Sleep and Snuggles

When Emma was a baby, she totally spoiled me when it came to sleeping. Starting at 6 weeks, the girl started sleeping around 5-6 hour stretches and it just continued to get longer until she settled into the pattern of 8pm bedtime and 6am wake up. Like clockwork. She also was a piece of cake to put down for naps. Somewhere around 4 months, I would notice her giving off sleepy hints, I'd lay her down in her crib and she went to sleep. She pretty quickly settled into a daytime nap routine. She must have gotten the memo that I am spoiled.

Colson, on the other hand, would really like to be in his momma's arms to fall asleep. We kinda like each other, me and my boy.

photo credit: Captured Moments by Ellen

I can't say really mind...I love snuggling him. And maybe it's a second baby thing, but I feel like I'm a little more apt to throw caution to the wind and just soak up my baby cuddles while I can. I know how fast that little guy is going to turn into an independent toddler, a gangly little boy, and before I know it, he'll be a teenager who cringes at the thought of even hugging his old Mom. It's a phase, just like potty training or Elmo watching or whiny two year olds, and I know it'll pass. So why not enjoy it since it does happen to be a nice phase...kind of.

At the same time, it's not realistic for me to hold him every single time he needs to go to sleep. So we are working at teaching him to self-soothe. He has this pattern...

I know he's tired. I take him up for his nap, let him cry it out, and he'll eventually fall asleep. One would think that that was a successful sleep training attempt. However.....20 minutes later, I hear his cries coming through the monitor. I go up to get him and 98% of the time, he's right back asleep in my arms on the couch two minutes later because he's still tired! This has happened countless times.

I know what I need to do. It's painfully obvious even as I write this. 

Have whoever sent Emma that "Momma is spoiled memo" send one to Colson as well.

I kid.

Don't pick him up when he wakes up after 20 minutes when you KNOW that wasn't a long enough nap.

He's six months old today. It's probably time to get serious about working on a consistent routine. Isn't it amazing how each kid is so different? Emma found a consistent routine on her own, but it seems like Colson may need a little help settling into one. 

What worked for you girls? For your kiddos who weren't super easy sleepers on their own, when did you start working on routines and sleep training? How did you resist those big tears longing for Momma to pick him up? :)

Momma Grows Too

Can I let you guys in on an embarrassing/funny joke in our family? When Jarred went to ask my father's blessing to marry me, my Dad responded with the statement, "From us, it's an absolutely." (aww thanks Dad!) But that's not all he said. He also felt compelled to share with my future husband that I am spoiled.  (WHAT!??!? DAD!!! haha I can't believe he told him that!)

Now before you think awful thoughts about me or my dad, let me fill in the gaps of the story. I grew up in what I would call an upper middle class family. We definitely weren't rich or live in any kind of mansion...just a typical 4 bedroom, nice neighborhood kind of place. But we also didn't want for anything really. College was paid for. Homecoming/prom dresses were paid for without a second thought. We always had back to school clothes and new backpacks and money to go to the movies.  There was never a time (that I can remember) when we were told, I'm sorry...there just isn't money for that. Now if we wanted to go buy $500 designer jeans, we would have gotten a no but for the most part, if we needed something, it was provided. It wasn't that we were brats about it and whined and kicked to get our way. It was just that when we needed something, we were able to get it. (again, within reason of course)

 When my Dad told Jarred that I was spoiled, he meant that statement in a humble, I-maybe-did-wrong- kind of attitude. He was trying to share with my husband that the lifestyle I grew up in is pretty different from the lifestyle I was about to enter. My dad recognized that although we weren't going to be living on the streets, newlyweds aren't exactly living high on the hog either...especially farmers and that was going to be a change for me. My dad shared that he wondered if maybe they (my parents) were wrong in just providing for our every want/need rather than teaching us how to work for things and budget and say no to things. Does that make sense? I tend to think they were a little wrong (not on purpose) but that's not the point of this post....

In some ways, our new lifestyle was/is fun and an adventure. I enjoy making a budget and trying to find deals and get excited over great consignment store finds for the kids. I'm proud that we took the Financial Peace University class and are working toward paying off all of our debts and living financially responsible. On the other hand, it has NOT been an easy adjustment for me. There have been times when I have come before the Lord and asked WHY God? It'd be one thing if we had to sacrifice going out to eat and shopping sprees and all those "extras." But it's hard when you panic that you are running low on dish detergent and paper towels and you didn't budget for those things this month. That's not a fun feeling! (and yes, we realize that it was our decision to have me stay home rather than continue working and bringing in another salary....I don't regret that decision, nor would we change it.)

Although I'm still not totally on board with the whole coupon craze, I've been working on couponing for our household needs (toilet paper, toothpaste, that kind of thing) and we try to cut costs by shopping at consignment stores and getting our groceries at Aldi. I've shared before about how awesome Aldi's prices are. What I didn't share was that some weeks I would really struggle with shopping there. I wished I could just go to a normal grocery store and have lots of name brand options for everything and not think twice about it or feel guilty. Sometimes I just missed getting normal goldfish crackers for my girl or real Turkey Hill ice cream for a dessert. I guess I had an ugly root of bitterness in my heart. My dad was right....I had been spoiled and it took marriage and a new lifestyle for me to really see that.

But two days ago, as I loaded the kids and my groceries into our van and drove away from Aldi, I didn't feel bitter or jealous of others or anything. I felt proud of my $42 grocery bill and content with what I had. I've slowly gotten used to my new reality and God has done a work in my heart to chip away those ugly roots of jealousy, entitlement, and bitterness. I'm sure He's far from done working on those things in my heart, but I just wanted to testify to His goodness and what He's doing in me. Just like Colson is growing in weight and developmental skills, this Momma is slowly growing in spiritual maturity and understanding.

I'm so thankful He's patient with this spoiled girl and faithful to pursue a pure and spotless heart in me, aren't you?

Growing

I haven't done regular updates on here about my little guy. Colson is growing up so fast. I can barely believe he's going to be 6 months old next week. Where did the past half year go? 

I'm cheap and totally not willing to pay for the "premium" Picnik version so I could only do a collage with 4 pictures so here he is in the 4 most recent month shots. Is it just me or did he explode between months 2 and 3? I think his "aw shucks" face doesn't help because it gave him 85 chins, but he definitely grew A TON that month! 

A bit about Colson at (almost) 6 months...

-He wears 6-9m or 6-12m clothes and size 3 diapers.

-He goes to bed around 7pm, sleeps until 4 or 5am, eats, and goes back to bed for another 2-3 hours. I'm undecided if he really needs to get up and eat that one time in the night but I'm not really doing much about it. I guess I feel like it's been 8 hours or so since he last ate so that's technically sleeping "through the night." I also feel really badly letting him cry it out when I have a 2 year old in the room directly across the hall, a husband who doesn't get enough sleep as it is, and my sister-in-law right next door. I wouldn't want to wake all of them up for the sake of "sleep training" when I'm not sure he needs it. I did let him cry it out once last week when he got up an hour after he ate. I knew he wasn't hungry, sick or poopy so he had to work it out.

-He started sitting up on his own around 5 1/2 months.

-We started solid foods also around 5 1/2 months and he is not a fan. We've only done cereal, sweet potatoes, peas and bananas. Bananas give him the shivers and he's impartial to the others. But I can't get the kid to open his mouth. Seriously, he puts everything in his mouth these days but when I come near him with a spoon, he clamps it shut. Any suggestions?

-He is a smiley, happy, content baby. His dimples kill me.

And for fun...

Here is a side by side of Emma and him at about the same age. I only took his "5 month" pictures a few days ago....and he's almost 6 months. So, I picked out one of her 6 months shots.

What do you think? I don't think they look much alike at all! He definitely has more hair that's for sure! :)

iPhone Dump

After years of putting up with having no cell phone service in our house, tons of dropped calls, and old outdated phones, Jarred and I finally made the switch from old cell phone company who shall remain nameless (*Beep Beep*) to AT&T and joined the rest of the 21st century in getting Smart Phones.

hmmm was that a run-on sentence or what?


Anyway, we got this amazing deal online where we got refurbished iPhone 3g's for $9 and they waived all of our activation fees. So for $18 we switched phone companies and got iPhones. Can't beat that. We've been loving them and can't remember how we survived before them. :) Isn't that the case with most things in life? I've got a bunch of pictures on there and thought it was about time I shared them. (Some of them may be repeats if you follow me on Instagram...sorry)

These first two are a perfect picture of who my girl is. She's everything girly and everything tom boy all wrapped up into one. Southern belle and athlete. (if you look close you'll even notice these were taken on the same day...she's got the same outfit on) I'm not lying when I tell you she'll prance around the house dancing and then ask to go ride four-wheeler with Daddy.

This little guy melts my heart. I can't remember if I ever shared some of my anxieties about having a boy on here, but to be truthful, I was definitely apprehensive. How could I not fall in love with this happy boy?

And these two? Lord have mercy. Emma and her buddy B just taking a walk around the farm, holding hands like it's no big deal. :) Young love.... haha

This was our front yard a few weeks ago when we had 5346569789 inches of rain.

Colson's first swing experience...

...and the "new" swing set we got this week!

Grocery shopping. Emma loves sitting down there and it's a perfect little spot for her. 

Happy Wednesday!! :)