Night Away

This weekend I spent my first night away from little Pierce...ever! One of my best friend's Terri was having a baby shower a couple of hours away. Of course I was going to go...but Dan encouraged me to stay the night there instead of trying to go and come back in one day. After a bit of thought I decided...yes I would!!!!

Of course I texted and called several times throughout the day, but I knew they were in good hands. I had such a fun time at the shower and loved getting to celebrate her and her sweet baby girl Sadie! (To read more about Terri go to her blog here ). I think it was good for both Dan and me to get away. I needed a break and to spend some time getting dressed up, eating hot meals, talking without intterruption and just enjoying my friends. Dan got a chance to be full time stay home dad for about 30 hours. He got the experience of trying to juggle taking a shower (it is tough during the day), keeping the house clean, providing healthy meals, potty times, safety and bedtimes. He did great! I came home to a clean house!!!! So impressive! Although he did great I don't think he will be trading me jobs anytime soon...hehe! "It is SO hard keeping the house clean with them awake." he told me...Oh don't I know it!!! :)

Anyway I had a great weekend and feel recharged and encouraged. I loved getting to see my friends! I loved that the kids and Dan had a good time bonding and experiencing things together. I was so glad to see the kids and think one night away was the perfect amount! Thanks Dan :)

Here is a random picture of the kids...such cuties!

10 Hours

I am kind of nervous to post about this because I don't want to jinx myself (no I don't really believe in jinx...lol).

Anyway for the last 7 days Pierce has slept for at least 10 hour stretches...and last night he did an 11 hour stretch!!!! It has been so good for me. This preggo needed some decent sleep. We have changed a few things in his night time routine...who knows if it has been one particular thing or a combo or him just growing out of it on his own. Here are a few things we have done.

1. We no longer let him fall asleep while eating. I have read that this is a really bad habit for a few reasons. The first is they associate that with comfort and sleep and will expect to be fed to sleep when they wake up (which is exactly what he was doing). Also when they go to sleep with such a full tummy they will wake up feeling hungry when they aren't so full even though they are not actually hungry (they are just not stuffed to the brim). So we feed him his last bottle 30 min to an hour before bedtime. If he falls asleep while eating we just wake him up and let him play for a few minutes. Yes it is kind of crummy, but so is waking up a bazillion times a night...yes a BAZILLION. Hehe

2. We have been laying him down in his crib to go to sleep for the night awake. This would have been a hard one for me but he actually just recently stopped liking rocking. Anytime I have tried to rock him to sleep he gets so squirmy and fights it so hard. So I have been putting him in his crib which for some reason he likes better. It has been nice doing this because for bedtime he is so tired he doesn't put up much of a fuss. Only crying for 10 min or even less and sometimes not at all. But this helps him learn to self-soothe a little better.

3. We have turned off background noise. We have done this for both kids and for some reason they are both sleeping so much better to quiet. We used to have music playing all night. Not sure if this is a coincidence but hey its working...so we are going with it.

4. When he woke in the night I would give him 10-15 min before I went in there and took care of his needs. I knew he wouldn't put himself to sleep but I did want him to realize that it is night time and it is the time to spend by yourself. 10 minutes was a good amount of time because I don't think it was long enough to scar him or be traumatizing and he knew mommy will come for you. But he did get the clue that mom should not always be there at night. (Although just a note 10 minutes at 2 am feels like 2 hours....)

5. I slowly weaned him from eating at night. When he would wake up I would feed him 4 oz for a few nights then 3 oz, etc...while I was also increasing his amounts before and after bed.

Then slowly little by little he slept through the night. There were a few times when he would wake up and I would give him the 10 minutes before I would go and feed him and he put himself back to sleep. And for the last few nights he has not even woken up crying!!!

Please don't think I am bragging...this has been a LONG and stressful road for us. I am just so thankful to finally get some sleep. And I am so thankful that I didn't have to "break" Pierce in the process. It was a relatively stressless (this is not a word, but you get the point) way. I am really proud of him. I am crossing my fingers that this is the end of our sleepless nights for a few months...

until little #3 comes along :)

Watch Out Girls

This little boy is incredibly charming!

He might just weasel his way into your heart!

You can't say I didn't try and warn you!!!!!

process vs product

I really really enjoy arts and crafts with young children! It is so fun to watch them explore, experiment and learn how to be creative. It can be so hard not to push them to "make something." In our own craft time that is our goal, to have an end product. But out goal for young children is for them to enjoy the process. Sometimes they have their own ideas about the end product and sometimes they just like experimenting with the materials. They are learning how it works. They are learning what they like. They are learning, learning LEARNING! It can be so hard because it can be messy. It can be hard for us because they take something really neat looking to us and ruin it by wiping it off, gluing over it, etc. But in the end if you allow them to take the lead and give them free reign with the materials (of course that doesn't mean it is okay to color on the wall, eat the materials, etc) they learn to be creative people. They learn how things work. They learn that they are capable, competent and can make things THEY are proud of.

I think this article that my friend showed me says it so much better than I am doing so I suggest you read it when you get a chance! http://www.handsonaswegrow.com/2012/01/parenting-learning-to-let-go.html

Anyway....encouraged by reading this article I went and added some more materials to our art box! When I was a teacher it was so much easier for me to do these activities because the classroom already has those materials and is set up to do that. At home I sometimes forget or can get intimidated about doing the same activities. I am so thankful for these helpful prods in the right direction. They continue to push me to be a better mother and a teacher! So we went to the store and got glue, glitter, glitter glue, feathers, poms, tape and ribbons. I showed her how to squeeze the glue, and shake the glitter and pull down the tape so she could do it herself. Then I stood back and watched her explore. She LOVED it! I am so proud of my little artist!

The beginning of our art time

busy squeezing...so good for her hand strength

so busy

Her creation!

Hmm..maybe I would like to add some feathers

Then she decided she needed to wipe some of it off....this took some control on my part. I wanted to say, "NO it look so good don't wipe it off." But she thought that is what it needed and was glad to have done it!

The end result!

We are both looking forward to more art time! I am trying to get better at bringing it out more often and saying yes when she asks as much as I can!

Shoes

 I got this little boy his first pair of shoes!!! He has been pulling up so much and spending more time out of his carseat in public so I though it was about time to get him some. I can't believe how grown up he looks with them on.

Playing

Can you tell we have had a day with lots of playing?!?! Wow! Haha

Surprise

Guess what?!?!?

Are you as surprised as we are?

I doubt it!

Are you as excited as we are?

I hope so!!!

I had a doctor appointment today and we had a sonogram. We saw the teeniest tiniest little baby in there! The heart was beating strong around the 160's. I am 7 weeks and will be due September 2, 2012.

Want to hear a funny story? I had my first period in November and did the math and expected the next one on Christmas Eve (tmi...sorry..I dont have a filter). So Christmas Eve came and went and I didn't think about it too, much because I was still nursing exclusively and thought that could probably mess my schedule up. It was New Years Eve and I decided to take the test so I could have peace of mind and get to enjoy a few adult beverages. I was sure it would be negative. I took the test and it took a long time to come up so while it was blinking and telling me it was thinking I relaxed and thought, "I am wasting my money taking this, of course it was going to be negative." Then up pops, "PREGNANT." I seriously stared at it in disbelief forever. I was NOT expecting it to say that. Hahaha! This baby already has a little mind of its own. Cannot wait to welcome it to our crazy and busy family. And in case you were counting...yes this makes 3 children under 3 years!!! Let the adventures begin! What an awesome way to ring in the new year. Now I am super excited for 2012!!!! :)