Random Ramblings...

Has it really been over a month since I've blogged?? 

Yes. It indeed has. 

And GUESS WHAT!??! Christian is going to be ONE in just 4 days!!!! 

How is that even possible!?!? Didn't we just bring him home from the hospital? And I mean, I haven't done a baby update post since he turned 9 months, so he must still only be 9 months...right?? 

Life has been very full lately and blogging has been left at the wayside. Not that I don't love just spilling my thoughts out onto my computer screen and sharing loads of pictures of my handsome little man. I've just been prioritizing differently lately. I value time with my ever growing baby boy and a clean house more than I've valued documenting our life lately. 

I wish I could share a bagillion pictures...but it seems I have yet to figure out how to back up my photos onto disks yet *gasp* (I better not lose every photo I've taken over the past year before I figure that out!!!) and so I haven't exactly done a photo dump from my phone lately either... 

Over the past 2 months or so, as I said, life has been FULL. 

We moved into our new house and have been busy making it our home. 

By that I mean we have been making lots of trips to Home Depot, attempting projects from Pinterest only to find out that the original pin didn't exactly include every step for the project, meaning the project doesn't really work for us and we have to start over.... 

It also means I've been painting...so far all I've painted is some trim in our bathroom and the bathroom door...painting with a baby means only painting during nap time.

Day #1 Nap - Tape for painting the trim

Day #2 Nap - Prime the trim

Day #3 Nap - Paint the trim 

Let the paint continue to dry because I realized that I bought oil based paint.... ugh.

Several days later...tape for painting the walls

Wait for new paint brushes to arrive since I couldn't get the first paint brush cleaned from the oil based paint... 

Day #10 Nap - Prime the door 

Day #11 Nap - Go to paint the door and find that a bird pooped on it while it was drying...ai yi yi

Clean the door and then attempt to find something to use as a drop cloth so I can actually paint the door inside

Paint side 1 of the door 

Maybe I'll actually be able to get the door finished tomorrow and back on and then get the walls painted in the bathroom so I can move on to the next room..

LONGEST. PROCESS. EVER.

And all of this has been for just ONE room. Ha ha 

Maybe I'll find time to share some DIY tips after all of my projects!

**Note to self** 

Oil based paint paints on beautifully but takes FOREVER to dry and is a PAIN to clean up! #newhomeownerfail

Goo Be Gone is a great fill in when you don't have mineral spirits! 

On another note...garage sale season has started and we have been scoring some MAJOR deals!!!

But along with garage sale season has also come allergy season...the worst one YET! Boo. 

The weather has been getting nicer, though, and we have been spending TONS of time outside...hence the allergies :) Christian cries when I make him come inside. We love walks and park time and time on the deck! 

Christian has also started walking!!! Not fully walking but he has taken 4 steps on his own and will do this periodically. 

Those are just a few of the highlights from the past 2 months. 

 In college, a very wise teacher once told me: 

"You can have it all, just not all at once" 

In this season of my life, I am realizing just how true this is. 

I wanted to be a stay at home mom so that I could have time with my baby boy. As a stay at home mom my focus could then be on caring for Christian and our home and family. 

This has always been my dream. 

Lately I've found myself asking, "If this is my dream, then why don't I embrace it and live it? I don't need to blog...at least not in this season." 

I still want to blog and hopefully will, but I want to spend this season enjoying what God has given me and the opportunities I have been blessed with. 

In this season I'm going to be a mom. 

Just a mom. 

And that is enough. More than enough and all I've ever dreamed of. 

And right now that season is calling. Somebody is awake from his nap and apparently doesn't want to just play with daddy. 

Hopefully I'll blog again, but today I'm enjoying this season. 

What season are you currently enjoying? What does life look like for you?

 What are you having right now in your process to "have it all"? 

Preparing for Daylight Savings Time

At 2am on Sunday, November 3, 2013, Americans will be turning their clocks back 1 hour marking the end of Daylight Savings Time. 

This has been a day that I have looked forward to for as long as I can remember.

Until I got pregnant. 

I remember savoring that extra hour of sleep last year as a sleepy, sick preggo mommy to be. 

At the same time, I was grieving over my last year of getting an hour of extra sleep. 

Well, friends, I'm doing my very best to make that NOT be true! 

Although our schedule is sometimes more of a "routine", we do do our best to have a consistent, set bedtime for Christian. He has went to bed at about 9pm ever since he was about 1 month old. 

After Daylight Savings Time, 8pm will really feel like 9pm. 

Since our hope is to keep Christian's bedtime at about 9pm (so he can have more awake time with Daddy after he is home from work), we are attempting to slowly shift Christian's bedtime to 10pm pre-Daylight Savings and turning our clocks back. That way, 9pm will still be his right bedtime after Daylight Savings. Or, who knows, the kid may always end up deciding that he is ready for bed at 8pm anyway! Babies sure keep you on your toes! 

So basically our attempt is to shift Christian's bedtime by 15 minutes every week leading up to November 3rd. 

Week of October 7th - Bedtime 9:15pm 

Week of October 14th - Bedtime 9:30pm

Week of October 21 - Bedtime 9:45pm 

Week of October 28 - Bedtime 10pm 

This has been working great for us so far! However, a later bedtime works for Christian since I stay home with him and we don't have to worry about him getting woke up in the morning to get to day care. As his bedtime has been moving later he is now sleeping until almost 11am most days. But this works for us. 

Keep in mind, you could also slowly shift the bedtime AFTER Daylight Savings as well! 

Fingers crossed that this will work and I won't be surprised with a baby up at the crack of dawn! :) 

Here's to an extra hour of sleep!
But maybe not... 

Are you doing anything to get ready for Daylight Savings Times? Do you have any tips? 

Following Babywise: Schedule Schmedule ....

Before Christian was born, I did a bit of reading on baby scheduling...specifically how to follow Babywise. 

My mom bought me this book and I was convinced this was going to be the way to get our little man sleeping through the night...ASAP! 

Well, well, well. 

I thought I was prepared and that it would be like magic. Christian would sleep, eat, and play all on my schedule and be a happy camper complete with great night time sleep. 

Now, don't get me wrong. Christian was sleeping through the night by the time he was about 2 weeks old. So maybe this whole "Babywise" schedule has some merit. 

As soon as Christian was born, the nurses told me to not let him go more than 3 hours without eating, so be sure to wake him up to eat. That was all the instruction they gave me. So, in true Babywise fashion, I fed Christian as soon as he would wake up and this would usually consist of his awake time, but other times our alert little boy would be awake for awhile after as well. Then he would doze off to dream land for awhile and it would start all over again. 

Sleep, Feed, Play = Babywise

I tracked his patterns for quite awhile using an app on my phone. I didn't want a screaming baby, so I followed his cues and fed him when he was hungry and let him sleep when he was tired. Maybe that's where I went wrong...or right. 

By the time he was 2 months old, I felt that maybe, just maybe there was a consistent pattern starting to emerge. By this time I was tracking his every activity on a color coded spreadsheet.

 {This was my very goal oriented, business man of a husband's idea}

I have to be honest and say that the work of actually getting into a schedule was stressful! But not having him on a schedule or any sort of routine was pretty stressful for this Type A mama too! 

The spreadsheet my hubby developed was actually pretty helpful! By the time Christian was 3 months old, I thought I had his schedule figured out. 

8:30am - Wake up and Eat

9am - Bath/Play time

9:30am - Nap 

11am - Eat 

11:30am - Play

12pm - Nap 

1pm - Eat

1:30pm - Play 

2pm - Nap 

3pm - Eat

3:30pm - Play 

4pm - Nap 

5pm - Eat

5:30pm - Play 

7pm - Eat

7:30pm - Nap 

8pm - Play 

9pm - Eat and Bed time 

Well, shortly before his 3 month birthday, Christian STOPPED sleeping through the night. His naps started to be way off and he wasn't seeming as hungry when I would try to feed him. It seemed he was just snacking all.day.long. 

Not my idea of a successful schedule. Babywise was not my favorite thing. And honestly, I was telling everyone that these "schedules" only work for some babies...not every baby! 

I was stressed about getting him to eat when he would wake up and if his nap would be long enough that he would actually be hungry when he woke up. 

Now, at 4 months old, I think Babywise might actually really work! And I think we have a schedule that we have been able to tweak so even when we get "off schedule" to go grocery shopping or meet up with friends, he is able to get back on schedule later in the day. 

Now, at just over 4 months, following Babywise, his schedule looks more like this: 

9am - Wake up, Eat, Bath, Play 

10am - Nap 

11:30am - Eat 

12pm - Walk

12:45pm - 2 TBSP Cereal for lunch 

1pm - Nap 

3pm - Eat 

3:30pm - Play 

4pm - Nap

5pm - Eat, plus 2 TBSP Cereal for dinner 

Might nurse again and snooze a bit at some point before bed...

8:30pm Start bedtime routine, eat

9pm - Bed 

He doesn't follow this schedule {exactly} every day, but its fairly close. The lengths of his naps are pretty consistent, though. 

Morning nap - 1.5 hours 

Afternoon nap #1 - 2 hours 

Afternoon nap #2 - 1 hour 

I'm now able to plan when to get my stuff done around the house. I spent a week tracking all of MY activities too and how long everything took. Now I have a schedule where I can plan each task into his nap schedule so that I'm able to get everything done I need to and still spend lots of quality time with my baby boy. 

Now, you might be wondering: 

Is Babywise really the key to your baby sleeping through the night? 

I have to be honest and say NO! 

#1. There are MANY other factors that play a bigger role in your baby sleeping through the night (see below) 

#2. Other sleep methods work too! 

#3. Do what works for YOUR baby. You know your baby and what he or she needs more than the author of some book. Remember, your baby is not the baby that they tested their "theories" on! 

Do we follow Babywise? I guess you could say we do! Christian sleeps, eats, plays, and then does it all over again...that right there is {Babywise}! And he's been sleeping through the night since he was 2 weeks old! 

But let me also say this... 

ENJOY your baby. No matter how scheduled or unscheduled he is! 

Thinking over the last few months, one thing that really sticks out is how stressed I was about getting Christian on a schedule. I enjoyed my baby and still do, but don't be afraid to let go of the schedule! Do what your baby needs and what you need and the schedule will come with time. 

With Baby #2 I think I will wait to try to figure out a schedule closer to the 4 month mark. But we will see! 

Anyway, in addition to whatever "sleep method" you choose to practice, I believe these things are also key to getting your baby to sleep through the night and fall into a schedule: 

1. Swaddle, Swaddle, Swaddle! 

You may have never met a bigger believer in swaddling. Specifically, I'm a major fan of the SwaddleMe or the Halo SleepSack Swaddle. We could always tell how tightly Christian was swaddled by the length he would sleep. Unfortunately, once your baby starts rolling, you can no longer swaddle your baby. I think my next love is going to be the Baby Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit. This gives baby the security of the swaddle but is safe to use once baby starts rolling. 

Product Review Coming Soon!!! 

{I'm SO SO SO excited to share this with you all!!!}

2. Good Naps

Make sure your baby naps during the day. Getting good sleep during the day ensures baby isn't too exhausted at night that he can't enter a deep sleep and stay sleeping for a long time. 

3.  Black Out Curtains or Blinds

Once baby is old enough to really recognize his surroundings, having him sleep in a room that is nearly pitch black will greatly help his sleep...at least it did in our experience. Christian went from all of a sudden being up every few hours at night, to starting to almost sleep through the night again. His naps also went from 45 min/1 hour to 1.5/2 hours for each nap! And yes, his night time sleep really DID improve! 

4. White Noise 

Just play it. Whether it be straight up white noise, Baby Mozart, a sound machine, or the radio. Background noise will keep baby sleeping. 

5. Good Feedings 

A baby with a full belly is a sleepy baby. So feed baby when he is awake enough to get a full feeding. 

{Thanks for reading} 

:)

Happy Friday! 

Here's to a lot more of this... 

and a productive mommy too! 

One Week From TODAY...

WE WILL BE IN NEW YORK! 

Christian will be getting to see his Grandma Karen and Grandpa Dan again....

and he is going to be SO much BIGGER in the coming pictures!! 

He will also be getting to meet a lot of his Daddy's side of the family for the first time! 

And flying on an airplane for the first time! 

I'm so excited to meet you all! 

See you soon Grandma Karen, Grandpa Dan, Great Grandma Strickland, Great Grandma Foote, Grandpa Denny, Aunt Jen and Uncle Dan, Uncle Gunner and Aunt Bella, and Cousin Sarah! Can't wait to meet my first cousin!!! :) 

Any tips for us for flying???

Date Nights

One of the things Jim and I promised each other when we got married was that we would continue to date. We would date as a married couple and we would date as a married couple with kids. 

Dates are fun, right? Something we used to always look forward to! Well, I have to be honest, dating with a baby is a little harder than I imagined it would be. 

My mom came to visit in the middle of July and while she was here we decided it would be the perfect time to go on our first "date" since Christian was born. We planned it in advance and I anxiously showed my mom where everything was and gave her the 411 on taking care of Christian.

I wasn't nervous that my mom wouldn't take GREAT care of Christian. I just wanted her to know where everything was. 

We left the house and I was completely comfortable and excited to spend some quality time with my hubby! Although, it did feel weird not having Christian with us. Not long after we got to dinner, I started getting emotional. It may have been because we were reminiscing over the life events we have partook in at Red Lobster over the past 2 years, or it may have been because it was our first time out of the house without our little boy. And there is no reason he can't be with us for dinner of all things! 

Well, eating dinner without a baby IS much more relaxing and being able to focus on each other without caring for a baby IS a lot less distracting...but still. 

So there I sat...in tears...on our "first date". Not exactly my idea of "romantic" especially when all I really wanted was to be with our little boy. 

Luckily, my hubby had a few tricks up his sleeve...as usual :) Our date wasn't over after dinner like I had thought it was. We were going mini golfing! And not just your normal mini golfing, but NEON mini golfing! So fun! 

Jim dressed perfectly for the neon lights! 

I, on the other hand, was unprepared... 

Don't worry...we weren't really hitting our balls like it was real golf! 

It wasn't long after we started our round that my mind was off Christian and focused on having fun with my hubby and really enjoying time with him.

I think I must have been having too much fun, though, because I lost! I never lose to my hubby! Oh well :) My win was conquering date night! 

As we headed home, though, I realized that we were going to need to do this again. While I love spending time with my hubby, I really wanted to just have 'date nights' be 'family nights' from there on out. But I knew this wouldn't be good or healthy for our relationship. Dating is good for our relationship and will help us stay connected and continue to grow together and enjoy each other as more than just 'parents'. 

Our 1 year anniversary is approaching, and I'm hoping it goes better. Here are my newest thoughts on dating after baby and how I hope to do it from now on...

My Tips to Ease Back Into Dating Post Baby: 

1. Don't wait too long to start! I honestly don't know if this would have made a huge difference, but I can only think that the less time we would have waited, the easier it would have been. It would have been our new normal. 

2. Start small. Your first date doesn't need to be elaborate. Maybe its something as simple as leaving the house for 30 minutes - 1 hour and just going for a walk and engaging in undistracted conversation. As you get more comfortable leaving your new bundle of joy, stretch your dates longer. 

3. Do something fun! This not only makes for an enjoyable date, but it makes for a distracting date! In a good way! The second part of our date involved mini golfing...very fun and took my mind off the fact that our little guy wasn't with us and let me enjoy time with my hubby. It also wasn't really something we could have brought Christian to do, which made me feel less guilty. 

4. Do it often! I think the more you date and get a babysitter, the more comfortable you will become.

5. Find a babysitter you trust or do some 'practice babysitting'. If you are opting for a high school babysitter, you may be a little more nervous about leaving your new baby...at least I am! But something I'm hoping to do is have a babysitter come take care of Christian while I am home. For example, we have a small group with several couples with children and eventually we will need child care during small group. With a high school babysitter watching the kids upstairs, I'm hoping to get comfortable and confident in leaving Christian with someone else. 

What tips do you have? What has helped you?