Sleep

Last night was probably the worst night for sleep that I have ever had. If not ever, at least in the past 2 years.

Brendan is now two. Which means he is starting to really test us and get into his “terrible twos.” With this new “stage” in his life as well as being on vacation for three weeks, his sleeping has been completely altered. Brendan has decided not to stay in his bed any more when we put him to bed. This has become such a challenge for us the past few days. We started last night about 7:30, knowing this was going to be a battle and we were hoping by 8:00 he would settle down and go to sleep. By 8:00, we decided perhaps he wasn’t tired and allowed him to sit on my lap for half an hour before starting again.

This may have set us back, but this is quite a challenge for us. As you may remember when we first transitioned to his own bed, it was a rather smooth transition and he would just stay in bed, never getting out unless you told him he could, this included getting up in the morning. I guess now his two-year-old mind has decided he can get out of bed whenever he wants.

By 9:30, after 2 ½ hours of this nonsense, I was in tears struggling to keep him in bed and to go to sleep. Scott told me to come to bed, and he closed our door. Brendan passed out from exhaustion I am assuming and went to sleep, in his bed. However, at 2:00 am, Brendan got his second wind, he came into our room, which woke up Caleb who decided he then wanted to eat. We put Brendan to bed, again. I fed Caleb. After I was done feeding Caleb (now 2:30), and Scott had put Brendan back to bed at least 4 times, I got up and took Brendan to bed once again. This time I stayed in his room to ensure he did not get up, assuming it would not be long before he went to sleep. I laid down on the twin bed in his room waiting. About every 10 minutes, I would hear “Mommy?” “Go to sleep Brendan.”

After what seemed like forever, I quietly went back to my own bed. As I look at the clock (now 4:00 am) I hear little footsteps following me. You have got to be kidding! Once again, I burst into tears, I’m tired, I’m stressed and I really need sleep! Scott puts Brendan back to bed again, and locks our door. We hear Brendan get up, try to open our door and start crying and knocking. I’m so frustrated, yet it breaks my heart to hear him knocking to get to us.

After 15 minutes of us ignoring his cries, he gives up and goes back to bed. I finally get back to sleep about 4:30/4:45. Morning came early as you can expect.

I’m not sure if it is the lack of sleep I have had lately, the hormones still out of whack, the return to work after my leave or what, but I have been on the verge of tears the past few days. I’m easily upset, exhausted when I get home from work and don’t have much of a desire to do anything.

Any advice from veteran parents? Scott thinks there is something wrong with Brendan, I’m pretty sure this is a stage that many children go through. Thoughts? Ideas? HELP!

4th of July 2010

Brendan Turns 2!

Our little baby is no longer a baby... He is now 2 years old! To celebrate this major milestone in his short life, we have actually had 3 birthday parties!

Birthday Party 1:

Our first celebration for Brendan's birthday was on July 11th while in Idaho visiting Scott's Parents. The day before we left we had a small celebration. Scott's mom made a chocolate cake for Brendan and he got to open his presents. He received an Elmo shape matching game and a bubble blower-mower (although we haven't yet gotten the bubbles to work). Brendan calls his mower his "race car" and pushes it all over the house, the back yard, any where he can. A new favorite toy.

Brendan's 2nd Birthday - Take 2:

On Brendan's actual birthday, we were in Solvang at the end of our vacation. My mom bought Mickey birthday items which Brendan just loved! We had cupcakes, Mickey suckers, and all kinds of fun toys. My parents bought Brendan a Tool box so he can help daddy around the house and my brother got him a cute little outfit with a handyman on it. Surprisingly, Brendan really liked the shirt and asked to put it on after he opened it.

Brendan's Birthday Party (number 3):

On Sunday, we had Brendan's actual birthday party with his friends. We had a BBQ on Sunday afternoon and the kids had a blast playing outside. We had bubbles, a sprinkler, a kiddie pool, sidewalk chalk and all kinds of cars, bikes and other outside toys. The weather was nice but not too hot. I know Brendan had a great time.

We made a huge BBQ dinner, with way too much food. BBQ spare-ribs, pulled pork, chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, Mac-and-cheese, watermelon, and sourdough bread. Too much food, but it was a lot of fun.

We did cupcakes instead of cake with blue sprinkles and a sour gummy banana on top (since the party was monkey themed. Brendan liked the banana, when I turned my back he stole mine off of my cupcake! Since this was his 3rd party, he understood the concept to blow out the candle, this was the first time he was actually able to blow it out on his own!

Presents were a lot more fun compared to last year! He really enjoyed his toys, were opened all of them and Brendan played with all his friends. Scott and I bought him a Tonka race track with extra cars, it's a good thing because the cars were a big hit with all the kids, they had difficulties sharing 10 cars between 4 of them. Uncle Kevin & Aunt Bekah bought him a tunnel and bubble machine that they let him open earlier so the kids could play outside with them before dinner. He also received a wagon with sand toys, a Handy Manny doll, and a Mickey Mouse tub toy. He really did love them all! It was so fun watching his excitement!

Caleb basically slept through the evening and was passed around a few times, he was as happy as could be.

Due Date Pedicure

Although they say that a baby is considered full time after 36 weeks and not really considered “early” I knew that my baby was not coming before the 15th. We did have a few scares with my constant contractions, high blood pressure, and hospital visit. But my baby was not coming early.

My due date came and went. On my due date, Saturday, May 15th, My mother took my pregnant sister and me out for pedicures. Scott stayed home with Brendan so that we could really enjoy ourselves. It was so nice to have a good foot massage and pretty toes. “I really needed this,” I thought to myself, “it has been way too long.” I began thinking back to the last time I did have a pedicure. It was last year for my sister’s birthday. We went away for a girl’s weekend and on Saturday, August 15th, we all got pedicures. How ironic. I lean over to my sister and tell her that exactly 9 months ago today was my last pedicure!

During delivery, my husband told me later that he noticed my perfectly painted toes. “While you were stressed out, sweating, in pain with fluids everywhere, your feet were up on the stirrups perfectly prim.” And that is why I got a pedicure right before having a baby, at least part of me looked good!

Pictures of Caleb

One of the problems of not blogging for 10 weeks is...an overload of pictures!

Are you all ready? You will be so sick of seeing my kids by the end of this...well, except for Grandmas, I have a feeling they never get sick of my pictures! :) So if for no one else, I will post the pictures for them!

Starting with Caleb. My friend Janelle came over when Caleb was still brand new and took a bunch of pictures for me! I was so excited since I didn't get any of these type of pictures with Brendan. I think she did such a wonderful job that I had to share her work (and my adorable kid) with all of you!

Pool Time

After almost 4 weeks after Caleb was born, I was starting to go a little stir crazy from being in the house all the time and Scott still working. So when my parents came down to Southern California for Vacation in Indio (if you have ever been to Indio you will wonder who the heck vacations there…my parents). Although the heat was intense, I decided to tag along, there is air-conditioning and a pool so I figured it couldn’t be that bad.

Brendan of course had a great time, especially because he got to spend time with his “Unka Jon” I told my brother that he is Brendan’s favorite right now. I didn’t get any pictures of Brendan (luckily my mom sent me pictures to add) he had a wonderful time in the “water” and asked to go over and over again.

Caleb did some sun bathing while everyone else played in the water, he couldn’t have been happier. Less than a month old at his first trip to the pool.
You will also notice his wonderful onesie he is wearing with his initials on it. My friend Casey made it for him at my babyshower.

Brendan's Surgery

I know it was so long ago, but Brendan did have his surgery on May 12th, and Caleb cooperated nicely by staying in my belly at this point. It was a tough day for a 22-month old who didn't really understand what was going on.

Our morning started really early as we had to be at the hospital at 6:30 in the morning. Luckily for me, my mother was in town to help me through it all. We packed ourselves breakfast to eat during surgery, but Brendan was not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight.

When we got to the hospital, they weighed and measured Brendan, then gave him a gown to wear. The gown was purple, and with his curly hair grown out in the back and his pretty long eye lashes, everyone thought he was a girl. They let him play in a play-room with toys while waiting. His nurse brought him a stuffed bear with scrubs when they took his blood.
The hardest part of the morning was not getting anything to eat or drink. It was 9:00 before they finally took him to the operating room. He was very unhappy, screaming crying, all he wanted was his milk! Finally, the anesthesiologist came in to talk with Brendan; he saw how upset he was and ordered some medication to “calm” him down. Everyone was very caring; another nurse brought Brendan a Ty Beanie Baby Kangaroo for him to take into surgery with him.
Half an hour after ordering the medicine, it was finally brought in. Brendan, who usually takes medicine fairly well for me, spit out most of it. I was afraid it wasn’t going to work since I couldn’t tell how much he got, but sure enough not 5 minutes later he was not longer screaming. We were doing the itsy-bitsy-spider and he would sway on my lap and laugh when he would almost fall off. He would spin in circles and not be able to walk; my kid was giddy and drunk! When the anesthesiologist came back in to check on him, Brendan went to him easily, gave him hugs and had no problem leaving me, I’m not sure he even knew who I was at this point!

My mother and I went a bought a cup of coffee and waited in the waiting room for the surgery to be over. I was called back when they were done and I was able to hold him but he was still pretty out of it. Once he was stable enough to go back to recovery in pediatrics, they wheeled him off. Recovery took longer than expected; Brendan had a really hard time waking up. He only wanted me to hold him, Grammi would not do. Of course, I am very much pregnant at this time and have to pee almost every half-hour. I noticed a few hours into recovery that he was feeling warm and getting a fever.
Our pediatrician was so great and came to the hospital to check on him even though he was technically another doctor’s patient at this time. Turns out Brendan was sick going into surgery, we did not realize he had a viral infection. Luckily they sent us home and didn’t make us stay the night.

Brendan recovered well, after two days he was starting to be back to himself again. Although he didn’t feel up to running around, we could tell he was feeling better. Now his scar is healing well, the hernia is all gone and we have a two inch scar in its place.

Life as a mom

You know that you are a mother of boys when you reach into your purse and in the place of lipsticks, you find crayons and three small "Race Cars".

At first it was frustrating because, well I really needed lipstick this morning, but then my heart was softened. I love playing cars with my boy, and who really needs lipstick anyway? The cars are totally worth it.

Back to Routine

Well my Maternity leave is over. Back to work, back to a schedule, back to routine, back to life. I must admit, it is nice to just have a "break" of sorts once in a while and do what you want, to an extent, but I am happy to be going back to my normal life.

With the return to "life" I am also returning to the blogging world, which I have really missed the past 10 weeks. I have so many thoughts of posts I wanted to do, updates to give, funny stories to share with many more yet to be experienced.

For now, we are all doing well, working back in a routine and starting a new routine at the same time. Caleb is growing like crazy and developing like you wouldn't believe, coo-ing and smiling just to melt your heart. Brendan is in his terrible-twos, yet a wonderful big brother. Just when you think you cant take it any more and you are going to go through the roof...he walks up and gives you a "big hug" and you just cant be mad any more. Scott was going crazy being on vacation and having life so unpredictable, so he is defiantly glad to be home and me back to work. Now he has time to "Schedule" his life away without interruption from me. As for me, I am enjoying my larger family and excited for all the adventures we will have together!

Enjoy the ride!