What's with the no nappy?

Today Bright did not have his afternoon nap. All of us suffered at some level for this, even the cat. Something was bugging him. He was really, really clingy and fussy. Maybe it's the molars. In any event I tried everything to get him to sleep and nothing worked- just made him cry. Andy came home a few minutes early and Bright was back to his cheerful self. Hmmm.... Now he's in bed for the night- thank you Andy for putting him down. And we are all on the couch trying to unwind from the day- even the cat.

Andy doesn't think that the cat gets enough (or any, for that matter) mention in my blog, so that's why I have posted the pictures. Tibby (originally Isabelle when we got her from Greenhill) has been with us for 6 years. She is a real piece of work. Moody, playful, unpredictable at best. She has however become Bright's best friend. We refer to her as Kee-kitty for some reason and Bright loves her to pieces. If there's a supreme meltdown in progress one mention of the cat is all it takes to start bringing him down. At first Tibby would run from Bright but now she sticks around and if one of us is holding her, Bright will come up to her and put his head down on her and just stay there all snuggled up in her fur for as long as Tibby will tolerate it. She doesn't seem to mind when he chases her- it may be the only action she gets these days. She a trooper though- rode on 4 planes to get to NY, took a taxi in Oregon, and then an hour in the car to get to my folks place. Yeowled the WHOLE way from 4 am to 1 am that trip. The "triple fish flavored" valium didn't do very much for her. Never again- we promise. Here's to hoping we have many, many years with that cranky, fishy breath, bed hogging old girl!

House Hunt Called Off on Account of Economy

Last night after much mind numbing debate- sorry babe- we decided to just stop looking for a house until I go back to work. We have ample saved for a down payment on a "dump house" as we like to call them, but not ample saved to deal with the fixes and fuel costs associated with said crapper. So we shall be happy with what we have and deal with the nosey neighbors and reduced amount of space. The house hunt was exhausting too. Holy man- I would have to haul Bright around from place to place, hope that he wasn't going to decided to lunge or arch out of my arms while walking down unfamiliar basement steps, hope for no repeat performance of the poo dance we had going a few days ago right before another showing, etc. Plus there was the loss of sleep from worrying about whether or not it was the right thing or being all jazzed up about the so called dream house I had seen. I haven't slept this poorly in months. So nuts to that! We'll stay here and enjoy the lake this summer and Andy can walk to work still while gas prices soar. We have decided to spend some of our George Bush Stimulus package cashola a bit early and just buy stuff to organize our lives instead. Now if only we could just have Bright give us a bit of peace to do that. Life was so much easier before he figured out how to walk. Now he is tall enough to swipe things off the table and counter tops too.

Today is our anniversary- 4 years married. I met Andy in 1998 so I guess this Fall will be 10 years of us being friends and then spouses.

On our wedding April 25, 2004. We got married at Hendricks Park in Eugene, Oregon.

On our honeymoon in Japan- At the Kyoto Hotel right after we were drenched from Typhoon #5 that hit and stranded us there overnight.

First anniversary we went back to the scene of the crime and decided to make the picture there a tradition.

Year 2- same place. Shorter hair for both of us.

Last year with one month old Bright.

Not sure where we will take our picture this year now that we are in New York.

My "monthly bill" has finally arrived after 14 months of nursing. He is down to three times a day. Can't say that not having it for almost 2 full years was a bad thing.... I know TMI...

Bright is napping and I am going to have some ice cream!

The return of the night terror and my son smells like cheese

Yesterday was a wild day and for the record we probably will never do all of those things on the same day ever again. Bright was up at 6:30. We played, went to the Child and Family Resource Center where he played in the ball circle, planted seeds, played in the dirt barrel, and painted. Then back home with a 4 minute put down for a nap by rocking. Yay! Up at 11:45 for lunch with daddy. Then the madness really began. We had an appointment at 1:30 to see to potential houses. So at 12:45 I started to get Bright ready and was thrilled that he had poo-ed since that meant he wouldn't be doing that during our tour. Diaper changed and we were ready- or so I thought. No sooner had I gotten his shoes on did he start making the poo face again. Okay- wait a few minutes, then change him again, right? Sure except this time he wriggled out and took off throughout the apartment with a poo butt running like mad, screetching with glee and stopping every now and then to squat and poo a bit more, on the floor. What a nightmare. How are these kids so damn fast when naked and pooing??? I was trying to catch him, keep clean for the showings, get him cleaned and he was still going... Ugh! All told I think I counted 5 separate places where he left his mark. New outfit, scrubbed floors (thank god it's a rental, as Andy likes to say), new diaper, out the door. Both houses were good, naturally with pluses and minuses. Back home to try for nap. Bright was too revved, so was I. No nap. On to lacrosse game- Andy's college where he teaches vs. my alma mater- I think my team won. Met grampy there stayed for a short time because we had to eat dinner and go back to show Andy the houses at 6:00. Houses both were okay on second viewing. Probably will make an offer on the bigger one with no driveway.... Previous owner never had a car and never had a driveway.Interesting... Then back home where Bright buzzed around like he was on the crack. In bed by 8:30. Us by 10:00. Night terror at 11:00. Very scary to see Bright with eyes rolled back and wailing inconsolably and still be sleeping. Fortunately this was short 3-4 minute one that was solved by some singing of a familiar song right in his ear. Out like a light until 1:00, up for a few minutes. Took him to our bed where he hogged my side for about 10 minutes when I decided to plop him back in his own bed where he slept until 6:30. Phew!

Oh, and his feet stink like cheese today. Like a nice nutty Gruyere.

Ugh.

Well, Bright had a great day yesterday. so fun to be had that he decided to not have the afternoon nappy. That usual messes things up for the nighttime sleep. I don't know why that is. You would figure that he would just be dog tired and sleep even more than usual but that doesn't seem the case. Lil' Bright was up at 4:45 and won't go back down. I must admit that I have gotten lazy with the nighttime wake ups. I used to be able to to just him back to sleep and now that doesn't work anymore. Just leaves me asking Andy "Now what? Rock, paper, scissors for who gets to stay up with him or try walking him back to sleep." Poor guy- Andy usually loses those. He always throws the same thing. So, here I am. Zonked out. Bright is on nap number 2. He took his first at 8am and seemd ready for another at 10:45. I should be sleeping too. Instead I am surfing and watching Real Housewives.

what a day! Oh, and free formula

Bright and Andy had a little one on one time today while I went to help mom out at the office. Then I got a haircut- no pictures of it, not sure I like yet. Then on to check out dump house #5 so far. So bad that you'd be better off leveling the house and using the land to build your own brand new. The out to drive by dump house #6. Too dumpy and too far out of town. Ugh. Lots of outdoor playing in the 80 degree weather. I think Bright got a bit of sun on his face. Have put in a bid for a large Flap Happy hat on ebay- they are the best! He wore his smaller one last summer and it was perfect- nice brim, good flaps over the ears and neck. Hopefully we'll get it.


I have three containers of formula sent to me by Similac (soy) and Enfamil(milk based)- the freebies that they sent to us just kept on coming even though we only ever used one container to see if it would help with the sleeping. It didn't. Anyways.. I want them out of the cupboards since Bright drinks the moo juice now. Any takers?? Send me your address and which one(s) you want and first come-first served.

Good day

What a nice day we had here. It was about 80 degrees and we played and played. Bright was up at 5:30 this morning and did not go back down. We did get to see a terrific sunrise. He has been jammin' on Cinnamon Life cereal for breakfast lately- doesn't want anything to do with that grosso baby cereal after he got a taste of momma breakfast earlier this week. A few minutes of that stuff sitting in milk and it's nice a mushy. We let daddy sleep in a bit and then when he woke up he made us French Toast. Bright had a bunch of that too. His nap went off without a hitch at 9:00 and lasted an hour. Then on to shopping, stopped by grammy's office to interrupt her "billables" as we call them, then on to the library for preschool story time. He must have been sleepy still and almost crashed out in my arms there. Today was a special story time with a visit from a person dressed up as Maisy the mouse. He was not jazzed about that. Woman sitting next to me said "Your daughter is so beautiful." I said "Thanks, but he's a boy". She replies, "Well, he's pretty enough to be a girl." Hmm. Then on the way back home I passed a house for sale by owner right next to Andy's school. Did not get the number. Dang. Andy came home for lunch and I asked him to feed Bright while I popped out to get the number. This is what I came back to- I kid you not! Do you see the hair?? Apparently a nice mixture of peas mashed up, some mayonnaise and broccoli will get you a shark fin mohawk. Believe it or not we waited until 6:30 to give him his bath...


Then after lunch we played outside and checked out the docks they just put in at the lake. Still very creaky and mushy feeling- don't want to walk out any deeper than you'd want to fall in. Saw some fish and a crayfish/crawdad. Chucked rocks. Bright was in heaven!! Back inside we got a good drink nap started up and he slept for 2 and a half hours. I made deep dish pizzas- one good, the other like a pan of dough only (seen Top Chef this season? Just like that poor girl with the two inch thick crust. Oh well.) I didn't want to waste the extra dough so I just used it and well, Andy will eat mostly anything so it won't go to waste. Then on to see Grampy in the country where Bright saw a horse and buggy with a Mennonite family in it for the first time, lots of tractors and got to run in the big yard without neighbors peeping at us. A great night!

Here is a picture of Bright wearing a bib sent to us by my undergraduate alma mater, Nazareth College.

Here is Bright checking out the now seasonally inappropriate snowflakes we had hanging from the lights in the dining room.

We've gone soft

The night before last must have been a dream, that's all I can say. Bright's godparents came for dinner and he was up a bit later than usual. He slept 11 hours straight- not a single wake up, not a peep. That would usually make most parents thrilled and don't get me wrong- I was overjoyed at actually waking up before he did for once. But deep down I knew what would follow- the dreaded messed up nap schedule due to oversleeping. His first nap was a struggle at 10:30- a hour later than normal. And of course we had things to do yesterday so there wasn't a lot of time for funny business in the nap department. (sounds terrible huh?) We had our play date at the store then went to the play park where Bright played with tiny stones and didn't eat a single one- then to celebrate his greatness I took him for an ice cream cone (or maybe to just plain eat a tasty treat and hey, it's on the way home). Well, we got home just in time for his nap, or so I thought. I tried the usual routine- nurse, walk around, sing. Nothing. Then stroll out by the lake. Nothing. More walking, singing, back now aching and Bright was just happy as a clam, blowing raspberries, trying to jam his hand down my shirt (new trick- not a fave), and trying to pick my nose. None of tricks worked and I was pooped. So, I put him in the crib to see if he would just do it on his own. Major mistake. Major meltdown and tantrum. I took him out and he clung to me like I was gonna abandon him. Cried and Cried. Ugh. I tried to use the bathroom and he wailed while I was two feet away from him, totally visible through the gates. Ugh again. This continued for 2 HOURS until daddy came home. Still no nappy, not really looking sleepy either. He went to bed okay last night- fell asleep nursing, a rarity. He must have been wiped out. Then woke up at 2 and was up for two hours. He had a tantrum with Andy when he saw me get up and fix something in his room. He didn't want daddy, just momma. Sometimes momma needs a break. No breaks to be had though- so into the bed with us where he squirmed and hogged up my side. No co-sleeper means now there is no space for me to sort of spill over into when he takes my side up. Finally asleep at 4 am until 7am and now down for his nap at 9:45am. Thank goodness! Who would have thought that such a young thing could have a tantrum like that and while yes, we did buy into the Attachment Parenting philosophy, it would be nice to pee in private just once.....

Big Boy Now

A bit of house cleaning here-Tonight we threw out the "emergency paci"- the two pacifiers that we had since Bright was itty bitty. He never used them for their intended purpose. Occasionally he would find them around the apartment and stick them in his mouth the wrong way and cruise around like that for a bit. He's better off never having picked up that habit. We also put away the mini co-sleeper tonight too. Bright slept in it maybe half a dozen times and really it had just served as more of a bed guard rail/baby catcher for the times when he was sleeping with us. Thankfully only one time did it serve its purpose when Andy was too zonked to know what was going on.... Anywhoo... Bright sleeps about 10 hours straight now (who would have ever thought that he would make it past three hours in a row) and all of them in the crib. Well, not all. Sometimes I want to take a nap during the day and we snuggle in my bed but he never sleeps as long there.

Not a lot new here. We had found one house to put an offer on but they family took it off the market yesterday. Dang! Back to the drawing board. We did some finger painting today. That was fun. I had picked up Bright from his nappy and he was mega-clingy/cry-y so I found a paint brush and got a bowl of water and let him paint on our coffee table (not an antique). He loved it. What a distraction for him! Splashed his hands in the water and then took off running with the bowl. He spilled what was left in and we went on to the finger painting. I taped up the paper in the shower figuring that if things went as well as the painting, it would be better to have him more confined. He was thrilled with the whole process! Each color brought out a new squeal from him and he kept looking at me to make sure that I actually was encouraging this. We hung his picture up on the window and he jabbered about it all through dinner.

Okay- Everyone out of the Pool...

Ahhh, yes. Tonight was supposed to be Baby Swim night, and indeed it was Baby Swim night for about 5 minutes. Then the lifeguards told us we all had to exit the pool. Hmmm... why? Apparently one very sweet, very enthusiastic toddler had, in her excitement to swim, swallowed a lot of pool water and threw up in the pool. Ick. But- with my new found attitude of keeping things perspective, not as gross as Tuesday night's class which was also called on account of foreign matter in the pool. That time apparently it was poop. Thankfully we only go on Thursdays.

I am not all that down that swimming was nixed tonight. Bright had a rough one last night thatwe can only blame on gas. He had been fed a bunch of green beans and black beans and who knows what other gaseous stuff by his dear papa while I was out doing an errand yesterday afternoon. Then when we put him down, after he had already had a lousy afternoon nap, he woke up three or four times in the first three hours of sleep. Each time we got him and picked him up, he let out a terrific toot. Our little man was a big bean blaster all night long. We gave him some gas drops which we had not used since we moved in July and Bright snugged up next to me and fell asleep- but only until 5 am. So we zombied around much of the day and now that he is asleep I can finally get some rest myself.

I say we had a rough day but he did take a nap at 8:10 this morning and then again at 1pm, so things weren't too bad. We actually had a lot of fun. yesterday when Bright had his usual playdate with Madelyn, Madelyn's mom and I got to talking about what we should be doing with these guys now that they aren't babies any more. Neither one of us had a clue really. She was going to buy a daycare curriculum and make the materials out of it and try teaching Madelyn bits from it every day. Sounds ambitious and probably not my style. I have a more Montessori-esque approach to life in general so I think I will probably see what he's interested in and build from that. For example..

Today we did some arts and crafts. Bright got some of those Crayola toddler markers for his birthday. They are really for kids 18 months and up, but how do you know how your kids will do with something unless you give it a try. He had fun, we got moderately messy and most of it washed off.... Note to those out there that want to try these- only get them out and use them if you are very, and I mean very prepared to deal with the ensuing meltdown when you put them away. I was not. So ...Then we did regular crayons as a distraction/redirection activity, not the big fatty crayons, just regular ones. He loved the box of 64 and wanted them all. Note to others- give 3-4 crayons at a time so you can make sure he does not try to eat them, hide them for later use, or run wildly around the house dragging them on the walls. No- he did not do any of those but all of those scenarios ran through my head as we were playing. Also, have another redirection activity when that one is done. We went on to playing with shaving cream.... one word. Messy! But fun. He loved it and smelled like his daddy for the rest of the afternoon. So did I- as we were getting toward the end of our fun together, Bright with Shaving cream up to his armpits decided to throw himself into my arms for a hug. A nice foamy hug. I'll take one any day.

Digging In the Dirt

First, some pictures and then some news...

I like this picture of Bright quite a bit. He looks a lot like his dad in this shot. Bright has been crazy about hats lately. He wants to wear them, he wants us to wear them... all day...

Bright had been having a streak of waking up at 5am ready for the day. Sometimes we could get him back to sleep, some times not. One morning Andy took him to walk him back down and I did not hear from either of them for 2 hours. I came out to the living room at 7am to find this sweet scene.

Bright loves to chew on his comb for some reason.

New toy from Uncle Justin and Aunt Sara. Thanks!!

New shirt from Aunt Tess (technically Great Aunt Tess, but she has always been great :) Thanks Tess- He looks so mature in this.

Today the weather was amazing!! Figures on the day that Mom and Dad go to St. John the weather would improve. Thanks guys!! We played outside for a long, long time. Another of Bright's hats.
We dug in the dirt, made mud pies and played with moss and other lawn gunk for about an hour, then did it all over again in the evening. Thank goodness for a baby with an attention span and a sense of curiosity. I predict great fun this spring and summer.

News? Not a lot. Still house hunting. Seen some real dogs lately and one really nice one that has a small kitchen and small bedrooms. Not great enough in our opinion. Bright is sleeping pretty well, although it is still a challenge to get him down. Who knows if it is teeth or over-stimulation from the day. Lately he has taken to falling asleep in either Andy or my arms with one of his hands down our shirt. Interesting and odd... that's his latest thing. He has been super chatty also- but in a really yelly kind of way. I think it's a hoot!

Cooperation/ Sharing

For some reason this clip has always stuck in my mind since I was a child and I was thrilled to see it in all its glory on Youtube. Semi-sci-fi in nature but with a good lesson for all.