Crib at Last

It's official.  Brady now sleeps in his crib.  I had given it a try last week with not very good results and I was feeling a little dejected about the whole thing but I came back from the camping trip with renewed energy to make it work.  If we had to go to the cry it out method, so be it.  It turns out, the problem wasn't the crib but the fact that he was still being swaddled.  I had been hanging on to the swaddling thing as long as I possibly could (putting socks on his arms to keep him from breaking out although it didn't always work...probably since I hadn't sown the socks to it).  Monday night it was off with the swaddle and into the crib.  Things started rather poorly.  I put him in his crib around 9:00 pm (the girls go down at 8:30 and then I nurse Brady and give him the nebulizer) and over the next hour, he let out a few cries.  Duncan went up each time to put the binky back in after letting him cry for a few minutes.  At this point, I'm thinking, this is going to be a LONG night.  At some point, he settled down and then I woke him up at about 11:30 to feed him before I went to bed.  And then, I didn't hear a single sound the rest of the night.  And it wasn't because I wasn't listening because I hear everything.  He really didn't make a peep.  I couldn't believe it.  Naturally, I woke up many times wondering what was going on.  He woke up around 7:15 and that was that.  Rejoice!!  Apparently he's much happier sleeping on his stomach which he had rolled onto once he was out of the swaddle.

He hadn't been taking an official morning nap but into the crib he went on Tuesday morning and slept great.  Meanwhile, he had been taking his long afternoon nap in his swing.  Nope.  That's over too.  I knew that had to go when he practically heaved himself, swaddle and all, out of that thing on Sunday late night when I was on the toilet.  You've never seen someone stop in mid-stream and run so fast with their pants around their ankles!  I hadn't been buckling him because of the swaddle and clearly, that was becoming a mistake.  Again, I was concerned how nap time would go in the crib but the worries were for naught.  He's taken it all in stride.  

The week of sleeping has continued to go well.  Oh, and the first thing I did after that first night was get rid of the bumpers, otherwise known as a deathtrap, out of his crib.  Of course, now I have to deal with the binkies falling onto the floor but it's worth it.  He hasn't had a completely silent night like he did the first night but there's been nothing more than a few little cries that have lasted like 20 seconds.  One of these nights I'm going to sleep the whole entire night and it will be marvelous!

The other bit of good news is that he gained 5.5 ounces in a week at his weigh-in here at home on Tuesday.  He's at 13 lbs, 9 ounces.  I was so pleased that I decided to try foregoing the last feeding at night.  I have been waking him up to feed him before I go to bed since I thought he needed all the nurishment he could get.  But with the good weight gain, I thought it was time to get rid of it.  Goodness, Calleigh and Aubree at this age ate their last meal at like 7:30 pm so doing a feeding at 11:00 pm was unheard of for me.  I wondered if he would have a problem lasting the whole night but obviously my worries were unfounded.  I've actually been pumping now in place of the nursing because we are going to an event on Sunday night and he'll need to have a bottle.  I will NOT be making the pumping a habit, most definitely not.

What else is happening?  Let's see.  My brain is always a little slow when I get to Friday night.  I think we did some grocery shopping on Monday.  On Tuesday we went to Kohl's to use some of our coupons.  We had gotten these $10 of a purchase of $10 or more coupons in the mail last week.  In case you can't do math, that means that if you buy something for $10, it would be free.  Well, I had gotten the mail and had seen the coupon and was excited and then after a few minutes it occurred to me that my neighbors might have gotten the same coupon.  So back to the mailboxes we went with me looking into the trash to see what I could find.  Sure enough, everyone in my neighborhood had gotten the same coupon and as expected, most people either didn't see it or didn't care because they threw their coupons away.  Unfortunately the coupons are only one per customer so you can't go in and use a bunch at once (I was thinking of giving Calleigh money to pay so she could be a customer) but we did use one and it was fun to just walk through the store and see all the Christmas stuff out.  Not to mention that Tuesday was our first official day of the Christmas season since it was my dad's birthday.  I'm going to take Duncan to Kohl's tomorrow night so they're be two of us and then maybe we'll leave the store and walk back in so we're new customers.  Hey, free is free!

On Wednesday, Yolanda and Emma came over so that Yolanda could watch the kids while I went to find a dress to wear to the Gala on Sunday night.  I have a couple of dresses that I've been rotating but I was sort of nervous to try the one on from two years ago because I was afraid it wouldn't fit me and I'd be depressed.  The exercise program is going pretty well (lost five pounds in about six weeks) but I still have about five more pounds to go before I'm where I want to be.  I don't think it's coming off quite as fast as it was after Aubree.  Anyway, the bottom line is that I wanted a new dress whether the old one fit or not.  Fortunately I had good luck and found one at Ross right away.  Yolanda was thrilled to be able to watch Brady and he was great the whole time...not that I was gone that long.

 Brady chilling with Yolanda.

Thursday morning we were off to the Orlando Shakespeare Theater where they put on a production of the book "Miss Nelson Is Missing."  I had never heard of it but Jennifer had read it as a kid and loved it.  There were a bunch of other kids going as a group so we decided to tag along.  I must say that it exceeded my expectations.  The seating was in a semi-circle with the performers in the middle.  Calleigh, Aubree, Blake, Evan, Zachary, and Kaleb, were all in the front row sitting on a mat and they were basically only inches from the action so I think it especially held their attention since they were so close.  I made sure to sit next to Jennifer in case I needed to get up and leave with Brady since it lasted an hour and I didn't know what to expect from him.  No worries there.  As we were leaving, one of the attendants told me that she just couldn't believe how the baby was so into the show.  It was true.  He was glued to the performance the whole time (well, except when he was eating under the hooter hider) and was as good as gold.  The girls really enjoyed it, especially the music.  In fact, last night when they were in their room for bedtime, I could hear them acting out different parts of it.

Later in the day, my friend Vasti stopped by with her two boys David and Jonathan.  She brought me a bunch of shoes (for me) that no longer fit and then some boxes of boy clothes and other odds and end.  Seriously, it was like Christmas a month early.  The boys clearly enjoyed playing with our toys and poor little Jonathan (almost 4) was crushed when Vasti said they had to go home.  He kept begging and begging to stay and even brought out the "But we'll be good.  We'll be good." card.  It was so cute watching him try to work every angle to stay.

This morning we worked the yard sale circuit and it was a good day.  We got a few good Christmas presents that I'm excited about.  Speaking of yard sales, the day before, I had been talking to the girls about things we were thankful for and I was saying things like "I thank Jesus for my kids, good food, etc."  And then I mentioned being thankful for yard sales and Calleigh was appalled.  "Jesus did NOT make yard sales."  I told her I know but he made the people who made the yard sales.  Somehow she just couldn't wrap her mind around this concept.

But the highlight of the day was getting to see Ron and Elaine after three plus weeks.  They've been on a European tour and finally returned last night.  They popped over this evening to see us (or really, the kids...who are we kidding).  They brought a bunch of gifts back for the girls including a snow globe from Greece that as luck would have it, was unfortunately made of glass.  Yup, you guessed it.  I'm in the kitchen with Aubree when I hear a bang and I see the snow globe lying in a bunch of pieces on the floor with water and "snow" all over the place.  Aubree is naturally devastated by this development.  And then, Calleigh volunteers "Aubs, you can have mine!"  I was so touched that she would share like that.  Aubree went and got it from her and promptly gives it to me.  "Put this somewhere I can't get it" she says to me.  Too funny!  We did get bits and pieces about the trip and they reported to us that Prague was their favorite spot.  As we were there ourselves some years ago, this did not come as a surprise.  It's a beautiful place.

Sporting some of their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa.  Yes, those do look like headwear that a haram would be wearing.  Great for dress up though!

I asked Calleigh if she would recite the Lord's Prayer for Grandma and Grandpa since they hadn't seen her do it yet and before Calleigh could even get started, Aubree stands up and starts reciting it.  Seriously, she probably knew about 80% of it.  I had no idea!  That kid is like a sponge learning all the stuff Calleigh learns without my even realizing it.  I wish I had been able to get a recording of it but at least I recorded her doing the Pledge of Allegiance which I also didn't realize she knew!

Finally, I just want to mention that my brother, Rick, is engaged!  He proposed to Ana on Sunday evening and she said yes, obviously!  We are thrilled.  The last of the ten cousins will be getting hitched in 2012.  They are planning a June wedding in Maryland.  We are so excited that Ana will be joining our family.  

Have a Happy Sabbath!