Wordless Wednesday

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Last week

Well, I knew multiple blogs in a week wouldn't happen all the time.  And last week proved me correct. 

This little angel:

This was taken at about 10:30pm.  Clearly he's exhausted.

cute as he might be, decided that sleep was not necessary.  Saturday night was completely normal, nap on Sunday was completely normal, but come Sunday night, "normal" went out the window.  As did sleep. And any minute amount of brain function I had left.

He wouldn't go to sleep, cried when I would put him down in the crib, and immediately climb out.  A few weeks ago he started climbing on the front of the crib pretending it was a "hor-hey!" and while I considered more drastic measures, at the advice of a childhood friend I tried putting him in a sleep sack to keep him in the crib.  And it worked! Until, that is, Sunday night.




I put him in the most restrictive sleep sack I had.  Seriously . . . the kid could barely lift his foot to step up the 6" from our sunken living room.  Yet he could get out of the crib.  And since he's such the over-achiever, he also knows how to open doors. So every time I put him in the crib, he'd immediately come out . . . of the bed and the room.  Clearly something had to give.

Long story short, we got about 4 hours of sleep Sunday night.  And it didn't improve Monday during nap time.  Did I mention this is the child who routinely gets 11+ hours of sleep a night and 3 hours at nap time?  Or that I'm 34 weeks pregnant???  Yeah.  It was lovely. 

So, Monday night, it all started again.  The crying.  The screaming.  And that was just me. I was exhausted.  He was exhausted. And although he could still get out of his bed, I had put the door knob cover in his room, so he couldn't get out.  He screamed for a minute, cried for about 2, kicked the door for a bit to make sure we all knew he was not happy.  And then . . . then there was silence.

I debated whether to leave him on the floor or not, but decided to put him back in bed.  And he stayed there.  Until 2:30am.  Luckily he had fussed a bit as he woke up, or I might have freaked out when a blood-curdling scream sounded throughout the house.  It was enough to even wake up Rich.  {And that says a lot!}  I watched the monitor, waiting to see him reappear.  And after a few minutes, he did.  He first tried to climb up the front of the crib {wasn't happening} and then moved to the side where he could first climb onto a Rubbermaid tub housing clothes and pulled himself up. . . and proceeded to flip feet over head into the crib.  And then . . . silence.  I knew I didn't want to interrupt him putting himself back to sleep, but there was also a part of me that was concerned he had snapped his neck during the re-entry.  At that moment, the deliriousness of sleep deprivation won and my actual thought was, "well, if he paralyzed himself there's nothing I can do about it now."  HA!

So, on Tuesday, the front of the crib came off so at least he could get back in safely.  Oh, and a crib tent order was placed.  He actually did remarkably well with the new found freedom and grasped the concept of getting back into bed to sleep.

But, we were still screaming at bedtime and he was up super early.  Not ideal.  Plus, unless I was going to completely strip his room of everything, he - nor I - was ready for the inevitable injuries.

And then, around rolls Wednesday afternoon.  Glorious, wonderful Wednesday. 

It's {so!} not pretty, but it works.  It contained both boys while they jumped, bounced, and even withstood the dexterity of a 4 year old trying to get out.  Didn't happen.  Praise God {and whoever the genius who developed these is!!} the wild child is contained.

He cried Wednesday night for a few minutes, and although I heard him a few times during the night, we both slept well {except, of course, G was up at 1:30 because his ear hurt. It never ends, does it??!}.  And it's only gotten better since.  Friday morning he slept until 8:45 {normal for him} and when he woke up he laid there and played with his belly button while he sucked his fingers.  A totally normal morning. 

After only a few nights, he no longer cries when I put him down and sleeps soundly all night.  I don't know what happened between Saturday and Sunday night last week, I'm just glad that it's over.  And even though I never would have imagined owning one of these contraptions, it has been a life - and sanity - saver.  Long live the crib tent!

First Haircut

Well, we did it.  While we were in Pennsylvania last time, it happened.  From behind, Hudson was referred to as a "she".  The waitress corrected herself as soon as she saw his face, of course, but it was done. 

I don't mind long hair on boys.  At all.  However, my husband prefers short hair.  And, I don't like my boys being called girls.  I mean, they are pretty and all, but . . .

So, last Sunday, we did it.  Both of the big boys were getting a haircut, so we added H to the list of "big boys" living here. 

A reminder of the before:

Sweet baby.



And, the after:

Yeah, we totally used a sucker to bribe him to sit still.

Sniff.

21 months

So . . . I'm not doing too well with the monthly updates on the crazy man.  I'll blame it on him to let go of some of the guilt.  He keeps me busy. 

 

Hudson, you are

 

21  months old!!!

What you're up to these days:

* You haven't been to the doctor for a check-up recently, so I don't know your exact height and weight, but you're certainly in the upper 20 pound range and about 32".

* You're wearing 18 month pants and 24 month/2T shirts and size 7 shoes.

* You still have no fear and are quite independent.  You don't really care if we're around or not . . . you'll wander around a room full of people and not panic at all if you can no longer see us.

* You LOVE your Garrett!  As soon as you wake up you want to see him and you usually run and give him a big hug!  Melts my heart every time. 

* You also love Miles, and much to her dismay, Mallory.

* You're really talking up a storm these days.  Some of your most common words are: "bo-pen" {open}; "bup" {up}; next to "Gah-et" {Garrett}, NO! is still your favorite word!; "My-al" {Miles}; "Maaa-ee" {Mallory}; "gin" {again}; "kiiiin-ky" {stinky! ha!}; ball; bubbles; "otty" {potty . . . anytime G goes}; "bapple"  {apple}; "nana" {banana}; "een" {McQueen . . . from Cars}; "main-er" {Mater . . . from Cars, of course!}; and Daddy.

* You love to be outside!

* You are 100% boy and come back inside positively filthy.  And, unlike your brother, you don't care a bit!

 

* You are quite the helper.  If we're picking up toys you'll help put them back in the baskets.  Just this morning you carried your empty bowl into the kitchen.  Completely unprompted.  As I put as my Facebook status: "TO MY FUTURE DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW: YOU'RE WELCOME!" ha!

* I love when you help with laundry. If left unsupervised, I'd be washing all loads twice.  Anything laying on the floor goes into the dryer, as well as the clean clothes from the washer. 

* I {HONESTLY!} do love when you come to help me with diaper laundry.  I {apparently} smell each diaper as I transfer it to the dryer, and if you're in there with me, you'll pull each piece out, put it up to your face, and then hand it to me.  So precious!

* You make us laugh {and shake our head!} daily.  You're so funny and I can only imagine you as the class clown in a few years.  Your Daddy likes to remind me that I'll probably be getting lots of calls from the principal's office.  Oy.

* You're a very determined little boy.  You know what you want and when you want it.  And if you don't get it then and there, you let your displeasure be known.

Hudson, you are an amazing little man, so full of life.  My prayer continues to be to allow me to help you grow into the amazing man you are destined to become.  Without losing my mind first.  And without squelching your undeniable zest for life.

I can't believe you're a mere 3 months from being 2 years old and I can't believe I was the one chosen to watch you grow; to hear that contagious giggle, and see the sparkle in your eyes.  The sparkle that stands out when you're getting into mischief.  I love you more than words.  Happy 21 months, Buddy!

 

 

 

 

Garrett's 4! {the final post}

Okay, so it's only taken me 2 weeks to get his birthday post{s} done and last night I finally managed to get the pictures off my camera.  Yay! 

So, last but not least, his actual birthday!  This is the first year he's really "gotten it" as far as birthdays go, but it was still a little confusing as to why we'd already had his party, but then were celebrating again.

But, he certainly felt like it was his special day!  Mostly because he, alone, got to choose the dinner menu.  Exciting stuff, people.  And what might a 4 year old choose for dinner?  Why fish sticks, mac & cheese, and green beans {okay, so that was my addition} of course!  The best part, however, was {naturally} dessert.

A little back story on this one . . .

We watch a lot of Sprout around here.  Even when we're not watching, the tv is usually on Sprout for a good portion of the day.  Leading up to Valentine's Day there was a commercial {that we saw 832 times a day} advertising chocolate covered strawberries.  Now, I don't know that my child has ever had a chocolate covered strawberry.  But he knew he wanted to have some.  Every freaking single time the commercial would come on, he would stop what he was doing, come find me, and inform me that "Maybe sometime we can get some of those!"  Every. Single. Time.  And I'm not exaggerating.

So, around rolls February 13th and the birthday boy gets to choose dinner.  Including dessert.  So . . . what does he choose?

Strawberries and chocolate, of course. 

And man, did he {and little brother} ever enjoy them!!

He had on the perfect shirt for the meal.

I don't even want to know how he ended up with chocolate on his elbow!

Not sure about this face!  Ha!

I hope he never grows a moustache.

It was much more fun to rub the chocolate on his lips than it was to actually bite the strawberry!

Sufficed to say, he was thrilled with his special birthday meal on his special birthday plate, but the highlight was definitely dessert.  He was quite excited to open his Peter Pan DVD from us and I'm sure he'll be thrilled when we go see The Fresh Beat Band at the end of March, but I honestly don't know if even that will compare to the thrill of the chocolate and strawberries.  I really hope he's always this easy to please!

Christmas, part 2

So, the day after Christmas, the boys {and dogs} and I headed south to Mom's, while Rich headed north to PA to begin a closet transformation.  More on that to come.

He had a wonderful time, and got to see lots of family and friends.  GG was in town from Cincinnati, which was a major bonus; Aunt Shannon was in from Tennessee, and Aunt Poonkin came in from North Carolina.  Good times were had by all!

Aunt Poonkin decided that H needed a ball to add to his collection.  A very large, very bouncy ball.  Thanks, Aunt Poonkin.

We got to visit with Baby James...who isn't much of a baby anymore.

And his Momma was {finally!} successful in changing my mind.  H wore his first cloth diaper {a FuzziBunz Medium that Baby James had outgrown} while we were there, and as of today, we have been 100% cloth for 18 days!  I'm still working on building up my stash, especially for when #3 gets here, but thanks to flushable liners, I am completely committed!  {More on this to come, I'm sure!}

Some of us kept putting our leg in a plastic jar and {attempting to} walk around.

 G loves his little brother sooooo much!  HA!!!

Aunt Shannon convinced Oma that G wanted to make more roll-out cookies while we were there.  She tried to pretend like it was G's idea and would make wonderful memories.  I think it was really because she wanted to eat the dough.

 Oma tried really hard to get Hudson to decorate his dough.  He clearly remembered how delicious it was and was having none of it.

There were some candids taken...

Notice the dough in her hand!

Yum!

We had a great visit.  As always it was too short, but we'll be back again soon!