Sleep

Good news and bad news:

Lately it feels like I am tired all the time.  When Elizabeth was born she had her days and nights mixed up.  She slept great during the day and was awake most of the night.  After a couple of weeks when she finally turned things around, she would only sleep for more than a half an hour if someone held her.  It was so exhausting!  Finally around 2 months she started sleeping through the night, or only waking up once.  It was great!  I got lots of sleep and actually felt well rested most days.  Then she learned how to roll over.

She first learned to roll from her back to her stomach.  She would roll onto her stomach during the night, get stuck, get angry, and throw up.  Back to waking up 3 times a night.  Finally, she learned how to roll both ways; consequently she never stops moving.  Still waking up 3 times a night.

I was so excited to start Elizabeth on solid foods once she turned 6 months old because I thought, hoped, that the solid food would keep her fuller longer so that we could go back to decent sleep.  Nope.  She is still waking up 3 times a night.  Occasionally she only wakes up twice and occasionally she wakes up every 2 1/2 hours.

I am so tired!  I've tried to let her cry it out, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.  Now even getting her to sleep is a pain.  She used to go down pretty easy, but now it takes her 45 minutes to go to sleep, even when she is tired.  I have to let her cry pretty hard for about 10 minutes and then go back in and nurse her.  She is so exhausted at that point that she usually falls asleep.

Ethan has always been a great sleeper, even as a baby.  However, lately he has been getting up 1 or 2 times a night and climbing into bed with us.  Sometimes we take him back to bed right away and other times I am so tired that I just let him stay there so I can get some sleep.  Sometimes he sleeps, other times he just lays there until finally he asks to go back to his bed.

Ethan has also gotten to the point where he is basically done with naps.  Sad, sad day for me.  If he takes a nap he won't go to sleep until 10:30, but if he doesn't take a nap we usually have an emotional breakdown in the afternoon.  So instead of putting him down for a nap, he goes in his room for "Quiet Time."  He has to stay in his room (play, read books) by himself for an hour.  So far, this has worked pretty well.  I miss the 2-3 hour break the nap gave, but this at least gives me a little break and sometimes he is asleep when I go check on him at the end of the hour.


Now for some good news: Sam and I finally got a new bed!  Our bed frame was pretty old (I think it has belonged to my family for as long as I have) and it broke a couple of years ago when we were moving it.  We propped the broken corner up on wood blocks, but it still felt like you were sleeping on a slide.  Finally last week, after years and years of idea dropping (nagging) we bought a new bed.  I love it!  Not only does it look nice, it is way more supportive and it doesn't squeak whenever someone rolls over.  I will post pictures as soon as my computer and camera decide to get along.

I may not be getting any more sleep, but at least the sleep I get is a bit more comfortable.

August

Oh, what do you do in the summer-time, when all the world is green (or brown if you live in Utah)?  Play inside!

Normally I love to play outside and soak up the sun, but it has just been too hot and there's not much I can do while taking care of Elizabeth, plus looking at Pinterest makes me feel guilty that I never do anything fun or pre-school-ish with Ethan, so we have put our indoor time to good, at least better, use.  What have we done?

Homemade play-dough out of baking soda and corn starch.  Ethan doesn't really like to "play" with it, he prefers to roll it out and cut out shapes.

 

You got me, we also watch TV.  Ethan's favorite shows on Netflix are Yo Gabba Gabba, Blues Clues, The Cat in the Hat, and anything Thomas.  He also loves Tangled, Shark Tale, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Lorax.  This boy has crazy energy, but he loves to watch TV.  Sometimes when I'm going crazy or I want to run on the treadmill, I'll put something on for him to watch so I can have a little break.  I would feel guilty about this, but it's probably the only reason why I have any sanity left.

We also find all sorts of things to play with.  Sam pulled out his baseball glove and heard me call it a "mitt," he immediately ran to his room so that he could wear his mittens like Daddy.

We hit bubbles with the baseball bat.  No good pictures of the action, too hard to blow bubbles and take a non fuzzy picture at the same time.

We are still working on the bicycle.  He has a hard time with the peddling so Sam or I have to push his feet, it gets exhausting so we don't do this as often as we should.

Painting!

Finger Painting!

Moon Sand (flour and baby oil).

You may be wondering where Elizabeth is during all the fun.  Usually we do these type of activities during one of her naps.

And occasionally we play with our bazillions of toys.

Also during the month of August, Elizabeth turned 6 months old.  It's hard to believe that she is already that old.  She is almost crawling and is very good at rolling, pivoting, and scooting herself around to get where she wants.

 

July

Oh July, you flew by so fast that it is now nearing the end of August.  Oh well, it will be nice when (if) things cool off.

It has been so hot this summer that we play inside a lot (thank you new air conditioner). When we do go outside, it is either early, late, or involves water.

Ethan loves playing in his pool.  His favorite activities are gargling and splashing Mom.

While Ethan plays outside, Elizabeth plays on a blanket.  She loves it when it is windy.

This was just cute so I had to include it.

July brought an exciting advancement/addition/finish to our house.  The upstairs bathroom finally got finished!  Well almost, there are still a few finishing touches that need to be done but we can now at least use the bathtub and shower!  After a couple of frustrating years and multiple setbacks, we finally have a bathtub again!  Ethan loves taking baths and asks to take them all the time.  I think I enjoy the bathtub just as much as Ethan, and yes, sometimes I use his Sesame Street bubble bath.

Early in July we attended the Jeppson Reunion - my mom's family.  This year it was at a cabin outside of Preston, Idaho.  I wasn't adventurous enough to sleep at the cabin with a toddler and a baby, but we spent the day there getting very dirty.

This is the anual marshmallow auction.  We bid on exciting prizes with mini-marshmallows.  Ethan scored some bubbles and one of those nasty, slimy balls (he loves them but I won't buy one because I can't stand how they smell and feel).

The next weekend we attended the Wood Reunion in Alpine, Utah - Sam's mom's family.

Every year for as long as Sam can remember they play a sawdust game.  They hide candy and money in sawdust and set a timer and let the kids go at it.  Ethan was hesitant at first because he does not like to get his hands dirty, but once he realized there was candy he got excited.

Another Wood Reunion tradition: The Hokey Pokey.  Ethan is dancing with his Aunt Amy and Uncle Alma.

Sam got a new work car!  If you look closely you can see Ethan riding in the back.  Hopefully this is the only time he experiences the backseat of a police car.

Of course we went on walks and played at the park.

We did lots of reading.  Ethan loves getting new books from the library because he has memorized all of ours.

Between hot weather and Elizabeth's naps, we have spent a lot of time in the house so we've had to get creative on entertainment.  One of Ethans favorite things is, as he calls it "playing with the squeezy thing," aka pan of baking soda, bowls of dyed vinegar, and a dropper.  Eventually Ethan just grabs handfuls of baking soda and dumps them in the vinegar, but it's still fun.

And just a few more pictures from July:

I got a haircut.

 

Elizabeth loves attention from Ethan.  If ever she is sad or fussy I can send Ethan in and she will start giggling.



Adventures in Potty Training

I think I would probably enjoy getting kicked in the shin every day more than I have enjoyed potty training.  Ethan turns 3 in a couple of months and I have been very anxious to be done with diapers.  I had originally planned on having things taken care of before Elizabeth came along so that we only had one child in diapers, but that was just wishful thinking.

We have tried to take things slow and follow Ethan's lead.  I know a child won't potty train until they are ready and Ethan is so independent/stubborn that I knew it could only happen when he wanted it to.  Well, after months and months of gently trying to encourage the idea he finally peed in the potty.  For months he would sit on the toilet but nothing would happen and then one day in July he finally went.

He has done really well at peeing in the toilet (very few accidents) but we have yet to poop more than a small nugget.  We are on our 5th week of potty training and he still won't poop in the toilet!  We have done the potty chart with stickers, we have promised him a baskeball hoop, we have gotten bribe toys (rewards) from the dollar store.  Nothing has worked!  On a positive note, for me at least, this last week Ethan has stopped pooping in his underwear.  He now waits until bedtime when he is in a pull-up.

A few days ago Ethan decided he was done using the toilet and refused to pee/poop anywhere but in a diaper.  When we took him to the bathroom he would throw a huge fit.  Fast foreward two days, I am trying to put Elizabeth down for a nap when Ethan knocks on the door to tell me he pooped.  While playing downstairs he pooped in his diaper, he then tried to change his diaper by taking it off and putting it in the garbage, then put on pants and came upstairs to let me know.  Thoughtful, but I had to clean up a lot of poop.

Still no pooping in the toilet but Ethan is now back to peeing in the toilet but only if he can stand.  This is totally okay with me because I get sprayed far less often.

June

June was a fun, exciting, and crazy month for us:

We blessed Elizabeth.  She was so cute, and she didn't even stain her outfit!

My brother Brian and his family came to visit.  We had tons of fun.  Ethan loved playing with Jocelyn, teasing Uncle Brian, and playing with "Uncle Joy" (despite my best efforts he would not call her Aunt Joy).

We celebrated Cousin Taylor's birthday.  They had a great big water slide at their house.

We played in the sprinklers at Grandma and Grandpa Gleason's.

We also went to the Gleason Family Reunion, but I didn't get any pictures.  This year it was at a park in Logan next to the Auquatic Center.  Ethan loved playing in the volleyball pit with all his cousins.



We bought new furniture!  Ethan loved riding around the store in his race car, but was a little dissapointed that we couldn't take it home.

Of course, we played a lot.

And we had the Wolf Family Get Together.  This year we wen't to Seven Peaks in Provo.  It was super hot but fun!