Friday, August 24, 2018

Photo Every Hour: August 21st

Happy August 21st! Clearly Connor wanted to make sure we rang in the new day as soon as humanly possible. Thank goodness for a husband who will take him for a little bit so I can go back to sleep

3:53 Because of course I've still got a night time feeding to deal with that Darrell isn't exactly equipped to handle

Rise and shining! Time to start getting on an earlier morning schedule since school starts on Thursday

7:00 This puzzle has been William's obsession. I've helped him sort the pieces, but he's put every one of them in place on his own--over 1000 when the puzzle is all said and done

8:00 Play catch with me Mommy?

9:00 Almost done with the puzzle! I was hoping to get an errand in this morning, but couldn't bring myself to pull William away from the puzzle when he was so close to finishing it

10:00 The boys do well sitting through story time at the toy store, but let's be honest--the only agree to go so they can play with the toys afterwards

11:00 Lunch date with Daddy today, so of course we have to pick up some cookies for a treat

12:00 Visiting Daddy for lunch is even more fun when his boss has an office full of balloons in celebration of his 40th birthday!

1:00 One down for his nap (or at least reading quietly in his room), one to go!

2:00 One of my last days have a lunch time "companion" while the younger two are sleeping. I can't decide if I'm happy or sad about that change

3:00 Play time in the nursery

4:00 Getting in my Target run since it didn't happen this morning

5:00 Playing nicely while waiting for dinner

6:00 Finishing up dinner (or--in my case--just getting started with dinner. Don't let the empty plate fool you; I end up feeding Connor most nights so I don't even bother loading my plate with food until after he's done)

7:00 Desperately trying to get a fire started. Turns out the wood (and ashes sitting in the bottom of our fire pit) was pretty wet

8:00 Washing dishes while Darrell puts the older two to bed. I'm not sure which of us got the short straw...

9:00 Well, safe to say Darrell got the short straw. This is the boys' "stuff" that they usually take to bed with them--and it has all been removed as a punishment for their inability to listen and go to sleep (and in case you are wondering, Garrett's is the massive mound full of animals; William just has his blanket and one animal)

10:00 Darrell did (eventually) get a fire going. Nothing to write home about, but enough to roast some marshmallows (and isn't that all that really matters anyway?)

Always up way later than I should be. Especially with my now earlier mornings. Such is #momlife


Thursday, August 23, 2018

Connor: Eleven Months!


Height/Weight: No doctor's visits since nine-months and (knock on wood) none until his one-year appointment, so nothing official here. I'm guessing that at a year he'll be 20 lbs, 12 oz and 29 inches--we'll see how close I am!

Wearing: Nothing new to report here--still all twelve-month clothing and size four diapers.

Eating: Most of the time, this kid is an eating machine. He still struggles with teething pain, though, so periodically he won't have much of an appetite. And he's definitely starting to show favoritism toward certain things; we've been working on the sign "all done", and he'll flash it to us when he is finished with a particular part of his meal (ie his carrots), but not necessarily the rest of it (ie his salmon and grains). Unfortunately for him, we don't really let that kind of pickiness fly in our house, which is probably causing some confusion for him on the use of his sign language, but oh well. We're continuing to cut back on his nursing sessions by offering snacks during the day (mostly fruit and cheese, both of which he loves); he still wakes once a night to eat, and then usually three times during the day (morning, before nap, and before bed). He still doesn't care for milk out of a bottle, but thankfully doesn't put up too much of a fight when someone other than me tries to put him to bed (which is maybe a sign that we could continue to wean him further, but Momma's not sure that she's ready for that!).

Sleeping: Pretty good, I think? Man, this last month of summer has just been a blur (hence my tardiness on this post...), so it's hard to keep everything straight, even with the scattered notes I try to write myself regarding his habits. He's starting to flirt with the idea of dropping down to just one nap, and I've been able to get pretty decent naps out of him when I put him down around 12:30 when he hasn't taken a morning nap. However, some days he'll fall asleep in the car on the way to or from a morning activity, which subsequently pushes back (and usually shortens) his afternoon nap. And unfortunately, that's going to be a problem when I have to start picking William up from school by 2:45. So I'm sure we'll have plenty of days with headaches thanks to that. Bedtime shifts based on how he napped, but usually once he's asleep (sometime between seven and eight), he'll sleep until 3:00 (give or take 30 minutes), eat, and then go back to sleep until about 6:30. He'll still occasionally have nights where he is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after his feeding (which annoys me to no end), and when his teeth are bothering him he'll stir at least once, if not twice, before his feeding, but for the most part it's pretty manageable.

New Stuff: In the never-ending saga that is Connor cutting teeth, we are officially up to four teeth!
A fifth one seems to be working its way in, but I'm sure we'll have at least another week of drama with it before it actually breaks through (cue eye roll). He is also starting to require training in take-down techniques to be able to change his diaper or clothes; he will absolutely not lay still for anything (well, not anything. "Old MacDonald" and "The Wheels on the Bus" and other terribly annoying songs manage to hold his attention long enough to get the job done, but singing them multiple times a day gets old fast). However, he has started to do a really good job of entertaining himself, mostly by throwing a ball and fetching it or driving cars and trucks around, so I guess I should tolerate a few annoyances. Oh, and he will also (finally) sit still and let me read him a few stories before naps and bedtime, so I guess I can also mark that one in the "win" column (who am I kidding--that counts for multiple marks in the "win" column. Books and reading are gold in this house). Even with the teething pains and diaper changing annoyances, though, this kid is seriously awesome and is definitely giving his brothers a run for their money as our silliest baby yet! .
Proof. This kid is a cheeseball and he knows it!