Over the last month or so, bedtime & especially naptime were becoming a battle. Naps became hit & miss & although we always tried, he usually refused to take one. Sometimes he'd throw a leg over his crib or pack n play, but we all kept telling him it'd be a bad owie to fall... in hopes it'd keep him in there. Well, it worked up until last week when he was at his grammy's & when she went to check on him she hears a knock on the door & sure enough he'd gotten out & was pretty pleased with himself. The next few days he'd threaten to do it in his crib, but we'd tell him it was bigger than the pack n play & he could get hurt. Again, that only lasted a short while. The other day my came to our house while I went to work & he gave her quite the fight going down, but she knows he will do that sometimes then go right to sleep. She can't stand hearing him cry so she went out & sat on the front porch. Not 10 minutes later she hears a knock on the front window & a little voice saying "hi gammy". Yep, he was even more pleased this time.
We knew the day was coming, but I just really dreaded the transition into a toddler bed. He's just such a busy body & doesn't do well going to bed anywhere, but the crib. Luckily, his crib turns right into a toddler bed so its pretty much the same thing without a side rail. The whole evening we practiced going to bed & tried our best to cheer him on so that bedtime would go smoothly. We cleaned out his room & took out all the toys & anything dangerous then put a door knob cover on the door. At bedtime he as excited so he let us tuck him in & go out without any problem. I think he thought it was still a game because when he realized he couldn't open the door he was pretty mad. After only ten minutes of rattling the door & fussing, all was quiet. When I went to check on him, I thought I'd find him on the floor, but to my suprise, he had completely tucked himself in & was sound asleep! He slept all night & in big boy undies too!! The last couple nights he's been more testy about going to bed, but does fine once we close the door. I just can't believe its gone so well. (knock on wood). This was the last "baby to toddler" transition so its official.... He's a big boy now! Still wondering where the last two years went...
Friday, September 23, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Letting off some steam!
Its probably not a good time to post since I'm super moody, irritable, and tired, but here goes it anyway...
Today, I'm just feeling BLAH. I started taking Vitex/Chasteberry last week and so far I think its working. I finally started my irregualar period 3 days after taking it. Bad news is... I feel like crap. Contraction like cramps, headaches, nauseated, and super emotional, okay bitchy! lol (Don't tell my husband I admitted that!) Good news is... I think its doing its job. I can literally feel my ovaries aching like they are trying to get back into the swing of things. ;) Hopefully its works and I ovulate and get pregnant soon. This trying business SUCKS!
Maybe bloated should go in the first paragraph, but I can't decide if its my period or I'm just fat. Seriously, I feel like I've gained some weight and from pictures recently I think I really might have. The scale disagrees, thank God, but I just feel mad at myself for it. I've been really bad about sticking to any kind of diet and exercising. I could go on with excuses like I'm too busy (which I really feel like I am), but mostly it comes down to I'm lazy, tired, and more than anything haven't cared because I thought I'd be pregnant by now. Bad, I know because I should exercise and be healthy even-more-so being pregnant or wanting to be. Ughhhh I keep finding myself apologizing to Joey because he's lost so much weight & looks GREAT then here's his chubby wife. I always say one more baby then its "me time" & I'm getting into shape. I really mean that!
School is a pain. I HATE math with a passion and pre calculus is just HARD & time consuming. I have actually done pretty good so far... 100 on all homework & quizzes, 88% on my first test (don't judge, thats a good math test grade for me). I love my online Ethics course, but I feel like I'm so busy with math, work, being a mom and wife, that I end up rushing through it instead of really grasping it & getting to enjoy it. Its easy to do and doesn't take a whole lot of time so I find myself cramming it to get on with other things.
Work is okay... I can't get into details of my job & clients, but lets just say it hasn't been emotionally & mentally easy lately. I took on a new shift so now I'm working Tuesdays along with Mondays & Wednesdays, but its still only 7 hours a week. Totally manageable right? Not really once I add up school & homework time & Grant. I really wish we could afford to have more help with him (like preschool or daycamp/daycare). My mom is back at work since school started & Joey is super busy with work that it comes down to my mother-in-law, who isn't in the best of health, having to watch him the most. She is wonderful & really helps me so much, but I can only put so much on her before it wears her down & she feels sick. Thats the last thing I want so I have to keep it pretty limited. My homework has come down to nap time & bed time which is hard because he refuses nap sometimes & bed time means I'm already tired & its getting late.
The scary thing is I'm feeling like this with one kid, two classes, & a very part time job! Seriously, I don't know how other moms do it!! It makes me really nervous to be in the nursing program with a full load of classes & possibly two kids! We will definately have some re-evaluating to do when that time comes!! Ahhhh
This Saturday I'm having a Scentsy party. I've been wanting to get a few things & so has family & friends so I figured why not! I also thought it'd be a good excuse to have a night of fun with friends. Hopefully it will be just that & not a complete flop. I'm making it simple with appetizer type stuff, but it still means the house needs cleaned & homework needs done ahead of time...
Sorry if this sounds like I'm a downer! Just needed to vent a little. I know things could be SOOO worse & I have it REALLY good. Stress just gets me & PMS doesn't help it. ;)
Today, I'm just feeling BLAH. I started taking Vitex/Chasteberry last week and so far I think its working. I finally started my irregualar period 3 days after taking it. Bad news is... I feel like crap. Contraction like cramps, headaches, nauseated, and super emotional, okay bitchy! lol (Don't tell my husband I admitted that!) Good news is... I think its doing its job. I can literally feel my ovaries aching like they are trying to get back into the swing of things. ;) Hopefully its works and I ovulate and get pregnant soon. This trying business SUCKS!
Maybe bloated should go in the first paragraph, but I can't decide if its my period or I'm just fat. Seriously, I feel like I've gained some weight and from pictures recently I think I really might have. The scale disagrees, thank God, but I just feel mad at myself for it. I've been really bad about sticking to any kind of diet and exercising. I could go on with excuses like I'm too busy (which I really feel like I am), but mostly it comes down to I'm lazy, tired, and more than anything haven't cared because I thought I'd be pregnant by now. Bad, I know because I should exercise and be healthy even-more-so being pregnant or wanting to be. Ughhhh I keep finding myself apologizing to Joey because he's lost so much weight & looks GREAT then here's his chubby wife. I always say one more baby then its "me time" & I'm getting into shape. I really mean that!
School is a pain. I HATE math with a passion and pre calculus is just HARD & time consuming. I have actually done pretty good so far... 100 on all homework & quizzes, 88% on my first test (don't judge, thats a good math test grade for me). I love my online Ethics course, but I feel like I'm so busy with math, work, being a mom and wife, that I end up rushing through it instead of really grasping it & getting to enjoy it. Its easy to do and doesn't take a whole lot of time so I find myself cramming it to get on with other things.
Work is okay... I can't get into details of my job & clients, but lets just say it hasn't been emotionally & mentally easy lately. I took on a new shift so now I'm working Tuesdays along with Mondays & Wednesdays, but its still only 7 hours a week. Totally manageable right? Not really once I add up school & homework time & Grant. I really wish we could afford to have more help with him (like preschool or daycamp/daycare). My mom is back at work since school started & Joey is super busy with work that it comes down to my mother-in-law, who isn't in the best of health, having to watch him the most. She is wonderful & really helps me so much, but I can only put so much on her before it wears her down & she feels sick. Thats the last thing I want so I have to keep it pretty limited. My homework has come down to nap time & bed time which is hard because he refuses nap sometimes & bed time means I'm already tired & its getting late.
The scary thing is I'm feeling like this with one kid, two classes, & a very part time job! Seriously, I don't know how other moms do it!! It makes me really nervous to be in the nursing program with a full load of classes & possibly two kids! We will definately have some re-evaluating to do when that time comes!! Ahhhh
This Saturday I'm having a Scentsy party. I've been wanting to get a few things & so has family & friends so I figured why not! I also thought it'd be a good excuse to have a night of fun with friends. Hopefully it will be just that & not a complete flop. I'm making it simple with appetizer type stuff, but it still means the house needs cleaned & homework needs done ahead of time...
Sorry if this sounds like I'm a downer! Just needed to vent a little. I know things could be SOOO worse & I have it REALLY good. Stress just gets me & PMS doesn't help it. ;)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Question...
Has anyone used Vitex to help with cycle regulation & fertility?
Ever since getting off the pill a few months back, my cycle has been all over the place. Sometimes back to back & sometimes not at all. The times I've been late or its gone really long I get all excited thinking I'm pregnant just to be let down again. (I'm done taking stupid tests until there is no denying it!) Anyway, I have been reading about natural remedies to regulate everything & have heard to try Vitex so today I stopped at the health food store & got me some. Hopefully it works! I would love to hear your stories on all this!!??
Ever since getting off the pill a few months back, my cycle has been all over the place. Sometimes back to back & sometimes not at all. The times I've been late or its gone really long I get all excited thinking I'm pregnant just to be let down again. (I'm done taking stupid tests until there is no denying it!) Anyway, I have been reading about natural remedies to regulate everything & have heard to try Vitex so today I stopped at the health food store & got me some. Hopefully it works! I would love to hear your stories on all this!!??
Labor Day Weekend in Cascade
My parents rented a house on Cascade Lake for Labor Day Weekend so this last week I crammed to get all my homework done so that we could leave at a good time on Friday... well that stupid math held me back & we didn't get up there until 11 at night. Grant took a long nap (longer than I usually let him because I needed to get my homework done) so he was wired & so not ready for bed when we got there. Him & I stayed up until 2 in the morning! He has an issue going to bed anywhere, but home because we've only left town overnight one other time so I wanted to make sure he was good & tired. I sent Joey to bed at midnight then we crawled in at 2 & it took a good half hour before Grant finally fell asleep.
My parents friends brought up there 4 year old grandson so the next morning they played & played while the guys fished then we all went to breakfast. I had the best eggs benedict ever! Anyway, after that we walked around the different shops then headed back to the house so grumpy pants Grant could take a nap. Everyone else went on my dads boat to fish & Joey & I had a huge battle getting Grant to finally sleep & we took a nap ourselves. That night was the first BSU game & luckily our friends Jason & Courtney were staying at a near by campsite & somebody brought up a tv to watch the game so we joined them. I didn't get to hardly even watch it (which is okay with me) because Grant was so busy finding sticks to put in the fire. We got back to the house at 1030ish & ended up battling with Grant for 3 hours to go to sleep. Ughhh.
The next day we were so tired that we decided it'd be better to just head home late that night. I made a big breakfast for everyone then we played at the lake & fished all day. Joey almost caught a huge trout, but as soon as he was about to pull it in, it got away! We seriously were about to give up since nobody had caught anything then my mom got all excited because she got one. She even stood up like it was some big fish & it turned out to be a tiny little perch. She put it back & cast again & boom caught another one. We're pretty sure she actually caught the same one twice in a row! lol After that we headed back to the house for dinner & had some really yummy elk burger. We let the boys wear eachother out some more while we packed up to go home. We knew we made a good choice when Grant passed out as soon as we hit the road & we got home in like half the time that we expected because there was no traffic. We finally all slept really good that night & it was nice to have Monday to catch up on everything to start a new week.
I'm a bad mom & left my camera in my purse all weekend then realized it the last day, but the battery needed charged so I only got a couple pictures of the boys playing! I'll load them on facebook soon. Its funny because Jet was 4 & was only like 2 inches taller than Grant. Gosh, I wish I could say he gets that height from me! lol
My parents friends brought up there 4 year old grandson so the next morning they played & played while the guys fished then we all went to breakfast. I had the best eggs benedict ever! Anyway, after that we walked around the different shops then headed back to the house so grumpy pants Grant could take a nap. Everyone else went on my dads boat to fish & Joey & I had a huge battle getting Grant to finally sleep & we took a nap ourselves. That night was the first BSU game & luckily our friends Jason & Courtney were staying at a near by campsite & somebody brought up a tv to watch the game so we joined them. I didn't get to hardly even watch it (which is okay with me) because Grant was so busy finding sticks to put in the fire. We got back to the house at 1030ish & ended up battling with Grant for 3 hours to go to sleep. Ughhh.
The next day we were so tired that we decided it'd be better to just head home late that night. I made a big breakfast for everyone then we played at the lake & fished all day. Joey almost caught a huge trout, but as soon as he was about to pull it in, it got away! We seriously were about to give up since nobody had caught anything then my mom got all excited because she got one. She even stood up like it was some big fish & it turned out to be a tiny little perch. She put it back & cast again & boom caught another one. We're pretty sure she actually caught the same one twice in a row! lol After that we headed back to the house for dinner & had some really yummy elk burger. We let the boys wear eachother out some more while we packed up to go home. We knew we made a good choice when Grant passed out as soon as we hit the road & we got home in like half the time that we expected because there was no traffic. We finally all slept really good that night & it was nice to have Monday to catch up on everything to start a new week.
I'm a bad mom & left my camera in my purse all weekend then realized it the last day, but the battery needed charged so I only got a couple pictures of the boys playing! I'll load them on facebook soon. Its funny because Jet was 4 & was only like 2 inches taller than Grant. Gosh, I wish I could say he gets that height from me! lol
Monday, August 29, 2011
Trying to keep up...
I'm so bad at keeping up with this! We've been super busy this summer & it just seems to be on the bottom of the list all the time. I really want something for my kids to look back at someday, but so far its not happening as I planned.
For a quick update on what we've been up to..
This summer I took two classes so that kept my weeks pretty busy. I had 3 weeks off before fall semester started last week and in that time, I crammed in as many playdates, outings, and sleep in/lazy days as I could. (Yes, my wonderful 2 year old is totally cool with sleeping in when I let him. How lucky am I?) We've been to Just Kid'n around, the boat races at the speedway, Roaring Springs, The Western Idaho Fair, the park a billion times, and a few trips up to the lake!
Like I said, school started up last week & now I'm sure I'll be busier than ever again. I'm taking pre calculus & ethics. On Mondays & Wednesdays I work as a homehealth CNA from 830 to 1030 then I have math from 1130 to 1245. My ethics is online so I try to do that Tuesdays & Thursdays. It doesn't sound like alot when I write it out, but the homework takes up SO much time & planning around a busy toddler makes it that much more interesting! My goal is to still get things done by Friday to try & have fun day with Grant that day & although that can't happen every week, I like to have my weekends open on atleast one of the days.
Grant is getting so big! I meant to do a two year post, but totally spaced it with all the craziness. He is now just a month over 2 years old. I am losing track with all he can do & say now, but here is a few off the top of my head...
* A few weeks ago we took the bottle. The doctor said it was becoming more harm than good & I've figured out that its all or nothing with this kid. He doesn't slowly start or stop anything. We'd already tried cutting back on when & how many bottles he had a day so we finally decided to pick it a day for it to just be gone. I conviently picked a day that Joey would be home with us. :) Grant woke up & asked for "bobbi" & I told him that it was all gone. He cried and I told him it was because he was a big boy now and babies have bottles. I let him open his new sippys he picked (that were waiting for this day) & he decided it was okay to finally drink milk out of them. I was amazed at how well he did. For about a week he'd ask for it, but quickly get over it & ramble on about a baby having it. His appetite has increased alot & it has made a huge difference on how much better he eats. He will sometimes drink milk out of a sippy, but for the most part, he has stopped wanting milk all together. I'm sure as he gets more used to not having the bottle, he'll like it again.
* He still loves "Big Bird" (Sesame Street) & its the only time he will sit for a whole ten minutes or so. For his birthday his Aunt Nana ordered a stuffed Big Bird online (she searched all the stores first) & its his bedtime buddy. Along with his dotey of course!
* He has been such a good influence on reminding us all to say our prayers. He has a little prayer bear that his grammy gave him & now every night he asks us to pray with him. Its the sweetest thing ever!
* He still loves to be outside ALL the time!
* He is a busy body & wants to constantly be putting things together or taking them apart. He loves buckles, buttons, puzzles & building blocks. I took him on the train ride at the fair & all he was worried about was buckling & unbuckling the seat belt next to him.
* He likes to be read to & loves pointing out things & practicing new words.
* He can kind of sing the alphabet
* He is learning how to count to ten & will mimick me while we count certain things. His favorite way of "practicing" is by playing hide & seek when daddy is home.
* Another new game he just started is pretending to be a bear. He climbs on our back & holds on to our neck while we crawl around & he growls. He likes it best when there is somebody to "scare".
* He's learning new words everyday. Some are clear as day & some take us awhile to figure out. I seem to always understand them best.
* He LOVES yogurt & will insist on having atleast one, but usually two a day!
* He is a bit picky when it comes to veggies & some fruits, but if I keep trying he will usually atleast try it for me, & thats all I ask of him. Even the things he thinks he doesn't like get put on his plate in hopes he'll eventually get a taste for them.
* Somedays he gets on a kick of liking a certain something. For instance out of nowhere he'll eat two bananas in a row or two cereal bars.
* He gets frustrated when he wants something & can't explain himself. I notice his meltdowns are worse when he's hungry or tired though & it seems to help if I get down to his level & try to talk it out. If its something he can't have or do, I explain why & sometimes he'll calm down, but most of the time he is still mad, but if I ignore it, he gets over it.
* We've introduced time-outs & they seem to work well. If he's being super naughty, we usually warn him once, but if it happens again he gets put in his crib with the lights on & door open. After a couple minutes, we talk it out & he's usually ready to say sorry.
* He's still doing really well with potty training & his accidents usually only happen when he's very preoccupied. His night time pull ups are dry most of the time, but I haven't put him in underwear for bed yet because he's still in a crib.
* He hates changing his clothes & getting dressed. If I'd let him, he'd be naked all the time. Getting out of his jammies & dressed for the day or into jammies after the bath are quite the chore lately & usually end in a "bribe" of some sort. Something that works one day, doesn't work the next. He catches on way to fast!
* I'm pretty sure he's getting his two year molers & it isn't fun for any of us! Hopefully they break through soon!
We are truly enjoying every new little thing he learns to do or say. He keeps us pretty entertained & even the hard days are worth it all! I feel lucky everyday that I get to be his mommy!
Still no baby number two on the way yet. :( I am so impatient & this trying thing is hard work!! ;) My cycle seems to be really off since getting off the pill, but I am hoping it regulates itself so I can track ovulation better. This really makes me feel even more blessed that Grant was concieved after only being off the pill 3 days! Hey maybe by the next time I get around to updating this thing I will have good news! :) Wishful thinking, right?
So much for a quick update... I promise to get better!
For a quick update on what we've been up to..
This summer I took two classes so that kept my weeks pretty busy. I had 3 weeks off before fall semester started last week and in that time, I crammed in as many playdates, outings, and sleep in/lazy days as I could. (Yes, my wonderful 2 year old is totally cool with sleeping in when I let him. How lucky am I?) We've been to Just Kid'n around, the boat races at the speedway, Roaring Springs, The Western Idaho Fair, the park a billion times, and a few trips up to the lake!
Like I said, school started up last week & now I'm sure I'll be busier than ever again. I'm taking pre calculus & ethics. On Mondays & Wednesdays I work as a homehealth CNA from 830 to 1030 then I have math from 1130 to 1245. My ethics is online so I try to do that Tuesdays & Thursdays. It doesn't sound like alot when I write it out, but the homework takes up SO much time & planning around a busy toddler makes it that much more interesting! My goal is to still get things done by Friday to try & have fun day with Grant that day & although that can't happen every week, I like to have my weekends open on atleast one of the days.
Grant is getting so big! I meant to do a two year post, but totally spaced it with all the craziness. He is now just a month over 2 years old. I am losing track with all he can do & say now, but here is a few off the top of my head...
* A few weeks ago we took the bottle. The doctor said it was becoming more harm than good & I've figured out that its all or nothing with this kid. He doesn't slowly start or stop anything. We'd already tried cutting back on when & how many bottles he had a day so we finally decided to pick it a day for it to just be gone. I conviently picked a day that Joey would be home with us. :) Grant woke up & asked for "bobbi" & I told him that it was all gone. He cried and I told him it was because he was a big boy now and babies have bottles. I let him open his new sippys he picked (that were waiting for this day) & he decided it was okay to finally drink milk out of them. I was amazed at how well he did. For about a week he'd ask for it, but quickly get over it & ramble on about a baby having it. His appetite has increased alot & it has made a huge difference on how much better he eats. He will sometimes drink milk out of a sippy, but for the most part, he has stopped wanting milk all together. I'm sure as he gets more used to not having the bottle, he'll like it again.
* He still loves "Big Bird" (Sesame Street) & its the only time he will sit for a whole ten minutes or so. For his birthday his Aunt Nana ordered a stuffed Big Bird online (she searched all the stores first) & its his bedtime buddy. Along with his dotey of course!
* He has been such a good influence on reminding us all to say our prayers. He has a little prayer bear that his grammy gave him & now every night he asks us to pray with him. Its the sweetest thing ever!
* He still loves to be outside ALL the time!
* He is a busy body & wants to constantly be putting things together or taking them apart. He loves buckles, buttons, puzzles & building blocks. I took him on the train ride at the fair & all he was worried about was buckling & unbuckling the seat belt next to him.
* He likes to be read to & loves pointing out things & practicing new words.
* He can kind of sing the alphabet
* He is learning how to count to ten & will mimick me while we count certain things. His favorite way of "practicing" is by playing hide & seek when daddy is home.
* Another new game he just started is pretending to be a bear. He climbs on our back & holds on to our neck while we crawl around & he growls. He likes it best when there is somebody to "scare".
* He's learning new words everyday. Some are clear as day & some take us awhile to figure out. I seem to always understand them best.
* He LOVES yogurt & will insist on having atleast one, but usually two a day!
* He is a bit picky when it comes to veggies & some fruits, but if I keep trying he will usually atleast try it for me, & thats all I ask of him. Even the things he thinks he doesn't like get put on his plate in hopes he'll eventually get a taste for them.
* Somedays he gets on a kick of liking a certain something. For instance out of nowhere he'll eat two bananas in a row or two cereal bars.
* He gets frustrated when he wants something & can't explain himself. I notice his meltdowns are worse when he's hungry or tired though & it seems to help if I get down to his level & try to talk it out. If its something he can't have or do, I explain why & sometimes he'll calm down, but most of the time he is still mad, but if I ignore it, he gets over it.
* We've introduced time-outs & they seem to work well. If he's being super naughty, we usually warn him once, but if it happens again he gets put in his crib with the lights on & door open. After a couple minutes, we talk it out & he's usually ready to say sorry.
* He's still doing really well with potty training & his accidents usually only happen when he's very preoccupied. His night time pull ups are dry most of the time, but I haven't put him in underwear for bed yet because he's still in a crib.
* He hates changing his clothes & getting dressed. If I'd let him, he'd be naked all the time. Getting out of his jammies & dressed for the day or into jammies after the bath are quite the chore lately & usually end in a "bribe" of some sort. Something that works one day, doesn't work the next. He catches on way to fast!
* I'm pretty sure he's getting his two year molers & it isn't fun for any of us! Hopefully they break through soon!
We are truly enjoying every new little thing he learns to do or say. He keeps us pretty entertained & even the hard days are worth it all! I feel lucky everyday that I get to be his mommy!
Still no baby number two on the way yet. :( I am so impatient & this trying thing is hard work!! ;) My cycle seems to be really off since getting off the pill, but I am hoping it regulates itself so I can track ovulation better. This really makes me feel even more blessed that Grant was concieved after only being off the pill 3 days! Hey maybe by the next time I get around to updating this thing I will have good news! :) Wishful thinking, right?
So much for a quick update... I promise to get better!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Our Family Trip (its a long one)
I'm losing sleep over this so feel lucky! Its on my to-do list & since this week is so crazy, I figured I'd better get it down before the details are gone!!
Thursday even Joey, Grant, and I drove to Pendleton for 3 hours (about half way to our destination), in hopes that it would help break up the drive and kind of give us an extra night and day of vacation. I didn't give Grant a nap that day in hopes he'd sleep in the car since we planned to leave shortly after nap time anyway. Well... he didn't sleep a wink! He just talked, played, and whined the whole way. It made me pretty nervous for the rest of the trip. His grandparents bought him a dvd player for the road and it seemed to help here and there, but he was more interested in how it worked and kept pushing all the buttons! lol Right before we got there, I found the "hold" button. Awesome. Atleast it wasn't when we got home though, right? Anyway, we got to our hotel and I was pretty taken back. I booked it online and the pictures were so deceiving. They made it look pretty decent and their pool looked like it was inside. I planned to be able to take Grant swimming to wear him out before bed, but the pool was outside and it was too cold. Double awesome. We got in our room and it was literally the size of Grant's bedroom plus a tiny bathroom and dark shower. It smelled like a whole bottle of old lady perfume/air freshener stuff and the bed was so stiff. We tried to cancel our reservation, but our card had already been charged, thanks to stupid expedia.com. We decided to go get ice cream then came home to go to bed. Bedtime was quite the challenge. Grant doesn't sleep anywhere, but his crib. Even when he's sick, he prefers to be in his crib. He never falls asleep anywhere else except sometimes in the car if he's totally wiped out. We brought the pack and play, a sheet, and some tacs (thinking we'd maybe try to section off part of the room). Well that was out of the question as soon as we saw the room, but we tried to lay him in the pack and play anyway. I knew it wouldn't work and it didn't so we let him get in our bed and that didn't work either. We told him to pick where he wanted to sleep, but either way it was bedtime and he went back and forth a bunch. Finally, after crying in our bed for about an hour, he fell asleep. At 330 he was wide awake and ready to get up. Joey finally figured out he was scared that we were going to put him in the pack n play when he fell asleep so he had to take it down and put it away before Grant would go back to sleep. We were able to get a few more hours before it was time to get up. We stopped for breakfast and met up with Pop pop & Grammy (Joey's parents) then hit the road head towards Salem.
It was a 4 1/2 hour drive to Salem. Grant did really good and fell asleep a couple hours into it. He slept over an hour and when he woke up we stopped for gas and a potty break. He decided to ride with Grammy & Pop pop the rest of the way (the last 40 minutes). We went to Enchanted Forest Theme Park and Grant loved it! It was a really neat, fun place for kids. It had alot of different animation of different nursery rhymes including the full house or castle the story talked about and the characters acting out inside of it. Its hard to explain. There was alot of tunnels to climb through, rides, and shows. The pictures on my facebook help show what it was like. His favorite part was probably when he got to "drive" a train around and his own bumper boat. Grant loved it and we spent most of the day there then headed to our hotel in Vancouver.
Luckily, I did a way better job picking that hotel and it seemed like some luxury hotel compared to the other (not really luxury though lol). We went out for pizza then ice cream and came back to go to bed. We didn't even bother with the pack n play at all. Grant took a little while to finally go to sleep, but once he did, he slept a good 9 hours in our bed.
The next day was his 2nd birthday and we got up bright and early to go to the Motocross National in Washougal. Grant seemed really sleepy on the drive and I wasn't quite sure how he would do, but figured he was just tired for the last couple days. Right as we were pulling into the track, he threw up all over himself! I felt so bad for him and was so afraid he was sick and we'd have to leave! Luckily, he shaped right up and we had a change of clothes for him. We cleaned up the carseat the best we could with wipes and headed into the race. He acted fine all day so I'm thinking it was a combination of excitement, lack of sleep, nothing but milk on his stomach, and maybe a little car sickness. We had alot of fun watching the races and Grant was in heaven. It worked out perfect that it was on his birthday. He told every stranger that he could that he was two and wanted them to sing to him. It was hilarious! Part way into the race we realized we were standing right next to Ryan Dungey's mom and girlfriend. Pretty cool, especially since he won! By the end, Grant was pretty sleep and actually fell asleep in his stroller. That seriously NEVER happens! He slept all the way back to the car and the whole drive back to the hotel. As soon as we got to our room and tried to lay him down he started to look around and got up. He had the funniest expression and started saying "Bye bye" with his hands up and it took me a minute to figure out that he was asking when in the world we went bye bye from the motorcycles and how we got back to the hotel! lol He had puked on his dotey (his little blanket w/ tags that he doesn't go anywhere without) so luckily they had an expensive onsite laundry mat and we were able to wash it. We cleaned up and went to Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner since spaghettie is his favorite food. We had an amazing dinner and Grant just loved being sang to and especially blowing out his candle. :) We headed back to the hotel and were all just exhausted. Luckily, Grant was too (or had gotten used to things) and went to bed with us like a champ! We slept in a little longer the next morning then headed for the Portland Zoo. We had to ride a shuttle in since it was so busy. I knew that meant it must be good and it was! It made the Boise Zoo seem pretty lame, really. They had three different kinds of bear including Polar Bear and had alot of them. They had sea otters, crocodiles, hippos, lions, tigers, cheetah, elephants, owls, eagles, pigs, giraffes, zebra, deer, tons of different monkeys, frogs and turtles, and many more I'm forgetting. They also had a dino walk with huge animated dinosaurs and Grant thought it was pretty cool! The whole thing was just really neat and I think we all enjoyed it as much as Grant did.
After a full day there, we headed home. Grant slept the first half of the drive so that made it much easier and did really well the second half. He got fussy and impatient the last hour or so, but that was kind of expected. We didn't get home until after 11 and we were all so tired. We unloaded the car and left everything to unpack for the next day. I was worried Grant would want to sleep with us, but he went to bed no problem. I think he missed his crib. Joey, luckily, took Monday off to be able to recover.
I still think we are trying to recover though! It was such a busy weekend and now a busy week! I have finals for both my summer classes and they are pretty time consuming. On top of that, I need to clean and get the rest of the Grants party stuff ready for Saturday and theres a million other to-dos too! I also have to baby showers to go to this weekend. I'm excited for all of that! Next week I'm working full-time to fill in for someone then I'm really looking forward to my two weeks off before Fall semester starts. Ughhh.
Thursday even Joey, Grant, and I drove to Pendleton for 3 hours (about half way to our destination), in hopes that it would help break up the drive and kind of give us an extra night and day of vacation. I didn't give Grant a nap that day in hopes he'd sleep in the car since we planned to leave shortly after nap time anyway. Well... he didn't sleep a wink! He just talked, played, and whined the whole way. It made me pretty nervous for the rest of the trip. His grandparents bought him a dvd player for the road and it seemed to help here and there, but he was more interested in how it worked and kept pushing all the buttons! lol Right before we got there, I found the "hold" button. Awesome. Atleast it wasn't when we got home though, right? Anyway, we got to our hotel and I was pretty taken back. I booked it online and the pictures were so deceiving. They made it look pretty decent and their pool looked like it was inside. I planned to be able to take Grant swimming to wear him out before bed, but the pool was outside and it was too cold. Double awesome. We got in our room and it was literally the size of Grant's bedroom plus a tiny bathroom and dark shower. It smelled like a whole bottle of old lady perfume/air freshener stuff and the bed was so stiff. We tried to cancel our reservation, but our card had already been charged, thanks to stupid expedia.com. We decided to go get ice cream then came home to go to bed. Bedtime was quite the challenge. Grant doesn't sleep anywhere, but his crib. Even when he's sick, he prefers to be in his crib. He never falls asleep anywhere else except sometimes in the car if he's totally wiped out. We brought the pack and play, a sheet, and some tacs (thinking we'd maybe try to section off part of the room). Well that was out of the question as soon as we saw the room, but we tried to lay him in the pack and play anyway. I knew it wouldn't work and it didn't so we let him get in our bed and that didn't work either. We told him to pick where he wanted to sleep, but either way it was bedtime and he went back and forth a bunch. Finally, after crying in our bed for about an hour, he fell asleep. At 330 he was wide awake and ready to get up. Joey finally figured out he was scared that we were going to put him in the pack n play when he fell asleep so he had to take it down and put it away before Grant would go back to sleep. We were able to get a few more hours before it was time to get up. We stopped for breakfast and met up with Pop pop & Grammy (Joey's parents) then hit the road head towards Salem.
It was a 4 1/2 hour drive to Salem. Grant did really good and fell asleep a couple hours into it. He slept over an hour and when he woke up we stopped for gas and a potty break. He decided to ride with Grammy & Pop pop the rest of the way (the last 40 minutes). We went to Enchanted Forest Theme Park and Grant loved it! It was a really neat, fun place for kids. It had alot of different animation of different nursery rhymes including the full house or castle the story talked about and the characters acting out inside of it. Its hard to explain. There was alot of tunnels to climb through, rides, and shows. The pictures on my facebook help show what it was like. His favorite part was probably when he got to "drive" a train around and his own bumper boat. Grant loved it and we spent most of the day there then headed to our hotel in Vancouver.
Luckily, I did a way better job picking that hotel and it seemed like some luxury hotel compared to the other (not really luxury though lol). We went out for pizza then ice cream and came back to go to bed. We didn't even bother with the pack n play at all. Grant took a little while to finally go to sleep, but once he did, he slept a good 9 hours in our bed.
The next day was his 2nd birthday and we got up bright and early to go to the Motocross National in Washougal. Grant seemed really sleepy on the drive and I wasn't quite sure how he would do, but figured he was just tired for the last couple days. Right as we were pulling into the track, he threw up all over himself! I felt so bad for him and was so afraid he was sick and we'd have to leave! Luckily, he shaped right up and we had a change of clothes for him. We cleaned up the carseat the best we could with wipes and headed into the race. He acted fine all day so I'm thinking it was a combination of excitement, lack of sleep, nothing but milk on his stomach, and maybe a little car sickness. We had alot of fun watching the races and Grant was in heaven. It worked out perfect that it was on his birthday. He told every stranger that he could that he was two and wanted them to sing to him. It was hilarious! Part way into the race we realized we were standing right next to Ryan Dungey's mom and girlfriend. Pretty cool, especially since he won! By the end, Grant was pretty sleep and actually fell asleep in his stroller. That seriously NEVER happens! He slept all the way back to the car and the whole drive back to the hotel. As soon as we got to our room and tried to lay him down he started to look around and got up. He had the funniest expression and started saying "Bye bye" with his hands up and it took me a minute to figure out that he was asking when in the world we went bye bye from the motorcycles and how we got back to the hotel! lol He had puked on his dotey (his little blanket w/ tags that he doesn't go anywhere without) so luckily they had an expensive onsite laundry mat and we were able to wash it. We cleaned up and went to Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner since spaghettie is his favorite food. We had an amazing dinner and Grant just loved being sang to and especially blowing out his candle. :) We headed back to the hotel and were all just exhausted. Luckily, Grant was too (or had gotten used to things) and went to bed with us like a champ! We slept in a little longer the next morning then headed for the Portland Zoo. We had to ride a shuttle in since it was so busy. I knew that meant it must be good and it was! It made the Boise Zoo seem pretty lame, really. They had three different kinds of bear including Polar Bear and had alot of them. They had sea otters, crocodiles, hippos, lions, tigers, cheetah, elephants, owls, eagles, pigs, giraffes, zebra, deer, tons of different monkeys, frogs and turtles, and many more I'm forgetting. They also had a dino walk with huge animated dinosaurs and Grant thought it was pretty cool! The whole thing was just really neat and I think we all enjoyed it as much as Grant did.
After a full day there, we headed home. Grant slept the first half of the drive so that made it much easier and did really well the second half. He got fussy and impatient the last hour or so, but that was kind of expected. We didn't get home until after 11 and we were all so tired. We unloaded the car and left everything to unpack for the next day. I was worried Grant would want to sleep with us, but he went to bed no problem. I think he missed his crib. Joey, luckily, took Monday off to be able to recover.
I still think we are trying to recover though! It was such a busy weekend and now a busy week! I have finals for both my summer classes and they are pretty time consuming. On top of that, I need to clean and get the rest of the Grants party stuff ready for Saturday and theres a million other to-dos too! I also have to baby showers to go to this weekend. I'm excited for all of that! Next week I'm working full-time to fill in for someone then I'm really looking forward to my two weeks off before Fall semester starts. Ughhh.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Here I go... :/
I went in to do the "hire process" at my new job today. I will be doing CNA work doing prn until they can get my regular shifts. It will be 15 or less hours a week which is enough for me to handle. Between that & school, I guess I can no longer call myself a "stay-at-home" mom. :( That makes me really sad! I have to take this job so that my license doesn't expire for my RN application this Spring & the work experience is extra points. Its going to be really hard for me to leave my baby so much more, but I know he is in good hands. Between my mom, MIL, & Joey, he still won't be in daycare which is such a blessing since we cannot afford that unless I work full-time. Now its going to be all about time management. How am I going to juggle everything? Just finding the time for class, homework & studying while being a mom, wife, & homemaker was stressful enough & now I throw work into it. I see alot of thrown together meals or Joey learning to cook in the near future!!! I hope its not too hard on Grant & that we come up with something pretty consistent for him so he's not being juggled around. I hope I don't wear his grandmas out too bad. I also hope Joey can manage the evenings or nights without me. He works on average 60 hours a week so the evenings are usually pretty laid back until now! I'm just stressing. I know it will all work out fine. I am excited to be back in the work place a little & to get alot of different experience. Oh & of course to find cute scrubs to wear! :)
More than anything, I feel so blessed to have spent the first two years of my sons life at home with him (besides school of course). That is time I will never regret or forget & it was worth every stressful situation I will have to face. I am so lucky to have had the oppurtunity to spend that time raising our baby & focusing on school. I have my husband to thank for working his butt off so that I could do that. Money is tight, but again... it is more than worth it! I also have to thank my MIL & mom who have helped with Grant while I go to school. What a blessed life this is!!!
More than anything, I feel so blessed to have spent the first two years of my sons life at home with him (besides school of course). That is time I will never regret or forget & it was worth every stressful situation I will have to face. I am so lucky to have had the oppurtunity to spend that time raising our baby & focusing on school. I have my husband to thank for working his butt off so that I could do that. Money is tight, but again... it is more than worth it! I also have to thank my MIL & mom who have helped with Grant while I go to school. What a blessed life this is!!!
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