Mean Ole Mommy

Poor Alexander Jay has been subjected to a very mean mommy the past five nights. I decided that it was time that he be weaned from the rocking, nursing and paci all in one shot. I figured that it would be easier than doing one at a time and that he would be so upset about being put to bed awake that he would not even notice the paci being gone. It all started when my friend called to tell me she was going to get rid of her sons nuk that night and she wanted some moral support. We went back and forth for awhile talking about the pros of doing it and so forth. I talked about how I wanted to get rid of Zander's soon and how I should start placing him down awake and she encouraged me that now was a good time. So on Sunday night we went through our regular routine and I nursed him and started to rock him, but he was fighting me. He did not want to go to sleep, so I gave him some extra snuggles and kisses then I placed him in his crib. I did however nurse him beforehand. (I have yet to decide if we are ready for a complete wean, he does not seem ready and I'm not sure if I am either.) He cried his little eyes out for maybe fifteen minutes. It was not that bad.....the bad part came at around 1:30 am when he woke up for his midnight snack. He screamed and screamed. It broke my heart to hear him cry like that but I knew that if I went in it would only get worse. So, husband went in and it got worse. We knew at that point the best thing to do would be to let him cry. Thankfully, after that he slept until 7:30. By then I was so engorged I caved and brought him to bed with me. Monday for nap, he barely cried five minutes. Monday night, same thing maybe five minutes. By now I think he is getting used to being put to bed awake, but he still makes noise about it. He also still wakes up around 1:00 every night, but sleeps until 8:30-9:00 which is much better than before. He is also taking better naps now as well. So I know that he is getting better quality of sleep, but it is still hard to hear him cry and know that I need to let him cry. I do not remember it being this hard with Tater. She basically weaned herself, so that was not a problem, and she was already sleeping through the night when we started putting her to bed awake, so maybe that makes the difference. We tried to skip the nursing part tonight, actually hubby tried and it.did.not.work. Mr. Zander was very upset, worse than usual and I could not stand it, so I rescued him. At least we are down to only nursing at night, for awhile it seemed like we would never get there. Before Sunday we were down to before bed, then usually 1, 3ish, 5ish and 8ish. Which is a lot, but he did not nurse during the day. It is sort of funny because when he was nursing all the time I remember thinking that I could not wait to be done with this and now that he only nurses once I don't know that I am ready. Like I figured he has not missed the paci at all. Maybe he does and he just cannot vocalize it, but he does not act like he misses it. He is more of a blankie guy anyway and I figured it would be easier to do it now then wait until he is older and more attached to it.

My girlie-girl has been really into lip gloss, purses and anything girlie right now. So when we are at the store she always asks to pick something out and depending on the day we let her. (I am trying to teach her that she does not always get something every time we go to the store but that is an entirely different post.) Lately she has been choosing these little make-up bags only they are full of the plastic make-up. Which is actually good, only I wanted her to be able to play with the real stuff as well, so I pointed out that she could get a little box full of make-up. It had lip gloss, lipstick, eyeshadow, rings, earrings, brushes and nail polish...everything a little girl could want. When we got home that night she put some on and was so happy to have her own make-up. Shortly after it was bath time so we cleaned her up and put her to bed. I meant to move the make-up somewhere high so she would not see it in the morning, but I forgot. So of course first thing in the morning she wanted to put her make-up on. I obliged and she put her eyeshadow on and some lip gloss. She was gorgeous. Then we spend all day working around the house and I forgot all about the make-up. Until bath time when I went to wash her up and noticed that her eyes were all red and a little swollen. I do not know if it was from wearing the make-up all day, or if it was from being outside around the mulch, but her little eyes were red. She looked pretty awful, I almost wish I would have taken a picture just to post it here, but I did not. We gave her some benadryl, but they were still a little red this morning. Needless to say the make-up went in the trash just to be safe....plus now I do not have to worry about her getting into it when I am not around...BONUS!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After seven LONG months of cute husband being gone, he is finally home. In case you were wondering, he has actually been home for almost two weeks now, but still he's home. As the time drew near there was much to be done. The most important thing was getting all our junk packed up and ready to make the long trip back to NC. I was so stressed out about that, anyone who knows my son knows that it is not possible to get anything done when he is awake. He is in constant motion and always getting into something. You can't leave him alone for more than two minutes as that is the window of opportunity for him. However, I did manage to get everything packed, somewhat organized and ready to go. Thankfully, my parents went with me for the long drive so that I would not have to try to do it on my own. It was sort of a bittersweet end to our time in OH, as we do not know what the future holds for us. That could very well have been the last time that we were up there for that long of a period. On the other hand my husband was coming home, so that excitement outweighed the sadness. We split the drive up over two days and the kids did surprisingly well.

We arrived in NC on a Saturday and cute husband was coming home the following Friday, less than a week to get all of our junk, I mean stuff unpacked and to make signs for Daddy. Luckily my parents stayed through Tuesday giving me a little help with both. The kids loved making the signs....well Hannah did, Alex did not get to get too close to them. We made two big sheets for Daddy, the one pictured above that we hung on base and the other (that I do not have a digital picture of) we hung on our porch. We also made a couple of smaller signs, one for at the end of the road, one for in the yard and one for on the stroller. There were quite a few hung on base and a couple really creative ones. My mom and my favorite was one that said Iraq: 120 degree, our bedroom 1,000 degrees. Welcome to the heat! We laughed for days over that one.

By this point Hannah was getting very excited about the idea that Daddy would be home soon. I had explained to Hannah that Grandma and Grandpa were driving us to NC and they would stay with us for four nights, then when they left we would have three nights left until Daddy came home. I think that in her three year old mind she took this to mean that the sooner Grandma and Grandpa left the sooner Daddy would be home. Everyday she asked them if they were leaving, when they would say no she would say "Yes, I want you to go and my Daddy to come." It was a little bit cute and a little bit sad at the same time. Anyway, Daddy's plane was scheduled to land at 11:15, then they had two hours of processing and we could see them at 1:15. Unfortunately their plane was delayed...of course and they did not land until 1:15, meaning we could not see them until 3:15. I had struggled for days with what time we should arrive on base. After all I had two children and I did not want to end up sitting there for two hours with two crazy kids running around. At the same time I did not want them to end up being there early and us missing him. So, I decided I would leave my house at 2:00, planning on getting there around 2:15; only an hour to waste.We were in no hurry and kind of took our time, I dropped off some videos, got gas, got Hannah something to drink at McDonalds, and then went to the designated area. When I unloaded the kids it was 2:30, and I was like great, what am I going to do for 45 minutes? By the time I got the kids in the stroller, the sign attached and over to the homecoming reception the guys sea bags were already unloaded and sorted. Hmmm, maybe we wouldn't have to wait long after all. I took a few pictures of the kids waiting, took some video and the buses were pulling up. What?! It was not even 2:45!

I actually sort of ignored my husband and video taped Hannah's expression as he walked up. She was so excited and she jumped right into his arms. Alex was a little wary but went right to him as well. In fact it did not take him long to warm up to this guy called Daddy. As you can imagine, Hannah was Daddy's little shadow for quite a few days. She would even sit in the bathroom while he took a shower. She was worried he was going to go back to "Myraq" and kept asking about it. I explained over and over that he would just be going to work on base and would be home for lunch and then home for supper and to spend the night. I think she understands although she will still ask sometimes if he is working in "Myraq". We are somewhat adjusted to being "married" again, now if he could just find a job we would be all set.

So much to do....such little time

I have not had much time to get online lately....there are so many posts swirling around in my head right now. I just need to make the time to get online and do something about it. For now I will leave you with a video of Zander walking on the beach. I just love it when babies are learning to walk, they look so cute toddling along.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

My dear sweet baby boy, it does not seem possible that you are already a year old! It seems like it has just been a blink of an eye and already you have grown and changed so much. You are such an easy going little man, so happy and full of laughs. It does not take much to make you laugh. You have such a love for your sister, it is evident in the way you light up in the morning when you see her and in the way you follow her around throughout the day. All of the sudden you have turned into quite the little monkey. You climb on anything that you can find, just today I have had to get you down from the little rocker (many times), the fireplace ledge, the fish tank ledge, your sister's doll bed, a step stool and I'm sure there are more! You are so busy....always getting into something, finding the one thing in a room full of toys that you should not have! Not to mention the fact that everything goes straight into your mouth. Right now you love peek-a-boo, you just laugh and laugh at that game. You also love the water and taking a bath, in fact you try to climb into the tub whenever you get the chance. You have taken to milk quite well, although you still prefer your mommy's milk and are quite boisterous in making it known. You cry and throw your head around trying to make your point known.
You are an amazing little boy, with an amazing personality. It has been so much fun watching you grow these past 12 months. I am excited to continue on this journey with you and I hope that the joy that you have now stays with you as you grow. You are my baby, and I am so thankful for the blessing of your life. Happy birthday little man!