Beach Vacation

It's been a couple of weeks, but I finally got a slideshow together of our recent trip to North Myrtle Beach. Thanks to Grandmama and Pooh Pa for always letting us come crash at the condo with them twice a year! We always have a great time.

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She Walks!

September 8, a few days before she turned 11 months old, Lauren took her first steps. She walked three paces from the ottoman in the living room to me sitting on the floor. She didn't walk more than one or two steps for another few days, but it didn't take her long after that to really get moving.


Here's the first walking shots I got on camera, taken on the day she turned 11th months.


Over the last week, she's gotten better and better every day. This past weekend we spent a few days with my parents at the beach, and she went from walking 5 or 6 steps at a time to walking across the room by the end of the trip.

By yesterday, she's walking more than she's crawling and even turning corners without falling.

I don't really remember Mason picking it up so quickly. And it wasn't until his first birthday that he took his first steps. I guess it's true that girls really do walk faster than boys - in this family it is anyway.

Who Needs Sleep?

Apparently the people around here think that I don't. Let me just describe to you my night last night for example...

Got the kids in bed at 7:30 and made a late dinner for Dave and I to quickly enjoy before he started doing work. (He works several hours every night after the kids go to bed - even weekends these days - since he can't get everything done in the 10-12 hours he spends at the office during the week. Our "quality" time is sitting next to each other on the couch with our laptops. Exciting Saturday night, huh?)

I went to bed at 10:00. Lauren woke me up at 1:00. Nap #1: 3 hours. This one turned out to be the longest of the evening. After a couple of minutes of praying for her to go back to sleep, I went in to give her a quick snuggle (and rule out the usual reasons a baby wakes up in the middle of the night) and put her back in the bed. Of course she laid down so nicely and quietly until I left the room and then she screamed. This has become a nightly routine over the last few weeks.

So since there's no sleeping with a crying baby in the room next to yours (unless you're my husband), I went downstairs to wait it out. Dave was still on the couch working, so I laid down on the couch and watched some more football until the tear-fest subsided. I finally deemed it safe to go back to bed at 2:00.

I laid down and started feeling kind of queasy with a headache. Dave came to bed about 2:15 just as I got up to go downstairs to get come crackers and a little Coke to try to make myself feel a little better.

At 3:00 I finally felt good enough to go lay back down. It took me another half an hour to get back to sleep thanks to my headache and Dave's snoring.

At 4:30, Mason called me to take him to the bathroom. Nap #2: 1 hour. I helped Mason and went back to sleep pretty quickly.

At 5:20, I heard the dreaded call of the baby. Nap #3: 50 minutes. Since it had been 10 hours since she last ate, I figured she was just hungry and if I went in and fed her a bit, she'd go back to sleep. She ate, but she didn't sleep.

So we came downstairs and had breakfast and played together. At 7:30 she was sleepy so I put her down for a nap just in time for Mason to wake up for the morning.

Finally, Dave came downstairs at 8:30 and I was able to go back to bed until 10:30. Nap #4: 2 hours.

Total sleep for Mommy: 4 naps of 6 hours, 50 minutes.

One night like this wouldn't be so bad, but I've had a string of them for about 3 or 4 weeks now. I'm not sure what's going on with Lauren, but she's been getting up every night lately. I think it's a combination of teething, just learning new walking skills, and the fact my dreaded monthly cycle just returned causing a wave of new hormones infiltrating my milk supply.

I just keep telling myself that she will eventually sleep through the night. I'm hoping that one night soon, she actually will and I will get to too.

Back to School

Year two of preschool has begun!

We had a bit of a rough start today. Just as Dave walked out the door to head to the airport for a two day business trip, and just as I started nursing Lauren, Mason woke up an hour early and was very upset after wetting the bed. I should have predicted this would happen since I changed his sheets yesterday. He only has accidents on fresh sheets. I'm tempted never to change his sheets again.

So I had to put the hungry, crying baby down to help Mason clean up and get the sheets in the laundry room. Then I tried to get Mason in the bath so he wouldn't smell like a potty on his first day of school, but he wouldn't have it. I had to settle for wiping him down with a wet cloth. Finally, I got everything done and was able to nurse Lauren.

After eating Mason's favorite pumpkin muffins we made yesterday for back-to-school breakfast, and a few pictures, we were off.

For the first two days of school, parents are to walk in with their child, so once we arrived, we all headed inside. Mason is definitely familiar with his school since it's at our church and he was in the 2-year-old room last year. We also visited the classroom during open house last week, so he had no problem this morning. We hung up his bookbag in his cubby, I let him work a puzzle with Lauren, and after a quick kiss for Mommy and sister, I left my 'baby' at school.

Last year, I made it back to the car and proceeded to blubber like a little girl. Since I was pregnant at the time, I blamed it on that. This year, no tears whatsoever. I'm excited about the fun Mason is going to have and all the one-on-one time I get to spend with Lauren.

Not long after I got home from dropping Mason off though, Lauren decided to take a morning nap. So much for one-on-one time with her. No matter - I enjoyed my first quiet morning since the last school year instead. Well, as quiet as it can be with wet bed sheets in the washing machine that is.

Piece of Cake

This past weekend, our church put on our annual Yard Sale and Barbecue. As usual, Dave and I signed up to help with the activities, splitting our shifts so one of us could be with the kids. My shift was 10:45am to 1:00. I picked that particular time because I figured it would be between Lauren's two naps.

This was the first time I left both kids (while they were awake) with Dave for that long. Yes it was only two hours. And yes, I don't get out much. Mason is almost three and a half, and the longest I've ever left him by far was when I was in the hospital giving birth to Lauren. And I don't really call that a vacation. (But I did bring home a nice souvenir. :-)

Lauren's been in a transition stage from one nap to two lately, so I wasn't sure what time she'd want to go to sleep. I was a little nervous when she didn't take a morning nap. I figured she'd want to go to sleep before I got home, and since she nurses right before she naps, Daddy wasn't going to cut it.

But when I got home, Dave proceeded to tell me how easy it was to hang with the kids and this stay-at-home-mom job was a "piece of cake". He took them to the grocery store and had a grand old time. Then they both ate and played nicely after they got home. "Did you do any cleaning?" I asked. Dave was proud he could say "I unloaded the dishwasher!"

Wow.

Sure it was only a couple of hours, and I know he was sort of kidding with me and he does appreciate what I do at home, but maybe one day I should just not do anything to show him what it takes to do this stay-at-home-mom job. The kids wouldn't starve... Mason would pillage the pantry to find the animal crackers and feed Lauren the plain Chereeos (the sweetened ones, he would save for himself.) Mason would go back and forth between watching TV and playing on the computer while Lauren pulled every book off the shelves and ate toilet paper. Meanwhile, the dishes would pile up in the kitchen and the laundry would pile up in the rooms (because no one put it in the laundry basket).

Granted, I'm not a great housekeeper, but I do like things to be somewhat organized and tidy. I might not have floors clean enough to eat off of (despite what Lauren thinks) but I like to give that impression.

And what's up with the kids being on their best behavior for Daddy? I'm constantly having to keep Mason from smothering Lauren with the sofa pillows or knocking her over like a bowling pin when she attempts to stand up on her own. And Lauren gets so fussy when she's nearing a nap, I can't keep her occupied with anything else. It's not fair that Daddy is such a novelty that he's like a big, new toy to play with, and the kids act like angels with him.

I think would be interesting to switch places with Dave for a little while. I'd like to get out of the house for more than two hours, even if it was to go to work. And I'd really like Dave to try being a stay-at-home-dad for more than two hours.

I'm sure after a few days, both of us would want to switch back.

Happy Birthday Grandmama!

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Blogged The Year Away

Can it be a year since I started this blog? According to the date, it is!

Although, I'm not one to update very frequently, I definitely have kept it up much better than I thought I would. Since little Lauren came into our lives, I've felt a bit out of the loop on many things. As it turned out, this blog has been my little outlet to the rest of the world. It has also made it much easier to share our adventures with friends and family who otherwise would not hear about it (because I'm not good at keeping up via phone or email.)

Since my little writings began, Mason started preschool, Lauren was born, we celebrated Mason's 3rd birthday and my 32nd, and I'm still surviving despite many a sleepless night without my overworked husband around to help.

Here's to a new year of ramblings!