Visit from Nana

Last weekend my mom came up for a visit. At first Jack wasn't sure what to think of her. He obviously did not remember her from previous encounters. She quickly won him over and by Sunday he was giving her hugs and his signature heart melting smile. Mom got a few cute pictures of Jack, Kyle, and I before we left for work one morning when we were all wearing blue!

Sleep transition: Epilogue

So if you remember our sleep adventures from previous blogs you will remember what a struggle it has been. After Jack got sick things got really rough at night. For about three and a half weeks I was up every hour or two with Jack and he just could not be appeased. He definitely did not want to sleep with me and would nurse for a minute and then squirm and cry. The only way he seemed to want to sleep was in his carseat or sitting on my lap in our chair in the front room staring at the fire. So I would take him for a drive once or twice a night (usually at 1 and 4 am) and when I was not driving I was sleeping in the chair in the front room. Kyle was seriously worried I was going to have a breakdown. I thought maybe it was related to him being sick so finally I took him in to see his pediatrician and after a thorough examination she said she could not find anything wrong. He was totally fine during the day. Then on Saturday I was thinking about everything and I realized what the problem was. He did not want to sleep with me anymore but did not know how to sleep in his crib. Kyle and I made the decision we were going to let him cry it out and get him in his crib since he wasn’t sleeping with me anyways and it was getting ridiculous at night.
Saturday night he cried for about half an hour initially. We got him up, burped him, we changed him and layed him back down. He cried for 45 minutes! It sucked. Then he fell asleep. He woke up every few hours. If it was around three hours I would feed him and lay him back down. If it was sooner I would pick him up, burp him and lay him back down. The first night he cried it out three times, averaging 20 minutes. The next night he cried it out twice, averaging 15 minutes. The third night he cried it out once for 15 minutes and fussed a few minutes the second time. Last night he cried it out once for about 10 minutes. The woke last night three times for feedings. It is definitely getting better. I am sleeping a lot more and I don’t know what to do with all the sleep!
Anyway – I feel bad Jack was trying to tell me something for almost a month before I got it. Last night he slept a five hour stretch without waking and then in the early morning he sleep three more consecutive hours! YEY!

New Friends

Jack has been entranced by these two large stuffed animals in his room. He will just sit and stare at them and sometimes carry on lengthy conversations with the tiger (see photo).

Football Player

Kyle got Jack a little football to play with and he seems to enjoy it. I had to work late recently so the other picts are of Kyle and Jack Hanging out together (Kyle asked me not to post it... sorry hun it is too cute not to!)

Jack gets a visit from his cousin and friends

What a fun weekend! One of my oldest and dearest friends Starr visited. She brought her clan; Scotlynn, Parker, and baby to be. We had breakfast and visited. Parker is ten months and just a few weeks older than Brooks so they crawled around (mostly making a beeline for the stairs) while Jack observed. Pat, Kim, and Brooks came up for the weekend and we had a blast. We went to the car show and celebrated Kyle's 32nd birthday with a spicy hot chili dinner. Mary made a delicious cake and we topped it all off with ice cream sundaes. The boys paid little attention to each other except during an interaction the last morning when they kissed! They then proceeded to pummel each other, a peek into the future when we are surely going to have some rough housing little guys. Jack didn't know what to make of Brooks's high pitched screams and usually broke out in tears. Interestingly, since their visit Jack has been letting out a few of his own screeches! We got them matching jackets at Carter's and with their matching strollers they were quite the pair. It is so fun to have visitors and we can't wait for Easter when we are having a family get together. Pat is kind of cut off in the group picture - Mary was struggling with the camera. In the other two we have no heads....

My Guys

What a great Dad!

Grandpa Russs & Cheryl

I was told Grandpa Russ and Cheryl visit this site! Just wanted to say hi! Blog sites are not just for those of us with little ones to show off. It would be so neat if the two of you would create a site and start blogging all of your adventures. Plus then you can respond to our blogs. These sites are so easy to do. I have posted a few picts of Jack in his jumper. He loves it and bounces for ages. So thanks guys for the Christmas money used to purchase this great gadget! Love you.