To sleep...

So remember when I proclaimed that 7 was sleeping through the night? Well, I would like to rescind that statement, big time. That lasted for all of about a week. I feel like I'm stuck playing the game of Chutes and Ladders - each time it seems like we're making progress back toward that ultimate baby goal, something happens, usually without Joe or me being aware, and we slide back down a few levels. Grrr.

I realized that 7 had not been getting enough good naps, so that's been my focus the last week or two. He just wants to stay up and play in the morning, which turns into afternoon fussiness, and then evening meltdowns. The books I've read all say that sleep begets sleep, which I've definitely witnessed firsthand. The more sleep he gets during the day, the easier it is on all of us at bedtime, and he usually sleeps better at night.

Yesterday was the first day in a while that he took two really good 2 hour+ naps (in addition to the little cat naps he takes). I was all excited that at 7:45-8:00 pm he was showing signs that he was tired, but wasn't fussy at all. Cue me, going to swaddle him up, put him to bed.... no peeps out of him. Success! Or so I thought.

Joe worked late and didn't get home until after 7 was in bed, around 8:30. We ate dinner, watched a tv show, and then went to bed... or tried. Neither one of us could fall asleep. By midnight I knew I was going to be in trouble, as 7 was back to at least waking up once to feed, sometimes twice, and that now starts as early as 1:30am (as opposed to 3am when he was following his own good schedule). We turned the tv off, and BAM! at 12:15, 7 was awake and hungry. Hmmm. Not a good sign. I fed him, and he immediately fell asleep again. I was hoping that maybe this was all he'd need. Nope. He was up almost every 2 hours for the rest of the early morning. :( By the time he'd woken up for the day at 8am, he was super happy and talking to Joe, so I'm not sure what's going on. Usually when he doesn't sleep enough at night, we're jarred awake by an unhappy, crying baby.

So today it's back to trying to get the naps in, and hoping that last night was just something random. I know he's getting enough to eat, so it's not like that's the problem. All I know is I'd really like my predictable middle of the night routine back, even if he's not going to sleep all night! (Wishful thinking, I know.)

I'd love to tell you about all of the other fun and exciting things going on, but really, trying to get some semblance of a sleep pattern going again is the main thing in our day. Joe's business has really taken off so he's struggling with the work/home life balance, but is managing to do a good job trying to juggle the two successfully.

Oh, and the grass seeding that I did a few weeks ago? It's slowly but surely growing lots of baby grass, so hopefully our front yard won't look so patchy this year!

Bathtime Fun

These pictures don't need much explanation. We (Joe) give 7 a bath almost every night, although not all nights are "soap" nights, as his sky was starting to dry out. He absolutely loves the bath, even when he's hungry or fussy - it calms him right down. These pictures were taken this weekend... so cute!

All clean! :)

Ok, I fixed the video, so it should be available to view - it's a link to where I posted it on youtube....

2 months old!

Time is flying! The little guy is two months old today, and he is getting more and more fun and interactive each day. Here are a few pictures from Friday night with Daddy, who was apparently quite entertaining...

And we'll see if this works... a 30 second video - the resolution isn't great, but it's still cute! And ignore Molly and Lucy playing in the background...

Joseph cooing at 8 weeks

7 actually talks and even giggles quite a bit when he's happy. He even giggled for Dr. Fisher today at his 2 month check up... before the shots, that is. As far as stats go, he's still right on track at 75th % for height and weight - He's now 23 inches and weighs 11 lb 8 oz..

He's been napping all day since the doctor's visit, which I guess is to be expected. Joe actually videoed 7 getting the shots and his reaction, but I'll spare you the awful cries of this little boy. Needless to say, it wasn't a pleasant experience.

Another growth spurt?

Babies are apparently supposed to have a growth spurt at or around 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, etc. His first true growth spurt was obvious - much more frequent feedings, and lots of sleep. I didn't notice much of anything out of the ordinary at 6 weeks, but the last few days he seems to be getting hungry sooner, and early this morning, sleep was almost non-existent. I was up every 15 minutes from 2:45 to 5:15am, trying to feed and then calm Joseph back to sleep, which didn't really work. In the last week or so, he's been fighting daytime sleep a little more, which I think correlates to his being much more alert and aware of things going on and wanting to look around and see everything. Today was no different, and I didn't get to see much of my smiley, happy baby until he'd finally taken a few good naps and was well fed, earlier this evening. Hopefully this is just a short phase we're going through, as I'm not accustomed to the fussiness I've been dealing with the last few days.

Regardless, we still get a few good smiles and happy times each day, and here are the pictures I promised yesterday...

Visiting with Kyle before he left for North Carolina...

Silliness while sitting in his boppy pillow...

It's so hard to capture him giggling and smiling, particularly because he clams up when he sees me pick up the camera. My guess is the he sees the lights come on in the front and stops what he's doing, so we'll just have to spend more time with one of us entertaining Joseph while the other takes pictures.

He absolutely loves playing while on his changing table. He just coos, giggles, and smiles, both at me and at the truffula trees on the walls. :)

And I'm sad to say that it's time to transition to his 3-6 month clothes. I've been washing many of his new onsies and outfits that look small. I can blame it on his "fluffy butt" with the cloth diapers, but I'm sad to have to add many of his 0-3 month clothes to his storage bin. :( He's growing so fast!

Proving me wrong

Well, as an update to Sunday's post - the group returned rather late, and apparently was the last team to finish the race... oh well! Joe came home somewhat sunburned and tired, but mostly sober, which I really appreciated. Of course, everyone had very interesting stories about the day, but at least Joe was good about not expecting me to take care of both of my Joes! We ordered a few pizzas, ate and went to bed early.

Joe took Monday off work, as Kyle was still in town and flying out yesterday afternoon. Kyle took us to lunch at Blue Koi, which I'd heard good things about but had never been to. It was delicious, and even better, the baby was asleep through most of the lunch. Afterward we ran a few errands and then it was time to take Kyle to the airport.

By the time we got home Joseph was hungry, so I fed him while Joe worked on a few projects around the house. We (he) finally got the air vent installed in the kitchen! I managed to take the dogs for a run while Joe watched the baby, since the weather has been absolutely perfect here lately. After 7's bath and last meal for the day, we put him to bed and watched the movie "Up" which was really cute!

Joseph's not consistently sleeping through the night, but is getting good at giving me 6-8+ hour stretches between feedings at night, which is the most I can ask the little guy for. Even when he wakes at 3 or 4am, he eats and typically falls right back to sleep for another 3 hours. Then when he wakes and eats, he's all smiles and giggling - he's just so cute!

I've got a few pictures to upload, and will try to get them posted later... I promise

Oh, and apparently I was signed in as Joe. Just in case there was ANY confusion, Lauren wrote that last post!

Jinxing It

Wouldn't you know that as soon as I decide the one night of sleep was a fluke, he goes and does it two nights in a row! Now I'm convinced that he's fully capable of sleeping through the night, and I mean a good night - last night I fed him at 8:30 and put him down at 9pm, and he slept until 4am! He wakes to eat, have his diaper changed, and then quickly falls back asleep for another 2-3 hours. If this keeps up, I'm going to be much more rested!

Of course, now that he's sleeping longer at night, his daytime naps aren't as long. He used to go down around 10am for a few hours. Now I'm lucky if I can get an hour to an hour and a half out of him. Which figures, since this week I started doing the Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred workout DVD. It's only 30 minutes long, and is a high intensity interval training session, that I'm hoping will help me lose the last 13 lbs. I figured, 30 minutes? no problem! Except I think I've only managed to do the entire session once without having to stop to calm Joseph, give him a pacifier, etc. He seems to have different ideas about how I should be spending my time in the mornings!

And my first blogging "vent." This weekend is the first truly difficult weekend of mommy-hood I've experience. Why? It's the Brew-to-Brew race. We typically "compete" (we don't take it seriously at all) in a 40 mile relay race every April - a big group of friends and I do the race, which starts in KC at a brewery and ends at a brewery in Lawrence. Each leg of the race is 3-5 miles long, and each team is only allowed one vehicle (teams are 7-10 people). We usually pile into a truck and hang out, eating, drinking and having a good time for the whole day, since the race takes a good chunk of the day. Well, today is the race, and Joe had part of the group over yesterday to assemble sandwiches and snacks, after running around the city all afternoon buying the necessities. I got to sit at home with the baby, by myself, as Joe's expedition took over 3 hours longer than he anticipated and kept him up north - I had planned on meeting up with them to run the errands for a bit. Then today everyone met at our house at 7am to divide up the food, coolers and people into the team vehicles, before heading to the start of the race.

I had really hoped to be able to participate, and physically I could, although I'd be slow and need to walk part of my leg. However, breastfeeding Joseph is going really well, and a) I didn't want to bring the baby along for the whole day, b) I didn't want to leave him at home with a babysitter with a few bottles of pumped milk, since we'd be gone for 8-10 hours, and c) I really didn't want to have to pump and dump the breastmilk I'd need to express during the race. So in the end my desire to continue the good deal we have going on made the only remaining plausible option the least fun - not participate at all. So after watching everyone leave this morning, I've spent the day cleaning, doing yard work, met a friend for lunch, and sitting at home, trying to enjoy the sunny, 80 degree day by myself. As all the stay-at-home moms reading this know, it's a blessing to be able to stay with your child, but sometimes being alone all day gets lonely and it's nice to have a break from being "on" 24 hours a day. I really look forward to the weekends and having Joe around, and this weekend is the first that has been just like another work day, and worse, since I know he's out with all of our friends, having fun.

Here's hoping he doesn't completely disappoint me when he gets home and is at least somewhat sober, engaging and willing to help with the baby tonight. News from the race course, however, leads me to believe I may be kicking Joe out to sleep on the porch tonight. It's the closest thing we have to a dog house, since Lucy isn't much into sharing.

Vent over. ;)

Oh well

Yup, I can officially say it was a fluke. We're back to at least 1 middle of the night feeding, sometimes 2. Knowing that he's capable of sleeping all night, though, has me working to figure out what we can do to get that back!

It Happened!!

Last night he slept through the night! His last feeding was at 9:30, then bath with Daddy and asleep by the end of the basketball game. He stayed down until 6:20am! I could hardly believe it when I woke to him fussing and it was starting to get light out. And no, I didn't wake up at all in the middle of the night either. I thoroughly enjoyed the sleep, too. Here's hoping it wasn't a one-time fluke!

Baby's First Easter

Easter Sunday the weather was absolutely gorgeous here! Sunny, breezy, and I think the high was around 80 degrees! Joseph made his first trip to church, and while something triggered a huge wailing fest as we pulled up, he eventually calmed down once we got inside and he could look around at everything.

Ashley and Mikael hosted a great Easter lunch/dinner, and Joseph was happy to hang out in his car seat at the end of the table while we ate - again, wide eyed and totally calm! Of course, plenty of pass-the-baby was to be had by all of the family members, which he didn't seem to mind too much. He got to spend some more time with his great-grandparents, too, who had lots of fun doting on him.

Then it was time for some resting after lunch with Daddy (who didn't mind the naptime either!)

After everyone left, we stayed over to watch the movie, The Time Traveler's Wife, which I thought was pretty good. Joseph slept through the whole thing, and it was soon time for his bedtime routine. Grandma was staying with us, and was happy to give him a bath and bottle, along with some playtime.

Joseph also saw  and made eye contact with Lucy for the first time - he was quite wide-eyed and not sure what to think of her!

Mobile Love

This week Joseph has really opened up to the world around him, and is constantly looking around, taking things in. He has discovered the mobile hanging above him in his crib, and can watch it for quite a while. He hasn't started talking to it, just watching intently and kicking his legs. Imagine my surprise to not hear anything out of his room during a nap for about 20 minutes, and peek in to find him just staring up at the mobile!

He's also getting more and more smiley...

And just so cute!

Lionel Richie?

That's right. All night long. 7 went 9 hours between feedings last night. And how did mommy and baby celebrate? 8am naptime!
















Also, spring has sprung without a late freeze like last year which means the magnolia trees in our front yard are blooming.
















Last year the weather was pretty crappy right now. The Brew to Brew was 34* and sleet last year. The Brew to Brew is this sunday and is currently forecast to be sunny and 75*. I am stoked.

6 weeks old and meeting the Easter Bunny

Last weekend Joseph made his first trip to the Lake of the Ozarks to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Parsonage again (much to their dismay! ;) ) The weather was a little chilly and wet, so we didn't get to play outside much. What to do when the weather isn't nice? Go shopping! We spent some time on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning shopping at the outlet malls, and found a few shirts for me, and a few new outfits for Joseph. Joe also bought 7 his first pair of sunglasses. :) Grandpa also brought him his first Webkinz stuffed animal, a dinosaur. They had fun playing with it together.

Grandma also enjoyed her time cuddling with Joseph... Of course, the weekend was over too quickly and we had to head back to KC.


This week the weather has been gorgeous - 70s to low 80s all week and sunny. That meant we went on lots of walks, and I even managed to clean up our screened porch so it's all ready to enjoy. It also meant that we finally got the Christmas lights down... at least most of them (the strand on the roofline is still up). Last night we also decided to take Joseph to meet the Easter bunny! He slept in his stroller up until it was almost his turn, and then he woke up, so we actually got an awake baby picture. It actually turned out quite well, we think.

They were handing out bunny ears for the kids, and Joe put them on Joseph... even though they are quite big. The little guy tolerated the torture well for a few pictures, before deciding he'd had enough of the bunny ears.

Still makes you smile, doesn't it? We also realized that the newborn insert in his car seat is designed to be used until babies are 11 lbs. We're pretty sure he's there by now, and I can't believe how big he's gotten over these past 6 weeks. I mean, look at the picture taken yesterday, compared to the day he came home from the hospital... he's growing so fast!