Janelle gets married!!!

I made a quick (less than 24 hour trip) to see my Janelle get married.  It was nice to get away from the kids for a few hours too. I didn't have to worry about what to feed them, when they slept, how long they slept, or if they got a bath. I just wanted them to be alive when I returned...and they were. It was a win for everyone.

Big Craig was kind enough to accompany me as my date.

We pondered...

 Isn't he cute?

My Janelle was the most beautiful bride. The wedding was at a winery thus the barrels in the background. I got to see my dearest Natalie too. It was a fun and short evening as Craig and I had to leave early because of my early flight. 

While Miss M is at school

While M is at school Mr. Man and I get to hang out.

He has been sleeping for an hour while she's gone and then we just hang out the rest of the time before we have to pick her up.

We lay outside and enjoy the leaves, breeze, birds and cicadas making noise.  

He loves the Bjorn. It usually is a sure-fire way to keep/get him happy. We walked Miss M to and from school today.  Hopefully it will stay nice enough to walk for awhile and his sleep schedule will allow us to walk. I don't want him falling asleep in the Bjorn (which he has done).

Miss M's growing up

Miss M is growing up and sometimes when I think too hard about it the thought almost brings me to tears.  I think about all the things she does now that are so funny/cute/annoying that she won't do forever.

I will miss...

Her genuine happiness about the little things in life
Her laughter when she watches her shows when we don't know what she's laughing about or why
Her wanting me to hold her hand or read to her when she's on the potty
Her worrying about me when I am gone
Her shoving her blanket so far in her mouth that we're afraid she won't be able to breath
Her running down the sidewalk to welcome Andrew home from work after waiting so anxiously
Her thinking that everyday is her birthday and singing Happy Birthday to herself
Her thinking Mr. Man is so cute and wanting to hold his hand or pat his head or give him a kiss
Her giving me the "best hugs"
Her waking us up each morning by screaming our names for us to come get her out of bed
Her wanting to go everywhere I go
Her wanting to play chase every day
Her wanting to play hide-and-seek where she hides in the same place every time or pretends not to see you when you're hiding so she can keep playing
Her asking me to help her put on her shoes
Her wanting us to read to her and tuck her into bed each night
Her referring to herself as MaddieCat

I could go on and on.

She will do other amazing things.

I know this.

But thinking about the things she won't do eventually makes my heart overwhelmed.  I think she's pretty amazing.

She loves to sit outside and wait for Andrew to come home. Shirtless is the least of our problems usually she doesn't want to wear pants.

 She needed an afternoon snack after school today. She picked an apple. They are learning different things about apples in school and today they painted with apple slices.

I love school

I love school.

It wears Miss M out.  She's dead tired when she comes home.

Evidenced by her falling asleep on the couch while I was laying in her room.  She initially slammed her bedroom door so I opened it to see if she was okay.  She then went downstairs and was really quiet. I thought maybe she had found the iPad but when I came downstairs I found her sacked out.

The only place I can recall Miss M falling asleep outside of her crib/pack-n-play is the car seat. I was shocked and elated!

Miss M has huge separation anxiety/issues.  She cries when I leave her but when I go pick her up she always tells me she was so worried about me.  I went shopping on Sunday and left Drew in-charge. As soon as I came home she got excited and told me she was so worried about me.  Seriously, isn't it I who is supposed to be worried about her.  I am not.

After school on Tuesday we ran to Trader Joe's. Miss M loves TJ's because we buy licorice and they have mini grocery carts she can push/put stuff in. Yesterday we ended up buying nectarines bc she put them in the cart. They also give her stickers after we check out.

And Mr. Man just hangs out while she's gone when he's not napping.

Baby Jack turns into Big Jack

Aunt Jessie and Baby Jack came to visit last weekend.

Jessie is always a huge helper when she comes to visit. And she's just as amazing when she has a toddler in tow.  She could have had a million excuses/reasons to not come. She does have a full time job and a toddler so she's plenty busy without taking into consideration she takes care of Craig, takes care of a home, and a lot of other things.  Basically she's awesome.

I am sorry you all don't have Jessie for a sister in law.  She's amazing.  She cooks lunch and dinner and cleans up too.  She isn't exactly great at getting up with a baby b/c she sleeps through the crying but we can forgive those things since she cooks and cleans!

Anyway, you get it, Jessie is amazing and you're now jealous.

On Sunday, Baby Jack who really is now Big Jack, turned 18 months old.  It seems crazy he's only 18 months old. I can't imagine life without him. And he's not even mine. It seems like he's been around for more than 18 months.

Per Jessie (since obviously I wasn't there): Jack went to the doctor and was a schmooze.  Until shots came. Then Jessie had to physically restrain him.

He weighed in at 26.5 lbs which is 1.5 lbs less than Miss M

He measured a height of a little less than 35 inches which is only a little over an inch shorter than Miss M.

Therefore, he's not a baby anymore. Baby Jack is now Big Jack.

Miss M and Big Jack played pretty well together or rather Miss M didn't lose her marbles when he played with her toys.  She wanted Jack to play different games with her but he usually did his own thing.

Solids

I went to the grocery store and bought a couple jars of baby food and some rice cereal.

I thought maybe Mr. Man would be more interested in food with flavor. The rice cereal just sounds and looks and smells unpleasant. I wouldn't want to eat it.

The first time we fed him sweet potatoes it took a few tries to get the food in his mouth.  He eventually took to it enough that I think there was more in his stomach than on his face/body.  The second time I fed him a jar of food it was squash and he willingly opened his mouth. I think I caught him at a good time.

I am going to call the doctor's office tomorrow to talk to them about a few things regarding him eating solid food and then maybe I will start feeding him solids on a regular basis.

Dual Dr.'s appointments = Disaster

We had dual doctor appointments Friday.

2.5 year appointment for Miss M.
4 month appointment for Mr. Man.

It had the potential to be a great idea. It had the potential to be a terrible idea.

It was terrible. It was probably the most miserable thing I have experienced in a LONG time.

Miss M watches Doc McStuffins ALL THE TIME. You'd think she would be prepared for the doctor. Nope. She was a terror. She thrashed around and screamed and made a fool of herself. She made herself so upset she was coughing to the point where she almost threw up.  I honestly think that it would have been easier to wrestle an alligator.  Or maybe just more enjoyable.

She wouldn't let them measure her, weigh her, look in her ears, or anything else without throwing the biggest tantrum I have ever experienced with her.  The tantrums started a week or so ago. They are a joy.

And as Miss M lost her marbles for the nurse and doctor it set the little guy in motion.

He just had to cry in his car seat because I had to physically hold her down/lay on her.

She didn't get any shots today thankfully. She did however get the nasal version of the flu shot. It went okay. It was much less dramatic than having her height measured.

Miss M's stats:
Height: 36 inches - 75%.
Weight: 28 lbs - 50%


Mr. Man didn't really enjoy his check up either.

Mr. Man's stats:
Height: 27 inches - 98%
Weight: 17 lbs 4 oz -75-90%
Head circumference: 90%

I talked to the doctor a lot about the issues we are having regarding food and sleep. I need to start feeding him on a 4 hour schedule instead of a 3 hour (or haphazard schedule). She said that once his feeding schedule was regulated that his sleep should sort itself out. I hope she's right.

We also are going to switch formula and add some prune juice to his diet and see if it helps him.

Mr. Man is 4 months old

Here are some pictures of Mr. Man on his four month birthday.

We almost forgot...but we didn't. I think that counts for something.

 And since every day is Miss M's birthday she insisted on having her picture taken as well.

Mr. Man's friend Oliver paid us a visit Sunday night and brought dinner.  I love when people bring dinner.  Oliver is approximately a month older than Mr. Man. They are about the same size except it's hard to tell since Mr. Man is all scrunched up.  

I will write more about Mr. Man and all the important information regarding his growth this weekend after we pay a visit to the pediatrician's office on Friday. I have back to back appointments scheduled for the kids. It could either be the easiest thing ever or a nightmare.  We shall see.  I assume an iPad will solve all my problems with Miss M.  

It's only a phase

I really don't like the phrase "it's only a phase". I could probably go as far as to say I hate it. As though it being a phase makes it any easier to deal with/accept.

The phase right now that has my sanity floating somewhere unreachable would be the "Mr Man won't sleep" phase.  I don't know what happened. Trust me when I say I have spent many hours pondering what went wrong and when and why. I am at a loss. I guess it really doesn't matter since he's not sleeping. I should focus on how to make it better.  Except I don't know how.

Sometime in August he went from waking once or twice (probably more twice than once) to waking three or four times each night.  Currently he is sleeping from 7 (ish) until 11 and then up at 2, 4, and 6.  By the time I get him fed (as I don't know any other way to get him back to sleep even though it means changing his diaper at least once during the night) and put back in his crib I am getting approximately one hour and fifteen minutes of sleep before he is up again.  An hour and fifteen minutes is probably pretty generous since it usually takes me a little while to fall back to sleep.

This morning I wasn't functioning. I wasn't sure I could handle the day.  I did. I didn't want to.  But I did.  Miss M may have watched shows or played on the iPad all day long but we made it through until the end of the day.  After Mr. Man woke up from his usual 45 minute nap I decided we should go check out the zoo. It was a cool day therefore Mr. Man wouldn't get too hot in his car seat as he's usually a hot sweaty mess. I was hoping for a really long nap in his car seat throughout the zoo and on the way back home.

Things didn't quite go as planned. He slept all right but he fell asleep while riding in the Bjorn. He looked miserably uncomfortable and my back wasn't really thrilled that he didn't provide me any warning to move him to the car seat. We survived.  That's the thing. We always seem to survive. Some days it's just closer than others.

I went back to the book I had published of Miss M's first year and she went through the same sleep regression thing where she was up every 2 hours and it started around 3.5 months as it did with Mr. Man. I know it gets better. And I am happy I know it gets better because wondering if it ever gets better is worse.

But it doesn't make it easy.  I told myself I wouldn't read the books or search the ends of the world wide web looking for an answer.  I have and I think it's made me a little (a lot) more insane.  He doesn't know how to put himself to sleep without a bottle shoved in his mouth. Even when he's not hungry. I know he's not hungry for more food at 2 am when he just downed 6 oz three hours earlier. Or more food at 4 am when he just ate 2 hours earlier.  And yes, he's getting ample food during the day.  He doesn't miss a meal.

It has been recommended (strongly) that I try to feed him cereal as though that will make all my/hid sleep problems disappear. I tried last week. He didn't even open his mouth. I tried again tonight. I caught him with his mouth open and shoved the cereal in.  He pushed it back out with his tongue. I bought some sweet potatoes and squash to try also.  I don't think they will work either.  He just isn't really interested.

We have a doctors visit scheduled for next Friday which is t-minus one week. I just want to talk to the doctor about how much formula he's ingesting in a 24 hour period because it's so bad/embarrassing that I stopped keeping track.

I don't want to talk about his sleep problems anymore because they just upset me.

I know it gets better.

I know it's just a phase.

But the lack of sleep I am getting doesn't help my ability to see any sort of light at the end of the tunnel.

It will come.

There will be a new phase.

But there aren't any phases I hate more (so far in the 2.5 years of being a parent) than when a baby won't sleep.  I don't think there was another phase after the sleep phase that made me as crazy as the sleep phase made me.

Or maybe I just forgot.

Or maybe I will remember when Mr. Man goes through it.

You can remind me then.

Until then I have to get some shut eye as Mr. Man will be up in approximately 2.5 hours.

Goodnight.

Preschool

Miss M had her first official day of preschool today.  There is a church near our house that has a preschool program.  It's really more like a structured daycare for 2.5 hours/day two days a week. 

I am excited. She will learn new things, spend time away from me, learn to play/fight with others and work it out without my intervention, and so many more things.

I am also a little sad. A little. 

I am not sad that Miss M is growing up. It's wonderful to watch her grow and develop into a little girl. And I am reminded every day that she really isn't a baby although she will always be my baby. 

I am not sure why I am sad. I think it's probably because we spend so much time together and have so much fun and now our time will be interrupted by school but sending her to school is the right decision. 

She didn't put up a fight to go to school today. She did however put up a fight when I wanted to take her picture. She told me she didn't have any cheeses left and that I had taken all her cheese out of her. 

Miss M received a book last year for her birthday called "the many moods of maddie".  It's so fitting since Miss M has such a range of moods.

Here are a few pictures showing the range of moods I got from her within a time frame of less than five minutes. 

Her teacher recommended a full-sized book bag instead of the toddler sized bags due to art/paper she will send home with the children. I bought Miss M a Doc McStuffins book bag since she's addicted to the show.  She was more than willing to take her bag to school even though it's as big as she is.  Inside her bag today was her puppy "Charlie", her alphabet Spot It game, and her blanket.  She cried when I left but her teacher said her tears didn't last long.  

When I picked her up (we stayed at the church since she was only in class for an hour today to ease them in) she was excited to see me and told me they played with puppets and sang "twinkle, twinkle little star (which is their class theme song). And they had goldfish for a snack.  Snacks are important to a two year old. 

I think we've found something good. 

A few more beach pictures

I found a few more beach pictures on my phone that I liked so I wanted to post them.

Miss M was excited about her life jacket when she opened the package (as it arrived on our doorstep).  Thankfully there were no fights, arguments, or meltdowns regarding wearing her life jacket.  My goal is to have her understand the importance of water safety and know that wearing a life jacket isn't a negotiable item. We're on the right track so far.

Beach house

We traveled to MI this weekend to spend some time relaxing.  Our friend, Helen, found a lovely four bedroom home just steps away from Lake Michigan.  Friday we loaded up our car and traveled over.  There were three couples and six children. It was a busy house but all went well. The kids and adults all got along although there was little doubt the adults were going to get along.  The shore was across the street and down approximately 50 steps so we didn't have to worry too much about the kids getting away from us.

Friday and Saturday the water was really rough. There were lots of crashing waves. Miss M was a little scared of the noise created by the waves crashing.  We usually went to the beach when Mr. Man was sleeping so he didn't make it into many pictures.

When we weren't at the beach we had to convince the children that they could live without iPads.  There were a total of six iPhones, three iPads and a television.  Miss M wasn't impressed with sharing her iPad. And in her world it's hers. I have tried to tell her otherwise. She corrects me.  It's a losing battle.

 We did manage to get them outside to burn some energy.

 The kids loved the kites.

I needed a change of scenery and a car ride to get Mr. Man to take a nap. I have wanted to go apple picking for some time and we found an orchard close to the house. We ventured over Sunday afternoon.  Miss M was happy to pick some apples and ride in the wagon. We weren't there very long as you can only pick so many apples. They also had a peach orchard where we were able to pick peaches. We drove over to the peach orchard and I asked Miss M if she was excited to pick peaches and she informed me she was going to stay in the car and I could pick peaches.  So Andrew stayed in the car with the kids and I picked peaches by myself.  

 Mr. Man enjoyed the outdoors as well.

The sunset was wonderful to watch each evening. We watched the sun disappear into the horizon.  It happened so quickly.

Last year. I found pictures from last years beach house adventure. It's amazing how much the kids have changed.  It makes me remember it does go fast and they change so much so quickly. It gives me hope with Mr. Man and his sleep issues.

P.S. Potty training at the beach was a nightmare. As soon as we got to the beach she informed me she had to go to the bathroom. We had to explain she could pee in her swim diaper which was confusing. We are home and she's naked again.  Let's hope we can just get this done.