Six Hours

Last night Christian had his second tball game.  His cheering fan section was in full effect.  Despite the rain that is.  Would brought chairs, umbrellas, a stroller, a diaper bag and (of course) a baby.  This poor baby was passed around in the rain while being held with just a receiving blanket around him and his thin little hood up.  I don't believe he was cold, he was good and snuggled up to each and every person who held him, but still, poor kid was out in the rain for crying out loud. He cried the entire (3 miles) home.  When we got home I gave him a warm bath (which he loved) fed him lots of delicious warm milk, put warm jammies on him and cuddled him up on the couch while we both fell asleep.  Mark put him in his cradle at 9:30 and I also went to bed.  Two nights ago we moved the cradle to his room, right inside the door, so his little squeaks don't wake me up all night.  He slept until 3:30am!  That's six straight hours of sleep.  I woke at 2am (Christian woke me actually to tell me he would like to sleep on the floor in my room - he was promptly directed back to the comforts of his own bed).  I needed to pump or feed something fierce but I knew he'd wake soon enough.  I guess he was all worn out from an exciting night of tball.  Hopefully we have better weather for Victoria's game tonight but the same end result!

Where's the Sleep?

Last week I had a couple rough days on the home front.  Brecken was only happy when he was being held, which is fine for the first half of the day then I start to get tired and look around the house at the 100 things I'd like to get done, and then my shoulders start aching from holding him and I feel guilty for not giving more time to Christian.  I start to daydream about Mark coming home and saving me only for me to promptly fall asleep as soon as I hand off the baby to him.  Then I got some good sleep over the weekend, had to feed Brecken only ONCE on Sunday night, got recharged and we had the best day ever yesterday.  When Mark walked in the door I said, "I was Stay at Home Mom Extraordinaire today!!"  Which I really was.  Brecken slept great.  I made an effort to watch his cues and made sure he went to sleep every single time he showed he was sleepy and made sure he wasn't over stimulated all day long.  He slept a lot and when he was awake he was always happy and smiled a lot.  I got a ton done around the house and even stayed up late enough to catch the TWINS game in its entire 11 innings.

But then.....Brecken would not stay asleep.  All effing night long.  Sleep for an hour..wake.  Sleep for an hour...wake.  Begins to drive you completely crazy by the 4th hour of exhaustion.  At 2:30 I finally had it and put him in his carseat and walked him around the house.  It's my last resort but it always works.  I just don't want it to become a bad habit.  But this time, holy crap, even that wouldn't get him to sleep.  I was pretty frustrated and at 2:40am I grabbed my car keys and put the baby in the car.  I thought, this is dramatic but at least I know it will work FOR SURE.  I figured I'd take a 5 min drive and he'd be out and I'd be out too - when I got home of course.

However, after FORTY minutes the kid was still making noise!!!!!!  I actually wondered out loud if he would ever sleep again.  Clearly the problem was he was so over tired he couldn't settle down.  I finally gave in and came home.  I nursed him and feel asleep as I heard the birds begin to chirp with him in bed with Mark and me and eventually he fell asleep and slept in this morning.

REALLY hoping for more sleep tonight!

I started writing this, this morning.  It's now nearly 2am the following night and I've gotten four full hours already tonight.  Yeah!

Curious

I wonder what percentage of Stay at Home Moms are alcoholics....just curious.

Look Who's Watching

A couple weeks ago, I was sitting up on the couch and Brecken was laying against my chest and I was talking.  He leaned his head back and looked right into my eyes.  His head bobbled around until it flopped back down to my chest and then he did it again.  I pulled him back and moved my head slowly left to right and he tracked it.  It was amazing.  It was like he was saying, "Hi Momma! I know you're there!"

The other night he was in my arms and I handed him off to Mark and went downstairs.  Just a couple minutes later I heard him crying.   I came upstairs and said, "What happened so fast?"  and he turned his head and stopped crying.  This time I felt like he actually missed me!

Tonight I was giving him a bath and I was looking at his cute little face singing along to Nick Lachey's new lullaby CD and Brecken started to open and close his mouth and stick out his tongue.  I wondered if he could be hungry already.  I got him out of the bath and sat down to cuddle him in his big fluffy towel and I started to make silly noises with my mouth while I was talking to him and he started to open and close his mouth.  I tried a couple other things and realized that he was most definitely trying to copy  the movements of my mouth.

After six weeks of basically just eating and sleeping it's a beautiful change to see him begin to have some personality.

He's watching.  He's learning.  He's listening.

And I'm loving it!

Easter

The day before Easter our local grocery store had an egg hunt very early in the morning.  Brecken was just shy of two weeks and we waking up several times a night.  I got out of bed just minutes before the start of the egg hunt and we all headed over on the rainy and cold morning.  Of course, first thing I heard when we walked in was, "There's Mrs. Humphrey!"  Ahhh, yes, there's always a student when you least want to see one.  

The kids lined up with their age level in different aisles and they were off.  Victoria happened to find one of the special eggs and got a special Easter basket.  They got tons of candy and were thrilled little hunters.

Unfortunately, I don't have a family picture of the five of us on Easter.

We tried with the automatic timer and it wasn't turning out right and I was so grumpy from lack of sleep I gave up.  I wish I hadn't.

I was so tired in fact, I sat with my eyes closed while the kids hunted for eggs and their basket on the couch instead of chasing them around with my camera.  :(

My parents went to Florida for two weeks beginning on March 16th.  Brecken was born in the early morning of the 17th, so they didn't meet him until Easter, two week later!

He sure was cute on Easter!

Sporting the adorable Easter outfit sent to him by his cousins in Colorado.

Love those little lips!

Mama Deb holding him for the first time.

Papa holding him for the first time.

Papa's only two grandsons.

Feeding Brecken for the first time.

For a little extra entertainment we dyed Easter eggs for the 4th time.

Sleepy little Easter Bunny.

It was a very low key Easter.

Looking forward to next Easter when all three kids are running around looking for eggs....

and I won't be so tired!

Brotherly Love

I knew Christian would make a wonderful big brother, but I really never imagined he'd be this good.  He cuddles Brecken, throws away his diapers, gets me new diapers, gives him his Nukky, talks to him and, of course, pinches his cheekies.  His nickname for him is Brecky or Breck Breck or Brecky Dynomite.  One day Christian was holding him and he kissed him and said, "I can't wait for you to grow so we can play baseball together."

He holds him on the couch.

Talks to him while he's in his cradle.

Lounging on the couch is a favorite past time when he gets home from school.

One night when I was tucking Christian in he asked if Brecken could lay down with him.

I laid him there and he said, "I always wanted you to lay in my bed Brecky."

Of course, there are lots and lots of kisses for Brecky too.

A Day in the Life

Here's a snap shot of A Day in the Life of Christian While Mommy is on Maternity Leave.

Sometimes he gets to pack his lunch box and join his first grade sister for lunch.  He always saves some so he can finish it in the teacher's lounge with Mommy's friends.

Sometimes we go to Mall of America and go a some rides.

He grew a couple inches lately and can go on some new rides, including Splat-O-Sphere.

This was his 'better' smile.

Clearly he's having a rough time forcing a smile lately.

Often, we go out to lunch.

He loves Cadillac Ranch because they give mints at the end of the meal.

Tummy time with Brecken is always a highlight of the day.

He's been getting really good lately and we both cheer and high five while the poor baby is struggling to lift its head.

Holding his little brother is a highlight. 

He never even seems to notice when the baby starts freaking out because it's slipping away.

Sometimes we takes his BFF Rosie with us from preschool and take her to lunch or the zoo or DQ.

We pretty much get dessert where ever we go:-)

Gotta keep those 5 year olds happy.

It was cold one day and we were cleaning out and organizing our huge art closet and came across face paints.  I let him into them while I was nursing the baby.  

I regretted it when our bathtub turned red and everyone kept asking me what was wrong with him for two days because we couldn't get the red completely off.

Once I got him a bag of popcorn at the beginning of a trip to Target.

We were both happy.

He's been in charge of the family dinner lately.

He especially loves cooking with 'fire' aka - the stove.

However, he doesn't mind making brownies either.

We've been busy and enjoying spending time together.

Even though we have adventures and so much fun around 2:00 he always asks when is it time to pick up Victoria and I let him know we'll get her soon.