For some reason Emmett woke up at 5:15 Tuesday morning. I heard him crying through the monitor so I went in to see what was wrong because he almost never wakes up before 8:00. I thought maybe he had lost his pacifier, which is usually the only reason he fusses anymore. When I opened the door he was standing up in his crib holding his pacifier, so that wasn't it. I got him out and considered changing his diaper, but decided not to because I didn't want to wake him up any further than he already was. I sat down with him in the glider and rocked him for a while. His eyes closed right away and he seemed to be asleep. I held him for a while longer just to make sure and he seemed out. But then when I tried to stand up he started crying again. So I sat back down and we rocked a while longer. Finally about 6:00 he was really out so I laid him down and went back to bed. I was hoping to get maybe 2 more hours of sleep because I don't have to get up until 8:00 to get ready for work. Well I managed to get back to sleep but woke again to the sound of Emmett crying at 6:23. I went back in and this time I went ahead and changed his diaper. I settled back in the glider with him again and we rocked until about 7:00 when Chris left for work. I held him until I heard the garage door close and then attempted to put him down again. Well this time after I laid him down he just stood up and whined. So I carried him to my bed to see if he would maybe just lay down with me for a while. Well that didn't work, and I wasn't surprised because bringing him into our bed has never worked for E. So we got up. I let him run around our bedroom while I got ready for work. He was driving me crazy getting into everything. Usually I leave him in his crib happily talking to himself while I get ready, but that wasn't an option that morning. I finally managed to get make-up on, my hair done, and myself dressed in between saving various items from being thrown in the toilet and keeping the toilet paper on the roll. We were done with breakfast before Nana even got there to watch him for the day. It was a long morning. When I got to work I got myself a Mt. Dew (no matter how hard I try, I still can't drink coffee) and that perked me up just enough to be nice to members on the phone. Needless to say, my sales were not up to par that day.
But last night he fell asleep fast, a little after 9:00 and slept until 8:00 this morning. Now that's a typical night for us. Am I really ready to do the newborn thing all over again? I must admit it scares me slightly. Nights like that made me a little crazy. And if there's two, what if they both wake up at night? Oh my. Yeah, I think I can wait a few more months to start trying again.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Living for today
Woke up this morning and the weather was beautiful. So I decided Emmett and I would get around and go to the park. We got dressed and sunscreened and we were out the door. I'm so glad I found this closer playground than the others we had been frequenting. It just doesn't make sense to drive 15 minutes across town just to play for an hour and a half or less. Usually that's all the time we have in the morning by the time we get up, eat breakfast, and get around to leave the house.
Emmett and I had a good time. We climbed, we slid, we swang, we walked, we ran. Emmett snacked on some raisins (which are probably his favorite food right now) and drank some water. There was another family there, a couple with 2 year old twins, a boy and a girl. They were so cute, but just watching them made me appreciate having just one. There are moments that I strongly consider stopping with one. But I want to experience it all one more time. And I loved having a brother (most of the time) when I was growing up and I love having a brother now. Of course if my parents had decided to stop with one, I wouldn't exist to know what life would have been like as an only child.
But that family at the park today really put things into perspective for me. Lately I had been getting caught up with worrying about how we will ever be able to afford to have another baby. I worry so much about the future sometimes that I forget to be happy with what I have now. These days that Emmett and I spend together just the two of us are precious because it won't always be like this. And these days as a little family of three are precious too. I love eating dinner together at the kitchen table every night and I enjoy the rare occasions that we go out to eat. I love sitting on the couch with Emmett in between us reading books or watching Wheel of Fortune. I love giving him a bath together and reading him a bedtime story. Last night I was wondering out loud with Chris about what we used to do with our time before we had Emmett. Its like I can't even remember what life was like without him. But I do know one thing, life is much much better with him!
Emmett and I had a good time. We climbed, we slid, we swang, we walked, we ran. Emmett snacked on some raisins (which are probably his favorite food right now) and drank some water. There was another family there, a couple with 2 year old twins, a boy and a girl. They were so cute, but just watching them made me appreciate having just one. There are moments that I strongly consider stopping with one. But I want to experience it all one more time. And I loved having a brother (most of the time) when I was growing up and I love having a brother now. Of course if my parents had decided to stop with one, I wouldn't exist to know what life would have been like as an only child.
But that family at the park today really put things into perspective for me. Lately I had been getting caught up with worrying about how we will ever be able to afford to have another baby. I worry so much about the future sometimes that I forget to be happy with what I have now. These days that Emmett and I spend together just the two of us are precious because it won't always be like this. And these days as a little family of three are precious too. I love eating dinner together at the kitchen table every night and I enjoy the rare occasions that we go out to eat. I love sitting on the couch with Emmett in between us reading books or watching Wheel of Fortune. I love giving him a bath together and reading him a bedtime story. Last night I was wondering out loud with Chris about what we used to do with our time before we had Emmett. Its like I can't even remember what life was like without him. But I do know one thing, life is much much better with him!
Thursday, May 12, 2011
A good helper
Emmett has finally reached the age where he can sometimes actually help with chores. His favorite seems to be laundry. He will push the laundry basket from the bedroom down the hall to the laundry room and throw some of the clothes into the washer. Sometimes he does this even when its not laundry day, but that's ok. He will help move clothes from the washer to the dryer as well. But most of the time he runs around upstairs between the bedrooms wreaking havoc. But he loves laundry day for that exact reason, because he gets to run around upstairs.
The other day when we got back from our evening family walk we noticed that the tree in our front yard really needed some pruning. Its an ugly tree anyway. We didn't plant it, the contractor who built our house did, and we're considering ripping it out, but the pruning improved it slightly. I was carrying the branches that Chris cut off and throwing them into the back of his truck. Emmett was running around the front yard while this was going on and suddenly decided to pick up some branches himself. He walked over the truck with them and I lifted him up so he could throw them in the back of the truck. He was very pleased with himself, and it was so cute.
Lastly, he has started helping somewhat with putting toys away before naptime. After lunch I let him play for a little while to let his food settle before nap (to be honest, its so he can poop before nap because he usually does, haha). He helped me put the mega blocks back in the bag and also helped put some of his toys in his toy box. And a couple of smaller things, he wipes his own face if I hand him the washcloth and he wipes his own nose if you hand him a tissue. He doesn't do a very good job mind you, and he moves his head back and forth instead of the tissue or washcloth, but the effort is what counts. And lately during diaper changes I will let him play with a wipe so that he will lay still, and he will try and wipe himself (a good start for potty training!) So if we can continue on this road I think he will be a good helper by the time we are ready for another baby. Yay!
The other day when we got back from our evening family walk we noticed that the tree in our front yard really needed some pruning. Its an ugly tree anyway. We didn't plant it, the contractor who built our house did, and we're considering ripping it out, but the pruning improved it slightly. I was carrying the branches that Chris cut off and throwing them into the back of his truck. Emmett was running around the front yard while this was going on and suddenly decided to pick up some branches himself. He walked over the truck with them and I lifted him up so he could throw them in the back of the truck. He was very pleased with himself, and it was so cute.
Lastly, he has started helping somewhat with putting toys away before naptime. After lunch I let him play for a little while to let his food settle before nap (to be honest, its so he can poop before nap because he usually does, haha). He helped me put the mega blocks back in the bag and also helped put some of his toys in his toy box. And a couple of smaller things, he wipes his own face if I hand him the washcloth and he wipes his own nose if you hand him a tissue. He doesn't do a very good job mind you, and he moves his head back and forth instead of the tissue or washcloth, but the effort is what counts. And lately during diaper changes I will let him play with a wipe so that he will lay still, and he will try and wipe himself (a good start for potty training!) So if we can continue on this road I think he will be a good helper by the time we are ready for another baby. Yay!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Long time, no post = long post
Easter was good this year. We spent the weekend at Chris's parents' house. I missed Emmett finding his Easter basket because I was in the bathroom. Boy did that make me mad. But I was told he saw his Sponge Bob first and ran over and picked it up and said, "Bob Bob" as he calls him. That was definitely his favorite Easter present. We attempted an Easter Egg hunt but Emmet wasn't interested. He ignored the eggs we put in the grass and picked up rocks out of the flower bed around the pool. That boy loves rocks. He spends the majority of his outside time hunting rocks. He even picks them out of the dirt with fingers. Maybe we have a future geologist on our hands.
The Tuesday after Easter we headed to my parents' house in VA. We spent Tuesday night there and then got up Wednesday morning and headed to PA to my grandparent's house (my mom's parents). The drive was 4 hours and Emmett did really well. He only slept about 40 minutes of the trip but he was very good and barely fussed at all. It helped that we rode with my parents so my mom and I were in the back seat with him to help entertain him. He loved my grandparents' house which is out in the woods. He wanted to go trapesing out into the woods but he we had to reign him back in, mostly to keep him out of poison ivy. He loves being outside. Fortunately the weather was nice that afternoon. Emmett didn't really sleep all that well that night. The first time I put him down he slept about 40 minutes and woke up crying. I had to rock him back to sleep but he stayed down after that until waking up at 5:30 the next morning. I don't know why he was up so early. But we were all sleeping in one big open space in the basement and I know at least 3 out of 4 of the adults snore. So when he woke up and realized he was not alone in the room, he decided to get up and see what was going on. Then he decided to poop, so we had to change his diaper. I attempted to rock him back to sleep and I thought I had him out around 7:00 (and by that time, what's the point, right?) but when I tried to lay him down he woke up. So that was a long day.
When we got up it was raining so we were cooped up in the house all morning until it was time to head out to my Aunt's house to visit my dad's side of the family, about 3 hours away. Most of dad's side of the family live in the same town within just a few miles of each other. We stayed at my Aunt Pat's house because she has the most rooms and beds. There was a time when we all would have stayed at my grandparents' house. But Grandpa died the summer of 2000 and after that my Grandma moved into her own double-wide modular home that would have been too small for all of us anyway. But now Grandma is in an assisted living home because of the health issues she has had as a result of brain cancer. She had brain tumors removed a few years ago and she was cancer free, however she wasn't able to make it through chemo. They told her that if she wasn't able to complete chemo that there was a good chance the cancer would come back. She said she wouldn't go through any more chemo, if the cancer came back it was just her time and she was ready. Well the tumors are growing back. So the main purpose of the trip was to take Emmett to meet his Great Grandma while she is still here. He did really well considering. He didn't like being cooped up in her little room in the home. And he wouldn't sit on her lap because he doesn't like to sit on anyone's lap, he wants to be moving all the time. Unfortunately we weren't able to get any good pictures of them together. We visited her twice over the few days we were up there and she seemed to enjoy it, even though she isn't always very aware of things anymore. I had to deal with the fact that it may be the last time I will see her and possibly the only time Emmett will ever see her. I'm not sure I have really dealt with those feelings yet.
Emmett did get to meet his other cousins, my cousins' kids. There were so many kids running around my Aunt LuAnn's house, I almost went crazy. Here's the aproximate age dynamic: Reagan 5 or 6, Landon 4, Saydee 3, Carmondy 2 or 3, and Allyson 11 months. He loved seeing baby Ally because he finally wasn't the youngest. He kept pointing to her and saying "beebee". And its amazing how tiring it is to chase him around other people's houses that aren't baby proof like ours is. He and I were both ready for bed every night and he slept really well at my Aunt's house.
We headed home on Saturday and decided just to drive the whole 7 hours back to my parents' house rather than stopping again at my grandparents' house due to the bad night he had there. I wasn't sure how he would handle being in the car that long, but he surprised me again by being really good. He slept pretty well, I think two different times for maybe an hour or more each time, so that helped. That was officially our longest car trip with him and we were pleasantly surprised. Our trip to the beach Memorial Day weekend, only 4.5 hours, should be a peach.
So, Emmett has learned some new words recently. I mentioned before that he says baby, which sounds more like "beebee" but he knows what it means. He says it whenever we are out and he sees a baby. If I tell him to go get his baby he will find his doll and bring it to me. If he even hears me or Chris say the word baby he will go get his baby and bring it to us. He gives the baby kisses too, its so cute. He still says cheese, but its still missing the s on the end, so its just "chee". When I ask him to say please, and I have to say it twice, please please, he will say "peepee". He says Dada on command but usually won't say Mama. And he knows shoe. That one he says exactly right. I think that one is sheer motivation, because getting his shoes on means we're going outside. He's branching out some with food. He likes macaroni and cheese. He loves tater tots. And he will eat chicken nuggets now, which makes it so much easier to feed him when we're out. We ate at Chick-fil-A the other night and it just happened to be kids eat free night so he got a 4 piece nuggets and ate almost all of them. He ate his entire fruit cup that came with it and drank half his little milk jug. We continue to offer him most of whatever we're eating (within reason, nothing too spicy or fatty or sugary...wish I could hold myself to the same standards) and sometimes he will eat it and sometimes he won't. He doesn't care for anything with tomato sauce so far, which is the majority of what I eat. But I have heard a lot of kids are that way at first and they start to like tomato later on, its such a strong flavor. He's a really good eater though, I'm fortunate not to have to worry about that.
I could talk about Emmett all day, but I will end this for now because its long enough. I will try to be better about posting, its just difficult that I can't even touch the computer when E is awake because he just wants to pound the keys. Love him to pieces though :)
The Tuesday after Easter we headed to my parents' house in VA. We spent Tuesday night there and then got up Wednesday morning and headed to PA to my grandparent's house (my mom's parents). The drive was 4 hours and Emmett did really well. He only slept about 40 minutes of the trip but he was very good and barely fussed at all. It helped that we rode with my parents so my mom and I were in the back seat with him to help entertain him. He loved my grandparents' house which is out in the woods. He wanted to go trapesing out into the woods but he we had to reign him back in, mostly to keep him out of poison ivy. He loves being outside. Fortunately the weather was nice that afternoon. Emmett didn't really sleep all that well that night. The first time I put him down he slept about 40 minutes and woke up crying. I had to rock him back to sleep but he stayed down after that until waking up at 5:30 the next morning. I don't know why he was up so early. But we were all sleeping in one big open space in the basement and I know at least 3 out of 4 of the adults snore. So when he woke up and realized he was not alone in the room, he decided to get up and see what was going on. Then he decided to poop, so we had to change his diaper. I attempted to rock him back to sleep and I thought I had him out around 7:00 (and by that time, what's the point, right?) but when I tried to lay him down he woke up. So that was a long day.
When we got up it was raining so we were cooped up in the house all morning until it was time to head out to my Aunt's house to visit my dad's side of the family, about 3 hours away. Most of dad's side of the family live in the same town within just a few miles of each other. We stayed at my Aunt Pat's house because she has the most rooms and beds. There was a time when we all would have stayed at my grandparents' house. But Grandpa died the summer of 2000 and after that my Grandma moved into her own double-wide modular home that would have been too small for all of us anyway. But now Grandma is in an assisted living home because of the health issues she has had as a result of brain cancer. She had brain tumors removed a few years ago and she was cancer free, however she wasn't able to make it through chemo. They told her that if she wasn't able to complete chemo that there was a good chance the cancer would come back. She said she wouldn't go through any more chemo, if the cancer came back it was just her time and she was ready. Well the tumors are growing back. So the main purpose of the trip was to take Emmett to meet his Great Grandma while she is still here. He did really well considering. He didn't like being cooped up in her little room in the home. And he wouldn't sit on her lap because he doesn't like to sit on anyone's lap, he wants to be moving all the time. Unfortunately we weren't able to get any good pictures of them together. We visited her twice over the few days we were up there and she seemed to enjoy it, even though she isn't always very aware of things anymore. I had to deal with the fact that it may be the last time I will see her and possibly the only time Emmett will ever see her. I'm not sure I have really dealt with those feelings yet.
Emmett did get to meet his other cousins, my cousins' kids. There were so many kids running around my Aunt LuAnn's house, I almost went crazy. Here's the aproximate age dynamic: Reagan 5 or 6, Landon 4, Saydee 3, Carmondy 2 or 3, and Allyson 11 months. He loved seeing baby Ally because he finally wasn't the youngest. He kept pointing to her and saying "beebee". And its amazing how tiring it is to chase him around other people's houses that aren't baby proof like ours is. He and I were both ready for bed every night and he slept really well at my Aunt's house.
We headed home on Saturday and decided just to drive the whole 7 hours back to my parents' house rather than stopping again at my grandparents' house due to the bad night he had there. I wasn't sure how he would handle being in the car that long, but he surprised me again by being really good. He slept pretty well, I think two different times for maybe an hour or more each time, so that helped. That was officially our longest car trip with him and we were pleasantly surprised. Our trip to the beach Memorial Day weekend, only 4.5 hours, should be a peach.
So, Emmett has learned some new words recently. I mentioned before that he says baby, which sounds more like "beebee" but he knows what it means. He says it whenever we are out and he sees a baby. If I tell him to go get his baby he will find his doll and bring it to me. If he even hears me or Chris say the word baby he will go get his baby and bring it to us. He gives the baby kisses too, its so cute. He still says cheese, but its still missing the s on the end, so its just "chee". When I ask him to say please, and I have to say it twice, please please, he will say "peepee". He says Dada on command but usually won't say Mama. And he knows shoe. That one he says exactly right. I think that one is sheer motivation, because getting his shoes on means we're going outside. He's branching out some with food. He likes macaroni and cheese. He loves tater tots. And he will eat chicken nuggets now, which makes it so much easier to feed him when we're out. We ate at Chick-fil-A the other night and it just happened to be kids eat free night so he got a 4 piece nuggets and ate almost all of them. He ate his entire fruit cup that came with it and drank half his little milk jug. We continue to offer him most of whatever we're eating (within reason, nothing too spicy or fatty or sugary...wish I could hold myself to the same standards) and sometimes he will eat it and sometimes he won't. He doesn't care for anything with tomato sauce so far, which is the majority of what I eat. But I have heard a lot of kids are that way at first and they start to like tomato later on, its such a strong flavor. He's a really good eater though, I'm fortunate not to have to worry about that.
I could talk about Emmett all day, but I will end this for now because its long enough. I will try to be better about posting, its just difficult that I can't even touch the computer when E is awake because he just wants to pound the keys. Love him to pieces though :)
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