Choices...

Below is a conversation Arlo and I had today about Dylan and his pooping schedule

Mom: Dyl Dyl where is your poopers? you need to go poop. How come there is no poopy in this diaper?

Arlo: (Pushing himself in between me and Dyl with his hands out) Mom, Let Dylan worry about his own poop. His pooping is his choice not yours.

I could have just died! the kid cracks me up. At least I know that the personal responsibility thing and choices is starting to click!

Ferber Update

So right after my wonderful post about Ferberization and its amazingness we had a minor set back....It was just me and the kids and I tried to lay Dyl down in his playpen in the office for his nap and it was kind of a disaster. Lets just say after almost an hour of me trying the ferber technique and Dyl still crying I caved and rescued my little boy. We were both crying by that time. The good news is I guess I am not a hardened mommy; I still cant stand to hear them cry. I was lucky with Arlo because he responded so quickly that I didn't have to experience crying for a long time. When Dyl cried that long it was really really traumatic. We haven't given up, we just decided to keep with the same location -in his crib as he did not seem to like the office, and to get the nights down really good then move to the naps. So the nights are going great! he's going down in his crib with little to no crying and then waking up 2 times in the night to eat. The naps seem to go really good if I put him in his crip sleepy. We will keep the fingers crossed!

Ferberization Rocks

Now that Dyl is almost 5 months we decided it is high time to do something about his horrible sleeping habits. It has been really really bad lately. The babies are supposed to sleep better as they get older but with Dyl it has been the opposite. It got to where he was waking up every 30 min to an hour on some nights and I was just a basketcase. SOOO last weekend we decided it was time to ferberize him. On friday night Clint and I went out on our valentines day date and left the kids with my sister. We got an early start because we were going to leave Arlo to sleep over and pick up Dyl . We figured he was not going to do this without a fight and it would be better to deal with 1 of our boys awake all night rather than 2. So...we got home fed Dyl and layed him in his crib awake, gave him some kisses and went upstairs.
I remember with Arlo the first time I did this I was beside myself. I actually had to leave the house and drive around so I wouldn't be tempted to rescue him. With Dyl it was a bit of a different story. I think part of it is because I know and trust that it works because I have done it with one before. I realize that 2-3 nights of mild discomfort helps them to be happier, better sleepers in the long run. But I also think that I have felt so tortured by the no sleep that the guilt was not as bad. Am I a hardened mommy???? well it didn't take near as long as I anticipated. The first time he started crying we set the timer for 5 min and went in to comfort him. Then I set the timer in for 10 min and went back in to give him some kisses and pats. I stayed in there with him just putting my hand on his chest and softly rubbing his head and in about 2 min he was calmed down and drifting to sleep. Thats all it took! the kid stayed asleep for 4 more hours and woke up at 1:00 when he was ready to eat and then again at 5:00 to eat again. He woke up for good at 7:30. On saturday night Clint had to do it because I was at the store. I guess it took poor dyl about 30 minutes and he was pretty ticked off. But that is the worst it has been; Since then it has only gotten better and last night he went to bed at 7:30 with no crying woke up at 12:00 to eat and then this morning at 6:40. He did have a few episodes in the night where he fussed a bit but he just went back to sleep. I am so exctactic! It has been so great at the end of the night to put both boys to bed and have our alone time back to hang. It has also been amazing to get some sleep in longer blocks than an hour. The wierd thing is I have felt really tired the last 2 days. I cant figure it out. I am getting so much more sleep than I was. I guess now that I know what I was missing I want to play catch up. I will keep updating how the ferber thing is going but so far so good. It just works well for me because I don't feel like I am abandoning my baby. If he gets upsett I can go in to comfort him, I just cant pick him up. I love you Dr. Ferber!!!!

Side note: Valentines with the hubs was really nice. We went to the Olive Garden and I got a beautiful necklace. its funny that getting the baby ferberized was part of the valentines day date. but we are SO HAPPY we did it

Current Weight loss- I got the first 15 lbs off...now for another 15

My little Love bugs and Valentines Love Bugs

Today was Arlo's valentines party at school. I had a bit to much fun making his valentines this year. I love to do crafts. Its kind of a fun stress reliever so below is my little love bugs and the Valentine love bugs I made for Arlo's classmates. I had so much fun making these!
Here he is eating his special valentines rice crispy snackI caught him holding hands with a girl!
Heres his cute heart pot craft they made in classArlo just has the best pre-school ever. I love it and he is absolutely loving it too! he asks to go now and there is no aprehension at drop off. It has been so great for him.

The other day we also made some hearts for the window with melted crayons and wax paper. He thought that was really cool. Just love an excuse to make cute little things with my cute little things.....

Moms Night

So, things around here have been pretty crazy since Dylan has been born. He is almost 5 months and I still feel like I am spinning a bit. In many aspects I think we have finally adjusted and things are going pretty well. Arlo is doing great. He has been a such a good streak for about the past month and has been such a thoughtful helpful little guy.We absolutely love little Dyl's happy personality, so why do I still feel a bit nuts? Well, no sleep-and I mean NO SLEEP will do that to ya! I thought that as time went on things were supposed to get better in that department, not worse. Last month we all had colds we couldn't seem to get rid of and during that time Dyl was waking up like 10-15 times a night (not exaggerating here) and I figured it was due to the fact that he couldn't breath with the stuffy nose at all. Well, the colds are all gone but the waking baby is here to stay. Dyl is still waking up like every hour ALL NIGHT LONG!!! HELP-that is all I can say people. I have turned into a walking zombie. I am not sure what the Heck is going on but it has got to stop-soon. Well last week the height of crazy seemed to hit for me. Clint had been working around the clock to get a project at work done and I was just worn out!! After the insane week my very thoughtful hubs gave me the best gift anyone in the whole wide world could give me-yep you guessed it a night of uninterrupted sleep. I got to book a room at Little America and go there all by myself! I also scheduled a hair appointment and a facial and just decided to make a day of pampering out of it. I had the absolute best time. I am back and rested for the first time in a month. It was SOOOOOO NICE!!! and so needed. I love my husband for giving me the gift of sleep, cute hair and sanity. I am back home loving my boys and my hubs.

PS-Current weight loss 12.5 lbs Yay!

I love my Little Man

So tonight while I was enjoying a moment alone in the bathroom (It can be a great place to go for a little break ) I heard a very loud cry from Dyl followed by a panicked hubs yelling for me. I run out to find that Little Dyl has had his first injury! Clint and the boys were up in the playroom of course playing something starwars related when the accident occurred. Arlo was wearing his clone trooper helmet on his head when he bent down to pick something up causing it to fall off and hit Dylan smack in the forhead. At first It looked pretty bad. His little noggin had a cut on it and it was swelling up by the second. Clint and I were in a bit of a panic, which caused Arlo to panic as well. After we determined that Dylan was ok and the injury was minimal we tried our best to reassure Arlo that everything was ok. My little guy was so upsett. Although it was hard to see him like that I was so proud to see what an empathetic, caring and sweet little man I have. As Clint and I were trying our best to tell him Dylan would be just fine, little tears welled up in his beautiful brown eyes and he said, "I was scarred that Dylan was hurt and I don't want to hurt my little brother, I love him". What a sweet heart I have. He is such a good big brother. For the rest of the night he kept peeking over at Dyl to make sure he was ok and saying comments like "Man that looks bad, but he's ok right mom?" I just kept reassurring Arlo that his little brother would be fine. I cant believe what a thoughtful boy he is growng up to be.