  He goes back and forth between the bed and the swing. 

I would not mind co-sleeping with Jonah EXCEPT, like sleeping with other men, it is IMPOSSIBLE for him to forget that I have boobies.  He can’t sleep by me for 4 straight hours, he rolls over every 1.5 – 2 hrs to nurse.  This is causing problems because A) LIke I want to be up every 1.5 hrs and B) I swear he gets overfull at night, and has digestive issues in the wee hrs of the night because he is nursing so damn much.  (just my theory). Oh, and nevermind that he nor I really sleep at all.

SO…  here is what I am doing.  Thursday night.  THURSDAY NIGHT, come one come all to the sleep training circus.  Jonah will be put in his crib in his room, and will be given ONE bottle at night by Dusty.  ONE.  I know he can sleep for longer, he sleeps for 4 hrs in the daytime.  So, I don’t feel bad about not letting him eat all night.  I am doing the “when he cries, pat him gently, and leave right when he is settled down” thing.  I’ve read all about it, aqnd I’m talking to a lady on the internet too.  LOL.  Serious. 

It’s Thursday because I start work this week, and will be gone Tuesday, Wed, and Thursday.  Maybe it’s a bad time to start, but I have got to get him out of my bed.  I can’t go on.  So…..  Sarah advised that I start AFTER this week of work rather than before, or during, since he and I will likely be a wreck.  Good advice, I am sure.  So  I guess…  I’m just nervous.   I really just don’t want to struggle with it for one, two, three, ten nights.  I know they say three, but let’s get real.  So…. grrrrr.  Right?  I mean, super Grrr… why is it so hard when I haven’t even tried?  This is why I can never get a puppy.  My baby wants to nurse so he can be relaxed and fall asleep and I’m gonna say no.  Not once, not twice, but like 4,000 times.    I know that he likes to sleep all nestled up, in a small little coccoon, and rather than make one for him, I’m just gonna say “tough.” GRRRRRRRR. 

Advice, mommies? Is he old enough to accept being in his crib, alone, and nursing ONCE?  Am I expecting too much?  To little?  Because I can also require he verbally request “Booby, mother” just to push him a little.

Do other people have such a hard time with this or just members of my family?  Am I carrying around strange baggage?   I am worried about trying this and him not being “Ready” for it, and it being a disaster and then him ending in my bed again, and on and on and on…….