Crying it out

So Max is really our uber stubborn kid, Maggie gets stubborn about certain things or if she is in the mood. Harry has had it pretty easy so far. For whatever reason, we haven't made him really cry it out more like fuss it out. Whenever he really does cry, we or I can't seem to let him go and just cry until he soothes himself. Maybe it is because he is the last or something. But after months of Harry waking up multiple times at night, I just can't do it. The kid is huge so there is no reason for him to be nursing one, two or three times at night. I don't want my kids to think crankiness is just my natural state of mind.

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Well last night I sat down with the BOOK again. "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" It really helped solidify my decision that we need to stop going to him and feeding him back to sleep and changing his diaper. So last night, he fussed at 9:30 and yes I was already asleep. And then at 3:35 for almost an hour. He mostly fussed but he did have a couple of crying periods. It was hard, I really wanted to go to him but more importantly I wanted him to go back to sleep on his own.

He did until 6. I went and got him and fed and he slept again until 7:30. crazy right. It was really nice. And I am not writing anymore because I don't want to jinx anything...

What bug got up my a..

You know what when I was in college and had a paper to write, all of a sudden I had to clean my place and do this and that and the other. Until I could settle once again and refocus. Well when we went to CA for Xmas, I finally figured out that I want to go back to school. Well hell I have wanted to do that for some time now and tried to content myself with coaching school but really I like interacting with people in person. I looked and looked and decided I really do like the idea of coaching just not the business aspect of it. Armed with that knowledge, well heck I have known that for a while, I found the program that I want to do. I am making it official that I have applied to the graduate college at UNLV the dept of counselor education. I think some of my fear of my own business was watching my parents sometimes do well and sometimes struggle at their own businesses. It made me gunshy out of the gate. I like the security of working for someone.

So anyways I have been an organizing fool. Um not like it is all put away more like work in progress but I am trying even though it probably feels like it is all at once to Krismon. Anyways it will be a big load off when I have gone through the house and really looked at what we have vs what we need. We are working on a craigslist pile, the pile that will go to CA of baby stuff for the next person to give me a niece or nephew.... and then a donation pile and a return items to their owners pile. And then I would really like to be able to park my car in the garage again.

Sickies in the hizouse

Yep... Max stayed home from school yesterday, Krismon came home the morning from work, Harry has been a cranky monster. We got hit, thank goodness the cleaning people came on Wednesday and cleaned the house top to bottom. Yep that's right. That was my Christmas present from the hubba hubba. And then last night I got motivated to clean the carpets in two rooms. Probably not my brightest idea since it has been raining here for days and the carpets took more than just the night to dry.

Max went back to school today since his is basically just a cold. We just need to get him over it sooner than later. He is a cougher. His body holds onto a cough like crazy. I probably just need to pull out the nebulizer to get it gone.

Krismon has just been miserable all day so I am hoping he gets a good night sleep. And of course, Maggie has been her usual hypochondriatic self. (yes I made the word up). So it has been a fun couple of days. Oh and did I mention I am in the process of trying to reorganize the house for the umpteenth time much to my husbands dismay I am sure.

Ah a fresh day. I hope it is a good one.

Ice cream cone on my head

Juno has to wear a cone to keep from licking his stitches. Now this is rather uncomfortable I would imagine and poor Juno just looks sad especially when he runs into wall and tables. He looks truly forlorn when he is left home alone that I couldn't bear to run any errands today other than to pick up the kids. His surgery went well and I am really not sure what he swallowed. We have kept him as pain free as possible. And I have hired a trainer to help us correct his issues.

Maggie kept talking about the ice cream cone on Juno's head. She giggled about it and talked about it at dinner. Krismon suggested that we put the cone on her head once Juno is well and then see how giggly she would be about it.

It gave my imagination two giggles to think about the dog cone on her almost like those elizabethen collars ( I think that is the right era) or an ice cream cone on her head dripping down her face.

Juno is at the Vets

This morning Juno threw up 5 times and just wasn't acting himself. I guess mother's intuition told me that it was more than just tummy troubles. I called his vet to see if I could get him in this morning. Thankfully they had a 10:30 opening. Krismon came home and cared for the younger two while I took Juno in. After questions and answers, the vet checked him over and felt something. She called in the surgeon to come check. Then they took Juno back for X-rays. I think he must have ate one of Harry's teething rings probably attached to something. I try hard to pick up everything off the floor when Harry isn't on the floor so that Juno won't chew his toys. Juno has a love love relationship with Harry. He loves to kiss Harry all over the face and take his toys and chew on them outside, inside, everywhere if he can. He is part lab so it isn't unexpected and I am hoping that it will get me to be even more organized and more ruthless in my purging. But now the worst has happened and he needs surgery to remove whatever is stuck in his intestine. Best case, he gets to come home today. Second best case, he comes home tomorrow. I won't know until the surgery is done and they call which it will be but I am hoping to know something before picking Max up from school. Losing Bubba just over a year ago was rough, I don't even want to think how telling him this will affect him.

Anyways I will update later when I know more.

draconian: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

draconian \dray-KOHN-ee-uhn; druh-\, adjective:

1. Pertaining to Draco, a lawgiver of Athens, 621 B.C.
2. Excessively harsh; severe.

So this was my word of the day. It gave me a pause. I guess that is a good thing. It never hurts to check and double check your own actions and behavior. Does this definition fit me? Sometimes. Do I need to figure out a better way? Yes.

Max has had a rough time since starting back to school after the holidays. I need to come up with some motivating ideas. I don't want his afternoons to only be filled with homework. We enjoy the wii and I want to get him to see if he can get some work done, then we can play after that before I need to make dinner. I think I am afraid that if I let him play right after school then he won't settle down to work. I am just trying to figure out what would work best. Between 3 and 6, I would like to let him play for almost an hour and a half and get an hour of school work or less and a half hour of violin practiced. Or maybe we are back to me expecting too much.

I think I need to take a page from Supernanny and make an afternoon schedule for him so that he can see it and know what to expect. Then maybe I won't feel like I am so harsh and severe and I can relax and hopefully help him when he needs it.

Wednesday's Woes

Today we did Harry's 6 month well check, yeah I know he is over 7 months old but sickness and holidays got in the way.

He is our big boy, I should know since I held him and held him and held him as I waited for the doctor to come in. (My arms are tired...) He did great. He had to get 3 shots that is where the woe comes in.

At both his 2 and 4 month appointment, he was okay at the time but then after a nap all sorts of hell broke loose and my heart would break. I am hoping today doesn't follow that pattern. Max didn't have problems with his shots. Maggie was just tender but nothing more. Again I am hoping that Harry can just be his happy self.

Also, he has two more teeth poking through. Those teeth are his first top two teeth. He should be popping out the next four after that. I cannot wait to see that big toothy grin.

Harry Crawls!

Hold the presses, we have confirmed crawling. Harry is determined to get around now! He especially loves Juno's ball aka Bubba's old ball with a bell in it. It is probably a good teething ball since it is made for dogs to chew on!

Anyway that is our happy news for today. Yes, I know that pretty soon he will be getting into anything and everything...

The full on grin

Yes I know I should add a picture because it is such an awesome sight to see but I am going to admit to laziness pure and simple. I, at least, took photos of it in all its glory. Harry is doing the grin from ear to ear with his nose all wrinkled up and his eyes in slits. You can see his teeth ready to pop out of his gums at any moment and he is just so happy. It's a beautiful sight to behold.

Beyond that was the joy of holding him today in his carrier with him asleep. He is the last and I just want to capture some of these moments that won't happen again to keep close to me especially when he starts giving me the stinkeye like Max has started to do.

So that was yesterday and yes I didn't finish a simple post but then life tends to get in the way as it always does.

I will say that last night was a nice evening. We had a date night and saw 'Up in the Air.' I really enjoyed the movie and the statements it made. The whole cast did a great job of telling a story, a story of being alone and realizing it. It was really interesting.

Okay gots to go (watching too much mtv cribs...)

Get back to normal?

Maybe it is my befuddled state (and yes I really like that word, it just sounds so cool) but I feel like we have been fighting and fighting rsv, colds, temperatures, oh my. It is our first week back to school. My parents left yesterday, thankfully my fever was gone. Now I would like to get Harry back on to a sleep schedule that involves sleep. I keep making excuses for going up to feed him. 'We have been traveling.' 'He has been sick.' 'Sleeping in the same room as us was disruptive.' And now we have a monster. Krismon is ready to start the whole cio method. And yes I know that we probably need to do a version of this. This kid is a cross between Max and Maggie which makes it frustrating. Maggie was super easy baby. Max stubborn about sleep. Harry goes down easy for the night, well I drug him with breastmilk but don't tell... I know that soon enough I will need to abandon this method and probably have Krismon take over his bedtime so that he puts himself to sleep versus my boob putting him to sleep.

Okay so this was written sometime this morning. Right now Max is playing his violin for me. He is practicing to pass out of book 1. I am so glad that he likes violin. I hope it can be a life long passion for him. Now I better post this so it doesn't go the way of some of my other posts.....