I am grateful!

When Ian first began learning to roll well (around 5 months) - I should also note that he was also recovering from being sick with Croup - he began to wake up in the middle of the night again. I understand that he will go through phases but I was really frustrated with his night waking because there wasn't much I could do to help him. Of course, when he was ill, I fed him when he woke up because he wasn't eating much, but once he got his appetite back and was eating, ahem, three meals of baby food a day and 35-40 ounces of formula a day on top of that I felt that it was OK to expect him to go throughout the night without eating and that he really needed to learn to go back to sleep on his own. It took him a good week to two weeks to work through this (much longer than Melody). When he woke, I would make sure he was ok, try to give him his paci, and pat his back and check on him every 5 minutes or so, tell him I love him and that it's time to go to sleep, and then listen to him cry through it which a couple nights lasted for an hour (again, much longer than Melody every cried). But I feel that I can safely say that it worked. (please, just because I said it, don't make it not true, please please lol)

For a week at least now (2 weeks I think!), he's been sleeping through the night again, the longest waking being long enough for me to replace his paci. But the greatest thing that has come of this is that he sometimes stays awake through his nighttime bottle and then play with us a little more. Then when I can tell that he is tired, I lay him on his tummy in his crib, give him is paci, and his lovey (either his bear or his little hippo blanket/plush that his aunt beth got him) - and he doesn't move from that position and he doesn't cry - he just goes to sleep!

So...I am grateful. I think we are off to a great start with healthy sleeping habits.

...and since he went to bed right after dinner (at 7pm) I'm hopeful that his good habits will continue until at least 6am...please?

I have a lot to share!

1) Melody's girl scout troop had their end of year celebration. They also had a sleepover, had donuts for breakfast, and went to McDonalds for lunch. Just imagine, fifteen 7-8 year-old girls in the playroom at McDonalds...yeah, next year is going to have to be outside I think or at least a bigger venue. The bear she "built" is soooo her. She named it "Sunny". Sunny is sporting a swimsuit, goggles, and a surfboard.




2) Melody's last day of 2nd grade was Thursday. She got excellent grade - all above 95%. She is ready for summer, but already has the 3rd grade sparkle in her eyes lol. She's been eyeing the school supply list that the school sent home and has been working through some leftover workbook pages like crazy!
By the way, the school did receive one of her library books back from the Boys and Girls Club - they found it and sent it to the school. I got a little bit of my money back. I'm just waiting for her to ask for her tv back. (She isn't getting it back because SHE didn't find the book. B&GC did.

3) I got up at 4:30am on Friday to go to the shareholders meeting and had a lot of fun. Miley Cyrus was there as was Ben Stiller, Michael Jordan, Kris Allen, and Smokey Robinson. Here are some pictures.

MILEY CYRUS & BEN STILLER & MICHAEL JORDAN

KRIS ALLEN!

SMOKEY ROBINSON

And then Kris joined Smokey on stage!

3) Tony, Melody, Ian and I went to the park Friday evening. It was a nice evening and it was nice to get out a little as a family. Melody had fun on the monkey bars, Ian gave the swing a try, but it turns out he was sleepy. After that, we went to dinner at Zaxbys! Here are some pictures from the park...enjoy!

4)Mr. Ian has been working on crawling. He tries sooo hard! He screams and gets mad when he can't get where he wants to go. But he's getting close! My prediction? Within a month, we'll be chasing a crawler! Oh golly I gotta find a baby gate! Oh, and by the way, he lifted his arms, and was up on his knees 4 times this weekend. Couldn't get that on camera, but I did get some cute pictures. I was trying to upload a video as well but it's taking too long so I'll try to get it on here in a day or two.

I don't think I left anything else picture worthy out. I have a horribly busy day tomorrow so I better get to bed. I hope everyone has a good week. I am hoping that since I went to work today, I will be able to take a day off sometime this week.

3am...waaaahhh, waaaahhhh

3:15am Mr. Ian is awake. He is screaming. He's been awake for an hour. He screams if I hold him, he screams laying down. No fever, maybe a little gassy. I gave him tylenol for any teething pain he may have. He most definitely wants a bottle but I am thinking he just wants it so he can go back to sleep peacefully when the fact is, he has slept through the night without it before so I think he can go back to sleep without it now. Going to check and console...

3:20am Paci is back in, he's got a cute snuggly teddy bear which honestly helps to keep the paci in and arms occupied, and he is quiet. So lets see how long he stays that way.

I wanted to post earlier anyway because I took the kids to the park today. I have some really cute pictures that I'll post while I see if he is going to stay quiet. 3:22am and its still quiet. Uploading pictures now...







3:24am all is quiet and I am glad I got on to share these pictures. I love my kids and after this long hour of screaming it is good to see a picture of Mr. Ian smiling. Another note...can you believe Melody has slept through his screaming? It shouldn't surprise me as she too cried it out at Ian's age and has developed very good sleeping habits.

Golly its 3:26am and he is still quiet. I should let you all in on a little development update on Ian. He is rolling now!! Now, I've known for awhile that he was quite capable from rolling from his stomach to his back because he's been doing that for awhile (there is a video earlier in the blog), and I have had a suspicion that he could roll from his back to his stomach but that he just didn't have any motivation. Well folks, he must have found some motivation because he's been all over the living room this weekend just a rolling. He did it for the first time on Saturday and it amazes me how far he can get by rolling. Gonna have to purchase that baby gate soon.

3:30am... still quiet. I should think about going to lay down since I have to be at work in 4 hours which means I should get up in 2 1/2 hours. I hope that you enjoy the pictures from the park. They are so cute. Ian really did enjoy that swing, and Melody enjoyed swinging beside him even though her bottom didn't fit in that baby swing at all lol.

Well, I think we have successfully cried it out and it really only took an hour and 1/2. Hopefully I won't be back tonight.

It's been awhile...

Wow what an interesting month it's been.

Ian started veggies about a month ago and then moved onto fruit and he's done well with everything. I even mashed up bananas instead of buying the jarred ones so I was proud of myself. He likes everything and is a good eater (when he isn't sick).

My mom came to visit two weekends ago. That was fun. She met Mr. Ian. He was cute and cuddly and was a good boy.

Right after she left, Ian got sick, and then a week later Tony didn't feel good and then I got it and finally Melody is recovering (she's had a fever since Thursday). Whatever we had is awful, sore throat, nausea, sinus problems, fever - I don't think I ever before had sore throat and nausea in the same day. I took Ian to the doctor and he gave him some oral steroid medication to help him get over it quickly. Those steroids made him one cranky boy! The cold medicine he gave made him fussy too. So, I am glad to be telling that virus good bye!

This weekend we were supposed to have friends over on Friday night and had a sitter arranged for Saturday we have ended up home all weekend because Melody was running a fever. After missing my Mother's Day dinner and then our plans falling through for this weekend, next weekend better work out or I'll be really cranky!!

OK so now that I'm done complaining, I did rent a couple good movies on Friday. I rented The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Last Chance Harvey and Bedtime Stories (this one was more for Melody than me) and I like them all especially Benjamin Button. I also found some wonderful Kettlecorn Popcorn at Wal-Mart - it tasted fresh and better than that stuff you pop in the microwave. I love Kettlecorn!

Sooo now what you've all been waiting for (well you have, you just didn't know it), here is a video of me and Mr. Ian. I am being a total dork but the payoff is worth it - Ian is laughing and giggling and I think this is as close to a belly laugh as he'll come.



And here is the latest and greatest cute photos of the kids...

Ian is officially mobile!! (shhhh I don't think he knows yet)

Well he finally figured it out! I really thought we were going to be past 4 months before this happened just because he is so big but he's already out to prove me wrong which is just fine. I'm a proud mommy!!



And here are some pictures, too.




The last one is his new toy that has been a huge hit!

On another note, I got to go out with some friends last night for a bachelorette party. It was fun to get out. We went to a nice dinner at Bordinos then to Willy D's! Then to top it off, Ian and I took a 4 hour nap this afternoon. Yay!

Hands for desert!

So Ian is enjoying his nightly serving of cereal. Tonight, he thought that his hands would make the perfect desert!

Melody is going to spend the day with Ian tomorrow at Kim's (our childcare provider) - it was so nice of her to invite Melody over for the day. Lets hope Ian sleeps well past 3:30am tomorrow and my sore throat goes away by morning.

He's a natural!

So Ian had 28 ounces by the time I picked him up from the babysitter's for the 2nd time this week. I gave him 6 more ounces at 7pm. Then by 8pm he was fussing again. So I decided to try some rice cereal - I totally expected it to not go well, but it turns out it was just what he wanted. I was so proud of him - he was using his tongue correctly and even cooing and smiling throughout it all. He ate two spoonfuls of rice cereal with an ounce of formula mixed in. Here's some pictures!

a few thoughts...

Well, we had Melody's parent teacher conferences tonight. She's doing really well. Her grades are all A's, most are above 95%, she's "really come out of her shell" and is just a joy to have in class. I feel bad for being all over her about her AR goal - apparently all of the kids were behind because of the week of school they missed due to the ice. Her teacher says she is very independent and keeps track of things on her own. This shouldn't surprise me though because she does the same at home except for keeping on top of her room which I can't do either so oh well. There's more to life than a clean room right? lol Her reading level is well ahead of where she should be and that is awesome.

Ian is sleeping really well these days (knock on wood). He goes to bed between 9pm and 10pm and sleeps until between 6am and 7am. Now it seems I can't get to work when I should be (7:30am). I can't decide whether to just make my arrival time 8am and be done with it or keep trying for 7:30am. Ugh who knows. I usually get up at 6 and between feeding him, burping him (which takes FOREVER), and me getting a shower and getting ready, I don't leave until 7:30. I used to get up at 6:45 and be out the door at 7:10 - this means he's adding an extra hour to my morning. And I don't want to get up at 5:30am (whine!!!). Did I mention Tony has slept until 6:45 all week and is at work by 7:30am ?? Whats up with that? (eye roll here)

I am thinking about getting Melody and Ian's picture's taken at Penny's soon. Ian is finally smiling regularly so I feel like I can get some good shots.

And, I end this post with something funny someone on my forum posted - I think its funny:

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on.
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX),Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated,

'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash........
Twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again be cause none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off

PS - I'd like to add that when all else fails, you could call 'customer service' in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!!!!

Ian is 12 weeks old!

I can't believe we've made it to 12 weeks. This means I've been back at work as long as I was on leave which is crazy to comprehend. He celebrated by going to bed early so I guess I should do the same. I would have gone to bed at 9 when he did, believe me I was tired enough, but ER is wrapping up for good and they had an episode with a lot of the old people on it like Ross, Benton, Carter, and Hathaway - it was really neat to see where they ended up after all this time.

So happy 12 weeks to Ian. What's he doing at 12 weeks? Smiling when he isn't being serious, a few giggles if tickled at the right time, sleeping through the night, eating 30 ounces of formula daily 4-6 ounces at a time, trying his hardest to sit up, has good neck control, and still loves to cuddle!

Another first...

I was tickling Ian this evening and he giggled! It was sooo cute! He only did it once but I'm sure there are many more to come. So sweet...

Ian has a new trick!

Ian no longer desires laying on his back all day. He has discovered those arm and shoulder muscles!! Check out his new trick!

He must have done this at least 25 times, if not more, tonight. And he was just getting a kick out of it. I even made him practice grabbing onto my fingers to pull himself up - and he found my fingers most of the time, I just had to tighten his grip a little. I credit all this exercise for getting him to bed by 10pm...

So tomorrow morning, we should all be up by 6am, unlike this morning...yeah we slept til 7, dumb clocks.

Ian and his mobile and Melody!!!

Ian has decided that he likes his mobile! He finally took time to look at it! I am actually in his room with him right now while he watches it go round and round.

And Melody had crazy hair day at school today. She just wanted 3 ponytails but I pretty much forced her to wear all the hair clips too. She wasn't too sure about it this morning but tells me she got 3rd place amongst her friends and was happy she actually did wear them all after she got home.

Tummy time is fun!!

Ok here are some pictures of Mr. Ian enjoying tummy time this evening.

Check out his hip coming off the ground in the picture above!!

He is growing stronger each and every day. Here are some more pictures from the last couple days...One of me and Ian and one of Ian just chillin' out.

the weekend and a hypothesis

Well, the weekend was a different one for us. We decided to do our weekly shopping on Saturday which resulted in a much less stressful Sunday. Why shop on Saturday? Because stuff is more in stock, except for the Lean Cuisine meal that I'm attached to that I cannot find anywhere. The weekend was a little rough though - Mr. Ian has become a spitter upper even more so on this new formula. I'm glad he's spitting it up instead of swallowing it but geez I feel like I am always on the defense! lol But tonight, I decided to try something different. I noticed that his sitter has been heating his bottles up for him and she has also not been complaining of spit up sooo I tried it tonight and have been rather pleased with the results. I will keep trying and see if it lasts. It always seems as soon as I say it out loud or, in this case, type it, I am wrong. I am hoping this time I am right. And I am wondering why warm formula would make a difference...why oh why?

The best part of today came at 3pm. I was watching a movie and Ian seemed sleepy so we laid on the couch and both took a 3 hour nap!! I am so happy he sleeps so well with me - it is amazing that it doesn't bother me and that I sleep well with him too. He's just a cuddler. Now, its nearly 11, he's in bed and I'm up doing laundry but I will go to bed as soon as I can hang up my work clothes.

The reasons I am happy!

-Four years ago, I started credit counseling to get rid of my credit card debt. I thought I had another year left, but found out earlier this week that I have paid all of my credit cards off and will now have that money to put towards some other bills! Yay!
-For over a year now, my washing machine has sounded like a jet engine during the spin cycle. Had someone take a look at it a few months ago, said it would cost up to $700 to fix it. Well I only spent $400 on it, so no. With our tax money, we purchased a new washing machine yesterday. It is going to be delivered tomorrow. Unfortunately, Sunday is laundry day so we are listening to our jet engine throughout the day today but fortunately, it is the last day that I have to listen to it. Yay!
- Little Ian just doesn't sleep well for naps. He wakes himself up a lot. Well, I finally broke down and bought him a swing. Its a portable one, and he seems to like it. Maybe it will help him nap better on the weekends. Yay! Here's a picture.

A great day with one exception

So today is Ian's two month birthday! He had a two month check up which included the one exception, shots. He is 14lbs 8oz (100th percentile for his age group) and 24 inches long (90th percentile for his age group). His shots made him cry, of course, but his was quickly comforted with a bottle. He seems to be feeling pretty good right now so maybe he isn't feeling too much pain. Oh, and they gave him the rotovirus oral vaccine and he just sucked it right out of the dropper, no fight whatsoever. I'm going to have to hide the medicine from this kid because he does the same with his amoxicillin and his Tylenol that he's been taking for his ear infection.

He also started at his new sitter today which honestly was just a dream! The lady is sooo organized and her house is really clean. Her name is Kim and I really feel so lucky to have found her. The best part is that she already seems to just love Ian. Melody's babysitter when she was little had this look in her eye when she talked about Melody's day and Kim had that same look today when I picked him up - it was a look of love and that makes me feel so much better about going to work everyday. He is safe and loved and that's as much as I can ask for.

So can a day get better? Oh, yes it can!! I needed more sleepers in size 3/6 months for Ian so I stopped by Kohls on my way home and some on sale at for $6 (normally $12) so I bought 4! They are cute and should get us through the rest of the cold weather. Maybe I'll post a picture of them soon.

Then I got home, and I had a refund check in the mail from my credit counseling agency. It turns out that all of my accounts have been paid off. I seriously thought that I had another year of payments. Surprise! I'm done! One less bill to pay each month and a little more money put towards the others and to go out everyonce in awhile without worrying about money.

And now, to add to a great day, I've made my first post on my blog. Something that I hope to continue regularly. Yay for great days!