New Table

Our new table came! I L-O-V-E, love it!!!

This is the best picure I could get in the current light. And bonus you get Ryan eating his lunch;-)

The Blog Curse?

Note to self: Never post about getting sleep again...just in case.

Mr. Sandman

Mark the date on your calendar folks. Lily slept through the night!!! We started Sleeping 101 with her last Monday. What possessed us to start right at daylight savings time I do not know, but we did. The first step was moving Ryan into the other room. It just wouldn't be fair to him to be in the same room with a sleep training baby. After much trial and error we discovered she likes singing. We successfully got her to sleep without nursing after about 2 hours of trying. There was some crying involved(I won't say who), but I think Lily and I both figured some things out. She woke up 1 or 2 times that night...it's pretty much a fog at this point. The next night was easier. I didn't think it would be since Jay had a meeting and I was on my own for bed time with all 3 kids. I managed to get the older two done by 8:30 and Lily was asleep in her crib by 8:45! She woke up twice that night, but went back to sleep fairly quickly with some singing and tummy rubbing. I guess she was wiped out from it all because she slept until 10am! Wednesday was pretty good again. She was asleep by 9 that night, woke up her normal 2 times and woke up for the day at 10:15. Thursday was really good Lily woke up once and fell back to sleep on her own before I even got to her. Friday and Saturday were fair considering there was so much excitement over having visitors and her birthday party. Last night she didn't go to sleep right away. We started at 8:30 and she wasn't asleep until 9:15ish, but on the bright side--the VERY bright side--she slept the entire night without crying at all. She woke up looking a little sleepy around 8, but perked up quickly. What a fantastic night! NONE of the kids woke up.
In case you are wondering our routine starts around 8 with stories. Lily picks some and Ryan picks some and we all read them together. Then the kids get songs all together and Ryan gets prayers. Then I take Lily to her room and we rock while I sing a round of songs. Then I give her a kiss, put her in her crib and sing the second round of songs. While I sing the second round I gradually withdrawal from her from rubbing her back to sitting in the rocker looking at her and finally to leaning back on the rocker where she can't see me. This progression sometimes takes 2-3 rounds of songs depending on her. Then I stop singing and sit in the chair and wait for her to fall asleep. If she starts to cry I revert to the previous step. If she keeps crying I go one more step back and so on until she stops crying. If she stands up and cries harder I hug her and if that doesn't help I pick her up and start over. This system has worked for us so far. Every once in a while she will only stay quiet if I hold her. After I pick her up and start the routine for the second time if she starts crying when I put her down and won't stop I will leave the room for 5 minutes and come back to start fresh. I have not had to leave the room more than once since we figured out our system. Which for all intents and purposes was the second night of Sleep 101 since the first night was full of trial and error. When she wakes up in the night we let her cry for 5 minutes(if we can stand it) and one of us goes in to do the routine. I know we are not in the clear yet, but last night gives me hope that there will be sleep in our future.

Snipits from the Bathroom

Ryan to me: All done Pee-pees!
Then looking down at his, well, you know, in a scolding tone he said: I said all done!

R is for Ryan **updated**

Ryan, Lily and I were sitting on the couch. Lily and I were playing peek-a-boo and Ryan was sitting next to us scribbling on his mini-magnadoodle. He generally scribbles something and tells me it's a picture or it says something. Imagine my surprise when he says, "Look mommy!" and I see a plain as day R right there on the board. He took it upon himself to do it and he did. We weren't even talking about letters at the time. He was so proud of himself. I think he really liked it that I said it was so good we should save it to show to daddy. That means it's really special. He was embarrassed, but I made him take a picture with it later in the day. He kept hiding his face, so the picture here is when he popped out from behind the doodle board. I think it turned out well for a picture taken on the fly.

**UPDATED to add:
This is what he showed me today.
I guess he was inspired by the praise he got for his "R". Okay it needs a little work, but he did it completely on his own with no coaching. I'd say that is pretty good for a 3 1/2 year old!