Funny News

So we were just watching the late local news and the reporter made a comment that just cracked me up.

There have been gang problems for years in a town of about 150,000 near here. For whatever reason, these problems tend to spike every year at the beginning of the year.

Anyway, there were a couple of shootings earlier this week in a certain shopping area of this town I'm talking about and then another today in broad daylight. 3 people dead. So obviously that's not the funny part.

But, the reporter was doing a piece about what could be behind the string of recurring violence in this particular shopping center. She said she interviewed local police and they advised her that "no one should be concerned about [...] shopping center because ***there is no more violence there than anywhere else in [city]..."***
OKAY, does anyone else see the bitter irony in his statement??!? I was practically rolling on the floor. Umm, no fewer than THREE people have been shot and killed there in the past few few days, but hey, don't worry! It's no more dangerous than the rest of our beautiful city!

Needless to say, we moved far out of that city WAY before B was born.
Terrible.

Sleep Update

Just wanted to update on the last week or so of sleep.

What a transformation.
A typical night now looks like this:
8-8:30 pm B goes to sleep
2-3 am B wakes and falls asleep within 5 minutes-we don't take him out of his crib, we just go in and say comforting words- "shhh, night night, shhh"
4:30-5:30 am B wakes and we bring him to our bed; I nurse him 5-10 minutes and then we all sleep
7 am, one of us makes him a bottle.
Then we all snooze a little more until around 7:30 or 8 am.

This is just so much better than how things were going for us before "The No-Cry Sleep Solution." I just can't stress enough how much it has helped us and changed B's sleep habits for the better- WITHOUT having to implement the cry it out method that GH and I were so reluctant to try. If you read "The No-Cry Sleep Solution," check out the passages describing what a psychologist suggests crying it out may be like for an infant. If you're a fan of that method, I can bet this will turn your mind toward a less harsh method like "The No-Cry Sleep Solution." It certainly turned my stomach anyway.

Also, a couple of times he has skipped the 2-3 am waking, and slept all the way through to 4:30-5 am. This will happen more and more often as he adjusts I'm sure.

We are much happier, just wanted to update on how it has continued to work for us.

Aquarium Saturday

So, we went to the local aquarium last weekend (and again yesterday, as a matter of fact).
B had an awesome time.
The admission fee however is outrageous! They wanted $60 for my husband and I for 1 visit!! Crazy.
The membership fee for one whole year for our family was only $120, so it wasn't a difficult decision to go ahead and do this. Thus the second visit yesterday- B and I went; what a great way to spend the day! Now I have another fun option to spend time with him.
The aquarium we visit is world renowned, thus eternally packed on the weekends. The trick to going during the week as I discovered by accident yesterday is to get there around 2-2:30pm (or around 1ish if you're planning to eat lunch there like we did). That way, the school kids on field trips are all headed out already. It seemed as crowded as on the weekends when we first arrived around 1pm, but by the time we finished our lunch, we had the place to ourselves!! We spent time at several exhibits completely alone; we absorbed all the fishy goodness at our leisure.
It also helps if you find a "miraculous" parking place like we discovered last Saturday. We happened upon a 12 hour meter only blocks from the aquarium (and hey I don't mind walking a little-nice bonus exercise!) that is apparently broken and is forever "green"!! Wow. And yes, it still worked yesterday. We paid not a cent for parking.
All in all, we have been thoroughly enjoying our watery outings, and highly recommend you go check out your local aquarium as well!

SLEEP!!!

So, the moment we have been waiting for is finally here...B slept a full EIGHT hours last night, from 8:50pm until 5 am!! He stirred at 4 am, but put himself right back to sleep w/o us going to check or anything. We are still working towards an earlier bedtime, sometimes it works out better than others; he was in bed by 8pm, but it took him a while to get settled.

I feel so much better. And we used the "No Cry Sleep Solution", as mentioned previously. I am so proud of B and of us for staying patient and staying the course, especially as we had two horrendous nights earlier this week, I am positive due to a molar coming in.

I think as soon as we have the earlier bedtime, we will be seeing closer to 10 hour stretches.
This is so different from a month ago and the way we had been surviving for many months before that. Don't get me wrong, it was GREAT having B with us in our bed for so long, but finally we just needed more sleep and he seems to be the type of baby that can't sleep as deeply if he is with us.
I am impressed with how quickly Ms. Pantley's methods have succeeded for us. I also received some great advice from my Mom that helped as well.

Well, B is begging to be read to (can't imagine where he gets that!) so I have to go.

So. tired. today.

Well, something set us back last night with the sleep situation. Not at all sure what though.
B fell asleep MUCH better than previously, but unfortunately after 12:30am or so did not want to STAY asleep for more than an hour or so at a time. Ugh.
As far as falling asleep, we have a great routine going now.
5-6 pm dinner
6:30 pm bath
7:05 pm bottle
7:20 pm in bed; read 3-4 bedtime stories
8ish he's fallen asleep for the past 2 nights.

I think we are going to have to change the final step in our routine. We have been laying down on the floor of his room, to show him it's time to go to sleep and it's okay. But I think he's waking up and expecting to see us there in the middle of the night.

So we'll have to try tweaking that.

It was a great weekend otherwise. Unfortunately, lots of people have the day off today but not GH. So B and I will have to survive w/just each other.

Actually there's plenty to do, I just don't really want to. I'm relaxing w/my Ghirardelli chocolate flavored coffee here while B plays.
I need to: **
put clean dishes away
put clean laundry away
go to walmart
go to local market
go to post office - I realized it is a holiday, but I did put a letter I needed to mail in the box.
make sure B gets a good lunch and nap
clean breakfast mess
etc etc etc

:)

Sooo, better get to it right?
I'll just check Facebook ONE more time...

**Updated at 5:30 PST. About to go make dinner!

Pre-pregnancy jeans

So, I was finally brave enough to try on my pre-pregnancy jeans a couple of days ago. I haven't even looked at them in at least 6 months. The last time I tried them, I basically couldn't even get both legs in...there simply was no attempting to actually close them.

This time, success! FINALLY, most fit again!! I am ecstatic! Of course, it is still not a very pretty picture to see them on, but hey at least we are to the able-to-be-zipped-AND-buttoned point!! And it is really a great inspiration to work on losing those last few pregnancy pounds.

Cool Comet Will Be Most Visible at the End of this Month

Last night was particularly bad. B was up at midnight, 2 am, and I am not sure how often after that. We all got up at about 6:30 am, an hour earlier than usual. At least it's Friday. Also, breakfast has been almost impossible this week for him. No idea what the problem is. Is he not hungry? Does he not like any of the food choices offered? Blueberries were formerly one of his favorite foods, but lately he has shown a pickiness about food textures, and the skins of things like blueberries really seem to bother him. It has been very frustrating and I am hoping that good husband (GH) will handle breakfast this weekend (nice Valentine's Day present?)

Speaking of which, we each picked out our own presents this year. So much easier. Clothes for me, wine for him.
We both like what we got!! :)

In other cool scientific news, I read about this in our local weekly paper this morning:

Comet Lulin will be most visible near the end of February. It is interesting especially because of its greenish color.

Here's to good viewing (we won't be sleeping anyway, so why not try to see something unique while we're up)! ;)

Chocolate..dark or white..it's all good, right?

Okay, I got your attention! Who doesn't love chocolate?
Anyway, I am starting this blog, against my husband's better wishes...he is "thoroughly private and doesn't want himself or our child mentioned."


Sorry, my good husband, but here goes...


We have a 15 month old and are currently working on sleeping issues. We do not subscribe to the "cry it out" method, so we bought "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. We have read it and for the past week we have been trying our modified version of it. We have thus far had 2 "success nights"- nights when the baby slept 7 or more hours straight without waking. I feel greatly encouraged because this is 2 nights in the past week the baby (B) has slept in such long stretches, whereas up to now it had been more than 1 YEAR since he had slept this long!!!


B is napping right now, which I am also happy about. I have been working on adjusting his nap schedule to earlier in the afternoon, to make for an easier and earlier bedtime, as recommended. Today he fell asleep for his nap at about 2 pm and it is now almost 4 pm.


Well, I am off to browse other blogs. Have a good Thursday!
(And, hey, enjoy some chocolate!)